Excited didn’t even begin to describe her feelings. Overwhelmed perhaps…Jubilant, exuberant, a little sick to her stomach perhaps...   Ásdís could barely contain herself, her constant shifting and wriggling on the bench she shared with others of her age or sex causing irritated glances to be thrown in her direction. 

But what did Ásdís care? If the rumors were right then this was her chance!

Finally to prove herself, to be free of the shadows of her family and to, for once, stand on her own and show that she too was a warrior. Her honor and bravery were of equal measure to those in the community she so looked up to. 

The fact that the opposite end of the hall was filled with miscreants and cripples was of little notice to Ásdís. The darting looks into the shadows at the back were missed by the youngest Bright Eye, too fixated was she on the group of important warriors bantering near the hearth. 

Her future was right there. She could smell it. Taste it. Eagerly she leaned forward. What were they saying? Furtively Ásdís looked about her father, surely he was here? It was too important a meeting to miss. 

He stood resting against the far wall, his typical thoughtful expression replaced with something between dislike and disbelief. The winter had been a hard one, it was true. It was true all the more that the strong hands and arms were needed to ensure the survival of their people… But this? Sending untrained, untested whelps, and the leftovers? Cast offs? 

How could this be right? 

Ásdís smiled as her father looked her way. She would make him proud. 

And that was the  worst of it. His youngest, off to seek her fortune and make her mark on the world with a bunch of fledglings and criminals. Adlif could barely contain his contempt for it all, crossing his arms over his massive chest and staring at the group of men bickering at the center of it all. 

If he could he would have kept her away, but Ásdís had her mind to this folly and there was naught Adlif could do or say to make her budge. At her core his daughter had iron. A fact that typically made a father proud, today he was silently cursing their lot.