Helga had acted strangely since Frida had brought the two children to the longhouse.

Not only did she not say much, she kept sending long stares in the direction of them, glaring at them secretively whenever she did not think Frida was watching her. Even as they dined at the longtable, she ate in silence, smiling innocently whenever her eyes would meet with Frida's.

Elisef, another woman whose husband had left to go raiding in England, too acted weirdly, and Frida felt a bit like she should know why.

When the food had been set on the table, the brother and the sister eagerly swallowed it almost without chewing it first, and Frida could not help but to feel warm inside as she watched them eat in silence while her hand reached down under the table to stroke Freke's furry head.

He was eyeing them intently, but Frida was surprised when she saw the little girl bending her head under the table to look at him, the almost full grown wolf, before smiling widely, her eyes quickly locking with Frida's as she resurfaced.

A strange chilling sensation ran over Frida's skin as she watched the two of them over the table, the flickering lights of the candles sending shadows to dance over their faces, making them appear much older than they had first seemed for her to be.

Frida drank secretly from her horn. The silence that hovered around them was mysterious, and she felt like she was the only one in the room who was oblivious to what was actually going on. As if there was something crucial to the situation that she had not come to realize yet.

"What are you two called?" she dared to voice out over the table, causing all eyes to fall upon her.

She smiled sweetly at the children, trying to ignore the awkward tension that lay thick in the warm air of the room. She wanted to know why everyone around her acted so strange. And she wanted to know why they made her feel so strange.

Both of them stared at her with their gray shining eyes, and they simultaneously reached up to grab their cups, drinking slowly while keeping their eyes on her.

When they did not answer her, she felt a slightly gnawing irritation starting to creep at the sides of her skull, and she reached up to press a finger to her temple.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Ubbe, Hvitserk and Sigurd appearing at the door, peeping their heads in to see the new visitors. She motioned for them to come over and join them at the table, her eyes never leaving the two strange children. They had not said anything since their first meeting with Frida, and she was starting to get nervous.

Their air was so vivid and wild. She could not make out what they were planning to do or say. So she tried again.

"If I sing you another song, will you then tell me what I should call you?"

The brother and the sister looked at each other, weighing her words between them.

Frida felt Sigurd tugging at her dress, and she pulled him up to sit on her lap. The two children watched her every movement. A small wave of relief washed over her when she saw them both nodding, accepting her terms.

She reached up her hand to stroke Sigurd's blonde hair gently, finally letting her eyes rest on something else than the grays of the strange children at the other side of the table.

"Sigurd, which song do you think they'd like the best?" she breathed calmly even though her insides were in turmoil.

She felt like this was somewhat important, as if someone was watching her dealing with them. She saw how Sigurd's eyes lit up, and his body stirring lightly in eagerness as he put his finger to his mouth, considering his options.

The room was quieter than usual. The spring had pulled heavy clouds of rain with it, but as summer had rolled over the skies above them, no rain was drumming on the roof above them.

It was only the crackling of burning logs in the fire that lingered between them and the slow heartbeat of the new blacksmith hammering on his anvil somewhere in the village soothingly setting the rhythm of their breathing.

Sigurd's eyes rested on her features for a quick moment before his face lit up. "The one about our lovely lands!"

A wide smile grew on Frida's face as she saw how his eyes shone, and she nodded slowly before turning to look at the two red blonde children again.

"Yes, I think they'd like that one too," she smiled, and she could sense how Helga was looking at her from the end of the longtable.

She felt like she was on a trial, but her voice sounded surprisingly calm when she finally started singing.

The song was slow, but she had always thought it to sound like a fairytale, like a dream, like the stories from the sagas of the old times. The room was darkening along with the setting sun as she recalled the song that she had heard the women of Kattegat sing many times, when they were harvesting or plowing in the fields. It resonated hope and pride.

She closed her eyes as her voice filled the otherwise silent room:

"A lovely land is ours
with spreading, shady beeches,
near Baltic's beach saltry.
Her hills and valleys gently fall,
her name of old is Denmark
And she is Freyja's hall."

Even though Frida felt all eyes on her, she kept hers closed.

Images of her life before she came to this land passed through her mind, and she felt her heart swell in her chest. She was thankful that she could call these lands home, that she finally felt like she belonged.

Sigurd reached his arms around her and snuggled closer to her, resting his cheek on her chest. Warmth slowly filled her stomach as her voice waved through the room.

"In days of long-ago,
the armored giants rested
between their bloody frays.
Then forth they went the foe to face,
now found in stone-set barrows
their final resting place."

Frida finally opened her eyes to see the brother and the sister eyeing her intently. Their faces were flushed and excited, and they listened to the story of her song unfold itself over the candles on the table.

"This land is yet so fair,
the waters blue around her,
and green are still her leaves.
Noble women, maidens fair,
and men and lads so skillful
dwell still on these Northern isles."

A stingy pain flashed quickly over her heart as her thoughts traveled to Ragnar.

She wished that he could hear her singing, that he could feel the same sensations as she did in this moment, and the volume of her voice grew stronger with the last verse. Her heart was not whole when he was not here, and her voice shook with emotion as she completely forgot where she was, picturing Ragnar in front of her, being there with her again. She sang for him.

"Hail king and fatherland!
Hail every Dane who labors
to do his very best.
Our ancient lands shall endure,
as long as the beech trees reflect
their crowns in the blue wave."

When the song ended, a deafening silence fell amongst them.

Frida felt the change in the two children's air, and she saw how they smiled wickedly at her, their gray eyes shining even more than they had before. There was something unearthly about their presence, and her smile faded quickly when she saw them both rising to their feet.

Helga's voice suddenly chirped from the end of the table, startling Frida heavily: "It would be rude of you to deny our queen your names, now that she sang you a song, would it not?"

Frida stared at Helga with her mouth open, but she clasped it shut when she saw her smiling at the two of them.

Irritation and mischief washed over both of their faces, and the boy locked his eyes with her while the girl started walking with short steps towards the door. Frida rose from her feet too now, handing Sigurd over to Elisef.

She did not want them to leave. Not yet.

The boy that still lingered at the table burned her with his wild eyes.

An uncomfortable wave washed over her body as his voice flared: "A queen should go with her king when he conquers such big waves. Always."

And with those words, the boy broke into a run, and like lightning he flashed across the floor of the long-hall, disappearing right before her eyes in a swift movement.

Frida was frozen as she still stood staring at the spot from where the boy had disappeared, and she felt the hairs of her neck stand, disbelief washing over her as she realized what had just happened.

When she too broke into a run for the door, Freke followed her, and they both hurled themselves out of the room, their eyes quickly scanning for the children when they reached the outside.

But they had vanished.

Frida felt her heart sink heavy in her chest when she realized that the two children were nowhere to be found, and she heard Freke whimpering at her side, his tail cropped nervously up between his legs and his ears confusedly turning at every sound around them, while his nose searched every motion of the wind, trying to find a trace of where they had gone.

And Frida felt fear travel down her spine when he did not find it.

Freke always found it.

The words of the strange boy sounded loudly in her head as she stared at the path before her in disbelief.

"A queen should go with her king when he conquers such big waves. Always."

She did not know what it meant, but she knew that she had to figure it out. Those two had not come here by chance.

They had brought her a message.