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Though rain had begun falling and the wind had grown gustier, I knew by looking at the skies this storm would be gone by morning, so chances were good we would set sail sooner rather than later. That in mind, I made my way to bed, fell asleep swiftly thanks to the ale, and woke early.

In sync with my thoughts about Tove the night before, I wasn’t surprised when we stepped out of our cottages at the same time. We had done it regularly over the years, almost as if we sensed when the other stirred awake. Typically, we greeted each other with a good morning, made our way to the docks to check on the ships, and then broke our fast together.

This morning, however, was different.

“See provisions prepared and our chosen men ready for travel, Knud,” she said sharply, without any warmth in her lovely, pale sea-green eyes. Rather, she was as informal and authoritative as any earl might be with those beneath them. “The weather has lifted, and the seas are good for travel. Therefore, we’ll likely leave as soon as possible.”

Then she strode for the shore without me, leaving it at that.

While tempted to catch up with her and ask why she was so upset with me, I knew better. Tove rarely acted on emotion, as her life hadn’t allowed it, but right now she was, and that required giving her space until she reined in what troubled her.

Had I confronted her and she responded too strongly in front of anyone who might be about at this hour, she would only grow more upset. With a father who had grown harder on her as she got older, she’d been raised to handle things a certain way. Personal squabbles should remain private and be resolved quietly between said parties. Not aired in front of others to feed gossip.

Especially if it involved the chieftain.

So, I left her be and set to executing her orders. Within hours, those who had volunteered to travel with us, excellent warriors all, were ready to go, as were the four ships we had determined the tribe could go without over the next few months.

“Are you sure you wish to join us?” I asked Helga, glancing from her woman hovering nearby to her, fully aware they were together and seeing no harm in it, so long as they made each other happy. The new religion hadn’t reached this isle yet, and we pagans, as they called us, saw no harm in it. We never had. “You would serve just as well here and ’twould keep you with loved ones.”

“Ja, I am sure.” Helga’s voice roughened a little when she glanced from her woman back to me, fully aware I knew where her heart lay. “I’m a warrior, and you and Tove are my siblings, even if not by blood, so I’ll be there for you just as I know you would do the same for me.” She shrugged and winked. “And I am the best warrior, not to mention smithy among us, so ’tis to be expected I might be highly valued on this journey, ja?”

“Ja,” I agreed, managing a small smile for her despite my glum mood at Tove’s ongoing coldness. Yet it was important Helga understood she didn’t need to do this, given how perilous a venture it would be. “Though ’twill be good having you along, I wouldn’t fault you for staying any more than Tove would. Again, you serve us just as well here as you would on the seas and in distant lands.”

“Mayhap,” she granted, eyeing me a little too knowingly. “But then, who would help you two understand where the other was coming from when you squabbled, as you are now? Yet another skill of mine. One I suspect will be the most valuable when all is said and done.”

“We aren’t squabbling,” I muttered, and then ordered our men to put a trunk they were carrying on the ship I would be sailing. That done, I told her, “She is in a mood she’s decided to aim my way for no apparent reason.”

“Nay?” Helga looked skyward and shook her head. “Sometimes you surprise me with how foolish you can be when it comes to the ways of women.” She arched her eyebrows at me. “So how was your night with Signe, because ’twas clear enough you enjoyed her plenty during the dancing? Did she end up giving you a satisfying enough send-off to keep you warm during the long, lonely cold nights ahead?”

Before I could respond, she shook her head again and stalked off to see to other things, but she’d told me all I needed to know: Tove was jealous.

Moreover, like Helga, she must have assumed I had lain with Signe. While that might have pleased me greatly at one point because it implied Tove cared, we were past that now.

Now she had no right.

As tempted as I was to take her aside and confront her iciness, I wouldn’t risk upsetting her further when, now of all times, she needed to show strength and nothing else for our tribe.

So, I went about my business just as I always would, and we set sail alongside the Dahl ships within hours, heading south. Where typically, Tove and I sailed on the same ship, she had opted to captain another, making it clear Helga was right in her assessment.

Despite how much that and the reason for her anger frustrated me, I kept it to myself for hers and the Helvig tribe’s sake. Now was the time to appear unified for king and country. She would eventually need my counsel, and when she did, I would be there, just as I always was.

How else could it be when I admired and respected her so much, despite her attitude toward me right now? As usual, she cut a fine figure with her thick black hair braided back and her white fur billowing in the wind, standing at the bow of her ship, looking every bit the leader she was. Admirably at ease on the water, her body moved with the waves as if she were part of them. One with them.

“You should know how to ride the sea,” she had declared to me when we were children, and she’d discovered I’d never been on a ship to the best of my knowledge. Rather than chastise me, she had looked at me with a patient air of authority that would someday come so naturally to her, her thick black hair whipping in the wind. “’Tis strange you have not by now. You like me, descend from great seafaring Vikings.”

While she had no way of knowing that, I had appreciated her teaching me how to sail and making me feel as if I belonged to something. That I had ancestry I should be proud of. That I descended from something as great as her, whether I did or not.

As if, mayhap, she reflected on the same memory as I, Tove looked my way from the other ship, and our eyes met. Lingered for a moment that felt like it transcended time. All the years between then and now. All the space that separated us at this very moment.

For a split second, I swore I saw longing and pain in her eyes, but it was fleeting before she looked ahead again as if our brief connection hadn’t happened. Yet it had, just as it always would. We were one in ways I hardly understood, but sensed she did. One from the moment I found her in the woodland, standing nose to nose with a polar bear.

The weather remained fair for our journey, the sun blocked by a light layer of low-hanging gray clouds, and tepid winds filled our sail. Within a few short hours, an impressive fortress tucked in a fog-steeped fjord appeared on the horizon. Rumor had it that Soren had done well, making it what it was today, and it certainly seemed so as we docked and were welcomed by his and Freya’s tribe.

The community appeared to be thriving, as many came to greet us, including an older woman with gray-streaked hair and one sharp blue eye, the other hazed with white, hinting at blindness. Soren introduced her as Brynhild, his aunt and ship builder, and I believed it, given her strong, wiry frame despite her age. Soren’s sizable black wolf, Sten, was by her side, no doubt protecting the babe in her arms, given the way he eyed those around her. Though I found such a pet unsettling, the Dahl tribe revered wolves as our Helvig’s did the polar bear.

“And this is Katrine.” Freya beamed as she took the babe from Brynhild’s arms and turned to Tove, yet spoke to her daughter. “Meet your Aunt Tove, little one. She is the fiercest shield-maiden in all the land and leader of your Helvig bloodline. You see that, too, don’t you? For you see the world just as she does.”

Outside of the brief flicker of tears in Tove’s eyes yesterday when I told her I loved her, I’d never seen her eyes well up in front of anyone else until now, as she took in her niece.