The Healer And The Boneless

Chapter 12

When we arrived at the village Ubbe took his own route, he jogged away probably looking for Ivar.

Eria was sitting by herself. She was separating the bilberries and walnuts into separate wooden buckets. She caught sight of me long before I could reach her. She tried blocking out the sun with a hand over her eyebrows and waved my way.

"So, how was your training?" She asked excitingly when I was close. I smiled and popped a bilberry into my mouth. "How did you find out?"

"Ivar wouldn't stop talking about you. Constantly asking if you've returned, or if you've run away." She shrugged her shoulder. "I think Ubbe got inpatient of him asking about your whereabouts so he volunteered to go get you." Eria says and picks up the bucket of walnuts. I helped by getting the bilberries, we walked into Ivars cottage. I realized it was where the main events happened. "My training went fairly well. She told me I should take a break.. From Ivar."

"How did Ivar receive that message?" She asked slightly worried. "I don't know, I haven't seen him." Festive flowers were hung about. They brought in buckets of fish and were preparing for a roast, buckets of ale were being unloaded from a small boat. I spotted Lagratha leaving the place with about 3 other women.

"What's happening? Are we celebrating something?"

We set the buckets on a corner and Eria let out a victorious sign and clapped her hands. "We are! Its spring. We are celebrating Ostara."

"Have you ever been to a festival?" She asked, "Um, I was never allowed to participate in one. I would fall asleep through the events. When I was in one I was either serving wine or cleaning tables." We walked back to her cottage.

Before we could reach it,  I can see from afar, Ivar was waiting outside. He sat on the dirt, arms crossed in front of him.

Eria unlocked her arms from mine and her gaze met the floor. I stared at him with the same hard look, He clumsily stood up, "Come with me, Nia," I smoothed my hand over Eria shoulder and followed Ivar. I watched him drag himself on the dirt and envision myself in his shoes and I realized that I wouldn't even move from bed. But, Ivar was determined to prove to everyone he could do anything. I admired that.

I know he has killed innocent people. I know he is violent, But I can't help but think, the times people have taken advantage of his disability and maybe that's why he has grown into this monster. What if he wasn't always like that? Despite me thinking... or hoping that he wasn't as bad as people say he is, I still feared him. Maybe I am trying to reason with him, trying to give him an excuse for not killing me sooner. Maybe I'm lying to myself.

Eria was staring at us as we walked away. I turned to give her a reassuring smile, though she didn't return it. Instead she worriedly tried take a step forward, but retreated her steps. I turned away from her, "Tonight we start to celebrate Ostara. The start of spring," He says, "I want you to celebrate it with me." Blood rushed to my head but I walk forward attempting to look unfazed by his remark, "Ubbe, told me that you need to clear your mind. I understand and I-"

He misplaces the wooden stick, he wobbles a couple of seconds before I reached for his shoulder and helped him stable himself. "As I was saying," He says a little annoyed at himself as he roughly positions the stick on the ground again, I held back a smile. "I am sorry, for the pain I have cost you the past week." I only nodded in response.  We reached a different cottage, this one was longer and women of all ages were running in and out of it, some fully dressed in green and others only had their hair tied up. "Lagertha, is waiting for you. She will prepare you for the festival."

"Thank you," The words slipped my mouth before I could catch them. In return, he shyly bowed his head and half smiled. I watched his muscle tense and his jaw tighten, and then his eyes flashed into a glowing blue, just like they are when he first wakes up. His smile turned forced. I heard a low grunt from his throat as he walked away. I felt for him, but I tried to push away the sympathy and opened the wooden doors to the home. Inside I saw about a dozen girls stop in their tracks when they caught sight of me. I spotted Lagertha. She was wearing an elegant dress with the colors red and black. She sat on a wooden chair while a girl who seemed familiar to me, was finishing her hair. Lagertha was deep in her thoughts. The girls around me are always going to believe I don't belong here and they are never going to stop staring. I took a deep breathe and made way to Lagertha, ignoring the whispers around me.