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Finan and Osferth walk to Thyra and Beocca's home, Luna holds Finan's arm as they walk and soon enough they hear people screaming and the smell of something burning, upon seeing the house on fire Finan places his hands on his head in panic. Sihtric and some men were trying to put out the fire, and one of Uhtred's nameless men handed her the twins so he could help her husband.

"Oh, bejesus." He mumbled horrified.

"Oh, dear lord." Osferth muttered.

"Oh, no." She mumbled as she swayed the sleeping babies.

"Fetch Father Beocca! Fetch him now! Go!" Finan orders as he sees Sihtric and the men toss buckets of water onto the flames.

"Sihtric! Thyra, is she inside?" Finan asked frantically.

"I thought she was at the palace?" Sihtric asked in confusion.

"No, no, she left. She walked out!" Finan began to panic when he realized Thyra was possibly in there. Luna's heart stopped at the thought, Uhtred couldn't lose anyone else.

"Get the door! Get the door!" Sihtric ordered and then got shoved back when the house began to collapse, and people screamed around them. Beocca raced past them to the house.

"No! No, this is not happening! Thyra! I'm here. I am here!" He shouts and fights against Sihtric and Finan's hold when they grab him. He falls to the ground in grief when the house burns up. He screams and cries as Sihtric and Finan hug him on the ground. Luna cries softly as she hides her face in her hair, Beocca continues to scream through the night.

Later when the house is nothing but ash, Hild joins them. Finan and Sihtric lean against the beam behind the two as they stand quietly. Sihtric had grabbed his daughter as he felt guilty for not saving Thyra, she placed her free hand on his arm knowing his mindset.

"Father, she is with God now. You know that and he will welcome her, I'm sure." Hild said as she sat next to him. Luna glanced at Finan in concern, the Irishman turned to her with visible guilt. She wished she could comfort them better but too much was happening to find a moment of peace.

"It's how her family died, in a fire. You think that would be a comfort or would it terrify her further?" He asked as he shuffled.

"Father, all we know is that she's at peace now. She's at peace." Hild said with a sad look.

"You need to walk away now, Father. A drink of ale, maybe? Once the heat is gone, I shall recover her and wrap her for you to bury." Finan claims as he kneels next to the man and places a hand on his shoulder.

"I...no...I will find her. She is my wife." Becca said stuttering out a response.

"She is. We'll help you then." Finan stated as he looked at Sihtric.

"This fire did not just happen. It did not." Beocca said with certainty.

"Lord? What is this, a hunting party?" Finan asked when he saw Uhtred. The two men had helped Beocca with the burial of Thyra and Hild had stayed back with her to help with the twins. Luna was relieved to see her ex still breathing.

"I am an outlaw once again, to be banished or executed." He says with amusement, he softens his gaze when he notices Luna.

"Should we follow you, lord? Leave Winchester for the Danes?" Uhtred stops when he hears what Sihtric said.

"Lord? Walk," Steapa motioned to the horse as Uhtred turned to Edward. "Uhtred, you will get up onto your horse." Uhtred sighs and slowly holds up his hands and shows off the letter.

"I am a free man, I have a letter of pardon. It bears the king's seal it is written in the king's hand. Does the word of Alfred count for nothing in Winchester now that he is gone?" Uhtred shouts as he turns, and Luna sighs.

Uhtred and his ability to not listen.

"And you  are a man who once held a knight to the king's throat!" Ælswith shouts in anger.

"Show us one witness who can say this letter was written willingly. One witness." The bishop says smugly and Uhtred looks away.

"There was no witness."

"We are gifting you your life! You shall be grateful and you shall leave this land in peace!" Ælswith says.

"There will be no peace, lady. War is coming! There is a Dane army marching this very moment and I will abandon the people of Wessex—" He is quickly interrupted by the Ælswith.

"Who do you think you are? Steapa!" The man in question unsheathed his sword as two men grabbed Uhtred.

