The One

ELEVEN

He was sitting in Agnus's room.
Agnus had invited him sternly after he had not come to dinner.

Agnus was abusing the fire pit and kettle, provided for the bath, to brew tea.

He handed Morten a cup and sat down on one of the chairs, their feet in a thick dead fur laying on the ground.
"You okay?" He asked.

He was feeling his injuries in the aftermath of the wrestling match. It felt like someone had rubbed lime into the cuts, even on painkillers. But he was sure that's not what Agnus meant.

He had been upset with stabbing the cat, so purposely trying to kill something.

But today, a day later, he had considered to do away with a man and he couldn't say if he had not almost done it the moment he had Roran there. His neck, very snappable, in his grasp.

Because letting Roran win this, would potentially mean issues for a lot of people.
One life for many others...

What was it that he was turning into?
"I've not been okay with any of this from the moment I heard," he said honestly.

Agnus nodded, "I realized that a while ago," he said, taking a zip.

Morten shuddered, the tea in his hand was blistering hot.
But it didn't seem to matter for Agnus.

Who spoke, as he moved the fuming cup away from his mouth.

"I came here at my own will.
I came as a man of no good birth, but that has done things that allowed me the choice.
And I have found that you?
The two Ashes?
You are all three men that are here because your family, tribes, regions thought it was a good and honorable idea. Without questioning whether or not you wanted to... "

He took another zip of his tea.

"Or if you are even ready."

Morten wanted to open his mouth but Agnus put up a hand.
A gesture that suddenly showed Agnus's serious side, which was plain scary.

" You now find yourself, a morally good man in a situation you are obviously not ready for.
You do not want to marry a girl you do not know, you aren't ready for the responsibilities of being a husband to any woman,
let alone one of the five.
But the only other choice? Is an awful one."

He looked thoughtful, drinking more tea.

" You have no choices.
You have to get your head on straight.
You can no longer be a young man who just does things.
You have to be a young man who makes sacrifices for someone else.
This is no longer just you.
You need to, Morten, you need to do all that without losing yourself."

He sighed

"And I need you to tell me if you can,
or I will make the both of you vanish from right under the noses of this whole region."

Morten had just tried a zip of the tea and spluttered.
Did Agnus just threaten to kill him?
He stared at Agnus, his tea mug hovering under his mouth, the possibility of it being poisoned suddenly very real.

" You see, I am a man that has become something.
But any woman from my region would rather marry a horse.
Because I am in truth a scary man.
I've done things to get where I am now,
from the bastard of a prostitute,
to a man the tribes call on when shit hits the fan.
You don't know the things I have done, the things I had to do.
So you get the man I honestly am, without any judgment caused by the things I have done. "

Morten just looked at him.

He had seen a glimpse of that a moment before, maybe in that ring lifting the other plains like he was a mere inconvenience,  he saw it now.