Einherjar

3

While Blader and Hilda fed and secured the animals after unsaddling and brushing down Fjorsen and Sig, Ivan and their father wiped down the draft horses and the oxen. There was silence among the four Thryms as they all worked, tired from a long day and eager to get inside to a hot, good dinner.

Hilda kept giving Blader pensive looks. Despite her seemingly casual warning to him earlier about their father's anger, the nearing of the confrontation between Blader and Karl Thrym had also made the consequences more real, whatever they ended up being. Blader knew his father would be furious on discovering he had been expelled, but the knowledge that he could become an einherjar to escape the mark of dishonor might calm him.

Finishing up in the barn, the four Thryms trooped up towards the house, the sun growing closer to the horizon. As they entered the house, pulling off their boots, hanging up hats, and setting aside any other gear that didn't belong in the barn, Gunil Thrym came out from the kitchen, looking tired.

"Supper is ready," she said. "Wash up and then come sit down."

It took several minutes for all of them to wash, Ivan and Karl taking the longest to wipe all the dirt and sweat from their arms, necks, and faces. Hilda and Blader were noticeably cleaner from not having been in the fields all day, but still, the exertion from the day's chores was enough for the cool water to feel refreshing on their skin.

As they crowded around the table, the platters of food sending up tantalizing smells, Blader's stomach growled in spite of itself. He hadn't eaten since his lunch break at noon, and despite his anxiety at having his father and brother find out about him getting expelled, he was hungry.

The Thrym family settled themselves down at the table and the food platters began to make the rounds. The silence wasn't the normal one of weariness and the knowledge that a day's worth of hard work was behind them; it was the silence before the storm. Four of them knew what two of them didn't, and those four felt the tension filling them as the plates were loaded with food.

Despite his hunger, Blader found it difficult to swallow the bite of venison he had taken. Ivan, light brown hair still wet, glanced around the table and seemed to sense the anxiety around the same time Karl did.

"So," Karl said, looking at Blader. His dark eyes were solemn. "What happened today, son?"

Blader just wanted the tension gone. He didn't want to beat around the bush. "I got expelled."

Stunned, Karl and Ivan both stared at Blader, and then both looked at Gunil, who nodded gravely. Hilda gulped and Freyja slipped down in her seat, like she wanted to hide. "Expelled?" Karl repeated.

Blader nodded. "But I –"

"What in Surtr's blazes are you saying, boy?" Karl demanded angrily. "You went and got yourself expelled?"

Ivan didn't say anything; he didn't have to for Blader to know he had let him down.

"Principal Sigrif –" Blader started.

"Ivan gave up an education for you!" Karl shouted. "And this is how you honor your brother's sacrifice?"

"I was given –" Blader tried again, feeling frustration well up inside him.

Karl slammed his fist on the table, causing the platters to rattle. "You do not speak, boy! Do you have no respect for your family, for yourself?"

Blader shoved his chair back, stood, and yelled, "Listen! I'm not officially expelled!"

Silence fell across the table as everyone looked at him, hope suddenly sparking in their eyes, if just barely. Taking a deep breath, he continued. "I was given a choice. I can either be expelled, or I can join the einherjar."