I spent so much time in my Seer's den, that it became the first place anyone would look whenever they needed me. I ground various roots and nuts and herbs into powder to use to induce visions, anything to let me try to see what Finehair's army was doing, and to see what Ivar and the rest of our army were doing. So far, Finehair's army was a mystery to me, and Ivar's was still sailing.

Thyri asked one morning if she could try to purposefully induce visions the way I did, and I promised her that she'd be able to soon. My hesitation came simply from a mother's worry; supposedly I went into seizures sometimes while inducing visions, and I was hesitant about seeing Thyri in that sort of position.

Thora, to her credit, tried her best to keep Margrethe and I going. She cooked meals and brought them to Margrethe's house, careful never to linger. They had never fully gotten along, but now they both had sons who were off to war. Piece by piece, their relationship was inching towards something better.

Hvitserk kept himself busy by running training sessions for those who stayed behind, in order to train them for anything that might come our way. Iorek, having not been directly told not to, joined and kept close to Hvitserk. I once walked back to the Great Hall to find Hvitserk and Iorek inside with Hvitserk practicing sparring in slow motion.

"Keep an eye on me, Iorek." Hvitserk said without realizing. But Iorek's icy eyes were trained hard on Hvitserk, and he seemed to be absorbing Hvitserk's slowed down movements as he came towards him and swung the wooden sword. "Good!" Hvitserk said when Iorek blocked the slowed down blow.

I was unsure how realistic it was for Iorek to be a Viking like any of the other men in his family. Fighting someone directly was one thing; fighting in a crowded battlefield with enemies pressed in on all sides was a different beast. But I was glad Hvitserk was helping Iorek, and Iorek's eyes gleamed when he got to practice his sword fighting.

One morning, Thyri and I walked together to the Seer's den where it stood a few buildings down from the Great Hall. Ivar and I had rebuilt it a couple of years into our reign, to give me a private place to do all the duties I'd need to do as Kattegat's Seer. The squat building was dark due to the lack of windows and the heavy door keeping the darkness and aromas inside. Thyri's nose scrunched up when we entered and she took in the heavy smells.

"Ew," She muttered, covering her nose with her sleeve. "This is why your clothes stink sometimes."

I gasped, pretending to be offended. "Excuse you?" I moved to one of the many shelves, pulling down a clay jar of bright yellow powder. "Could you help me get the fire going?"

Thyri and I settled around the hearth in the middle of the room. She stacked the firewood into a tower and I struck the flint together, a bright orange spark catching onto the kindling and spreading. Thyri blinked at the efficiency but huddled closer to me, her side pressed against mine. I handed the jar to her and she slowly took a handful of the yellow powder, holding it like it was something dangerous. I took my own handful and set the jar off to the side before looking back to Thyri.

"Okay, now do you remember what I said?" I asked as the flames in the hearth got bigger.

Thyri nodded, nervousness etched into her face. "We toss the powder into the fire and think of Father first, to see where they are." Her voice was shaking slightly, and I wrapped my free arm around her.

She had begged to be let inside this den, to be allowed to try and help use her abilities and visions to help watch for the two armies. She looked like she was trying very hard to not be afraid right now. Thyri looked up at me, her black eyes matching mine, and she nodded at me. I nodded right back and looked back at the fire.

"On the count of three," I said. "One, two, three!"

We tossed the powder into the flames, which roared upwards with that foul smelling gas. I felt the smoke invade my nostrils and mouth and breathed deeply. From beside me, I heard Thyri coughing as she tried to do what I had taught her and breathe as deeply as possible, to get as much of the smoke into her lungs as possible.

Eventually, the floor I knelt on disappeared and when I opened my eyes, I was standing on top of a hill. Below me at the bottom of the hill, was the army I had watched sail away two weeks ago. I heard a loud gasp and looked to my right to see Thyri, gaping at the landscape and army before us. She looked up to me, her dark eyes wide and shocked.

"Can they see us?" She asked, edging forward.

"They cannot." I explained. "We are like ghosts walking among them." I scanned the crowd for a moment. "Oh, there's Ivar." I pointed him out to Thyri.

Ivar limped along with Bjomolf, Ragnvald, and Thorgest following him. He was talking over his shoulder at him, though what, he was too far away to hear. I smiled at the sight of them and scanned the rest of the crowd.

"It doesn't look like they've come across Finehair's army yet." I said out loud. "They must've landed recently. Thyri?"

Thyri was still watching her father and brother closely, sniffling. I stepped forward and gently placed my hand on her shoulder. She looked at me, wiping her eyes furiously. "I wish we could talk to them."

"I do too." I said.

When Thyri recovered, she straightened. "I'm ready to try for the next one."

"His name is Harald Finehair." I reminded her, but she was already nodding. She didn't need my reminder. I closed my own eyes and focused instead on Finehair; as usual, the scenery turned hazy and gray, like being trapped in thick morning fog.

"Mother!" Thyri's voice appeared from beside me. The fear in her voice sent a stab of fear straight into my gut.

"Thyri!" I called out. I couldn't see her in the gray mass and I felt my heartbeat beating in my throat. "Thyri, where are you?"

"I see them!" Thyri screamed. "Mother, they're-"

She was cut off by a shrill scream.

I was ripped out of the mist and was back in the Seer's den. I sprung to my feet and launched myself to where Thyri was just waking from her own vision. I pulled her up and she came back, sobbing.

"I saw them." She said shakily. I held her as she cried, as she struggled to recover. "There were so many of them."

"It's okay," I said. "You're safe."

Thyri suddenly froze and looked up at me. "I saw where they were." She scrambled to her feet, and grabbed my hand. Thyri pulled me out of the den and we nearly crashed into Thora, who had her youngest daughter strapped to her back.

"Is everything okay?" Thora asked quickly as Thyri dragged me past her. I shook my head and Thora turned tail and hurried after us, concern etched in her face.

Thyri suddenly came to a stop in the clearing right before the Great Hall. Thyri was staring up at the large mountain that overlooked the city and the rest of the valley. She pointed to it with a shaking hand.

"I didn't know what field they were in," Thyri said in a shaking voice. "But I saw our mountain in front of them."