“Auntie Sigrid! Auntie Sigrid!” Ulfr cried as he ran into the great hall of Sigrid’s homestead “Nal’s hurt! She fell from a tree!”

“Hrmn? What’s all of this then, boy?” Sigrid muttered, rising from her papers “How bad is it?”

“I think her arm’s broken!” He yelped “It hurts whenever she tries to move it! It’s real sore too! We were just playing and I guess she lost her grip and she fell! I tried to catch her, auntie! I promise! But-“

“That’s enough of that, Ulfr.” Sigrid muttered “I’ll come take a look at her.

Ulric, Ulfr’s father and Sigrid’s brother, had told her that she hadn’t been spending enough time with her daughter. She was too focused on her investments and the harvest and that southern merchant, Asger. The girl was going half-wild, he said. It was half the reason he’d sent her nephew over to foster for a year.

He wasn’t entirely wrong. A part of Sigrid yearned for those sweet days in Asa. Days when it seemed like life might have gone in a different direction. When she thought she might never return to Karlund… Even their time together at the sea had been quite lovely. Laughing together as Dolphins leapt around their ship and they spotted great whales in the distance.

The past six years had been trying. Purchasing land. Building a farm. Reconnecting with her kin, the last scattered descendants of the Kings of Eirsmet. Establishing connections among the merchants who now ruled Karlund. It was hard work, and it drew her attention from her daughter, but it would be worth it. One day she would be old and Nal would be a woman in her own right, and she would have a greater legacy to bequeath upon her daughter than some tattered banner and a legendary past.

Still. It wasn’t all so bad. Nal had made friends with children in the nearby villages, and she and Ulfr were practically attached at the hip these days. With every passing much, she seemed to be as much a Karlunder as an Asani. She spent less and less time with the books of Asani Poetry they had brought north with them. Instead, she had taken to the old legends some of the servants told at dinner. She’d outgrown all her silks, embroidered with beautiful flowers and sunbursts, adoring her new linens lined with furs and decorated with foxes and falcons and bears. It was hardly a surprise when her daughter approached her one morning and proclaimed she wished to learn how to fight!

She found the girl out under the oak tree. One of the servant girls was tending to her, a lass barely older than her daughter, honestly. Nal wasn’t in nearly as sorry a state as her cousin had suggested. If anything, she seemed to be putting on a brave face as the servant wrapped her arm in a splint, only wincing slightly as her arm was jostled about. Well. No mercy, then.

“Alright, girl.” Sigrid said firmly, putting her hands on her hips “What happened?”

“Hashana!” She grumbled in the Asani tongue. She still used it to curse.

“Watch your language, young lady!” Sigrid shot back. “Speak up, now. How did you hurt yourself?”

“It was nothing, ma.” She said dourly “Ulfy overreacted! He’s just being a crybaby!”

Ulfr shot her a vile glance as Nal used the pet-name she pulled out whenever they were having an unspoken disagreement.

“You were the one crying when you feel!” He hissed.

“Was not!” Nal growled.

“Were too! You’re just showing off, now that the adults are here!” Ulfr said, puffing up his chest “Ahh! Ahh! Ulf! It hurts! It hurts! The sparrow! It pecked me!”

“Shut up!” Nal snapped.

“Enough!” Sigrid groaned “Any more of that and I’ll tan your hides!”

That silenced the children. She spoke again, more calmly this time.

"What sparrow? What were you two doing out here? Speak quickly, now, or you’ll go to bed without supper!”

There was a brief silence. Nal spoke up first.

“I was just climbing the tree.”

“Yeah, I was going to follow her. We wanted to watch the sunset before dinner.” Ulfr added.

“And what happened then? Don’t try to pull the wool over my eyes, girl.”

“Well…. There was a sparrow’s nest in the branches. I thought it would be empty, this late in the season. Uhm. The dumb bird attacked me. I tried to swat it away and I fell.”

“Hah. Is that all?” Sigrid laughed. She turned to the servant girl and asked “How bad is she?”

“Not bad at all, ma’am.” The girl said, trying to hide her amusement at the whole affair “Just a little sprain, I’d wager.”

“Good.” Sigrid said. “Both of you, go help the servants prepare for dinner, and try not to pick any fights with the chickens!”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

~

Sigrid had spent much of the evening pondering. She was quiet and moody, or at least that’s what she heard the servants whisper. Bah. Let them have their gossip. She had greater concerns. She had realized today, quite starkly, that her daughter was not the little girl who had come across the sea with her. She was taller now, stronger as well. Far more adventurous too, as the day’s events proved. The next few years were vital. Her childhood had ensured she had a good head on her shoulders, even if she was a bit crude, but the next years would decide the sort of woman her daughter was to become. It was with that in mind that she beckoned for Nal and her cousin to approach her at dinner. They’d taken to eating at the servants table, enjoying their stories and their songs.

“You had quite the battle today, didn’t you lass?” She teased.

“Ma….” Nal whined “Don’t make fun!”

Sigrid ruffled her girl’s braided hair.

“Hah. Fear not, daughter. You’ll be ready for the next beast to cross your pass.”

“What do you mean?” Her daughter looked at her, confused.

“Well, lass. I think you’re ready to learn how to use a sword. You too, nephew. I’m sure your father won’t mind. Hah. He’d chew me out for letting his son’s twelfth birthday pass without having him in the training fields!”

