(no subject)

[equal_of_any_man]

{From here}

Olivier opens the door into a pleasant spring day. The sun warms the first buds on the trees and the freshly tilled earth in the fields beyond smells rich and warm.

They are in the woods just beyond Athelstan and Ragnar's holding, stepping out of a circle of stones.

"I should have known it was a doorway." Olivier smiles. "Perhaps the ancients of this land knew the bar too."

Mary squeaks with delight as a butterfly passes them, wriggling in Athelstan's arms to be put down.

Comments

[athelstanthescribe]

Athelstan pushes himself up to watch them.

"And ever shall be."

[equal_of_any_man]

"Tickles!" She laughs, pawing at Ragnar's beard.

"Yes, princess. Beards do that." Comments her father, shaved clean in the Norman style.

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"Mine and Athelstan's, both," Ragnar says. "That's what happens when you haven uncles with beards and take them hostage."

[athelstanthescribe]

"Watch out, Olivier", Athelstan says casually, "or she'll be demanding you grow one too. And her mother might not like that."

[equal_of_any_man]

"Oh no. Of one thing I am sure, my wife will never permit me to let a beard grow more than two days on my cheeks!"

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"And the queen will always trump a princess," Ragnar says, grinning. "Well, if she likes beards, she has us. At least she doesn't pull them."

[athelstanthescribe]

"She's old enough to have got past the grabbing small babies do", Athelstan agrees, remembering all too well the boys' infancy.

[equal_of_any_man]

"Especially when the queen is the one wielding the razor, as Ermina is very apt to do."

Mary giggles and strokes Ragnar's beard like petting a dog.

[bigarmy_strangepants]

Ragnar closes his eyes and grins, much like a happy dog.

[athelstanthescribe]

Athelstan watches them with a quiet smile.

[equal_of_any_man]

Mary reaches up to offer Athelstan a petting too. "Soft hairy." She purrs.

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"Yes, Athelstan'S beard feels much softer and nicer than mine," Ragnar says. "I'm tough and bristly!"

[athelstanthescribe]

"Maybe because of the different time of it", he says thoughtfully. "You've grown yours since you reached the age for it to start."

[equal_of_any_man]

"I remember when you were smooth cheeked and rosy." Olivier smiles. "We were both very young then."

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"I remember, too," Ragnar says. "Such a shy and confused little monk, ready to stand up to a big scary Viking for his book. I was impressed immediately, smooth and rosy cheeks or not!"

[athelstanthescribe]

"I didn't think a plain leather book would have much value to you", he recalls, "And I wasn't very confused then, just frightened."

[equal_of_any_man]

Olivier chuckles and comes to scoop up his errant daughter, letting the men rise off the cold ground. "We have all come along way from then. I was a skinny groom in a tabard too large for me and a belt that went twice around."

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"And I was a farmer with big ideas and a mysterious instruction," Ragnar says. "We really have."

He stands, and offers his hand to Athelstan.

[athelstanthescribe]

Athelstan tucks Mary under his arm so he can stand without dropping her, and takes Ragnar's hand.

[equal_of_any_man]

"A mysterious instruction?" Olivier asks with interest, leading the way towards the farmhouse, Mary giggling happily as she rides in Athelstan's arms. It doesn't same to bother here at all that her uncles are holding hands.

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"About finding treasure in the west, and how to cross the sea, away from the coast," Ragnar says, happily walking along with his lover and his family of choice.

[athelstanthescribe]

"Many years ago", Athelstan picks up the story, "before Ragnar came to Lindisfarne, he met a wanderer who gave him an instrument to follow the sun, even in cloudy weather, to help in navigation."

[equal_of_any_man]

"Mysterious indeed." Olivier observed suspiciously. "But helpful. What was the price for such assistance?"

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"None," Ragnar says. "It was destiny -- also, he needed for all this to have happened. It was Sinric."

[athelstanthescribe]

"Who we had met in Milliways, when he was still very young and at the court of Constantine."