"You boys remain where I can see you," Bonnie said as she straightened a few medicine bags on the table. "Blida, will you please remove Wilbur from that vat of honey. I swear that pig is just dying to be a great big pot of chitterlings," she mumbled the last part to herself.

Since the beginning of Spring she'd operated a trading table down at the marketplace. During the winter, the residents of Kattegat had taken to coming to her for just about everything under the Goddess blue skies. From minor ailments, remedies for restoration of bedroom activities, the commission of dresses, raiding wear, and shield maiden attire, to appeals for her unique sagas, they'd requested it all from her whether she desired to entertain their frequent inclinations or not.

At first it suited her to allow all in need to visit at her keep, but as word spread and the numbers of people multiplied she thought it best to receive the horde elsewhere. Preferably, somewhere they couldn't trample the plot of land in front of her keep. A slice of soil she'd dedicated to a garden for the coming Spring. So, she approached Bjorn. His initial reply was to build her a temple, she vetoed that sacrilegious idea and instead requested a simple trading table.

So far everything appeared to be working to plan. She never requested payment for her services, yet people always left offerings. In turn, the many things she received she gave to the unattached women at the harbor, single and widowed mothers with no means of caring for themselves, and downtrodden soldiers who society had written off as addled who in truth suffered from severe bouts of PTSD. With the warriors, in order not to impede on their pride she sat with them and traded stories. Which they did over ale and a bounty of food she'd always leave behind with an excuse of it being too much for her to finish.

For the most part, since she'd moved to the marketplace everything now ran by design. She spent a few hours there in the morning before training. Then she'd leave Blida and Hilda in charge of running the table for the rest of the afternoon. Only if they were inclined to do so, though. If not, she'd close and reopen on the next rising.

"Goddess, please take my offering for your invaluable advice," Said a young woman by the name of Gerta. She bowed before Bonnie, while raising a basket. A pitcher of mead, pot of honey, and fruit filled the wicker carrier. "Because of you Bjarke overcame the loss of his man stand and now I'm carrying." The woman glowed with pleasure.

Blida's complexion developed a greenish hue as mild disgust twisted her pretty features. "Did you really put it in your mouth as she advised?"

The poor woman turned over-ripe tomato red. Blida was fucking incorrigible when she had a mind to be.

"Blida, that's none of your concern," Bonnie scolded with a shake of the head. She then returned her gaze back to the young woman. "I'm glad things worked out so well for you and your husband, Gerta."

"Thank you, Goddess," she said, before cutting Blida with a censoring glare and handing Hilda her basket. "You must come and bless my babe once it's born."

"Of course," Bonnie agreed, not knowing what the hell type of blessing Gerta expected her to perform. Wasn't it enough she had a proverbial hand in the child's conception?

The woman beamed before taking her leave. Hilda sidled up next to her. "Who would've known old Bjarke could still get a woman with child? You truly have shown your favor, Goddess."

"No, the little blue pellets I gave her is what made his manhood more receptive to her oral ministrations," Bonnie shrugged, while covertly floating Hali's Thor action figure to her in an attempt to lead him back towards the table. "And what'd you mean old Bjarke? He's only forty-five."

"Which is practically enough summers to rival the Seer's," Hilda said, taking an apple from the basket and biting into it.

Bonnie's eyes rolled as she squatted to take a look at Guthrum's letters. "Ooh, Jedi! I do believe you've mastered the art of writing your ABC's. They look even better than your uncle Ivar's," she said holding the paper up to admire his handwriting. He gave her a snaggle tooth grin. "Later you'll have to show me if you remember how each of them sound."

Yeah, she'd violated in a major ways since she figured out the particulars of moving inanimate objects through space and time. Yet, she'd also been careful not to expose too much of the 21st century to the Viking Era. She only introduced things she thought would aid in her building a strong foundation for defeating the Hollow. One day written missives she and her most trusted could understand would become essential to maintaining confidentiality of key intelligence.

"Goddess," the seer all cloaked in tattered dark robes appeared in front of her trading table.

"I'm here for your assistance. I fear the pain is soon to become intolerable. Agony draws ever closer with every rising."

"I'm aware, Seer," Bonnie placed a hand to his cheek, and he nuzzled his face into her palm. "Let us not converse here. Come to my keep after the sun sets and we'll discuss this at length then."

His head bobbed and he licked her palm before he shuffled away. Blida who looked positively fluorescent green now handed her the small bottle of sanitizer. As she rubbed the clear gel into her hands she glanced over and spotted Ivar sitting behind a large boulder across the way watching her with shark like focus.

She raised her chin and crossed the dirt path to where he kneeled behind the rock.

"Ivar, can you define to me what distance means to you?" She leaned on the rock with her back to her trading table in favor of facing him. "Because I swear not a rising has gone by without me seeing your handsome but scowling face."

"Does mother speak the truth? Are you now refusing Ubbe?" He questioned, ignoring her standing mock of him and his plea for distance.

