Morning came. And my lover was to leave. Bjorn rose at the break of day, and sat upon the rock of the window. His hands between his raised knees, and his blue eyes staring into a far-gone distance. I found myself looking to him, in silence, as he sat in an equal peace. Memorizing his face as if it were to be the first and last time that I would see it. The curve of his jaw. The color of his hair. The shape of his lips. Everything as flawless as the first that I had seen, except now there were the signs of adulthood. The stubble on his cheek. The scar on his brow. The occasional sigh from his lips. Hakon, on the other hand, lay at my side with the same childish complexion, yet I had expected something else. He had watched the murder of his sisters and mother. But he was still a child at heart nonetheless.

Eventually, I too rose. My mind setting to purpose as I pecked delicately at his brow and left to find Lagertha. She too sat upon the window with hope swimming in her bright orbs. She turned to me with such a smile that could clear any hard day.

"Good morning, Olyvia." She beamed. I gave a small nod, moving to join her at the window's ledge with my broken fingers tangling together. Her room was much like ours, only, she was alone. Her walls were covered in similar drawings, all specticals to the senses.

"I am coming with you." I broke a short silence with those words. She sat for a moment. Her thoughts tumbling through any and all possibilities before any movement came. Her head snapping from the window to my frame, the joy slipping from her eyes.

"Can it really be?" She gasped. Her frame rose from her perch before I could give an answer. With her hands upon my leather-clad stomach, she began to laugh beneath her breath. "I've prayed to Freyja for this day." She continued, dumbfounded.

I found myself smiling, tears spilling from my eyes as she reveled in the joy of the extension of family. One that Ragnar was yet to learn of.

"You've made the right decision, Olyvia." She sighed, brushing her thumb across my cheek as the tear was flicked away. "I am so proud." She gushed again, planting a kiss against my cheek before ushering me from the room at her side.

The courtyard was flooded with activity. 'Pagans' packing carts with two destinations in mind. Our body was split, with more than half leaving for Mercia to fight a war that was not our own. The rest were simple farmers. All hoping for a better, prosperous life in Wessex. Lagertha shared that dream.
I felt fingers curl into the thick leather that covered my frame. A stubbled cheek pressing against my own with a gentle kiss following.

"I'm going to pray to Odin every day." I whispered, my fingers intertwining into his grip. "Twice a day." I corrected, turning slightly to connect our lips.

"And I'm going to come home to you and our little one." He grinned with a small laugh, his grip moving our hands to the small bump of my stomach. "I promise you that."

"I love you, Bjorn Ironside," I whimpered, a pang of panic rushing through my bones with those words. What if he were to never return? What if he were to die in battle? My frame broke free as I turned to face the man that I had fallen too heavily for. "And you had better keep that promise."

He gave a nod, smashing his lips against mine with his hand gently holding my head in place. A quiet tutting noise pushing our connection apart as we broke to see Floki with a waggling finger.

"Too much kissing, not enough preparing." He giggled with the wagging continuing. His painted features twisted as he looked toward the bare waist, where my axes would normally wait. "Where are your axes, Olyvia?" Floki muttered.

"She isn't coming, Floki." Bjorn quickly said, his voice drenched with a sense of pride. "Olyvia is-"

"Carrying new life." Floki whispered beneath a breath. His fingers almost crashing onto the small bump with a high pitch giggle slipping through. "A beautiful thing."

The carts were packed to burst. The horses all pilled with bags and supplies that could've lasted us a winter. I found my fingers clinging to the Blonde pagan that had fulfilled my dreams for as long as I could bear to think.

"I promise you, Olyvia Orvardottir, I will return." Bjorn said in a stern tone. Planting another gentle kiss to my forehead as I stood frozen. Orvardottir. Orvar. My father whom I had not spoken of for a long score of years. Yet Bjorn had remembered. Hakon stood in front of me, his shoulders acting as rests for my hands.

"I need you to take care of Olyvia for me." Bjorn whispered into his ear before receiving a tight embrace from the young boy. I could hear the boy sniffle back the coming tears as Bjorn tore from his embrace. We followed Bjorn to the two horses. The large white stallion, and the dirty brown. Bjorn curled his fingers around my frame, aiding me onto the back of the dirty brown as I took the rope reins into my grip.
"Now you." Bjorn said as he raised Hakon up and placed him onto the horse in front of my frame.

The first carts began to move, our signal that this was goodbye. Possibly forever. And that stung.

"I love you." Bjorn said again, with his fingers grazing against my calf.

"I love you too." I mumbled through the agony. "Come home."

The road to our new settlement was a long one. A day's journey felt like a century as my thoughts were taken hostage by Bjorn. Wondering where he was and what he was doing as we traveled. I would've given anything to be at his side, but his child kept me away.

"Hakon, there is something that you need to know." I sighed, as we trotted along the dirt track that traced a large stone wall. His frame gave a small nod, turning his little head to connect our gazes.
"I am having Bjorn's child." I finished, watching how his expression changed.

"Does that mean that you don't want me anymore?" He whimpered. My head shook wildly as my arms caught him in a close embrace.

"No." I snapped, pecking his forehead. "It means that you're going to have a baby brother or sister." I quietly said.

"Mother?" The young boy gasped, relaxing into my frame with a large grin across his lips. That was when the horses and carts came to a halt. All orbs staring out onto the vast distance that our settlement. It was truly beautiful... But something was missing. Bjorn was missing.