In the Exchange of Swords

The First Wedding

Farren closed the gate to the goat's pen, shaking it to make sure it was secure. She knelt and picked up the wicker basket that was filled with linens. Her dagger was on top of the white sheets.

The leather sheath she carried it in had needed to be polished. As the sheath dried Farren had sharpened the knife on the whetstone.

"Farren!" A gravelly voice called across the farm. "Where are ye'?"

"Coming Da!" Farren shouted back. She adjusted the basket on her hip and hurried across the farm towards her house.

Her father Asger was standing in the back doorway. He was already dressed. He was wearing the well-oiled buffalo furs across his shoulders and his beard had been combed and braided. His supple leather boots had been re-laced with the new string and he had cleaned the silver blade of his sword.

"Where's Kolli?" Asger questioned.

"Out with the sheep," Farren replied setting the basket down on the table and picking up her dagger. "The goats have been fed and the ponies are in their stables."

"And the gift for your brother?" He questioned, his arms crossed across his broad chest.

"Dag helped me move it this morning."

"Good girl," Asger smiled. He pulled Farren to his chest and kissed her head. "Go change out of those things. Goster made it very clear that he wanted us to look nice."

The farmhouse was made up of three rooms. One that Farren's dad slept in, the other she shared with her brothers, and the third was the rest of the house, including the kitchen and living room. There was a corner of the kitchen where a large tub was laid out. The water was tinged grey from Farrren's brother Goster and Asger using it while she was completing her chores. Farren undid the fishtail braid that held the top half of her hair, letting her ginger locks cascade down her back.

She pulled off her green dress and brown apron and stepped into the wooden tub. Sitting down the water went to her shoulders. Farren quickly washed her limbs and hair. Wrapped in a thing towel she made her want into her bedroom.

There were two large beds and one small bed. The large beds had been stripped down to the frames. Farren's two oldest brothers lived in their own homes now with their own families. The other large bed was strange for Farren to see empty. Einar had moved out four years ago, but Goster still slept in the bed they shared. But now that Goster was getting married the mattress was gone, most likely taken to his new home sometime this morning.

The smallest bed belonged to Farren. She was given the luxury of her own mattress because she was a girl, she also had her own chest for her belongings. Farren folded her farm clothes and pulled out a nicer outfit to wear for her brother's wedding. A short blue dress that Colborn had brought her from England. Paired with brown pants and leather boots. She found a thick belt decorated with a silver plate to wrap around her waist. Farren wrapped a grey wolf pelt around her shoulders, securing it with a chain she found by the stream.

She put on her silver necklace with a goat horn hanging from the end. Farren forewent her regular hairstyle and wove ribbons into one thick braid down her back. She then wrapped a brown piece of leather around the crown of her head.

She walked back out to where Asger was helping Goster ready himself. Gostar was only a year older than Farren, but he looked much more mature today. He was wearing his nicest clothes and have even combed his hair into place when he normally let it hang in the way of his eyes. Farren attached her dagger to her belt as she walked over to her brother. She secured the leather band circling his left bicep before stepping back to gaze at him.