Signy was an orphan raised by the renowned boat builder Floki and his wife Helga. Growing up, she was best friends with the sons of the great Ragnar Lothbrok. However, when her half sister is to be sent to get married and Signy steps in to swap plac...
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My long dark hair blew gently in the wind as I stood atop the distant countryside. I had always liked to come here and just watch the lively Kattegat buzz with life. My crystal blue eyes watched as the sun flickered over the unending landscape.
Today, I turned sixteen years old. I watched the sun as it rose over the distant meadows, slowly coming into sight with its golden glow.
My long white dress blew in the wind as I stood and watched the waves crash against eachother. I closed my eyes, my face tilting up towards the sun with a smile as I felt the wind blow through me.
"I thought I'd find you here." A voice broke me out of my thoughts. I let out a small yelp as I turned to see who had intruded my peaceful moment. My face softened as my eyes met with the familiarly deep blue eyes of my friend. Ivar. Son of Ragnar Lothbrok. As a child, he'd always been outcast for being a cripple. I never saw why people found that such an issue. His mother had gotten him to come and learn from Floki when he was a young boy and since he was there every day, I would often spend time with with the youngest son of the King of Kattegat. I'd always found Ivar to be an interesting character and after many years of him coming to visit Floki, he soon began dropping by to see me also. We became close friends but Ivar and I always had our differences. Ivar had once said I was too 'kind' to understand and that I took after Helga in that way. I suppose growing up with only Floki, Helga, Ivar and my sister Kari had meant I wasn't like everyone else. I hadn't been subjugated to cruelness. Only loneliness.
"Ivar!" I smiled, hugging him as I sat down on the grass beside him.
"Yes, yes, I know, you're happy to see me. Now can we go back to Kattegat? It's your birthday, you're not just going to sit up here all day are you?" He asked me.
I gave him a mischievous grin before exaggerated a dramatic pout, "I thought you said we'd do whatever I wanted today."
He looked at me with a frown, shaking his head, "And what exactly do you want to do?"
I stopped for a moment to think, honestly unsure. Ivar found this amusing as he knew I had no idea what to do. "Okay, you win, I don't know." I folded my arms.
"Well, I guess I'll just let you sit here all day." He shrugged with a grin.
"Ivarrrrrrr" I whined, pulling his arm when he tried to crawl away. "I don't mind what we do but I'm not spending my birthday on my own again."
Ivar continued to smirk, "Im sure Floki will spend the day with you."
"Ugh. Don't make me say it." I frowned at him. He merely grinned and gestured for me to go on. I sighed. "I want to spend today with you." I mumbled.
"What was that?" He grinned back at me.
"I want to spend today with you! Okay?!" I rose my voice into an irritated shout, earning a huge smile from Ivar. "I hate you sometimes." I narrowed my eyes at him. Soon enough, both of us were laughing and fell onto my back, looking up at the sky. Ivar followed my action and looked up at the blue skies as birds circled above us.
"Happy birthday, Signy." Ivar smiled, gently holding onto my small hand. I looked to him with a smile and rested my head on his shoulder.
The day passed quickly. Just Ivar and I doing the usual things that we enjoyed doing. It was the early hours of the evening, just before the sun had set once again, when anyone actually caught up to us. We were laughing in the small clearing in the woods that the Ragnarssons used to train, both with a cup of mead in hand as we took a break from training.
"Ivar?" The familiar voice of Ivar's older brothers called. I chuckled slightly at the sound. When the brothers finally reached the clearing, Ubbe was the first to speak. "Signy, you're here!"
I smiled and gave a small nod.
"Helga's been worried sick, no one knew where you were." Hvitserk interjected with a relieved sigh.
I looked to the eldest sons of Queen Aslaug and then smiled gently, standing up. "I suppose I should tell her I'm okay then."
"You'll be at the feast tonight, right?" Ivar called after me. I sent him a nod in response before waving goodbye to all the brothers. I walked away but could hear the brothers arguing as I made my way out of the woods. This was nothing uncommon, however. Ubbe and Hvitserk were mostly peaceful but Sigurd enjoyed winding people up... And Ivar was never exactly the calmest person.
"Helga? Floki?" I called as I ran up to the hut on the shore that I called home. Helga ran outside, relief flooding over her kind face as a smile began to form on my own. I hated seeing Helga upset or worried. She was too sweet to have been through so much pain in her life. Helga was always the closest thing I'd had to a mother and every time she would smile, my face couldn't help but light up too. Even though I enjoyed having my freedoms to roam around outside Kattegat and spending time with the youngest son of Ragnar Lothbrok, I also hated returning to see Helga so concerned.
"There you are!" Floki's familiarly mischevious voice filled my ears as an even wider smile spread across my lips. "Spending time with that crippled prince again, no doubt." Floki grinned.
Floki and Ivar were very close as Aslaug had gotten Floki to teach her youngest child since he was a boy. She wanted Ivar to be intelligent and devoted to the Gods like Floki. Over time, the two had developed a witty humour between eachother and would often send joking insults flying at one and other... Even if the other wasn't there. I laughed as we walked inside our warm home.
"Kari came by hoping to see you." Helga smiled as she gently handed me a bowl of food. Kari was my half sister. My father had been a notorious womanizer and before he left for England, he had gotten both my mother and Kari's mother pregnant. Even though mine and Kari's mothers did not get along, Turin was kind enough to let me spend plenty of time with my sister. Today, both of us turned sixteen. A feast was to be held in the Great Hall and Kari, no doubt, wished to talk about matching our outfits or braiding our hair.... Or whatever it is that girls talk about. Kari grew up in Kattegat. She was always popular and surrounded by other girls her age. I grew up on the outskirts and I hated talking to girls our age. They all seemed so false and self centered. I'd always preferred hearing Floki's stories, training with the princes or talking with Ivar. I'd never been one to spend time with other girls. However, this did not mean that I wasn't feminine. I'd grown up with Helga for Odin's sake!
"We will see her at the feast." I answered.
"You're going to the feast?" Helga questioned.
"Ivar invited all of us." I answered.
Floki snorted out a laugh from the other side of the hut, "Sure he did."
I raised my eyebrow at him but just decided to shake it off as Floki doing what he did almost as well as building boats... Being strange.
