Njord had been trying very hard to put a positive spin on the situation, attempting to look for the silver lining. It would mean, after all, that he wouldn’t be alone any longer. Though really, a friend would have been fine to combat his loneliness. A wife was a bit… over the top.
Especially since he didn’t consider himself to be single. In his mind, in his heart, there was only one woman for him. It was a bitter pill to swallow to be denied her presence, as she was not only his wife, not only his sister, but his best friend. Had there ever been anything he did not feel he could share with Nerthus? But they had lost, the Aesir had won, and there were conditions to the peace that was to be forged between their peoples.
Njord had become something of a hermit since coming to Asgard. As much as possible, he spent time at Noatun, where only his children bothered to visit him. How ironic was it that one of the few times he had come to a gathering, he ended up coming home with a wife? It was still a bit difficult to take in. It couldn’t be easy for her either.
He knew that he wasn’t the one she was hoping for. Who, exactly, she’d had her heart set on, Njord didn’t know. But the disappointment in Skadhi’s eyes was very obvious. It had to be even more of a let down given that she was offered a husband as a way to make up for the death of her father. If anything, she was more alone than he was. He, at least, still had his twins. Who did Skadhi have?
Besides him. Now, she had him. Because he was her husband, according to the Aesir. He’d do his best to be her friend, there was no reason to make this more difficult than it had to be. But it was still… weird.
Holding open the door to his, admittedly rather simple, home, Njord cleared his throat and attempted to think of something welcoming to say. In the end, all he could do was murmur, “Are you hungry? Or would you like me to show you around? Can I get you anything?”