Skorageirr stayed at the pond until it became dark. He had hoped Anya would come after him but he had hoped in vain. Obviously he had managed to make a complete mess out of their…well, their what? You could not really call their involvement a relationship yet. Much too early, and now it seemed he had ruined all prospect on being together with her anyway.

He returned to the Boar very late at night when all was quiet and slipped to the bench closest to the door, not wishing to be noticed by the others. There, after much tossing and turning he finally fell asleep. The next morning, he was wakened by Yngvildr and her man who passed him on their way out. Looking at their close embrace and happy faces, his own misery was brought back right into him.

The few hours of bad sleep had not helped with improving his mood. He was fuming about his own foolishness and he felt that he needed something to steam off and cool down. He got up, took his spears, went outside and threw them into a half-rotten tree with tremendous vigour. After half an hour of this excessive training he felt much better. Also he noticed he was very hungry, having ignored his stomach all day yesterday.

He knew that returning to the Boar and ordering food meant that he needed to face Anya. He dreaded that as much as he wanted to see her again. Taking a deep breath, he returned to the main hall and sat down, waiting for her to appear.