After their first proper stop, in a town called Ornen, Mira began to understand that Arik was visiting each town to plan the coming raids. He took lengthy meetings with the captains of the local ships, and occasionally the men who left Arik’s tent seemed pleased, but mostly they appeared unimpressed and eager for a drink. Mira had assumed, because of how highly captains were thought of, that the Northern ships were independent—that they chose where they went by themselves. This was not the case; they were all coordinated by the king, and though this seemed like a massive undertaking, Arik never appeared tired or put out by the work.

Mira was not allowed in the meetings, but Fell went to all of them, sometimes spending a few hours afterwards with a particularly disgruntled captain.

In the evenings, they would camp, and the king would demand to hold Halvar and have his spirits lifted by the child’s energy. Of course, there always came the point in the evening when he grew too drunk, and Mira would want to take her child back. Arik was a sensible man, and often he would speak before Mira, laughing. “I am sinking into my cups; take him now.”

With nowhere private to go, Mira sat among the king’s men as they drank and told stories of the women they had or the women waiting back home for them. Jorn was always among them, though he was quieter and often the most sober, meaning Mira found herself in his company relatively often. Two sober people in a crowd of drunks always seemed to end up sitting around the same hearth. Sometimes when Halvar was fussy, Jorn would offer to hold him so Mira could eat in peace or rest her arms. Something about the soothsayer settled her child, and many a night Halvar fell asleep in the man’s arms. Fyrrah as well took an immediate liking to the man; often, they could be found at a smaller hearth away from the group, breathing from flutes and picking apart the myth of Alva and Torlief’s endless battle or discussing the role of birds in several different stories and whether this meant that birds were more highly valued by the gods than men. Mira and Rowan would sometimes sit and listen, always a little uncomfortable with how acceptable it was to argue over religious concepts in the north.

“If you notice, the colour of the bird’s eyes is mentioned in every tale except for Tova’s exploits with the giants.”

“You are thinking the birds in this story are different somehow?”

“I am thinking they are truly birds, not gods in disguise.”

“All things are the gods in another form.”

“Yes... I am thinking I do not believe this.”

“Then how can anything be animated?”

The king’s tent was fine, but often the rest of the party slept in thick furs out of doors. Arik offered to let Mira and the babe share his accommodations, but she did not think his offer was appropriate, so she refused with a half-truth.

“There is nothing I love more than seeing the stars as I fall asleep.”

Mira was unsure how to interact with the king when he made suggestions. She did not know if he was like the kings in stories she was told as a girl; was there room for her to speak her thoughts? She was very much used to having things her way and did not want to be summoned by Arik’s whims and fancies. Fell disagreed with the king often but always playfully. They argued about the names of towns they raided and women the king had been with.

“No, the town with the one-legged man was called Ken-something.”

“I am certain it was Yenden.”

“It wasn’t Yenden, you fool! That was where the girls with the bells were in the temple—”

“The girls with the bells were in Helyn.”

Always their disagreements would end in laughter. And when Mira refused to stay in Arik’s tent, he was not bothered. “The offer stands if you find yourself cold, my lady. You southerners are used to a different climate, I know.”

Fell did not care that people slept around them; he would have her most nights beneath their furs. Once or twice, Mira woke to feed Halvar and saw that Rowan and Fyrrah did the same.

As the days passed, Mira also began to understand that Arik and Fell knew each other far better than she’d first thought. Sometimes one would begin to speak, but they would look at each other and laugh because they both already knew what was to be said. Arik bothered Fell often, trying to find something he could provide or give to the man he sort of raised.

“There is nothing.”

“Nothing, my boy? Nothing? Surely a little extra coin or—”

“Nothing.”

“Do not tell me this woman has taken the fight out of you?”

The king said this in a teasing way, but Fell leaned back with his eyebrows raised and stared at the man in feigned offence. Arik laughed, and though Fell tried to keep his face stern, he could not. He laughed as well.

“Well...” he said. “There is one thing.”

“Anything, my boy, you need only ask.”

“I have not been alone with my woman since Halvar was born.”

Arik was pouring wine into his mouth when Fell said this. As he laughed, he began to choke, spitting the wine out onto the grass. “You ask the king to mind your child?”

“I do.”

And so, just a few days after Ornen, when the men camped, king Arik took Halvar to his tent, and Fell and Mira went for a ride alone. She was of two minds. She did not want to be gone from Halvar long, but she dearly missed having Fell all to herself. He took her to the shore, and they rode for some time, and at length, Mira found herself laughing. This scene was also one she had pictured as a girl living in Arcliff.

When they stopped, Fell stripped, planning to run into the sea. Mira could not.

“What if one of the king’s men sees me?”

“They will not; they are far from us.”

Mira was not convinced. She especially didn’t want Arik to come upon them. What if Halvar needed something, and the king sought them out?

Fell changed his tactic. “One day, when we are old, we will think back to this. We will say, remember that time we swam in the sea, and the king’s men could have seen us? But we did not care? We were so wild once.”

Mira couldn’t resist the sweetness of his words, so she, too, removed her clothing and went into the sea. It was cold, and she shrieked, and Fell laughed. They did not swim for long as soon their lips and legs entangled. Mira had never imagined being had in the sea, but the stars were bright, and fell was beautiful, and she knew she would never forget the evening.

A strawberry night.

Even when they returned to the camp, the feeling was not gone. Mira sat in Fell’s lap at the hearth, and he kept his arms tightly around her, kissing the top of her head, whispering sweet things into her hair.

“Too many stars,” he said. “More than I have ever seen.”