Kingdom Come

IV. The Return

Oh, goddamn

My pain fits in the palm of your freezing hand

Taking mine, but it's been promised to another

Oh, I can't

Stop you putting roots in my dreamland

My house of stone, your ivy grows

And now I'm covered in you

Once again, Jaehaera awoke from Sihtric shaking her shoulder. "Jaehaera," He whispered to her as he woke the girl. "Jaehaera, wake up."

Jaehaera sat up at once, only thinking the worst had happened. "Sihtric, what's happened? What's going on?"

Sihtric shook his head, seeing her worry. "Nothing bad, lady," he told her. Then he smiled. "Your father, Young Ragnar, and the others."

Jaehaera jumped up quickly at his news to get dressed and gather her weapons. She quickly put on her shoes. Then she looked at him with that wild smile he had seen only a few times before. His girl had returned, maybe not completely, but she began to peek through. "He is?!" she asked him.

"Yes, they are, lady," Sihtric repeated. He couldn't help but return her bright smile. He paused only when she had thrown her arms around his neck. The two hesitated for a moment, realizing what happened.

Jaehaera pulled away. "Sorry, I-"

"It's alright, lady," Sihtric told her. He gave her a soft reassuring smile. "Come, let's go see them." She nodded at him, and together they gathered their things to walk out. Clapa waited at the door for them, and then the three walked to greet her father and the others. Behind her father trailed a great number of warriors.

They found her father and the others riding into the courtyard. Ragnar next to him, Hild on the other side, the big man Steapa, Bjorn, a dark-haired man she hadn't seen before, and Beocca. Her father looked different, skinner. Like a slight ghost of her father. She hesitated for a second when she saw him, then she ran to him. She threw her arms around his neck and he lifted her off the ground in a bear-like hug. When he finally placed her on the ground, he placed a kiss on top of her head. "Where's mother?" she asked her father worriedly since she also didn't see Halig. A short, fat, pig-looking man also traveled with her father. She did not like the look of him, nor the air around him.

"Do not worry, child," her father told her. "She is safe."

Jaehaera nodded shortly, "and Halig?" she asked her father, but in her heart already knew the answer. Her heart broke for her father, as he placed a rough hand on her cheek. And she nodded again. Hild was the next to wrap her in her arms.

"Jaehaera!" She greeted happily, and the two women embraced. "Oh, how I missed you, thank God you are alive and safe."

"I missed you too, lady," Jaehaera answered the woman. "We watched and listened as you said. Stuck to the shadows."

Hild also held the girl's cheeks, something everyone seemed to do since she had been a child. "Good girl."

"Where is she? Where is my wild niece?" Ragnar's voice boomed from behind them. The two laughed when they saw each other. He didn't miss a beat before throwing her over his shoulder and spinning them around.

"Uncle Ragnar put me down!" She commanded him with a laugh, but he did and they shared a hug as well.

"You sent the girl with the apple, didn't you?" he asked her with a knowing smile. Her aunt Brida appeared behind him with a bright smile and placed an arm on hers before they shared a hug as well.