OOM - part two

[gods_that_haunt_me]

[Part One]

Early in the morning, Helga wakes up and carefully slips out of bed, not wanting to disturb Floki. She cooks breakfast for the both of them, porridge, as it's the only thing Floki can eat at the moment. Gently waking him, she helps him sit up, and she spoonfeeds him, sharing the porridge out of the same bowl.

Later, with the assistance of a servant, Helga changes Floki's bandages and applies a fresh healing paste to his wounds. The gouges in his side still ooze blood, but they don't seem infected. Helga only worries that they're too deep to close up properly.

For Floki, sitting up to have the bandages removed and the clean ones wrapped around him is painful, as his ribs still feel as if they're stabbing his lungs with every breath he takes. But he is determined to do some things on his own. Like standing. With the help of a wooden staff, of course. But not for too long because the bed is really quite comfortable and lying down is good.

Sometimes, with a silent plea to the gods, he tries to move the fingers of his right hand. And tries not to panic when he finds that he can't.

He would truly go out of his mind if not for Helga. And this idea of Athelstan's is the next best thing to divine intervention.

Comments

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"You better do what Athelstan says when he gets stern like this," Ragnar says. "I do, and Björn has learned to, as well. And you can rely on him being back."

He winks at Helga, then turns back to Floki.

"Yes?"

[athelstanthescribe]

Athelstan ushers Bjorn unobtrusively out of the room, in case Floki wouldn't want to say whatever it is in front of them.

[gods_that_haunt_me]

Floki's eyelids are growing heavy and his breathing is a little uneven, but he smiles up at his old friend with that irrepressible, impish grin.

"Ragnar. I should have been dead. For a while I thought I was dead. And when I was dead, I had a dream about you. About us. About all the magnificent ships I would build for you, and all the wonderful places we shall sail to. I saw it all, Ragnar. It truly is our destiny."

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"You may be cobbled up where it counts," Ragnar says, "but you need to take the time to regain your strength. You have much to do; a whole fleet of boats to be built. And such boats! You know, they've told us that in the future every child finds us Vikings 'awesome', and knows about our boats, and that's because you made them what they are. You, Floki. Our journeys have just begun!"

He puts a hand on his friend's shoulder, and smiles at him.

[gods_that_haunt_me]

Floki cherishes the thought of their future. And the thought of a wide open horizon awaiting them gives him hope.

"I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to make any more ships for you," he says quietly. He glances across the room to where Helga has her back turned. "But I know I can now."

And he wiggles the fingers of his right hand, still bound in a sling. He winks at Ragnar.

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"It is good we've all been shown the way to that place," Ragnar says. "It's very helpful in many ways."

He smiles -- without that place, some very recent developments with Athelstan would have been very unlikely to have happened.

"Including the awesome future, and the really big ships!"

[gods_that_haunt_me]

"And the really big ships!" he echoes with a giggle.

Which sort of starts a brief coughing fit, and he winces at the pain in his chest, even though he remains stubbornly undaunted by it.

Helga comes over with a cup in her hand.

"Look at you two, plotting and planning like little boys," she says, as she helps Floki lift his head to drink his medicine.

"Wait, is this the one that tastes like reindeer piss?" he asks, before putting his lips to the cup.

"No, not this one. You'll drink that one later before supper."

Floki lays his head back on the pillow. "Always something to look forward to, Ragnar," he chuckles.

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"Sweet Helga," Ragnar says, "we have been plotting and planning since we were little boys, and now the all the little things we put in the ground are coming up beautifully at last. But it's only April for that harvest, and we have a lot to do until August."

Still the farmer, in his metaphors.

[gods_that_haunt_me]

"Then everything will be well worth the work and the wait," she says, beaming, as she pulls the covers up more snugly around Floki's shoulders. "But before any of that happens, this boy needs his rest."

"Mmm," Floki hums, his eyes closed. "Always something to look forward to..."

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"Always, Floki!" Ragnar says. "We are so far from done."

And with that, he nods at each of them, and walks out of the hut, to where Björn and Athelstan are waiting.

[gods_that_haunt_me]

With a grateful smile Helga watches Ragnar leave, and then she curls up in her usual spot beside Floki, keeping him warm and calm and safe as he sleeps.