Chapter 128: With Open Arms

### Story Date

Monday, 23 May, AD 1043/6551 ε.Κ/10 Shawwal 434 AH/11 Pu-Yue Huangyou Era Year 1/11 Skerpla ÅrO -1

## Appearances

### Locations

Sápmi
Vedrarfjord
Eigg
Caen
Berk
Al Jazīra Al-Khadrā
Constantinople
Caspian Sea

*However, social forces do not exist in isolation. Even apparently singular points of social influence exist in the midst of a web of cues, directions, impulses, and directives. A useful way in which to conceptualize social dynamics is through a concept called* dialectics*. Related to the dialectical method of Greek philosophy, social dialectics allows one to frame many social issues in terms of two or more social forces in opposition to each other. In such a framing, “society” can be conceptualized as a web or fabric suspended between numerous forces working in opposition with each other, each of them trying to pull the resulting network in a direction of their liking. Wages for workers is perhaps the archetypal example of a social tension, stretched between the employer, who wishes for the wages to be low—if not nonexistent, in the extreme cases of thralldom—and the laborers, who want them as high as possible.*

*Consider other such oppositions; the aristocracy will be in opposition to the peasantry in terms of rights and privileges, and possibly also in opposition to the royalty. Hedonists exist in opposition with the ascetics. The intellectual against the ignorant, and possibly the propagandist. The agriculturalist against the industrialist and each in turn against the preservationist. The artist against the censor. The pacifist against the martialist. The authoritarian against the libertarian. The anarchist versus the statist. The despot versus the democrat. And so forth.*

*Each of these in turn stretch the fabric of society between themselves, forming the social environment of laws, mores, attitudes, beliefs, concepts, traditions and systems in which they live.*

*—Nationbuilding: How People Move, Talk, Think, Organize, & Structure Themselves, 1888, Amsterdam University Press*

## Major Events

* Eret, Camilla, Merida, and the rest of their group leave Sapmi after meeting Eret's parents.
* Padráig shares with Fintan his idea of his family and other owners of unused tools forming a cooperative where they can hire out their tools so that they are actually used and earn extra income that way.
* Stoick and Gobber discuss how they fell for Mac Bethad framing Siward for the assassination attempt on Hiccup the previous year in May 1042.
* Esther's former in-laws receive the last of her repayments to them.
* Eret is assaulted by Norse men who don't like that a Saami man is courting Norse women but is saved by Rikard.
* Inga and Dogsbreath learn their parents reconcilled.
* As the Pecheneg civil war continues, Drago and Kasim discuss how to best use dragons in warfare, especially against other dragon riders.

## Characters

### Humans

* Eret's father (first appearance)
* Eret Eretsson
* Cami Berthasdóttir
* Fintan mac Ionatan
* Carthach mac Lommán (first appearance)
* Padráig mac Bran
* Stoick the Vast
* Gobber the Belch
* Rivkah bat Hadassah
* Lilach bat Ofri (first appearance)
* Rivkah's father
* Rikard Ruadhsson
* Dagur mac Oswald
* Hiccup clan Haddock
* Tuffnut Thicknutsson
* Fishwings clan Ingerman
* Folarin
* Mwenda
* Inga Roswynnsdóttir
* Dogsbreath Rolfsson
* Unnr Dogsbreathsdóttir (first named appearance)
* Demetrius Pachis
* Merida Dunbroch
* Dyana Berthasdóttir
* Drago Bludvist
* Kasim

## Analysis

### Epigraph Tie-In

* The epigraph discusses social forces in the context of societal issues. The chapter shows that in spite of Berk espousing inclusivity, a group of men decide to assault Eret for being a Saami courting Norse women.