#viking reader insert

Keep Your Eyes On Me 

Part 1

You landed in a crouched position on the ground, gasping for breath because time jumps were always a little hard on the body. Once you felt you gathered your bearings, you stood up and then ducked immediately when an arrow flew by your head. 

Shit, you weren’t supposed to jump this close to the battlefield. So you booked it and ran as fast as your legs could carry you before you managed to get behind a tree and transform into a sparrow to fly up into the branches and watched as your pursuers paused when they didn’t see you anymore before they encountered the real scouts from the enemy and battled them. You left them and flew to find your target. Bjorn. Not Ironside or Eriksson, but a Bjorn that would still make history in his own way. If he didn’t die before you could get to him. 

You found him being cornered by five of the enemy soldiers and knew you’d have to intervene. You flew to the ground and transformed into what he would recognize as a Valkyrie. You drew your dragon bow, with your dragon tooth tipped arrows dipped in dragon venom and shot down his opponents from behind him which caused him to look at you in surprise. 

“Who the fuck are you?” He demanded as he pointed his broad sword at your head and kept up his defensive stance. 

“Your answered prayer.” You answered calmly as you walked around him, giving him a wide birth so that he couldn’t actually strike at you and pulled your arrows out of his enemies and put them back in your quiver nonchalantly. 

“What?” He asked in confusion. 

“You were just praying to the Allfather that you needed his help to live through this battle. I’m a Valkyrie, the answer to your prayer.” You explained as you appraised the battlefield and tried to find a way to get him out of it before you looked back at him and your special contacts showed you all the ways he was hurt. He was pretty bad off already. 

“Thank the Allfather,” he breathed in relief as his body relaxed for a moment and his sword lowered. 

“We need to get out of here. You’re outnumbered almost seven to one. Very few if any at all are going to live through this.” You nodded over to the rest of the field where the others from the raiding party were dropping like flies.

“Here,” You transformed into a horse, complete with a saddle and laid down for him to get on you easier. “If you try to follow me on foot you’ll never make it. Get on.” You urged before he got on you and held onto the horn of the saddle as you jumped into a run and ran faster than any horse ever could- out of there like a bat out of hell as he hung on for dear life and only when you were a safe distance away did you slow down as your contacts showed you were to go to set up a camp and once there you came to a stop and gently laid down so he could get off of you as he slumped off of the saddle and laid down on the forest floor and panted as the pain of his wounds hit full force as you quickly set up your camp in a matter of a minute, much easier since all you had to do was maximize it from it’s dollhouse size miniature form with a click of a button from your wrist coder while it cloaked itself to look like a boulder from the outside. 

“There, come on, get up Bjorn, let’s get you fixed up.” You offered him your hand as you helped pull him up to his feet and helped him into your tent and laid him down on the little cot in there as the ‘door’ to your tent closed itself and concealed you from within. 

“I’m going to dress your wounds ok?” You told him before you started taking his armor off before taking some of his clothes off too and he was in too much pain and too tired to fight you and you were losing him quicker than you thought you would. 

“Hey! Don’t fall asleep Bjorn, eyes on me, keep your eyes on me!” You ordered him as you did your best to stop his bleeding and numb his pain and get him stabilized. 

“You’re so beautiful Valkyrie.” He breathed as he wondered if he was dying now and you were the Valkyrie to take him to Vahalla. 

“Thank you, but stay awake, I am not taking you to Vahalla yet.” You urged him as you took a moment to touch his face and tried to give him a brave smile. “You’ll be ok, I promise.” You offered before you got him fixed up and stable before you shined a light in his eyes to make sure he didn’t have a concussion and once he was out of danger of dying, it was safe for him to sleep. 

“Ok, you did good, you made it. Now you can rest Bjorn, just get some sleep. You’ll be ok, I’ll take care of you. I’m not going anywhere.” You offered in a soft cooing tone and pet his head as he leaned into your touch while you lowkey injected him with some Super Sleep and some Rejuvenate in a syringe into his hip with your other hand as his eyes finally closed and he fell asleep. Once he was out you continued to work on him, setting bones and whatnot and using your cutting edge medicine to fix him up to the best medical science could. Once you did all you could for him, and gave him a double dose of Heal then you made the check in call, you dialed the code into the coder on your wrist and called your superior, Morgan. 

“This is H. L. S.  Zulu Alpha Roger Alpha 0960. Coding in- Dragon.” You checked in. 

“Response Positive, report 0960.” Morgan demanded.  

“Target acquired and stabilized, I was able to get him two clicks north of the warzone. I should have been here yesterday because I think talking him into leaving his camp would probably have been easier than setting his broken arm and leg just now, he’s lost almost a whole liter of blood because the wound to his leg caused a bone fracture and nicked an artery, I almost lost him twice. He’s bad, I double dosed him in Heal, one and a half doses of S.S. and R as were my instructions from my medical readout suggestions. My scans are showing he’ll pull through and awake in 17.261 hours. I’m formally requesting an additional week to get target travel ready.” You reported as you ran your fingers through your hair, your nails softly scratching at your scalp. 

Part 2

You got up and stretched before you took off your dragon armor and dragon wool outer layers and lounged around your home away from home and made yourself something to eat before you got into bed in just your dragon silk under layers, what essentially looked like a tank top and leggings and got into your own bed and read from your ‘journal’ all the “history” you’d be changing if things went according to plan as the fire in your shelter stayed ever burning, keeping things comfortable which lulled you into sleep too before long. 

You woke up only moments before Bjorn did and barely had your dragon wool outer layers on by the time he opened his eyes. 

“Am I in Valhalla?” He asked as he looked around, this..didn’t look like Valhalla. Although he wasn’t in nearly as much pain as his mind told him he should be in, so maybe…

“No,” you shook your head no as you continued getting dressed and put your armor on over your wool layers because you didn’t trust him to not harm you yet. The way any wounded animal bites. 

