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Being the oldest son Aslaug had meant you had to take certain responsibilities with it. Because she didn’t liked Björn and she certainly didn’t trust him with her throne Ubbe stepped in a occasion or two, to keep an eye out and to help. Eager to learn how to rule Ubbe learned a lot from his mother and half-brother. But it would be a far greater joy if he could learn in from his father. But Ragnar wasn’t here and after all those years Ubbe didn’t wait any longer. His mother strolled him from the jeweler back to the great hall, an arm wrapped around his upper arm while she told him all the stories from when she came her first, pregnant of him with Lagertha as a queen on that moment. She took it as some kind of pride, bursting in like that, destroying a relationship like that. But if she didn’t came here Ubbe would never know his father and that would be his biggest regret ever.

When they arrived at the great hall she made herself loose from him. ‘Thank you son.’ She smiled proudly. Ubbe pulled the corner of his mouth up and looked ho she graced into the great hall with that attitude of being a queen all around her. He signed, following not far after, his hand resting on the handle of his sword. Looking first for one of his brothers but they weren’t there. Aslaug vanished in the back so Ubbe walked over to one of the slaves who poured him a cup of ale, hurried under the pressure of being a slave to the Ragnarssons. ‘He isn’t here, calm down.’ He said to her, knowing her fear only came from Ivar, like everybody had that same fear, even Ubbe himself. He took over the cup and turned back to the people, seeing a man sitting alone, the blacksmith he remembered. Ubbe greeted the other people around, some of them more enthusiastic than others who only nodded. ‘What is a man doing sitting lonely in this hall?’ He asked when he arrived, looking for a short moment back up to the door. ‘Or are you suspecting someone?’ It wasn’t entirely impossible. The most didn’t do it in the great hall, to many important eyes who looked, in this case Ubbe himself. He drank for his cup, placing it on the other end of the table. If the man truly was waiting for someone Ubbe would back up, he had that kind of respect, what you couldn’t say about certain other brothers …

It was something Aslaug always did, walking in first, leaving him in the doorway like he was the child with the problems while the real problem was lurking around somewhere. Ubbe turned around, looking over every spot Ivar possible could sit sneaking up on things. After all those years he knew those spots and he wasn’t here, what could give him a piece full time for a change. But mother being mother must thing that he was some kind of a shame to the family. Not that he cared, he walked in just a little after her. Looks in the great hall still hooked on her vibrating presence more than they noticed him. They all loved the queen on their own way and in some ways they envied the sons. A lot of this village was built in the days Ragnar ruled, with his former wife, Lagertha. Aslaug took that away on the day she burst in pregnant. So … it was impossible that there weren’t people around hating her for what she did, still rooting for the former queen and with that … her son, Björn Ironside.

He grabbed right for the ale, like usual. He filled a cup without troubling any of the slaves like he used to do. He gave one a short smile before his eyes fell on the large man he didn’t saw before around here. In acting like a maybe far from now, future king himself, and out of curiosity, he approached. Out of manors he didn’t sat down like he usually would do around people he knew. This one he didn’t knew so he was in a slight way a little careful, although, you never saw any of that on his face. But what he did was leaning against the table, waiting for the answer that followed short after. The smile pulled the corner of his mouth a little up. He squeezed his eyes a little when he said he didn’t had made much friends. So, new like he thought earlier. The following words made Ubbe drop down on the seat before him. ‘Not that I was planning anything so why not welcome you in Kattegat.’ He said in his own calm inviting voice. ‘Ubbe.’ He gave his name in return, normally that was enough, but he was new so he followed. ‘Ragnarsson.’ He followed not far after. ‘Good to have you here Svart. I hope you will live up to the image the one before you left behind.’ He said with a promesing look. And that one had quite the good reputation. ‘Why coming here? To Kattegat of all places?’ He asked out of curiosity. It couldn’t be to meet Ragnar, or live among that victorious king because of that king all trail was lost.

Ubbe really didn’t bother of the fact that the new man in Kattegat didn’t know him by appearance, or didn’t laid the connection between Aslaug walking in and him almost following immediately after. He really didn’t care who knew him and who didn’t; others … well, if it had been Ivar this man wouldn’t have a change to apologize in the first place. Maybe Ubbe should make it his duty to warn every new soul here in Kattegat for the torn the Ragnarssons could bring. They weren’t a nice happy together family all the time, Ubbe was probably the calmest from the five so in that case, no, this man had nothing to fear from Ubbe to begin with. Or unless he wanted to provoke him, than he wouldn’t be any better than the other man who tried to do that with a son of Ragnar. ‘It isn’t a problem.’ He smiled friendly when Svart started to apologize. ‘You can’t know everything in one day.’ He followed. As long as he knew who the queen was and what he had to do as a job he would be just alright. When he sat down and said the man he had to live to the image of the previous blacksmith a sheepishly smile came on his lips. ‘I hope so too,’ he reacted on Ubbe his words. Ubbe brought his cup up, smiling for himself before drinking. Hopefully this man knew how to handle others because … he drunk his ale and places is cup down. ‘I hope that to.’ He reacted only, a little amused by himself because of his own thoughts and imagination about how fast all this new in that poor man’s life could go wrong very shortly.

