"Where are we going, Floki?" Bálburunn called after her father figure, trying to keep up with his much longer limbs.
"You will see, my child."
"Why do you not just tell me? This is the last time I'll follow an old man into the forest." The redhead muttered, stumbling over rocks.
They were deep in the mountain, in a small valley that had not received snow yet. Small babbling brooks surrounded them, decorated by river stones and scattered evergreens. Frogs croaked around them with the occasional bird singing a song over their heads. The air was still cold, but not nearly as frigid as it was back in Kattegat. It had taken a few hours to get there, and Bálburunn was growing tired.
"Could you not have asked someone else to come with you? I need to train." Bálburunn mumbled. "I'm sure Ragnar would have gone with—"
"The Earl is busy! He would not wish to be bothered with such things."
Bálburunn frowned. Ragnar was a close friend to Floki. The two would go to Hel and back together. "Did something happen between you and—"
"Enough talk about Ragnar." The boney man hissed, strutting forward. "You must know where this is located. My child needs to know."
Bálburunn gulped at that. She kept her mouth shut for the rest of the walk, clutching to her bow.
Floki finally paused, looking around the area before running to a small mound of river rocks. He grabbed a handful, lifting them up to reveal a skull. "Hello, papa." He muttered. Bálburunn stared. He never talked about his parents. She could only imagine how strange they were in order to create such a mad person. Floki moved a few more rocks, revealing the full skeleton of his father. Under its hands was a sword. He pulled it out, brushing dirt and moss off of it.
"Your father's sword…" She muttered, kneeling down to Floki's level. "Floki, does that mean you…"
"Yes. Me and Helga are getting married." He grinned at the girl. She smiled back, ecstatic.
"Oh, that is wonderful." She gushed, hugging the man. He flinched for a moment, not used to the girl's affection. After a moment he returned the hug.
"You were right, my child. She is the only woman for me."
"The only one who will tolerate you." The girl quipped, grinning.
They both stood up after covering the skeleton. Floki wrapped the sword in a cloth before shoving it into Bálburunn's satchel. He jumped on top of her, giggling excessively.
"And so the start of my new life begins!" He squeaked, causing the girl to laugh. "I wonder when you will get married, my child? Will it be to someone we do not know yet? Or will it be to someone close to us? Only the gods know."
She shook her head. "Neither. I will be a warrior and a ship builder – never a wife."
"Hmm." The man rolled his head. "That is a bold statement. But the gods have already told me you will marry."
She kept her mouth shut. Floki was right about these sorts of things. He always knew what the gods were thinking.
When they made it back to Kattegat, Bálburunn was pulled away by the rest of Helga's bridesmaids. It seemed as though she was the last to know of the wedding. There were a few small fishing boats decorated with flowers that floated by the docks, ready for the bride. Helga walked out of the hut in all white, with a crown of flowers laid over her golden locks. She grinned at Bálburunn, who was thrown into a blue dress. She couldn't remember the last time she wore something other than trousers and a tunic. The women piled into the boats, leaving the biggest one for Helga. Bálburunn clutched onto the oar she was given, dunking it into the water and rowing them downstream.
The crowd that waited with Floki roared as the women came around the riverbend. When they neared the shore, Floki ran through the water, picking up his soon-to-be wife. He giggled as he ran over to the priestess. Torstein carried Floki's father's sword behind the couple, smiling calmly. Bálburunn docked the boat, walking over to the ceremony.
"…and now you must present this new sword to the groom." A new sword was handed to them. "This new sword transfers the power of protection from the father to her new husband." Floki and Helga switched swords, and the crowd cheered. "Now the rings."
Bálburunn stepped forward, placing the rings onto each one of the swords. "Floki, do you swear to the gods that you want to marry this woman?"
"I swear with the gods as my witnesses." He whispered, staring into Helga's eyes.
"Helga, do you swear to the gods that you want to marry this man?"
"I do swear."
The couple giggled as they leaned their swords toward each other, picking the rings off the top.
"Then you are married."
The crowd roared and Floki giggled. Bálburunn cheered with the men, raising her arm.
Drinks were handed out almost immediately after, and soon enough the crowd became rowdy and drunk, chatter and laughter decorating the shoreline as the sun set. One of the men gave out a special kind of mushroom, which Bálburunn took gladly. Torstein seemed to have taken them too, for he swayed around the firepit, staring up at the stars. He gave a lazy smile when he spotted the redhead, gently grabbing her arm and pulling her away from the festivities. He pulled out a big satchel.
