IC Inbox

[ragnarsson]

Wait, so I just speak? That's how it works?...Fine...This is Ivar Ragnarsson. Do what you will.

Phone calls | Texts | Video | Everything else

Comments

[storradr]

I would love to.

[He smiles softly, thinking about his adopted granddaughter. He's about to ask Ivar if Gyda had met her yet, when Ivar mentions the girl's mother.]

Is that a problem? You said she abandoned the child.

[ragnarsson]

[Ivar looks serious. While his anger towards his daughter's mother has dimmed, he also knows what Letha has already done.]

It could be one. This is the woman that seriously thought about abandoning her perfectly healthy daughter in the woods so the monsters would eat her. She only relented when I threatened to go through with it. She wants Winter back, but how can I trust her?

[storradr]

She abandoned her child and you adopted her. Surely, even in this strange place, the law would agree that the child is yours and yours alone?

How can you trust her? The answer is simple - don't. There is no reason to endanger your daughter, Ivar.

[ragnarsson]

I don't trust the law to be on my side in this place. She'll argue I've no blood ties to the girl and therefore have no claim to her.

[Frankly, Ivar trusted very few people when it came to his daughter. But he knew he could trust his father. Ragnar would have fought anyone he thought threatened his family.]

She claims she's changed, that she wants to be a mother again. I want to believe her. But it's easy enough for her to say that when she has the power to rip my soul out of my body if she wants to take Winter away.

[Ivar had told her she'd take away Winter over his dead body. When it came right down to it, that's what might happen if the worst came to worst. Any decent Viking would fight to the death for their child and Ivar was already fiercely protective of his daughter.]

[storradr]

[Ragnar worried the inside of his lip as he thought everything over. He didn't know much about this woman, but most people, even the most powerful, were significantly weaker against an attack they couldn't see coming.]

She is your woman, so it is your choice. Do you believe her, or want to believe her, enough to say that we should not just kill her now?

[Of course, he's completely serious. Not that Ivar would even question such a thing.]

[ragnarsson]

I'll believe her... for now. I don't want to have to kill the mother of my child and have Winter grow up to hate me because of it, the way I hate my mother's killer.

[Perhaps he shouldn't have let that last part slip. Too much knowledge of Ragnar's future was a dangerous thing.]

But she's already out of chances with me. The minute she poses a threat or tries to take Winter away, her fate is sealed.

[storradr]

Mm. Even if you did not tell her, she would likely find out eventually.

[He raised an eyebrow at that, but refrained from asking. Despite his usual curiosity, the future felt like something he should know as little about as possible, which was odd because it was exactly the sort of thing he'd gone to the Seer to ask about many times before. In that case, however, it was the gods giving glimpses of vague events. Being told about the future from those who would live it simply felt wrong.]

You know where to find me. And she does not know me, or where I live. Gyda and I will gladly watch Winter if you need.

[ragnarsson]

[He'll never let too much slip about the future. That just involves basically saying "You and everyone you care about are dead." But sometimes, there's things Ivar forgets to hold his tongue on. Aslaug's murder still weighs heavy on his mind.]

Thank you, Father. I'll let you know if anything ever needs to be done about her.