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The Lost Valkyrie in order!
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“Your wedding is only two days aways, my Lady. Are you ready?” Liv’s question came as a little jarring to Tyna as the young woman seemed deep in thought.
“What? Oh, yes the wedding,” she replied. “No, I’m not ready. I’m nervous,” the girl replied with a laugh.
It was Wednesday, and the wedding would be on Friday. And she didn’t FEEL ready at ALL!
“Don’t worry, my Lady,” Liv said back. “All the details are prepared. You have your kransen, your ceremonial sword and the handfasting cord ready. Your bathing ceremony will be tomorrow, as will the King’s. Thyra and I are planning the feast. It’s going to be a wonderful celebration!”
Tyna was surprised to see tears in the eyes of the older woman. She’d never thought of Liv as sentimental! As she watched, the tears spilled out, running down her cheeks.
“Awww, Liv, why are YOU crying,” she asked, half in amusement, but half in alarm. Despite her many human experiences in Bollurgard, the young woman still had much to learn about people.
“Don’t mind me, young lady,” Liv reassured her. “It’s just that I’ve come to think of you like I do Thyra: as if you were one of my very own. And now…” she paused, unable to continue.
“And now you’re losing us both at once,” Tyna supplied while Liv nodded her agreement, more tears falling from her cheeks.
The shieldmaiden sighed. Now she felt like crying, too!
“I understand. I really do. But I’ll still be here, Liv, don’t worry!”
Liv seemed to gather herself. “Yes, my Lady, and you’ll be Queen, too! Won’t that be amazing!”
Tyna nodded and smiled brightly. “And, as Queen, I’ll certainly NEED my faithful and supportive lady-servant. More than ever! Don’t you think so?”
Liv laughed, wiping the tears from her face. “Oh, my Lady. You’re getting more savvy every day, aren’t you? You’re going to make a wise and beloved Queen.”
“I hope so, Liv. I really do. Now, can we go over this list once more? I have some questions. For example, during the ceremony, I’m supposed to have my kransen circlet removed from my head, and then a bridal crown is placed there instead, right?”
All these wedding things were new to Tyna. She had no memory of ANY of them. Not even the elusive flashes of memory she’d gotten occasionally for other things.
Liv nodded, “Yes, my Lady, it symbolizes your moving from being a maiden to being a woman.”
“OK, that makes sense, I guess. But, here is the kransen. Where is my bridal crown?”
“Your Queen’s crown will be your bridal crown, my Lady, the same as the King’s mother wore in her time. OH!!! We should make sure it fits you! I can’t believe we didn’t think of that…”
And Liv bustled off at once to go and fetch the Queen’s crown, muttering something that sounded like, “if that man gives me any trouble taking the crown for a fitting, I’ll remind him what it felt like to be dragged around the house by his ear. And I can still do it, King, or no King…”
Tyna watched her go, a smile on her face, her list of questions mostly unanswered. These things were a mystery to her, and she wondered WHY as she turned her attention back to the list.
Wedding on Friday. It was Friia’s day, and it was a day for fertility. This part made PERFECT sense to Tyna. Why did it make sense? She couldn’t say. She just knew she loved it.
Maidenhood bathing. Some sort of ritual cleansing to symbolize washing away her maiden status. They were going to do this ceremony tomorrow, the day before the wedding. OK, whatever. Tyna was already no longer a maiden, and she was pretty sure everyone knew it, by now.
And Ulf would have something similar, bathing to cleanse his bachelorhood. Even more mysterious to the young woman. And something about a sword ceremony, too. The sword was a symbol of his protection.
She kinda liked the sword ceremony idea. She liked how protected Ulf made her feel when he held her close.
And they’d exchange swords during the wedding ceremony, symbolizing the joining of two families. But this aspect of the Viking rituals made Tyna feel sad. She had no family to join with the King’s. She’d argued to omit this part from the wedding ceremony, but nobody involved would hear of it.
The handfasting part of the wedding ceremony. She saw the cord was ready that they’d use to bind her hand to Ulf’s. This part was to symbolize their being bound together in unity, which seemed fine to Tyna.
