Disclaimer - I took a minor liberty with the tale of Hnossa and Gersemi (who weren't crafters), but everything else regarding their Norse heritage, is factual as can be.
"Are you nervous?" Lagertha asked, fixing the hem of Agi's dress. In truth, the dress belonged to Helga, but she had gladly gifted it to Agi for the occasion. The dress was dark yellow, with dark red trimmings. Agi's hair had been washed, and brushed to one side. A bit of blackness added around her auburn eyes.
"The nerves I feel, have little to do with King Horik." Agi replied with a repressed sigh.
Lagertha gave Agi a sympathetic stare. "You may've intended to mislead us, but it does not mean the Gods would've allowed it to be so."
"You are not angry?" Agi murmured.
Lagertha's gaze sharpened. "Do I have a reason to be?" she retorted.
As Agi stared into the steely gaze of Lagertha, she realized in all likelihood, Ragnar's wife was the most beautiful woman in Kattegat. "...Of course you do..." Agi replied.
"I have seen the animosity you once held for my husband, I believe he enjoyed playing on your hatred. I know that animosity is no longer there, not as it used to be. Ragnar enjoys...testing you, even so." Lagertha responded, her soft lips hardened into a thin line. "Yet I cannot harbor resentful for either you or Ragnar - do you know why?"
"No." Agi said, her curiosity growing stronger than her anxiety.
Lagertha turned slightly to address Helga, who sat with her knees bunched together in the corner of the room. "Floki still has not spoken to her about the Goddesses he saw?" she wondered.
"I do not believe so." Helga said softly.
"Hnossa and Gersemi..." Agi recalled. "He mentioned they were the daughters of Freya and Odur, but nothing else..."
"Though he loved her, Odur would often leave Freya, to heed the lustful wail of adventure. Freya would search relentlessly for Odur, weeping golden-red tears in her wake. That is why the ground yields gold and amber." Lagertha explained. "Their firstborn Hnossa, was a deity of desire, such was the sensuality of her infatuated parents. Gersemi, no less lovely than her sister, was a goddess of beauty. Each daughter was precious to Freya and Odur, for they both were a treasured reflection of Freya and Odur's marriage. And so it is said, that both Hnossa and Gersemi crafted jewels from Freya's tears to appease their mother in times of hardship."
"..Then I am little else but flesh to them, and that is why you are not troubled by me..." Agi responded. Such an obvious truth, and yet Agi felt stunned to hear herself say it.
"Yes." Lagertha stated with no hesitancy. "Do you believe I should be troubled?"
"No." Agi mused, though her mouth was twisted in a frown. "But I am troubled by the fate, your Gods have bestowed on me."
A horn sounded beyond the walls of Lagertha's homestead. "The King has arrived." Lagertha announced. "Let us meet your kin, Agi...perhaps your fate can yet be changed." There was a touch of bitterness to Lagertha's tone, as if she hoped Horik would seize Agi and sail away.
The crowd was plentiful, nestled around the path to the docks. Agi easily spotted Lon and Denyn, flanked by Rollo and Torstein, and noticed, much to her bemusement, that her brother and Denyn had been properly groomed, including a change of clothes. Ragnar stood in the foremost front, with his children. His head turned as Lagertha approached him, and for a brief instance his gaze met Agi's. Floki appeared alongside Helga, wrapping an arm across her collarbone. Agi glanced down at her folded hands, then glanced to her right, as Athelstan approached her.
"You look nervous." Athelstan greeted.
"I expect I should looked excited, Athelstan?" Agi guessed with an insincere smile. "Horik is yet another relative I never knew, and I am uncertain if I should endeavor to know him well. It is not what my father would've wanted...perhaps my mother shared the same sentiment." Agi squinted at the inhabitants of the boarding vessel. "Or perhaps my brother is lying after all, and Horik is not my kin." Agi looked into Athelstan's eyes and whispered. "He's very wide!"
Athelstan chortled politely. "Most kings are, Agi."
"What're you two whispering about?" Floki piped, with a slight glower hardening his features.
