Oh, goddamn
My pain fits in the palm of your freezing hand
Taking mine, but it's been promised to another
Oh, I can't
Stop you putting roots in my dreamland
My house of stone, your ivy grows
And now I'm covered in you
Once again, Jaehaera awoke from Sihtric shaking her shoulder. "Jaehaera," He whispered to her as he woke the girl. "Jaehaera, wake up."
Jaehaera sat up at once, only thinking the worst had happened. "Sihtric, what's happened? What's going on?"
Sihtric shook his head, seeing her worry. "Nothing bad, lady," he told her. Then he smiled. "Your father, Young Ragnar, and the others."
Jaehaera jumped up quickly at his news to get dressed and gather her weapons. She quickly put on her shoes. Then she looked at him with that wild smile he had seen only a few times before. His girl had returned, maybe not completely, but she began to peek through. "He is?!" she asked him.
"Yes, they are, lady," Sihtric repeated. He couldn't help but return her bright smile. He paused only when she had thrown her arms around his neck. The two hesitated for a moment, realizing what happened.
Jaehaera pulled away. "Sorry, I-"
"It's alright, lady," Sihtric told her. He gave her a soft reassuring smile. "Come, let's go see them." She nodded at him, and together they gathered their things to walk out. Clapa waited at the door for them, and then the three walked to greet her father and the others. Behind her father trailed a great number of warriors.
They found her father and the others riding into the courtyard. Ragnar next to him, Hild on the other side, the big man Steapa, Bjorn, a dark-haired man she hadn't seen before, and Beocca. Her father looked different, skinner. Like a slight ghost of her father. She hesitated for a second when she saw him, then she ran to him. She threw her arms around his neck and he lifted her off the ground in a bear-like hug. When he finally placed her on the ground, he placed a kiss on top of her head. "Where's mother?" she asked her father worriedly since she also didn't see Halig. A short, fat, pig-looking man also traveled with her father. She did not like the look of him, nor the air around him.
"Do not worry, child," her father told her. "She is safe."
Jaehaera nodded shortly, "and Halig?" she asked her father, but in her heart already knew the answer. Her heart broke for her father, as he placed a rough hand on her cheek. And she nodded again. Hild was the next to wrap her in her arms.
"Jaehaera!" She greeted happily, and the two women embraced. "Oh, how I missed you, thank God you are alive and safe."
"I missed you too, lady," Jaehaera answered the woman. "We watched and listened as you said. Stuck to the shadows."
Hild also held the girl's cheeks, something everyone seemed to do since she had been a child. "Good girl."
"Where is she? Where is my wild niece?" Ragnar's voice boomed from behind them. The two laughed when they saw each other. He didn't miss a beat before throwing her over his shoulder and spinning them around.
"Uncle Ragnar put me down!" She commanded him with a laugh, but he did and they shared a hug as well.
"You sent the girl with the apple, didn't you?" he asked her with a knowing smile. Her aunt Brida appeared behind him with a bright smile and placed an arm on hers before they shared a hug as well.
She nodded, keeping her smile, "yes, Earl," she answered him. Showing her that she had been there, listening.
"Of course you did," He answered with a chuckle. "Uhtred, I do not know where she got her brilliance from, but it certainly was not you," he joked, and they all laughed. "It's good to see you." his eyes found the dark-haired boy next to his niece. He liked the look of the dark-haired boy, he looked like a warrior. "You stayed with her? Kept her safe?" he asked the boy. Her father looked at Sihtric as well.
Sihtric gulped and nodded, "yes lord," he answered with a bow of his head.
Ragnar clapped a hand on the boy's arm, "thank you," he told him. "Uthred, you should keep this one, the gods know what trouble she put him through." Ragnar made a face at his niece, which she returned before the two shoved each other.
"It's good to see you uncle, Clapa and Sihtric and I were growing tired of the terrible saxon accent," She commented. "It was beginning to set my teeth on edge." Brida and the others shared a laugh. Spare the few Saxons that traveled with her father. Hild did laugh at the girl, missing her sharp tongue.
