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With good reason, too.

Katrine might have her mother’s crimson locks, but she very much had Tove’s pale, sea-green eyes. Her gaze was just as serious, too, if not fierce, when their gazes connected for the first time.

“Sweet Odin above, she does have a fighter’s spirit, doesn’t she?” Tove said, blinking away her tears and standing up straighter, not only for the sake of those around her but, I suspected, because she wanted her niece to see no weakness in her.

Only ever strength.

“She does, for she can sit up already.” Freya held her out to Tove. “Hold her, if you would, so I can greet my people.”

Although Tove shook her head, having never held a child that I knew of, studiously avoiding them for that matter, Freya gave her no choice when she handed Katrine over.

I couldn’t say precisely what happened when Tove took Katrine, tense at first as they continued eyeing each other, only that something did.

A heavy, almost severe gust of wind arose, and for a moment I swore I heard the roar of a polar bear. Acting on instinct whenever the bear was about, however impossible at the moment, I whipped off my fur cloak, wrapped it around them the best I could, and put my back to the roaring wind, protecting them.

When many unsheathed their blades, trying to keep their footing while looking around wildly, I knew everyone else had heard it, too. Yet as fast as the wind roared up, it simmered down, leaving murmurs of awe instead. Interestingly, the wolf remained calm when I would have thought otherwise, given the sound of a bear and Katrine’s vulnerability. Almost as if he understood something we did not.

“’Tis as white as the polar bear now, when moments before it was black,” Brynhild exclaimed, gesturing at my cloak, then at my scar. “As is your lightning bolt.”

“’Tis a blessing and a great honor,” Freya said, her eyes different as she looked from Tove and Katrine to me, speaking in that way she and her sisters did sometimes when their inner seer was at work. “’Tis the Helvig polar bear inside you, Knud, protecting your people. Marked by the gods to keep us safe always.” She looked from her daughter to me, honoring me greatly. “Marked by the gods to protect those born of our lineage.”

“Always,” I vowed, pulling my cloak away, strangely certain there would be no more gusts for now and Tove and Katrine were safe. “With my life.”

Where most little ones Katrine’s age would likely be crying by now, given the traumatic moment, she merely looked at me with a calm, gentle steadiness that bespoke an old soul.

Tove, however, seemed unchanged when our eyes met.

If anything, she almost seemed more frustrated with me than before, and I couldn’t, for the life of me, fathom why as I swung my new fur around my shoulders, pleased by its plushness.

“’Tis probably best she be with you for now so I can see to my ships,” Tove said to Freya, handing Katrine to her mother with a ghost of a smile. “She is…” Not a motherly type by any means, she struggled to find the words before emotion once more lit her eyes when she looked at Katrine. “Most fierce and very much a Helvig.” She glanced from Soren back to Freya. “And a Dahl. You should be proud.”

Giving Freya no chance to respond, Tove turned away and set to the business of seeing the ships locked down for the night.

“Nay, my new sister,” Soren said to Tove before she could get too far, ordering his people to see to all ships. “Go spend time with Freya and your new niece, then we shall commence in the great lodge for as fine a feast as you showed my crew and me last night.”

Before I could take charge in Tove’s absence, as was my rightful place, Soren clasped my shoulder and shook his head. “Nay, you will come with me so that we might share an ale in thanks for you protecting my daughter so valiantly, my new brother.” He lowered his head in acknowledgment, making clear to all that I was to hold esteem among his people before meeting my eyes again. “Because whether you are married to a Helvig seer or not, you did just become my brother this day, he who possesses the spirit of the polar bear.”

Not quite sure I had earned such high regard, given I’d only acted as I always would, polar bear spirit or not, I nodded in return, humbled, and followed him, but only after my chieftain and earl, Tove, agreed that it was all right.

While I’d expected to arrive here as I did among most tribes, largely unseen beyond the respect I demanded of warriors who ranked beneath me, what had just happened changed all that. I received much applause and praise as I followed Soren.

“’Twas quite something,” Soren praised, upon entering a sizeable lodge with deeply sloping roofs similar in scope to Bjǫrn’s, so I knew it was his and Freya’s. Endless weapons lined the walls, rivaling the impressive collection hanging on my former earl’s walls.

Pouring us ales, he urged me to sit by a newly-stoked fire and raised his mug to me. “Here is to you, Knud. I suspect your life’s journey will be one to rival the great Vikings of old.”

Unsure how to respond to that, I lowered my head in acknowledgment and toasted before taking several much-needed swigs of the robust brew. Something must be said, though, so I replied honestly.

“Thank you, Earl Soren, but I only did what anyone would.” Still unsure what to make of it, I fingered my polar bear cloak. “I could not speak to the changes that occurred when I did.”

“’Tis not ours to speak to such things when with our Helvig women, for they have a way of wrapping their magic around us,” he replied, taking several swigs himself, telling me he was more affected by his daughter’s brief vulnerability than he’d likely admit to. He took in my fur and looked at my scar. “Yet something tells me ’tis more than just a Helvig bewitching you but something else.”

“Older,” a masculine voice whispered in my ear, and for a second, I swore I saw a bear crackling in the fire before vanishing.

“Ja, older,” Soren murmured, gazing at the fire as if he too had seen it. Heard it. His eyes rose to me again. “So says something beyond the flames.”

“You heard it too?” I shook my head. “’Twas not my imagination?”

“Nay,” he assured. The corner of his mouth quirked ever so slightly. “Not based on what I saw on that dock and from the things I have witnessed since coming together with Freya. I would say you’re undoubtedly wrapped up in their Wyrd. Part of the Helvig destiny every bit as much as me.”