When morning came, the storm had not yet left the sky that hovered over the village of Kattegat, and its surrounding seas seemed to be in turmoil, angrily crashing themselves onto the sandy shore as the sun rose behind thick blackened clouds.
The wind had grown strong and sturdy, and it rushed against the walls of the longhouse as Frida made her way into the long-hall, feeling strange from the lack of sunlight from the windows. The sky was still covered with heavy rain filled clouds of gray, the rays of the sun above could not burn through them, and so it was still dark, even as the roosters started cackling from somewhere outside.
Confusion hit her like a wall when she stepped into the long-hall, and she widened her eyes to find servants rushing over the floors with luggage in their arms, the sound of rapid conversations filling her ears with a swoosh, and she quickly narrowed her eyes down to a small group gathered in the middle of the room, where Ragnar, Ingeborg, Eysteinn, Floki, and Rollo stood speaking in hurried words.
"What do you say, Floki?" Frida managed to hear Ragnar say from where she stood, and she walked over towards them, her eyes turning to Floki's squinted face.
She saw how his dark encircled eyes flew to the air, his ears turning to the direction of the sea, and he curled his lips into a crooked smile, as he tilted his head at his king, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly.
He sucked in a lengthy breath between his tightened lips, a sound of consideration and defeat creaking from him, as he turned his eyes to the Götaland royalty beside them, just as Frida closed in on them.
"The gods are not done here. I would not sink my ship into these waters, no," he giggled, his eyes quickly turning to Frida as she greeted her husband with a quick kiss on the cheek.
His eyes hovered over her for a quick moment before he giggled out nervously once more. "A messenger from Bork also brought news of thunderstorms over their lands. The whole country is surrounded by them."
Ingeborg sighed out heavily, while Eysteinn nodded, acknowledging the conditions of the day's travel. "Then we shall wait it out here, if the king shall allow us?"
His eyes turned to Ragnar, who quickly bowed his head down and spread his arms in a welcoming gesture.
"Of course, my friend. Are the beds in here comfortable enough?" he asked, waving his hand over along the sides of the room.
Eysteinn nodded thankfully, and Frida watched Ingeborg smile before turning around to release herself from the furry covers she had wrapped around her body as a shield for the rain, the air warm and thick from the moist weather outside.
Frida looked at the luggage that stood in the middle of the room, ready for the journey.
"That's unfortunate," she sighed to Ragnar and Floki, who still stood beside her while the rest had scattered into the other corners of the room.
Floki made a small jump on his feet before his eyes turned to Frida, sparkling at her with malicious intent. "Maybe," he seethed through his thin lips, and then his eyes rolled peculiarly to gaze at Ragnar, earning Frida to raise her eyebrow at him.
"What do you mean, maybe?" She folded her arms over her stomach, turning her eyes to Ragnar too.
Ragnar let his eyes roam over Frida's face for a couple of seconds before he shook his shoulders.
"We cannot seem to find Lagertha anywhere," he stated bluntly, no emotions or signs of thought behind his statement whatsoever.
He just blurted it out there, and he let it thicken the air among them, causing Frida to inhale deeply.
Her mind exploded with questions, but she did not know where to start, so she simply stared at her husband in front of her, waiting for something more to come, something that could help her figure out what was going on.
"Bjørn?" she managed to croak, and she saw Floki hissing next to her, his thumb racing up to his teeth, and Frida watched him biting its nail nervously while he glared maliciously at Ragnar.
Ragnar closed his eyes and nodded at her, and she tried to sink, as if to take in all of the new information, but she found her mouth to have dried up completely.
"Have you seen him?" she asked.
They both shook their heads, and Frida quickly let her eyes travel to the door of the long-hall that was opening loudly. But in came rushing only some servants carrying barrels of ale. Frida felt her heart sink with her shoulders, disappointment obvious in the gush of air she exhaled.
"I'll find them," Floki whispered in a hissing breath of air before he sneaked away towards the door, "The bear cannot hide forever."
Frida stared at the spot by the door where Floki had disappeared out into the wetness, and she would have stayed there until he returned, had Ragnar not pulled her over to join the Götaland family over by the longtable.
The longhouse was crowded with people, servants who did not know what to do with themselves as their immediate plans for the day had been interrupted, villagers who had come from the marketplace to seek cover from the heavy drops of water that splashed over the grounds of Kattegat, mud rising slowly from the earth below, covering the many paths of the village with the red color of clay.
