The Throne I Left

Again, Johan woke up to knocking. He groaned, sending a scorching glare towards the door.

After their late night fishing trip they had spread out all the blankets and fallen asleep on the floor. Signe had somehow managed to miss them completely, laying on the bare floor next to two perfectly good blankets and Note had at some point decided to use Johan as a teddy bear.

Johan pushed Note away and sat up. The sun was shining in through the windows and right into his eyes. They really needed to get some curtains.

The knocking kept going, getting louder and louder. Johan was steaming by the time he got off the floor. For Heaven’s sake, who thought it was a good idea to be that annoying so early in the day?!

“Who is it?” He forced a big smile on his face as he ripped the door open. Anger or not, first impressions were important. His smile fell when he saw who was standing outside. Annoyance throbbed deep in his temples. Leif. Note’s little boyfriend.

“Hey, is Note home?.” The tall man smiled through his light brown stubble. Pushing down the urge to slam the door shut, Johan forced the smile back on his face.

Before he could say no, a voice spoke up behind him.

“Yes, let’s go.”

“Wait, where are you going?” Johan asked.

“Fishing.” Again?! It couldn’t be more than a couple hours since they got back!

Note didn’t meet his eyes as he ducked under Johan’s arm and went out the door.

Johan frowned after him. He didn’t know why it bothered him so much. It wasn’t like there was anything else to do on the island outside of hanging with the villagers, Note might as well go fishing.

“Your face is very emotive, Johan.” Leif laughed awkwardly before turning to Note who seemed eager to run off. “Ah actually, the day shift already went out a couple hours ago. They wanted to be extra early today to get some more fish to sell tomorrow. But the sellers are going to Solstad to sell the fish from yesterday soon and we thought maybe you three wanted to come along. There’s a ton of stuff to do in the city.”

Johan paused, they did need stuff. However Solstad was where he met Frey the last time. It was probably not a good idea to go.

“We’re going!” Another voice spoke up behind him, a small body ducking under his arm to stand in front of him in the doorway.

Signe sent a bright smile to Leif. “When are we going?”

“We’re loading the fish right now, so probably in an hour or so. People like to buy fish right around lunch time, so that’s what we’re aiming for.”

“We´ll be there.” She nodded, then she slammed the door, spinning around to face Johan. “I know you don’t want to go with him because of-whatever the reason is, however I can’t be seen like this. I need new clothes.”

Johan wanted to refuse, but he couldn’t. Really, he agreed. Both Signe and Note looked like completely different people. It was the first time he had ever seen them in colorful clothing and he felt weird about it.

“Fine.” He relented and shoved her out of the way, opening the door again. “I’m not buying you that really flashy stuff tho, we still need to lay low.”

Signe’s pleased smile changed into a grimace. “But-”

Johan ignored her and walked outside- and saw nobody.

A little speechless he looked around. Note and Leif must have sprinted away as soon as the door closed.

As he and Signe walked through the woods and into the village, Johan couldn’t shake the feeling of safety. It was weird. They were probably safe in the village, sure, but there were just so many people that saw them, too many that could tattle on them or conspire against them. Johan shouldn’t feel safe, he should be prepared to fight.

In some way they were prepared to fight. Note had his sword now and Johan had his ribbons. That left Signe. She used to have an axe, big and heavy enough that she could sling herself around with it, but she didn’t have it when Johan dug her out of the ground.

Johan didn’t doubt that she would be fine without a weapon, but still.

“Where is your axe?” Johan asked.

“Uhh-” Signe pursed her lips thoughtfully for a second. Then she seemed to remember. Suddenly rage tok over, her face twisting and Johan quickly put some distance between them as she stopped walking, her last steps stomping deep into the ground.

“Wrath has it?” Johan guessed. Well, that axe was gone for good then.

Signe wasn’t quick to get angry. Normally. Wrath was the exception. The two of them hated each other. That certain deity used to follow Signe around like an obsession, aggravating her on purpose and straight up asking for fights at every opportunity. The way Johan understood it, Signe was the first person in a very long time to fight against Wrath and win.

If Wrath had the axe, Signe would never get it back, that Johan knew for sure.

Instead of answering Signe just grunted and fell back in step with Johan.

