Warning: Slash! More slash...though of a different kind then usual...
Dedication: To everyone who's following this series!
Author's Note: You all wanted a little bit of happiness, so here it is. This isn't as sad as the others. But I stick with the theme. The horribly obvious theme...and I know this isn't horribly historically accurate, but it's just fan fiction folks. And at the moment, Sev's so far back in time it's hard to find info.
The Longest Journey
Norseland
//I am beginning to hate this.// Severus thought to himself, feeling that if he had a body, he would be ill. When he came to, he was surprised to feel bitter cold. He was shivering, and again female. //Wonderful.// He could see little, other then white. Blinding, freezing white. He was wrapped in animal skin and fur, completely swathed from head to toe. And he was wearing pants, which was unusual. //Where and when am I now?//
He/she was moving. Ploughing through the snow, forcing a path through knee-deep drifts. This was a far cry from the dry heat of his past few lives. Ice was crusted to his/her eyelashes, and there was an uncomfortable cold sensation down the back of his/her tunic.
"Sigyn!" Someone called out from the whiteness. "Bear to the right!"
Severus felt his host-body turning, and decided that he must be Sigyn. There was suddenly a light, down low. He/she was headed towards it. //Thank God! I doubt we could have taken much more of this cold...//
Inside, there was a long dark tunnel. But it was warm, and well lit. He/she pulled back his/her hood, and was met by a pair of amazingly deep blue eyes.
//Sweet Mary, I wish I were a man...// The woman he was looking at was-in his eyes-classically perfect. She was tall, with her rich blond hair pulled up in braids about her head. Her skin was like porcelain, her features bold and sculpted, and though it was hard to tell, he form looked strong and full under her leather and fur.
"Ragna, if you ever ask me to go hunting in weather like this again, I will kill you." Sigyn/Severus said, strutting past the smiling woman and towards a brighter light.
"Oh come now! It was worth it!"
"And a useless waste of energy. We have no kill. I lost three arrows." Sigyn, it seemed, was not amused.
"But didn't you enjoy it?" Ragna pressed, grabbing Sigyn's arm.
"No." Sigyn frowned, narrowing her eyes. "Next time, think twice about what I find enjoyable."
//I see more of myself in her then in the others. Save for perhaps the first one...does this mean I am more suited to be a woman?//
"Come. The bathing room should be empty. And the water warm." Ragna grabbed Sigyn's hand, pulling her into a large hall full of loud, blond men and women. It was wooden, with long trestle tables lining the hall before an enormous hearth. In all honesty, Severus was not sure where he was.
"Ragna!"
A man had spotted the two women from across the hall. He was not quite as blond and pale as the rest. His hair was almost brown, and his skin was weathered. He looked a bit of a brute, his leather tunic tight across rippling muscles. A large axe hung from his belt, and his well muscled calves were exposed above his leather boots.
//Ah. Here he is most likely. I can already guess...I love him, he's with her.// Severus decided he could predict the way these things would go. It always seemed the same...
"Bodolf!" Ragna smiled at the man, who was frowning at both of them.
"Why did you go out in this blizzard?" He seemed more angry then concerned.
"To hunt." Ragna shrugged. "We are going to clean up now..."
"I want to talk to you." Bodolf grabbed Ragna's arm, eyes shifting to glare at Sigyn/Severus. "Alone."
"Bodolf, you can at least let me clean up..."
"Not with *her*." He sneered at Sigyn/Severus, who titled her head up defiantly.
"Don't be a child, Bodolf." Sigyn snapped. "And take your hand off of Ragna."
"This is none of your business, taefa!"
"Bodolf!" Ragna pulled her hand away, looking shocked. Severus hadn't understood the last word, but he could guess at the meaning.
"Leave it, Ragna." Sigwyn/Severus waved the other woman away. "If you want to make an issue of this Bodolf..."
"You have already made an issue. You are shamed, and you are bringing Ragna down as well. I will not have it!"
"She isn't bringing me down!" Ragna said, her lovely features set sternly. "You are being foolish."
//I am confused.// Severus could make neither heads nor tails of this situation. Generally, everything was rather clear. Things were quite blurry here...
"You are being foolish, Ragna! You're setting yourself up for shame! You call yourself a warrior, yet you run about with this...this cow!" He spat the word, blue eyes turning to ice as he looked at Sigyn/Severus.
"That is *enough*, Bodolf!" Ragna placed herself between Sigyn and Bodolf. Severus could feel Sigyn tensing, preparing for a fight. He was oddly comfortable in this body.
"Come, Ragna. Either we leave here now, or I take my sword to this svikkin." Sigyn was *not* happy.
"Bodolf...we'll talk later." Ragna said, and there was finality in her voice. She took Sigyn's hand, and led her out of the hall and down a few more hallways.
"I'm sorry about Bodolf." Ragna said, sighing.
"Why? It is not your fault he's a fool." Sigyn shrugged. "He can rave all he wishes, but it will do no good. Unless you begin to listen to him...?"
"No!" Ragna shook her head, a few wisps of hair escaping her braids to fall about her face. "Never. I made my choice. When Bodolf asked for my hand, I said no. And I meant no."
"Mmm." Sigyn said nothing. She was regarding Ragna intensely. //Oh...is this...?// Severus was suddenly *very* confused. He was getting suspicious.
"Sigyn...you have nothing to worry about. I chose you, and I am staying with you. Bodolf can do nothing to change that. He's wasting his breath, trying to make me think otherwise. And I know you are not shamed, and you are not going to bring me to shame. And even if you do, I don't care."
"Even if I do?" Sigyn raised an eyebrow, voice taking a dangerous tone Severus was afraid to admit he knew well.
"Not that you would...Sigyn, don't do this. Let's just go bathe. Please?" There was a pleading hint about her eyes that made her look suddenly familiar. Severus just couldn't place it...something about the way her eyes moved, and the set of her lips...
"Fine. But be careful around Bodolf. I do not like him. And he has no liking for me either."
"He's harmless." Ragna waved her hand, and smiled up at Sigyn. "But enough of this! To the bath, and then to bed." There was a coy flirtatiousness in her eyes, and Sigyn obviously warmed to it. She nodded, and allowed herself to be pulled into Sigyn's embrace. There was a certain distance in Sigyn's embrace that Severus doubted Ragna could detect. But he could tell, as he had found himself demonstrating it often.
//They love each other...and they're together.// That gave him hope, despite the act someone wished to come between them. Someone *always* attempted to come between them....
//There is hope yet.// Severus wished he could stay a bit longer in this life, losing himself in the two women's kiss. But the pulling sensation was back, and he knew he would seen be finding himself in a new life. And maybe it would be another good one...
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