Raevyn stood in the water with Bjorn with her fishing pike in hand. They stood in silence as they always did in times like this then finally they shot their pikes into the water and each emerged with a fish. Raevyn's was much larger then Bjorn's and she teased him because of it. "Ah ha! I am the champion! Bow to the Queen of the Fishermen!" She waved her fish in front of his face as she cheered this.

Bjorn scoffed as he pushed her hand away and climbed up onto the dock. After putting his own fish into his bucket, he extended his hand to help her up. "You are almost eighteen, are you not? And yet you still act like a child."

Raevyn accepted his help and tossed her fish into the bucket with his. "You are one of the few who allows such behavior, Bjorn. I must take advantage of it. My guardian wishes me to be proper as does my future husband." Disdain dripped off every word she spoke like venom from a viper's fang.

"When really you would rather joke and kill?" Bjorn asked with a 'hmm' tone to his voice, trying to ease the conversation. He knew all too well that Raevyn was not too pleased with her impending arranged marriage.

"I want nothing more than to fight," Raevyn answered with conviction, "To finally prove I am meant to be Viking. That I am Viking."

Bjorn sighed because of all Raevyn had gone through growing up because of who her father was, which was why he chose to focus on her mother. "Anra was a fierce Shield Maiden and one of my father's closest friends. You need not prove yourself to us."

"If my mother was the only factor I would not have to," Raevyn countered. "Why did my mother marry Athelstan? The Christian traitor." Raevyn spit after speaking her father's name because in her life it brought nothing but shame.

Bjorn tried to bring her some comfort in her lineage. "Your mother married Athelstan the Viking, not Athelstan the Christian. Remember that."

"Sometimes I am glad my mother died before she could see what my father had become. If only my guardian did not have to refer to my father as 'The Christian' every time she spoke of him, then perhaps I would not feel so strongly to prove myself." Raevyn rolled her eyes heavily when she heard Aslaug call out to her and Bjorn. "Speak of the demoness herself."

Raevyn's mother died in childbirth and her father killed by Floki. With no other family, Ragnar took it upon himself to take her in as a way to honor and remember his friends. When Ragnar left, the responsibility reluctantly fell onto Aslaug's shoulders and thus became Raevyn's guardian.

"Shh," Bjorn playfully said to her with a nudge and walked with her as far as he could before they needed to break off – Raevyn to tend to her duties and himself to go to the Great Hall and find out what Aslaug wanted.

Raevyn went to her quarters to change and while she was in the process of doing so she heard the door open. Turning back and seeing Ivar enter the room, she didn't bother to cover herself up and proceeded to get dressed since this wasn't the first time he's done this. In fact, it had become a normal thing between them – Despite the fact that she was arranged to be wed to his brother.

Ivar climbed onto her bed with a satisfied grunt as he watched her. "I never grow tired of this."

"What?" Raevyn asked as she looked at him over her shoulder. "Watching me dress or imagining what you want to do to me while I do it?"

Ivar smirked at her. "Both."

Raevyn pulled up her dress and turned round to face him. "I do not think Sigurd would appreciate the thoughts going through your mind right now. After all, he and I are to wed."

"And when will that be, hm?" Ivar asked in reply since talk of Raevyn's wedding to his brother Sigurd has been going on for almost a year now and yet nothing.

Raevyn sighed in cold fury at that question because she did not know when the date would fall upon them and did not wish it to. But Aslaug ordered it – the Queen ordered it so must be done or face her consequences. Finally, she answered his question, "When your mother announces it."

"Well, since she has not announced it yet, perhaps you should kiss me before it is too late?" Ivar looked at her innocently as he asked, "Put me out of my misery?"

"I have kissed you once already, or have you forgotten?" Raevyn asked, yet moved closer to him anyway.

"We were children," Ivar retorted with his eyes locked on hers. "Doesn't count."

Raevyn moved as if she was about to kiss him but moved to his ear instead to whisper, "Whether it is my desire or not, I am to wed Sigurd. I will remain loyal to him."

Ivar rolled his head with a groaned, "You will be mine one day, Raevyn. The Gods will make it so."

Raevyn placed her hands on his shoulders as she said, "If the Gods will it then so it shall be. Until then, I remain loyal to Sigurd. However, I will let you see me in your dreams. I will see you all later at the cabin." She smiled playfully before kissing his forehead then grabbed her bag and left.

Ivar sat there on her bed for a moment because he needed to process things. Ever since they were children he had wanted Raevyn. It didn't matter to him who her father was because he could see the Viking in her. Ivar could see there was a side to Raevyn that was dying to get out and he believed it was because of the arrangement to wed Sigurd that it never came out. In Ivar's eyes his brother was holding her back as well as keeping her all to himself – two things that did not sit well with Ivar at all so he intended to do something about it.

