Why? Like most children that seemed to be the most popular word in Charon's vocabulary. Of course it meant that Charon was curious, and willing to learn, but even so it, as it did with every parent sometimes, was beginning to become a word that Ragnar was not overly fond of. Asking Ragnar why the Gods did anything all apart of his want to understand, but it was also asking Ragnar to define something that he, himself, did not know. Ragnar did not pretend to know why the Gods said what they did, or why they wanted what they desired. He did not know their motivation, anymore than anyone else did. He suspected that if he were a God that it was something he would be able to answer for Charon, but Ragnar wasn't a God and therefore had no true answer for the boy. “The Gods are mysterious, Charon. I do not know why they want or do not want things.” And, typically, Ragnar did not question it, because questioning the Gods wasn't something that Ragnar did. “Only they will ever know the answer to that.”
The child admitted that he was not angry, though moments before Ragnar would have disagreed. “You were, before. Angry I mean. At me,” Ragnar knew he deserved it though. He was not being a very good guardian, father or Jarl. It was moments like this: face to face with the roaring, ugly truth, that Ragnar had his moments of doubts about himself. They were rare, and usually, fleeting, but there was always the consideration that he could, should he ever want too, return to the Cove. Abandon everything. It would be easy, even. Claim to go on an Outrider mission and ...never return. He was a Viking. He would adapt. Except, Ragnar was too invested in the Bay, too in love with his wife, and too proud to allow himself to become a coward like that. It would be easy, but Ragnar enjoyed the thrill of the challenge, even if sometimes it felt like too much of a burden to bear.
“I don't know,” It wasn't like Ragnar knew what happened to Kevlyn or Liyani, and he could not form assumptions about either of them. He did not wish to fill Charon's head with lies, and so settled for the harsh reality of truth: that he did not know.