It just seemed a lot of grandeur for something she felt in her heart was already a completed work inside her, where it mattered most. Tyna felt less need for symbolism than others around her, it seemed.
Having been created in the heavens, she had known the gods and the other heavenly powers. Though she couldn't remember them due to the demon’s curse, she felt no need to invoke them during a ceremony, and she felt little need for the symbolism, either. It was either done or not. And for her, it was DONE. Already. She’d never be parted from her King, her Ulf.
Just thinking of the idea of being parted made her shudder with a very sudden, heavy sense of foreboding.
Would she be parted with Ulf? NO. NEVER. She’d not allow it!
But then, why did she suddenly feel this way?
“Never,” she whispered to the quiet room.
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Tyna spent most of the rest of the day struggling with her almost premonition of being separated from her King. Only diving into the details of the wedding offered her any distraction.
And more than distraction, now she was able to appreciate the symbolism, as it offered her some comfort to fight her fears.
“Maybe THIS is why these symbols mean so much. It helps people fight their fears by making it feel more real,” the shieldmaiden thought.
The next day, Thyra, Liv and a couple of the other women of the village took her out into the forest for her maidenhood bathing ceremony. To Tyna’s surprise, they rode slowly on horseback all the way into the hills, arriving at the same waterfall and pool where she’d bathed when the Captain spied on her.
It remained a beautiful location, and it was a lovely day.
“Today you’re becoming a woman fully-grown. It is time to settle down and bear the King many heirs,” Liv told her as the women washed her. And they laughed and smiled. They’d all heard that the pair had already been together, more than once. They all hoped Tyna was already bearing new life within her!
“This makes it official,” Thyra said a little primly, speaking out loud what they were all thinking. They all laughed a lot more, now.
The other women wouldn’t tell the bride what the groom was doing in the sword ceremony. It seemed to be rather secretive for some reason! In fact, after questioning them about the matter at some length, Tyna was convinced the other women didn’t know much about it, either!
Under the loving care of her attendants, Tyna soon felt cleaner than she’d ever remembered feeling, and the group began the journey back to the village, chatting, laughing and enjoying the weather.
Preparations continued back in Bollurgard, mostly feast-related. From these preparations, Tyna seemed to be mostly banned, with Liv and Thyra insisting they would take care of everything.
Otherwise, all seemed as ready as she could make it, short of getting dressed for the ceremony itself, and the young woman found herself alone. With little to do, Tyna’s foreboding returned, and she grew quiet.
That night, the shieldmaiden and the Princess shared Thyra’s bed for the last time, and Tyna was unable to hold back her fears and tears any longer. She told Thyra all her fears of being separated from Ulf.
“I can’t stand to lose you both, Thyra. I just cannot. I don’t want to lose EITHER. Can’t we ask Ulf to leave Hans as the Governor so you can stay here?”
For her part, Thyra was now worried, too. Tyna’s senses about dangers to come had always been accurate, and now the Princess wondered what was in store for her friend and her brother. It wasn’t a happy thought.
But she did LOVE the idea of letting Hans stay as Governor of Friedrich’s ex-Kingdom. “We’ll ask him together, tomorrow. He can’t deny his bride a request on her wedding day!”
Tyna arched her brows in surprise. “Is that really true? Why didn’t anyone tell me that part?”
“Because I just made it up, silly,” Thyra rejoined, laughing a little in spite of her worry. “But it makes sense. If he can’t give you what you want on your wedding day, when will he ever?”
The bride loved the idea - why wouldn’t she? It was awesome!
“I’ll ask him, but you have to be there to back me up.”
The pair of friends discussed the plan until it was all settled. Feeling better, both girls slipped into slumber.
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“I can’t do that. Hans is too inexperienced. He’s a big farmboy.”
The bridal request wasn’t going well. Ulf felt Friedrich’s people needed a more firm, wise hand than a guard could give. He was insisting that Thyra was needed as Governor.
“And it will be good experience for you, sister, “ he added.
