Mid-Winter Luck [fanfic]
Title: Mid-Winter Luck (Part 1 of 2)
Author: MorriganFearn
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Aland Islands, Faroe Islands, Germany
Warnings: Strong language from sailing nations, massive misuse of languages that I do not speak, and misuse of one language I pretend to speak
Summary: December 1941, the North Sea. Aland picks up an unexpected passenger in the form of a shipwrecked Faroes. Obligated to help, Aland has to navigate waters filled with mines, and figure out how to explain to Germany why he has an Ally-occupied territory of strategic importance aboard his ship.
Dedication: To fairywine, who made me jump on this ship. At some point there will be a harbor in your name, I promise!
Historical Note:
Late December 1941 on the heavily mined (as in sea mines were dumped in the water, and if one hit your ship it would probably tear a hole the size of Nantucket in it) North Sea, not a fun time or place to be. A run down of the basic events on the world stage goes likes this: Germany is the dominating superpower, with no end in sight. America has just joined the war, but that's too little, too late in the opinion of everyone that matters. Russia has also joined the allies, and Finland is now the unofficial fourth member of the Axis. Almost all of Europe is under German Occupation at this point. Notable places of resistance are Norway and France, but really, it's just England, now, and the Channel Islands are in German control. England has occupied all of the former Danish territories not in Denmark proper, and built an airbase on the Faroe Islands.
On the other side of the Baltic, there is a small island (plus a lot of even smaller islands) off the coast of Finland, which, while still being part of Finland, is an autonomous region that maintains Swedish culture, Åland. This territory, being autonomous, and in a great position for controlling the Gulf of Finland, and the Baltic, is in danger of being seized by either Soviet Russia (the Finns have just fought a vicious war to keep the Russians at bay, the Winter War, and now are fighting again, this time with Germany as their ally, in the Continuation War with Russia), or Germany. Åland, just as the Channel Islands were made 11 days before they fell, is a demilitarized zone, and as such should not be invaded. This particular rule of war is not very well enforced, look again at Jersey and Guernsey having been invaded after they were demilitarized. However, due to the Åland Islands neutrality, and connection to Finland the Ålanders are free to trade with pretty much anybody, and they do.
Please keep in mind that neither of the main characters knows about the Holocaust, nor do they know about the mass graves Stalin left lying around.
Mid-Winter Luck
Sunlight was beautiful coming up over the sea. It would spill over the waves, and reflect from them, adding sixteen different layers of color. Mornings turned the world into one large ocean of blinding light and color. Unfortunately, thought the nation repairing netting with methodical calmness, they still had the rest of the night to get through before the dawn could come. Just by the bite of the December air he could tell that if a squall did not hit in the wee hours, it was going to grab them before the day finished, probably before they made it into port. Of course, they were still in the mine infested waters between England and Norway. Damn. This was going to get Germany's attention like nobody's business. Sighing, he rose to ask the captain if they had their shipping manifest for Spain in order. Germans worshiped proper paperwork.
"Åland! Det finns någon i havet [1]!" one of the humans came running, and Åland felt a sinking in his chest.
Tightening cold chapped lips for a moment, he tried not to think about the blown up half drowned bodies and parts that were fast becoming the daily lot of anyone on the sea. In fact, why were they worrying? Making a dismissive gesture with the knife used to slice through fouled net, the young man tried to find his human's eyes the nighttime gloom. "Så vad [2]?"
The crewman looked down at him, although his expression was obscured. "Lever. Ska vi rädda henne [3]?"
Åland blinked. Well, that put a different complexion on things. They needed to get to England, and they needed to be out of the mine waters as quickly as possible, because should he have to check the water for mines-his real purpose on the vessel-the German was sure to sense it if the öl dricker [4] was at all near the sea. Given his own relationship with the cruel mother known as Luck, Åland just knew today would be one of the days Der Dritte Riech [5] would be serving with his U-boat crews. Stopping to rescue an idiot girl bobbing on the waves forced them to stay in this dangerous corridor that much longer.
