Freya Ironside, Gifted by the Gods

Ready to sail

Freya saw Ragnar peeking with his head into her house and then she heard him saying, "I'm proud of you" and he closed the door. He turned around and saw her standing there, "Ragnar" she said with a smile, "Child" he said with a smirk walking towards her; to her, he didn't seem much talkative, he walked right past her, "Wait" she said rushing after him, "I don't think it's wise if you talk to me" he said stopping, "But I want to. I want to get to know you" she insisted, "That is not wise" he repeated tilting his head, "I thought that being you, you had to be wise" he said trying to make her detest him, "I am enough to know that these little tricks won't work on me, nor your sons" she stated, he smirked again; all his facial expressions were difficult to distinguish. "You are stubborn" he said almost proudly, "Like you, like father" she said, he nodded.

"What do you want to know?" he asked looking around as people stared at them, "Why do you want revenge? After all these years?" she asked, he put a hand on her shoulder, leaned in and told her, "Revenge is always worth having" and then she watched as he disappeared among the crowd.

"Father" said Freya with a smile entering her home, "Freya, what is it?" he asked staring at his map of the Mediterranean, "I'm here to ask you to take me with you to Spain" she said, "You are too young. You are not ready, you will stay here and train with Lagertha and your mother" he said lost in his thoughts, "But –'' she tried to argue, "Freya, this is my decision" said Bjorn without letting her retort. She wasn't happy with that but had to accept her father's will.

The next day, as she had finished lunch, she went to see whether the boys and the Queen had finished theirs. As she walked towards the long house, she saw Sigurd striding menacingly from the opposite side.

"Sigurd!" she called him to make him notice her, he lifted up his head and almost walked past her without saying anything so she stopped him. "Sigurd, wait" she urged him as she grabbed him by his arm, he turned around, "What is it?" she asked apprehensively, "Your beloved Ivar –'' he began nastily, "Claimed for himself the woman I wanted" he continued exasperated, "What are you talking about?" she asked gravely, "Margrethe, he says she is his personal slave now, that she has all the reasons to be grateful to him! Mother then says she is glad he has found a woman and that we should all be married by now ... I wanted her! I wanted to marry her!" he snapped, leaning towards her every sentence he said to emphasise. She looked towards the other side of the street, the side leading to the long house for a split moment and he scoffed, "Go to him, go to your Ivar, of course he needs you" he mocked her, "Sigurd" she argued not in the least impressed by him in that moment.

He smirked angrily and stormed off.

She hurried to the long house and when she opened one of the doors she was welcomed with a low and hollow, "GO TO HEL, SIGURD!" "Ivar!" scolded him his mother. He turned towards the door and saw her, he said nothing, he just looked down onto the table again but she could still see his ready-to-blow-up expression on his face.

"I can come back later" she said at once and the Queen, knowing she was the only other person who could calm him down, immediately urged her inside. Hvitserk stood up and left his bowl of food immediately to give her his place and he went to sit by his mother on the other side. Freya passed him the bowl, "I already ate with mother and father" she explained as Hvitserk looked at her curiously.

Aslaug decided to act as if nothing had happened and started by saying, "What I said before stands, you can bed all the slaves you want, nobody cares, but you have to marry someone to settle down with". Ivar gestured to Margrethe to come to him with his food and she started feeding him and he pretended to be calm again; although he was prone to snapping, he was also much composed and would be able to return to a state of semi normality rather quickly.