---

Well, she did it.

She held out until the tournament.

Fiadh had given the boy a chance to win her over and he'd failed spectacularly, but Dimitri has helped her realize....has this place ever been home? Maybe once, maybe it could have been, when Burdock acted as her shadow and when she looked up to Ghidorah before they both disappeared...ages ago.

There was nothing here for her now.

Had there ever been?

Her loyalty to Ragnar is what kept her tied to this mountain, her loyalty to the man was what made her give his youngest son a chance, what kept her from challenging the whelp herself when Wardruna and Leviathan had allowed the boy to become king.

It was time for her to leave.

For good.

Maybe the wolves of Northfall would think she was going on one of her adventures again, the ones where she left for weeks at a time to explore the viking way, where she would return and yap at whoever she caught first. But this time...this time she wasn't returning. Not unless one of Ragnar's eldest brood comes calling for aid against their youngest brother.

Doubtful.

Morning came, and Fiadh left without looking back.