The Viking's Wife

Chapter 4

Edited by: _bat_woman_

Katra arrived back at the village. Stopping at the stables, she gave her horse to the horse master to take care of, and walked to her parents hut. Walking in, she paced around the fire in the middle of the floor. Hearing the thud of the horses announcing the arrival of her brother and husband, she froze. The voice of her father talking to the men carried over to her ears.

"Welcome, Arne. It is good to see you again." Her father said.

"Thank ye, my king." Replied a deep voice Katra had never heard before. It was undoubtedly Arne's. "How is yer health?" He asked the king.

Listening to the man's low, husky voice, Katra felt her body heat up and blood rush though her. Katra did not understand her body's reaction to Arne's voice, never having experienced the feeling before. Slowly backing away from the front of the cottage, she swiftly made her way back to her room. There, she began to pace, not wanting to think of the odd way her body reacted. To distract herself, she tried to summon up her anger at him from earlier.

Arne looked around wondering where his wife was. Turning back the king, he asked what he was on his mind.

"You shall see her at the Gale. Her mother has decided to have a talk with her. Let's us go to the longhouse and have a drink. I will show you to the hut you will be staying at. I'm afraid it will not be as private as you would wish, but since the last one was set on fire, this will help with Katra's safety," The king told Arne as they both began the walk to the longhouse.

"I would like to see the hut that was burnt, my King."

Sigurd nodded his head and brought Arne to the remains of what would have been his marriage hut. He watched the man he had married off his daughter to and saw the anger on his face. Arne looked to the king and asked the question that had been plaguing him since he had heard of what had happened. "Why would he burn down this particular hut?"

The king felt a familiar stirring of fury and need for justice against the man who had burnt down the hut as he stared at what little remained.

"Katra came here when she needed time to herself." The king replied.

"We are fortunate though that this did not occur after tonight when both you and your wife would have been in the hut," Sigurd told his son-in-law. "I would have lost my daughter and my closest friend would have lost his son. This could have turned out a lot worse."

Arne looked at the blacked charred remains of the hut. Anger burned in him, fuelling his need for retribution against the man who would dared to try and harm his wife.

"Let me show you where you and Katra will be staying, ja?" The king walked away from the burned hut, heading towards their new one.

As Arne followed the king, he sensed he was being watched from the shadows. Stopping, he looked back towards the remains but did not notice anybody near by. Turning back to the king, Arne walked to catch up, not being able to shake off the feeling of being watched.

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"Katra, let us go to the bathhouse and prepare you for tonight." Ingrid said. Katra stood and followed her mother to the bathhouse next to their hut. Stepping inside, Katra felt the heat of the fire and stones, her body warming up instantly from the chill of the air outside. Katra started to take off her own clothes as her mother had the thrall help her untie the lacing on her back. Stepping into the sweat lodge, Ingrid sat down and motioned for her daughter to sit with her.

Katra did as her mother wanted. "Katra, tonight will be your wedding night." Ingrid began. "Do you remember what I told you when you were six winters?"

"Mama, you do not need to tell me what will happen on the wedding night. When you started to train me on the healing arts you explained it to me." Katra hoped that her mother thought the heat in her cheeks was from the heat in the room and not embarrassment.

Ingrid breathed a sigh of relief. Katra had remembered that lesson. After sometime in the sweat lodge, both women went into the bath. Katra and Ingrid walked into water that went up to their shoulders.

Walking over to the side that held the soap, Katra rubbed the rose scented bar on her body. Rubbing the bar through her hair, she ducked under the water. When she finished washing her hair, Katra looked to her side and saw her mother coming up from the water.

Walking up the stairs she stopped before the fire and sat on the stool in front. The thrall that was attending the bath house grabbed a brush and started to comb through Katra's waist length locks. Looking up as she heard splashing, Katra saw her mother leave the bath, and join her.

"Send someone for Katras dress." Ingrid said to the thrall as she took over combing her daughters hair. Without thought, Ingrid began to hum a lullaby that she sang to her daughter when she was a child. Ingrid started to braid Katras hair. Grabbing the gold chain, she added that to Katras braid. When the thrall came back, she laid the dress on the bench with the belt and krasten. Katra stood and dried off. Ingrid grabbed the precious oils on the shelf. The oils were gained from trades made over the years and were made for a woman's skin, keeping it soft. Katra held out her hand and her mother poured a rose smelling one into her palm.

Katra sat down and started with her legs, rubbing the oil into her skin, all the way to her throat. Her mother did her back. After they were done, Katra's mother grabbed the silver tweezers from the basket on the shelf.

"Must we?" Katra asked as she dodged her mother.

"Katra, we have done this many times before. Now sit down and let me groom your eyebrows." Ingrid said in exasperation. Every time she helped Katra with grooming her eyebrows they went through the same debacle each time. When Ingrid started to groom Katra's eyebrows she felt her cringe with each hair that was pulled.

When Katra's hair and body were dried, she pulled on her dress and felt it settle around her. Wrapping the gold belt around her so it wrapped loosely around her waist, she clipped it in front, part of the belt hanging down to her knees. Katra combed her hair one last time and laid the gold krasten on her head. While her mother got ready Katra applied kohl around her eyes.

She sat down on the stool as she waited for Ingrid to finish, and reached for her neck. When she did not feel her ring she smiled, remembering the moment when she let the arrow fly.

By the time her mother was ready, it was time for the Gale. Katra threw her fur cloak around her shoulders knowing the temperature was colder at night. Walking with her mother to the longhouse, she waited outside for her father and brothers to join.

"Are you ready?" Sigurd asked Katra as he held his arm out for his wife.

"Yes, father." Katra replied, taking a deep breath. When her brothers walked in to the longhouse, her parents followed. She stood at the door as she removeds her cloak and handed it to the thrall. The whispers
died down when she started to walk up the aisle between the tables. None of her people had ever seen her this way before.

Looking forward, she saw her husband for the second time since he had left. Arne's blond hair was pulled back from his face with a leather tie. He was taller than most of the men, standing well above the normal height. His blue eyes sparkled when he saw Katra walking towards him. The potential of the young child he once knew was nothing compared to the woman who stood before him now.

Katra stopped in front of Arne. Looking up to him, she made sure her face held no emotion. Katra would go into this like she would a battle. "Husband." Katra said as she looked at the man.

"Wife."Arne replied, aware that all was quiet in the long house.

"Welcome to my home."

Arne smiled as he reached into his pocket and took the ring out that Katra had shot at him. Taking her hand he placed the ring in her finger. "I found this upon the top of the hill. You must have lost it when you went riding."

Katra looked down at the ring and felt the weight of it. "That could be because I shot it at you." Katra said to Arne. With that, she walked to her seat and felt herself smile when she heard his chuckle and Eirik's booming laughter.

When Gunner asked why, it set Eirik's laughter off again.