"Beocca!" Jaehaera greeted and hugged him as well, and he laughed.
"Hello Jaehaera," he greeted and held her shoulders gently when they pulled away. "I'm glad to see that the Lord kept you safe. I found myself worried from time to time when I heard about your father." She smiled and didn't say anything about him thanking his God.
"He kept you safe it seems too," she answered with a smile.
The dark-haired man in armor that stood next to her father stepped toward her. "Finan, lady," he greeted with an Irish accent, she had never heard one before, but she liked it.
She looked up at him with gratefulness, "you were with my father?" she asked him. She could tell, he looked just as skinny as he did, maybe even worse. He had scars on his face that seemed to be fading, and the discoloration her father had.
Finan nodded sadly, "yes lady, I was," he replied. The group watched their interaction with curious eyes. Her family knew how intuitive the girl was, and wanted to know what she would make of him. Hopefully, she would confirm their already positive thoughts.
She felt his exhaustion, and his pain as she placed a gentle hand on his arm. "Thank you," she told the man. "Thank you for staying with him."
Finan didn't expect the girl's reaction, but he smiled and nodded. Knowing he would protect her from this moment on. He saw her father in her, and her in her father as well. They were almost the same. "You're welcome lady," he answered.
Bjorn found her next and wrapped her in his arms, and the adults turned to their conversations. Sihtric bit back his jealousy and walked away with the others. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he held her tightly. Pulling his head from her neck only to kiss her gently. "Thank the gods you are safe," he whispered thankfully once the two pulled away. "I worried."
She shook her head. "I have Clapa and Sihtric with me," she replied at the same volume. "No harm would have come to me," she reassured him.
"I know, but still," He told her. Jaehaera sighed inwardly at the jealousy she felt from him.
She smiled at him. "You came for me," She smiled at him, repeating his promise to her back at him.
"I always will," he told her again before the two walked off to the others.
*********************************************************************
Ragnar sat with Uhtred. He looked at his brother curiously, "your daughter has grown up," he told her father. "It seems like you will have some more trouble before you soon enough," he told him with a chuckle.
Uhtred looked at the two with a raised eyebrow, "what are you talking about? What trouble?"
Brida and Ragnar shared a laugh. "Uhtred, your daughter is beautiful," Brida didn't need to remind him, but she did. "And you have two teenage boys looking at her already. I can smell the jealousy in the air, it's suffocating actually."
Uhtred shook his head. "No, she is with Bjorn," Uhtred told them. "What jealousy could there be?"
"With that dark-haired boy that stayed with her, kept her safe," Ragnar told his ignorant brother. "You cannot tell me you do not see it."
Uhtred did see it, once, but chose to ignore it. "It will not be a problem. She is with Bjorn, they care deeply for one another. Sihtric is just a friend to her."
"So that is the boy's name," Brida commented. Then she looked at the teens. Her niece sat, leaning on Bjorn while they ate. They reminded her slightly of Uhtred and herself when they were younger. The boy Sihtric sat between the big man, Clapa, and the Irishman. He watched her, it seemed to Brida in the short time that she had seen them, Sihtric always watched her. "I think I like Sihtric and her better together. I know he will protect her. He did protect her. I know you love our son, but you can not deny that there will be if there already isn't tension." Ragnar nodded in agreement with Brida.
"Bjorn came to find me with Hild, I am grateful to him," Uhtred reminded the two.
"And you should be, brother," Ragnar told him. "But he still left her, what if they got overpowered? He should have stayed."
"He did his duty," Uhtred told Ragnar, finishing the conversation. But the other two did give him something to think about.
Jaehaera braced herself against Bjorn as he might fall over from laughing at the Irishman and his stories. Did she at times struggle to understand him? Yes, but she thought that's what made the story better. "Finan, no more," she gasped as she held her abdomen in pain from laughter. The others were laughing just as hard as well.
"No, you have not heard the best part," Finan told her, wiping his eyes. "He was crying like a baby, so I just.." He trailed off and finished by making a stabbing motion as they all descended into laughter once more.
