Nerian did not back away from him, did not deign to place any distance between them as he closed it. He was a heathen to her, a Pagan, a demon, or devil - whatever words they had spat at the Northerners as they raided and took. She had never outright called him that to his face, whether it was out of fear or some ill guided respect but he knew she was thinking it, saw such words in the accusations of her eyes. Ragnar did not often acknowledge what she truly thought of him - confident that she thought of him as a heathen only and nothing else - because he felt he had treated her better than any of his ilk would have. Ragnar never maimed her, raped her, she never went hungry, and she was still alive. Which was more than could be said for the others that had been brought back to the Cove as slaves. “Then enlighten me, Priestess,” The Viking encouraged her taking a step back to see that at some point she had closed her eyes.
It was a little while before her eyes reopened but when they did they were accompanied by words, giving him the answer he had sought. Not that it made much sense to Ragnar. Then again the Priestess had never made much sense to Ragnar with all her restrictions and rules and her talk of “sins”. “Your God must be greedy; like Loki. We have greedy gods too,” This wasn’t the first time Ragnar had thought it, but it was the first time he said it aloud to her. At her talk of returning home as a free wolf, cleansed of her “sins” - there was that word again - he was thoughtful, silent as he looked out at the horizon. She had come all the way here, joined this pack just to ask for her freedom? “You make no sense Priestess,” He scoffed at her, finally, looking back to her. “Why go through all the trouble just to ask me for your freedom? Why not ask me at the borders hmm?” He just …could not make it add up.
“Fine,” The Viking told her backing up another step. “You can run back to your people.” In truth, Ragnar did not want her to go, not because he had risked much to save her, and because if he should decide to split ways with Pump she would be useful, another addition to his Viking pack if that would happen. The choice was hers. Either she would turn away or she would come to him.
