Frida still felt slightly out of place sitting on the throne in the long-hall, even though she had spent many hours up there next to Ragnar. However, as time went by, the edginess she always felt upon her skin slowly wore more and more off, and now she had even placed herself there without Ragnar at the side.
She was currently trying to fix one of Ivar's boots that Freke had chewed on, but she was close to giving up.
The shoe was simply too damaged.
"You were just showing off, weren't you?" Frida sighed at Freke. The wolf that had laid down right next to her on the floor covered with roe deer furs.
He was pretending to be asleep, but Frida knew that he was awake, listening for every sound around them, inhaling every scent that came his way, and she smiled heartwarmingly at her new friend.
He never left her for very long. He always came back to stare her in the eyes, making sure that she was alright.
Ragnar had called her 'wolf girl,' and she chuckled absentmindedly to herself as she put the damaged shoe on Ragnar's empty stool. She kind of liked that nickname, it sounded very Norse. As if she had been here all along.
Frida sighed out, and turned her eyes to look at the boys down at the fire pit. They were listening to a story that Frida had heard a couple of times before. The story of Baldr, the son of Frigg and Odin.
Frida reached her hand down to stroke Freke's head as she carelessly listened to the servant Thyra that was entertaining the boys: "And Baldr was known by all the people here in Midgård to be very wise and full of beauty. His home in the sky, Bredeblik, is a place where nothing impure sets its foot, and of all the gods he is known to be the one most gentle. His mother Frigg loved Baldr very much, as do all mothers their children, and she made every creature, disease, animal and plant swear an oath that they would not harm him, that they would not as much as touch even one of his white eyelashes."
Frida saw out of the corner of her eye that Ragnar and Floki entered the long-hall in deep conversation, both of them mumbling wildly to each other as they made their way over to the barrel to pour themselves some ale.
"But!" sounded the servant's voice dramatically, and Frida turned her head to the boys once more. "Frigg had forgotten one single plant. The scrounging mistletoe that grows along Yggdrasil's roots. And when Loki found out, because of his deceiving character, he convinced Høder to shoot an arrow of mistletoe at Baldr, which killed him instantly."
"But why did the gods not ride to Helheim and bring him back?" Ubbe asked, his eyes wide.
The servant smiled. "They tried, Ubbe, but Hel told them that Baldr could only return to Asgård if all in the world would cry for him. But the giantess Tøkk cried not, and Baldr was to stay in Helheim until Ragnarok."
Frida felt a shiver run over her skin, and she closed her eyes. She wrapped her arms around her stomach and promised herself that she would do anything in the world to protect her coming child.
Even if Ragnarok would come.
Frida opened her eyes when she felt Freke's warm tongue glide along her lower arm, and she saw that Ragnar had sat down on the stool next to her, while Floki lingered in front of them, his eyes clinging to the wolf at her feet.
Floki's dark eyes traveled up to meet Frida's, and his mouth twitched nervously, his posture slanting.
"Careful, Floki," Frida breathed out in a small smile, "He likes to chew on drunk Vikings."
Ragnar laughed out next to her before chucking down a big gulp of his horn. Floki simply hissed out before sitting down, resting his back along one of the bearing poles of the house. His eyes did not leave the wolf.
Frida smiled to herself, amused.
"I have something to ask you, love," Ragnar voiced beside her, and she turned her head to see a smirk on his lips. He held out his horn for her to drink some.
"Yes?" she voiced into the horn before drinking a healthy sip. She heard Floki chuckle out.
"I want Floki to speak for us at the wedding, if you will allow it?"
Frida's eyes widened and she coughed out, as some of the ale got into the wrong throat, like they say here in Kattegat.
Another snicker was heard from Floki, and Frida turned her eyes to his face. He was smiling at her with his usual devilish grin, and Frida narrowed her eyes at him, contemplating.
She and Floki…
Their relationship had not always been the best, and Frida did not know where exactly they were standing at this point. To have a guy like him, someone who had not believed her intentions with Ragnar to be true, to speak for them at their wedding, she did not know whether that was appropriate.
Frida's eyes turned to Ragnar, and she awkwardly twisted her hands in her lap.
She opened her mouth not knowing how to put it delicately: "I, uh…"
But before she could say another word, out of the corner of her eye she saw that Freke had gotten up from his position down at her feet, and he walked slowly across the floor to where Floki was sitting.
All three of them were silent with their eyes on the wolf as it sat down in front of him, and he hissed out in a nervous breath when it gently lifted its head to sniff his hair. Frida tilted her head at the pair in front of her, and she felt a slow warmth creep out from her insides, her blood bubbling joyfully.
When Freke let his tongue glide over Floki's chin, causing him to chuckle out with a slight panicky tone to his voice, Frida laughed out heartwarmingly.
She knew what it meant when she saw the wolf turning its head to look at her, its calm silver eyes resting upon hers gently.
"Well, that's a yes," she smiled before she reached over to take Ragnar's horn out of his hands and gulped down the rest of the ale in it, "But I know so very little about your way of celebrating a wedding. When will we have it?"
She watched as Floki petted Freke carefully, his dark eyes full of astonishment.
Ragnar smirked beside her. "Helga has promised to help you with your dressing, and I will take care of the rest. I think we'll start the party in two days already."
Frida's body suddenly came to life, her heartbeat already increasing. "In two days?" she voiced out chokingly.
But… That was…
Two days?
She hissed out nervously. She felt Ragnar taking her hand, and she turned her eyes to gaze into his blue ones, his calm air already fighting off some of the nervous shivers that had spread over her skin. His lips curled beautifully, and he sneaked his face closer to hers, his warm breath on her face.
"We already have everything we need in food and drink, so why not?" he breathed.
She gulped down as it seemed like butterflies had awoken inside her stomach, the baby inside stirring happily at his words. She could feel Floki and Ragnar's eyes on her, and her face flushed with heat.
They were really going to get married.
"I, uh… Yes, I guess?"
Ragnar threw his arms up in the air with a huge smile on his lips.
"Thyra!" he shouted dramatically across the long-hall, "Tell Svend and the others that the wedding will be held in two days' time, we need our invitations to be sent out today before sundown."
The servant that was sitting at the fire pit surrounded by the children immediately rose to her feet, and she bowed obligingly at her king, her eyes big and round.
"Yes, my king," she chirped, "How many pigs will we need?"
Ragnar rose to his feet too to walk over and fill his horn once more. "I think ten should do it, right Floki?"
Frida sighed out in amazement at his words and turned her eyes to stare at Floki that was still stroking Freke's head.
"Yes," Floki smiled, "Ten will be enough."
"Ten pigs?!" Frida exclaimed in a high voice and with big eyes.
Ten pigs were enough to feed an entire army of Viking men. Ragnar drank heavily from his horn before handing it to her.
"Yes, love," he grinned, "We don't want to run out of food already on the third day, now, would we?"
Frida felt like she was going to faint. "Three days?"
Floki chuckled manically from his position on the floor. "Yes," he grinned, "A royal wedding normally lasts more than five days here. Is that not normal in Northumbria?"
Frida felt her mouth dry up and she put her hand over her forehead, dizziness covering her hastily.
"No," she breathed, causing both men to laugh out.