[Ealasaide]

Olav

As he finished the last bite of the inn’s excellent luncheon, Olav sat back and sighed contentedly. There was definitely something to be said for community and a sense of belonging. He watched idly as a woman, presumably the innkeeper, posted a list of jobs available around the inn. Unexpectedly, he felt his heart lift at the idea of applying for one of those jobs and, if he was lucky, maybe becoming a member of the community at Edoras. After all, they needed carpenters and, as he had told Sigrid, he did know a bit of carpentry he had learned from his father prior to his life on the road. Ragnar or no, Olav was getting tired of living on the edge all the time. Ragnar thrived on it, but Olav had lately found himself casting a rather wistful eye upon the green plowed fields and thatched roofs of the farm houses they passed in their travels. He wanted to stop traveling for a while. Maybe put down some roots of his own.

He glanced out of the corner of his eye at Sigrid, who also watched the posting of the job list with avid interest. If she found a job at the inn, that would be all the more incentive for him to stay…at least for a while.

Almost as though he had been reading Olav’s mind, Ragnar suddenly hooked his thumb into a fold in Olav’s sleeve and dragged him to a quiet corner of the room.

"What are you doing?" Ragnar asked quietly, but there was an edge to his voice. "You’re not thinking of applying for a job, are you?"

Olav set his jaw obstinately. "What if I am maybe?"

Ragnar leaned forward, his forehead almost touching Olav's. "We're done here," he said firmly. "Fire is out, luncheon consumed, and girl is reunited with dog. Our horses are probably finished being re-shoed at the blacksmith's. We need to go."

"They need help re-building. I know a bit of carpentry."

"You don't know anything."

Olav felt his temper flare, but he pushed it down. He had been following Ragnar for seven years, even since he was fifteen and on his own for the first time. He owed Ragnar at least some loyalty, but lately Olav had been wondering if it had been a mistake to leave home in the first place. He just wasn't cut out for the same sort of life that Ragnar was, but so far Ragnar had managed to keep him out of trouble. Also, it didn't hurt that they had both seen a fair bit of money pass through their hands. Olav sighed and looked away from his cousin. Across the room, he caught sight of Sigrid curtsying and talking with the innkeeper. A moment later, as she fairly skipped away, he knew she had been hired.

Following Olav's eyes, Ragnar began to laugh. "It's that girl."

Olav felt his cheeks redden. "No, it's not."

Still laughing quietly, Ragnar shook his head. "You had me worried, cousin. I thought you were thinking about hanging up your spurs."

"I might," said Olav stubbornly. Actually, that was exactly what he had been thinking.

Ignoring him, Ragnar shrugged knowingly. "We can stay for a bit. I'm sure I can find something useful to do around here." He cast an appraising glance around the room. "But as soon as little Sigrid breaks your heart, you'll be more than ready to move on."

Olav shrugged. "You know, I wouldn't be so sure."

Ragnar gave him a sly sidewise grin. "No?"

"No."

"Hmm."

"You know, you don't have to stay, too."

This time, the smile vanished and Ragnar's sapphire blue eyes turned on Olav with a piercing intensity. "You want to be a carpenter?" he asked sharply. To Olav, Ragnar’s expression looked strangely threatening, almost ruthless. For the first time, since the conversation had begun, Olav felt himself falter.

"Uh, maybe," he said softly, but his brown eyes met Ragnar’s gaze with steadiness and calm decision.

"Okay, then," Ragnar shrugged. To the casual observer, the gesture looked like one of light-hearted indifference, but Olav knew Ragnar too well. The sudden flip-flop in his cousin's attitude made Olav feel distinctly nervous. Ragnar was up to something, Olav knew, but what it was he could only guess. Ragnar could be so unpredictable. Usually he took Olav into his confidence, but this time Ragnar’s face gave nothing away.

"We’ll be carpenters, then," Ragnar finished with an easy smile. With that, he turned and looked around for the Innkeeper, who no longer stood near the jobs bulletin where she had been only moments earlier. In fact, she was no longer in the room.

"Where'd she go?" he asked, his sharp eyes scanning the common room.

Olav shook his head. "Don't, Ragnar."

"What?"

"Whatever it is you're thinking," answered Olav gravely. "These are good people. Don't do anything to hurt them."

In apparent mystification, Ragnar shook his head. "Why would I do that?"

Olav didn't respond, but gave Ragnar a dark, glowering silence instead, which only caused his cousin to grin. While Ragnar's overall demeanor seemed to be one of innocent bewilderment in the face of a wild accusation, Olav noticed that Ragnar had made no promises to the contrary. Standing beside him, Olav waited nervously for the return of the innkeeper. He really did want a job at the inn. If he got it, though, the difficulty would lie in keeping Ragnar on the straight and narrow, which would be kind of like trying to keep a wolf as a house pet. Olav knew he would have to try to strike a balance between protecting Edoras from Ragnar and Ragnar from Edoras. He sighed. Life would be so much easier if Ragnar would just take his black horse and ride off into the sunset.

********************************

Sigrid

Having been offered the job by Bethberry, Sigrid found herself put to work almost immediately with the task of window-washing, which she took to doing with the zeal of the newly-employed. The soot was hard to get off of the leaded window glass, so Sigrid found herself scrubbing quite hard. Completely immersed in her task, she never noticed as one of the serving girls approached her and held out her hand.

"Hello," the other girl said pleasantly. "I'm Iona, one of the serving maids. Are you new here?"

Sigrid startled and turned around quickly, nearly overturning her water bucket in the process. Seeing the other girl, she smiled broadly and wiped her own hands on her skirt and shook Iona's hand.

"I'm Sigrid," she answered. "And you're right - I'm very new. Just hired, in fact, to do a bit of cleaning and laundry." She gestured to the soapy window. "Windows... As I was telling Miss Bethberry, I arrived this morning just in time for the fire. It's such an awful thing."

Iona gave Sigrid a quick smile and a shrug. "It really is, but once everyone has had a little time to get over the loss, the inn will be a right jolly place again, what with the excitement of rebuilding and all. "

"Oh, I hope so." Sigrid smiled as well. "Right now so many people seem so sad. It's hard to lose an animal, especially a horse or a dog. They're so much like family." She paused. "Have you been working here long?" she asked after a moment.

<font size=1 color=339966>[ 12:45 PM December 12, 2003: Message edited by: Ealasaide ]