So after another small meal of bread and fish, Yrnhold and his party made to return to the village. One of the men volunteered to be the one to stay; this, Sif suspected, was due to his being unmarried. The woman Oébfinn who came with them was nervous and huddled across the cart from Sif for the entirety of their drive back, occasionally touching a waistpack that he suspected held a dagger.

Her demeanor only lightened slightly when they stopped to make camp for the night; Sif caught a large pheasant, and she ate more of the stew than the men.

" Many thanks," she mumbled with a flush, before returning to the cartbed and sitting wrapped in her roughly spun cloak like a broody hen.

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