[m] water that i crave

Never before had Ragnar ever considered giving his children names that were not Norse; even his stolen son — the Amazon — bore the name of the god Týr. Yet, here Ragnar was suggesting that a son be named Athelstan in the honor of a people he could not understand and a God he did not believe in. In that moment Ragnar realized the hypocrisy in which he had shrouded himself in. Still, Thistle had not been religious when they had first met, and her choice to covert to his religion had been exactly that: her choice. Ragnar hadn't forced her just as he would not force Nerian. He wanted only to soothe his Priestess Wife's worries, if there were any. She had never been very forthcoming about her concerns even when Ragnar assured her that she could be. Ok, Ragnar conceded when she spoke that he didn't need to decide the honor of the name that when the time came he would know which one of his sons would become Athelstan. The scarred Scandinavian was quiet when she spoke the prayer to him, still except for his breath which stirred from his lips when he exhaled.

How easily he was able to understand the prayer, meaning him, their sons and Odinn though the part of a world without end did not make sense to him if only because he anticipated the end of the world. It's name in which he shared: Ragnarök. He understood it but in a way that made sense to him, that tied it into his Paganism effortlessly. Ragnar wasn't ignorant and knew that it meant something much more and different to her than it did to him. He was a curious man and could not help but ask her, What does that prayer mean to you?. Ragnar did not understand the odd way in which she prayed, but he was willing to try to understand, as he had always been. It was a novelty to him, and he yearned to make sense of it, but he wanted to understand so that he could understand her more than anything.

TABLE CODE BY JOHN