Frida could sense a certain tension in the air around Ingeborg, who let her eyes travel over to the exit of the hall every once in a while, as if guarding it intently.
Ragnar and Eysteinn quickly started a conversation over the amount of boats they were to assemble next summer, and Frida felt the need to break the tension that she sensed grew ever so quickly around the blonde princess in front of her, so she signed for one of the servants to come speak to her.
"Let's, uh… make it more cozy, shall we?" Fria smiled sweetly at the young servant, "Could you find the musicians for me?"
"Yes, my lady."
"And please, bring us some wine too, if you will."
"Of course, my lady," the servant chirped and made a quick curtsey, rushing towards the storage room like an arrow through the air.
Frida started shaking her head immediately, when princess Ingeborg spoke.
"Please, you really don't have to…"
"Let's just enjoy ourselves while we wait, instead of stare at the door." Frida winked one of her eyes at Ingeborg, and she saw how the apple cheeks of the Geat colored heavily as the servant stepped forth to place a tray on the table between them.
Frida bit her lip and smiled to herself as she reached up her hand to toast with Ingeborg, and she silently regretted saying it, for she knew herself how she hated blushing in front of people.
"I agree," Ingeborg however chirped before raising her cup too, and she clinked it against Frida's cup, causing a loud ringing noise to blare out into the room.
The two women sent apologetic eyes to the closest people that surrounded them before breaking out into giggles, both of them drinking heavily from their silver mugs. The sweet and dry taste of the wine spread quickly over Frida's tongue, and she felt it oozing its way down into her belly like a warm fire, bubbling and burning her insides sweetly.
Ingeborg sighed out as she lowered the cup, and Frida looked over to see her smile with closed eyes, the redness of the wine over her lips reminding Frida of blood, and she blinked twice before turning her eyes away.
"I love this! We rarely get it back home. What is it made from?"
Frida looked into the blood reds liquids of her cup, and had her hand stir it around down there, earning small bubbles to appear on the surface of the red sea down there.
"It is made from grapes, the red ones. Back in England, they stored it for a longer time than they do here, said it was to make the taste better. But I would not be able to tell the difference, I think, to be honest."
Ingeborg chuckled lightly, and Frida could feel her gaze upon her face when she took another sip from her cup. She could already feel the warmth of the wine spreading through her veins.
"It is so interesting that you are one of the Saxons, I would never have guessed it from your appearance. And your faith in the gods is strong, I felt it yesterday. How long have you been here?"
Frida smiled curtly at the snow blonde, before she answered her sweetly, glad to have even more time to make friends with the Geats.
The conversation that followed lasted for quite some time, and while they chatted about what it was like to be in another country, Frida could not help but to feel a curiosity spire inside of her as to know what kind of place Götaland was like, or entire Sweden for that matter. They downed a good amount of wine, while they ate some newly gathered red apples, their bellies and faces happy like the blood that flowed through their bodies.
Frida had not even noticed the music that was playing from the corner of the long-hall, and she suddenly came to remember their trip to Heddinge, and how they had shared some songs on the road.
"Tell me, Ingeborg. Would you like to share a Götaland song with us?"
She felt her eyes swimming a little in her head as they roamed over Ingeborg's stunning face, and she saw her waving her hand at her, giggling while shaking her head.
"No, you would not care to hear me sing, I promise you," she giggled into her cup and sent a couple of dancingly vivid eyes at Frida, who took a short look around.
She knew that Hvitserk would be able to persuade the shy princess.
"Hvitserk?"
The boy's eyes shot to her in the second she had said his name, and he looked at her questioningly, running over to her when she waved her hand at him.
The lanky boy trotted over to them, and sent her questioning eyes as he leaned in for a hug from her around his shoulders. Frida's voice was sweetened, when she asked: "Would you not care to hear a real Götaland song?"
Hvitserk's eyes lit up for a quick moment, and he raised his eyes to Ingeborg. "Yes, I would love to. Are you going to sing for us?"
Frida chuckled silently, and watched Ingeborg cringe her eyes. "Uh," she blurted in a gush of air, "But which one should I sing? Do any of your musicians know any Götaland music?"
Hvitserk and Frida only shared a quick look before Hvitserk rushed over to the musicians in the corner.
Frida could sense Ingeborg relaxing again, and she reached over her hand to nudge her arm. "You are not forced to do anything here, know that."