The brothers had a successful hunt and were preparing to sit down for their meal outside the cabin when Raevyn saw Bjorn approaching in the distance. "Which one of you is in trouble?" she asked the brothers after calling out that their eldest was coming.

Sigurd walked up close behind her, asking, "Perhaps it is you who is in trouble?"

Raevyn pushed Sigurd back as she answered, "I doubt Bjorn would come all this way just to tell me that."

"For a woman who is about to be my bride, you are not very kind towards me." Sigurd did not sound pleased about that.

"Can you blame her, brother?" Hvitserk joked as he joined them. "Mother merely picked your name out of a cup and deemed it law."

Sigurd was not amused and did not care for the fact that Raevyn was laughing about it. "You think this is something to laugh about?"

"It was funny," Raevyn explained, even though she felt there was no need to. "I have a right to laugh, Sigurd."

Hvitserk walked up behind Raevyn, threw his arms over her shoulders and looked at his brother over them. "Yeah, brother, she has a right to laugh." He then proceeded to tickle her like he did when they were younger.

Sigurd's face hardened at this display because he knew how his brothers all wanted Raevyn in their own ways. And he knew his mother only agreed to the marriage because he happened to ask her first. At the time she was very keen on having Raevyn become someone else's responsibility but since then, nothing. The sooner Raevyn became his wife the better because then he would finally be able to show her her place.

After Bjorns arrival he sat with Raevyn and all his brothers outside the hunting cabin and told them what he had just been informed of, including the fact the settlement in Wessex had been destroyed almost as soon as Ragnar had left it all those years ago.

"Do you think father didn't know?" Ubbe asked after hearing it all.

"It's possible," Bjorn answered as he poked at the fire. "In those early days it wasn't easy to navigate the sea."

"He knew," Hvitserk countered while tending to the hide. "He had to."

Sigurd was taking care of the rabbit when he interjected, "If he did, he should have told the people. Everyone lost relatives. Fathers and uncles, sons and daughters. They would have demanded revenge."

Ivar felt like he was pointing out the obvious as he handed Raevyn a drink beside him. "That is why he did not tell them."

"What do you mean?" Ubbe questioned from the table.

"It was a waste of time," Ivar explained. "They were dead! Ivar wanted to sail to Paris. He wanted to be famous. Isn't that more important?"

Things were silent for a few moments before Bjorn spoke. "You could say that."

"I could say that?" Ivar asked incredulously. "What does that mean?"

"Here's what it means," Hvitserk answered, "at least to me. Our father abandoned us. And Raevyn. We were just kids and he ran off. Only the Gods know if he is still alive. And now we hear he kept this big secret from everyone – That he was not truthful or honest."

Sigurd was clearly disgusted. "It makes me feel sick. How could our father not tell the people what had happened?"

Raevyn knew this was between the brothers but she took that moment to chime in with her own thoughts. "Maybe is Ragnar told them, they would have demanded his head on a platter. And would have found a way to get it, too."

Bjorn pointed to Raevyn with his stick as he looked at Sigurd. "I was thinking the same. Not so elaborate, but then again, I am not Raevyn."

Raevyn took that as a compliment.

Ubbe turned to Bjorn as he spoke. "If it's true – if it's true that our father lied to his people and abandoned them, then I hope he never comes back."

"He betrayed our name," Hvitserk spat. "If he ever came back I would kill him."

Hearing this made Bjorn rub his forehead and sigh.

"Me, too," Sigurd agreed.

Ivar finished his drink and threw the cup at Sigurd. "Screw you. All of you. He never did anything wrong. He is our father. And that is the end of it. You all sound like a bunch of Christians."

Raevyn's shifted a bit uncomfortably at that comment but did not say a word, only sipped at her drink.

"I love our father as much as you do, Ivar," Ubbe defended.

"Who said I loved him, Ubbe?" Ivar countered. "I said I admired him. He's Viking."

Raevyn raised her cup to that because she agreed with Ivar on that.

Sigurd caught that and scoffed a chuckle. "And what do you know of being a real Viking, Raevyn? Your father was a Christian."

Raevyn felt her blood boil as she pulled a knife from her belt and lunged at Sigurd, pinning him to the ground as she held it at his throat. "I am more Viking than you will ever be, Sigurd."

Ubbe groaned because childhood habits seemed to die hard. He couldn't remember a time where Raevyn didn't pull a knife on one of them and threaten them when they made her angry as children. So, he did now what he did then, when he wasn't the one being threatened. Ubbe went over to Raevyn, picked her up, and sat her down where she came from beside Ivar. "And to think the two of you are to marry." Ubbe shook his head at that before moving on like nothing had just happened.

