death will be my glory

“You may not celebrate, but enjoy them anyway.

Sigfrid —

A bit ago a girl here tried to attack me with something like this in the hallway, so naturally I thought you’d love to have one. It’s a hair pin that doubles as a little knife. Just think how dramatic you’ll look when you take it out and stab someone along with your hair falling down. Anyway— there’s another part of your present I wanted to give you in person. Meet me outside the Hufflepuff common room at mid day.

The knife matches one your brother got. The shield is my thanks for training with me, it’s taught me so much. 

Merry Christmas 

“I don’t mind. I would prefer him coming here uninjured, of course.” He glanced at his work, wanting to get back into it. This was a longer chat than he’d expected. “Well then, if that is all, you are not obligated to stay. You did not sustain any injuries, right?” He wouldn’t want to let her leave without double checking, as it is his job. “However, you are welcome to stay if you wish.”

She took note of the glance at his work and knew she had overstayed her welcome. “I am fine. I’ll allow you to continue uninterrupted.” She glanced at him for a moment,”Do try to go outside today. Thank you again, Holden.” With that she made her way out of the infirmary.

Oh god, did Sigfrid hear her conversation with the blanket? She doesn’t usually talk to objects (she does actually, it helps her concentrate on the magic), and after the incident with Gunnarr, she doesn’t want to look like a fool in front of another one of Ari’s guardians, she is quite fond of the boy and doesn’t want their friendship to bed because people think she insane. 

“Yes, and he did thank me. He was really cute about it.” she said smiling, twisting the blanket with one of her hands, still trying to figure out is her conversation with the blanket was heard or not. “He is a great boy.”

Siggy, herself, was not innocent when it came to speaking to inanimate objects. She could be found yelling at the stairs rather often. They frustrated her more than anything else in the world, moving in patterns she couldn’t predict at all. She was, also, not innocent of speaking to other objects as she worked on them. She spoke to the clothing as she patched them plenty of times.

“That’s good to hear. I fear that he occasionally is too excited by gifts to remember that he has to be thankful for them,” Siggy told her with an amused eye roll. She looked at the blanket,”Are you doing something with that blanket?”

“I give you my word, I won’t tell him.” She didn’t exactly know Gunnarr well - casual sex didn’t mean much to her - but she knew enough to know he had a very healthy ego. Considering she found it fun to destroy egos, she would keep this to herself. “I’m sorry. I just.. I like your family.” She admitted. They made her laugh, and they were unpredictable. Although she liked to have things under her control, there was a part of her - she blamed the wolf - that liked things to surprise her. “Oh, I’m certain you’d terrify people on the battlefield. Vikings are the best warriors I’ve ever met, and believe me, I’ve met a lot.” And sold to a lot. She didn’t really care who won or lost, she’d still profit. “Actually, a Viking taught me how to throw daggers once. I think he despaired of my aim though.” 

Siggy nodded at her words, hoping she meant them. Her brother didn’t need anymore reason to think he was the Gods’ gift to the world. He was a great man, she would admit this, though never to his face, but he was too cocky for his own good. “You maybe be the only one in this castle who does,” Siggy replied drily. “They are the best warriors I’ve ever met as well,” She smirked a little. “Though I may be biased here.” She raised an eyebrow,”Perhaps I could help with your aim one day.”

She held the sword there for a few seconds longer, enjoying the fact she’d achieved it. “You’re a Viking, I’m sure you’re used to it.” Evie said it casually. She’d gotten her anger out on Gunnarr, and was now much more prepared to keep her emotions in check. While still arguing her own points, of course. Lowering the sword, Evie walked over to where the image of her had disappeared. “I would have thought you’d just learned the lesson to not underestimate me.” 

“Any woman in this world should be prepared to have a knife at her throat at some point,” Siggy replied drily. She was sure it would have happened whether or not she was an active Raider or not. She laughed through her nose,”You don’t know my skill set at all and you automatically assume that I am just being overly confident. Who is underestimating now?”

“I’ll be there.” She would probably end up challenging them, wanting to show off, but she knew not to do it just yet. Not until she’d won them over enough they wouldn’t question her too much. “Don’t play coy. You’ve seen yourself in the mirror, I’m sure. Who wouldn’t want to watch you?” She lifted her wand, but she wasn’t concentrating enough, so the feather drifted lazily once she cast the spell, brushing over Sigrid’s face lightly instead of through the hoop it was meant to soar through.

Siggy shrugged, she was used to drawing a crowd at this point. Many people were curious about what Vikings did to train and they had a few regulars who would watch with curiosity but never participate. “I am sure I could find a few people in this castle who are not so interested in watching me as you.” Siggy smirked at the feather brushing her face,”Do you flirt with all your school partners?”

“Yes, I believe so.” He saw nothing wrong with that. It was his duty to protect them, and it was a duty he would never mind doing. “If meant safety, then yes, I would expect to be asked, and I would not hesitate, a fact I’m sure is well understood.” For a second, he frowned again. “If you do not have to change, nor should we. I am glad you can protect yourself, but that does not change the fact you shouldn’t have to.” No woman should ever be put in danger, it boiled down to that in his mind. He’d done many things in life he wasn’t proud of, but he’d never hurt an innocent person, no woman or child. 

“I am a man. I don’t mean to, but I’m sure I have more in common with the rest of my gender than I might realise.” His frown relaxed again. “On behalf of all men at Hogwarts, I apologise for our behaviour. I don’t know whether I should be relieved I’m not the worst, or despair of the fact.”