"What is...?" Before Bálburunn could finish her sentence, Torstein opened the bag to reveal more of the mushrooms. They grinned at each other.
They ended up wandering through the forest, slowly edging over to Kattegat as they talked about nothing.
"It will be a girl. I'm sure of it." Bálburunn muttered, bumping into Torstein.
"No, no, no. The gods have already given Floki a girl. Helga's child will be a boy."
"What do you think, Tyr?" Bálburunn shouted up to the sky. Torstein let out a laugh. "Blink once for boy, twice for girl."
A star blinked across the dark sky. Bálburunn gasped while Torstein shook his head. "That wasn't Tyr!"
"How would you know?" She pushed him. "The gods have spoken! It will be a girl!"
They laughed, stumbling up the path.
"I wonder why he did not invite Ragnar." Torstein muttered, gulping down what was left of his ale. He swayed into the young woman accidentally, stumbling ahead.
"Everything Floki does is for Ragnar." The girl spoke back, lazily stepping up the path. "He wanted to do this for himself and Helga only."
Rollo and a few guards greeted the two at the gates, giving them strange looks at their dizziness, but letting them pass nonetheless. They stumbled into the Earl's longhouse, where Ragnar was sitting by the fire, deep in thought. He stood up when he spotted the visitors.
"Torstein. Bálburunn. To what do I owe the company?" Bálburunn stumbled over, giving the man a big bear hug. Ragnar laughed, leading her over to a chair.
"We come bearing gifts." Torstein said, dropping a pouch of the mushrooms onto Ragnar's lap. He gave the strawberry blond man a wide grin.
"Is this what you two have been up to?"
They nodded. "We are becoming closer to the gods."
"Well. I shan't refuse a gift as wonderful as this." The Earl said, looking back to his bedroom for a moment to see if Aslaug was still awake. After no sound of movement, he popped two mushrooms into his mouth. Torstein and Bálburunn each took one more.
Before long, the trio were taking part in a contest to see who had the better shot under the influence.
"Torstein, Torstein!" The redhead giggled, wobbling around with a bow and arrow in hand. "Stay still!"
"I am still!" He said, pointing to the mug atop his head. The girl pulled back the arrow, aiming at the mug. She released, knocking it off his head easily. Ragnar sighed from behind her. He ran up, hugging the girl and kissing her head.
"We cannot win, Torstein! We are up against Bálburunn the Bearslayer!" He rocked her back and forth as she laughed.
"You won with the bow," Torstein said, stumbling over to the corner of the building. He pulled up a shield with Ragnar's crest on it. "But how do you fare with the axe?"
"Oh!" Ragnar shouted, running over to the weapons rack. He gathered three axes and scampered back over to Bálburunn.
"Bálburunn gets first throw! As close to the center as possible!" Torstein called from the other end of the room. Bálburunn nodded, grabbing one of the axes, stumbling a little. She rocked back and forth, attempting to focus on the shield. She finally raised the axe and launched it at the wooden circle, hitting just a little above the center dot. The two men cheered, grabbing their horns to gulp down more ale. Bálburunn fell into one of the dining table chairs, emptying the mug she had into her mouth.
Ragnar picked up an axe next. "My turn!" He raised the axe, but lowered it after squinting to find Torstein. "Would this not be easier outside?"
"Cheater!" Bálburunn called. Ragnar rolled his head, raising the axe once more.
"Torstein?" He placed a hand over his eyes.
"Here! I'm here!" Torstein waved with his shield raised.
"Is your shield up? It is so dark in here!" Ragnar said, wobbling, before throwing the axe quickly. It landed to the right of the center, about the same distance as Bálburunn's. The redhead let out a hearty laugh, falling back in her chair.
Footsteps sounded from the entrance of the longhouse. Bálburunn stopped laughing when she saw Rollo's stern face, but Ragnar and Torstein continued chuckling.
"This is my brother." Rollo said to a smaller, skinnier man. Ragnar ran over to the bow and quiver, pulling out an arrow and aiming it at the visitor.
"And you are?" He asked with a smirk. Bálburunn giggled.
The smaller man let out an exasperated sigh. "You sent word that you needed a new ally to attack Wessex." Ragnar lowered the weapon. "The word reached us, and we are happy to say that we can provide such an ally." Bálburunn let out a drunken scoff. "An Earl with enough ships and men to make your raid a great success. His name is Earl Ingstad."
