The reception started immediately in the great hall, the meat and mead prepped ahead of time and served right as they got there. Which was good, because Signe and Vero barely got any time to eat before they were herded off, passed back and forth by everyone who wanted to give their congratulations. Right now they were sitting at a table with the old men. Or well, Signe was sitting there, Vero was standing behind her, seeming completely happy with not joining her own celebration.

Johan’s head ached under the bandage as the celebration continued yet he kept raising his cup with everyone else at the right times, drinking more and more until he felt the nice warmth of it in his body. Turns out Frey wasn’t the only one that could play an instrument so the music kept going the entire time even as Emil strolled in and the two of them started to argue.

One interesting thing was that Johan had a sheep now. It was a good sheep, and actually pretty cool. Really soft too. Johan was happy he had saved it from the grassmann. He named it Lambert and promptly left it outside to wander the village. At first he had been scared about the responsibility of having a pet but then Odin had assured him that Lambert would be fine walking around on his own.

Johan grinned, busy minding his own business with a cup of mead in front of him as he and Note held a staring contest. First to blink had to drink the alcohol Signe’s old friends had brought.

“Hey, congratulations.” Johan’s head snapped around to see Leif. “The wedding was awesome! And it’s really great to see you guys together again”

He leaned closer to Johan, hand shielding his mouth from Note as he spoke. “You wouldn’t believe how mopy he got when you-”

“Leif!” Note’s face was going red and Johan laughed, then he realized with a gasp, hands flying to his head.

“Ah, I lost!” He looked over to the table with the old men and grimaced. He had caught a whiff of the alcohol earlier when he greeted them.

“It’s a great day!” Note exclaimed and jumped to his feet. “Are you having fun?”

“Yeah!” Leif grinned widely. “It’s been years since I last spoke to Harald so we’re catching up! We were really close growing up.”

As if on cue, Harald came over, Astrid heavy on his arm. She was almost at her due date now and was so huge she needed help when walking, usually it was Emil, and even then it was more of a waddle. Johan had never seen a heavily pregnant woman covered in war paint before that but it was nice to see her and Emil finally getting along. “Hi guys, it’s such a beautiful wedding! Congratulations!”

“Congratulations.” Harald echoed, supporting Astrid with a bright smile.

“Thank you.” Johan smiled and started getting up. “Here, sit down.”

Astrid laughed and waved her hand. “Oh that’s fine, I just wanted to come get Leif. I’m sure you two have better things to do than entertaining that idiot. It’s great to see you talking again!”

Better things to do? Johan froze when she winked at him.

“Oh and Johan, you should be careful about how much you drink in front of Ulfhild today. My dear mother-in-law was not very happy with you when she came home yesterday.” Astrid added and Johan glanced nervously in her direction, remembering the hands squeezing his head. “Come on, Leif. Let’s catch up with Harald.” Astrid beckoned him over.

Leif looked back and forth between them, then threw one last glance at Note, eyes widening as if he was hit by a realization.“Oh yeah! Sorry guys, gotta go!” He practically jumped across the table to grab Astrid’s other arm.

“Wait! Hey, Leif, wait up!” Note yelled, neck turning a deep crimson and he almost turned the table over as he hurried after them.

“Hey, can I ask something?” Johan turned to see Harald still standing next to him.

“Ask something?” That was suspicious. Johan shrugged and downed his drink. “Sure.”

“Where is Signe from?” Harald asked.

Johan paused. His eyes narrowed where he was looking into his empty cup. He slowly raised his eyes and watched as Harald sat down next to him.

“Not here. Why?” Johan answered shortly, leaning back. Harald made a thinking face and Johan saw him glance over at Signe.

“She looks really familiar. I feel like I have seen her somewhere before.” Harald admitted and that’s when Johan remembered.

Harald was living in Signe’s hometown.

Johan froze. Right. Odin mentioned that once.

Shit.

Slowly he turned back to the table, eyeing Note’s abandoned cup for only a split second before pulling it over to himself, avoiding Harald’s concerned gaze.

