And Afterwards Remember
oneiriad
Disclaimer: Vikings does not belong to me.
A/N: A little background: this story was born from a recent interview, where Michael Hirst confirmed that they'll be going to Paris in season 3 (yay!), and since one of the stories of Ragnar Lothbrok's death involves him returning from the Siege of Paris and dying of diarrhea (or poisoning?) at Horik's court, I find myself seriously worried that Ragnar will die at the end of season 3.
First they have the funeral - huge and it would be beautiful, except it's Ragnar's funeral.
Then they take their revenge.
Afterwards - afterwards life goes on, except Athelstan finds that he's no longer feeling exactly at home in Kattegat. Oh, nobody is making him feel as if it isn't. Rollo, Bjorn, Aslaug, Lagertha, Torstein - even Floki is kind to him.
But Ragnar isn't there anymore. His Earl, his oath-brother, his Ragnar - isn't there.
Eventually, it is Bjorn who agrees to take him back to England. It will be no inconvenience - after all, his men can use a hot meal in their bellies and fresh supplies of water before starting the long trip to the unknown southern lands - and they'll have to pass by England anyway.
One bright summer morning finds Athelstan wandering the roads to King Ecbert's royal villa. Except when he arrives, he finds not King Ecbert, but Aethelwulf sitting on his father's throne.
And the thing is - Aethelwulf hadn't planned to continue his father's preservation work, because the church frowns so very heavily on pagan things, and he lacks his father's fascination. In fact, he had planned on locking the doors and throwing away the key.
Instead, he gives the key to Athelstan.
And Athelstan buries himself in Latin works, hides among Caesars and Senators and ancient gods with different names than he has gotten used to, among battles both martial and political and reports of some tiny Gaul village that never said die.
Sometimes, Aethelwulf will visit - asking his advice about the Northmen who more and more often visit his shores, sometimes asking him to interpret.
Sometimes, Bjorn will visit - mostly when he's on his way home from his southern raids (that always leave the English priests confused, because how is one supposed to react to a pagan raiding heathens?). Sometimes, he brings gifts - books, beautiful books, but the writing inside is foreign and fascinating and it makes Athelstan almost want to cry that he cannot decipher it.
The year after that, Bjorn brings a man for him - tall and dark and fiercely proud, this Ahmad ibn Fadlan, and clearly unhappy about having been caught and being made a gift of.
He does find Athelstan's work interesting - and such stories he has to tell, of Greek manuscripts kept safe in heathen lands. Sometimes Athelstan longs to travel to those lands, to see them.
Instead, once he has learned the language Fadlan can teach him, he sets him free. Watches him leave on one of Bjorn's ships.
Sometimes, letters will reach him - beautiful letters.
Years pass. Aethelwulf pass. A new king sits on a throne and Athelstan's hair is white and his skin is a mass of wrinkles.
Sometimes, people visit him, Northmen telling stories about back home. They tell him of how Rollo acquired a Duchy in France and married a princess, of Lagertha the warrior queen dying and being buried in a beautiful, beautiful ship at Oseberg.
He'd like to write them down - but his fingers aren't what they used to be and neither are his eyes. That task must fall to other, younger scribes.
And one day, a young Northman asks him: "Have you ever heard the story of Ragnar Lothbrok? The dragonslayer?"