"Oh, his eyes were popping out," Finan continued. Then a call was heard from behind, causing them all to turn.
"Uhtred," the turd king's high-pitched, pinched voice sounded. Just one word from him, and Jaehaera already wanted to plunge her daggers into both his eye sockets and twist. The three teens shared a look of anger and annoyance. "Uhtred, will you join me please?"
There was an awkward pause before her father stood up to join the man. His eyes narrowed, and his muscles tensed. Jaehaera went to her pocket to grab hold of one knife, readying it to throw if needed, but Bjorn grabbed her arm gently. Jaehaera sighed and shook her head before stealing a sip of Bjorn's ale, making Finan chuckle. He opened his mouth to continue the conversation, but all that came out was a slapping sound. They all turned to see Guthred holding his cheek, and she huffed again. She wished to see her father slap the turd king more than anything if he couldn't kill him.
"Uhtred! No!" Beocca warned. Jaehaera scowled and groaned.
Bjorn and Finan looked down at her with curious eyes, "what?" Bjorn asked her with a smirk.
"I missed it, tell him to do it again," Jaehaera told Bjorn. Which made Finan and the others around laugh. She didn't know why, she had not made a joke. Ragnar walked to her father as the useless king left her father.
"Sihtric?" Her father called. She and the others turned as he got up to go to her father and uncle at once. He glanced at her for a second, and she nodded encouragingly at him. Bjorn swallowed down his jealousy with great effort.
"Yes, lord?" He answered her father when he got to him.
"You lied to me," her father told the boy. She shook her head, he would never. The group watched the three men.
"Lord, I-I would never.." He trailed off. He could hear his own heartbeat in his ears. He didn't lie to him. He always told him the truth. Bjorn had to push away a smile that threatened to appear on his lips.
"You told me that Dunholm has no weaknesses," her father reminded Sihtric. Jaehaera bit at the dead skin on her lips nervously, and Hild tapped her hand as if telling her to stop it. Hild gave her a look that comforted her. Hild and Brida both noted the girls' worry. "Yet the last time I was there, I saw a door along the east wall. Access to a water spring."
Sihtric looked at both Ragnar and Uhtred with confusion. Sihtric, nodded anyway. "Yes, lord, but," he began. Ragnar watched the boy with amusement, he wasn't in trouble. Uhtred was just messing with him. He took note of how the boy wanted to please his brother. "You could never bring an army through it."
Uhtred placed a hand on Sihtric's shoulder with a smile. "I would not be bringing an army."
The rest of the night had been spent talking of battle, and how they would go about taking Dunholm. After her father found her and they talked for a bit as well. He informed her that now he and her mother were married, and they could be a true family now. But Jaehaera reassured him that they already were a true family, and she gave him her congratulations. She wished she had been there to see it. Once she went to bed, and Bjorn walked her to her room, Uhtred called Sihtric over again. Staying beside Ragnar and Brida.
"Yes, Lord," He greeted the man, looking nervously at the other two.
"You found and protected my daughter I hear," Uhtred told him, trying not to smile in gratitude. Finan sat with them as well. "Hild and Jaehaera tell me the same story."
Sihtric hesitated and nodded once. "Uh, yes, Lord," he answered, "I did."
Uhtred paused and breathed. He studied the boy before speaking again. "Thank you," he told him. The adults could see the tension release slightly. "I will be forever thankful for it. Jaehaera and my wife are the two things I love most, and you saved them both I hear." Sihtric looked at him, he guessed Jaehaera had told him everything. "I know you think I don't like you, Sihtric, my daughter as you know, has a big mouth. I do, I trust you now because of this." He kept the boy's eye contact. "You will always have my protection."
Sihtric blinked before answering. "Thank you, lord," he replied.
"You can go," Uhtred told him with a smile, as the boy still stood in front of him. "Rest, you will need it."
Sihtric nodded again. "Yes, lord. I will." Uhtred watched with the others as Sihtric walked off with Clapa. Maybe he could see with his brother and Brida spoke of. Though, he would continue to watch him.