“And would you prefer you sister being completely ill prepared for the day that you or your father can not protect her? She would be completely defenseless if you weren’t there. You leave her helpless if it were to come to it.” Siggy told him critically. She hated the idea that men felt that women were weak without them. She was a testament to that being a ridiculous notion. “And why should you have to protect yourself? Because your bits hang and our’s don’t? Seems like a ridiculous reason.”

“You aren’t wrong about that.” She sighed and frowned at Sigfrid’s next words. “Oh. That sounds.. terrible. That doesn’t happen often, does it?“ She thought back to her relationship with her brother. She wasn’t sure she even remembers the last time they had a conversation without it being so formal, let alone fight with him. 

“It happens as much as I let it,” Siggy answered honestly. If she were to stop being so easy to push around, her brother would stop doing it. “To be fair to Gunnarr, though I’m not sure he deserves fairness, I do it to him as well. Family trait it seems.”

“I would give up anything in my life, and my life, to take care of my family.” James could see her point, but from the moment Ingrid had been born, he’d been told he had to look after her. When Alistair was born, his fate had been sealed. “I mean no offence. Your people are different to mine, that is all. I do not expect you to understand us, nor do I think you should change to fit our ideals.” He just didn’t want them to attack anyone. 

He held up his hands as if to say ‘what can you do’. “I find most men lose their charms the more you know about them. Perhaps this should be the only time we meet, as I fear you already have an unfavourable opinion of me. For it to get worse would be a disaster.” 

“I would never ask my brother to do that. Would your sister?” She could not imagine a woman who willingly steal a man from his life when she could take care of herself. “You are correct. Your people are quite different from my own. I do believe you could learn from us, however, as women should be able to take their lives into their own hands and be more than something to protect.”

he looked over her, his eyes studying her features as if they were the stars over the ocean. they were familiar to him, as familiar as that of any woman who came from a similar village in life. he shrugged a little, finding peace in the fact that she was a reminder of home. “freya will bless you well, there is no shame in dining in her hall over odin’s, nor is there shame in living below with hel.”

She walked slowly into the room, eyes on him as she did. She did not trust anyone on first meeting and though he was from home, or at least was similar to home, she would not trust him quicker. She trusted her brother and her father and that was all. “Yet, I do find myself wishing for one hall over another’s. Do you not?” As she care closer she looked him over again. “Tell me, what has brought you to Hogwarts?”

cerulean orbs perhaps reflected the joy the words inflicted on him as she let them slip from her tongue. there were few that shared his ideals around here, many feared that death was a man who stole the ones they loved and sentenced them to a life of torment, or more so, left them lonely. it was a strange ordeal to frey, he’d never feared his time coming, ever since he was a boy. “you do not look as though you are a warrior that would meet odin or the valkyrie’s gaze upon a fallen battle. I picture you as one who waits for Freya to lead you to her field or the goddess Hel– if you wish to live a life so similar to this after death that is.”

Perhaps that was worst part of moving from raider to instructor was that she occasionally forgot that she did not have the same opportunity as her brother did when it came to the afterlife. “For some time I had the potential to be one of those who fell bravely during battle,” She tips her head,“Now, I suppose you are correct and I am one who will wait for Freya or Hel, but once I was with some of those who now are with Odin.”

“I will make sure that you will be the first to know if he ever wanders in here,” Holden promised. “Ah yes, the Gryffindor crowd. They are certainly quite the bunch.” He had to think back to the people he had met from that house, and if they shared similar traits to Godric..  Well, he could see how they would be. “Is he sorted in that house?” he asked about Ari. Since he met Sigfrid herself in the Hufflepuff common room, it was safe to say that they were both in the same house. 

“I’m sure they will do well here when their time comes. It must be nice to have one of them with you, at least.” 

“Which he will, whether or not he’s injured,” She comments, knowing that her son was going to find the healers wards interesting. They were, obviously, vastly different to how things happened at home and therefore, she knew her curious son would be found there. “He is. My brave son is in Gryffindor,” She said a bit drily. “He is having the time of his life there.” 

“It comforts me knowing I have one of children with me.”

      the viking sat with his back to the doorway, never one to really worry about what was creeping up on him. his adoptive mother had always mused about how the boy had eyes in the back of his skull, something he had come to believe in recent times. the runes in his palm were cold and smooth, a far cry different to that of the skin that covered his hands. suddenly, he dropped the ruins onto the wooden table, watching them scatter before pulling his goblet towards him. “odin speaks of death…” he trailed off, before lifting his cerulean eyes up to meet the being next to him. “tell me, does one fear death?”

She had heard from her brother of the Viking family that had joined Hogwarts. Her curiosity had been piqued when she heard the name. They were not from her village or near it, yet they were still Vikings and she had been hoping more would be joining her and her family here. Hogwarts needed more Vikings in their halls. She leaned against the doorframe, looking at him with her arms crossed,“To fear death is to fear Valhalla. Death will take me when it is my time, my fate is already sealed. Why fear something you can not change?”

She wasn’t sure whether she believed the claims they were the best warriors. Korean soldiers could beat the Japanese samurai, her father even had taken one of their swords, and the samurais were supposed to be the best. But she knew not to argue. “That explains it. I would like to watch you train. Actually, I would like to watch you do anything.” Hei smirked before sliding off the table into the seat next to the Viking. “So, do you want me to start?” She lifted her wand. “I did promise to work hard for you.” 

“My brother and I always train outside in the afternoons. My son usually joins us, if you care to watch.” She raised an eyebrow at her comment, a little smirk over her lips. “Would you?” She wasn’t above flirting, even if she was far less flirtatious than her brother. She shrugged,“Begin where you would like to.”