"Yes, she speaks the truth." She exhaled a drawn-out sigh which reflected her thoughts on his choice of subjects. "Ubbe is neither ready to marry nor am I willing to suffer the side effects of his premature leap into matrimony."

"This news isn't surprising to me. You and I know well that it is not your fate to marry Ubbe," he said, giving her a sideways glance. "Besides, I'm told he's destined to enter into matrimony with Margrethe."

"Yep, I'm aware," she said, swallowing the bad taste the thought of Ubbe and Margrethe placed on her tongue.

"And you with me," he added in a softer tone.

A sad smile caressed the down turned corners of her mouth. "I'm afraid your also fated to marry another. I've seen it. For you may hold my heart, but you have yet to give me yours."

He cast his glance away, and she did the same. When dealing with him it was best to keep emotions and conversations at a steady pace. "How's things with your legs coming along?"

"Things are...progressing," he said, returning his gaze back to her.

She arched a brow as she folded her arms under breasts. "Have you attempted to stand yet?"

"Have not a care for my legs, witch!" He bit out through the slits of his teeth. "As I've said before, this part will be done by me and me alone."

"Fine, but time is running out," she angled herself around and rested her weight on her hip so she could stare at him full on. "Shit is about to hit the fan and fly everywhere. The last place you wanna be is on the ground wallowing around in it." She spun around with the sole intention of stalking away, but something within wouldn't permit her. Frustrated with him and herself above all, she whirled back around to face him. "Why won't you put your pride to the side and allow me to help you, Ivar?"

"Because I will not have you look upon me and see what everyone else sees," he said, burning her to ash with his methane blazing blues. "For I'd rather continue to feel the warmth of your love than ever know the depths of your pity. Even if it means I have to suffer a lifetime on my hands and knees."

She kneeled next to him and rested her forehead on his. "Babe, I've felt many things for you since we've met. Pity isn't one of them, nor will it ever be."

"This may be so, but my decision on this remains unchanged," he said, before leaning away to kiss her forehead. He then, dropped to the ground and slithered away.

****

"Ragnar's return will bring about many deaths," the seer uttered in a tone thoroughly saturated with irritation. "Every nerve in my body yearns for relief from a suffering which has yet to be endured. Ach, how can one man be so troublesome?" He questioned as he sipped on his cup of tea.

"Are you serious? History is overran with single men who've moved mountains all by their lonesome." Bonnie shrugged as she continued to mix ingredients for the seer's tonic. "In fact, one man is all it will take to spark the mind of the person who's destined to change this world."

The seer scoffed. "You dare quote Tupac Shakur to me Bonnie Bennett, and then attempt to pass it off as your own seeds of wisdom?"

"Alright, who are you?" Bonnie paused in her stirring to question him.

It had been an ongoing thing from them since she'd started preparing tonics for him to numb the pain when souls passed through him to Valhalla. During which time they'd become friends of sorts. "Arcadeus? No hellfire may have gotten ahold of him, but I doubt the burns would've caused a complete reversal of color," she mumbled to herself as she resumed her stirring.

"Never you mind who I was in my former life, it matters naught," he clucked his tongue.

"Whatever, have your secrets, Seer," she rolled her eyes, while waving a hand over the tonic.

Mystical energy seeped from her palm. In serpent like movement, it slithered into the bowl, and then began to bind the compound with a magical component. The Seer leaned forward. He stuck out his tongue almost as if he attempted to taste the sorcery as it besieged the air. Once her magic had infused itself into the tonic, she carefully poured the tonic into a thirty-two-ounce YETTI cup she'd spelled for content preservation.

The Seer held a flapping hand out for the cup. "Gimme, gimme!"

"You need only have one sip a day for the tonic to work," Bonnie passed the cup to the Seer who snatched it from her grasp. "This should last you-," her sentenced was severed in half by the Seer turning the cup bottoms up.

Once he'd had his fill, he pulled the cup away from his lips and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. A loud belch added an exclamation point. "Thank you, Bonnie. I'm feeling more like myself already."

"Yeah well, you better pace yourself," she said as she began to put away the ingredients for the tonic. "You know I'll be gone for most of the Spring and Summer months."

He waved her off. "I don't even know why you're bothering with those Lothbrok boys. They fates are set and well you know. Did you really expect your little dalliance with Aslaug's eldest boy to end in anything other than a broken betrothal?"

"One could've only hoped," she said, rinsing out the bowl.

Mock disgust rippled his features. "He is fated for that mad cow of a witch who masquerades about Kattegat as a slave girl." With an exaggerated exhale, he picked up his tea cup and took a sip.

"I know!" She snapped.

The candles throughout her keep flickered. Tiny arcs of gold lightening whipped into existence around them. If one more person told her Ubbe was for Margrethe she would lose her chill and go bat shit Blair Witch on their asses.

The Seer's features contorted with amusement as he faced off with her over the rim of the cup. After a moment he lowered the China dish to say, "Well you just need say so, Bonnie. No need for," he waved a finger in the air, "the theatrics or key and kite show."

