orphan boy.

          ‘ and we have far more important things to be worrying about. pick your jaw up. ’

@kynslod ♥’d for a thing.

’ if you lower your blade, I will lower my bow.’

meme. accepting.

this has often been as suffocating a fact as it is comforting, but hákon believes he leans toward the latter today. he’d left for a time, strayed from the path that was good and right for him, gone to chase vengeance for his family. perhaps he understands now, thanks to this failure, why she doesn’t wish to let him fight. he is brittle, and weakened, and empty. 

he should have stayed by her side and taken her counsel. maybe then that bastard jarl, who had once been such a favoured friend, would not have been able to add insult to injury. but he’s made his mistake, and now he has to live with it. 

meme. accepting.

      ‘ that-- i was hoping you hadn’t seen that. ’ 

      ‘ helga! ’ 

he sounds pleased, and it’s either because he’s able to see her again, or because lagertha has finally allowed him to leave hedeby. or perhaps it’s a sweet mix of both. whatever the reason is, it’s left him in a very happy mood. 

       and he still chews on the same bone and the same gravel that she left him with. the thorn that still hasn’t been plucked from the gaping wound in his side. it seems he has grown infected. ( the stare she fixes him with is one of warning – a reminder that she is the jarl and he is a warrior. one of her warriors before anything. )

                         ‘ you would be no use dead by my side and you know that. ’     but it grows old now. the way he pouts and dons a shield and axe in hopes that it’ll turn her hand – hákon is no longer a child, but a man. perhaps he should start acting like it.

       ‘ but if you mention that again, you will not raid in the summer. do you understand? ’

                   ‘ and now i am home. ’   back with nothing more than a cracked brow and a split lip. ( shields don’t splinter against the swell of her mouth, only trickle blood between her teeth and on the back of her tongue. )

                            ‘ and i am glad to see you, hákon. ’

home, with all the glory she denied him. it stings still, and perhaps he still hates her for it in that way all children hate their parents when they deny them what they want the most. he cannot hold it against her forever. 

but he will for now.