Karina Mikkelswife is the mother of Hal Mikkelson and widow of Mikkel Fastblade. She owns an eating-house in Hallasholm.[2]
Description[]
Karina was a small woman[3] with strikingly good looks.[4] She was known to be calm and confident, even in high-stress situations, such as when she was captured as a slave.[5] She also is from Araluen which is where she was captured from.
History[]
Karina was born in Araluen somewhere on the western coast, where she was eventually captured and taken as a slave during a Skandian raid. When she was taken back to Hallasholm, she immediately caught the eye of Mikkel Fastblade. He brought her and set her free immediately.[5]
Both Thorn and Mikkel had fallen in love with Karina,[6] though she ended up marrying Mikkel and, in 635 C.E., bore a son, Hal.[7] Mikkel was later killed in 639 C.E.[8] when he and Erak's crew attempted a raid in Santa Sebilla. With the funds he left behind for his beloved, Karina was able to buy an eating house to support herself and Hal and became a respected member of Hallasholm's community, maintaining a friendship with many of her husband's old comrades and friends, such as Sigurd, Svengal and Oberjarl Erak, as well as struck up a close friendship with Hannah Olafswife, who's son, Stig, would go on to become Karina's own son's best friend.[9] For years after Mikkel's death, she continued to receive suitors, though she rebuffed them all.[10]
After the Skandians' slaves were convinced by Halt and Will to aid in defending Hallasholm from the Temujai, Karina took it upon herself to partake in ensuring success for her adopted homeland, rallying her fellow Araluen woman together to create more arrows for the training archers. During the Battle for Hallasholm, Karina took it up herself to deliver fresh arrows for the former slaves, risking the arrows of the Eastern Riders in the process.
The Outcasts[]
Six years after Mikkel's death, Karina found Thorn Hammerhand passed out in the lee of her eating house. With Hal's help, she roused him and brought him inside, where she berated him for his self-destructive behavior. On her suggestion, Thorn agreed to work in the eating house and move into the lean-to behind the house, allowing him to help support Hal, thus making good on his promise to Mikkel. However, she required that he stop drinking, and he agreed.
Six years later, while Karina was at the market, Thorn, Hal, and Stig Olafson had built a water cask in her kitchen. However, it collapsed due to inadequate support, flooding the kitchen just as she arrived home. Later that year, Hal had a falling out with Thorn when Hal revealed Thorn's former status as Maktig to Stig. She and Hal had a heart to heart, with Karina explaining Thorn's perspective.
When the Herons left with Thorn to retrieve the Andomal, she informed Erak Starfollower of their plan, and accused him of being to hard on them. Erak, however, gently revealed that he had hoped they would go to retrieve it, as it was their only chance at a normal life in Skandia.
References[]
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