Such a lovely ending! Heh, there's a dog in Storms named Pepper. She's an Australian Shepherd, though.
Thank you for writing this story. It's been a pleasure to read!
That's pretty funny, what your grandmother said. I don't think that not coming out to her has anything to do with strength, though. That stuff is hard, and sometimes we worry about the feelings of others as well. Not just about whether they'll accept us, but also how it'll make them feel. I don't think I'll ever come out to my grandmother, not out of worry about her accepting me, but because she wouldn't understand and it would be distressing to her.
I'm actually part Norwegian, part Finnish, but I've lived in the UK and spoken English fluently since early childhood. When I write in English, setting my stories in the UK makes the most sense to me. Thanks for reading, and I'm glad you're enjoying my story!
Thank you, and thanks for all your comments. I'm not sure I'd go as far as to say that Loz is just as much a victim as Daniel, but they've certainly both been through hell.
I saw a TV programme about it years ago. Always found it very fascinating. The domestication syndrome that he mentions at the end there is really interesting. In the north of Norway you'll see it in domesticated reindeer, herded by the indigenous population, the Sámi. Wild reindeer are uniformly brown and grey. The domesticated ones range from completely white to nearly black. It's all very cool.
It uses the Norse symbols for the th sound. ð is th as in 'this'. þ is th as in 'forth'. I could also read it quite easily based on my knowledge of Norwegian, Swedish and (a little bit of) Icelandic. I think Gaelic is actually further removed from old English than Norse is.