Growing up with Helga and Floki wasn’t always the easiest thing. Building ships was fun, having Floki as a father sometimes as well. Being Helgas daughter meant to be loved by a person that would do anything for you. She took care of her, fed her, spent time with her and even made her father spend more time with her. Thanks to Helga, she and her father grew a bond, even after her sister left too early.
But being their daughter also meant she had to be friends with the youngest prince growing up. He wasn’t easy to be around, but she managed. On the bad days it would end with her almost getting killed by him, but on the good days she enjoyed his company more than any other. They shared a special bond, both telling one another how much they hated each other, while still looking out for one another.
As they grew so did what they felt, the hatred turning into some passion that neither of them understood. Both of them misunderstanding it as hatred. Hatred was a silly thing, a childish thing, same as holding grudges. Aslaug would often invite Helga to feast with them. Helga would often bring her daughter with her. Ivar would stare at her and make her feel that feeling even more intense.
“I don’t like feeling this way…” The girl mumbled while sanding down the wood as she told her father about how the youngest Ragnarsson made her feel. “I just hate him so much, father.” Her father looked at her with raised eyebrows, turning away to continue carving into it, chuckling. “I’m afraid, what you’re feeling, my dear child, is not hatred.” A small knowing smirk on his face as he shook his head.
Shaking her head as well, she stopped in her track. “I don’t think I understand…” Floki laughed before sending her a playful look. “Go help your mother, she wanted to go to the market in Kattegat.” With a sigh she got up, placing a hand on her fathers shoulder, him giving it a soft squeeze before returning to his work. “I’ll bring you some paint to color the ship, once it’s done.” Floki nodded only giving her half of his attention, making her smile.
She wondered what her father meant. What else would the feeling be if not hate? Longing? Shaking her head at her own thoughts she scrunched up her nose. No, never. She wouldn’t long for him. “What troubles you, my dear?” Helga said, noticing how quiet she was on the whole way. The girl being the daughter of Floki and talking just about as much as her father, it worried her. “It’s nothing you need to worry about, mother.” She gave her a small smile looking at the many different flowers growing on the path.
A smile was on Helgas face as she watched her. “Go, child. You needn’t help me, I’ll meet you on the path as the night sets, so we can walk back home, before it gets too dark.” Smiling the girl nodded, promising her mother that she would help her carry everything later on. Following the flowery path into the woods, she barely managed a thought. Her mind spinning around what her father meant. Hearing twigs snap behind her she stopped walking, listening close. Feeling someone come closer she turned around.
The youngest prince following her, crawling on the floor. “Ivar, why are you following me, if you don’t mind me asking?” The boy looked up at her, squinting his eyes at the sun. “Prince Ivar to you and I wasn’t following you, I was simply walking this path myself.” She rolled her eyes before she continued walking, the feeling now leaving as he crawled besides her. “I don’t think I like you.” Ivar mumbled quietly, more to himself than to her. A quiet chuckle escaped her as she shook her head.
“What are you laughing about?” He looked up to her. “Nothing, my prince.” She grinned slightly before taking a turn left walking into a meadow deep in the woods, sitting down. The boy still following her, sitting down besides her. Picking some of the flowers, she didn’t bother looking at him. “What troubles your mind?” He asked, tilting his hand while watching her. “I don’t think I like you..” She said smirking slightly before looking up at him from the flower she held.
His eyebrows furrowed as he opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again. She took her shoes off before she got up, chuckling quietly. “I talked to my father about how I don’t like you, I even said I hated you. He only laughed and said that hatred might not be the word for what I felt. I don’t think it’s the word you mean either. I figured it out, but I wouldn’t dare to tell you, you might think I’m insane.” She twirled gently, holding her dress up slightly as she started to dance alone through the growing grass.
He couldn’t tear his eyes off of her, as hard as he tried he felt his chest fill with the feeling again. His lips parted slightly as he watched her, a smile on his lips as he heard her chuckles and giggles. All of the sudden he understood everything. He understood his feelings and he understood what she meant. He didn’t hate her, not even close and he might not love her, but he longed for what it would be like to have her, what it would be like to belong to her.
As she stopped, her hair falling into her face and her eyes falling on him, there was the most beautiful scene he ever saw. Tearing his eyes off of her seemed impossible now. “I take it you finally understand…?” Her feet slowly carried her towards him, as if something pulled her into his presence, pulled her to be near him. A small smile tugging at the corner of his lips. “I believe I do…” His voice low, but filled with the believe that the gods are guiding him in this moment.
