Despite all of Floki's scary stories about wild men hovering the northern forests like wolves, she had stepped out of the house to get herself some fresh air.
The night was black, the pale illumination of the moon being the only source of light for seeing anything out there. The air was clean and cool on her face, and she closed her eyes as she inhaled it deeply.
She tried to clear her mind from all of the thoughts about Floki not believing her, but she had difficulties.
How could she ever have made all of that up in her mind? How could she, having spent all of her life in Northumbria, ever have known anything about their god Odin?
Frida walked silently down towards the shore in front of her.
The water made almost no noise as it washed up on the gray sand there, and she sat down on a rock close by, looking at the reflection of the moon in the water. It was almost full, she noticed, and she felt herself relax while sitting on the rock, being one with the silence surrounding her.
She caressed her stomach, and her mind wandered back to Ragnar, who was inside the house, intoxicated by the power of the mushrooms.
In some way, she kind of wished that he had not eaten it, as his air had changed into a strange cloud of unfamiliar clumsiness and laughter.
She breathed out as she heard the cry of a raven above her, and her eyes quickly fell to the water. She suddenly felt a growing eagerness to speak to someone close to her, someone who knew her better than anyone else, someone…
Frida frowned when she realized that she was very far away from her Lady Liofrun, and that she would probably never see her again. Her mother too…
She felt her heart beat faster, and her breath seemed to become even warmer than usual, spreading smoky clouds from her lips into the night air.
She did not really have anyone that could guide her in this journey she had stepped herself onto, the journey of becoming a mother, caring and nursing another human being that is too fragile to do anything on its own. Her mother could not give her advice on how to feed it the best, what to eat so the child would grow bigger, even such a simple thing as how to love her coming child she would never be able to ask her about.
Frida's body collapsed in surprise when she heard a twig snapping behind her.
She quickly turned around on the rock, scanning the forest before her with her eyes, but it was too dark for her to see anything.
Another sound of a twig breaking had her stand to her feet now, and she clutched her arms around her stomach, protecting her small baby bump. She could sense movement behind the trees West of the house, and she narrowed her eyes, straining them to see just the figure of what was moving out there.
She took a step backwards, almost falling over the rock she had been sitting on, when she saw two eyes in the darkness. Fear instantly raced through her blood as she realized that these eyes belonged to something really big, something tall, as the figure stepped closer to her.
Just when Frida was about to yell out for help, she finally saw the creature that was moving towards her.
It was a… horse.
A very tall, lean, and muscular white horse was slowly walking towards her, its eyes stuck on her face, its hooves almost inaudible on the ground.
As Frida exhaled in relief the horse bent its head down, eyes still on her, while it gracefully trotted closer and closer. When it stepped out of the shadows completely, the moonlight made its fur glare in a mysterious, almost godlike manner.
Frida gulped down hard, before she too took a step towards it.
"Hello?" she tried out in a small whisper, well knowing that the wild horse would not answer her.
It had to be wild, she concluded, as it bore no signs of use, no strings or ropes attached to it, and it seemed wild in its movements, elegantly striding over the rugged floor of the forest.
The horse only stopped when there was but a few inches between them, and Frida looked into its eyes.
A warm, loving sensation shot through her veins, bubbling in her stomach and making her heart beat heavier.
Frida thoughtlessly reached her hand up to its neck, and she swayed it down over its white mane. It felt soft like a spider's web, and she saw it stepping even closer to her, resting its mouth against her chest. As she let her fingers intertwine with the horse's withers, she felt something loosen in between it, an object quietly dumping down on the ground beneath them.
Frida reached down and widened her eyes when she pulled up a beautiful golden necklace hanging between her fingers.
As she looked closer, she saw that at the end of the gold chain hung a gorgeous clear pinkish stone, and Frida looked up to the eyes of the horse once more, feeling calmness spread over her skin like smoke when their eyes connected.
She felt its warmth as she stood there beside it, and she leaned in closer to it, her head resting on its neck. She felt it whispering to her, saying that everything was going to be alright, and that the child growing in her stomach would have a happy life, surrounded by brothers and family always.
"Frida?" Bjørn's voice sounded from over by the house, "What are… What is THAT?"
The horse backed away from her in panicky movements at their interruption, and Frida reached up her hands to calm it down.
She heard Bjørn jump down from the wooden porch, but she yelled for him to stop, her eyes still clinging to the horse.
But nothing did it help.
The horse quickly trotted away from them and disappeared into the darkness of the forest with lightning speed.
She felt a big hole forming in her insides, a black hole of emptiness, as she kept staring at the place in the dark where the horse had disappeared. Annoyance spread quickly through her blood when she felt Bjørn's fingers clasp around her shoulder.
"What?" she sneered hastily, as the forest had silenced around them again, the horse already long gone.
She clasped her fingers around the golden necklace in her hand.
Bjørn's face was furrowed in confusion, and he too let his eyes turn to the darkness west of the house. "I, uh…" he stumbled out in a thick voice.
When the door to the house was opened again, Frida looked up to see Floki standing up on the porch, his face in shadows.
Frida started walking towards him, renewed anger dwelling in her insides.
She heard Bjørn following her clumsily, mumbling to himself in confusion.
Frida angrily crawled up on the porch, and she took quick and long steps to reach Floki as fast as she could.
"See?!" she spat at him, reaching her hand up to his face, forcing him to stare at the golden necklace in her hand.
Floki looked down at it and rolled his eyes dramatically, waving his hand at her hand.
"A necklace? How… wonderful."
She sighed out, grabbed his hand with as much force as she could, and started dragging him back into the house, into the light of the fire.
The air in there was warm and heavy, but her body was too exhilarated to let it get to her.
She saw Ragnar and Helga jump up in their seats at the tumult, and she eagerly pushed Floki down to sit down by the fire.
"Here," she hissed, and she pulled at his hand for him to take hold of the necklace.
"What, uh, Frida?" she heard Ragnar mumble, but she did not have the time to explain anything to him.
Her eyes were glaring at Floki's face.
When she started speaking, she heard an unfamiliar voice sonorously sound from her lips: "You see? I am not fooling you!"
Floki's eyes widened, and he held the necklace closer to his face, his eyes scrupulously inspecting it.
Frida felt Ragnar stand up behind her, and he too moved closer to the fire, his eyes peeping out over her shoulder.
"Where did you get it?" Floki whispered, his voice trembling slightly.
"Get what?" Helga chirped from the floor.
Frida bit at the inside of her cheek as she awaited Floki's response.
"Uh…" Bjørn mumbled beside the two couples, "There was something… out there."
Frida glared at him with hard eyes, but he seemed to avoid them.
"What, Bjørn?" Ragnar demanded in a serious voice that revealed his status of being his father.
Bjørn sank. "A horse?"
Floki sprang to his feet and carried the necklace weirdly over to the table, as if the necklace possessed some kind of magic that you did not want spread over your skin.
She heard Floki chuckle nervously to himself. "And what did this… horse tell you, Frida?"
Frida looked to the ground as his question was unsuspected, real.
She weighed the words in her head, wondering how to put it together for him to understand.
"I asked for guidance, and I got it."
Floki made a hissing sound that you could almost mistake for being a small chuckle.