*********************************************************************
They rode for Dunholm the next morning and arrived at the stronghold in the early afternoon. They waited for the cover of darkness before sneaking closer. She walked with her father, bow slung over her shoulder, sword in its sheath at her side, and daggers and knives in their pockets in her coat. She carried in hand her ax. They were all armed to the teeth, itching for bloodshed. She had not seen a battle like this before, but she trusted her instincts and the others around her. Especially her father. If he trusted these men, then she did as well. Her aunt and uncle were easier to trust than the others.
"This is madness," the man she had been introduced to call Athelwold spoke quietly to Beocca. His voice was soft, but it traveled to her with the help of the spirits in the trees. Though he had a helmet on, Jaehaera couldn't be too sure that inside held anything to protect. She couldn't stand the man the longer he stayed with them. Athelwold looked out at the stronghold and at the group around him. He looked like he could shit his breeches any second. Jaehaera couldn't help but scoff at him with Sihtric and Bjorn next to her doing the same. "The rightful King of Wessex helping to avenge the death of a big, hairy Viking. It would make a good song." Athelwold sighed.
That big, hairy Viking the pig man spoke of happened to be her grandfather. No one will ever sing a song in your honor, short man she thought, but held her tongue. Bjorn gave her a look when he heard what Athelwold had said, and warned her with his eyes not to say anything. She rolled her eyes but agreed. "Should you die, Aethelwold," Beocca began, "I shall have it written."
"Ho, ho," Ragnar's voice called for them to stop. The army did as he commanded. "Shh," he told the group. "This is where we part," his voice was soft, but it carried. "We will show ourselves only when we know the east door has been opened. We will attack. Then it is up to you to save us, we will be lambs to slaughter" Ragnar told her father with a hint of a smirk.
"That's cheerful," Jaehaera mumbled, and Finan elbowed her with a grin.
"Lord, may the gods be with you," Clapa told him.
Her father laughed, "you just watch over Ragnar, hmm?"
Her uncle and father looked at each other. There was a silence between the two of them for a few moments. "Good luck, little brother," her uncle told her father. The two headbutted each other gently. Bjorn and Jaehaera turned to each other, he took her cheeks gently in both hands and they connected their foreheads. The two didn't have to say anything. They knew.
"See you all in Dunholm," Uhtred called as he took off with the others falling behind him. Jaehaera chuckled as she tapped Sihtric's helmet to fall over his eyes, as she passed he went to trip her, but she caught herself before going to follow her father with him. Bjorn watched the two as he stood with his father, Ragnar, with a tight jaw, and annoyance. Which didn't go unnoticed by Ragnar. Their actions earned them a sharp look from Father Beocca, who hadn't been around them for their usual antics.
Her father and the others began the long jog around to the east wall. Jaehaera watched the stars overhead to make sure she and her father's company went the right way. She, other than her father, had the best direction. "Move quickly," her father commanded as they continued on their path for Dunholm. "We must be in place before dawn." Jaehaera took in a shaky breath, she had speed, but she hadn't run this much in some time.
"This path is fit for goats only," Sihtric commented, and huffed as he rolled his eyes.
"You be quiet, and watch where you're placing your feet," Father Beocca answered him. Jaehaera snorted at Sihtric when he got scolded by Beocca, and only chuckled harder when only seconds later, Beocca tripped on himself. That earned her a scowl from both Hild and her father. Jaehaera shrugged and kept her smile.
Finally after what felt like hours of running uphill, and through trees did they reach a clear crossing place between them and the stronghold. The moon stayed high in the sky and provided them with some light, but not much. She apparently did not feel like being all that helpful tonight. Her father and the others looked around them, finding guards in the ramparts on top of the stronghold. Hild and Uhtred ran to the wall first. Their movements were quiet. Sihtric gave her a nod before going with Beocca next, to which she returned. Jaehaera watched with wide eyes as Sihtric stumbled and fell on his way. Her eyes went immediately to the guards on the ramparts, breathing a sigh of relief when they didn't notice him. Which Finan noticed, and he smirked and shook his head. Steapa, the King's guard, and Athelwold went next. Though Athelwold looked reluctant.