She kneeled down, facing him. His hand finding her chest, feeling her beating heart. A small smirk now on his face as his eyes searched for hers. Finding them felt like an explosion, felt like everything fit. “You know I won’t stop teasing you about every little mistake you make or about how much you take after your father.” His voice was barely above a whisper, making her giggle quietly. “I’m proud to be like my father, Ivar, he taught me a lot. I hope you know that I won’t stop complaining over how spoiled you are or how many times you tried to kill me while we were kids…” A grin now spread on his face as he moved his hand up to her cheek, softly letting his thumb trace the black paint on her face.
“You’re beautiful, how do I just realize that just now?” She swatted his hand away. “Don’t wipe it, my mother spent such a long time on it this morning.” He chuckled lightly before smirking, seeing her bite her lip, trying to suppress her smile. “My apologies to Helga then, I didn’t mean to ruin her work.” A chuckle left her lips before she gasped and jumped up quickly. “I forgot about the paint I promised I would get my father!” Quickly she put her shoes back on before kissing his cheek. “You should visit us tomorrow, I want to show you something, my prince.” A grin graced her face as she walked backwards waving at him.
The boy was utterly confused but waved back, chuckling softly. He would need a lot of patience for her, after all she was the daughter of Floki and Helga. His eyes widen as he thought about what just happened and what he just realized. “Oh gods.” He mumbled wiping his hands over his face, closing his eyes falling back into the grass. “This is going to be interesting.”
His destiny. His fate was the exact resemblance of the most insane man in whole Norway.
Hahahahaha Oh Ivar. You big dumb idiot.
This is super cute! I’d love to read more about their interactions
It was a cold stormy day in Kiev, everything was covered in snow. It was beautiful. A smile was on her face as she stood outside the palace of the prophet Oleg, not yet wanting to go inside, even though the coldness was already sinking into her bones. Closing her eyes she inhaled the scent of the snow. “Sometimes it’s very hard to understand you.” A familiar voice said walking up to her, making her smile grow bigger. “I don’t see how, Ivar.” Her eyes opened to see the freezing man in front of her.
A soft giggle escaped her. before she turned around walking inside, brushing the snow out of her hair. “For a viking you seem to be freezing an awful lot.” The man rolled his eyes, having a playful smirk on his lips. His eyes trained on her face as she told him about something she found out the day before, his fingers going through her hair to get rid of some snow she didn’t notice, making her blush slightly as she looked down, continuing to walk into the room were everyone sat.
“Are you okay? It must be difficult to walk in the snow with your crutch…” She said quietly, hoping not to offend him in any way. “I’m used to it by now, crawling in the snow was much more unpleasant.” He gave her a tight lipped smile, before walking in before her. “Ivar.” Oleg chuckled, offering to warm himself by the fire and to drink something, fully ignoring her presence as she sat down opposite Ivar, next to prince Igor. Katia however noticed her, not liking her one bit.
“There is nothing to do, except to look forward to the spring.” Oleg said with a sigh. “I wouldn’t say so, Prince Oleg. There’s a beauty that winter beholds-"She started with a smile only to get interrupted by him. "But life goes on. We must endure the winter. Still we must amuse ourselves.” He finished and Igor leaned forward to talk, using his puppet to mimic what he said. “I want to skate on frozen ponds. I want to cut the throat of the first pig. And I want to hang the mistletoe for the christ-mass.” Ivar smiled at him as he took a drink.
The girl smiled at Igor whispering to him, that she’d definitely go with him as soon as she could. “And I want to bathe naked in a hot spring,” Katia said, stealing glances at Ivar as she did so. “With hot steam rising, but ice and snow all around.” She smirked slightly looking between Oleg and Ivar. “And my breath, will be a geyser, and my soul will bathe there and slake it’s thirst.” She held eye contact with Ivar, a smirk still on her face as he looked at her. “And you, dear Ivar, the future king of all Scandinavia, what would you like?"
Ivar started to smirk slightly. "I would like to walk.” Oleg chuckled, but the girl felt a kind of sadness. He could walk, in her eyes he was fully capable of doing so, he worked harder than anyone else for it. “That would be a miracle.” The prophet made fun of Ivar for wishing for something like that, he angered him. She lowered her head as he talked about the miracles their god did, saying that healing a cripple like him would be easy.
