If there was one thing Ubbe, Sigurd and Ivar could agree on, it was avenging their father's death in England. Odin, himself, had visited them not long after Ivar arrived home. All his wisdom affirmed the news they already dreaded – Ragnar was truly dead. His sons heard the last words spoken by their father and it gave them persistence, but it hit Ubbe hard. He retreated to the woods and the hunting cabin for a few days, collecting his thoughts in the silence and returned fresh, full of ideas and with hundreds of new arrows.

They needed an army. Not just a large raiding party, but men fueled with anger and hatred like them, to kill two Kings of England. It needed to be larger than the attack on Paris by a thousand men. Lagertha had already granted them permission to house an army for their purpose here in Kattegat but Lhyrie wasn't quite sure how they would accommodate an army that size. She remembered the army that went to Paris and how congested the city became then. If this army was to be larger than that, it would surely drown Kattegat.

"But how will they get it?" Sigvi asked her one morning as they were strolling the market stalls, shifting her restless infant in her arms to examine goods.

"Ubbe and Sigurd will ride out to Earls and whatever Kings are left," Lhyrie answered, popping a frozen grape into her mouth from a vendor.

"And you will go with him?"

"I haven't considered it." That was a lie, of course. Lhyrie had thought about asking Ubbe for her to come with him for days. She missed traveling and seeing new places. Kattegat, with all its new excitement was even growing dull for her now.

"Oh, but you have to!" Sigvi exclaimed excitedly. "Men need a woman to help negotiate." Lhyrie sent her a questionable look. "Oh, you know, to flirt and praise. To make the men feel special and rallied for a cause."

"I'm with Ubbe. I can't flirt and tease."

"But it's expected! Weren't you at court in Frankia? It's what the women do."

"I was mainly in the battlements with soldiers. Not in the tents of the commanders."

"And I can be your lady-in-waiting!" She squealed again.

"Sigvi -,"

"Ubbe is a son of a King. His companion would be expected to have a lady-in-waiting for travel."

"Torvi doesn't have a lady-in-waiting," Lhyrie stated.

"You weren't in Aslaug's Hall. Torvi might not have had a proper lady-in-waiting, but the slaves flocked to her. I'm sure she has one now with Lagertha on the throne."

"Anyway," Lhryie said, shaking her head, "I won't be going."

"So, you didn't learn how to flirt and manipulate in Frankia," Sigvi teased, "So what did the women teach you?"

"How to heal, of course," she answered.

Sigvi rolled her eyes. "They didn't teach you other things?"

"It's not like I can list them all on the spot. You try to recall every little thing you have ever learned."

"It just seems that every man that has gone to Frankia talk of the women there as goddesses. And I see the way Ubbe looks at you… I was just wondering if there was a secret."

"Is there something happening with you and Leif?"

"No, no," Sigvi rustled her son closer to her as the cold winds picked up, "After Biornolfr, our relationship isn't quite the same."

"I don't think there's a secret, Sig."

"Aren't the Franks… peculiar with their sex?" She asked, growing bright red.

Lyrie laughed and blushed as well. "You could have just asked me that from the start."

"So… is it true?"

She paused for a moment, trying not to blush too much in the market and lowered her voice, "There are multiple ways they please a man and how they can to you."

Sigvi giggled like they were teenagers. It felt that way, whispering and blushing about these things. "Have you tried any?" She whispered back.

"No, I haven't," Lhyrie answered, trying to suppress a laugh.

"Why not?"

"Can we talk about this away from the market?" She asked, trying to rush Sigvi back to her house and away from prying ears.

"Now do you feel better?" Sigvi asked, as she shut the door behind her.

Lhyrie moved to start the fire in the middle of the room and as the warmth filled the tiny house, she took Biornolfr from Sigvi's arms so she could warm up herself. The infant's cheeks were rosy from the cold winds outside but his eyes were bright blue and curious, looking around the house he wasn't used to in wonder. Lhyrie bounced him playfully on her lap as he giggled and blew bubbles on his lips.

"I can't wait for you to have one," Sigvi said smiling. "I'm surprised you are not with one already."

"I am not married yet."

"That does not stop some women."

"And if I do what the Frankish women do, it will be even longer without a child."

"But you haven't tried it."

"No," Lhyrie laughed. "I'm afraid I'd choke," she said after a moment.

Sigvi caught her meaning and let out a bellowing laugh that threw her off balance. "I don't think I would have a problem with Leif," she said between chuckles. "I thought that would be something only whores would do."

"It was quite common place in Frankia, believe me. And probably common with the whores here, too." Biornolfr shifted in her arms and nestled in her chest. Within a moment, he gave a slight snore. "He's heavy, isn't he?"

"He's almost a year soon. Finally starting to crawl on everything."

"He has your hair," Lhyrie stated, smoothing out his thin red curls.

"And he farts like his father," Sigvi stated with a yawn. "Excuse me," she apologized. "I'm trained to sleep when he does."

"Then sleep. Take my bed for awhile," Lhyrie said, pointing toward her bed behind the thin curtain that separated the room. "I'll watch him." She gazed down at the sleeping child and rocked Biornolfr gently in her arms. "Maybe it will get me in the mothering mood."

Sigvi yawned again and slowly made her way toward Lhyrie's bed. "You're amazing. Wake me when he does."