"Athelstan was just comforting me." Agi answered automatically, though her attention returned to King Horik crossing the docks with his family in tow.
"You do that much too often, Priest." Floki muttered in disapproval.
"Someone besides Helga, ought to." Athelstan remarked.
King Horik and Earl Ragnar exchanged pleasantries, though Agi was too far away to hear what was said. She did note how Ragnar turned and gestured at Lon and herself, but Horik's hazel eyes had already sought out his kin. The corners of his lips were raised in affection, but there was a stillness to his gaze.
"Well Athelstan, King Horik does not look excited about this meeting either..." Agi blurted.
"He may believe Ragnar is using you and your brother as a political maneuver of some sort." Athelstan explained. "Some months ago, Horik asked Ragnar to help him recover land from a rival, but Ragnar delayed him, in favor of pillaging. Horik was very reluctant to wait, but Ragnar insisted it was tradition for this time of year."
Everyone of importance began the short stroll to the Great Hall. Agi continued to speak to Athelstan, although her gaze traveled from her brother to her uncle and his family. "Ragnar said Horik also engages in pillaging." Agi remembered.
"It is not well known, but yes." Athelstan said. "From what I gathered, Horik had other business to attend to when Ragnar set sail for Elitsley."
The doors to the Great Hall were opened, and the crowd fell behind, allowing Ragnar and his family, Horik and his family, Denyn and Lon, led in by Rollo, then finally Floki, Helga, Athelstan and Agi to enter its confines. The doors swung closed and a smile grew upon Horik's face. "It warms my heart to meet the children of Marcus Wayland...Few in my family approved of Dorete's choice in matrimony, but I was not one of them. To think all this while I have had a living niece and nephew. Lontyr, Dianthra, allow me to introduce my wife Gunnhild, my son Erlendur..."
Denyn's raised a shaking hand, and called out. "Forgive me m'lord, but I cannot bite my tongue any longer - we are being held here against our will!" Horik paused, his gaze revolving onto an inconspicuous Ragnar. "Lontyr and myself came to rescue Dianthra after she was taken during a Northmen raid. She is a slave, and though we tried to barter her freedom, they'd not allow it!"
Ragnar shrugged a bit beneath the King's unwavering stare. "I told you it was under strange circumstances.." Ragnar said, settling down at the table with a wry smirk.
Agi stepped closer to King Horik, her hands still clasped together. "I have been treated quite well, Your Grace. Unlike most slaves, I have enjoyed my time in Kattegat." she told him, her gaze straying to Rollo. "The only turmoil I have suffered, is of my own conflation, and of that I am still suffering..."
"Aren't we all?" Horik mused, nodded slightly at his family to also sit down at the table. "It is fortunate indeed that the Gods reunited us.." Horik said with most genuine smile, he had mustered thus far.
Lon's voice rang out a distraught scoff. "What? You believe...as they believe?" Lon asked, gesturing vaguely.
"As should you." Horik said, claiming his place at the table. "It is unlikely Marcus ever told you of his namesake, it is possible he did not even know its origin himself."
Rollo herded Denyn and Lon to sit furthest from Horik, allowing Agi to sit beside him, and Athelstan beside her. Floki and Helga sat at the end of Ragnar's side of the table, where Rollo also perched.
"M'lord I hardly see..." Denyn began, but his sentence was cut short by Rollo slamming his fist on the table.
Horik barely blinked at the interruption. "There is a great legend of Wayland the Smith. Though he was not known solely be that name. I first heard of him under the name of Volundr..."
Horik preceded to tell the myth of Wayland the Smith, but Agi consumed by her wandering thoughts, was more interested in observing her new kin. Horik's wife had an untrustworthy face, and his eldest son, had the same indifferent eyes as Horik. Agi waited silently for Horik to conclude, she even delayed further allowing him to exchange a few choice words with Ragnar and Floki. Then she spoke. "How is it my mother, Dorete, fled Denmark without you knowing she was with child?"