“Maybe the blacksmith has one you can use.” Johan suggested.

“No.” Signe shook her head. “I don’t want another one.”

“You can’t just walk around without a weapon.”

“I’ll get it back.” Signe promised confidently.

“From Wrath?” Johan didn’t believe that.

“Yes.” Signe nodded. “The next time we meet I’m taking it back.”

Johan didn’t say anything to that. Hopefully there wouldn’t be a next time. Instead he focused on looking around the village. It was a bright and sunny spring day, just slightly windy. Some snow was left, laying on the grass in big chunks and lazily melting in the sunlight.

Despite the early hour it seemed like everyone was awake, all working on something. And all stopping to stare when they saw Johan and Signe walk past.

A group of laughing children ran past them, each swinging a wooden sword.

It had been a long time since Johan had been in a small town. It was so different to the city, instead of working around each other, people were working together. There were still people everywhere, just less, and no tourists walking around.

Suddenly he heard resonating clangs of metal hitting metal ringing through the air, quickly followed by someone yelling.

“Johan! Signe!”

Johan turned to see a very happy Odin waving them over. He had clearly dropped whatever he was doing to call them over, Trym cursing after him as he and some other men lugged around a big wood thing.

“Hi, what are you doing?” Johan asked as they walked to meet him.

“Oh we are just fixing Trym’s smith.” Odin laughed, throwing a look back over his shoulder. ”There was a problem.”

Johan followed his gaze. The smith was similar to a shed. It had dark walls and a door shaped hole with a big double-edged axeblade hanging over it. The group of men dropped the wood on the ground and started working on it, a small kid running around them as they did. The woman from the celebration sat on a bench a little further away, watching them.

“I see you are looking around, what do you think?” The chief continued, a smug and prideful smile on his face.

“It’s very small.” Signe replied. Johan grimaced and eyes the chief, but instead of getting offended, he threw his head back in booming laughter.

“Ahaha! Yes, it sure is! Much, much smaller than you two must be used to in Heaven.” Odin whispered the last word, winking at Johan. “It must be a big change, going from such a big city to our small village.”

Signe laughed. “I like it.”

“Good!” Odin bellowed. “You must be feeling at home here, it’s very much like your own home village after all. Though a bit small in comparison, I will give you that. We only have around a hundred villagers living on the island, my children are studying on the mainland!

“Blood relation or not, here everyone is family. We work together, eat together, celebrate together and we mourn together.” The chief exclaimed loudly, looking around proudly. “The last few days have been busier than normal, everyone is very excited to get back to work fishing and selling after the last few months. What about you, do you have any plans for the day?”

“We’re going to Solstad to get some clothes for Note and Signe.” Johan said.

“Oh, so that’s why I saw the last one of you running around with Leif and his crew.” Johan nodded, so that’s where Note had disappeared to. “But, why don’t you have any clothes?”

Johan froze at the question. Right. Odin still didn’t know why they were on the island, he didn’t know there was no clothes to bring anymore.

“Uhh-” He looked at Signe for help, but she just smiled sweetly. He tried to think of something that made sense.

Luckily, right then he was distracted by a tug on the bottom of his cloak. Johan looked down to see a small, freckled child with a dark blond bananasplit ponytail staring up at him with big, round eyes. The same child that had been running around Trym.

“Oh. Hello.” Johan said in surprise.

The child mumbled something Johan couldn’t hear. He bent down. “What?”

“Do you…have a sword?” The small child asked timidly, looking up at him with hopeful eyes.

“Uhm..no.” Johan hesitated. Tears started welling up in the kid’s eyes, his grip on Johan’s cloak getting tighter. He looked for help in Signe but she just backed up, acting like she didn’t see him.

Johan panicked. “I have a dagger, though!” Johan heard Odin laugh loudly, slapping his thigh. The kid stopped crying. Eyes widening in surprise.

“Einar!” Before Johan could get his knife out, the woman from the bench ran over. Trym’s wife, Ulfhild. She had briefly introduced herself during the celebration before pulling Hilda with her. She was a middle aged woman with graying blonde hair and the same blue eyes as the kid, her deep blue dress almost so long it dragged on the ground behind her, the fur collar blowing in the wind.

