thewidewideworld | (no subject)

Ragnar gently washes Sinric's face, saying nothing.

"There was never a way back for them." Sinric intones sadly, eyes closed and one hand in Ragnar's shoulder to steady himself. "They has used their magics in ways that angered their gods and broke a vital thread of the tapestry. For that, they would never be allowed to go back."

He nods quietly.

"I hope they won't take it out on you, when you tell them so."

"If there are problems, I can help scare them off," Ragnar offers. "So you can get through back to our world."

Where he is needed.

"Bath now?"

"They won't hurt me." He nods and takes Ragnar's arm. "I think they fear me a little. And now I have seen the offence they caused, the life they took, I will leave them."

He needs help getting into the bath, hissing softly as the water swirls around the cuts at his ankles.

"Was that why their king cast them out?"

He hovers, in case Sinric looks like falling.

"Not all rulers are corrupt and cunning," Ragnar says. "Sometimes, they have a point."

He helps Sinric to lower himself into the bath, holding him to make sure he doesn't slip.

"They did not feel he gave them respect as he should. He didn't give them the best meat or the best seat at his table. They laid a curse on him. It killed the child his queen was carrying. A child meant for great things."

Athelstan winces.

"Not only pain for the king and queen, then, but as you say, great harm done to the pattern."

"A wise king if he knew that, and didn't just banish them for personal reasons," Ragnar nods.

"I don't know." He closes his eyes, feeling the hot water wash away the grime. "I didn't look too closely at his motives. Only his grief. It was so deep, so dark."

He shakes his head. "They didn't tell me. They wanted me to believe they were persecuted."

"They had to know you would never agree to help them, knowing the truth."

"They had to know you were strong enough to find the truth," Ragnar adds.

He shakes his head, eyes wide and wet. "They expected I would see the thread that would lead them home. I didn't know. How could I?" He chokes a sob, shaking.

"But now that you do, there is only one possible course. Which is why they lied."

"And which is why they are going to lose, now," Ragnar says, touching Sinric'S shoulder.

Sinric shakes his head, tears streaming. "Not that. I didn't know I would see so much. Not the thread they wanted but the whole tapestry."

He looks up them with painfully dark eyes. "I sat at the Weaver's foot. I saw the whole of creation from beginning to end."

"You won't remember it", Athelstan says uncertainly. "You couldn't, and keep your mind."

"Just enough to give you an edge on the rest of the world."

He shakes his head, trembling in pain and fear. "I can still feel it, still see it behind my eyes. I can see all your sons, Ragnar. All their futures. I can see how you changed the lives you touched, Athelstan."

He rubs at his eyes, feeling them burn and starting to panic again.

"But those are small parts, by comparison." He looks at Sinric. "Do you need something to help you sleep?"

"We are not that small," Ragnar says. "The gods want us as their tools, and made us so we'd fit the purpose."

"Athelstan." Sinric looks up at him, his eyes so dark. "I wish I could show you. Both of you. You are more important that you can ever know. History turned on the moment you met. On the moment I sent Ragnar for you. And will turn again and again with you."

He shudders, pawing his eyes again. "I can't show you. Not yet. But one day I will and you will understand how your lives shaped the world."

"I meant in comparison to the whole of history", he says, but shrugs his acceptance. "You'll hurt your eyes, stop that."

Ragnar takes Simric's hands. "I believe you," he says. "But the smith doesn't care if the hammer is happy, and that is what we are. Tools of the gods"

U happy ones, at the moment. Ragnar would sacrifice all his importance for peace and quiet and healing for Athelstan.