"I am afraid great chaos ensued after the death of my father, King Gudfred. My uncles, bloodthirsty for the throne, began murdering my siblings, of which I had many, so that they could put forth my cousin Hemming as ruler. " Horik explained. "I am relieved to know Dorete survived to bear children, though I am saddened it cost her life. And what of Marcus? Ragnar told me he was murdered unjustly...was the fiend apprehended?"
Agi glanced down the table at her brother, but Lon was staring at Ragnar. "...I was told he would be..." Lon answered slowly. "I did not realize you would be so thoroughly informed prior to your arrival, m'lord..." he continued, swiveling his gaze from Ragnar onto Horik. "Does this mean you have already decided what is to become of us?"
Horik's smirked slightly, though he tried to hide it by raising his mug of ale to his lips. "You are most welcome to live in Denmark, there is no home to return to you after all. But you did arrive upon Kattegat, prepared to steal your sister under a deadly brigade of arrows. Therefore it seems only fitting that Earl Ragnar, decide your fate..."
"What?! I am your kin!" Lon snapped.
"And he my business partner - you, a trespasser on his lands. Were it a matter of life or death, I'd gladly intervene, but it is not so, Lontyr." Horik replied, resting his bearded cheek against his fist.
"..Dianthra...!" Lon stammered, meeting his sister's gaze.
Agi however, had peeled her eyes onto Ragnar. Ragnar looked intuitively into Agi's auburn orbitals, then turned his head to Horik and began to speak. "I'm afraid it has come to my attention, Dianthra is also guilty of deception, King Horik. I asked for her input upon which of Elitsley's neighbors to pillage, and knowingly, she charted a course to a marshland. I had hoped to hear your judgement, on whether or not I should forgive such a betrayal.."
"Does this mean there is to be no pillaging in the foreseeable days?" Horik asked.
"No...in fact, Lord Denyn, confirmed Elsworth is our target, and not far from Elsworth - Croxton is also a city of substance..." Ragnar answered.
"M'lords I beg you to not pillage Croxton, it is of little worth, truly..." Denyn groveled.
Rollo, who sat nearest Denyn, spoke up. "Your family cannot have been the only wealthy ones in all of Croxton..."
"N-N-No they certainly weren't but...!" Denyn protested.
"Then we will go to Croxton!" Rollo interrupted with a jeering laugh, which inspired chuckles from Floki, Ragnar, Helga and Lagertha.
Agi felt mildly uncomfortable under the intruding stare of Horik, who seemed to drop out of the conversation after Ragnar announced the pillage was still happening. "In your letter Earl Ragnar, you mentioned that you were indeed fond of my niece, and intended to make her a free woman."
"That is true." Ragnar hummed.
"Surely I cannot allow both of my kin to be your slaves. If you are to enslave one, you must free the other." King Horik deemed.
A slow smirk ebbed on Ragnar's mouth, but it vanished the moment his lips contoured to it. His eyes combed past Agi, onto Lontyr, then he leaned sideways, to speak to Floki, who hunched in his seat to better allow Ragnar to talk into his ear. Agi's breath felt jarred in her throat, studying Floki's face to the best of her capability.
"Father was right about you." Lon spoke up from beside her, effectively distracting Agi.
"What was that?" Horik asked, leaning back in his chair.
"Father told me you were a devious man to avoid at all costs. He was right." Lon responded bitterly. "You were right sister, I shouldn't have come here..."
"You could've listened to me, why didn't you listen to me? Your sister would be free, the Northmen would've died in the marshland, and we...!" Denyn's rambling was cut short, by Rollo reaching across the table and stabbing a pork rib in his throat. Denyn gurgled violently on his own blood, until Rollo retracted the pork rib and pushed Denyn off his chair. Denyn collapsed sideways onto the ground, his mouth gapping open rapidly like a fish.
Sneering, Rollo's clattered the pork rib beside his plate and took a hefty sip from his mug. "He wasn't important...unlike big welp and little wisp..." Rollo said, wiping his beard with the back of his wrist.
