Ease The Dawn

Part 2, Chapter 15

"That girl," Brana clucked her tongue, "I am afraid that I am siding with Ivar on this."

Murmuring, Aethelswith's face flinched, her eyelids fluttering open, attempting but unable to focus. Reaching forward, Brana touched her thin arm, letting her know she was near.

"You must always take care of him," Aethelswith whispered, her voice raspy from lack of use.

"Ivar?"

She did not reply.

"I have seen nothing but improvement in you over the last few days. You, my friend, can care for him yourself."

The slightest shift of Aethelswith's features, a sliver of brightness told Brana that she was amused.

Leaning closer, Brana studied her gaunt face, her skin still a pale shade of yellow, "I will admit, only to you, that I questioned what you saw in him. I feared for you even." Straightening her back, she gazed down, her thumb rubbing circles on Aethelswith's tiny wrists. "What was it, in the end, that made you run through a field of swinging swords for him?"

Sighing, Aethelswith shifted her head, letting her eyelids close. "Different things..," she breathed. "I suppose I had felt too much of his heart to be able to return to my life." Flicking open her eyes, she stared up as if looking at the ceiling. "He had become a part of me."

"There is not a person in all of Kattegat who does not know the bond you two share."

"Hmm," she hummed quietly.

"Were you afraid to leave your family?"

"Yes," she replied clearly. "But not as afraid of never seeing him again." Laying still for a moment, she tried with difficulty to clear her throat. "Will you marry Loni?"

"At some point, yes," Brana smiled.

"You love each other very much too."

"We do," Brana nodded. "He is a good man. He eats anything I cook, brings wood in without asking, holds me at night. Easy on the eyes," she lifted her dark brows, laughing lightly. "It's a quiet love, not what you are used to. No impassioned fights followed by wild love-making and bleeding-heart ultimatums but..."

"So, it is a healthy union," Aethelswith whispered, her dry lips pulling back into a smile.

"Aethelswith, is that wit I detect? You are feeling better. It is so good to talk with you. Ivar rarely gives me the chance."

"Where is Ivar?" she looked in the direction of Brana's voice.

"In the hall, alone. Hopefully eating. He has barely left your side. He wants so badly to protect you."

"Hmm," she hummed again, "Before me, his mother was the only person he felt ever cared for him and he left her after she begged him not to. He returned to find that she had been shot in the back and he felt it was because he had not been there. He may not think of it when he is being demanding and unreasonable, but it has shaped his entire way of being. It is fear and under it all, he just loves me," her eyes closed again and she sighed, visibly tiring. "He may not move in a straight line but he always comes back to center...my Ivar," her voice drifted off.

"Aethelswith? Aethelswith?" Frowning, Brana swallowed back the tears pricking the corners of her eyes. Staring down, she watched Aethelswith slip back into sleep, unable to shake the memory of her mother's words, describing the burst of clarity that often came to those in their final days. Picking up Aethelswith's slight hand, Brana kissed the back, "Please sweet one, wake up."

Eyelashes fluttering again, Aethelswith fought her way up from rest, her eyes straining to open.

"That's it. Let us try and get something into your tummy before all this conversation knocks you out."