“I thought Iceland was supposed to be green and Greenland was supposed to be icy,” I mused. “Like some big joke.”
“Itisgreen,” Gradh noted. “It's also bleak.”
“Can we please stop calling Iceland bleak?” I sighed. “It's a beautiful country.”
“Bleakly beautiful,” Conri mumbled.
“Conri,” I growled.
“What? Even the beach was black, like it's in mourning,” he huffed. “Bleak, bleak, bleak. Danu damn it, now the word has lost all meaning for me.”
“It's a black sand beach,” Hrafn parked the van, and looked back at Conri. “It just takes some getting used to. Iceland's beauty is unique.”
“You can say that again,” Conri opened the side panel, and stepped out into the bleak... er... spartan setting.
“Hawaii has black sand beaches too,” I offered.
“This is not Hawaii, Princess,” Conri grimaced.
The hotel kept up the red roof theme. The bright tops were placed over long, white buildings which gathered together in an almost camp-like manner. I crunched my way over gray gravel to the main building and went to check us in with my dad's handy, Black American Express card. The atmosphere indoors mirrored that of outdoors, with clean tile floors and orderly furniture which was more functional than attractive. The desk clerk was a very nice lady, who handed over the keys to an entire building and instructed me on which building was ours.
I got a room for Hrafn too, so he wouldn't have to do so much driving, and then we all went to our building to freshen up before dinner. The hotel rooms continued the theme of the main building, with similar tiled floor, and wood slats covering the walls. Don't ask me what the correct term is for the wood strips lining the walls. It wasn't paneling, I can tell you that, just thin lengths of wood placed side-by-side. It seemed very Nordic in a grandparent way. Like we had just stepped into a Viking retirement home. The drapes and bedding looked as if they were from the sixties. The art was tiny and hung sporadically. The bathroom was a miniature version of the real thing.
“Tile floors?” Killian asked as he walked into my room. “In this weather? Getting out of bed in the morning is going to suck.”
“Wear socks to bed,” I suggested.
Cat whined and jumped onto the closest bed. There were two beds in my room, but they were pressed together. Oh, wait, no. It was one, full sized bed, with two, extra pillow/mattresses on top of it, each laid in front of a regular pillow. It had made the single bed appear to be two separate beds. Weird.
“What's with the beds on top of the bed?” I asked as I went over and prodded them. Squishy.
“I have no idea,” Killian shrugged, flopped onto one of the bed pillows in question, and started scratching Cat behind the ear. “Comfy, though.”
Cat looked as if she were tolerating Killian's attentions merely because she loved to be scratched, but she was not happy with who was doing the scratching.
“Why does she hate me?” Killian whined and gave up on trying to win Cat over.
“Because you're intrusive?” I hinted as I headed to the bathroom to shower.
“Oh, did you want to be alone?” Killian called after me.
“I'm getting naked now, Killian,” I shut the bathroom door on him. “Go away. And close the bedroom door on your way out.”
“Fine, I can take a hint,” I heard him mutter as he left. “Don't think this is over, puka. You and I are going to be friends, even if it kills me.”
“It just might,” I chuckled to myself.
The shower was nice and hot, reviving me and giving me a better outlook on the day. If I didn't receive an elf invitation by the next morning, I was going to insist that Hrafn show us where the enclave was. That being settled in my head, I got dressed and opened my bathroom door to find Cat asleep on the bed. She took up as much space as a person, which made me glad the bed was a full sized.
“Cat,” I called. “You want to come get food with us?”
The word “food” revived the puka like a red hot poker to the posterior. She leapt off the bed, and stood at my side like a soldier, in a matter of seconds. I laughed, and gave her a good scratch, before heading out into the entryway of the building. Everyone was already gathered there, waiting on us.
“You guys hungry?” I asked.
They all perked up as fast as Cat had.
There weren't a lot of choices in Vik, not for hotels or restaurants, but we found a pretty good place to eat. It was called Strondin, and it was a little bit of a drive to get to, but not so bad. The food portions were hearty, and there was a mix of cuisines available, so everyone was able to get something they liked. We were looking over dessert possibilities when a little voice came from the table on our left.