She was surprised how easy a baby felt in her arms, though he was heavy and her arms started to ache after a few minutes, as Sigvi's breathing turned heavy from her own sleep. Biornolfr's head rested gently on her shoulder and his red curls tickled her face when she turned toward him. A smile crept on her lips as the thought of her own child resting in her arms flashed through her mind. Perhaps Sigvi was right. She shook her head slightly to rid the fantasy from her mind as she heard someone running down the street outside.

"Our plan is coming together!" Ubbe boasted as he flung the door open, arms spread wide in triumph and a large smile illuminated his face. His blue eyes shined wild with excitement.

"Shhh!" Lhyrie hushed him, putting a finger to her lips and motioning at the baby curled on her chest. Ubbe cocked his head in question and looked first toward Biornolfr and then toward the still sleeping figure of Sigvi behind the curtain.

"What are they –,"

"I said 'Shh'," she whispered.

He crossed the threshold and kissed her lightly before gently patting the curls of Biornolfr in her arms. "Like I said," he whispered this time, "Our plan is coming together. Our first scouts have come back and earls are pledging boats and men for our cause."

"That's fantastic!"

"Sigurd and I are going to ride out to the most influential earls tomorrow, to personally see to their pledge." He plopped on the bench beside her and warmed his hands over the fire.

"Tomorrow? Why so soon?"

"So that this army is assembled by the time Hvitserk and Bjorn return," he answered simply.

"Where will you be headed? Are you and Sigurd traveling together?"

"No, min is. Sigurd will be traveling to Sweden to talk to Canute. I am headed south to Denmark. Earl Vik is said to have nine hundred men."

"Denmark?"

He chuckled and smoothed a piece of hair behind her ear. "I will be back before you know it."

"You will be taking men, of course."

"Of course."

"And shield-maidens."

"Perhaps-,"

"And you'll need a healer for a journey that far."

"Lhyrie-,"

"You've locked me out of your plans thus far. I can help," she said, shifting on the bench to look at him more directly. "I spent years with an army."

"I know," he said kissing her forehead. "But this is between brothers."

"What is that supposed to mean? That it is between men?"

"No, that's not what I meant. We have to figure it out as a family. Ragnar was our father."

"Yes, I understand that. But do you know how to deal with that many men. To handle an army and to command it? How to fight with it? I do. I have seen it. I've been apart of it. The last army you saw was when you were 12 and off to Paris."

"You don't have to prove yourself to me, Lhyrie."

"Apparently I do."

"Then you must come with me to Denmark," he said, running his hands through his hair. "But keep talking about battle; it makes me want to have you right here," he said, kissing her.

"Now look what you did," she said as she playfully swatted him away. Biornolfr squirmed and whined in her arms, kicking to be let go.

"Here," Ubbe held out his hands to take the writhing toddler. "Is Aunt Lhyrie bugging you?" He asked him in a sing-song voice and sat him on his hip. She gave a small giggle as Biornolfr tugged on Ubbe's braid and stuck it in his mouth. He looked so natural with a baby in his arms.

"What time will we be leaving tomorrow?" Lhyrie asked, poking the fire to stir the heat in the small room. Suddenly the thought of Ubbe holding a child, one day their child, frightened her.

"Tomorrow at first light… with the tide," he said, twirling in a circle as Biornolfr giggled. Lhyrie tried not to look at them. She felt guilty having thought of their future together but now having seen it, she shied away. "You'll have to bring your best dress. We'll bring a slave to help you."

"I don't need a slave, Ubbe."

"I need to impress Earl Vik. You must look your best."

"Sigvi can come and help me."

"She cannot come. She has this one," he shifted Biornolfr on his hip and poked his nose playfully. Lhyrie shifted in her seat uncomfortably.

"There are plenty of nursing mothers for a week or two to care for Biornolfr."

"You have talked to her about this?"

"She brought it up… today actually. And she was one of your mother's ladies."

"You didn't ask me about it before," he said, more of a statement than a question.

"I thought perhaps I'd be going more as a shield-maiden than your… companion," she said, wringing her hands to fidget with something. "If I was to go at all," she added softly.

"You are both," Ubbe said, placing a wiggling Biornoflr onto the floor and moved to sit on the bench with her. "And you will come as both."

"Boirnoflr will be covered in dirt," she said with a smirk as she watched the toddler crawl around her tiny kitchen.

"He can be cleaned. And I will tell Sigvi it was your idea."

"We should clean him before she wakes."

"I am already awake," Sigvi grumbled from the corner where she slept. "Don't you think I know when my son is getting into trouble?"

"He's not -," Ubbe cut off as he ran to grab Biornoflr from sticking his hands in the fire.

"He is being watched," Lhyrie told her as Ubbe wrestled him onto his lap.

"Go back to sleep. You will need your rest," Ubbe added. "We leave for Denmark tomorrow."

A large yawn came from the far side of room and Sigvi stretched awake. "Smart choice, Ragnarsson."

"Really Sigvi, go back to sleep," Lhyrie said as her friend rose and yawned again. She grabbed the still fighting Biornoflr from Ubbe's lap and carried him onto hers. "Your son is fine."

"No, no," Sigvi said, peeking out from behind the curtain. "It is as Ubbe said… we leave for Denmark tomorrow and your hair needs washed."

"My hair is fine," Lhyrie quipped at her and handed her son to her. "And will only dirty on the journey there."

Sigvi sat on the bench with them and cradled Biornoflr in her arms. He finally stopped rustling and settled down. "So, who are we visiting?"