Virago - Ivar The Boneless

The Eldest Ragnarsson

When Little Bear returned to Kattegat late in the evening she was filled with a certain sadness, she was greeted by Sigurd and Ubbe, but their presence was not enough to fill the gap in her life right now. She didn't like knowing that her brother had headed off, leaving her once again. This time, Bjorn had taken Hvitserk with him, one of her trusted friends. With them both gone it was going to be lonely, Sigurd may have been a good friend of hers, but he wasn't his brother. Ubbe was like the protective older brother, he stood in when he needed to, but he didn't seem to have much to say to the young blonde.

"Where have you been?" Sigurd asked Iona as he looked her up and down. He noticed the blood that lightly coated parts of her hair, but he didn't ask; instead, he observed her as he looked at the open gash on her left cheek.

She shrugged her shoulders, "I've been out walking."

Ubbe noticed her face; he watched her as he tried to work her out. There was something about the young woman that made him unsure of her. There had been times when he had stood up for her against his youngest brother, but he knew that she didn't need defending. Watching her eyes dart around as she shifted her weight from hip to hip, he knew she was hiding something for Sigurd. He wondered what the girl was hiding, yet he didn't ask knowing she wouldn't tell. Ubbe had noticed that; lately, she'd spent less time with Sigurd and more with Hvitserk and watching her nervousness now he suspected that she was missing him.

"Are you hungry?" Sigurd continued to panda to the woman he felt something for.

The blonde shook her head, "No."

As she tried to pull her furs further around her, Ubbe reached forward taking the new pendant she wore between his fingers. "Where did you get this?" His voice was forceful as he looked into the striking blue eyes of the female.

"It's a gift," she didn't care much for the truth as she stepped away from the older Ragnersson before covering the pendant with the furs she wore. "Why are you here, Ubbe?" She asked him as she crossed her arms over her chest.

He narrowed his eyes at her, "Like my brother, I was worried." This time he was the one to lie, he cared for the girl, but he knew she didn't need to be worried about. Inside he knew Iona would be the one to be concerned about, she had a wicked way about her.

They all walked towards further into the centre of Kattegat; Little Bear walked between the two brothers as they made their way. "How long will your brothers be gone?" She was calm and collected as she asked the question; she was more concerned about how long she would be without Bjorn and Hvitserk rather than Ivar.

Sigurd pressed his lips together as he looked over at Ubbe; they didn't quite know how to answer her. The younger of the two looked at the female who was looking straight ahead, "I'm sure it won't be as long as you think it will be." He wanted to comfort the blonde, but she didn't even look concerned nor upset.

"Did you speak with your father before he left?" She asked them as she held her axe tightly in her left hand.

"There was not much to say," Ubbe was straight to the point. "He might be our father; however, he has no say in what happens in our lives." He took a second to glance at Little Bear; she was hard-faced and appeared to be looking for something.

Iona looked at Ubbe, her eyes meeting his when she felt him staring at her. "One day he won't be around," she told him with a hint of heartbreak in her voice. He knew she didn't have a man to call her father, so she always felt like the lads should be more forgiving to theirs.

Sigurd didn't wish to talk about his father, as the other two stopped, he continued leaving Ubbe with Little Bear between two homes. He looked back for a second, both of them watching him before they looked back at each other.

Ubbe stared into the eyes of the young woman, "You have your mother as do I. You should not be so obsessed with finding a father figure." He wanted to help this girl move on from the issues she had, but he knew it would take more than a few words from him. "Lagertha might not be around for you at the moment, but I know my mother cares for you as once of her own."

She knew he was trying to make her feel better; only his words seemed to enrage the blonde. "Your mother does not think of me like you think," Iona told the Ragnersson who was with her. "I love my mother very much," she said as she looked away, looked past him into the distance. "But she's not here, and I am, she decided to go away without me. Do you know how hard any of that actually is?"

He watched her; he noticed her eyes changing as she stared blankly behind him. The blue flickered away, leaving a white coloured iris for a few seconds before she blinked and her eye returned to normal. "I know what it's like to live without a father," he told her in a comforting voice. He placed his right hand on her left shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze, "I know you are so much more without a father though. Look at the brave young woman you have become."

"Why doesn't it feel like that to me?" She never usually let out too much of her vulnerable side, especially when it came to her parentage. Little Bear was well aware that she didn't have a father; her mother had always told her she was a gift for the Gods themselves. Lagertha had brought Iona up to be a warrior so that she may never need to depend on a man, but that only made her daughter want a male figure in her life more.

Ubbe didn't know how to help the confused blonde. She seemed to have so many things in her mind that he couldn't give her answers. "Maybe your mother can help with finding your father," he offered her a small piece of advice.

Iona looked back at her friend, "I do not have a father. It was prophecized that my mother would never have any more children. She fell pregnant with me; there was never a man; it was always the Gods."

He wanted to tell her that such a thing was not possible, but he did not want to upset the woman nor the Gods. If he was wrong, then the girl before him was even more strong and powerful than any of them had first thought.

They both jerked their heads up and to the side when they heard a rustling, Iona's hand rose with her axe in before she lowered it seeing it was only Margrethe the slave girl. Little Bear glanced back to Ubbe who had a smile on his face, a rare sight indeed. Rolling her eyes, Iona groaned, "I'm going to catch up with Sigurd." She didn't wait for Ubbe to reply before she headed away leaving the infatuated Ragnersson with the blonde slave.