He was the conqueror. She was the sacrifice.
He was powerful. She was unexpected.
He was certain. She was uncertainty.
He formed a nation. She formed his world.
Together they would make history.
▪︎°▪︎°▪︎°▪︎
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xi. Battle Cries
"Are you going to wake up or will we have to leave the two of you to get reacquainted?"
Halfdan's voice pierced through Kari's sleepy state as she blinked herself awake. Her hand reached out, clutching at the blanket to pull it higher.
She had always been someone who was easily cold. Her mother had teased her whenever she would take all the blankets in the house to curl up in her corner of warmth.
Even as a child, she ran to where she would be kept warm. Not in the arms of her frail mother but resting in the comfort that she provided herself. Alone but not lonely. Far from it, in fact.
However, in this case, it did not seem as if she was alone.
"Go away, brother." A deep voice, husky with sleep, sounded from beneath her.
That couldn't be, could it? Allowing her eyes to open just a bit, she was more than shocked to be met with the sight of Harald's muscled body underneath her. Her heart jumped in her chest before she realized what was happening.
When it finally registered, Kari let out a shriek as she tried to untangle herself from his body, the blanket on top of them not helping in the slightest. In her struggle, she accidentally bumped their heads together, eliciting a pained groan from them as Halfdan watched on with an amused smile.
Shoving at him as hard as she can, Kari ended up falling to the floor, still stuck to the blanket. "What's wrong with you?"
"With me? You were the one on top of me!" Harald exclaimed, standing up from the bed, still in his clothes from the previous night.
Both of them looked at each other with wide eyes, their disbelief reflecting back at them. They gazed at each other before looking at themselves.
"Oh please." Kari scoffed, recovering from her initial shock.
"You saw that, brother. She was on top of me." Harald defended, pointing at her.
She slapped his hand away as she turned away from him to recount the events of the previous night. "Oh gods, what happened last night? We were drinking ale and talking."
He corrected hastily, the words just slipping from his lips. "I was singing."
She glared at him furiously, not at all entertained by his useless piece of information. "And after that, nothing. I don't remember anything."
He added helpfully, remembering how he had stumbled against her as they returned the night before. "I know we went back to the tent."
She continued, peeking up at him suspiciously. "Right. I made you sleep on the floor. So how did you get on the bed?"
"Look on the bright side, at least you still have your clothes on." Halfdan pointed out.
"Halfdan!" Both of them turned to glare at the third person in their tent who seemed all too entertained to watch the two of them banter.