“What is that?” He questioned as he gestured to what you were wearing. 

“It’s my armor.” You answered as you fastined it and ran your hands over it. 

“What’s it made out of?” He asked as he eyed it’s texture. 

“Dragon scales.” you beamed proudly. 

“What?” He shook his head in confusion. 

“I’m a Valkyrie from Asgard remember? Well, more specifically Neveah. Dragons still fly free there, they’ve died out here a long time ago. At home we’ve also domesticated them. Dragons are like…big scaley horses as far as temperament goes. When dragons shed their scales so that they can grow new, bigger ones, we collect them and make armor out of them. When they do, they reveal the dragon’s down, the way a duck or goose has down, like a soft fuzzy hair under each scale. However for some breeds of dragon, we’ve bred them so that the downy hair grows more abundantly instead of the scales, it grows like sheep’s wool, mare dragons, their down is much finer than a stud dragon’s is, mares grow what’s called dragon silk, stud dragon’s down is much thicker and it’s a bit rougher, they grow dragon’s wool. It’s really hard to dye to make different colors, ten times longer than it takes anything else to dye but once it dyes, the color never fades, ever. It’s also super durable while being breathable and depending on how you weave it, it can take the sweat off of you while not letting you get wet like if you’re out in the rain and it’s a bit stretchy. But it’s so tough that only dragon’s teeth can cut it decently well, Thankfully dragons regrow their teeth every shed and then once they reach full size, they regrow a new set every ten years or so. Baby dragons’ teeth, we use those for needles, medium teeth, perfect for small knives and scissors, the larger teeth, swords.” You explained as you pointed to the different layers of clothes you were wearing to show the differences in fabrics as Bjorn reached out to feel the fabric before you gestured to your dragon toothed sword on your hip before you handed him your dragon tooth knife to look at. It looked like rainbow titanium. It was always important to mix the truth in with the lies so that the whole was more believable because the truth was, back at home in the future medical science brought back dragons, all the varieties in ancient lore but with a twist of being domesticated. And you were really from an island nation called Neveah. 

“You really are a Valkyrie.” He breathed in awe before he handed the blade back to you. 

“Well on this plane I am, back home I’m a Dragoner.” You smiled proudly as you put the knife back in its place, and that was true, you and your whole family were Dragoners. Some of the best in Neveah. “Are you hungry?” you asked thoughtfully. As you got another pillow and helped him sit up in bed a bit better and more comfortably.  

“Yeah,” he nodded. 

“Ok, let me make you the dagmal then.” You offered as you began to make some breakfast for you both. You made him griddle cakes with berries in the batter, drizzled with honey and some ham and sausages, scrambled eggs along with making him a fresh loaf of bread from your breadseed. 

Breadseed was something special that grew only in the poles in your time, it was discovered when some of the ice caps melted and looked like super large milo plants when it grew in the dead of winter, sunlight tended to burn the leaves of the plant so it only grew in the light of the moon and from the northern lights when the temperatures were consistently -50°. Because anything above zero, the plant wilted and turned to mush, but when picked when you harvested the seeds and very carefully and very slowly brought it up to room temperature while you dehydrated it, they were fine, they made a delightful tea when steeped in hot water and was world renowned for its superb and surprisingly sweet and fruity flavor and longevity benefits. A handful of breadseed seeds looked like bronzer pearls, the more pearlescent the seed, the sweeter it was and came in varieties and flavors that most would recognize as bread and cake flavors. How the breadseed itself worked was you took a kernel which had a waterproof husk and once that was peeled away right before consuming since the husk kept it fresh, you put it into water, it expanded exponentially and grew very hot, baking itself and became something that mimicked and perfectly resembled a new loaf of bread and had all the health benefits that bread had and then some including added vitimins and minerals that were easy for everyone to digest, the loaves were the size of a soccer ball with a pocket, the size of your fist, on the inside in the middle, where still more breadseeds lined it. A handful of breadseed could feed an army. Back home they were international currency, but here and now they were just plain food. 

You took the round loaf and split it, one half was two thirds of the loaf and the other was about a third of the size of the whole, you didn’t need to eat a lot, this poor man hasn’t had a good meal in a very long time, he would appreciate the larger half but the action helped you to get at the pocket in the middle and scooped the breadseeds out and added them to your breadseed pouch before you went back to Bjorn and served him his breakfast or simply, his day meal which is what the dagmal was to him- in bed. Using the little table you had attached to the bed to set everything on so he didn’t have to balance it all in his lap. 

“Here you go.” You offered before you got him a large cup of buttermilk. Vikings liked buttermilk to drink for their day meal. Or so you’ve read. 

“Why are you doing all of this for me? There were others there that deserve this more than I do.” He asked as he looked at all the food and hesitated in eating it. 

“Odin has a path for you, I’m here to help you find it, walk in it and follow it. Once you do, I’ll be gone as quickly as I came, because by then, you won’t need me or my guidance.“ You informed him. 

“What is the path?” He asked as he slowly started to eat. 

“I’m not allowed to tell you, because if I do, it won’t happen. But you’ll know it when it’s in front of you.” You gently urged before you gave him a reassuring squeeze of his shoulder with a gentle smile before you left back into the kitchen area of your tent as Bjorn thought over your words and brought your food over to the little table and one of the chairs and ate yourself, drinking your freshly squeezed orange juice and bacon and omelet with pancakes and sausage as you low key looked at him out of the corner of your eye and noticed how he suddenly seemed to try to eat everything all at once. 

“This is so good,” he praised between bulging mouthfuls. 

“Thank you.” You smiled proudly. 

“So what’s your name Valkyrie?” He asked curiously. 

“What would you like to call me?” You returned, knowing he’d probably like you better with a norse name rather than your own. 

“Astrid.” Bjorn decided since you were still, the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen in his life and that name suited you perfectly. 

“Astrid it is.” You smiled back.