Turning away from Oleg, Ivar turned towards her, noticing how quiet she was the whole time. “What about you, what do you long for?” His eyes felt intense on her, making it hard for her to breath,a small smile forming on her face as she lowered her gaze before looking back into his eyes with the same intensity. “I want freedom, adventure… I want to live my life to the fullest, I want to learn love and pain. I want to see so much, with still having not seen enough. To feel like I should be satisfied with what I saw and learned, but I just couldn’t because there’s so much more out there…" His lips were parted slightly, a small smirk on his face as he studied her face, the glow it held, the twinkle in her eyes as she spoke. He always thought she was attractive, how could he not? She was blessed by Freyja, everyone could see it.
Katia rolled her eyes. "Well that seems incredibly boring…” She leaned back as the girl lowered her gaze, feeling foolish for her longing. “I don’t think it does. It sounds exciting, like a longing that’s worth sharing.” Her eyes met his, his deep blue ones showing sympathy as he gave her a soft smile with a gentle nod, before turning his attention back to the prince. “What about you, Prince Oleg? What is it that amuses you? What is it that you really want?"
Her mind still thought of Ivars eyes being fixated on her, as she drank. Prince Igor got up after a while, pulling her with him. "We must go ice skate now!” She giggled softly as she got up. “Ivar must join us!” He said pulling her to Ivars side as he watched them smiling. “Well if I must.” He chuckled softly before getting up, grabbing his crutch. “Go get ready, Prince Igor. Ivar and I will wait outside.” She smiled after him as he ran to get changed. As Ivar was putting his many layers back on, she smiled slightly putting her own back on, before walking outside with him.
“I have a feeling that Katia doesn’t like me much.” She said with a small knowing smile. “Huh? Oh, I wouldn’t be able to tell." His voice was dripping in sarcasm. "Maybe her longing is also worth sharing.” A soft giggle escaping her as she turned around after walking a bit, seeing him roll his eyes. “Lighten up, we’ll go ice skating with the prince.” Even though he knew he had to stay on the side, watching them, he felt some kind of joy, seeing her so excited for it. Giving her his best fake excited smile, she couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re a very mean man, Ivar.” He watched her laugh and couldn’t help but to feel the longing she described.
Igor came outside with two pair of ice skates, handing one of them to the girl, before leading them to the place he wants to skate at. She talked quietly with Igor in front of Ivar and he felt jealous at the little boy, him being able to listen to her voice in this moment. He longed for it. A sudden realization hit him, his biggest longing wasn’t to walk anymore. He was longing to hear her voice, her laugh. His longing turned into her in just a glimpse of an eye.
He didn’t realized they reached the place as she touched his arm softly, giving him a soft smile, seeing how he was lost in his thoughts. “Are you okay?” He nodded towards Igor , who was putting his ice skates on already. “Don’t worry about me, go amuse the prince.” A small smile played at the corner of his mouth as he watched her change as well, walking up to see them better. Leaning against the railing, he shot them occasion smiles.
He watched them ice skate together, his thoughts going to how she would look with kids. His kids. He stopped himself before his mind could go any further. “Ivar! I think I found another longing that was worth sharing!” She giggled spinning , carefully so she wouldn’t fall. Igor laughed with her. “You’re going to be the death of me…” He mumbled quietly to himself, showing her his most gentle smile. “You’re a very mean woman, for making a fool out of me.” She stuck her tongue out at him, continuing to skate.
As the day turned into night, they walked to her home. “You really didn’t have to accompany me on my way home, Ivar. I know how much pain you must be in due to the cold.” He looked down at her confused. “How do you know, I never told you?” She smiled apologetic. “I noticed it… When it got colder you were barely outside, even today you had a hard time…” No one besides his mother ever cared enough to notice things like that.
A smile formed on his face as he nodded. “Today I told that my longing was to walk. I believe it changed…” He whispered again, locking eyes with her. “What do you mean? How could it-” He placed a hand on her cheek. “You became my biggest longing, to see you smile, to hear your laugh or even your voice. It made me realize it.” His eyes were intense, she could barely hold the eye contact. A smile forming on her face as she lowered her gaze before looking back up.
“Then I believe we, again, share the same longing, Ivar."