Frida felt the words flowing into the air between them, and she heard them repeat in her ears along with a sudden rushing. It sounded like the words carried more depth to them, more than Frida had intended for, but she let them travel the air as she sat there, watching Ingeborg curl her lips into a sweet smile, an honest one that spread over her face.
"Thank you," she smiled quietly, and soon a rush of air had them both turning their faces to Hvitserk, who stood before them with a smile over his face.
"He knows only one," he said in a slow voice that soon grew cheerful, "But he says he will bet you his right eye that you know of it too."
Frida chuckled out as Hvitserk eyed the princess, his eyes still childish, yest his features growing bigger. He was soon going to become more like Ubbe, spending his time with Bjørn and Rollo, instead of Ivar and Sigurd. Frida felt like he was still just the little boy she had met when she first came here.
But children do grow fast for the ones in her age, for time suddenly seemed to be something inexistent, unimportant in the count of days or months or even years.
The seasons fly by, and your mind speaks with the same voice, but your body and mind will age and learn, and you will suddenly walk along different paths, paths that you did not ever think were yours to mount.
Ingeborg laughed. "I'll take it. Which one, then?"
"Herr… Mannelig*?" Hvitserk spoke as if it was more of a question than an answer.
Ingeborg shut her eyes for a short moment, smiling widely, before she drank heavily from the wine in her cup and rose to her feet to place herself over by the musicians.
Frida shouted a small cheer for her from her seat between the villagers of Kattegat that too were placed around the longtable.
The drums soon started pulsating in a slow rhythm. They were smooth and melodic, alone as they drummed, but Ingeborg's voice soon spread out into the room along with them, just as beautiful as her appearance, and they filled the ears of everyone in it, turning all eyes to her as her Swedish words curled into the room with her story:
"Early one morning before the sun up ran,
before the birds began to sing,
the mountain troll proposed to the handsome young man.
She had a false tongue."
Frida noticed how most conversation had ended as Ingeborg and the musicians let their instruments fill the room, and she smiled comfortably as she listened to the fast melody of her language, the curling of the r's so beautiful and fascinating, she found herself swallowed by the song.
"Herr Mannelig, herr Mannelig, will you be my betrothed?
For that, I gladly offer you gifts.
Surely you can answer but yes or no,
if it is your wish."
Frida was surprised how pleasant the day had turned out to be, even though their plans had been very different the night before. And she found herself smiling heavily as the story progressed with Ingeborg's singing and the instruments chiming together, forgetting everything around her for just a moment.
That meant that Frida had not realized that in this very moment, Ragnar was silently cursing the tears that escaped the corner of his eyes as he hugged the son he had missed in his heart for what seemed like forever now.
She did not know in the very second that she took a small sip from her cup, while Ingeborg repeated the end line of the verse, that Lagertha was standing beside them with a heart as light as a feather, finally seeing Bjørn reunited with them once again, alive.
"The mountain troll ran out the door,
she shakes and wails hard in sight.
Had I got the handsome young man more
I would have got rid of my plight."
But she felt it instantly when the door to the long-hall was opened, she sensed it in the change of the air.
Frida's eyes shot to the tall man that revealed himself before them from the wet darkness outside.
She stared when she saw that this man was dressed in the most excessive dark brown fur, all of it tied together over his right shoulder… Frida gasped.
Her eyes widened when she realized that the head of the animal that had once carried this fur was still intact, and she soon felt shivers run down her spine when she realized what animal it was from.
"Bjørn," she whispered, and she soon let her eyes connect with a couple of light blue young crystals, shining at her with a familiar light of adventure.
Bjørn smiled widely at her, his eyes soon softening, turning to where the music was coming from. And Frida watched him see Ingeborg for the first time.
While she did not know whether Bjørn realized who she was, Frida watched him fold his hands in front of himself like Ragnar always did when he was short of words, a curl forming on his lips, his eyes soon turning back to her.
"Welcome home," Frida smiled, raising her arms to greet him with a hug.
She heard him chuckle into her hair as they hugged each other, and she felt his heart beat easily through the thick fur, strong and sturdy as ever.
"I am ready," he whispered to her, and she felt her heart warming inside her chest, something soothing shooting through her veins from her core.
The rain stopped within seconds.
* "Herr Mannelig" (Sir Mannelig): A traditional Swedish folk song. It is one of my favorites.