After he ate, he fell back asleep and once he was out, you took away the dishes and put them in the sink before the automatic washer washed them for you before you pulled up his biometric readouts from him into the simulation model and were pleasantly surprised when he was healing at a much higher rate than estimated before you recalibrated your algorithms to get a better and more accurate prediction for when he would heal. He should be out for the next…2 hours or so. Plenty of time for you to get a bath because your deodorant was dying and you could use one since back on Neveah, you bathed twice a day. Once in the morning to be clean for the day and then again at night, usually a bath to relax and unwind before bed.  

You got undressed and went into the bathroom section of your tent where a large tub was already full of swirling hot water and you undressed and stepped into the water and blew out a breath of relief as you stepped into the hot water and sat down before a tray lifted from the side, showing you a bath bomb and a vile of bath oil. 

You happily took it and dropped the bathbomb in before you smelled the bath oil. Ooh, jasmine with hints of lilac and gardenia. Hell yeah, you poured it in before you took off your face mask that morphs your face to appear however you wanted it to look and took it off and put it on it’s holder before you took the headband off that made your hair take on the long blonde hair Vikings loved and revealed your blue razzberry blue hair in it’s ponytail and pulled your hair down before you took the universal translator out of your ears and the projected screen in front of your face so that to everyone looking on, your face moved with your ranslated words and set them down on the tray and blew out a breath of relief and flexed your face as you rubbed your eyes before you slipped under the water and relaxed for a moment before the inside of the bathtub lit up and alerted you Bjorn woke up early which had you coming up out of the water to hurriedly put on your disguise again before Bjorn hobbled into the room and you ducked back into the water to press the hatch at the bottom of the tub to release an emergency bathing suit which you quickly put on under the water before you emerged because you were running out of breath. 

“Bjorn?” You said as you wiped the water off your face and looked at him questioningly. “You should be in bed, do you need something?” You asked as you moved to be closer to him. 

“A…bath.” Bjorn offered as his mouth went dry because your bathing suit was strapless and it appeared that you were naked because the waters were milky white from the dissolved bath bomb. 

“Oh, uh, sure, yeah,” you nodded in agreement and stood up and noticed the small pout he made when it was revealed that you were not naked and stepped out of the water to help him out of all of his clothes except for his underwear before you helped him into the water before you handed him a bar of soap, a washcloth and a comb. 

“You could join me.” Bjorn suggested sheepishly. 

“Only if you swear not to touch me.” You returned a little warily. 

“On my honor.” He immediately agreed before you joined him but sat across from him in the large tub and watched as he lathered the soap and began to clean himself up. 

“So how did you become a Valkyrie?” He asked. 

“I was recruited and trained like any soldier.” You answered simply. 

“So do you have a family back on Asgard?” He questioned. 

“I do. I have my parents and a sister and two brothers.” You revealed. 

“Is your sister a Valkyrie too?” He prodded, trying to get to know you. 

“No, she cares for the bloodlines of the family dragons as well as helping them lay successful clutches of eggs. My brothers handle the training of the dragons so they can take riders when they’re juveniles while my grandparents mainly care for all the grandchildren of the family and the baby dragons. My mother makes jewelry out of the shed scales of the babies as they grow while my father builds armor as do my brothers when they’re not training. That armor that I wear, my father built it just for me and it has never failed me.” You revealed with a fond smile. 

“Do you have a husband and children of your own?” Bjorn asked. 

“No, as a Valkyrie, I’m not allowed to have a husband or birth any children unless I retire first and I’m nowhere near retirement age.” You answered. 

“Do you want them?” He posed. 

“I’m sure I will eventually. But not at the moment.” You shook your head no. 

“What about you? Do you have a family back home that you’re anxious to return to?” You asked curiously as you tilted your head to the side. 

“I have a sister and her family are back in Kattegat. I haven’t seen her in a year, everyone else is dead.” He answered. “I was hoping to gain a fortune on this raid but so far there hasn’t been much to gain.” Bjorn explained. 

“The places you raid are learning and adapting to you and your tactics and word spreads faster than wildfire.” You surmised as Bjorn found himself nodding in agreement to that. “It means in order to get what you want, you may have to change your tactics.” You hinted which caused you to grin. “By the way, moving forward. There are rules for keeping my company. First, I am your guide to your path so that means when I give you advice, it would be best if you followed it because my purpose in giving it to begin with, is keeping you alive and keeping you safe but if you grow reckless, and abuse my help and support, I’ll call in a replacement and she will not be nearly as nice or as pretty as I am or worse yet, I’ll go back in time and leave you to die the way I found you. I’m as good as it gets. Second. I am not your slave, or thrall as you would call it or anything like that. You don’t boss me around. Third, this is as close as we get. I don’t mind being your friend on your journey, but anything more than that, especially anything romantic is out of the question and if you even hint at anything like that, I’m out and I’ll be replaced. Fourth, anyone who touches me without my consent, they loose their hands, including you. You can walk on your path with just one hand. Understood?” You proposed as you leveled him with a look. 

“Understood.” Bjorn nodded with a gulp. 

“Let’s shake on it.” You suggested before you shook hands with him as your materializer made him new clothes and armour. 

After that the conversation flowed much easier and you both got a better sense of who the other person was in terms of character until the water grew cold and you decided to get out. 

“Here, new clothes for you.” You said as you handed him the freshly made clothes made out a blend of dragon silk and dragon wool with dragon silk boxers which he had to get changed into himself. 

“This is really nice.” Bjorn said as he felt the fabric, nothing he had ever put on his skin had ever felt this good before. 

“Now, when you’re all healed up, I have new armor for you. It’s not dragon scale like mine, because giving you dragon scale is forbidden by The Code, but it’s the toughest thing in this world. Way down south of here, in a place called Africa, is a large lizard that they call the crocodile, it’s large enough that it can kill and eat people. This is it’s hide. It’ll stop most weapons. It’s the best I can give you.” You offered as you showed him his suit of armor. 