“Don’t bother people you don’t know.” She scolded gently when she got close enough. At the sight of her, the kid finally let go of Johan and ran over to grab her dress instead.

She smiled apologetically at them. “Sorry for the trouble. My son can be a bit of a handful.”

“Oh?” Johan felt his eyes rise and he shared a look with Signe. ‘Son?’ she mouthed in surprise and inched closer.

The woman must have noticed their shock because she started explaining herself.

“Oh I know. I must seem terribly old to be the mother of such a young and beautiful son. And you would be right. I am almost fifty years old so he was a very late pregnancy, he is almost five years old now! We were lucky with the timing, imagine if I had gotten pregnant just a few months later, then he wouldn’t be here with us today!” She laughed as if that was funny.

“Oh, but where are my manners? Johan, I met you very briefly yesterday so you know my name, but hello, Signe! It’s such a pleasure to meet you! It looked absolutely ethereal when you lit up the sky that night, and then you walked out of the water it was like a deity herself had come to save us!”

Johan froze, his smile becoming strained. Did they all know? He quickly glanced at Signe who mirrored his expression before turning to the offender. Odin had clearly been finding the whole situation hilarious, but now he was quiet, meeting Johan’s eyes easily and quickly shaking his head defensively.

Ulfhild surged forward and happily grabbed Signe’s hands. “My name is Ulfhild, I am Trym’s wife, and this little man’s mother! I am the healer of the village, so if anything hurts or bleeds, just come straight to me!”

“Nice to meet you, too!” Signe said when she finally could get a word in. She quickly stepped back when Ulfhild let go, the big smile still on her face. Ulfhild opened her mouth to speak again, but the kid tugged on the skirt of her dress before she could.

“What was that?” She leaned down to hear better and the kid quickly got on his toes to speak into her ear. “Oh, a dagger? Well, ask him nicely and maybe he will show you.”

The kid glanced timidly at Johan before turning back to his mom, clutching the skirt of her dress tightly.

“Please?” The kid spoke more to the ground than to Johan, only glancing at him before turning to look up at Ulfhild, getting an approving smile in return. He turned back to Johan with newfound confidence. “Can I see the dagger?”

How could he say no to that? Johan acted thoughtful, hand coming to his chin. “Hmm. Well, since you asked so nicely.”

Really it was more like a pocketknife than a dagger. His earring lit up in bright gold before it appeared in his hand.

The kid oooh-ed in amazement, eyes sparkling.

“How many people have you killed with it?” The kid continued. Johan stared.

Right. This was that kind of village, wasn’t it.

“Uncountable.” Johan lied easily.

The kid gasped in excitement. He tried reaching up to grab it but Johan lifted it out of reach, keeping a pleasant smile on his face the entire time as the kid started frowning.

That’s when it happened.

Johan saw the rope slip out of Trym’s hands and almost in slow motion the rope jerked up, whipping loudly against the wall as the big, wooden beam fell down. Trym’s head snapped up and someone yelled-

Johan moved.

The beam stopped in the air.

“Trym!” Ulfhild cried out and ran to her husband, the kid screamed and almost went with her before Signe grabbed his arm and roughly pulled him closer. Trym seemed to be the only one not alarmed with the situation, staring straight up and making no move to get away from the huge piece of wood hovering just above his head.

“Get out of the way, you meathead!” Johan yelled, and groaned as the ribbon dug into his wrist. He was not made to deal with heavy stuff. Signe quickly realized as he started slipping.

“Hey, move!” She yelled, loud enough that Johan flinched away from it. But it worked. Trym finally seemed to see the severity of the situation and threw himself away.

Johan let go and the beam slammed into the dirt path below.

“Oh, Heaven! Are you ok?!” Ulfhild fell to her knees by a wide-eyed Trym.

“I-” Trym glanced at her, then down at himself as if searching for a wound. “I’m fine?”

Johan huffed and rewrapped the ribbon, feeling eyes set on him.

“That’s amazing!” Odin boomed and bounced over. Johan let him touch the end of the ribbon. “They are just normal ribbons?! That’s an amazing skill!”

Ulfhild helped a shaky Trym off the ground. Signe let go of the kid who immediately ran over to them.

