The Real Story of the Rebellion

“If I am to tell you this story,” Frida began, “then the first thing I must tell you two about is how Hálfdan and I met.”

“You told me that you met when he was just an apprentice and you had just started learning under a master mage. Was that a lie too?” Talia asked, taking a seat that was nearly in John’s lap. Not that John minded.

“No. We did actually first meet then. Oftentimes Trygve - that was the name of my teacher, John - Trygve would send me to the shop that Hálfdan was learning in to pick up various orders. Usually things that were meant to increase Trygve’s arcane power or allow me to learn to channel mine.”

“Like a wand?” John asked.

“No. Wands are made of wood, never metal. A wand must have an inherent organic nature in order to properly tap into nature. These were… wait, we are getting off track.” Frida shook her head. “What they were wasn’t important. What’s important is that it was on these errands that I first met your father, Talia. What I didn’t tell you about was when we actually began our relationship.

“You see, while we met at that shop, we were little more than acquaintances. Oh sure, I found him charming and cute, but it was the equivalent of seeing a cute waiter or barista. You have a pleasant exchange, get your purchased item, and move on. Sure, there was a slightly higher sense of familiarity with him, due to the fact that I always saw him whenever I went, but little beyond that. No, I didn’t really get close to your father till Arvida entered the picture.”

“The rebel leader?” John inquired, trying to remember what exactly Talia had told him.

“She would be. But when I first heard of her, she was just an elven noble trying to make her way onto the council, which was unheard of at the time.”

“Why? Was it because she was a woman?” John scoffed.

“N-no? Is that a problem in Midgard?” Frida asked, puzzled at the idea of someone being denied something due to gender. “No, we’ve had women council members from the very beginning. The problem was that she was not born into council. Up until that point, it was practice that the only way onto the council was to be born into the family of a council member, or marry your way onto the council. No one “ran” for council, but since there was no law strictly prohibiting it, Arvida was in the clear to do so.”

“Why didn’t the council just make it illegal for her to run?” Talia asked.

“I don’t really know, but I could guess that they were afraid of how unpopular that would have been. Arvida was a popular person even before her run for council member, and to make a law that stood directly in not only her but any other elf’s way would have been insanely unpopular. In addition, I think the Council Leader found this amusing. But don’t quote me on that.

“Now, I was not a very political person, mind you. I stuck to my studies, practiced my magic, and kept to myself. However, Arvida was a candidate who I could really relate to, and I thought that she had good policy ideas. In addition, I had a bit of aspiration of one day seeing myself as a council member. I figured that, if Arvida could do it, maybe one day I could run for election myself. So I went to her rallies, donated my time and money, and did as much as I could to help her. That was where I got a lot more familiar with your father.”

Talia stayed silent, looking away before softly asking, “Why don’t we learn about Arvida’s election?”

Frida shrugged. “Probably because it makes it harder to villainize Arvida if it is known that she was legally elected to a seat of power. And that her election resulted in elections for council seats to be seen as the norm. Had she not done that, many of the council members that now sit in power would not be where they are today.”

Talia gave a small nod. “I guess that makes sense. So that's where you and Dad met?”

Frida gave a nostalgic smile and a nod. “Indeed. We both were very involved in her campaign. I wanted to extend power to the people in general, while your father wanted her help in fighting for the rights of half elves. He was tired of being treated as a second class citizen and Arvida promised change. That's where we met, and that’s also where we met Arvida herself.”

“Wait. Wait wait wait. Hold up.” Talia held up her hands, and gave her mom a disbelieving stare. “You actually met Arvida? The eventual leader of the Rebellion? The Devil of the Elven?”

Frida chuckled softly at that. “Oh trust me, we did more than meet her. She became Hálfdan and my closest friend. How we met is… complicated and long. Needless to say, by the time that she became elected, we were not only in her inner circle of her campaign, but we were treated like family around her.

“Now, while many citizens were happy with Arivida’s election, many members of the council were not. They were the **** of elven traditionalism, and considering the sway they had on the council, that was what the culture was at the time.”

“Could you explain?” John inquired.

“Well, the ideas behind elven traditionalism are very much in keeping to ourselves and keeping set in our ways. As they put it, “We as a culture have survived centuries. We have seen the dawn of man and will no doubt see the dusk. Change will threaten that stability and survivability.” However, Arvida ran on a platform that change was necessary, that while the humans were not as powerful as us now, they would not be that way for long. We were walking at the same pace we had been for hundreds of years, while you humans were starting to learn how to run.” She looked over to Talia. “Arvida and you would have had the same ideas. She wanted people to be able to choose their own destinies and not have them be predetermined.”

