I'm not sorry [Haskell]

Well, Freyja was having a far more eventful morning than she’d anticipated. While running errands for her mother, she’d happened upon Ylva, one of the girls in the village who also happened to be blind, being yelled at by her brute of a father. When she’d noticed the bruises up and down the sixteen year old’s arms, she’d been unable to contain her anger. She’d half-jokingly offered to beat him up, and when the scared teenager took her up on the offer, Freyja had gone through with it.

So now, she was on her way to the great hall to find her friend, Haskell. She wasn’t too sure how this conversation was going to go. She really probably wasn’t supposed to attack vikings. But this man had had it coming for a while, given the state of his daughter’s arms. She’d even threatened him, for good measure, and told him if she ever noticed bruises on Ylva again, she’d be back, and with friends next time. 

But for right now, she just wanted to get ahead of it before Halvor went to the earl, or Haskell, himself, and tried to tell a different story. She didn’t have any trouble standing by what she’d done. In fact, she’d be happy to do it again. It had been years since she’d been in a real fight and it had felt amazing. But Haskell didn’t need to know that part.

Once inside, she scanned the area for her friend, and approached immediately, taking a seat across from him at a table and staring at him until she got his attention. “Hey. I just beat the shit out of a guy.”

Despite the mostly serious topic she needed to discuss with Haskell, Freyja couldn’t help but grin at the face he made when she made her statement. He’d been mid-chew and his face completely froze at her words. But she couldn’t allow herself to be distracted by the silly look on his face. This was a potentially serious matter.

“Halvor. He’s a viking, his daughter, Ylva, is the same age as Visna,” she began, to answer his second question, and make sure they were both on the same page. She was tempted to roll her eyes, because of course he did something. Freyja didn’t make a habit of just wandering around and beating people up. But that wouldn’t be very respectful, whether or not they were friends, and this wasn’t the sort of situation where being friends was going to help her too much. But honestly, she was okay with that.

“Yes, he did something. I was walking past their house and he’d been shouting at her, and when she came outside she had bruises all over her arms,” Freyja had no trouble at all recalling how instantly she’d become fighting mad. “She’s blind, Haskell, and he’d been hurting her. I asked if she wanted me to hit him, and she said yes.” She shrugged a bit, almost as if she was implying she had no choice but to hit him after Ylva had said yes.

“I only beat him up a little, if I’m being honest. I broke his nose and told him to leave her alone.” She’d wanted to kick him in the head a few times to make sure her threat really sank in, but knew Haskell would have a harder time forgiving a broken skull than a broken nose. “But I wanted to let you know right away. I made sure Ylva was safe and came right here.” Because she was a mostly responsible adult.

She could tell Haskell wasn’t exactly thrilled with her explanation, but Freyja nodded when he said Halvor could walk in there any second and point a finger at her. “That’s why I came straight here. Before he had a chance to tell a different story.” She honestly didn’t think he would. He had been loyal to the old earl, and therefore barely an afterthought to anyone important now. And Skagen needed shipbuilders more than it needed crotchety old vikings. Plus, she had proof. Ylva really did have bruises up and down her arms.

He stood up and told her to ‘come on’ and Freyja followed silently. While she’d expected him to be a bit irritated with her, it was still a bit different to actually be face to face with him when he was irritated with her. She hadn’t been reprimanded in quite a long time.

Freyja smirked when she heard him laugh, though. At the very least, she knew Haskell wasn’t overly fond of the other man, so any irritation on his part would be at her reckless behavior and not because he didn’t necessarily approve of her actions. “Of course I can still fight,” she answered, actually rolling her eyes this time. She loved to fight, and she’d actually begun training with her sisters occasionally recently. She wanted to make sure she hadn’t gotten rusty, and she wanted to see for herself how Sofie & Rúna did in a fight. Plus, she wanted Visna & Tóra to know how to defend themselves, and had suggested the five of them train together.

Listening to what her friend was saying, Freyja turned towards him a bit as they were walking. “Can’t you just say he’s lying? She’s got the bruises, it was as close to self defense as Ylva can get at the moment.” She said ‘at the moment’ because Freyja was already planning on seeking out the sixteen year old and showing her a couple tricks in case the bastard, or any other bastard, thought they’d found an easy target in a blind girl.

She did know the reputation Halfdan had and the idea of coming face to face with him, or that he even knew her name, was a bit terrifying. But if she had to do it all over again, she’d have done the same thing. “He might not even know it was me,” she added, remembering finally that his back had been to her the whole time. “He didn’t see my face.”

Freyja shook her head when Haskell asked if she got hurt. “No, I’m fine. He didn’t even see me coming,”she told him and shrugged.. It wasn’t exactly a good thing, to just sneak up behind someone and attack them, but Halvor was quite a bit larger than she was. She’d have been at a distinct disadvantage if he’d seen her coming. “And I promise, I won’t beat anyone else up. At least, not without coming to find you first, next time.” Because Freyja kept her promises and if that piece of shit hit his daughter again, she’d be going back for him.

Looking at her friend again, Freyja scrunched her face up a bit. "You mad at me?" She still would've done it, but she didn't like the idea that Haskell might be upset with her. She'd done a dumb thing but for a good reason, and she just hoped she was able to get out in front of it without getting into too much trouble.

Everything had seemed so simple earlier. When someone was hurting someone else, especially when that someone else was their blind, teenage daughter, you make them stop. The decision to help Ylva by hurting her father had been one of the easiest decisions Freyja had ever made. And given the opportunity, she’d do it again. Only next time, she’d have gone to find Haskell first. Because all this silliness about her getting into trouble was just that: silly.

“Well, I’m glad to hear it,” she answered with a smile. She was thankful that Haskell would trust her word when she told him things like that. She realized now she probably could’ve handled it a little more delicately, if she’d tried. But Freyja was used to just saying whatever came to mind, and not really stopping to consider the consequences, which clearly was not always the best way to go about things.

She laughed when he said it was good she still knew how to fight. “I do remember. Actually, I’ve started training with the girls a bit. Just to make sure I don’t forget,” she told him easily. She’d wanted to see for herself how good Sofie & Rúna were, she wanted to make sure she hadn’t lost anything herself, and she wanted Visna and Tóra to learn how to defend themselves.

Her eyes widened in surprise before she threw her head back and laughed again. “He deserves it!” she told Haskell, when he said he’d just break Halvor’s nose again. “Can I watch? Or do I have to leave?” She quite wanted to watch but if the point was to avoid drawing attention to herself from the crusty old man, she probably shouldn’t be in the vicinity when Haskell did whatever it was he needed to do to help her out.

“You bet your ass I am,” she replied with a nod, before shooting him a smirk. He knew her too well, it seemed. He’d immediately guessed her intention to teach Ylva a bit of self defense. It was the least she could do, since she wasn’t able to kill the man for the younger girl. That would definitely get her into some trouble.

Freyja tried not to smile when he told her she’d gone about it the right way. Sure, attacking someone from behind wasn’t exactly honorable, but she wasn’t too concerned when it came to the walking garbage pile that was Ylva’s father. She nodded at him again, this time not hiding the grin. Oh, they were definitely going to beat him up together. If it came to it. She didn’t normally just go around looking for people to hurt.

She certainly didn’t expect Haskell to get so serious on her, especially when he tipped her head up to face him, but she was glad he wasn’t mad at her. She smiled at his final comment about saving her ass and her owing him something. “Uh oh, I don’t know if I like the sound of that.” Not that she was actually worried about whatever he might have in mind. “Do I get to know what I ‘owe’ you? Or are you going to make me wait?”