“We did,” Ragnar spoke curtly on the topic of Dagrún’s assumption that Thistle and him had yet to pay homage to Freyja and Frigg. What did the halfblood take him for? “I know the rituals,” Ragnar smirked to his brother, but it was tight, not forced but filled with the beginnings of tension. “It is taking time to convert her. It is slow, brother. She does not know our ways, but she is learning.” A knowledgeable Shield Maiden would have made those sacrifices long ago and Ragnar would have made them sooner but it was more effect if the woman in question made them. Ragnar could only pull so much weight with Frigg and Freyja considering he wasn’t a woman, and wasn’t pregnant. “She is tiny, yes, but as she keeps reminding me she is strong,” Indeed, Thistle made that small fact hard to forget. “Stronger than she looks.” Spoken in his wife’s defense. As it stood now, despite their similarities, they were two different men. They liked different things in their women. Ragnar relaxed upon his haunches as he studied his half brother through leveled eyes. “She is different, Dagrún,” Ragnar spoke quietly, picking up on what his brother was saying without the darker man having to actually come out and say it. Of course, Dagrún was privy to Ragnar’s likes and dislikes in a woman, knowing how he flitted from them as if they were simply put on the earth to entertain him, or sate his carnal desires.
“As I said, I will not return to the Cove but I seek to reform it, here, in these Wilds. I want you to join me, brother. To help me sow the seeds of our traditions, our Gods and our culture here, to help enforce it. This is what Odinn has asked of me, but I cannot do it alone. I need new recruits, those eager to learn, of course, but I need wolves I trust, too, at my back. I need you,” Ragnar paused, salmon pink tongue flicking out to draw across his nose. “The hybrid Alpha of the Ridge will not be happy with me, there is a chance I might have to temporarily leave behind my wife and children,” The thought savagely tore at Ragnar’s heart. “This is for them just as much as it is for me. For all of us. Will you join me brother?” Nothing of this was certain, of course, there were too many unknowns that lingered and even if it never came to fruition it would ease Ragnar’s mind to know that he had his half brother’s support, no matter what came to be.
