Reine des Anglais

The answer is God.

ᛁᛊᚨᛒᛖᚢ

Isabeau held tightly to Canute's arm as Wulf walked over to them. They were still standing at the edge of shoreline where Canute had taken her when she realised it was Thorfinn in the fight with the soldiers.

"The fight must be over," she whispered softly as she moved closer to her husband. "All the men are following Wulf towards us." She glanced aside and froze.

A small man with long, unkempt blonde hair was walking slowly towards them with a taller man just behind him. The smaller of the two had clearly been in a fight.

Could that really be Thorfinn?

Canute put a hand over Isabeau's as Wulf reached them.

"What is this, Wulf?" The king asked, standing completely straight like a statue.

"The man called Thorfinn took one hundred blows to meet with your majesties," Wulf explained softly. "He has earned the respect of both me and the rest of the men. We humbly ask that you speak with him, sire. He has a comrade named Einar with him as well."

So that's the other man's name. Isabeau looked up at Canute, waiting for his response.

When Canute looked back at his wife- he could see the woman he had married in her eyes. That bit of sparkle she had had, the sparkle that had faded with time and hardship after hardship.

"I will respect my men's wishes." Canute said, squeezing the hand that Isabeau had resting on his arm softly. She could feel how nervous this made him. He had never been confronted by any of his past choices like this before.

The guards keeping Thorfinn and Einar back lowered their weapons and allowed them to approach.

The wind blew gently as Isabeau and Canute turned to face the men as they got closer and closer. Even Isabeau felt nervous. Thorfinn had good reason to hate the both of them.

"You've managed to stay alive." Canute was the first to speak. "It's been a while... Thorfinn." Canute was almost glaring at his former vassal. "You must despise me for enslaving you. In fact, you must be quite bitter... about what happened to Askeladd."

"I went against the royal family of Denmark, and yet I am still alive." Thorfinn was speaking carefully. He was almost an entirely different person from the Thorfinn Isabeau and Canute had known four years ago. "I am very grateful for your consideration... and I am very sorry for cutting your face with a knife."

Isabeau stiffened at that. The memory of that banquet still haunted her- it had almost seemed that everything around her was going to crumble when Thorfinn had attacked Canute in his rage at Askeladd's death.

"You attacked the king?" Einar whispered to Thorfinn, his eyes widened.

"You really are Thorfinn." Isabeau said softly, her eyes fixed on the man she had seen as a brother.

"You've certainly grown into quite a man to be able to say such things." Canute said coldly. "It's been four long years since then. Plenty of time for a man to change."

There was a moment of silence between the four of them.

"King Canute." Thorfinn said calmly, breaking that silence. "I need you to leave this farm."

Isabeau's eyes widened.

Thorfinn knew that by the look on her face, she agreed with him. She thought that they should leave as well. He could still read her expressions as clearly as if she had spoken her thoughts aloud.

"This all began because of Ketil's men." Canute responded, his voice was calm as well but there was an icy quality to it. "His youngest son, Olmar, killed ten of my men because he was angry that I didn't make him a Thegn."