Stavanger Bay sending a danger signal

I apologize for the wait and sad quality. ♥

The valkyrja’s hearty chuckle coaxed the corners of Szymon’s kohl-lined lips to quirk upward in a guarded smile. A strange, tangling sensation churned in his gut as Lagertha declared the fine-featured witch doctor as hers — though it was utterly silly, Szymon found he was displeased at the thought of sharing her with anyone. “Sh-Sh-She is — ” beautiful, wonderful, addicting, my Chosen One, mine, mine, mine “ — f-fond of you, too,” Szymon admitted with a brusque nod. “You h-have taught her m-m-much.” He didn’t know that for sure, but he knew that Doe spoke highly of the warrior woman and was eager to continue her lessons. They were lessons Szymon could not afford to give his Chosen One — he dared not trust himself in play around her, let alone with the heat of battle in her eyes.

Could he trust Lagertha?

Suspicion bloomed suddenly in the boy’s golden eyes, and the flush and fluster brought about by Lagertha’s suggestive confession made him all the more eager to change the subject. It pleased him that Doe had spoken of him as she had spoken to him of Laggy, but that ember of pleasure was crushed beneath the cold weight of a mental image: the two females, fangs bared and fur bristling. Without overtly elevating his head and tail, Szymon fixed Lagertha with an intense stare — the tension in his body flowed like the flush of brine and the sink of sand. “You will,” he commanded, “t-take great c-c-care with her.” It was not a question or a mild statement — it was the fiery defensiveness that came with protecting something dear. He was Skellige’s brother, and what he lacked in malevolence, he made up for in tenacity and ferocity — when necessary.

“Why d-d-did you c-come to the b-b-bay?” he questioned again, for she had not answered him the first time, and he found that he needed more information about the woman who was teaching Doe to fight.