Getting him travel ready only took you four days rather than the seven you thought it would at first because he took the serums you injected into him better than anticipated and continued to make improvements and he surprised you every day by how well he was able to progress. This mission may take less time than you anticipated. 

Once he was ready, you set up a neural link between both of you, that way you could keep communicating without talking which would come in handy if you were in a form other than human and  transformed back into a horse, your tent changing in appearance to that of a normal tent of the time period from the outside and you were able to make it so that Bjorn could easily set it up and take it down before he put it on your saddle and rode you back to the camp where some of the survivors were and still nursing their own wounds and regrouping. 

“What happened to you?” They asked Bjorn. 

“I got caught in this horse’s reins and it dragged me north, I was able to tame it a little since she’s still green broke and half wild but obviously I was able to bring her back.” Bjorn answered since that was the answer both of you had agreed upon would be the most believable as he got off of you and lead you towards the rest of camp. 

“What are you wearing?” They asked as they eyed what he was wearing now. 

“Oh, this is what the dead fucker that was tied to her saddle was wearing, once I got him off of her and got her settled down, I saw that it was still good, I tried it on and it fit and it was better than what I was wearing.” Bjorn shrugged. “I think he was deserting the fight because she was packed with a tent and a bedroll and food.” He explained as he gestured to everything on your saddle. 

“Serves him right, filthy coward.” his surviving friends sneered but beamed proudly at Bjorn as they eyed you appreciatively as the shield maidens who had survived came over to you curiously as you greeted them sweetly and endeared yourself to them. 

Part 9

You were halfway there when you had your first contraction and you faltered and freefell a good couple hundred feet for a moment before you gained control and climbed back to altitude again. 

“Oh no.” You realized when another contraction hit and your water broke. 

“Shit, shit, shit, fuck, not yet baby, don’t come yet.” You begged as you held your belly and did your best to keep flying, flying harder and faster than you had ever flown before- before you reached a sonic boom, that was sure to gain some attention before you mentally screamed out to Bjorn who woke up from a sound sleep to go outside and search the sky but because it was pitch black, he couldn’t see much but he was ready to catch you. You did your best to slow down so you didn’t crush Bjorn but you did fly straight into his arms and he did fall backwards to the ground but he caught you. 

“I got you Baby,” Bjorn grunted as he held you tight as your wings folded back into place before half the order jumped into a circle around you. 

“Zara, we gotta go, we gotta get back, you can’t give birth here.” Muse said as she tried to help you up but all you could do was get on your hands and knees as another contraction hit. 

“I’m not leaving without Bjorn!” You cried as you reached out and grabbed a hold of him with an iron grip. 

“Ok,” they agreed before they put a marker on him and transported you, Dyre and Bjorn back to the launch pad, your family and a medical team already waiting for you before your wings receded back into your body and you hit the button on the cocoon around Dyre so that it revealed him strapped to your chest before the straps were cut off and he was handed off to Bjorn as he was told to follow you as you were put on the gurney and wheeled to the medical wing. 

“Mom!” You cried out in relief as she came and took your hand and squeezed it. 

“Hey sweetie, I’m here, we’re all here.” Your mother reassured you, having had the surprise of a lifetime when Morgan had called your family and let them know you were pregnant after Sephira ensured the pregnancy, that was months ago in the jump but for them, it was a matter of hours in the present.  

“Mom, meet my husband Bjorn.” You introduced as you gestured with a laugh. Never thinking you’d say those words in your life. 

“Hi, I’m Ziri, Zara’s mom, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” Your mom chuckled as she greeted Bjorn while she kept in step with the bed before you were wheeled into a room. 

“Ok, we got to get her cleaned up and prepped.” Dr. Fabian ordered before your mom let go and kept Bjorn back. 

“Ok, she has to get washed and prepped, you need to cleaned up too, so here, I’ll tade you these for him, hey sweetie, I’m Grandma!” Your mother greeted Dyre excitedly as she traded Bjorn a bag of clothes for Dyre before a nurse took him to a bathroom where there was a tub of hot water and soap so he could get washed up and cleaned up and thankfully there were picture diagrams of how to get dressed in the clothes provided and just after he got out the room, your family was waiting for him to greet him properly yet their excitement could hardly be contained, knowing it would take someone exceedingly special for you to settle down with. They had also cleaned up and changed Dyre into some new baby clothes as your family passed him around to greet him and love on him before they brought him and Dyre back to your room where you had just gotten an epideral to help with the pain and you were dressed in a hospital gown and much calmer and much more at ease now. 

“Hey,” you greeted Bjorn with a relieved smile as you reached out to him and he came over to you. 

“Are you ok?” He asked. 

“Oh yeah, I’m fine, I got an epideral, I’m much better now.” You answered before the anestesiaologist explained to Bjorn what an epideral was. 

Your family and Bjorn waited patiently for your labor to progress and after it did, you gave birth to your son- Rowen. Who was practically perfect. 

After a few days of recovery you took your new family home to your family’s estate and Bjorn was in a constant state of awe of how magnificent everything was and how nice and welcoming your family was. The dragons were very eager to see you again and see your sons and Bjorn and Bjorn was blown away that such great magnificent creatures acted like puppies towards him and Bjorn was all too happy to learn how to fly them and was a natural and he happily gave up his old life to stay with you because once he laid the foundation back in his time, his presence was no longer needed. 

Your wedding to Bjorn was the most beautiful in the order and it seemed all of Neveah was in attendance and the sister estate next to your parents’, so that you had your own space while still remaining close- you moved into it right after and it seemed to be filled to the brim with gifts that took forever to go through and you thought your fingers were going to fall off from all the thank you cards alone and a few years after that, your daughter was born, Astrid. And life with your family was all you could ask for. You had a husband who truly loved you and was never abusive to you and treated you with loving respect and kindness always. You had two sons who were as thick as thieves and while they got into plenty of mischief, they were good boys and Bjorn was an amazing father and was completely wrapped around his daughter’s finger. 

