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“Randvi.” Eivor’s voice is low, a stage whisper, and Randvi turns back to her.
“Yes?” She questions, a confused frown on her face, because why is Eivor hanging back so much? Had she spotted something? Randvi glances about the low light of the hillside. Ahead, Villi and Birna are starting to climb upwards again, a slick looking rock face that will lead them to higher ground and a better view.
They are on the hunt for bandits. With Sunniva and Norvid both otherwise engaged, Randvi’s intel was best to lead them through the wilds of England. Vili had volunteered out of the need to entertain himself, whereas Birna had outright said she was bored, and needed to crack some heads. To not have Eivor here would be as strange as being in a different realm entirely.
“I’m stuck.” Comes said drengr’s rather meek reply.
Randvi’s frowning before she can stop herself. She turns back to Eivor. “…What?”
“…my cape.” Eivor says, and twists herself awkwardly to tug at the offending item. But it holds firm, despite her efforts, tangled amongst the tree branches overhanging the rock she had just descended.
“You’re…joking?!” Randvi says, deadpan, and watches Eivor grit her teeth in annoyance, and tug harder. “How did you manage that?!”
“The branch must have reached out to grab me!” Eivor growls, and Randvi takes pity on her, and retraces her steps to help. As she watches Eivor struggle, she realises that she does not, however, want to let this moment pass without at least some…teasing.
“Or rather, you misjudged your leap.” Randvi says, and her critical frown slowly becomes a smirk. Now the shock has ebbed away, the situation is quite amusing. “Eivor Wolf-Kissed, feared Jarl of the Raven clan.” She begins, coming to a stop before where Eivor is still tugging harshly at her cape, and then narrowing her eyes at Randvi’s tone as the strategist continues: “Oh, mighty warrior, entangled in the grasp of a wily tree.”
“Eivor Wolf-Kissed, awaiting her salvation from her most trusted advisor.” Eivor returns, bluntly, clearly displeased with her predicament, and Randvi raises an eyebrow, places her hands on her hips, and offers her smuggest smile.
“Well, that’s not going to persuade me, is it?” At this, Eivor snorts out a bitter laugh, and her frustration fades a little. She lets go of her cape, and turns to Randvi fully, and widens her eyes and says, voice clear and true:
“Most cunning of map-maidens, the quickest mind in all of England.” She begins, words rising and falling like she were a combatant in a flyting match. “With the sharpest wit and the most skilled of fingers. Will you not rescue a poor soul in need?” She pouts at the end, for good measure, and Randvi laughs.
“And you have a very…useful tongue.” She says, pointedly, to which Eivor cannot help but smirk back. “But don’t think this buttering of me will work. I am enjoying this.”
Eivor sags, despondently. “Too much, I feel.”
“Oh yes. I will tell everyone about it.”
“Randviii.” An actual whine, pouting lips. Feared Jarl of the Raven Clan, slayer of Saxons and Legendary beasts, defeater of The Order of the Ancients...reduced to the persona of a needy child.
“Fine.” Randvi waves her hands, and instantly Eivor’s act is lifted, and she looks pleasantly smug herself. Randvi rolls her eyes. “Give me a moment.” Randvi steps behind Eivor, and, bit by bit, untangles her from the precarious thorns digging in their claws all about her cape. There is a sizeable rip made by Eivor’s struggling. “There. You are lucky I am soft on you. You are free once more.”
“What are you two up to!” Comes Vili’s booming voice from up high. He and Birna are already upon the next ledge, looking down expectantly.
“Can you not keep your hands off each other for more than five minutes?” Birna yells.
“I’m afraid Randvi cannot!” Eivor bellows back, laughter in her voice, and grinning so wide Birna must see it. In retaliation, Randvi makes sure to shove Eivor’s shoulder harshly, so she almost unbalances and falls back into the grasp of the thorny tree.
“Can’t blame her, I suppose.” Birna calls back, and Eivor laughs, and Randvi rolls her eyes, again, and sets off after them.
***************
Eivor does not make a habit of "getting caught", but there was that one time on the map table – Randvi daring and loud, and Eivor completely distracted, and Holger having no self-preservation or moral compass...
But everyone in the settlement knows about that, already, so that is a story that doesn’t need to be told.