#askrollo

Yes. After my fight with my brother I stayed in a house of healing for a little while. The night I returned back to my own bed I woke up to the sound of Gisla screaming. She told me that she had dreamt that I was slain in battle and that my brother had overrun the city. I spent most of the night speaking softly to her and assuring her that I had returned safely, and that as long as I lived I would do my best to protect her from any harm.

I know the secret of making ruins, though probably not as many as Floki. However, I cannot write in Frankish, the idea is just too strange to me.

I have just recently become a father after a very long wait, and in this moment the idea of losing one of my children in marriage is unsettling. I suppose I must one day, but hopefully they will not have to live very far away, and will still find time to see me even when they are busy with their own lives. 

Yes, their current favorite is called ‘Berserker’ where I chase after them and they must run away. Gisla does not like this one very much. She says it makes the children too “wild with excitement” and that it is not fitting for me to be running through the castle snapping, snarling, and knocking over tables.

However, the children and I enjoy this game so much we tend to ignore her displeasure. 

Gisla does not like it very much when I teach our children about my gods or the life I had before coming to Frankia. She says that the children are Frankish and do not need to concern themselves with such things, but I disagree. I think our children are neither Frankish, nor viking, I think they will prove to be a people unto themselves.

I was not so much ‘thinking’ as I was ‘feeling’. For when I first laid eyes on my child it felt as if my chest had been split in two so that only my heart was exposed. 

They do not tell you how small they will be. With their tiny fingers and toes. It was almost hard for me to believe I took part in bringing something so fragile into this world. And I silently swore to protect them from any harm that would ever befall them; for they were mine to protect.

There is no going back after that moment, my life has never been the same since. 

No. Is it not the way of the world for fathers to give their daughters in marriage to capable men? Why would they trust their child to some unproven youth who may not be able to provide for them?