"Aye. Good tae have ye." He looked at Astrid. "She's grown."
"Every day." Something moved in Magnus's face that was entirely unguarded, gone before most people would have caught it. "Ada says she has me temperament."
"God help ye both," Ivar said.
Ada looked at him with those steady hazel eyes.
"She's sleeping," she said. "If anyone wakes her I willnae be responsible fer what happens."
"Understood," Ivar said.
"Tell Erik," she said. "The men I'm nae worried about."
Erik, from across the yard, appeared to sense he was being discussed and looked over. Claricia said something to him that made him look away again.
Ragnar came through the gate last, Isolda beside him.
Ivar watched his friend cross the yard with the same ground-eating stride he'd had since they were young men, the same composure, and something else now, something settled and unguarded that hadn't been there before.
Isolda had dark hair and grey-green eyes and the self-possession of someone who had decided something recently and was at peace with it.
"Ragnar." They gripped arms. "How was the passage?"
"Fine." Ragnar looked at him steadily. "Ye look like ye havenae slept."
"I slept."
"When?"
"Enough." He looked at Isolda. "Lady Isolda. Welcome tae Mull."
"Thank ye." She looked around the yard with the frank curiosity of someone taking genuine inventory. "It's bigger than I expected."
"It grows on ye," Ivar said. "Usually by the second day."
"Is that when Lady Matilda is currently?" she said. Not unkindly. Just direct.
"Aye," he said. "Second day."
Isolda and Ragnar exchanged a look that communicated something quickly.
“Let’s head to the hall. She’ll be waiting.” Ivar said as he led them to the hall.
The yard was noise and movement and strangers all at once, and he'd learned enough in the past twenty-four hours to know that she managed things better when she could see the full shape of them before they arrived.
The Great Hall had a door. The door gave her the arrivals one at a time. One at a time was manageable; a yard full of Vikings was a siege.
She was standing near the hearth when he brought them in. Sigrid was a step behind her, and she had her chin up and her hands still and her face composed.
She was wearing the deep green dress again, her hair pinned up with silver combs that caught the firelight. She looked regal, but as he approached, he saw the rhythmic pulse at the base of her throat—a frantic, hidden bird that meant she was working at the composure rather than simply wearing it.
Nobody else would see it.
He crossed the hall and went to stand beside her, close enough that she'd know he was there. She exhaled very slightly and he pretended not to notice.
Claricia came through the door first, still with Thorsten on her hip, Erik a step behind her. She assessed the hall, found Matilda, and crossed toward her.
"Ye must be Matilda. I'm Claricia. This one is Thor, and he'll want tae touch yer hair. I apologize in advance."