Virago - Ivar The Boneless

Cold Reminders

Little Bear had something to prove. She put some black kohl around her eyes, only a little though, enough to make herself look presentable then she headed to see Hvitserk. Ivar might have been the one who needed to know she was on board but Hvitserk was the one who could relay this information without her asking. 

When she got to their hut, she knocked on the door a little before waiting for someone to answer. She didn't like to just enter, not with recent events. 

The door opened, there on the other side stood Ubbe. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see Hvitserk," she smiled as she wrapped her fur coat around her, the material stretching a little. 

Ubbe stepped back and allowed her to enter. She looked around, she saw Ivar and Sigurd opposite each other at the table. The jaw of Ivar was clenched as Sigurd turned away from the youngest Ragnarsson and looked at Iona. She turned back to Ubbe who motioned his hand to the bedroom. 

Ignoring the looks from Sigurd and Ubbe, Iona entered the bedroom where she found Hvitserk braiding his hair on his bed. "Looks like you need some help," she said as he looked at her. Closing the door behind her, she smiled at him.

"Please," he managed before she walked over towards him and sat behind him crossed-legged on his uncomfortable bed. She ran her fingers through his hair taking out all the mess he had made. "How are you feeling?" His voice was sad as he referred to what happened the other day and Iona knew it straight away as he said it.

The young woman started to separate parts of his blonde locks as she let out a long sigh. "I'm okay," she wasn't very convincing. Hvitserk could hear it in her voice, spending time with her mother and keeping her away from Sigurd didn't seem to have helped her mentally. "I'm not here to talk about that."

"What are you here to talk about then?" He asked her as she pulled on his hair and began the braiding process. 

"Nothing," she didn't want him to think she was here for a reason in particular. "I just haven't seen you recently."

"I've seen you," Hvitserk told her. "I saw you with your mother. I saw you staring."

Iona raised her eyebrows as she tried to focus on what she was doing. "I've spent a lot of time with my mother. You might need to be more specific." Finishing the first of four tight braids against his head, she tied it off with a band he gave her before staring another.

"When Ivar challenged your mother," he finally answered. "You were staring at him."

"What?" She tried to play it off.

Hvitserk sighed, "You have changed so much. Please don't let yourself turn back into the person you once was." He turned to face her, their faces close to each other as she held onto his long hair in her hands. 

Her fingers moved to the end of the strands she was holding as she looked into his eyes. "Who are you really, Hvitserk?" The question tumbled from her lips with ease as she stared at him. "I do not believe you are as innocent as you look." 

"That is one thing we can agree on," he spoke before he turned back around. 

Little Bear pulled his hair tight as she started a second braid next to the first. "So, I hear of rumours of revenge."

"These rumours have some truth to them. I do not believe that you need to concern yourself with such things though." Hvitserk was not a fan of the girl getting involved in Ivar and Ubbe's plans. He knew Sigurd would be travelling with them, he wanted to keep his younger brother as far away from Little Bear as possible. 

She did not stop her hand movements as she thought about his words. She did not want to stay here alone, she had heard Ubbe telling her mother of the plans to avenge Ragnar and whilst her mother refused to go, Iona wanted nothing more than to help. It was not out of any feelings she may have felt towards Ragnar in his moments of kindness to her, she wanted to go for her own personal gain. She wanted to feel blood on her hands, she needed to feel a heart slowly coming to a stop before her. 

"Please stay here with your mother, you are safe here." Hvitserk encouraged her. She was still weak from Sigurd's actions, her mind filled with rage and blackness which would not be cured by being in his presence. 

Tying off the braid, she reached for hair on the other side of his head. "Will you be there?" She asked him, "On the road?"

"I cannot look after you," he told her as bluntly as he could without hurting her.

She dropped his head, "Is that what you are concerned about?" She asked him as she got up from the bed and sat on Ivar's bed. Hvitserk turned on the bed, the two of them sat opposite each other, their feet on the floor almost touching each other. "I don't need you or anyone else to look after me."

Hvitserk looked at his hands, bowing his head before he looked up darkly through his lashes at the young woman who pretended to be so many things. "You cannot come. This is about our father. My father, Ubbe, Sigurd, Ivar and Bjorn's father. He was not your father."

"He might not have been my father but I respected him more than you," she was vicious with her words when she wanted to be. "He came here, he came back home and asked for your help, you and your brothers and only one of you helped."

The Ragnarsson felt attacked by her words as he watched her eyes flash red for a brief second. "You know nothing of what happened between my father and my family." 

"I know you though." He watched her as she smirked then continued to talk. "I know you never had any respect for your father after he left your family. I know you were saddened by your mother's love for Ivar, how when she died you didn't feel sadness like you should have."

Her words sliced him like a knife. Stretching his right hand out, it held a small knife as he put it towards her throat. She never flinched as she felt the cold metal touching her. "You're just like her," he told the blonde. "You are a mix of my mother and yours all in one body."

Pushing his knife away with her own hand, she leaned forward and put her mouth next to his ear. "Very dangerous, Hvitserk."