Kingdom Come

XVI. Death By A Thousand Cuts

My heart, my hips, my body, my love

Trying to find a part of me that you didn't touch

Gave up on me like I was a bad drug

Quiet my fears with the touch of your hand

Paper cut stings from our paper-thin plans

When Jaehaera and Uhtred opened the door to the hall they were greeted by Finan and Rickon. Finan embraced her and so did Rickon, but they just stood in front of her father as he stood a few feet from the door. "You're back," Finan spoke to her father.

"I'm back," he agreed, then Finan and he did embrace as well.

"That's good," Finan told him

When they pulled away her father's smile fell when he looked at Jaehaera and Rickon. "Sihtric?"

Jaehaera looked at the floor and then walked away from the group to go to Osferth she found in a corner of the hall. "Uh, gone," Finan answered awkwardly. "Long gone and um, with the prisoners, Lord."

Jaehaera turned her head quickly to Finan and set her jaw before turning her head back around and to Osferth to greet him. She embraces the baby monk before sitting with him. "Good journey then?" Finan asked her father.

"It was," she answered in agreement with her father.

"I know what I must do now," Uhtred added as he came to Osferth as well. He smiled at the baby monk. "Osferth," he greeted, and the monk stood on his own strength. "You're still alive?" Uhtred teased.

"Of course," Osferth answered. The two embraced as well, and she smiled up at the two. She felt slightly at home once again, sparing Sihtric, but she pushed him away in her mind and focused on her family in front of her. Finan, Rickon, and Osferth were her family as well, and seeing them after her and her father's journey only served to lift her spirits.

Then as quickly as her spirits were raised, they came tumbling down like the walls of Jericho as Osferth had reminded her of one time they spoke. Aethelflaed graced them with her presence in the hall. Jaehaera set her jaw, forced out a smile for the woman, and greeted her like a friend.

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Together their family sat at a table in the hall. Finan had given them food and ale, but Jaehaera picked at it, not having an appetite in these past few days. She ate a few bites to satisfy her father and Finan. "Reaching Skade will be near impossible," Finan told her father. "She's in the middle of two thousand danes or more."

"It can be done," Uhtred told him confidently. Jaehaera wasn't so sure.

"How?" Osferth asked.

"With God's help," Uhtred answered. Both Jaehaera and Aethelflaed looked at her father in surprise. "I'm joking, I have yet to decide," Jaehaera smirked and moved her food around once more, but ate a potato.

"When?" Aethelflaed asked.

"As soon as my daughter and I are rested," he answered.

"As soon as you are rested, you will walk with me," Aethelflaed informed her father. Jaehaera set her jaw once more and stabbed at another potato. "That is a command." then she rose from her seat and walked from the hall. Jaehaera mocked her under her breath, and Rickon chuckled.