“I am getting good experience right here, brother,” she retorted, a little frustrated as he shook his head. “And Hans has a good head on his shoulders. He’s always been one of our favorite guardsmen.”
“It’s best for the Kingdom if YOU go, sister.”
They’d gone round and round now, and King Ulf was not budging. Tyna looked despondent and defeated.
After a short pause, Thyra made her last play, “You can’t deny your bride’s request on her wedding day. Don’t you want your bride to be happy?”
Tyna did her best to look at her groom unhappily. It wasn’t difficult.
Ulf looked from one of them to the other, and back again. Suddenly he laughed.
“How long did you two plan this? Is it THAT important to you?”
“It is,” Tyna said simply. “It truly is. Please, my King.”
The young man shook his head slowly and sighed, but with a smile. “It seems I cannot deny my bride’s request on her wedding day. It’s practically a tradition, you know.”
“My King,” the shieldmaiden cried as she leapt into his arms, feeling more joy than any wedding preparation had given her. Maybe now that nagging feeling of impending doom would dissipate!
“Do you have any OTHER requests for your wedding day, my bride,” the King asked, laughing as she kissed him all over his big, sturdy Viking face.
“No,” both girls chimed together before breaking up into happy giggles as Tyna slipped to the ground from Ulf’s grasp and Thyra grabbed her hand.
“Thank you, brother,” Thrya said. “You’re a good man. Now we have to go get ready for the wedding,” she continued, dragging Tyna with her.
Right. The wedding. That’s an important part of this story!
While Thyra and Liv helped Tyna prepare, the other wedding plans were completed. A wedding altar had been erected in the forest outside the village, with a feast hall nearby! The Gothi, the man who conducted the wedding ceremony, invoked the gods for their blessing, making animal sacrifices to both Thor and Friia to ask for fertility to be on the marriage. The blood from the sacrifices was drained into a bowl that was placed on the altar.
Meanwhile, Tyna’s hair was braided, entwined with flowers, allowed to drape down both over her shoulder and down her back. Everyone who saw the bride’s long hair agreed it was a good sign for her marriage! Donning her kransen, it was also adorned with gems, crystals and flowers on the spot while the bride waited patiently.
Or not that patiently, really. Tyna just wanted this whole thing to be OVER.
“Am I married, yet,” she asked plaintively as Liv pronounced the adorning of her kransen circlet completed.
“Your hair is ready. Your dress is ready. Your kransen is ready. We have the handfasting cord and the ceremonial blade,” Liv recited patiently and with a smile. “Let's get you married.”
“Thanks to the gods,” Tyna breathed out. “Finally.” All the comforting symbolism in the world couldn’t make the process any easier, it seemed.
Ulf was also waiting, not so patiently, at the woodland wedding altar, while the gods were invoked in a dozen different ways.
“By the gods,” the young King declared. “Is there any way to speed this along? Which sacrifice asks the gods to hurry it up?”
The others there laughed and clapped the man on the shoulder, telling him it wouldn’t be long, now.
But Ulf was not comforted, much. The King found himself missing his friend, the Captain.
“He should have been here,” Ulf thought to himself sadly. “How did it come to this?”
It seemed like every person from the Kingdom of Bollurgard had come to his wedding. And in a woodland hall roofed with the arching limbs of many trees and crammed full of people, the King felt alone.
Finally, horns began to wind their calls from the back of the hall, moving forward and getting louder as more and more guests took up the call.
His bride was here! And she finally came into Ulf’s view, walking with Thyra and Liv behind her. He’d never seen her looking more lovely as she shyly accepted her people’s congratulations and compliments, looking from side to side as she walked up the aisle toward the altar, greeting her well-wishers.
“One would imagine I’d be used to her glow, by this time,” Ulf thought to himself as he was transfixed by the girl’s beauty. If there was any lingering doubt, it was banished: the woman produced her own light, somehow. It welled up from within and spilled out around her. Not figuratively. Actually.
And THIS was the creature that was approaching HIM, ready to be HIS wife and Queen.
Ulf was struck dumb in wonder as she finally looked at him, her gentle glance and soft, rosy smile making him want to weep for joy.
