All eyes were on her as she danced along the dusty floors by the fireside. Her movements were slow and elegant, as if she had the waves of the sea running alongside her own blood, as if she was a child of Njord himself, carrying the power of the tides in her veins.

Her hair was wavy from the braids that had shaped her warm golden locks earlier this day, and they fell loosely over her chest that was already bulking beautifully for the child that was growing inside of her belly.

He felt a certain arousal shooting forth from his pelvis, and he straightened himself subtly in his chair, while reaching up his cup to gulp down a healthy sip of honey mead while narrowing his eyes at the woman in front of him, who was dancing to the beat of the drum.

Her clothing was almost see-through as she danced in the light of the flames behind her, and Ragnar felt his heart dancing along to the music, and he felt Freyr looking at her through his own two eyes, rejoicing the female figure with the same enjoyment that pumped through Ragnar's veins, hardening him as he sat there.

This woman was not alike anyone he had ever laid his eyes upon.

Her movements were different, her eyes had a certain magical light in them, and her laughter rang with such a soothing tone that no one in this room would not agree that she was from a different world than them. But the beat of her heart was the same as theirs, the taste of her blood just like his own Norse blood.

He could not help but to smile to himself behind his drinking horn.

He had never truly come to understand why the gods had chosen her for him. But he could see why they admired her beauty, for he felt a strong urge to keep his eyes on her as he sat there on his throne, like he always did when she was in the same room as him.

Her presence beamed with love and tender care, however, she too glowed with a strength that had always brought him to think about the goddess Freyja.

Frida was just like her.

She was sensual, more so than any Norse woman he had ever been with, and yet, her passion was just as fiery and stout as the screams of the shield maidens that fought alongside of him when they were battling in the wall.

Ragnar smiled when he noticed Athelstan's eyes roaming over to Frida too, and he wondered whether he had asked himself the same questions as Ragnar had.

How had she turned her ways to theirs that easily? How had she simply accepted and welcomed their gods into her heart and flesh, without having known them before?

Ragnar had asked Odin these questions every day since they had brought her here. But the All-father had never really answered them with words or visions, he had answered them through Frida and her actions, through her love for him and through the children she gladly brought him. And while Ragnar could see how Frida found their gods to be much more real and natural than her old god, the Christian god, he had tried to discard himself with the longing questions he had for this strange god.

Ragnar knew that if he celebrated the blood of Athelstan's Christ, the blood that covered his own hands from the raids in England, he would run for no one but himself.

Not for any god, not for Odin nor Thor, but only for himself.

And he had not killed beings for his own good. Never.

His actions were always thought through, his decisions always consulted with the gods before being made, and he had never done anything for his own happiness. He had done it for their happiness, and for his people's too.

Ragnar was ripped away from his stream of thoughts when he felt a small tap on his shoulder, and he turned his head slightly to see Floki standing there next to him with a sneaky grin on his lips.

Ragnar straightened himself a bit more in his chair, and turned his gaze back to Frida, pushing his lips out a bit.

"Good to be home again? Your daughter must have missed you a lot," Ragnar breathed, while reaching up his hand to run it through his beard in slow movements.

He saw Floki curling his lips a bit, while his eyes were still on the crowd in front of them.

"Yeah, she's a perky little one," he said in a light tone, before his eyes turned to Ragnar's, "But I have something to tell you, Ragnar. Something that happened here, while we were away."

Ragnar stared into Floki's grayish blue eyes that seemed to be almost shining at him through the dark circles around them, and he raised an eyebrow. Floki jumped to the other side of his chair, and sat down on his heels with a crazed expression on his face.

"And?" Ragnar voiced, a slight tone of impatience on his tongue.

When news came from Floki, Ragnar had come to learn that he was to listen carefully but take it with a grain of salt. For Floki was very colored differently by the gods, and sometimes Ragnar felt like Floki listened to gods that he himself was very distanced from. Floki had a certain connection with other forces, darker ones, forces that Ragnar did not know very well. Forces that were perceived as dangerous, wicked.

Floki's face split into a wide smile, and a shadow ran over his face, making him appear twisted somehow, causing Ragnar to lower his eyes a bit. "It seems that a couple of children paid our women a little visit, while we were away."

Ragnar raised his eyes and stared into Floki's when the last word had slipped over his tongue, and he leaned a bit forward, turning his head so that he could hear him better.

"A couple of children?" He furrowed his eyebrows slightly, and sat down his horn.

"Yes," Floki's voice flared into his ear, "A young brother and his sister."

Ragnar turned his head to look at Floki again in a swift movement, his words like paste down his ears.

"What did they want here?" he asked in a whisper, while the room around him shrunk into a place where Floki and him were the only ones, forgetting all about the dancing woman in front of them.

Floki blew out a barking laugh, his lips stretched over his face from ear to ear. "They came to hear our queen sing. In return, they told her something."

His body twitched in excitement, and he spilled some of the contents of his drinking horn into the deer rugs under them. Ragnar stared at him, waiting.

Floki's eyes scanned the room around them, before they returned to Ragnar's, twitching slightly.

"They told her that a queen never lets her king travel great waters without her."

Ragnar's eyes widened, and he turned his eyes to the floor in front of him, furrowing his brows as he gulped down.

"And you are sure that they were Tjalfe and Røskva?" he asked in a small voice.

But he already knew the answer to that. It was just like in the old sagas.

He felt Floki's breath on his cheek, and a slow chill ran down his spine, when he felt his whispers in his ear. "Hm, Ragnar, you tell me."

Ragnar's eyes traveled over to the beautiful woman in front of him, moving in such slow and sensual movements, following the rhythm of the music very delicately, almost as if she felt it inside of her, as if she was part of it, one with it.

He felt a sour taste in his mouth, and he felt his face fall a little bit, as he weighed his situation in his mind.

But Floki's words interrupted him quickly, and he put his head in his hands when Floki said: "So, it is really true, then. She is your valkyrie, Ragnar."

Floki was right. It made sense like that. Ragnar had felt the All-father's hand over them as they had found passage to England. Odin had fostered a curiosity in Ragnar that had led him this far, and he had guided him even in the most dangerous paths as they had traveled over the far sea to a shore that no Northman believed existed.

And Njord had too been with him, and he had had the sea roar around them, letting them travel with speed and might to the English shores, and strengthening them in their search for another kingdom.

Frida was part of their plan. And it would be foolish not to think that the gods would not send their word by their own servants. They had done so many times in the sagas.

Tjalfe and Røskva had come here to tell Frida that she was to join her king over the great seas.

Ragnar felt something heavy sink inside of him. He was to bring her back to her homeland.

To England.