#valhalla romances

Eivor grew up a warrior, and got used to being strong, to prove being orphaned didn’t make her less of a fighter. She grew up stoic and brooding, to prove she wouldn’t spend her life sniveling about loss. She grew up sarcastic and distant, because she didn’t need anyone other than Sigurd, anyway. 

That is, until Randvi.

Randvi was her age, the daughter of a pair of fierce clansmembers, who often played with Eivor and any other underage children while adults went a-viking. 

When they were younger, Randvi was a mud-slinging twerp like the rest of them, and while she wasn’t the best fighter, she had the heart of one. An even better mind, too. 

The second they hit puberty, things changed. Randvi’s hair flamed brighter, her lips grew softer, and every time Eivor saw her she wanted to say a million things she’d proved to herself that she never needed. 

Ignoring Randvi was easy, though. Especially since Sigurd came back from a raid and said he would make her his bride. 

Eivor tried to avoid Randvi, then, as the days to their wedding ticked down. She feared something spilling from her lips like choked mead. Where she was good with an axe, she was equally terrible with a flask, and Eivor couldn’t bear letting Randvi become something she failed at, too. 

Failing meant betraying her brother, something she’d never do.

The night before the wedding, Eivor was tasked with caring for the bride. She tried to insist Randvi ask her mother, Sigurd press several more clan-women to join in the festivities, but the entire family said that dear Eivor was all that was necessary. 

After all, they would be sisters in the morning, right?

That night went exactly to Eivor’s worst nightmares... and dreams. 

Randvi kept filling the space with words and Eivor tried to keep her distance, but when the words were gone and the distance was unbearable, the two women fell asleep in each other’s arms, doing things “sisters” should never do.

In the morning, Randvi was already gone and Eivor was late to the wedding. She had to apologize to Sigurd for weeks, but he never knew about the unforgivable. Not that he’d ever guess. Randvi didn’t give her a cold shoulder, or even avoid her. She just acted like they were platonic friends and nothing happened. 

If Sigurd didn’t go on adventures for years at a time, Eivor would’ve done the same herself. But she was the de-facto heir in his stead, always. And Dag hated it, and Randvi was always upset about his absence, but she did her best while focusing more on revenge than her aching heart. 

...

Things were looking up when they travelled across the water. Though they had been denounced by their Jarl, their father, Sigurd and Eivor would start their own clan. 

One of the first steps? Eivor was to help a nearby clan, a woman named Soma who was struggling to keep hold of her lands. 

Eivor weaved through Englishmen like a clever fish swam through a net, cutting them down every time they stepped in their way. Nothing gave her pause. 

Not until she saw a woman with blue face paint, fording off a trio of helpless men. And then those intense brown eyes met hers and Eivor wanted to know everything about her.

And she did learn as much as she could. Her name was Soma, and she was the fearsome Jarlskona of Grantebridge. She cared deeply for her people and was desperate to balance leading them and loving them. Despite that love, she was willing to destroy anyone, even her most beloved friends, if they hurt her community. And she didn’t have time for romantic entanglements. 

Despite many long looks between them, and a near-miss moment alone at the end of their victory celebration, Soma kept her distance. Much better than Eivor ever did. 

Guess she was just drawn to impossible, untouchable women.

...

When Randvi wanted a day of freedom, and was looking at Eivor for the first time like a warrior, not a far-off sister, Eivor didn’t know why, on instant, she chose to take her to Grantebridge. 

Take a woman she once loved to the land of another who stole her heart and abandoned it? What was she thinking? Was she hoping to make Soma jealous? To show Randvi what she was missing? To feel powerful over these women who didn’t want her?

It all felt foolish, but it felt even more foolish when Soma wasn’t even there. 

At the end of the night, when she was taking Randvi home, Randvi tried to kiss her. 

Despite all the dreams she’d had about this exact moment, it didn’t feel right. Randvi was lonely. She missed her husband. She was feeling trapped. Did Eivor want to be a momentary escape? Or, even at best, a second choice?

For the first time in her life, she pushed Randvi away and told her they should be getting back home. 

Eivor may never stop loving impossible women, but she didn’t want to be loved like this. 

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