Re: Dinner: Athelstan and Ragnar
"I don't think you've ever been distracted," Athelstan said honestly. Ragnar had an inner compass, always directed to a way which Athelstan could sometimes perceive and sometimes not. He went after his goal with a relentlessness that meant that sometimes he forgot that other people might choose something other than him.
Like Lagertha had. Like Athelstan hadn't. "A cruise north then. I want to see what's become of Kattegat." Of the town that they had called home. Maybe they could find the land where the farm had been once but the land was likely different, the lake might not be there any longer but -- he wanted to go. To see. To remember where they had been, where they had become a family. "I want to go there first."
After that, maybe somewhere warm, maybe somewhere into the Mediterranean. They had options. And he didn't miss that look in Ragnar's eyes, the calculating look he had when he received something he wanted.
"You never could," he said with a slight smile. And Athelstan had never complained about it either, nor asked him to stop. He wasn't going to start now.
"And you've never pressured me into bed, Ragnar. You would not."