Harald started talking again when he didn’t get a response. “I mean. The one she reminds me of is dead and dead people don’t just come back to life. But then my dad caught me up on you guys.” Johan felt the corners of his lips involuntarily pull down. This wasn’t a fun conversation. Harald stuttered. “You’re Fate - like the Jotun, Fate. Which is…uh, cool. Anyways, the idea didn’t seem so stupid anymore.”

Johan sipped Note’s drink silently, watching Harald out of the corner of his eye. He didn’t seem to have bad intentions, which was good. But then again, curiosity killed the cat. There was also something else in his eyes, something Johan couldn’t quite read.

“What idea?” Johan prompted.

“Well,” Harald cleared his throat and glanced at Signe again. “When I was young my dad would bring the family to visit my Uncle Ragnar and his family during the summer. He’s the chief of another village, the one I live in now, and it was always a big deal to go there. The visits stopped when Aunt Sigrid died though and their whole family became more shut in. A few years later we got news that the daughter died as well. She’s been dead for so long now that when my dad sent me letters mentioning a Signe it didn’t even register in my mind…” Harald turned to him. “-but that’s her, isn’t it?”

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Johan sipped his drink again, pulse raising quickly. People weren’t supposed to know you could just become a deity. Not to mention how deities were not supposed to be with their blood family after getting to Heaven. Especially now, what if Greed found her family?!

He was saved from answering.

“She’s my sister.”

Johan looked up to see Note glaring down at Harald.

He grimaced into the cup. It was true enough that Note and Signe were siblings, in a sense at least. But it was so incredibly obvious that it wasn’t a blood relation-

Johan sighed, suddenly feeling sober. How could the mood suddenly get so tense?

“Yeah, she’s that Signe.” Johan said lowly. He turned more towards Harald but the man didn’t even look surprised. “But nobody can know that. She’s the deity- Jotun of Death, and she’s wanted dead. If anyone finds out she has living family-”

“I would never do that.” Harald interrupted, eyes wide. “I know, and I would never put them - or her - in danger! I just wanted to know for sure. They still miss her-”

Johan’s jaw dropped in outrage, the guy couldn’t be thinking about telling her family?! Before Johan could say anything though, Harald saw his look and quickly excused himself, leaving Johan and Note alone.

“They should be sad after what they did.” Note growled and sat down. Johan stared after Harald.

“It’s done already.” Johan said simply, deciding not to push the issue now while they were at Signe’s wedding celebration, and sighed as he saw Frey approach them. “Finished with Emil?”

Honestly it was a miracle that they got through the ceremony without a screaming match considering how much the two of them had been arguing lately about absolutely everything. It was always about such stupid stuff too. Earlier Frey had run off after Emil and started screaming about the color yellow.

The last Johan had heard, Frey had come wearing a suit under his normal bunny-eared jacket and somehow that led to a disagreement about clothes and whatever else.

“Who won?” Johan asked drily. Everything he knew about these fights were involuntary.

“I did, of course. Yellow is the best color, Emil can go jump in the ocean and see if he likes blue anymore when he drowns in it.” Frey snarked. Johan sipped his drink with a nod. It was good Frey had found someone to occupy his time with. “That kid he’s dragging around is smarter than him-”

“Signe! Congratulations! The first of us to get married!” Johan yelled, jumping to his feet and raising his glass in a cheer before chugging it down. The crowd yelled and immediately joined in, happy for another reason to drink.

Johan sat his glass down and ignored Note’s look as he left to get more alcohol. There were buckets and barrels and whatever else yet he didn’t have to look to know it was all mead, the only alcohol they made on the island. Well, except the old men. Johan wasn’t entirely sure where they got it from and it would not surprise him if it was homemade.

Happily holding a refilled cup Johan went over to the newlyweds. “Congratulations.” He repeated, more softly at Signe. She raised her glass with a grin.

“Thank you. Did you enjoy it? You better! I spent the entire morning being dolled up.” She laughed.

“It was amazing.” Johan bragged. “The best thing I’ve seen in my entire life.”

“Good.” Signe laughed and the metal of her crown clinked together with the movement.

