Ragnar was silent while she spoke, giving her the same courtesy that she gave him, by listening. His brow furrowed when she asked why she thought what she did about Nerian but did not answer her. Because he didn’t know why, or even have a remotely conclusive suspicion, either. In this, he too, remained silent, giving her monologue his full and rapt attention. Only to pick it apart, piece by piece. She was wrong. She didn’t realize that she was wrong, but he planned on telling her when she finished, anyway. What she chose to do with it, he knew, was up to her. He understood he was hypocritical, but his ability to be wrong in his thoughts and beliefs, despite that he did not particularly see it that way, was what made him canine. He wasn’t perfect, either. “There is nothing to create conflict about that is what I am saying. It was nothing. I told her no and that is the end of it,” Ragnar didn’t understand why there had to be conflict. Thistle had a right to be mad, sure, typically it was bad form to admit to a man who was happily married that you were in love with him, but there was no grounds for her jealousy, not really. If he hadn’t fallen in love with her like he did, then sure, but she was the only one that he truly wanted and if she were ever to walk out of his life, or decide she didn’t want him anymore there was no question that Ragnar would be devastated.
“She is not of my culture. You are of my culture, the Gods spoke it so. You are my tiny Viking, my shield maiden and my love. Marriage is the most important part of my culture. The Priestess is the past but you are my future. Yes, I miss my home, doesn’t everyone? It was where I was born, but Odinn’s Cove is my past and Stavanger Bay is my future. I am doing what Odinn sent me here to do, finally. I will rebuild the Cove with you by my side and our many sons at our feet.” It was the vision of the future he wanted. “Thistle I am yours for as long as you want me, in this life and in the next, in Valhalla if you want me that long.” Nothing else mattered to him but her and he needed her to see that with a growing desperation.
It was a relief to finally be able to rationally talk to her about it, and he just hoped that she still loved and wanted to be his wife. If she chose to divorce him, or decided she didn't love him anymore he couldn't stop her despite how badly he didn't want that. She was the light of his life, his perfect counter weight and he just wanted her to know that.