"Lady Ælswith, I cannot let this injustice go unchallenged. If Uhtred of Bebbanburg claims to have been made a free man by King Alfred himself, we cannot dismiss it so lightly. Only a king can deny a king." Beocca defends the man.

"Wessex has no king." Aethelwold says in bitterness.

"We have Edward Rex."

"The Witan decides who is king." Aethelwold hissed out.

"Aethelwold shut the hell up." She snapped in anger and the Saxon scoffed at her.

"Edward is the aetheling." Uhtred adds.

"He has no authority. He is Alfred's son and no more. I'm sure the monasteries are full of Alfred's bastard sons. Do all bastards have a claim to the crown?" Aethelwold claims with a smirk. Had it not been for her sleeping son she would have stabbed him, Sihtric reached out with the arm not cradling their daughter to settle her.

"Bishop Erkenwald, you will end this display."

"King or not, if Edward believes the letter of pardon to be untrue, then I will leave Wessex." Uhtred offers as he looks directly at Edward.

"Steapa, you will return the prisoner to the palace. This is no place for such decisions." The bishop orders.

"This is precisely the place. Justice must be seen, to be done." Beocca replied with a glare.

"Steapa! Unhand the prisoner. Though he remains a prisoner, I will allow lord Uhtred to speak. He has earned that right." Edward ordered instead with a determined look.

"Though you have not, lord, not yet. You have no authority."

"Do you object to the people bearing witness to justice, lord Aethelwold?" Edward says shutting the boy up.

"I do not."

"Uhtred, the king swore that you were to die. Why the change in his heart?" Edward questioned and Uhtred sighed.

"Because he believed that I deserved his forgiveness."

"Is that a boast?" Ælswith questioned.

"Look at his chronicle. I am there on every page."

"That is a lie! You are not named, even once." Ælswith screamed in anger.

"But I am there, unwritten lady, but I am there. The Warriors of Wessex know it, the Danes know it and it is what the king has told me himself. I am with him from the Somerset marshes to Ethandun and all of the battles that have followed, we were bonded him and I.  He was the man that I could never be nor did I wish to be. He was the man that I loved and despised, but it was never less than an honor to serve him. He was my king, and he did not wish to go to his God, without granting me what I have earned many times over, my freedom." The crowd begins to murmur about when he finishes.

"But the question remains: why did he choose not to announce it?"

"You will remember my great friend, Leofric, a warrior and a Saxon to the bone. He told me once that I could never better Alfred because 'the bastard thinks,' he said." The crowd chuckles. "Perhaps your father chose not to announce my freedom for this very reason, so that people could witness their new king, Edward, dispensing justice. Fairly, I hope."

"Will you accept the decision of Edward Rex?" Beocca asked.

"I will give you my word."

"Lord?" Beocca questioned.

"Again, I say, and with respect, the boy does not have the power to make such a statement. He is an aetheling and nothing more. He is no more an heir to the crown than myself." Aethelwold snapped in envy and hatred.

"Lord, the decision is yours to make." Beocca glares at Aethelwold.

"My father, King Alfred, demanded loyalty, unity. He believed in his God and doubted those who did not," Edward begins to walk to Uhtred and Finan readied himself to unsheathe his sword if necessary. "A heathen would not be trusted completely until he has embraced Alfred's god as his own. And yet, it was a heathen he did trust most. It was the word of Uhtred that he respected most. Uhtred of Bebbanburg, I find the letter written by my father to be true. Alfred's pardon does stand. You are a free man, able to choose your own path." The crowd cheers.

"May I ask? Lord Uhtred, may I ask now that you are a free man once, where will your path lead. I would like to know?" Beocca questioned the Dane.

"Steapa, my sword. One day, Father, I hope that my path will eventually lead north to Bebbanburg, but not, I believe I am needed here. I will follow Edward Rex." Edward pulls Uhtred into a hug.

Crisis averted, for now.