There once was a man called Russell. He was born in a land of four kingdoms, to parents called Steve the Unlucky and Doreen the Burner of Things. He grew up also occasionally burning Things, such as a bunker that made a plume of smoke so high that the whole village was confused. He had two sisters, Emma and Kelly. From Kelly descended a nephew called Ryan.

Russell trained a rolling combat sport from a distant land and worked hard for a long to time save gold to travel. He flew on several friendly dragons to distant continents with exotic names like South America and Asia. This is how he found his partner and wife, Coleen.

Coleen was born the farthest West of her family, the descendent of journeypeople who moved between an old world and a new one. Her entire family was born on the Eastern border of the great Atlantic sea, spread out from Baltimore to Albany. Her father was Mark and her mother was Sharon. Her siblings were the descendent of the challenger, Delaney, and Jake the Wakelee Kaneborn.

Her birth far away from the places of her ancestry in the east and Europe seemed to set her destiny to travel and move thousands and thousands of miles. She moved around the Earth and found Russell in a distant land, and they travelled a great circle around the planet together in their first year. They fell in love and were always together, and a friendly sprite married them in the land of the Scots.

An irksome witch from Russell’s land of birth commanded paper and red tape, and she decreed that only those with enough gold could live in the country with the one they loved. Russell and Coleen worked hard and learned new skills and paid taxes to the Witch’s government, but the Witch did not seem to care. She changed the rules often. New gold levels here. Higher language standards there. More proof of LOVE, in all caps of course, over there.

And so Coleen and Russell continued their journeys, not really wanting to take on the Witch and her Office of the Home directly. Traveling is fun, anyway, and made for an interesting live. This is how they found themselves in China in the last part of the story. 

In the summer of 2016, they moved to Iceland.

When they arrived, they found that the land was much as when they had visited in winter. The sky was gray. The light was low and cast longer shadows. They arrived in sequence, with Coleen bringing the colourful wind of the Rocky Mountains at her back at 6:30 AM. Russell arrived later, the rain of England misting behind him. They entered the new land of their journey with the words of Vikings above them.

“Greater weight than wisdom a traveller cannot carry.”

That summer, an invisible castle would affect the weather of the local area. They would learn the names and words of people from around the world. They would meet local gnomes, birds, and dinosaurs. A valiant sheep friend would protect another, inspiring the Great Verse of Cheerios the Valiant, a famous verse. And they were to bring more of their clan to the place of Fire, Colour, Ice, and Rock.

But they first had to settle in the land of The Settlement.

From the village of skillful people nearby, a place called Ulfjotsvatn, they were offered a quiet place. Little did they know that they were next to a place of great power in Iceland. More than 90% of the power for the country passed through their front yard, and was beamed from the blue lake to the whole of the Great Ring of Movement.

Coleen and Russell, the Nomads, unpacked their greengrayblack clothing and pushed the beds together. This is a good place, they thought. And soon, they would meet another hero.

Next time: The Ballad of Cheerios the Valiant