"Ah yes. I told you I did not love him right at the start. It was nearly a year before I did. I should have been a spoil of battle, but his family never treated me like a thrall. He never did either. He did his best by me, built us a fine home, a large home. Took me to battle with him, not as after fighting relief but so that I could fight side by side with him. And I did, until I became with child. Astrid. While I bore her he would come home from battle as randy as a goat." Her accent got thicker as she got deeper in the telling. "Because I could not go with him, and he was not the sort to bed a woman out of convenience. Or not that I ever found out about. As I got bigger, he got more and more gentle with me. When he was home he would lay with me and," She gave a soft little chuckle, "Talk to my belly, telling the little being inside about his adventures. This may have been what won me. But it was the day Astrid was born that I knew without a doubt that I loved him. We did not have ways to dull the pain back then, so I was screaming every time a wave of pain would wash over me. The um... midwives they're called now, they kept him out, I was in labor for twenty hours. They thought I would die, which was very common. And he broke a hole through the wall, just to get to me. He remained by my side, pleading with me to stay, trying to coax Astrid into the world, praying to the gods... I remember through the pain, him saying to me, 'If you die Brynhild, I will die right beside you'." She paused for another drink. Glancing at him to see if he was still awake making sure she hadn't bored him to tears. She smiled at him when she saw that she had not.
"After twenty-two hours of labor she finally came into the world. And Magnus lay in that bed with us, for hours. Until it was plain that I would live, that Astrid would live. I don't know how long it was. I want to say it was a day, but it could have been a week. But when I was up enough to stand it, he threw a feast that fed the whole village. He was so proud that he had a daughter. Don't get me wrong, he was very proud when each of his children were born. And just as sad as I, with the ones that we lost. But when he brewed this," She sloshed the what was left of the drink around in the glass, chuckling softly as she did. "He was just as proud when it was ready to drink, as he had been when he was sure that Astrid and I would live."