Finan and Jaehaera waited in the bushes, staying low so as to not be seen. Jaehaera drew her bow and held an arrow that was ready to be lit. She waited for her father's and Finan's signal, she watched the older man. Dawn came upon them now, and Jaehaera still waited for Finan to give her the go.
"Now?" She asked him hurriedly, waiting to release the arrow, and got with her father.
"No," Finan hissed at her.
"Now?" she asked again, and Finan nodded. She grinned before quickly dipping the arrowhead into the fire, pulling it back, and letting it fly high into the sky. High enough for her uncle to see it.
"Good girl," Finan told her with an encouraging pat on the back. The two readied themselves to sprint to the others. The guards left as Finan and she ran to her father and the others who were already decimating the guards present. "We're late," she grumbled.
"There will be more blood for us later," Finan told her as they both jumped down into the pit, and followed her father through the open door and into the castle. "They are fast," Finan commented as they ran back to their little group.
"They are," Jaehaera agreed as she drew her bow again, and notched an arrow. She held it in place.
"Jaehaera, aim for the guards," her father commanded as soon as he saw her and Finan. "Steapa, the gate!"
"Aye," she answered him as she released an arrow into the back of a guard. Finan and Sihtric came to cover her back. She hit another and took a small amount of joy as she watched him fall from the ramparts.
"Jae!" Sihtric shouted as he saw a guard come for her. She ducked in time, turning to use an arrow she had in her hand to plunge into the neck of the guard. Jaehaera slammed into the shields with the others. She dropped her bow, took her sword, and cut through a man that came up from behind Sihtric that he wouldn't see coming.
Finan hauled her by the back of her armor behind their shields. She dropped down quickly and sliced at the legs of the men, using her smaller form in her favor as her father taught her to. A creaking sound came from behind them, accompanied by screaming men as her uncle and their remaining forces burst through. They joined them in the fight and helped them break the opposing shield wall.
"Kjartan!" her uncle yelled as he moved quickly past her, a mess of blond hair. "Kjartan, where are you!"
"Shield wall!" Her father's shouts caused her to fall back behind the lines of shields, stumbling back through the men until she felt a hand grasp her arm and pull her up.
"Are you alright?" Finan's voice asked her. Jaehaera nodded, wiping some blood from her face as best she could. "Not hurt?"
"No, this blood isn't mine," She replied with a devilish smile that Sihtric found entirely distracting. "The gods are with us today," she smirked at Sihtric.
He returned her smirk, admiring again the wildness in her eyes like a wolf and the blood on her face. For some reason it made her blue eyes look more menacing. "They are."
"Sven!" they heard Kjartan yell, as he looked through a window at something. His yelling caused her to finally get a look at the man. He was tall, and scary in some ways. His beard looked scraggly, and scars covered his face. She narrowed her eyes at him. He's the man that separated her family.
"Kjartan, you are beaten," her uncle taunted him. "Either you die alone, or together with all your men! What is it to be?" Her father and aunt stood on either side of him.
Kjartan pushed through his own shield wall. "You wish to fight me, baby Ragnar?" Kjartan taunted back. His sword shone like it had not touched battle. His voice sounded like one her father used to use for fable villains in stories he told her as a child.
"No," Her uncle answered him. "No, I wish to kill you." She nodded with her family in agreement.
"Drop your weapons," Kjartan commanded his men. "Shield! It is over." one of his men handed him a shield.
"Ragnar, no," her aunt told Ragnar, trying to hold him back. It didn't work. "No, no, Ragnar, don't give him the chance!"
"Brida," Her father began.
"Burn the bastard, Ragnar," her aunt told him.
"You, and me," Ragnar told Kjartan.
"Move!" Her father commanded. "We make the square!" They all pulled back, they were making the square now. Bjorn's hand found hers finally as all the men held the line, and backed up until the space became large enough for a square.
