𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬 | 𝐨𝐬𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐡

𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍

Ulf Hlodvirsson was only twenty-years-old when his wife, Ashild, fell pregnant with their first child. They had intended for their first child to be their last, their one and only regardless of gender, but after seeing how smoothly the pregnancy went, two years later, they decided to have another. The second pregnancy came with more symptoms than the last—morning sickness and a restless, aching body for poor Ashild—but again, another healthy child was born. When Ulf and Ashild fell pregnant with their third child another two years after that, and their dear friend, Earl Ragnar the Fearless, approached them with the promise of settling in a new land across the sea, they were more than ready to accept the offer. They were ready to settle, to have a place of their own, and to have one among friends was all they could have ever dreamed for.

Ulf, Ashild, and their two boys, Vikar and Orri, crossed the sea with Earl Ragnar and his family. The journey took longer than expected, and on their twentieth day ashore, Ulf and Ashild's third child, a girl, was born, but she was born silent and still. The child's death was felt by all within the village of Loidis, most of all by Earl Ragnar's wife, Sigrid, who was also pregnant with her third child at the time.

As fate would have it, later that same night, Sigrid's child would arrive much earlier than the healers had predicted, pale, sickly, and weak. Ashild saw this as a sign, and although she was still heavily grieving the loss of her own child, she prayed to the gods, begging them to spare the babe.

And, then, the stranger came.

Unbeknownst to the rest of the village, the stranger that saved Bryn's life appeared to Ashild first. He asked what she was willing to give to save the babe, and when she said her own life, he agreed to the terms. He kissed her upon the brow as she retired to bed, absorbing her life into himself, before departing in search of the babe. It wasn't until the next morning that Ulf realized his wife had passed in the night.

This part of Bryn's history, of Ashild's sacrifice, would die that night, dooming it to remain unknown, and unsung, for all eternity.

Six years later, Kjartan and Sven would kill Ulf Hlodvirsson, Ragnar the Fearless, and anyone else that might have carried the memory or image of Ashild in their minds. All, including Vikar and Orri as they were too young to remember their mother, forgot about Ashild, all except for four individuals—Young Ragnar, Uhtred, Brida, and, as fate would have it, Bryn.

Bryn had not known who the woman was at first, having only caught glimpses of her during visions or in her dreams, and she wouldn't know who the woman was until she was old enough to draw her from memory. So, although the woman had been plaguing her mind since she was quite young, Bryn wasn't informed of who the woman was until she was eight-years-old, after she presented a drawing of the woman to Uhtred.

"You've seen this woman?" Uhtred had asked her, absolutely baffled when Bryn presented the drawing to him. The resemblance between the charcoal-drawn woman and the ever fleeting memory he somehow managed to retain of Vikar and Orri's mother was uncanny.

"Only in visions and dreams," Bryn had replied. "Even when I can't see her, I feel her presence, as if she's watching over me."

"This is Vikar and Orri's mother," Uhtred had said, pointing down at the page. "She died in childbirth."

Although Ashild had not, in fact, died during childbirth, that had been what Uhtred and the others were told. That was how it was remembered.

After Uhtred's admission, Bryn immediately told Vikar and Orri. From that day forward, she always made sure that one of them, if not both, had at least one drawing of their mother. This assurance is what led to Bryn and Leofric's current predicament.

"This is useless," Leofric complained. "Can't you just leave it plain?"

"I can," she confirmed, "but, I know they appreciate the effort I put into the drawings. If mucking about in some dirty water is what it takes to find some berries or flowers to add some color to their mother's cheeks, then so be it."

Not long after the excitement surrounding Aethelwold had settled down, Vikar and Orri eventually came to the realization that they'd both forgotten to grab a picture of their mother before they left Liscumb. Since each of them took at least one of Bryn's many drawings of their mother with them everywhere they went, finding out that they had forgotten to grab her before their first official raid as vikings was quite distressing for them.

Bryn, in her desperation to get away from her idiot of a brother and his newly protected ward, immediately told the boys that if they found some sort of paper or cloth for her to draw on, she and Leofric would head off in search of some flowers and berries to paint the finishing touches with.

And here they were, doing just that; traipsing through the mud in search of flowers and berries.

"At this rate, we'll have to have walked all the way back to Wessex to find your silly little flowers," Leofric grumbled.

"I beg to differ."

Confused by her words, Leofric glanced at Bryn to find her pointing off to the left. He followed her line of sight to be met with a miraculous amount of berry-covered bushes, hidden amongst the trees. How she managed to see them at all was beyond him. "I stand corrected."

"Come on!" Bryn laughed, grabbing Leofric's hand to tug him along behind her.

Leofric couldn't help but laugh at her excitement, staggering after her. "Slow down or we'll fall!"

"Would that be such a bad thing?"

Leofric scoffed. "Who are you and what have you done with my Bryn? Surely you can't be her, because my Bryn was quite miffed earlier when I splashed this same muddied water on her boots."

"Well, yeah, but look at them now! They're filthy and—"

For the second time that day, although not of her own volition this time around, Bryn's sentence fell short when Leofric yanked her back into his chest to place his free hand over her mouth. She didn't put up much of a fight, she never did when it was Leofric because she knew he only ever meant well. She also knew he wouldn't have done it unless absolutely necessary. However, when several moments passed and he still hadn't moved or pointed out the danger at the very least, she heaved out a sigh through her nose.

"Stay silent and still," he instructed quietly, removing his hand from her mouth to draw his sword. "Something moved within the trees."

She nodded in acknowledgement to his instruction and his warning. Since she had left her sword strapped to Fidler, and since she had thrown her bow and arrow down after Uhtred said she couldn't kill Aethelwold, she grabbed Leofric's sax blade from his belt and jutted her chin ahead to show him that she was ready.

Before they could even take a single step forward, something came crashing through the branches to swoop over them. Leofric, out of pure, protective instinct, all but tackled Bryn into the mud, shielding her from the large bird that had descended upon them.

"An eagle," he grumbled when he finally caught his breath. He shoved himself up off the ground, hauling Bryn to her feet as he went. He cringed when he saw the mud coating the front-half of her body. "Sorry, little one."

"Not an eagle," Bryn said, dismissing his apology in favor of staring up at the bird that was already soaring through the sky with ease. The wonder in her eyes had Leofric turning to watch the bird as well. "Not an eagle, Leofric. It's Odin."

⸻⸻ ☆ ★ ☆ ⸻⸻

ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ's ɴᴏᴛᴇ not proofread. pls let me know if you see any mistakes.