Honor and Blood - Part I.

The stupid, the proud

The celebration of Vanya's name day took place when the sun went down. Her back and feet hurt, and the babe was restless. She was exhausted and wanted to rest, but she sat down and pretended to be happy for the sake of the people.

Many people from the village came to give her gifts, flowers, jewelry, children gave her toys, and healers gave her potions to recover quicker from birthing her child. Ale and music flowed through the busy hall as she sat next to Ivar, a hand on her stomach, hoping the child would calm down soon.

Her husband kept whispering pretty words to her and kissing her knuckles, but Vanya still felt nervous. "Alright, now it's time to give you our gifts, Sister," Hvitserk exclaimed, raising his cup of mead high into the air as everybody cheered with him.

Aslaug smiled from her position on Ivar's left as thralls carried in a box to Vanya's feet. They opened the heavy wooden chest to reveal a dagger with a golden handle and engraving on the steel. "It has protection runes on it. You keep it near you during birth, and both you and the child will survive. I had it with me during every delivery, just like my ancestors before me. Every mother passes it onto her daughter. And now it's yours, Vanya."

The ginger looked at Aslaug with tears in her eyes and hugged the kind woman. The Queen acknowledged her as her daughter in front of whole Kattegat; she was a Lothbrok now not only through marriage. The next to give her a gift was Ubbe. He put a small item into her hands wrapped in fabric. When Vanya revealed the present, she couldn't help but gasp.

The oldest son of Aslaug smiled down at her cheekily and nodded towards the butterfly pin in her hands. "You said you had a necklace like that once. So I thought it would be nice to give you something to remind you of it, Lillemor (Little mother)."

"Thank you, Ubbe. I love it." She grinned at him as he squeezed her tightly and kissed her forehead. The tall Ragnarsson also mussed Ivar's hair as the crippled boy glared at him for the affection his wife gave him.

"Jewelry, Ubbe? Really? How unoriginal. You make it too easy. I got you a better gift, Vanya!" Hvitserk boasted, passing her another wrapped item. This one was heavier and square. "I had one of the Saxon thralls write it down for you. It's stories about the gods and the greatest warriors to ever live. Father is in there, and mothers' parents as well. You said you wanted to learn everything. Floki also wrote some runes in there for you to learn."

Vanya thanked the giddy Viking and trailed her fingers over the hand cover of the book Hvitserk had made for her. It looked just like the ones the monks carried around the church. She had a feeling the one who wrote the stories was a monk too, and the book might have been either bought blank or had the pages remade. Whatever it was, she felt a little bit sorry for the author of the book. The slave learned how to write to eternalize God's word, and now he writes stories of foreign gods and warriors.

"And this is my gift. Much better then Hvitserks, I am sure." Sigurd jumped in with his oud in hand. It turns out the reason why the Ragnarsson tuned his instrument next to Vanya was to get it ready for a song he wrote for her. The music was beautiful; it started on a sad note that grew fiercer with every note, ending in a happy symphony. Everyone clapped the pretty song, and it's creator.

Floki and Helga gave Vanya their gifts as well, white Bjorn and Torvi gifted her with new furs. The last one to provide her with a gift was Ivar. His present was wrapped in fabric and heavy. "I made it myself. It's Jörmungandr. I already gave you Fenrir, so it would only be fair if you had his sibling as well."

The metal necklace was perfect despite the origin of the creature it held. Ivar had Thor's hammer; it would only be fair if she had something powerful too. And a snake that binds all the seas is truly brilliant. All the storms that Thor creates make the snake rage in the waters. "Thank you, Ivar. It's perfect."