"Earl Ingstad?" Ragnar frowned. Rollo gave his brother a look. "Earl Ingstad!" Ragnar shot the arrow quickly at the messenger, and Torstein had to jump over with a shield to block it, panting with wide eyes at his friend. "Never heard of him." Torstein laughed into the messenger's ear as Ragnar raised his bow with another arrow equipped. "Why is he not with you?"
"He did not want to waste the journey." Ragnar looked at him. "He wanted to be certain that you were still in need of an ally."
"When can I meet him?"
"You can meet him at any time."
"Yes!" Ragnar walked toward the envoy with a wild smile.
"He is ready to attend."
"Yes!" Ragnar all but ran towards the man with the bow still drawn. "Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!" The envoy ran out, closing the doors behind him. Torstein and Bálburunn chuckled drunkenly. Ragnar threw the bow and quiver down, running over to Torstein to grab his shield. Torstein stumbled over to the last axe, picking it up and turning to Ragnar.
"Are you ready?" Torstein asked, raising his axe and wiggling the fingers of his free hand. Ragnar nodded excitedly.
"Go Torstein!" The redhead cheered from behind him. He threw the axe hard, clipping the shield and instead hitting the front wall. Ragnar fell over, laughing. Bálburunn spotted a small lute in the corner, wandering over to it as Torstein and Ragnar roared with laughter. She picked it up, plucking the strings in the chords she remembered from a previous night of Floki's drunken teachings.
"I dreamed a dream last night, of silk and fair furs," Bálburunn sung, catching the men's attention. Torstein walked over to her.
"Of a pillow so deep and soft," Torstein joined in, "A peace with no disturbance. You are strumming it wrong!" The strawberry-blond man held out his hand. She sheepishly passed the instrument to him, giggling. She stood up to watch him play. He strummed faster than she did, picking up the beat to almost twice her speed.
"And in the dream I saw, as though through a dirty window, the whole ill-fated human race, a different fear upon each face."
Bálburunn moved to the music, singing along and clapping her hands as she spun around.
"The number of their worries grew, and with them the number of their solutions, but the answer is often a heavier burden, even when the question hurts to bear."
Ragnar grabbed her hands, dancing with her, spinning her around every now and then. They grabbed their feet and hopped, but Ragnar fell over, causing Bálburunn to laugh.
"As I was able to sleep just as well, I thought it would be best, to rest myself here on this fine fur, and forget everyone else."
The girl helped the dizzy man up, grabbing his hands to stabilize him and guide him to a chair. He grabbed a lock of her hair, pulling a little bit on it, fascinated with how it glowed under the firelight.
"Ouch, Ragnar!" She said, pulling his fingers off.
"Bál, can I braid your hair?" He asked, eyes wide with a childish wonder. The girl gave him a confused smile.
"Do you even know how to?"
"Of course. I used to braid Gyda's all the time. Sit, sit!" He patted the floor in front of him, and Bálburunn obliged. Torstein put the lute down, standing up to go get more ale.
Ragnar parted her hair, starting to braid the center of her head. Bálburunn stared at the fire, accepting the mug of ale Torstein passed to her.
"This is hard!" Ragnar whined, tugging at her curls.
"I thought you said you knew what you were doing!" She teased at him.
"I do, but Gyda's hair wasn't curly. It was soft and smooth." His voice got quieter nearing the end of his sentence.
"Do you miss her?" Bálburunn mumbled.
"Yes. Every day. I wonder, sometimes, if she would have been anything like you."
"She was much kinder than I ever was. Gentle." Bálburunn sighed, sipping at her mug.
"Yes, but..." The man collected his thoughts as he grabbed at more hair. "I would have liked her to be strong."
The redhead stared into the fire, leaning back against Ragnar's knees. "Perhaps Aslaug will give you a daughter."
"The Seer never mentioned one." He muttered. "But," He moved his hands to the sides of her head, pulling it back, "I do not mind having an almost-daughter. Especially one as fearsome and great as Bálburunn the Bearslayer." He kissed the side of her head, making her laugh. Ragnar wrapped his arms around her from behind, resting his head on hers as they watched the fire.
I really fucking loved writing that last scene. I mean, it's all from the show but holy crap that's like my favourite side of Ragnar. Drunk Ragnar doing stupid drunk men shit is sooooo funny. loooooove it.
Anyway, this chapter gave me the warm fuzzies. Well, most of it did, I guess. To make up for...I dont know...putting you guys through 19 chapters of angst? lmao.
Thank you to Superdani4Ever and bellaphant for the reviews! If you're enjoying the story don't forget to fav/follow and drop a comment! Thanks!