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The clouds swirled above the docked boat amusing the young boy below the sails. He had a hand pointing outwards tracing the sky as the other propped up his head. He always lied on the same side of the same boat at the same time everyday. He was told this boat was the very vessel that carried his father to fame or at lest what started it all. Stories of the great Ragnar Lothbrok circled around him ever since his father left. He wondered if they were true or if the man the tales told wasn't him. He mourned to ask his father about these truths but he was gone.
He left the village of Kattegat. He abandoned his crown. He left deserted his people. But lastly, he abandoned his family. What kind of king leaves these duties behind- what kind of man could be so heartless and leave his very own sons behind?
This young curious boy, who was staring at the clouds,was his second youngest son from his second marriage. His name was Hvitserk. And everyday, since he was old enough to walk to the docks alone, he waited for him. He waited for the man who won many battles. He waited for the very man who changed the name of travel. He waited for the legendary king who started out as a farmer. He waited for his father.
However, Seasons change, skies darken, the ocean becomes bluer. Hvitserk had stopped going out to that boat. These days there's nothing but the weak skeleton of his old man's legacy. The boats wood was dried up as the the body of the boat moulded beneath the bitter salt water. This young man was still strong in spite of that. He had become a great fighter and was kind to everyone. Although the people of the village by the name of Kattegat over looked him. People either talked of his half-brother Bjorn Ironside and his plans to go to the Mediterranean or Ivar The Boneless, his crippled younger brother.
But alas he never thought of that he was just happy to be living.
On the other side of the village had sat a family of three. A young girl used to play amongst tall grassy fields. Her cries of laughter had drifted through the air. The girl's parents were farmers who often dreamt of going somewhere else. They always wanted to go to someplace greener where the smell of salt water was distant. When the man named Ragnar Lothbrok proposed to go west rather than east travelling seemed easy. Years and years later when they had their daughter they decided they would go themselves along with a crew. They returned wealthy but it came with a cost.
Months after being reunited with their daughter, the father died of an illness assumed to be caused by the sea. Heart broken, their family was. It took a couple years to rebuild the loss. The loss of a man that would pretend to enjoy his wife's cooking, she knew he didn't like it. The loss of the man who'd give his daughter a hug of reassurance when something didn't work out for her. The loss of a husband and father. It was slow at first- getting past the burden that buried the family up to the crown. However things change and the young girl, Runa, became a young woman. Her mother, Ingrid, grew older. And not one day goes by without the pair forgetting the man they loved.