"Your sister," Kjartan began his taunt, "made a good whore!"
They struck at one another, blows glancing off shields as men began to cheer for their respective sides. Bjorn's hand held onto hers tighter, and his helmet laid at their feet. "She still does!" Kjartan continued. Kjartan knocked their shields together, before swinging. Then they both retreated to resting positions once more. "Only now we have to tie her down, to keep her from scratching when we hump her, all night."
Jaehaera groaned before cheering for her uncle as he swung at the vile man insulting her family. She never knew her aunt Thyra like she did Brida, but her father spoke of her often, and fondly. He told her how, in some ways, they were alike. Both are gentle in nature, but fierce when needed. She looked at Sihtric who watched her uncle fight his father. The two men exchanged blows until Kjartan earned a lucky shot and sent her uncle to his knees. "Get up!" She shouted at him. But he didn't need her to tell him, he did quickly.
"Come on, Ragnar," Clapa encouraged along with others. And this time it's Jaehaera's turn to grip Bjorn's hand tighter as she watches his father, and her uncle, fight.
"I killed your father," Kjartan taunted. Jaehaera cheered for her uncle with the others as loud as she could. Her father and aunt watched the girl with affection before turning to Ragnar again. Her father knew the love Jaehaera held for not only her uncle, but her whole family. Family's all to her. "I burned your mother!"
Ragnar roared, launching a fury of blows at Kjartan. She could feel the fury in his blows, the hatred. She would never want to be on the receiving end of his fury, ever. Her uncle knocked the other Dane's sword from his hand and forced him onto his back. "Go Ragnar!" her aunt cheered. Ragnar plunged his sword through the man's sword hand at his wrist. She looked at her uncle in shock and fear, he was not giving this man Valhalla. She glanced at her father, then at Sihtric who watched in awe of Ragnar, and with a smile. Sihtric grinned down at her, which she returned. Though she questioned why he smiled, this was his father.
Ragnar tossed the man's sword away from him before digging his own out of the man's wrist. Ragnar knelt over him, finally driving his sword through the man's neck and sending him to Corpse Hall. She cheered with the others, before watching in horror as her uncle completely hacked into the man. She could barely hear her aunt yelling for Ragnar to stop; telling him no over and over. She looked over at Sihtric and his mismatched eyes. He flinched at each blow her uncle gave his father. Bjorn went to cheer with her father a few moments ago, now knowing his lover was safe.
"Sihtric," she whispered to the other boy, but he didn't hear her over Ragnar's screams. She placed a hand on his arm. "Sihtric...Sihtric, don't watch," she told him, but he didn't listen. "Sihtric, do not look," she commanded him, gripping his shoulder and turning him to her.
His mismatched eyes looked into her blue ones. He finally saw her and listened, her voice full of compassion for him. He saw her. He saw her not know what to do, all the emotions flooding around her, drowning her. Her heart broke over and over again with each scream her uncle let out in anger and brokenness. But he saw her comforting him as well. Her blue eyes were brighter with her tears forming. "It's over, he's gone," she whispered to him. Her gentle hand held his arms.
"Stop," Brida told her uncle softly. Now everyone could hear. "Stop."
She didn't want him to see her tears fall, but they did anyway as she turned to see her uncle over Kjartan. She watched him scream in his face, and more fell. Finan came to stand next to the two teens. He placed an arm on the girl's shoulder. Jaehaera turned to see her father no longer cheering, but crying with his brother. He went to him and held Ragnar's shoulders.
"Ragnar," her father began, trying to gently pull him away.
Ragnar tried to push Uhtred away. "No!" He screamed at her father as he continued to fight him.
"Ragnar!" her father yelled sternly. "It's over!" he told him. Ragnar stopped fighting slowly. "It's over." her father held onto his older brother tightly. They all turned their heads in the direction Uhtred did. A wild-looking red-headed woman appeared from Kjartan's hall with dogs at her side. "It's Thyra," her father told his brother. The men both stood up for her as the dogs barked.
