The last days of Paradise
When Ubbe and Sigurd return the next day, they are surprised to find the inhabitants of the cabin not only alive, but smiling.
"I cannot believe that you eat that." Mary says when the two brothers step through the door. She smiles brightly at them, her hair in two long braid and on her face, a deep purple bruise.
The offending item in question is a small fish, laid in vinegar and when Ivar picks it up and eats it whole, grinning at Mary through the whole prosses, she shudders.
"Would you two like some food?" she offers and the two join the pair at the table, exchanging careful glances. The situation feels like a trap, but for what, they do not know.
"Mary what happened to your face?" Ubbe asks, ready to berate his brother for hurting a Seer and then, for hurting a woman.
But she only grins "Your brother slammed my head into a table."
Ubbe is ready to speak, a deep frown on his face when Sigurd, sitting beside Ivar, notices something else.
"Brother, you are injured." He remarks, staring at a deep cut on his neck. Its slim, but long and still wet, the scab cracking open even more when Ivar leans his head back.
"She held a knife to my throat." He answers simply and Mary grins proudly at the words. Sigurd is not sure if he should be impressed by her courage, or worried at the accounts of violence between the two.
Ubbe, deciding that his brother needed a knife to the throat, even if it just to make him stop talking, just nods "Good."
After that the brothers leave, Ivar on the back of Ubbe, and Mary doesn't see them until the evening. But she is bored out of her mind by midday and, even though she would like to avoid the curious stares, she heads into town.
She buys the things she had promised Inga, talks to a lovely young man who shows her which boots would fit her best and who then shows her how to lace them up. By the time she heads back to the hut, it's already late in the afternoon.
She dines with the three brothers, and when they leave, she crawls back into bed with Ivar and lets him hold her. She can feel his hot breath on the junction of her throat and it takes everything in her not to turn around and press her lips against his.
But she doesn't and in the nights that follow doesn't either.
Mary can feel the battel inside of him, she sees the flashes of panic whenever she does something unexpected, like take off her trousers for bed, or cuddle deeper into his embrace. She assumes it has something to do with the fact, as he so rudely puts it, he is a cripple, but she never asks him. The nights are intimate but they never do more than sleep. Ivar knows that his brothers would laugh if they knew how much of a coward he is being. He is aware that they know at least the very basics of what happened with Margarethe. They stare at him a little longer, throw glances at the bed when they arrive in the mornings, as if it could answer the questions they have.
The absence of a second cot is painfully obvious, and sometimes they try to find their answers without offending either Ivar or Mary. When they ask Mary how she slept, she just smiles and says "Very well.", when they ask if she wants them to bring her a bed she shrugs, saying she doesn't mind.
Sigurd is more determined than Ubbe, and when he confronts Ivar directly about whether or not her has bed her, Ivar just smirks and tells him to ask Mary. He doesn't, of course.
A few days later, they make their way into town together and the people of Kattegat stare at the cripple and his slave, but even more they stare at the smile that seems to adorning the man's face whenever they talk.
He is still wrathful to everyone else, hissing and glaring when talking to the queen, starting more fights than he can win, but whenever she laughs, he smiles.
In the first week, the man selling fruit freezes when he hears her call him a 'spineless old bastard' and is surprised when the only answer is a loud laugh.
"That may be." The prince agrees good naturally "But I will still not allow you to walk around half naked."
The man doesn't know what they were talking about but he knows that such an insult is rare to pass without retribution.
The woman selling fish sees them when they pass her stand, mere moments later.
"But in my home its custom." The girl complains "It's called a minidress and it's quite fashionable."
The prince shakes his head and she nudges him with her foot, pushing lightly against his shoulder. The prince grabs her ankle, and the woman gasps, ready to go and console the girl, but when he pulls and she falls, there is only amusement.
"I don't understand why these dresses are so long." Mary whines, trying to lift her skirts best she can without tipping the overfilled basket and dropping their food on the ground.
Still, the hem is covered in mud.
"It's such a hassle to clean this."
Ivar looks up at her, one eyebrow raised, as he drags himself over the ground, his trousers and hands covered in dirt and Mary blushes, but doesn't back down.
Ivar scowls when they run into Sigurd, who easily takes some of the items from Mary, before the two fall into easy conversation. He had expected her to take to Ubbe, but it was Sigurd, with his thoughtless remarks and easy-going attitude, that she has grown to like. It annoys him to no end that she has picked him to befriend. His most eager tormenter.
