"Wait.........please wait.......!" (Y/n) quickening her step as she heard the voice from behind her. It was not that she wanted to be rude to the prince, not that she didn't want to talk to him; the gods only knew how much she wanted to talk to him. But her father had warned her; he had made it quite clear what the gods wanted from her, and it was not to join the ranks of the prince's lovers.

"Please, (Y/n)........." The seer's daughter suddenly finding her arm caught. (Y/n) doing her best to steady her madly beating heart, before she turned to look at the handsome Ragnarsson.

"Prince........."

"Please, there is no need to call me prince.....Just......just call me Hvitserk." He interrupted, as he slowly let go of her arm and took a step closer to her.

"I was hoping that you may allow me to walk back to town with you.........?"

"Town? But I thought that you were going to spend time at the waterfall. Isn't that why you were there........?"

For the first time in his life, Hvitserk found himself wishing that he was Ivar; sure, that his younger brother would instantly come up with a convincing excuse for all his actions. An excuse that would not make it obvious that he had just been following her from the beginning. Yet just like when he spoke to her at the waterfall, all he felt he could really do, was open his mouth and hope for the best.

"I........I just remembered that I have to meet with my brother, Ubbe......." Hvitserk smiling at her. The second son of Aslaug sure that it wasn't the best thing that he could have come up with, but............his smile getting broader, as (Y/n) slowly nodded.

"Well, I suppose my father would not be angry with me, if I were to just walk back to town with you." The seer's daughter replied, giving him a smile of her own, before she turned to make her way back along the path; Hvitserk falling into step beside her.

                                                         >>----------------------------------<<

Ubbe looked at Sigurd and Ivar, before they all looked at Hvitserk who seemed to be lost in a world of his own. Whereas normally he would be eating and drinking anything that was put in front of him, and talking between mouthfuls; today he sat at the table with a cup of mead in one hand, and his chin in the other, looking out into the great hall as if nothing and no one else was there. An occasional sigh leaving his lips.

On the way back to town, Hvitserk couldn't help but stare at (Y/n) as they walked quietly. She was special, not just because she was the seer's daughter; not just because she was beautiful enough to be Freyja, herself; but because she seemed to be so different to anyone else that called Kattegat, home. And even though they had still not had anything like what you may call a real conversation, Hvitserk felt as though he knew her from all the things that his mother had said about her.

"So......you are the seer's daughter......?" Hvitserk stopping in his tracks, as (Y/n) laughed at his silly question. The sound as glorious to his ears, as her singing had been.

"Yes......yes I am........." Came the reply. The smile that graced her visage, seeming to light up the whole woods.

"You.....you don't look like your father........" The prince continued, quickly catching up as (Y/n) continued to walk.

"No.....and please do not tell him this; but I am glad that I don't. My father has always said that I look like my mother. He has told me that she was the most beautiful woman to ever to grace Midgard. But I can only take his word for that, as I cannot remember her." (Y/n) replied. The conversation once more dying away, as they slowly got closer and closer to town.

"So.......you are the queen's son........?" (Y/n) suddenly asked. The pair of them laughing this time. Hvitserk offering her his hand, as she climbed over the trunk of a tree that appeared to have fallen across the path some time ago; a thick moss having grown over it. The prince sure that he felt his insides flutter, as she placed her palm in his.

"Yes......yes I am........." He said, just as she had. Hvitserk catching her as she slipped on the damp moss. The two just standing there, looking into one another's eyes.

"It has to be a woman." Ivar said, as he finished his drink.

"He isn't normally like this with girls. He normally.........."

"Well what other explanation is there?" Ivar interrupted his oldest brother, before picking up a chicken leg and throwing it at Hvitserk. The connection of poultry with head, seeming to shake the thoughts from Hvitserk's mind.

"OW! What..........?"

"Who is she.........?" Ivar asked, as all the brothers looked at Hvitserk, while Hvitserk rubbed the side of his head; still not sure what had hit him.

"Who.......what........?"

"The girl that you are thinking about.......?"

"What girl.......?"

"You're right, Ivar, it's a girl." Ubbe agreed, as he finished off his own drink and leant over to get closer to Hvitserk. The first son of Aslaug studying his sibling.

"Its not Bodil. She thought one fuck, meant you were going to marry her, that's why you avoid her now. Its not Frida, she's getting married to Asbjørn. And it can't be Helga, as she threatened to cut your cock off if you brought it anywhere near her again.........so......." Ubbe shaking his head, as Ivar took great delight in reeling off at least another dozen names of women in town. Hvitserk doing his best to ignore both of them.

"No, this is someone different. Someone he hasn't had........"

"You mean there is a woman in town that hasn't slept with our brother......" Sigurd joining in the teasing. Hvitserk rolling his eyes, before grabbing some food off his plate.

"Come on Hvitserk......who is she........?" Ubbe asked, as he placed his hand on his brother's shoulder. Hvitserk sighing as Ubbe offered him a sympathetic smile. Ubbe, Ivar and Sigurd looking at one another, as a name left Hvitserk's lips.

"(Y/n).........."