Brinnie
Iceland, AD 985

Brynhildr Eiriksdottir, or just Brinnie, was a girl who knew what her life was like. She had a mother and a father, a twin sister, Freydis, and three brothers, Thorvald, Leif, and Thorstein. She had spent her whole life in Iceland on her family's farm, and had her fair share of adventures.

Namely, killing a bear while exploring the woods. Which was totally the bear's fault. It had attacked her and nearly shredded her left arm.

Besides, they got meat for the whole winter. And feeding seven people was not easy.

Anyway, Brinnie was sitting on a hillside, trying not to think about what was going on in the field below her.

Which happened to be her wedding.

And now she was thinking about it. Great.

It wasn't that he was ugly or mean, Olaf was just . . . well, Olaf. And she wanted her independence, her freedom. Not to become like mother, who spent all day cooking and sewing and raising children.

She didn't have a problem with any of that. She had done a good deal of all of those, and wasn't bad at it, per say. She just wished she could be more like the women from the sagas. Like Skadi, the goddess of winter, who didn't have to do the wifely things that she would be expected to do. Or like Brynhildr the Valkyrie, who had mouthed off to Odin himself.

"Brinnie! Brinnie!" Freydis called, snapping the blond out of her reverie. "I want to show you something!"

"Is it a way to stop me from getting married to Olaf?"

"Well, if I can get it to work, it will," she said.

"What are you waiting for? Do it, do it!"

"Okay," Freydis said. "But it might not work quite right."

"Better than what I'm looking at right now," Brinnie said.

"A marriage lasting a grand total of a few hours, 'cuz first thing you would do in the morning is divorce him?"

"Yeah. Key words, there: In the morning. As in, after a night of being married and having to be his wife?"

"Oh. Right."

"Okay, what's this you're gonna try?"

"Right. It would transport you somewhere else. I'm not sure how far, but it'll be worth a try, right?"

"And what if you can't find me afterwards?"

"Then you use the reversal, duh." Freydis pulled two pieces of wood out of her pocket and drew her knife. She made a few inscriptions and handed one to Brinnie, keeping one for herself. "Oh, and Brinnie?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't take too long. Just a few days should cover it. But I can probably figure out how to send you a message if it's not safe yet and stuff, so . . . "

"I'll be back before you know it."

"Right, then. Be safe, sister," Freydis said, then began the spell.

A set of three overlapping triangles appeared, enveloping Brinnie. The world swirled for a moment, then everything went black.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed this story!

To the anon reviewer: I'm not sure what your incredibly long review was about, but thanks anyway?