He was a little curious about why Svart came here, from all the places he could pick this was the one. Kattegat gets a lot of travelers, traders every day again and again. They hardly didn’t stay, not like it was way back, then they stayed for Ragnar. Now they just came to be disappointed by the fact that legendary king wasn’t around. It didn’t do Ragnar his image any good. And it was a shame. Björn, Ubbe, they both upholded Ragnar his legacy, being the eldest sons they had to show the people Kattegat was still the same. But Ragnar did plenty wrong in England and as soon as people heard about it they took other courses. His finger followed the upside of his cup while he listened to the story Svart told him. ‘The gods surly brought you here for a reason.’ He nodded on the end of the words, shortly smiling before glaring into his cup again. ‘You will serve them well. Where it is you come from?’ He asked further. It wasn’t that he was interrogating this man, it was just means to hold a conversation going. Surly if Svart had some questions, Ubbe would provide him with the answered.

When he said you were never to old to learn some new things he chuckled. ‘That’s what my father always told me.’ He replied on that, thinking back on the time he sat on Ragnar his lap in that throne, discussing problems where he had a say in it. Ubbe his eyes traveled to that empty throne for a moment, doubting the fact of he ever could do that again, standing there aside his father. Ubbe never lost hope on the return of his father, although he didn’t know how long it would take, and it what state Ragnar would come back, he hoped that the king of Kattegat would walk in one day … acting like nothing ever happened. Ubbe was a boy when he left, now he is a man. He procced it quite alright, his two youngest brothers had a harder time doing that, especially Ivar.

When he asked Svart where he was coming from it was a little silent for a moment. Ubbe looked into his cup, giving the man the time. And when he began to talk again his blue eyes looked up to the man. Uddevalla, he always heard things from his mother and the traders but he was never been there before. Harald often came around from Skagen but other than that the villages keep their business for their own. There wasn’t much trouble and he hoped it would stay that way. ‘Heard about it.’ He reacted on the words of a smaller village. ‘A traveler in some sorts.’ Or at least that was what it looked like. Ubbe drank his cup empty and nodded towards one of the slave girls walking around. She hurried over, pouring his cup full, Ubbe pointed to Svart his cup and the girl filled that to. ‘Well, if you are going to stay as a blacksmith I should at least give you the heads up,’ he began, looking around to be sure his little brother wasn’t around to here this kind of warning. ‘I have a little brother who spends a lot of time at the blacksmith.’ He petted his own finger against his temple. ‘He is a little troubled.’ Little was definitely an understatement. ‘He snaps really fast, thought you should know at least that.’ He winked, laughing about his own warning. But there was nothing really to laugh about, Ivar was threat, for everybody. ‘Something else you wanted to know about this village?’ Now they were at it.

He never traveled a lot and he didn’t had really the urge to it. The one way he was willing to travel was to gain something, to raid, to conquer, to live up to his father’s name. The one time before that Ubbe took a ship to do something big was to Paris with Hvitserk. He remember it like it was yesterday and every time he thought about it it brought a smile on his lips. Although he was nothing more than a little boy, it felt like his first through raid. But other than that it wasn’t in his ambition to travel like this man maybe did. ‘It surly has his charm, going from place to place. I presume there isn’t a woman somewhere waiting for you to get back to.’ He winked that last one, typical Ubbe, always thinking about all that kind of things. He could imagine a life in which he was moving all the time, especially not with his brothers around. ‘The only time I will travel is to raid and kill, the Ragnarsson way.’ He joked, knowing that Björn would say the exact same thing. Of all the brothers Björn was the most eager to travel again, but that was because he saw already so much. Maybe it would change in time for Ubbe to.

Telling him about Ivar wasn’t a joke or something to take light. Although he was quite sure that Ivar wouldn’t be so stupid, he knew that he at least would try to provoke the blacksmith. And it was the blacksmith his task to reduce that. You didn’t wanted to be on Ivar his bad side, Sigurd already did and certainly there were enough walking around in the same faith. So a fair warning as a welcome gift, not that it sounded like one. So he changed the subject swiftly enough, asking him if he had other questions that needed attending. With the question he asked Ubbe pulled a confused look. ‘Offcourse, why are you thinking it was maybe forbidden?’ He said with a soft laugh. If he needed to keep track of that he wouldn’t get to bed at all. There were hundreds of people walking in and out Kattegat every day. It was impossible to get an overview of every single soul. ‘If you need something special you can always put in a request with my mother,’ he felt silent for a moment. ‘or me and Björn, we could attend that it is traded from other villages.’ Some things you couldn’t find on a beach or somewhere in plain sight. If he was working for them and he needed something delicate, it was better to bring it over to him or Björn.