"Sigurd, what would you say if I cut off the bottom of my dress?"
He blinks, then blushes and then, catching a warning glare from his brother, asks "Why would you do that?"
"The hem keeps getting dirty because it always drags on the ground."
Sigurds gaze lower to Ivar "What do you think how he feels?"
The comment earns him a stone against the shins from Ivar.
Mary sighs in annoyance; the one time the two have to agree and it's on this.
A few days later, the Rangarssons go fishing and after begging and begging, they allow Mary to join them. The water is beautiful and she joins Ivar on the shore while Sigurd and Ubbe wade into the water. The days have been getting warmer, little by little, and she enjoys being outside without freezing.
"Tell me a story." Ivar says after a while, gazing over the water and Mary smiles at the request.
"In my home there is a story, called the six servants. It's about a prince, who is in love with a princess, but to marry her he has to fulfil three impossible tasks. Many men before him failed, but, together with six friends, he travels to the castle and asks the princess to marry him. The first friend is a man with a belly as huge as a small mountain and who eats all day and all night. The second is a man who is able to hear even the tiniest sound, as he listens to grass grow. The third friend is an incredibly tall man, so tall that he can fit in no tower, of no castle. The fourth one wears a blindfold in front of his eyes because his glance is so powerful that it makes everything he sees split to pieces. The fifth friend is a man who feels cold in extreme heat and hot in extreme frost, and the last one can stretch his neck to see over long distances." Mary tells, closing her eyes in contentment as the sun shines down on them. He watches her with a smile. Watcher her wiggle her toes into the soft grass and pick little wildflowers, weaving them together into a long chain while she tells her ridiculous story.
"As expected, the queen asks for the prince to finish three challenges. First, he has to fetch a ring which the Queen dropped in the Sea. The man with the sharp eyesight notices the ring, in the depth of the ocean. The obese man drinks the sea dry, and the tall man picks the ring up with his impossible long limps. The Queen is surprised at their succes, but orders the second task. The prince has to eat three hundred oxen, skin, hair, bones, horns and all, and drink three hundred casks of wine to the last drop. If any trace of these are found then he will lose his life. The prince asks whether he's allowed to have one guest join him and his wish is granted. Naturally, the friend he brings is the man with the big belly, and he eats the entire feats in less than an hour."
Ivar scoffs. "I have seen Sigurd do the same."
Mary laughs and nudges him with her foot, but he just grins.
"Anyways. The last task was for the prince to keep the princess in his arms until the clock turned to midnight. He holds her, having his friend around him as protection, but the queen, afraid that he will succeed, puts a curse on them and the prince and all his friends fall into a deep sleep. When they wake up, the time is almost up and the princess is gone. But the man with the good ears can hear her crying on a mountain. The tall man carries them to the mountain, his legs so long that it takes no more than three steps. Then the man with the sharp eyesight takes off his blindfold and looks at the mountain, causing it to splinter into a million pieces. The tall man catches the falling princes and returns her safely into the princes arms, just as the clock hits midnight."
She finishes her story with a smile, but Ivar frowns.
"If the man's gaze makes everything shatter, how come it didn't destroy the ring when he spotted it in the water?"
Mary shrugs "It's a story." She just says.
Ubbe and Sigurd curse and when they look up, both of them are drenched. A giant fish, as big as whale had jumped out of the water and had then quickly disappeared into the depths of the sea, they claim.
"I believe your story before I believe them." Ivar comments and Mary nods.
Then she gets to her feet and Ivar watches her wander into the water, skirts lifted to avoid them getting wet, and even though she whines at how cold it is, she walks until the water is to her knees.
"How do women here swim?" she asks curiously. The water is cold but clear, and the warm sun is reflecting off of the small waves and it looks so perfect that Mary is willing to endure the cold for a quick dive.
No one answers her though, and when Mary looks at them, they all avoid her eyes.
"They swim naked, don't they." She deadpans and Sigurd nods, his face flushed.
Ivar's mouth is feeling very dry.
Mary sighs.
Well, she is not going to do that. So, underwear it is.
But as soon as she starts lifting her dress, the men freeze and avert their gaze. Mary is pretty sure that they would have no issue staring at any other slave, but with her status as Seer and whatever is going on between her and Ivar, they seem as prudish as the English. Even if the brother in question is looking away himself.
"It's okay." She laughs. "I don't mind."