The reactions of Lon and Agi were remarkably the same, both closed their eyes in a saddened grimace, lowered their heads, and waited for Denyn to stop thrashing. Athelstan did not pause to think, as he grasped Agi's arm. Floki saw the motion however, and hissed irritably. Athelstan glanced at him, but did not remove his hand until Agi recovered.
"I've reached a decision.." Ragnar announced. "Lon is free to go to Denmark. Agi - that is Dianthra - shall remain in Kattegat, during this pillage season..."
As Agi's mouth moved to protest, Floki spoke. "Hnossa and Gersemi led me to you Agi, but it was The Norns who led Lon and Denyn to us, so that we would know, you are not ready to be shield maiden."
Agi wanted to argue, but she knew it would be futile. She felt her pride wither away, even as anguish clouded her eyes in tears. "Then I am to remain a slave...?" she asked.
"Yes." Ragnar answered pointedly, the Seer's words echoing in his skull.
"But you needn't bed Priest." Floki added, with a dark glare at Athelstan.
"It was an old condition." Ragnar explained to a confused Horik. "But my wife was right - it was not a fair one." he added, glancing affectionately at Lagartha.
Agi swallowed a lump in her throat. "...So be it..." she mumbled, getting to her feet. She paused at the sight of Denyn, then stepped toward him. She stopped again, when she remembered the dress she wore, was not hers. Glancing at Helga, deep in thought, Agi shed the dress, revealing her sleeveless cotton undershirt that reached down to her rear and neatly draped the dress across her chair. "It was good meeting you, King Horik." she said shamelessly unembarrassed, despite Lon's outcry. Agi didn't wait for a response, before she bent down and attempted to hoist up Denyn's corpse. Athelstan scurried to his feet, helping Agi drag Denyn out of the Great Hall.
"She may not yet be shield maiden," Lon said as Agi lumbered out of view. "But she is certainly Pegan now."
"Where are we taking him?" Athelstan asked.
"I don't know...but he deserves better than a pig pen...I owe him that much..." Agi grunted.
"We could bury him in the forest...just need a shovel..." Athelstan suggested.
"I've got two Priest." Bjorn piped, who sure enough, two shovels slung over one shoulder. "Father sent me to help."
"Thanks Bjorn." Athelstan said with a smile to the small blonde boy.
"I'm sorry you can't be shield maiden Agi." Bjorn said, following them dutifully.
"I don't want to talk about it Bjorn." Agi replied.
"I didn't like your friend, but he's better off dead." Bjorn continued.
"..Yes I guess he is..." Agi murmured. Athelstan stared at her wordlessly.
Agi and Athelstan set down Denyn's corpse roughly where Denyn himself had stood guarding the treasure chest. Bjorn set the shovels against a tree and began to walk away. "Wait where are you going?" Athelstan called after him.
Bjorn didn't look back as he responded. "Father said I had to bring the shovels, he didn't say anything about helping bury the trespasser."
"I can handle a shovel Athelstan." Agi grumbled.
"I don't doubt it, it's just..." Athelstan trailed off, as Agi grabbed one shovel and promptly struck the ground with it.
Agi glanced up at him from the strands of her red hair. "I am fine. I don't need you worrying over me."
"I think sometimes I can't help it." Athelstan admitted softly.
Agi patted down the last of the dirt, oblivious to Athelstan who strived not to watch her cleavage bob with the movement. Denyn's blood had soaked into the belly of Agi's undershirt, leaving very little to Athelstan's imagination. Agi dropped the shovel, then sat down beside it. She stared at the mound of disturbed ground, and for the briefest of moments, Agi did not breathe. The next minute, she drew breath, tears cascaded down her cheeks. Athelstan knelt down beside her, and almost instantly, Agi turned to him, latching her arms around his shoulderblades in an embrace. Mouthing a silent prayer for the deceased, Athelstan coiled his arms around her waist and held her weeping form, tightly against him.
'Freedom is not so easily granted. Another fire steps forth smothering its kin. Acceptance, hard-sought and unconditional, will gnash upon each other, ending in tears. She is her own undoing.' [said the Seer in ch11.]