Ubbe turned to Ivar as he said, "We all want to understand what our father did, and what he was. As his son, his fame does not interest me. What he used his power for," Ubbe tapped the side of his head, "now that is what interests me."

Ivar scoffed at his words and Hvitserk pointed something out to them, "By now, my brothers, there will be a lot of anger in Kattegat. Now they know the truth. Our father betrayed a whole generation of people."

Sigurd glared at Raevyn before acknowledging what Hvitserk said, "So if he ever came back…"

Bjorn cut him off right there. "I don't think he is ever going to come back. I think what happened in Paris finally broke him. You can all say whatever you want, but he was a human. People started to talk as if he was a God. He was not a God, he was a man! A man with many dreams and many failings. I've learned that in the years since he went away. If I was him, I wouldn't come back." He looked to the fire in silence for a moment before continuing. "Despite all his failings, he's still the greatest man in the world to me."

Raevyn was walking in the marketplace when Sigurd approached her, took her arm, and guided her away from the stalls a bit out of sight. "Let go of me," she seethed as she pulled her arm from me.

"How dare you behave in such a way. Embarrassing me in front of my brothers!" Sigurd was still enraged about that.

"I did nothing that I have not done a million times before," Raevyn countered. "And how dare you speak to me in such a way? My mother married a Viking! What happened after her death means nothing. Both my parents were Vikings." Despite not feeling it with as much conviction as she spoke it, she was trying to take Bjorn's words about her father to heart.

"I will speak to you and do whatever I wish to you whenever I like," Sigurd countered as he grabbed her arm again and removed the knife from her belt. "You are to be my wife."

"And why is that?" Raevyn asked in a 'hmm' manner. "Did you only convince your mother to order me to marry you just so you could have something your brothers didn't?" When he did not answer, she laughed. "You did, didn't you! No wonder the Queen threatened me if I did not marry you. Remember that Sigurd – I am only marrying you because my life depends upon it. Not because I want a life with you."

Sigurd's face hardened and he held the blade to her throat as she had done to him. "When you are my wife, you will behave as I say!"

"Careful, Sigurd," Raevyn whispered, feeling no fear. "You're starting to act like Ivar. I must say, it suits him better."

Before Sigurd could react to that he heard Ubbe's voice from behind him, calling out his name. Sigurd lowered the knife, which Raevyn instantly took back, and turned to his brother. Hvitserk and Ivar were with Ubbe and swords were drawn. "What is it, brothers?"

"There is talk," Ubbe answered. "Ragnar is back."

Raevyn was not about to miss this and instantly went along with the brothers through the crowd to see if the talk was true – And it was.

Ragnar walked towards them and smiled at his youngest son. "Hello, Ivar. There is no mistaking you." He then placed his hand on Raevyn's shoulder. "Ah, Raevyn. You look just like your parents." Ragnar leaned forward and whispered, "You have your father's eyes." With that said, he stepped back and looked around him. "It appears my return is not welcome."

It was nice to know that Raevyn wasn't remembering this wrong about Ragnar – He changed topics so quickly that one barely had time to process to say in response to one thing before he moved onto another.

Ragnar looked at his sons as he said, "You've obviously all made up your minds about me." Now he started to pace a little in front of them. "I cannot blame you for that. So…Well, boys. Who is going to do it, then? Who's going to kill me?" At their silence he said, "Well, I don't mind. Go ahead. Please."

Ragnar stopped walking in front of Hvitserk. "What about you, Hvitserk? You think you're a man now? Huh?" He leaned closer and whispered, "I dare you. Put me out of my misery." When Hvitserk said nothing he repeated, "Do it," over and over again before shouting it out. At the gasps of the crowd he shouted, "Look at these people!", as he moved out towards them. "They no longer support me! Look! Why would they? I am your leader and I just left." He added some dramatic walking at that moment. "What kind of leader does that, huh?" Ragnar shouted at the crowd, "What kind of King abandons his people?!"

After taking a breath he turned back to his sons, speaking in a quieter tone than before. "What kind of father abandons his sons?" Now he looked to Raevyn, "What kind of guardian abandons his charge?" Ragnar took some deep breaths before asking, "So, who wants to be King?" But still, there was no reaction.

Ragnar addressed the crowd as he pulled the Sword of Kings from its sheath and shouted, "You all know how this works! If you want to be King, you must kill me." He approached a man and held the Sword out to him, bowing his head. "Take it." When he did not, he asked again and again but no reaction. "No one? Really?" This made Ragnar drive the Sword into the ground. Looking right at his sons, he demanded to know, "Who wants to be King?!"

End 'Episode' 1