****

"Brother, we have a request for you," Ubbe said to Sigurd as they readied the horses for their journey to the cabin.

Hvitserk continued with the packing of his horse as he observed the two from the corner of his eye. He knew what Ubbe planned to ask, but he didn't know how receptive Sigurd would be to their elder brother's appeal.

Sigurd didn't even pause in the sorting of his belongings. "You want me to speak with Bonnie on your behalf. Discover if she'll reconsider the rescinding of your betrothal."

"Why would I want such a thing?" Ubbe appeared undeniably confounded by Sigurd's assumption. "Bonnie and I will marry upon her return from the Mediterranean Sea." Sigurd gave him an expression which said he was witless to believe such a thought to be so. "No, I wanted to ask that you allow Hvitserk to go with her in your place."

"Why?" Sigurd abandoned his bags to turn and face Ubbe.

"Over the past several full moons you've grown in strength. A strength which outmatches Hvitserk's and mine's as well." Ubbe placed a hand on Sigurd's heavily chorded arm. "Since Bonnie's arrival, Kattegat has grown into one of the largest trading epicenters in Norway. Many an envious eye have fixed their gaze upon our home, and we both know summer ushers in raids. With Bjorn sailing to the Mediterranean Sea, we're vulnerable to an attack. This is why I ask you to remain behind. Your strength and fighting skills are needed here, brother."

Sigurd stared at Ubbe for several long moments before shaking his head. "I'm sorry, Ubbe. Kattegat is not my priority." With that he resumed sorting his belongings.

At this point, Hvitserk could no longer feign indifference. He openly gawked at Ubbe who returned his gawk with a gape. Neither could believe Sigurd's blatant disrespect for their homeland. Would he really shirk his responsibilities to home and hearth in favor of sailing to some distant land with a girl who may or may not have bewitched him? Not that he wouldn't have come to the same decision if given a similar choice, but Sigurd was born of a stronger element than him. He always opted for the more reasonable and sounder path.

"Sigurd, how do you imagine the witch will receive Kattegat being destroyed in her absence, hmm?" Ivar who'd up until that moment had been content to silently observe their exchange, decided to intervene. "How long do you suppose she'll mourn the rape and slaughter that will be dealt to the unattached women who dwell by the harbor during the attack. Many of those poor disgusting languishers, Bonnie has come to know as friends. Not to mention all of the widowed mothers, and the addled warriors. Oh, and what of-,"

"I'll discuss all of this with Bonnie," Sigurd said, the snake in his eye shifting. When Ubbe opened his mouth in protest, he finished with, "And will say no more on the subject until I do."

The muscle in Ubbe's jaw twitched and Hvitserk moved into position to ward off anymore contention. "Then let us speak of this no further, but instead set our minds on the trip to the cabin and all the hunting we'll do."

"Then perhaps we should make haste, hmm?" Ivar suggested from his recline in the back of the wagon.

Hvitserk slapped both Sigurd and Ubbe on the back before hopping in the front of the wagon and taking up the reigns. "As always Ivar has the right of it, brothers. I do believe haste will serve us well in this."

****

The tap at Bonnie's door drew both she and the Seer's attention. The Seer clucked his tongue, snatched up the YETTI cup and stood. "Once you start allowing them to visit you at home they continue to do so even when assured they are no longer allowed." He walked toward the entrance of the keep. "I'll see myself out, we wouldn't want your visitor to have a mind to request a two for one." An overdone sigh crept from his crusty lips. "Oh, how I loathe the needy wretches that pollutes Kattegat." With that said, he opened the door.

"Seer," Queen Aslaug dipped her head in an informal bow.

"Aslaug," he acknowledged not bothering to bow at all. "I was just taking my leave."

"Please, there's no cause to seek your leave on my-," Aslaug began, but the Seer shuffled passed her on the way out of the door without bothering to hear the rest of her statement.

"Queen Aslaug, please come in," Bonnie said, opening the door wider for her to come inside.

The queen tore her gaze away from the departing back of the Seer to accept Bonnie's invitation of entrance. "Thank you."

Escorting Queen Aslaug further into the keep, she waved a hand at the mahogany brown Italian leather sectional sitting in the designated living room area. "Please have a seat. Would you like something to eat or drink?"

"Where by the gods did you discover such a bed like chair?" Queen Aslaug gasped as she ran a tentative palm over the soft material covering the sofa. "This keep is fit to dwell among the many halls of Asgard. You've really done well in restoring this lodging."

"What can I say?" She shrugged, "In another life I was an HGTV fanatic." When the queen's brows scrunched and perplexity had its way with her features, Bonnie cleared her throat. "To what do I owe the honor of having the queen of our great city visit me at my humble abode?"

Distress dimmed the glow of pleasure on the queen's face. She sat back on the sofa and clasped her hands together. "Though I may no longer have my foresight, a sense of great foreboding has come over me."