Talia chewed on that idea, staying silent as John spoke up. “Alright, she sounds very progressive. But how did things turn violent?”

Frida’s expression darkened. “That is… complicated. See, due to the council being controlled mostly by traditionalists, Arvida would barely be able to get anything passed. Sure, she could wait it out and hope that, with time, new council members would replace the older traditionalists and thus aid her ideas on getting passed. But that wasn’t a guarantee, and it was more than likely that the seat would be passed onto one of the children of that council member.

“Arvida was not happy about this. She would often describe her job as “I get up, go to the council, and spend hours getting yelled at by old farts how my ideas won’t work, and then I go home.” Needless to say, we of her inner circle were very angry about this. We felt that the people had spoken as to wanting Arvida’s policies in place, but due to the broken way that our laws were put in place, we could do nothing about it. Arvida would tell us how things would change, and how she just needed more time, but we felt that things wouldn’t change.”

Frida rose from the rubble that she was sitting on, and looked off in the distance. She gave a small sigh before continuing, “We would meet as a group around once a month. We would come up with proposals that we thought Arvida might be able to get passed, ones that would have language that favored what they wanted while also appealing to the council members. However, these meetings were in vain every time, and we grew more and more frustrated. One day, the frustration boiled over. I don’t really remember why it blew up that day, but I do remember what happened afterward. One of our group, an elf by the name of Sigrid, had suggested that we finally take matters into our own hands. It was time we show the council they cannot just ignore the will of the people, and that if they dared to try they would face repercussions.”

Frida took a deep breath as the memories played before her. “That night, we broke into the house of one of the senior council members, one we knew was a hardcore traditionalist. That night, we set fire to his home, stole some of his valuables, and did whatever vandalism came into our minds. We knew he lived alone in this house, and ensured that no servants were at the home at the time. We didn’t want to hurt anyone, we just wanted to send a message. Your father and I decided to go one step further, so we tagged the tree the home was built around. See, during the campaign we had designed logos together for Arvida’s campaign, and actually helped design the one she used when she got elected. One that had been placed on the cutting room floor was of Yggdrasil and Odin’s four animals going to each of the corners of the logo. It was a touch too complicated for a campaign logo, but as a magical tag... “

John and Talia both spoke up, both of them realizing what that symbol was. “The symbol of the rebellion!”

Frida nodded “Yep. That was our design. Later that councilman went into hiding, convinced terrorists were coming for him and that his house was just the first step. Because of his reduced presence, Arvida was later able to pass an act that was on the more progressive side. It was that day that we realized that sometimes, to get change, we would have to work more outside the law.”

“How did Arvida react?” John asked tentatively.

“Not well at first. She was pissed that we thought so little of the system we fought so hard to get into that we would stoop to criminal activity. But as the months passed, and the fear of our little group faded, she realized that she was fighting against a brick wall. She realized that the council would not care of what the public wanted, and as long as they did not impede the public, they would never have to help the public. “

“Wait, I thought they cared about what the public wanted. Hence why they didn’t stop Arvida,” Talia interjected.

“Well yes, and that still is an anomaly to me. Why they didn’t fully stop her I don’t know, especially considering the push back we got on every single proposal she offered the council. Perhaps we had acted in haste and without thought, but at the time we thought we were justified. Eventually, Arvida came to join us. She felt that democracy had failed, that in the face of blatant ignoring of what the people wanted, it was time the people rose up against those who would oppress them.

“From there, things got more coordinated and more organized. Arvida had insight into the secret dealings of council members, such as hidden businesses that bribed them or groups they offered a blind eye to in order to keep sections of the population in line. We hit those, and we worked hard. We never harmed people, but we would set entire businesses ablaze if we deemed it necessary to get the point across. Soon the banner of our little revolution began to take hold, and before we knew it we were actually beginning to see change. People started to hold the council more accountable and demand change. We had inspired a movement, and we felt things were only starting.”

Frida sat back down, clasping her hands in front of herself. “That's when things got violent.”

