DREAM OF ME, sihtric & finan

1. tova

CHAPTER ONE; tova

"Are those more flowers you have there, Tova?"

"A flower crown," The young girl sat across from him with a long blue dress covering her crossed legs responded quietly, all too focused on perfecting the design that her Mother had once taught her. She had been obsessed with them ever since, they were times she could spend with her sister and fuss onto the head of her big brother. "This one is for Ragnar."

The elderly man afflicted with blindness hummed, in his hand laid his own flower crown that he would soon place with the others she had made for him over the course of the sunny week. "Yes, you favour making them for your brother."

Tova glances up to her Grandfather, Ravn, a smile on her lips as she knows her family would soon be back, either at a win or being defeated after riding to battle. Her Mother and elder sister, Thyra, were stressed with worry, but Ravn had coated his youngest grandchild into business, so she did not think of the fighting.

"He tells me he likes them," She shyly admits to the older man who isn't surprised by these words. It was without a doubt known that Young Ragnar favoured Tova the most, being the first to hold her as she was birthed to life, his suggestion had given her the name she wore now. "I hope he does not lie to me."

Ravn's favourite thing to do was hum. Sometimes, he didn't even respond at all if he didn't see it fit to do so, but he favoured the children of his eldest son of all that sat in his company. Ragnar and Tova most, for Thyra herself favoured her Mother's talks, and so that bonding didn't come all that often.

"The day may come your brother lies to you," Ravn tells the girl who stops her work on the flower crown for a moment, frowning as she looks to him. He's staring straight ahead, as if knowing exactly where she was, "But that day has not arrived yet."

The girl's frown flips, understanding that even her blind Grandfather understood that Ragnar liked the shows of effort his youngest sister made for him, a smile on her face as she nods, "Thank you, Grandfather Ravn."

The blind man lifts his head the tiniest bit, "Do not thank someone for what they did not do."

Tova didn't understand, he had made her feel better after wondering whether her brother had betrayed her trust, but the young girl doesn't say anything back, nodding though he could not see, and returning to her flowers.

She began to hum a tune that her Mother had sung to her, fingers gently moving through the chain, the sound bringing a touch of a smile upon the elderly man's face. Night had began to fall, no word of her Father and brother in battle had gotten back to them yet, and her Mother hadn't left the comfort of her room where Thyra was too.

"I believe Father has won the battle," Tova suddenly told her Grandfather, the man's smile dropping at the words.

Before he could say anything back, a question on the tip of his tongue, always so curious on how others thought, the sounds of the main entrance doors opened, men who threw their arms up and cheered barging through, and others who dragged men with strange looking clothing by their feet.

She immediately places the flower crown on the table, moving closer to the edge of the wooden railing as her bright blue eyes peered over, taking in the way the grown men were soaked in blood, eyebrows coming together when she doesn't spot Young Ragnar nor her Father.