“Where did you get that?” Johan asked curiously. He had never seen anything like it.

“The crown?” Signe asked. Johan looked down to see her smiling softly. She touched the crown gently, feeling it slightly. “It belongs to the village.”

Johan paused. “Oh?”

“Yeah.” Signe grinned again. “It’s tradition. My family has a similar one. Hilda spent two hours this morning stitching it to my hair.” Signe said and made a horrified expression at him. “It’s not going anywhere, that’s for sure.”

“Isn’t that uncomfortable?” Johan asked, alarmed as Signe shook her head without the crown moving as much as a millimeter from her scalp.

She shrugged. “It’s fine, it’s worth it.”

Johan watched in amazement as she patted it gently before leaning back to smile at Vero who leaned down to give her a small kiss. Johan frowned, it was Wrath, it shouldn’t be cute. He should be mad that Wrath was just kissing Signe out of nowhere…then again they were married…

“It’s damn pretty too, it is.” One of the old men commented. The other two voiced their agreements seriously, both deep in their cups. “Every village woman wears that on their wedding day!”

“I’ll drink to that!” Another old man Johan recognized as Odin’s dad answered.

“You’d drink to anything.” The last of the men said followed by a round rough laughter from them all, Signe included.

“Hey, can I speak with you?” Vero asked. Johan raised an eyebrow. That was ominous. He looked around but nobody had noticed anything. Signe and the old men were preoccupied with their cups and everyone else in the room were too far away to have heard anything.

“...Yeah?” Johan answered hesitantly. She was Signe’s wife now, it was only a matter of time before they had to talk together. It was a little weird that she initiated it though…As long as they were amongst other people-

“Alone.” She stated, glaring down at him and Johan froze for a second, his eyes scanning for an excuse but even Note was busy talking with Frey.

“Sure.” Johan finally said and slowly stood up. She led him outside, and he sent one longing look back through the open doors before they rounded the corner of the great hall to get away from everyone hanging out outside.

Finally Wrath stopped and turned to stare at Johan.

“You still don’t like me.” Jumping straight to the point. Ok then. Johan thought for a second. If she already knew then there was no point in trying to hide it.

“I don’t.” Johan agreed and crossed his arms, meeting her eyes dead on. Wrath looked down at him, a couple centimeters taller.

“Have I not proven myself?” Wrath asked with an intense stare and Johan paused, narrowing his eyes at her. Was she joking-? “You have not given me any trials, no objectives, nothing to make you change your mind about me.”

“What?” Johan asked, trying to wrap his mind around what she just said. Trials? “What are you talking about? I’m not going to give you trials, Wrath-”

“Call me Vero.” She interrupted and eyes full of fierce determination. “We are family now. Even if you don’t like me, call me by my name.”

Family. That sounded off. She was right of course. She had just married Signe.

Johan sighed and Vero took it as a sign to keep going. “I am sorry for what happened back then. If I could change it, I would, but I did not play any part in it, and I can’t change the past. So let me prove myself to be worthy of Signe.”

“You don’t have to prove anything.” He glared at her, spelling out the words to make her understand. “Signe wants you, that’s all I care about. Whether you ‘played a part’ or not doesn’t matter right now. I just don’t like you and you won’t change my mind.”

“Then give me a trial.” Wrath pleaded and Johan groaned. She would never be worthy of Signe. She followed Signe around, antagonized her and hurt her- and then now she was suddenly in love and everything was supposed to be forgiven? Johan was never going to forgive her for that.

Signe might have mentioned it fondly in her vows but Johan remembered it very differently. If Wrath could make Signe happy now then that was fine. However, it did not change the past.

Johan had never seen Wrath in a good light. He had seen her powerful and he had seen her mean. That was it. Until he saw something else he would not change his mind.

“If you think winning a trial is going to change my mind about you, you are wrong.” Johan hissed and Wrath clenched her jaw, clearly unhappy, but she didn’t say anything. “Be good to her, make her happy. Prove to her that you are worth her. Then my mind will change, Vero.”

He watched as her jaw dropped and her eyes widened. Well, as much as someone so expressionless could.

He walked away.