Once all your children were in school, you prepared yourself for going back into the field. Working out and getting back in shape and rehoning your skills while Bjorn settled into fatherhood and his new life being a dragoner- better than you would have thought he would but he was especially resilient.  

But as Dyre got older, he looked more and more like Ivar. You could see it in his smile, in his eyes, also in his personality. He was too smart for his own good but it was tempered with the sweetness Freydis had. Because while he looked like Ivar, his personality was more like his mother which made him the favorite by his classmates and popular in school and good at sports while Rowan was the first of his kind since no other agent had been able to conceive while the serum was injected and active. Thankfully he didn’t have any adverse affects, he took after his father in looks and personality while Astrid was a beautiful blend of both Bjorn and you.  

And then one day, you moment you were secretly dreading happened. 

“How come I don’t look more like Dad?” Dyre asked as the two of you were preening your dragon, Bora-Bora, rubbing special oils into her scales so that air and water alike glided over her body easier and made her faster than the wind- in the stables as you paused and gauged whether or not to tell him the truth before you realised he would find out sooner or later. 

“Because Dad isn’t your biological father.” You confessed. “The more you grow the more you’ll recognize that you don’t take after me or your Dad, but you do take after your biological parents quite a bit.” You revealed. 

“Who were they?” He asked curiously, having suspected something like this for a little while now. 

“Ivar the Boneless and his first wife, Freydis. You are their firstborn son, you were born as Buldur Ivarson. Freydis is not really mentioned in the sagas if you look him up. I was on a mission to protect Dad and when your mother gave birth to you, you were deformed and because of your deformity, your biological father rejected you and abandoned you in the forest, thinking it was more merciful to let you die young than have you live in agony, there was no way for you to survive without intervention, so I intervened. I used every tool in my arsonal to save you and heal you and it was the best decision I ever made. Dad and I love you very, very much and you are just as much our son as Rowan is. That’s why Dad abandoned his old life in that time to come with me to the present, to be with us. Because I was taking you here with me one way or another, even if I had to smuggle you in.” You explained. 

“Well can I ever go with you and meet him?” Dyre asked. 

“Maybe when you’re a little older. But I would not advise you to get any closer than we are to Midnight.” You said as you nodded over across the barn to Bjorn’s dragon Midnight who was this super dark inky blue dragon with a purple shimmer to his scales as Bjorn and Rowan were doing what you were doing to him what you and Astrid was combing the long fur on a silky dragon in the middle of the barn as the other dragonlings gathered around her, like puppies. 

From then on you could tell Dyre was researching all he could about Ivar the Boneless and when he found a picture of him that you had taken with your contacts, his breath crashed from his chest, he looked just like him but soon he ran out of information and you could tell he wanted to know more. 

“Come on, you’re coming to work with me today.” You told him one Saturday morning before he got his things together and came with you into the Order’s headquarters where you took him to your bay and he looked in awe at everything. All your clothes for all the different time periods, all your armor, all your weapons and technology and even the new advancements that had been made over the last several years before you showed him the feeds you had gathered on your last mission and had built a little movie for Dyre to see when it was time for him to learn the truth about himself and you sat with him and watched for hours. Watching Dyre watch it and react to it. 

He started crying when he saw what he was born as, touching his face and realizing how it had changed, how you had changed it and him and saved him. To hear Ivar’s speech to him was both beautiful and heartbreaking. To see how Ivar was with Freydis, sweet and loving one moment and violent the next. How convoluted he was and how he had his head so far up his own ass he honestly thought he was a god. It was madness. To see the scene unfold of Ivar strangling his own wife, Dyre's birth mother enraged him. But that's where the feed ended. 

“After this moment, he disappears from the record. No one knows what happened to him. He most likely slipped away in a disguise. He probably lived for a little while longer but….we just don’t know.” You informed him. 

Dyre nodded in understanding and the ride home was quiet as he contemplated everything before you reached over and held his hand. 

"Thank you." Dyre said quietly. "For showing me, for saving me." Dyre added as he brought your hand up to his lips and kissed the back of your hand while your heart melted before you mirrored his actions. 

"You're welcome. Please know that I would do it a thousand times over, a million times, a billion times. Because I love you and you are my beloved and precious son. And I will always love you and be here for you." You vowed. 

Part 3

Once you got there however, you looked at Ivar the Boneless’ wife, Freydis and her very pregnant belly as they walked together in the market and your heart broke. Your contacts were able to see past the skin of her belly to see the baby in her womb and the readout in your contacts told you that the child would be born crippled like his father and Ivar would probably abandon the baby in the woods as was the custom which would turn his wife against him which would spell disaster to Kettegat and Bjorn would be killed when Kettegat would implode. You needed to get Bjorn out of here, but not until you could save that baby. You knew you could heal him and make him well. And if nothing else, you were going to bring him home and adopt him, that was not forbidden by The Order, many Ladies had adopted children on their missions or even Bjorn could adopt him with his future wife, as soon as you figured out who she was and introduced him to her which the sooner than happened the better because you were in danger of becoming too close to him emotionally, that neural link was much stronger than any other you had set up and it breeded a familiarity and a closeness that both thrilled you and made you nervous because you were now flirting with the ‘do not cross’ lines set out in The Code. But still, you couldn’t explain why your heart went out to the babe in Freydis’ belly but you couldn’t deny your strong feelings for it. 

That night as Bjorn took you to his small and humble home and used your own tent to provide shelter for you- next to his house, the tent joining with his house so that you could walk through one into the other like it was an addition to the house although now that you were home, Bjorn felt more at home in your tent than in his own house now. 