Not some other man’s wife or Queen. HIS wife. HIS Queen.
Honestly, the wedding ceremony proceeded - for Ulf - like a dream sequence where the only thing he could see was his bride, Tyna. She approached him, and she took his hand in hers, looking as shy as he’d ever seen her. They faced the Gothi, who spoke words Ulf would never remember, afterwards.
Meanwhile, Ulf found his gaze kept getting directed back to his bride.
At some point, she was handing him the ceremonial sword she’d been given. “My family is now your family, my Lord and my King,” she told him. He remembered that part, after. “I don’t know if I have any family. But if I do, we are now joined with yours.”
Right, the sword ceremony! One of his guards produced the sword and handed it to him.
And he gave it to his bride, saying, “My family is now your family, my Lady, and my Queen. Thrya will be your sister from this day forth.
Her smile at his words was like a beautiful sunrise, and he grinned back at her, feeling stupid but not caring.
And then the Gothi asked for the handfasting cord, which he was supposed to provide at the correct time. Fortunately, his guard had that, too, and he handed it over to the Gothi.
Now the Gothi used the cord to tie his hand to his bride’s hand as they looked at each other dreamily. And he said some words. Yes, there were for sure some words the man had said, Ulf was sure of it. What they might be, he couldn’t say!
It was probably a good thing the Gothi asked Tyna the questions first.
“Lady Tyna, do you agree to be bound to this man for the rest of your life?
“I do,” she said, looking away from Ulf long enough to nod at the man.
“And Lord Ulf, do you agree to be bound to this woman for the rest of your life?”
“I do,” he said, never looking away from Tyna, not even a second.
“Well then, you are married! May the blessings of Thor and Friia rain down upon this marriage!”
There was thunderous cheering from all the people, and stomping of feet!
But the Gothi was not finished, yet.
“There is one last part, my Lord. Will you make this woman your Queen? To rule with you from your throne? If so, take the kransen from her head, and place on her head the bridal crown!”
Ulf looked into his bride’s eyes as he was handed the queen’s crown - the one his mother had worn. He placed it on Tyna’s head in front of them all.
“People of Bollurgard… BEHOLD YOUR QUEEN!!!” the King shouted, to even more cheering and stomping from all gathered there!
Tyna’s tears spilled down her cheeks as she smiled and blushed.
“Now, kiss her, you big oaf, so we can go feast!” The Gothi laughed, along with everyone else.
Looking at Tyna, Ulf saw she was drawing close to him, looking at eyes but then down a little, at his lips, and then back at his eyes.
So he kissed her as his people cheered!
“LET’S PARTYYYYY!!!!” the Gothi roared. “Run to the feast hall!!!”
It turned out, this wedding was just getting started! All the people ran from the wedding altar to the feast hall! The latest guests to arrive had to serve the rest!
Lastly, the King and Queen arrived, and they were escorted to the head table as everyone cheered again, after which, the feast began. And it was a feast to rival the mighty feasts of Valhalla! There was more food than even the great throng of hundreds could possibly eat, and the ale flowed like water as people began to get drunk!
It was a Viking custom that the bride and groom would get completely drunk, too, as it was considered a sign of blessing and fertility.
Why that was, no one could seem to explain to Tyna, who thought if they got too drunk, they’d not be able to make love, later. But she obliged them anyway, drinking one horn of ale after another at the insistence of the people, and Ulf did the same.
After all, Tyna really, REALLY wanted to enjoy her wedding feast. And it was her hope that perhaps all that booze would stifle the renewed sense of foreboding she was suddenly feeling!
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WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH THE ANIMAL SACRIFICE??? THAT’S KINDA GROSS!
DID I REALLY GET THE DETAILS OF A VIKING WEDDING OFF OF THE INTERNET? YES, YES I DID!
DANGER? FOREBODING? WHEN IS OUR HEROINE GOING TO CATCH A BREAK???
TUNE IN NEXT TIME FOR MORE EXCITING VALKYRIE ADVENTURES!
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💜 Brooke
