In the burning ruins of an ancient city, Ragnar Lothbrok's eldest son with his second wife Aslaug, Ubbe, found one lone survivor. A young girl. A girl with deep and dark and red eyes, and hair black as night with a single streak of white.
"Aila." Ha...
"I want to ask you something." Ivar broke the silence. "Who will be the leader of our great army?"
With a shrug, Ubbe said, "Maybe there won't be a single leader, but many."
"Father chose to take me with him to England." Boneless reminded, smiling a childish smile.
Ubbe sat up with a grunt and rolled his shoulders back. He was incredibly stiff. "And what is your point, Little Brother, huh?" Asked the elder with a small grin, he already knew what Ivar was saying.
"He told me," Ivar started. "that he wanted me to learn, at first hand, something of the Saxon ways. The landscape, the buildings, and defences." Boneless met Ubbe's eyes then shrugged childishly and pursed his lips. "He said it would be useful when we returned to avenge him."
"If you are saying that he wanted you to be our leader, Ivar, then say it." Aila smiled faintly. "Do you think that Ragnar wanted his youngest son to lead an entire army? An army greater than any before it?"
The corner of Ivar's lips twitched into half a smile. Ubbe sighed, too tired to bother himself with Ivar. He grabbed his large cloak and left, leaving the two alone.
Aila gazed into the flames before her. She could feel Ivar staring at her, and flickered her eyes from the flames to Boneless'. Ivar licked his lower lip, bit it softly, and smirked. His eyes twinkled in the glow of the fire.
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"Why are you looking at me like that?"
Ivar looked down and chuckled softly. "Come here." He said quietly, holding his hand out. Aila stood up, walked around the fire, and entwined their fingers. Ivar pulled her down to his lap and sighed heavily, closing his eyes. "It is all right." He whispered as he saw the worry in her eyes. "I am all right."
Aila cupped the sides of his neck and leaned her temple against his. "Why are you looking at me like that?" She whispered softly, inhaling deeply.
"What, now I cannot even look at my own woman?"
"Woman." She said softly. Aila looked down, the faintest of smiles on her lips. It soon faded and she sighed. "Why me, Ivar?" Aila asked quietly and looked up. Aila closed her eyes and leaned against his palm as Ivar pulled her hair back and palmed her cheek.
"Because," Boneless said. "you are kind, you are strong, you have compassion, you are beautiful . . . you are everything that I am not. You make me happy in this world of pain and misery, and you do not see a cripple. You see a man." Ivar leaned his temple against her and whispered, "That is why."