“It was supposed to be a standard operation, but they were waiting for us on this one. The council had somehow learned of our hit, and had a hundred or so guards waiting. Not to arrest us, but to execute us with no trial. We did manage to escape, but not without casualties on both sides. A few of the guards and our own Sigrid had been the first to fall that night. That night was the first of many nights that would end with ****, and that was the first day of our revolution becoming a rebellion.

“Arvida had been **** to leave the council after that. She was outed as the leader of our revolution, and she was now treated as a criminal. Thankfully, Hálfdan and I had found this barrow on one of our dates, and figured this would make an ideal base. Thus the Elven Rebellion was fully born, with Arvida as our leader and the rest of us as the faceless public.”

“Faceless public?” John questioned. “So no one knew of your identities with the rebellion?”

“No. Well, a few knew. See, we knew that this rebellion would be hard to pull off, and that we would need to be able to lie undercover in the event of the council cracking down too hard. We structured the rebellion using codenames and a level of secrecy that no one person would know about every member. For example, if I recruited 10 people to join us, and Hálfdan recruited another 10, it would be situated that our 10 would not know about each other unless assigned to be grouped with one another. You could have allies in the revolution living down the block from you, but for the safety of everyone involved, you would probably never know.”

John motioned for her to continue. “Things went rather well for the first few months. We fought the council and their armies, we used any advantage we could and then some. Because we were so open to change and building on what man had created, we could utilize the latest technology to make up for our lack in numbers. We actually looked to be winning the war overall, and soon figured that we would be walking to the council building as victors by year's end. But then the enemy began to change. They began to use modern technology, thus removing that advantage from us. But more importantly, our plans were consistently being leaked. Every move we made they seemed to somehow know, and within months all the years of pushing we did against them were undone. Arvida realized we had no chance, at least not that day. With her final order to our rebellion, she ordered everyone into hiding. She ended up surrendering to the council, and was imprisoned awaiting execution.”

“B-but the rebellion wasn’t even her idea to begin with! She just wanted to change a broken system!” Talia cried out.

“I know. But the council saw it as 9th dimensional chess that she had been playing all along. As they saw it, the whole election was some elaborate scheme to start this bloody rebellion. So they had decided the only punishment was to **** her for the names of her fellow rebels and execute her while she held no weapon, thus damning her to Helhiem.”

Talia covered her mouth in horror while John stared at Frida confused. “Wait, why does the existence of a weapon matter?”

Frida was about to answer when Talia interjected. “John, in our faith you must be holding a weapon as you die in order to have your soul to even get a chance at paradise. Otherwise you are sent to one of the worst of the 9 worlds, doomed to become a zombie under the control of Hel.”

John’s eyes went wide, and he gave a small nod. “Understood. Wait, how do you know about all this, Frida?”

Frida gave a sad sigh. “Because those of us from the original inner circle, the ones that were still alive that is, snuck into prison to break her out. However, she knew that if we broke her out we would only be putting ourselves in danger and she would have none of that. With her last order, she told us to kill her after giving her a sword, so that the council wouldn’t have the pleasure of damning her soul.”

All of them sat there in silence, the weight of the story causing the air to seem heavy. Talia was contemplating what this perspective meant to what she had learned, and that maybe she had it wrong about who Arvida was and what the rebellion meant. Many holes in her education about the recent history of Alfheim seemed to be filled in, and she was not all too keen on what the council tried to keep hidden from her and her generation. Frida was lost in the sea of her memories, reliving some of the happiest and saddest years of her life. John, meanwhile, had one more question in his mind.

“So, um… out of curiosity, is there a different protocol for naming a child born during war?”

Frida and Talia both gave him a confused glance. “What are you talking about, John?”

John cleared his throat. “Well, I was thinking about all the puzzle pieces I had learned at this point, and seeing how they fit with the story you just said. The only thing I cannot figure out is the discrepancy in Talia’s name. Now I'm wondering if that is just something you did in the rebellion.”

Talia quickly interjected before her mom could speak, “John… What did you see my name as?”

“Um, when I first observed you, I saw your name as Talia Nevergreen.”

A look of shock overcame Talia’s face, and a look of horror and shame overcame Frida’s. Very slowly, Talia turned to look at Frida. “Mom… Explain.”

Her mother stayed silent for a moment or two, unable to look her daughter in the eye. Talia continued to stare her down, until Frida softly spoke up.

“The Nevergreens were an elven noble house who produced one heir of note in my lifetime. The name of that heir, and the leader of the rebellion, was Arvida Nevergreen.”