“They give you a name, I cannot translate it into this tongue, but it is an old name, a deep word of the ancestors. It relates to what you wear on your shoulders, and to the hound that follows you so faithfully, and to what you were in your home country. It is somewhat like dog, and somewhat like golden, and yet it is a name for a man: a man who takes on the garb of the animal to whom he speaks in the night. They know of the skin you wear into battle; they have seen something in you that brings this ancient lore to life, I think. It is a good thing; they will set the highest standard for you, as you do for yourself. Still, I want you to understand how difficult it may be.”

“Children, you said. A girl and then a boy. Does this mean you would consider lying with a Wolfskin once more, if the opportunity presented itself?”

“If such a man were my husband,” Nessa said with a crooked smile, “the opportunity might present itself quite often, I should think. But he would need to be prepared to stay on these shores: not to heed the call to join a ship and go a-voyaging. He would need to be farmer and fisherman, arbiter and teacher, leader and guardian as well as warrior. He would have to learn how to be a father.”

He lifted her hand to his lips; now his own eyes seemed to be full of tears, for the second time today, or perhaps it was the third. He could not form words, but simply bowed his head.

“It’s good, I think,” Nessa whispered. “It has to be good from now on, doesn’t it, if we both try our hardest?”

Then he put his arms around her and held on, feeling her warmth flow into him, feeling her heartbeat against his own, not wanting to move beyond the sweetness of this moment. Still, the shadow was there on the edge of the thought. Somerled. She had said, Your own failure to restrain him. That was true. Somerled was his friend, his blood brother, and if it had not been for Somerled, none of this would have happened. There was, therefore, a matter to be attended to before they could move on.

“He asked to see you,” Nessa said in a small voice, as if she had read his mind. “Your Jarl Magnus said no, you were to be left sleeping. Rona was here then. She won’t let anyone else care for you, says she doesn’t trust them. They called her away to tend to Brother Tadhg’s injuries. For a holy man, he seems quite prone to trouble.”

“Somerled wanted to see me?” Eyvind took a deep breath. Better sooner than later; better now, while he could still summon the will for it. “Where is he? In his own quarters?”