069: diving into the astronomical twilight of our fears

December in Iceland, a waxing moon, Beowulf, and of course, monsters and fairies

In Iceland, the sun started setting before we could get to the rental car desk. By the time I was driving back toward Reykjavik city limits, the astronomical twilight had already dropped down around us, blanketing the landscape in deep cobalt blue. My friend called out directions as she looked for podcasts on Nordic folklore, leaving me free to look at what little I could see in the near distance.

Near the city limits, there was long, low building, so long that it continued as the only structure I could see to the east of the road for a couple of kilometers. In the deepening darkness, it looked like a factory or granary, very plain and economically built, with a height of maybe two stories and a long, uninterrupted, pitched roof. Running parallel to the roofline there was something approximating a narrow window or other opening, glowing with what could almost have been firelight. The simplicity and size of the building and the quality of the light made it seem like an encampment or …