The next time she saw her new friend Atla was cleaning her dirty dresses in the fjord. It had been only a few days since their last conversation, he had left after an hour or so but she had stayed. She needed to reflect on why exactly she agreed to be his friend, it made her life so much more complicated than she wanted, plus Ívarr was notorious for his violent outburst and she had no desire to have one of them directed at her. He had on the other hand not killed her after she fell into his lap and then ran away from him, or when she insulted everything that is important to him. Atla didn't know if it was a facade or if he truly didn't care what she thought, she was fine with whatever of the options it was, as long as it kept her alive. She supposed part of why she accepted his offer was because of the extended protection from him, his family and Esther. If she ever needed any kind of protection she would be just fine.

He brought someone with him this time, a tall blond man with his long hair in a braid that flowed down his back. Atla knew who this was, this was Ubbe, the ladies man and charmer of all. The older generation of Kattegatt liked to whisper about his likeness to his father, how they had the same face shape, eyes, hair and some mannerism. The son who held all of Ragnarr's mannerism was his oldest son Björn.

"Hello, friend" Atla greeted Ívarr who gave her a cunning grin, whatever he had in mind was not another bonding session like the last one. No, this one had a purpose, perhaps to spite his brother or to somehow prove something.

"See, Ubbe, I told you I made a friend." Ívarr told his brother, ignoring Atla and her greeting. She was right, this wasn't a social visit, this was all about Ívarr proving something, perhaps that he actually had friends.

"I still don't believe you Ívarr, you probably threatened her." Ubbe sighed and stroked a hand down his face before he turned to Atla. "What's your name? Ívarr never told me so I'll assume he doesn't know"

"Atla" She replied with a bored look on her face, this conversation was boring her. Her attention span had severely decreased ever since her father died and she had to do everything on her own. " You're Ubbe, Ívarr's brother"

"Yes, how did you know? Have we met before?" Ubbe asked with a curious look on his face. She scoffed, why does he even try to hide the face that everyone knows who he is and he enjoys it.

"You're a prince, of course I know who you are" She scoffed again but this time with a roll of her eyes. This was one of the reasons why she liked Ívarr the best. He was aware of his fame and he admitted loud and proud that he loved it. She liked honesty and honest people, if Ívarr didn't like you you'd know he didn't (unless it benefited him for you to believe otherwise). Unlike most people. "We've never met before if it makes you feel better" She added with a small smirk.

"So you're Ívarr's friend?" He collected himself and then asked, trying to keep the subject off of himself.

"Clearly" She said and resumed her washing. "Unless there's a real purpose to this visit I'd suggest you leave so that I can wash my clothes in peace. Your lack of intelligence rubs off" She said, her voice indifferent. She didn't have time to play little games with princes, especially when she didn't know beforehand what kind of game they were going to play.

"Tell me his favorite color" Ubbe demanded, trying to test if they were both lying to him.

Atla answered without hesitation "Red, of course, like the blood of his enemies". She was almost insultet that he thought she'd be one to be pushed around by Ívarr but then she thought again. She was being pushed around by Ívarr and always had been. Strange how that works, she thought amused to herself.

"And you, brother, what is her favorite color?" He turned to his brother with a slightly surprised look on his face. I told you it would be useful, she told herself and threw a small smirk at Ívarr who was looking very proud of himself.

"Blue, like the sea on a stormy day" The cripple answered and threw her a big smirk back, happy that their small Q&A session had helped them.

"You planned this didn't you?" Ubbe asked his brother with an exasperated look on his face as if he was tired of all of his brother's multiple schemes and plans. " This proves nothing" He stated and then turned around and walked away.

She returned to her cleaning, expecting her friend to have went away with his brother but she was proven wrong when said friend could be heard crawling over to her.

"I knew you were a good pick" He commented, picking up a piece of her hair and spinning it around his finger before releasing it. "Esther was right, it is useful to have a friend"

"You know you should really tell me you're going to do something like that before you do it" Atla replied, annoyed both by his continuous interruption of her chore and his unannounced visit with his brother.

"If I did it wouldn't be genuine and he wouldn't fall for it." Ever the strategic manipulative man, she remarked in her head after he replied with an answer that was so Ívarr.

"Why are you washing your own clothes? Don't you have thralls or servants to do that?" He asked, genuinely confused by whatever she was doing. It was clear that he was a privileged child, being the child of Ragnarr and a prince it was a given.

"I don't have either of those things, I do all chores by myself." Atla replied, with an almost irritated tone to her voice. She flipped her hair to one side and turned her head around to look at the viking. "If you're going to continue bother me you could at least help out a bit"

He shrugged and grabbed one of the dresses she had placed on the ground and for the next 30 min Atla was laughing so hard that she couldn't breathe because of his hilarious failing in washing the clothes.