The children’s eyes lit up.

“You mean it?! Really?!” They cried in unison “Thank you Ma!” “Thank you, Auntie Sigrid!”

“Well. It’s about time for it, and you’ve got noble blood in you, even if it doesn’t mean so much these days. You ought to learn, even if you’re unlikely to use it much. We’ll start as soon as Nal’s arm has healed. Now run along, finish your dinner.”

She smiled as the children ran off, whispering giddily to one another. The days of heroes were gone, Sigrid knew that as well as anyone. If they had brains worth a damn, Nal and Ulfr, and the other youngsters in their clan, would learn far more important skills. How to handle money. How to negotiate with the southern merchants. How to avoid offending Eadric…

But the progeny of The White Raven Kings ought to know how to hold a sword, at the very least. She owed her ancestors that much.

~

“Shield up, girl! Don’t let your guard down! You need to learn these things if you’re to stand in a shield wall”

Nal hissed as her mother scolded her on the training field. She didn’t understand. Ulfr couldn’t be fought flat footed. They’d both been growing recently, and he was growing in strength. A natural sort of strength she couldn’t compete with. He wasn’t as fast as her, though, she had to outmaneuver him.

WHACK!

Ulfr’s wooden sword collided with her side.

“Careful, Sparrow! Don’t get lost with your heads in the clouds, or you’ll get hit!”

Sparrow. She hated that name. He’d been tossing it around for a whole season now, never letting her forget that stupid afternoon. She took in a deep breath. She couldn’t let her anger control her. Not in a fight. She’d been reading some of her mother’s Asani combat manuals. Clearly she could not win a fight if she tried to fight like her mother or cousin. She wasn’t built for that sort of thing. If she fought her own way, on the other hand…

Ulfr swung again. Nal sidestepped the blow, lifting her sword and striking his back. He yelped about treachery as he fell to the ground. She struck again and again, not giving him a chance to rise, until he cried out.

“I yield! I yield!”

She thrust her sword into the dirt and helped him to his feet. Ulfr scowled at her. She stuck her tongue out at him.

“Hah! That’s my girl!” Sigrid cheered “As strong as your cousin! Good! Very good!”

It seemed that Nal’s mother didn’t care so much about how she fought. She was more concerned as to whether her daughter was winning or losing. Perhaps, in the end, that was all that mattered. They had a grand feast that night, and Sigrid insisted that her daughter take a place of honor beside her. A reward for her first victory in the sparring field.

~

In time, Nal was sent off to Ulfr’s family home, a smaller farm than her mothers, though it was near to the sea, so they could go out in boats, on occasion. There, Ulric went on teaching them how to fight, as well as how to sail and fish. In time, Nal became stronger. She could properly lift up a shield and throw off blows with it. Her strength balanced out with her cousin and soon they were fighting each other “properly”, like Karlunders, is how his father put it. Though Ulfr could still throw his weight around more and Nal still appreciated the value of fighting dirty.

By the time they came into the fullness of their youth, both were fierce fighters. Nal had built up some proper muscle and was no longer the spindly, lanky girl Sigridhad brought across the sea with her. Ulfr himself had grown too, into a stocky lad. Not quite as large as his father would like. Ulric often bemoaned the fact that the blood of the White Raven Kings was weakening, and had been ever since they lost Eirsmet. These words stung Ulfr deeply.

Still. In those days, the cousins had far greater concerns than the approval or disapproval of their parents. They were old enough to chart their own courses, and the future lay before them. As Sigrid had so many years ago, they faced a challenging choice. Adventuring was still frowned upon, there hadn’t been a proper raid in years… However, both Nal and Ulfr had been raised with a sword in hand. Fortunately, the world was still changing.

Eadric had, only a year or so prior, issued a decree. The time of Governors was ending. His old allies were now Earls, hereditary vassals who would rule over vast swaths of land drawn up from the former petty kingdoms. Furthermore, to reduce the strain upon the Greencloaks and allow Eadric to consolidate his forces, the Earls were to be granted permission to raise their own militias. They would tend to local concerns and were answerable to their Earls. The Greencloaks, however, were to be garrisoned in regional strongholds and answer to Eadric alone.

Hungry for adventure, Nal and Ulfr were among the first to answer Wulfred’s call for fighters. There was little in the way of formal testing. Simply a bout or two in the new Earl’s own training yard. Once that was over, they were handed silver bear badges, the Earl mimicked Eadric’s own heraldry, as many had. The cousins were then sent off to the newly constructed militia barracks, enjoining the Earl’s castle.

~

Nal and Ulfr sat now at long wooden tables, flanked by scores of their new companions. They drank heavily of the ale Wulfred had provided to satiate the thirst of his new soldiers. Fine, dark red stuff with a hint of spice to it. Ulfr lifted a stein into the air and cheered as he slapped his cousin on the back.

“To us, sweet Sparrow! To our future victories!”

Nal clinked her own stein against his, then both drank. Then Nal herself made a proclamation.

“We’ll show your pa just how much strength is left in the blood of the white raven kings!”

A few of the others glanced at them. They didn’t keep their bloodline a secret, though they often avoided boasting about it, except when drinking. It would be unwise, they had agreed, to antagonize their new liege lord.

It was a long night full of many such toasts.