Sooooo ok the reason why I haven't posted in months is because my phone won't work with the website anymore. I can't access my page which is why it seems like I feel off the face of the earth for several months. Sorry! I haven't abandoned my story! I actually have several more chapters to post, which I think I will all at once to make up for being gone so long.

Here's chapter three. Enjoy!

The evening before a parent leaves on a voyage should be spent around the hearth with the family, soaking up the rest of the precious time they had together. The sea was unpredictable, for you just never knew if there would be a sudden storm, or pirates waiting by ready to raid and pillage the ship, tossing your loved one into the sea with the Thunderdrums and Scauldrons. Yes, the last few hours should be cherished and filled with love, warmth, and affection.

That wasn't so for the Calder family.

It was an uncomfortable evening. Dinner was a short, quiet affair, with Ingrid sending glares to her husband across the table and Aric blatantly ignoring them. And Raegan sat miserably in her seat with her head resting sadly on her palm, being so lost in her mind that she was oblivious to the dark looks around her as she pushed her stew around with her spoon. About five minutes into the meal, she excused herself from the table to shut herself in her room. Several seconds later Ingrid did the same thing, and barricaded their bedroom door with their wardrobe and a couple of chests, making it impossible for Aric to push it open.

Stubborn Aric was unfazed by all this though. In his mind, he was right and they were wrong. The decision he made was for the good of his family, and they would have to accept that. So without a complaint, he finished his meal in silence, washed the dishes, and then settled down by the hearth with several furs to keep him warm and slept soundly. Raegan and Ingrid on the other hand kept tossing and turning in their beds.

By the time morning rolled around things were no better. Ingrid set the table with mechanical but forceful movements, the dishes clanging as they made impact with the table, Raegan sulked in a chair as she watched the leftover stew warm up, and Aric, once again, ignored the negativity around him, his mindset thinking it would all blow over by the time it came for him to leave, making Ingrid even more angry. It was a vicious cycle.

But Aric was proven wrong, for when the time came, it was still very, very heated. Aric's bubble deflated when he saw that his wife was still angry and his daughter was still brooding. The man didn't understand why they couldn't just let it go. He was the head of this clan, and his decision was final. Everyone was fine with it for ten years, until… Until his wife tried to convince him that Raegan should read the Book of Dragons. That lapse in judgment ruined the balance of everything.

Frustration festered within him, so much so that when his family came to the door with him, he turned and steadily returned his wife's glare, hoping it would show he was angry with her as well, only in Aric's eyes, his was justifiable.

Neither mate spoke first, only glowered at each other for several moments. The competition ended when Ingrid crossed her arms and lifted her chin, showing that she could do this all day if need be.

Well, Aric didn't want to delay his journey, so he decided to be the better viking and looked away first, down at his daughter.

She couldn't look him in the eyes, her face still downcast. Aric's expression softened, and he knelt down to look up at her. "Rae." Instead of moving her gaze from her boots to him, she remained as she was, and this frustrated him even more, and Aric briefly gave his wife a dark glance before focusing on his daughter again. "Rae, I hope by the time I come back, you'll have realized that I treat you this way because I love you."

Raegan's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as her father pulled her in for a hug, which wasn't returned, and she didn't have time to ask him what he meant for after he released her, he gave his wife another glare before leaving them.

After the door shut both women were frozen in their tracks for a few moments. And then they both unconsciously let out a sigh of relief. They gave each other alarmed glances after, and without a word hurriedly cleaned up the breakfast mess and took care of the dishes in the wash basin. But while they washed and dried, Ingrid and Raegan couldn't help but let their minds wander.

Ingrid pondered how this should have been a tearful parting, but instead it turned out to be a relief that her husband was going to be gone for several months, if her sigh of relief had anything to say about it. It was a hard bite to swallow, especially since they spent their last night fighting, but it was sadly the truth. She was almost happy that Aric was going away. Almost. There was a small part of her that worried he would face trouble on his journey, which was natural she supposed. But it never occurred to her that while Aric was here, it put an enormous weight on her shoulders that was hard to carry.

On the other hand as she blindly wiped the dishes dry, Raegan's mind was spinning like a Submarripers whirlpool brought on by her father's parting words.

I treat you this way because I love you. What's that supposed to mean? She wondered at first, then tried to make sense of things. OK, so I train everyday for hours and hours, to the point sometimes I feel like puking, which of course is unhealthy. I study hard during my lessons and rarely get a question wrong. I've never, ever broken the biggest rule stepped off the property, not even when every bone in my body aches to go. And now that I've read the Book of Dragons, I did my best to impress him with my vast knowledge and my confidence in being able to take one down.

But he's never impressed with my accomplishments… In fact, whenever I talk about how I mastered a skill, he interjects with a story about them, and when they did the same exact thing. He always talks about how they were soooooooo strong, and soooooooo smart, and soooooooo skilled. Or he does like what he did yesterday and gets angry when I show the slightest bit of confidence.

So what does he mean by saying he treats me this way because he loves me?

Raegan was shaken out of her thought process by her mother's hand. "Raegan?"

"Huh?"

Ingrid searched her daughter's eyes. "I asked you if you're OK. That bowl was dry five minutes ago."

Raegan looked down and blinked at the dish in her hand, and realized that her mother had indeed finished and that this was the last dish that needed to be dried. "Oh." She put the bowl on top of the stack and quickly put them away in the dish cabinet.

Ingrid leaned against the basin, crossing her arms in the process. She observed her daughter fumble with the dishes, nearly shattering them in the process. And once Rae finished, Ingrid's eyes drooped when the young viking scurried out of the house without a word, a confused and downtrodden expression on her face.

Ingrid knew now she was making the right choice.

A/N

I had a hard time ending this chapter because I was so excited to get to the good stuff. I'm sure once I've completed this story I'll rewrite some of it. My mind can be so spazzy sometimes… Ok all of the time. I promise the book gets more interesting.