The first one to look is Ivar, his eyes burning as he watches her pull the dress over her head and toss it away. She is still wearing her panties (her most precious possession at the moment) and the chest bindings. Together, they more than cover all the important parts, she thinks.
The second one is Sigurd, who openly stares at her, oblivious to Ivar's angry looks, and then Ubbe, who seems much less flustered than his brothers.
"What is that?" Sigurd asks when he sees her tattoo. She steps closer to him and pulls the bindings up to show off the entire thing.
"I had it made. Its why the English thought I was a holy woman." She says "Its similar to the ones your people wear, only in colour."
She has seen the tattoos of the Vikings, on their heads, chests and arms and while the ink wasn't as vibrant or precise as hers, they are very much alike.
Sigurd reaches out and traces the cross with his fingers, momentarily forgetting the half-naked girl it belongs to, until Ivar practically growls from his place on the shore.
"Come on, brother. Keep your hands away from things that aren't yours." Ubbe jokes and pulls his brother away.
Mary rolls her eyes at Ivar, but then she wades into the cold water and turns to float on her back. The sun is warm on her skin, the light bright orange behind her closed eyes, and for a while she just floats. She listens to brothers, listens to them talk and bicker and when she hears Sigurd teasing her for seemingly falling asleep, she just raises a hand and flips him off.
Ivar snorts at the gesture.
"God, this is cold." She says, her teeth chattering when she climbs out again, having stayed in the water for much longer than intended.
Pulling on her dress (dresses really, because there are multiple if you want to be a proper lady), she slips out of the bindings and underwear and lays them out to dry in the sun. She has tried the Viking equivalent of underwear and it was scratchy and uncomfortable. She will have to ask one of the tailors to make her another pair. Especially when, if, her period returns. While she is thankful that she hasn't had to wrestle that particular demon yet, it is starting to worry her. Hopefully, with reduced stress and a better diet, it will come again soon.
Ivar stares at when she leans back and closes her eyes, and he envies her. No worries, no anger, only happy contentment.
By the time Ubbe and Sigurd come back to land, having caught a few fish they proudly display, Mary has finished the little flower wreath and wears it like a crown on the way back.
Three weeks pass like this.
Mary eats every morning and most evenings with the three brothers, often joining forces with Ubbe to stop the two younger ones from killing each other.
An almost impossible task, considering that Ivar and Sigurd are two people who not only goad for a fight, but also fall for any provocation. She has had to deal with more than a few bloody noses and while she still flinches whenever the first one throws a punch, she has stopped trying to reprimand them for the senseless violence.
She doesn't know where they go during the day, she assumes it might have to do with the planned invasion. They ask her about it sometimes, about what she knows about their enemies, about their strategy and success. Always inside the hut, when it is only them. The decision to keep her knowledge a secret was cemented the moment Ivar found out about his mother and his brothers are not keen to disagree.
At night, she always sleeps beside Ivar.
She can often judge how his day went once the fire burns out. When he is relaxed, he talks to her, sometimes deep into the night. When he is stressed, he lays on his back and stares at the ceiling, one arm wrapped around Mary as she sleeps by his side, and when he is angry, he pulls her against his chest and doesn't let go until the next morning.
Only one thing never changes. Ivar always sleeps with his trousers on, refusing to take them off even when Mary glances at the belts that bind his legs together and comments on how uncomfortable it looks. He never bathes when she is home, not even when she promises him that she would not look. She only ever comes back to find him in clean clothes and with wet hair. Mary stops trying to convince him when he pins her to the bed and shouts at her to leave him alone. That night he holds her tighter than ever.
While the brothers are away, Mary spends time doing household chores until she gets bored. Then she heads out into town, spends time with Inga, and occasionally speaks to Margarete. While she has promised Ivar to stay away form the girl, the blonde often seems to look for her and Mary doesn't want to be rude. The conversations are often short, and whenever Margarete tries to coax Mary into one of the houses, or invites her to eat, she quickly declines.
The town works hard on the defences, but Mary never joins them, and no one ever asks her to.
Slowly but surely, she learns about the people and the town. She learns how to make a fire (they use a fungus, how cool is that?), how to clean the dirty hem of her dress, and where to buy fresh fish.
The latter one, she finds out the hard way, by being sick for two days and cursing out every deity she can think of. Since then, she always gives the fishmonger who sold her the gone off item the stink eye. The rumours about her come and go, calming down whenever there is some other exciting news, but it's always the one topic the old ladies come back to.