"You left me," Thyra told them harshly, weakly like she had been crying. She probably had been. She looked at her brothers angrily. "Both of you, you left me!"
"Thyra no," her father told her.
"I swear," Ragnar began. "We didn't know you were alive.
"You are no better than the bastards who whored me!" She told her brothers. She looked at the woman in slight shock, mostly as the dogs barked at her side, but never attacked.
"Thyra please," her father began again as the dogs continued to bark.
Thyra walked forward, "the price for my life," she began angrily, "is yours," she threatened.
Father Beocca stepped in front of both men. "No," he told her. She looked at the Father in shock. "Thyra...I forbid it." Thyra looked at the man as if questioning whether or not to trust him. "Please." Thyra looked between her brothers and the priest in front of her. "Please, let me help you." Jaehaera rolled her eyes at him but wondered if he had a point. He wouldn't convert her. "I am a friend," he told her. Thyra tilted her head at the man, and the dogs stopped barking.
Thyra let out a yell that made Jaehaera flinch before Thyra ran back inside.
*********************************************************************
Bjorn found her soon after everything. She sat by herself picking at the grass around her. "Jae?" he called to her, not wanting to scare him. But his voice made her jump anyway. "Jaehaera, are you okay?"
Jaehaera looked up at him for a second before shrugging. He wanted to smile at the girl still having a slight red tint to her face from the blood, but he didn't. "I do not know," she answered the boy as he sat down behind her, taking her into his arms. She gladly leaned back against him. "I guess I should be glad he's gone, and my aunt is now safe."
"But?" he asked, sensing there was a 'but' coming as he began to undo her braids for her.
"But he did not deserve that," she continued. "He got what he deserved by death, and not going to Valhalla. Not what followed. That, what my uncle did, was brutal. No one deserves that."
Bjorn couldn't disagree with her. "I know, but," he began softly. "Sometimes, killing them isn't enough."
"But it was done, Bjorn," she repeated. "He had honored them." She felt her eyes well up again as her mind replayed the events. Everyone's faces as they watched.
"You are empathic, Jaehaera," He reminded, "you can not keep letting these emotions consume you," he told her with concern as he continued to brush out his girl's hair. "I know this is why you are saying these things."
"I cannot always help it, Bjorn," she reminded him. "I wasn't prepared for that. I don't know why...I just wasn't." She shook her head.
Bjorn opened his mouth to speak, but Hild found them. "Sorry, but can I speak to Jaehaera, Bjorn?" the woman asked. He kissed Jaehaera's head before getting up. Hild took his place.
"I saw your face," Hild told her. "Today, watching your uncle."
Jaehaera sighed. "I do not know why I don't feel better now that he is gone, and my family has been honored," She repeated what she had to Hild as she had said to Bjorn. "I have never seen my uncle fight that way before."
"Do you not think Kjartan deserved his death?" Hild asked as she finished undoing the braids that Bjorn had started to undo.
"He did," Jaehaera answered the woman immediately. "But what followed...he did not deserve Valhalla. I know that. But it was done, Hild."
"I know, lady," Hild agreed. She looked at the girl in front of her. "You have a compassionate heart, Jaehaera. Nobody deserves a death like that, one that brutal."
Jaehaera shook her head."Hild?" she asked Hild. The woman hummed as answered. "What is Corpse hall to the Christians?"
"I would have to know what Corpse Hall is to answer that for you," Hild answered the girl kindly.
"It is a place in Hel where Níðhöggr lives and chews on corpses," Jaehaera explained to the nun. "It is the afterlife for those guilty of murder, adultery, and oath-breaking."
"I think that would just be our hell, lady," the nun answered. "Valhalla to you is what Heaven is to me."
Jaehaera nodded, "so if Kjartan had been a saxon," she began curiously. Hild loved how curious the child's nature stayed. "Would he have gone to hell?"
"If he wasn't saved, lady, yes he would," Hild answered her.
"Good," Jaehaera replied flatly. "He does not deserve paradise. Either one." Hild smiled behind the girl as she brushed out her hair in the firelight for her