But tonight he saw that even in your horse form, you were downcast but you were hiding your thoughts from him but your distraught feelings seemed to bleed into him. He closed the tent which transformed the inside to your home away from home and you instantly transformed into yourself as you went into auto pilot and made both of you something to eat. 

“What’s wrong Astrid?” Bjorn asked as he came to stand by you and helped you try to prepare the meal as you just shook your head from your swirling thoughts. 

“I don’t think you’d believe me if I told you.” You whispered as you slowly peeled some apples while he peeled potatoes. 

“Do you have to leave me now? Now that I’m home?” He asked worriedly. 

“No, not yet, your path isn’t here, it’s southeast of here.” You shook your head as you focused on the apple in your hand and slowly slicing it now that it was peeled. 

“You could try telling me, I’ll do my best to understand.” He offered because this was the first time he had ever seen you so down and it bothered him greatly. LIke your frown was crushing his heart and making it feel like he couldn't breathe. 

“Freydis is carrying a son.” You informed him solemnly, your words barely above a whisper. 

“That’s... good.” Bjorn nodded but frowned in confusion as to why that would sadden you, were you jealous? If you were, he could fix that, immediately if need be. Surely you couldn’t go back to Odin and back to Asgard if you were carrying his child. Could you? He was afraid to ask. It had surprised him how once you both came to an understanding, how at ease you were around each other and how easy it was to be around you to the point he missed you when not by your side. 

“No, it’s not good, he’s lame and a cripple like his father, but more-so, he’s...he’s deformed to what Ivar feels is a hideous degree, the baby will not live long unless I intervene, Ivar’s going to abandon the babe in the forest for it because he would rather that baby die helpless in the forest than live like he has lived. He thinks that cruelty is mercy, which to him, it is. What he doesn’t know is it will absolutely destroy Freydis and she will die getting vengeance for her son, all because Freydis has filled Ivar with a twisted saying and led him to believe that he’s a god, which he isn’t, but because he believes that, he feels the baby proves he isn’t, which is true. It’s going to be his downfall and start to destroy everything he’s built. I know you’re used to this custom but I am not. Back home in Neveah, we do not abandon those who are born different. Because they are usually born with other gifts that are very desirable and differences are celebrated rather than looked down on or feared. It is unthinkable and detestable for us to do such a thing, especially to a helpless baby.” You revealed as you shook your head as tears flooded your vision as you felt your heart break at the thought before your resolve formed within you and found a solid footing. 

“We need to leave this place as soon as possible, preferably a day or two, but not more than a week after Ivar does abandon the babe because Freydis will start looking jealously at every babe she sees and if he’s discovered, or I’m discovered they’ll demand that I heal Ivar, but if I do, that will change everything. Odin will disavow me and everything I do, everything I’ve ever done, could or probably will be- undone, like pulling the yarn from a sweater you’re knitting, it’ll all unravel and I won’t have his protections because they’ll be lifted and I’ll be stripped of all my powers and abilities and everything that makes me what I am and I’ll be stranded here and I’ll never be able to go home, I’ll be put to death as a witch or whatever, they could come after you which if they do, I’ve failed my mission and best case scenario is I’m replaced, the worst case is we both die. But I can’t ignore this pull in my heart and my soul towards the baby. And part of me doesn’t care if I overstep my bounds, if it’s just to protect the baby, ..Seph...Frigga would understand. I’m turning into a hawk or a wolf or whatever I have to turn into and I’m saving that baby, I’ll take him home with me when I have to leave you, my medicine can cure him as soon as I can take him into my custody. Because what Ivar can’t see is that baby has more potential for greatness than Ivar could ever dream of but he’s blinded by his own pain and illusion of divinity to see it.” You hissed defiantly as Bjorn lifted his arm and hugged you from the side before rubbing soothing circles into your back as he listened attentively. 

“So we’re taking the babe with us when we go east then.” Bjorn couldn’t help but smile a little at the thought of you being a mother thinking you were quite the picture of a mother bear protecting her cub just now. He liked it. He loved it actually. And he wasn’t helpless anymore. He could take care of you. He could build a new home for you, with him and he would do everything in his power to give you a home and a family so you wouldn’t feel homesick. 

“Yes, but in order to nurse him and keep him publicly, I’ll just have to become your thrall, but it’s just for appearances. You won’t actually be my master.” You insisted as you turned and looked up at him with a determination in your eyes which made him smile. You were the epitome of a strong woman and he loved that.  

“Wouldn’t dream of it Astrid.” Bjorn agreed as he kissed your forehead sweetly and hugged you tight as his grin grew just a little scheming. Oh he had a better idea than that. 

Once Bjorn fell asleep you turned on the shield around his bed so that it was a sound proof barrier from you. 

“This is H.L.S. Zulu Alpha Roger Alpha 0960 Coding in- Dragon.” You dialed before the screen popped up from your wrist’s device and it showed a face. 

“Response positive, report 0960.” Morgan requested. 

“Target is now at home, I set up and am maintaining a safe perimature, urging target to gather his crew and supplies to transport to drop off point ASAP. Requesting a detour.” You asked. 

“Explain detour.” Morgan frowned in confusion. 

“Ivar the Boneless’ wife, Freydis is about to have a baby boy. My scans show the baby is deformed and physically disabled and if and when Ivar follows customs, he will abandon the baby. Requesting permission to save the baby and heal and either rehouse or adopt personally.” You requested. 

“One moment.” Morgan asked as she pulled up the histories and the Book of Destiny as her face betrayed no other emotion before she secured the channel so that your conversation would not be recorded or listened in on, that it would be private between just you and her.  

“Zara, what’s going on? You’ve never asked for a detour before, why now?” Morgan asked which caused you to exhale in defeat. 

