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The salt of the sea clung to the

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wool of Astrid's thickest sweater as she pushed

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the wooden oars into the freezing water.

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Around her, the colossal stone walls of the

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fjord rose like sleeping giants, their steep cliffs

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striped with ancient gray rock and patches of

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stubborn, wind -scoured moss.

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The water beneath her skiff was ink -dark

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and unnaturally calm, a liquid mirror reflecting the

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heavy, bruised purple canopy of the overcast sky.

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Nestled at the very foot of the precipice,

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where the mountain finally yielded to the tide,

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sat the tiny village of Scarve.

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From the water, the brightly painted timber houses

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looked like spilled berries against the slate -colored

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wilderness, a fragile, stubborn pocket of warmth tucked

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away from the rest of the world.

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Smoke curled lazily from a single stone chimney,

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dissolving quickly into the damp Scandinavian air.

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Astrid rested her oars, letting the heavy silence

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of the fjord wash over her.

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Here, time seemed to move only with the

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slow, imperceptible shift of the tides and the

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circling of gulls high above the jagged peaks.

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With a gentle pull, she turned her skiff

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toward home, the rhythmic creak of the oarlocks

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the only sound breaking the vast, breathtaking stillness

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of the northern afternoon.