the rush of the wind and water [open]

Having only recently returned to Skagerrak after her time away, Yrsa had risen early in the morning and headed straight for the woods. Of course she’d stopped in the day before to tell her parents she was back, and she’d sought out a couple of her friends to alert them as well, but she didn’t think anyone would be too surprised to discover she’d gone running through the woods before just about anything else. Wandering through the woods had always been her second favorite thing to do. Her favorite thing was fighting, obviously. But Kattegat wasn’t Skagerrak; It didn’t have these woods she was familiar with just a short distance from her house. And the animals had spent enough time cooped up, she knew they needed to run just as badly as she did.

Eventually she’d ended up near the waterfall. These woods were big enough that she hadn’t stumbled across it very often in the past. She liked to explore, and heading to the same spot over and over wasn’t exactly the same as exploring. But she liked it there; It was peaceful, and the dogs could drink if they were thirsty after their run.

But it seemed she wasn’t the first one there this morning. She’d stepped on a twig, and she heard a man call out, wondering who was out there. Her hand had gone to the knife on her belt instinctively, but it didn’t take her too long to recognize the voice. The black wolf at her side started to growl low, but Yrsa hushed her as the waterfall finally came into view and her eyes quickly located the source of the voice.

“Just me,” she called out, greeting Vali with a grin, looking around to see if he was alone or not. He appeared to be. He was all wet and Yrsa assumed he’d gone for a quick dip in the pool. “Bit chilly for a swim?” she asked, squatting quickly to dip her fingers into the water, as if confirming to herself that it was indeed too cold to go swimming.

The three animals with her had been staring at the man on the other side of the pool for a few moments, but seemed to have lost interest and turned their attention to the water instead. “Have I interrupted a secret morning ritual or did you just wake up early this morning with the urge to splash around in freezing water?” she wanted to know. Honestly, either option seemed just as likely as the other. She noticed the dogs wading into the shallow part of the pool and rolled her eyes. Evidently, she was the only intelligent creature in the vicinity. Unlike the thane and the dogs, she would not be heading back to the village like a walking icicle.

It seemed Vali wasn’t too upset by her interruption, because he sent her a friendly smile almost immediately. She wasn’t too surprised by his reaction. The thane was fairly easy to get along with if you were a fighter, which Yrsa was. She was made very aware of the fact that he was not as easy to get along with if you were not a fighter, because one of her closest friends in the village was not fond of him at all. But they were all adults, so Yrsa mostly ignored all of that. Plus, he was still the thane. She didn’t need to find herself on his bad side.

She shook her head at his behavior when he shook his wet hair, sending water droplets flying in every direction. But then he asked about her trip and she shrugged at him. “It was fine. I spent a lot of time in the tavern, so not too different from here,” she answered with a grin. That was even fairly accurate. It seemed she was still in half-truth mode, as she was fairly confident she could be more honest with Vali than she was being. But after spending the last couple months doing her best to share as little information as possible, she’d have to readjust now that she was back.

Watching him try to interact with the dogs made her smile, because it was always nice to be around people who knew how to properly say hello to animals. The three of them were well trained, and pretty friendly, so it wasn’t something she stressed about too much, but the gesture was appreciated anyway. “Oh revenge, hmm? I’m almost tempted. But luckily, I’m very good at keeping secrets,” she replied when he began to answer her questions. When he continued, pointing to a ledge near the top of the waterfall and told her he liked to jump from it, her eyes widened in surprise.

“You jump from up there,” she repeated, jabbing her finger towards the ledge he’d just pointed out, “because you’re bored?” she finished incredulously. She blinked at him a few times, especially after he said she should try it. Her immediate reaction was that he was just fucking with her. But he looked like he was being pretty serious, and the longer she looked back and forth between Vali, the ledge, and the pool below, the more intrigued she became. Granted, it was still freezing and she’d have to make sure the animals didn’t follow her, because she didn’t want them getting hurt because she was taking a turn being an idiot.

She’d very nearly talked herself out of it but when she caught the look he was sending her, one she’d seen from him before, on the training fields, she knew she was going to jump. Shrugging at him, pretending her competitiveness wasn’t about to rear it’s ugly head, Yrsa squatted down to unlace her boots. “Just a heads up, if I die, they may try to eat you. Something to keep in mind,” she told him with a nod towards the three animals. They were very protective, after all.