“When I saw Freydis and my contacts x-rayed her and showed me her baby and then they ran that probabilities calculation, it was like a stab through the heart and a kick in the gut when they told me the baby would be abandoned just because it has brittle bone disease, his legs are deformed and his nose isn’t right but it is all well within the capabilities to heal. My heart broke when I read the outcome. I can’t...I can’t let that happen. It was like if the baby was mine and someone threatened to do that to my own child, I feel rage and abhorrance and I just...I fell in love with him instantly. So I’m not officially requesting a detour, I’m reporting a detour. Come hell or high water I am going to save that baby, heal him and raise him on my own if I have to and if Sephira wants to unravel me, she can and even if she wants to dump me here, I’m ok with that. He’s worth it, but even if she does unravel me, she does not get to unravel Bjorn or the baby.” You explained as your cried and wiped your tears away as you did your best to appear as determined as possible as Morgan gave you a sympathetic smile. She knew Sephira would make an exception for you . You were a High Lady of Sephira after all and were on her council for a reason. You were a stickler for the code but while The Code was in place for a reason, each Lady was free to interpret it how she felt was right for the situation and this fit in with the spirit of the code. So Morgan had no trouble at all approving this. Hell half of her own kids were products of this kind of “detour” and why she was no longer in field work because her hands were already full. 

“Ok. Request granted. Welcome to motherhood, welcome to spit up, sleepless nights and poopy pants but getting paid in unconditional love, hugs and kisses.” Morgan grinned proudly since she was the mother of 4 herself as she ordered a dose of serum that would prompt lactation and really heighten your mother instincts so you could nurse said baby as well as downloaded into your journal all the baby care information she could and sent a second ‘home button’ disguised as a charm on a necklace, small enough to fit around the baby’s neck and would lock in the baby’s biometrics once it was put on. 

“Anything else to report 0960?” Morgan asked officially as she opened the channel back up. 

“No, thank you. End of report.” You answered as you smiled gratefully at her wiped your tears away. 

“Over and out, report again when you leave Kettegat or if something goes sideways.” Morgan insisted as you suddenly felt the injection in your wrist before your breasts started to change already before you opened the back of your book to see the baby’s necklace in the process of materializing and smiled at the little silver hammer before you looked over suggested baby names. Dyre was at the top of the list. It was a boy’s name that meant- dear one. Perfect. 

The next few days you spent doing little else but reading at home while Bjorn talked with the others to form a new settlement party for when you would go east including meeting with Ivar and others. Raiding parties were all about cramming as many warriors looking for loot as you could into the boats while settlement parties had to have a lot more careful thought and planning because you had to make sure you brought enough food stuffs and seeds and things to sow and harvest crops and enough people to build a new society out of basically nothing. But to help him, your journal had given him a map and pointed out three potential points for settlements as well as five potential raiding points which were relatively close by and trading ports so that Bjorn wouldn’t be able to figure it out too quickly where exactly he was going but would have a good general idea while Ivar had the map copied so that he could make future raiding plans as Ivar gave Bjorn his blessing to begin preparations. 

When the night came that Ivar the boneless was going to abandon his son, Bjorn showed you where it was and left you there and walked back home as you sat as an owl in the tree and waited. When he came you flew into the tree closest to him so you could overhear his words, feeling enraged and incensed by them. You waited until he had crawled away a short distance, the baby started to cry and he paused and looked back, you still hoped that the sound of the baby crying would pull a heart string he still had, but no, he didn’t, he just left and you could do nothing but conclude that he truly was ruthless. You transformed into a wolf and howled and watched as Ivar hurried himself to get away. Most fathers should be crawling back to protect their baby rather than crawl away to save themselves you thought to yourself bitterly. He didn’t even look back to see you come over to his baby and sniff as the baby cried hysterically as you drug what the baby was put in- away, out of ear shot before you transformed back into Astrid before you got a good look at him and your heart broke. He was deformed and without your help, he would not survive and it was such that he couldn’t even latch properly, the poor thing was probably starving. But it’s a good thing you could help him. 

“Shhh, it’s ok, it’s ok, mommy’s here.” You cooed as you scanned him quickly then picked up the baby and kissed him and put his beacon on which scanned him and locked in his biometrics which in turn would be the basis to bring the baby as close to perfection as humanly possible and set him on your chest and bounced and swayed to calm him as your materializer created a duplicate baby that would look like a baby but was just imitation flesh, indifferential to anyone else and once it was done, you placed the imitation baby, complete with a perfect replica of what the baby was wearing and put it back in the carrier where the baby had been laying before you started to walk away with him. 

“You’re my son now, you’re no longer Baldur. You are reborn this day, as Dyre. Because you are very dear to me.” You cooed as you sprouted wings and flew away back to Bjorn. 

“So this is Baldur.” Bjorn said as he peeked in your cloak to see the baby sleeping peacefully using your bosom as a pillow but even he grimaced at the deformity. 

“Not any more, he’s Dyre now.” You grinned proudly as you put the sleeping babe on the same cot Bjorn had laid on when he was injured not that long ago as you unwrapped the baby and threw all that was wrapped around him in the fire since you had new baby clothes for him to wear, but first, you had to heal him. You brought up what Bjorn would have recognized as a soul forge which put a protective barrier around Dyre and levitated him and painlessly healed him and fixed his legs and everything else that was wrong with him so that he would look like any other child and have a “normal” childhood and have no lameness or disability, not even a limp. But oh, would he be handsome in addition to being intelligent and within the hour, the baby was better than new, he also woke up once he was healed and started to fuss because his hunger pains were back. 

“There we go.” You breathed in relief as you got the baby a new diaper on and new clothes out of dragon silk and dragon wool on before you picked him up and cradled him before you carried him to your bed, which was now coincidentally right next to Bjorn’s as Bjorn pulled up your blankets and tucked both of you in as you nursed Dyre who was ravenous before Bjorn got into bed himself. 

Once he heard that you were asleep he peeked open his eyes and saw you sleeping on your side, facing him, your whole body seeming to curl and coil around Dyre a Dyre slept blissfully in your embrace before he reached out and gently stroked your face then Dyer's face as his smile grew proud and serene.

