As Harald pushes his warriors and thralls to make the drakkar seaworthy, Freya senses his urgency to reach Saga at Hrafnheim and focuses on the hope of answers despite her fear of approaching Nordeland’s stronghold. While the ship sails up the icy Rimstrom past small coastal villages and deep forests, Freya stays apart from Harald and Bjorn and keeps company only with Tora.

Tora thanks Freya for saving her life and admits she is sorry for what happened at Grindill. When Freya asks whether Harald ordered Tora to hurt her people, Tora does not plainly confirm it, but her reaction strongly suggests Harald’s command and reveals Tora’s unease with violence. Freya notices that Tora seems deeply haunted, which makes Freya wonder whether Thor influences Tora the way Hel tries to influence her.

That night, Freya watches a bear and her cubs on the riverbank and sees that one cub is badly injured and doomed. Bjorn silently takes up a bow and kills the suffering cub, acting as the merciful predator Freya had wished for. Soon after, Guthrum returns from scouting with Kaja and sits with Freya, and Freya questions him about how he entered Harald’s service.

Guthrum tells Freya that he was born to a mother touched by Jord, was feared as unnatural, and lost both his mother and beloved dog when villagers turned on them after his abusive father returned. Harald, then a jarl, intervened, punished the killers, explained Guthrum’s divine blood, and offered him refuge in exchange for helping find other mistreated Unfated. Guthrum says this is how Harald later helped Bjorn as well: Guthrum and Volund aided the badly burned Bjorn after Saga found him, and Harald was the first person Bjorn saw upon waking.

Freya rejects the story because she fears that understanding Bjorn or Harald will make it easier for them to use her. Guthrum responds that everyone has a monster within and, before diving back into the river, admits that his dog killed his father because Guthrum ordered it, making clear that the true monster was not the animal. Left with that confession and the weight of what she has learned, Freya hears Harald order the company to camp for the night.