“You good?” Signe asked quietly. Johan nodded, his wrist aching.

“I’m fine, babe.” Trym reassured and gently tok Ulfhild in his arms. “It just slipped.”

“Are you sure?” She asked. Trym smiled and kissed her on the head. “Oh, don’t do that again. My heart can’t take seeing you hurt.”

“Saps.” Odin commented, arms crossed and head shaking disapprovingly. Simultaneously the couple turned to glare at Odin who just laughed. Johan snorted.

Ulfhild seemed to realize something. “Oh, it’s getting late. I have plans with Hilda soon. Come on, Einar. We are going to go find Astrid now.”

“But mom, she’s so boring.” The kid, apparently called Einar, whined.

“Aw sweetie, I know I know. Would you rather join mommy and Hilda today?” The kid turned his nose up and Ulfhild smiled. “If you go with Astrid you get to see your friends, isn’t that much more fun?”

The kid brightened up, nodding fiercely.

“It was nice to meet you, have a nice day!” Ulfhild left with the kid, sending a kiss over her shoulder to Trym who was ready and grabbed it out of the air.

“Bye, dear!” Trym called after her, a wide grin on his face. He watched her as she walked away-

and the second she got out of view he turned to Johan.

“That,” Trym pointed at Johan’s ear. “Is that one of those weapons that transform?”

Johan blinked, caught off guard.

Odin broke down laughing. “You were almost flattened because of a knife?”

“Shut up.” Trym snapped but his eyes didn’t leave Johan.

“Uh, yeah it is.” He pulled out the earring, showing it off in his palm before it transformed.

The blade was gold, the handle black. It was one sided and the only detail was a thin line of metallic red that stretched from the very tip of the blade to where it wrapped around the handle like string.

The blacksmith ooo-ed, very similarly to his son, and he gently took it from Johan’s hand like he was holding the most precious thing he’d ever seen. Honestly, that was probably accurate, considering who gave it to Johan.

A very important person in Johan’s life had given it to him. His dad’s brother, Johan’s uncle. He froze for a second, watching as Trym swung it through the air. Through the years the dagger had caused a lot of bitterness in him. A big part of him wanted to throw it away because of what it represented, but he could never do it. He still remembered what his life was like when he got it.

He felt Signe’s eyes burn into him.

The blacksmith hmm-ed as he held it up to the light, then back down, moving it around to see it more clearly.

“This looks like gold, but it’s not.” He commented, sending a curious look at Johan. “It’s stronger.”

Uh oh.

“Ahh, I wouldn’t know.” Johan waved his arm innocently. “It was a gift.”

The blacksmith made a low hmm, looking back at the blade suspiciously. He turned it around a few times.

“It must be a very precious gift. This material is only found in Heaven.”

Huh. Johan cocked his head. How did Trym know that?

“Don’t look at me like that.” Trym huffed. “I have seen more of the world than just this little island, you know. I have only seen a weapon like this once though, in passing. It was interesting, the kid that had it disappeared just as soon as the weapon appeared.”

“Oh?” Johan asked. He hoped it wasn’t someone he knew.

“Trym!” One of the men working on the smith interrupted them, gesturing vaguely at the smith. “Some help here?”

“Duty calls.” Trym laughed, and returned the dagger.

His gaze lingered on it but Odin just laughed and slung an arm around his shoulders. “Have a good day in Solstad, heroes. Come on, Trym. Back to work we go.”

Johan waved after them before turning to Signe. “Let’s go, I guess.”

She nodded, and they walked through the village in silence, leaving the smith behind.

“Is that the dagger I think it is?” Signe finally asked, no emotion in her voice.

“It is.” Johan answered cautiously. He knew she was going to mention it. Afterall, she already knew who he got it from.

“Good.” Signe nodded seriously.

“You’re not mad?” Johan asked in surprise, turning to face her.

“No.” She shook her head. “He was a good person when he gave it to you. He’s your uncle.”

Johan nodded.

“Don’t tell Note.” He finally said.

“Don’t worry, I won’t.” Signe laughed, then smiled. “Let’s look around some more, there has to be something fun to do here before we need to leave for the city.”