On the other hand, idiot girls had to be treated with the maximum amount of kindness and generosity, especially when lost at sea-what exactly was any girl doing out here, anyway? It was not as though this stretch of sea was used for pleasure cruises. The only boats who used these waters were all fishing vessels (never ask what they were fishing for. Åland made it a point to say 'mackerel' whenever he was stopped by either German or English patrols). That Norwegian hadn't started sending women out on his his little espionage runs, had he [6]?
Scowling, and adjusting the brim of his cap, the young man made the only decision that anyone in all conscience would make. "Ja, ja. Rädda flickan [7]," he stalked toward the bow, where he could hear a babble of voices.
Odd, it felt almost as though-then, as the human trotted around him, shouting to pull the girl from the waves, several of his questions were answered to give rise to newer ones, as he heard a voice (yes, young and feminine) ring out:
"Finally! You'd think a girl had nothing better to do than take a dunk in the drink!"
The words resonated within his bones, speaking of green grass, teething spires of rock, snug houses, and blood washing the water with red. Damn. Damn. Damn. Luck was a fickle old dame, and no mistake.
The humans, probably more effected than he was, scrambled to haul the sopping wet thing out of the sea. The girl-nation-was complaining about the whole thing, and making an awful lot of splashing about, but that was nations for you, Åland thought, keeping back from the men, and leaning on the wall of the wheelhouse with his arms crossed, arrogant to a fault.
He wished the Rökt Sill dared put on a light, so they could see what they were hauling. A light, however, was asking for trouble in the form of a torpedo. German or British, it did not matter. Sinking was sinking. A dull thunk on the deck, and the new shape in the gradations of gray stood among the rest of the humans, chuckling slightly, which was at total odds with her earlier whining about being bloody freezing. "Sorry about that. I really wish we'd met under other circumstances. This is terribly awkward, I know. Um, that was Swedish I heard, and not drunk Danish, right [8]? And, um, who should I be speaking to to explain everything?"
Annoyance twisting through him, Åland restrained an exasperated sigh, and began to stump back to his earlier post, nestled between some cargo boxes. "Kasta henne i havet [9]!" he called out to the captain, waving a hand.
"Oi, you! I think I understood enough of that to know it wasn't nice!" the girl called after him, as the men around her chuckled. "You nasty little soup drinking Swede, I'm having a bad day, if you couldn't tell, and-,"
But Åland, not in the cheerfulest of moods, had already rotated his course by 180 degrees on the word "Swede" and marched back over the deck, fury rising from his shoulders. "I'm not a Swede, princess," he growled, one rough finger shaking in the pale blur of her face. "We are Ålanders, and this is an Åland vessel and you can go right back in the ocean if you think for one moment longer that you-,"
But the nation was already laughing (right in his face!). Another pale blur moved to wipe at wet cheeks. "I'm dreadfully sorry. I had no idea one of us was aboard," the blur, which turned out to be a clammy hand, reached out, and grabbed his finger, forcing a handshake before Åland really knew what was happening. "I'm Føroyar. You must be-," Dear God, did she have any sense of privacy? He could feel her gently brushing across his forests though the skin contact, and the young region jerked his hand from her grip. "Åland Islands," the grin was almost present in her voice, and he would have bet that in the daylight her eyes would be sparkling merrily.
"That was uncalled for," he growled, hiding his hand, and glad that it was not daylight. "Get off my deck."
She moved somehow, shifting her dark clad shoulders slightly, and Åland guessed that it must be heading on toward dawn. "I'm sorry. What did I do that was wrong?"
Scowling, her host wondered if it was genuine idiocy, or if she knew perfectly well what she was doing, and chose to look innocent. He doubted that the girl could invade him, but she might be after fishing rights, or something else. "Oh, nothing much, I suppose, if it's common in your part of the world to feel up your host's land. It's not in mine."
"Your part of the world can't be much fun, then," and the bluntness of the remark made him want to strangle her, even if the contents were just asking for the blood to rise in his face. "Anyway, I need a translator, and you'll do."
Pinching the bridge of nose, Åland glanced at the circle of humans surrounding them. It had gotten considerably bigger. "What? I mean really, what? First you go from insulting me to asking for a favor? Really?"