The next morning Bjorn woke up with a sack of money on his chest, it was heavy. Surely it would be more than enough to buy you at the market as he quickly got up and got dressed and went to the market and looked for you urgently before he found you being unloaded from a ship of other thralls, you still stood out among them as others had come and caught sight of you and had hurried to get all the coins they had to buy you, since you were the most beautiful thrall in the market by a long shot. Most couldn’t remember the last time they had ever seen a woman so fair. Even as strangely dressed as you were. 

“Astrid!” He called out and you snapped your head up and looked at him like he was crazy. The plan was that he was supposed to simply buy you as a thrall, not know you by name. And here you had gone through all the trouble of being in a tiny “sinking” rowboat with your baby and get caught by the thrall ship just off shore and get “captured”. 

“You know him?” They asked you as you stuttered and stammered. 

“Yes she knows me! She’s my wife!” He argued hotly as he came right up to you and explained how he had married you in secret almost a year ago and had come upon you in a raid and taken you as his wife but for fear you’d be taken by others while he was away on raids, he hid you away and “scolded” you for not telling them that you were his wife as the thrallers explained how they had caught you just that morning as that story seemed more plausible as you just nodded along in agreement and had to admit that that was a really good cover.  

“Is this my babe?” He asked you excitedly. 

“Y..Yes, he is, this is your son Dyre. Our dear one.” You answered, playing along as you showed him his ‘son’ as he took him and held him like any adoring father would and kissed his cheeks. 

“You were supposed to come and get me! Why did you leave me for so long? I had to come and find you.” You demanded, trying to have a bite to your words but you failed miserably because for some reason, you couldn’t stop smiling. 

“Sorry, I was on a raid down south, I only just got back, thank the Allfather you came when you did, you would have been a thrall if I hadn’t been here.” He grinned cheekily. 

“Do you really know him?” They asked before you stood a little prouder. 

“He is Bjorn Gudmundsson, son of…” You began as you recited his family line as Bjorn’s chest puffed out in pride and his beaming smile shamed the sun. 

“I see you’re wearing the shirt I made you.” You said as you nodded to his new shirt he was wearing once you were done and it was proof that you two were indeed married and they let you go.  

“Yes,” He grinned proudly as the others humfed that they wouldn’t be able to make a sale off of you as Bjorn put his arm around you possessively and kissed your temple and walked away with you and showed you around Kattegat and introduced you to everyone as his wife and introduced Dyre as his son before he brought you home. 

“Sadly I had a horse but she ran away this morning.” He tried to explain so his neighbor’s would hear it before he welcomed you into your house. 

Once the door was shut however Bjorn caged you behind the door and finally kissed you. 

Oh no. Oh fuck. Fuckity fuck fuck. Shit. He was not supposed to like you this much. And you weren’t supposed to kiss him back. But you did. And heaven above help you, you were enjoying it. 

The other arm that wasn’t holding Dyre grabbed his shirt and pulled him to you which he was all too happy to oblige and press you up against the door but careful not to press himself against Dyre while one of his hands found your face and the other found your waist and pulled you close to him in turn and it wasn’t until Dyre fussed that you broke apart for air and you finally came to your senses. 

“Bjorn...I…” You tried to explain as the look in your eyes grew so pained. 

“I know, you’re a Valkyrie. You won’t be with me for too much longer. I just...I needed...I wanted… you told me to keep my eyes on you, the problem is I can’t take my eyes off of you now.” Bjorn tried to explain as you looked up at him sympathetically and used your free hand to cup his cheek, smiling sadly when he still leaned into your touch. 

“That was why I suggested the plan I did. Not a lot of women are keen on being a second or third wife, especially if the first is beloved, that’s why I was supposed to be a thrall, it’s going to be harder for you to explain why I left you if I’m your wife rather than your thrall.” You gently argued before you moved out from between him and the door as you looked down at Dyre lovingly as you bounced him slightly to get him to go back to sleep as you thought your options over and assessed the risks. You had to warn him. 

“Bjorn, you can’t love me. It’s just a matter of time before Odin will bring me back to Asgard. We will have to be...very careful. Because I don’t want to leave, not yet, not until I know you’ll be safe and that you’re able to be on your own or we do find your future wife who will care for you, the way she should, the way you deserve anyway.” You tried to explain delicately. Wishing that was all there was to it. 

“But I do love you, you are the daughter of Dragoners on Neveah and you are as fierce as any dragon, you are stronger and wiser than any other being I’ve ever known or will ever know. How could I not fall in love with you? Even if Odin abandons you, I never will. I swear on the life of our son that I will love you and care for you for the rest of my life and I will build you a home with my own two hands wherever you want it to be and I will ease your homesickness and I will do whatever I have to do to make you the happiest woman possible.” Bjorn swore as you swooned before he took Dyre out of your arms and gently kissed him before he put him down in his bassinet before he picked you up so that your legs wrapped around his waist while your arms naturally wrapped around his neck and shoulders before you leaned down to kiss him as he carried you over to your bed and laid you down and pinned you to it and kissed you passionately as he grabbed your skirts and brought them up to your hips as you furiously tried to take your own clothes off. 

You both had to quiet each other from moaning too loud once you were joined. 

“Ok, now I feel like I’m in Valhalla,” Bjorn growled in your ear before he bit your ear lobe which made you gasped as your legs wrapped around his waist while your nails clawed up his back deliciously as the gasp turned into a moan as he continued to move on top of you and start up an earnest rhythm as you kissed passionately and when his mouth traveled down your neck, to your chest, he got a mouthful of milk when he suckled on your breast which he wasn’t used to but it was very sweet. 

“Getting a snack there my Love?” You giggled as he kept suckling at you. 

“I am.” Bjorn laughed as he licked and kissed the distance from one nipple to the other. 

“Making sure it’s good enough for our son?” You asked which made him grin wider.