"Well, I do have to explain what I'm doing here," she shot back, shifting, and causing some sea water to splash to the deck. "And while I can make myself understood perfectly well, I don't speak Swedish, and so finding out whether or not the Captain will let me off at the next port of call is really going to be a problem. Oh goodness," she took a surprised step backward, and Åland couldn't help contemplating shoving her over the railing, "you're not Gerry [10] lovers, are you? I've been told not to get tangled up with any of those. My uncle is going to skin me alive when he finds out about this."
Åland, who obviously knew better than this girl about everything, including the political situation in the region, scoffed. "I'm a neutral power, on a neutral mission, and if you think for one moment that I give a damn about your stupid war, you're mistaken. If you're very lucky, I won't order the men to drop you off in Bremerhaven [11]."
This made Føroyar draw herself upright, and probably look down her nose (which was a bit of a mistake, as she was only taller than Åland because he had a tendency to slump, and if she was looking down her nose, her eyes were probably addressing his chin, rather than putting him in his proper place. Wherever she thought that was). "Oh. Neutral," Åland could practically read a footnote in her words that said: 'Oh. Cat excrement.' "I thought that you said you weren't Swedish."
That was the moment when Åland broke another one of his father's rules, and hit a girl.
Translations and Footnotes
[1] - 'Åland! Det finns någon i havet' is Swedish for 'Åland! There is someone in the sea!' Thanks to Shandoras for the translation correction. I should point out, I abused Google Translate to its utmost, here, and I don't speak Swedish, or the Åland-Swedish dialect that they should be speaking. I'm sorry for any mistranslations, all corrections are welcome.
[2] - 'Så vad?' should be the Swedish equivalent of 'So what?' or 'And this matters to me how?' I translated it from the German 'Na und?' and hopefully the derisiveness came across.
[3] - 'Lever. Ska vi rädda henne' is Swedish for 'Alive. Should we rescue her?'
[4] - 'öl dricker' is Swedish for 'beer drinker.' Åland is used to stronger poisons.
[5] - 'Der Dritte Reich' is German for 'The Third Empire' i.e. Nazi Germany. It is not Ludwig's official title during this time, but it is one that gets used in an awful lot of speeches.
[6] - The Shetland Bus was the code name for fishing vessels that ran British agents, and Norwegian refugees between Shetland and Norway during the occupation. They traveled at night without showing lights during the heaviest of storms, in the mine and U-Boat infested North Sea starting in 1940 and had not been stopped by 1945. On the Norwegian side, the agents were prepped for infiltrating Germany and worked with Norwegian agents and the resistance.
On Åland's views as to why he is offended by Norway potentially putting a woman in danger: The Finns had a corps of female nurses and general care takers in their army, and these brave women were notorious for not touching firearms and being engaged only in non-violent actions, such as healing and bandaging the wounded. To attack one of the Lotta Svärd was considered as heinous as attacking a member of the Red Cross. By the end of the war, however, the Lotta had trained a brigade of women for combat readiness because the Finns needed the manpower, and because the enemy soldiers no longer observed the niceties of war. In certain ways that he'll never admit, Åland shares many of his father's conventions of this time period.
[7] - 'Ja, ja. Rädda flickan' is Swedish for 'Sure, sure. Save the girl.'
[8] - One of the more tactful insults that the Danes have for the Swedes is that any drunk Dane can speak Swedish (the Swedish version is that anyone can speak Danish as long as they haven't swallowed the potato they just ate). But keep in mind, these Ålanders are speaking their local dialect of Swedish, and Faroes is most familiar with her island dialect of Danish. The mutual intelligibility between the languages is greatly reduced.
[9] - 'Kasta henne i havet' is Swedish for 'Toss her in the sea'
[10] - 'Gerry' is a typical British slang word for Germans during this period. Among the older generation that served in the First War you will more typically find 'Hun' and 'Kraut'
[11] - Bremerhaven (pronounced Brey-mer-ha-fen) is the sea port for the city of Bremen. It has experienced some Allied bombing, but nothing significant yet. By the end of the war most of it will have been reduced to rubble, except for the bits that the Allies wanted intact for when they invaded, as the port well situated for Western shipping interests. This city was a base of the Kriegsmarine, and tended to be home port for U-Boats in the North Sea and Baltic.
Yar. Follow the link to Part 2: Where Åland must navigate dangerous waters.
~ MF