Born in the year 647 to the king's brother, Prince Stefan Gylkrohn and his wife Anagret Arnstor, Sigrid was bound to be wed to some high ranking noble at least, as she is niece to the King. She was wed to Erik Bjornsvatr, the Duke of Bjornstad in the year 665, a marriage that would result in bearing her husband three daughters: Eilif (born in 666), Solveig (born in 668) and Liv (born in 671). When her husband died in an accident while on a trail in the mountains in 672, the title of Duke went to his brother Kjeld. Sigrid remained at Bjornstad for two more years, but recently she has returned to the royal court at Eiksee with her daughters.
After recent negotiations she has been betrothed to Barret Brais, the king of the neighbour kingdom of Two Rivers, a man who is twice her age - in a politically important match.
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From her earliest years people said Sigrid Bjornsvartr was kissed by mirth. Daughter and heir of the late King's brother Stefan Gylkrohn her upbringing was closely watched a fact that might have turned out to become a burden, if it wasn't for her light-hearted temperament. Easily she conquered the hearts of those to teach her, fulfilling her tasks with mirth. The relationship between her and her two younger sisters couldn't be more different: When there has always been a strong rivalry between Agata and her, her youngest sister Frida has always been an intimate friend, confidant in her most secret wishes and plans of mischief. At the age of 13 Sigrid had become a vivid rider of Estoria's sturdy horses on long summer days and a patient listener while sitting at the fire with a piece of needlework on even longer nights of winter.
Even her mother, Anegret Gylkrohn, who was often pressed into her cushions for days of weeping by the weight of her melancholy nature was seen to smile at her at the rare occasions when she left her chambers to hold court. Her father was often mockingly bemoaning his lack of sons (of course never when his wife was present to spare her delicate condition), however, all of his daughters left him marvelled and claim he couldn't have a boy more worthy his name. In Sigrid's case it has been the day, when he caught her shoeing her own horse in the stables, while travelling to a vassal's summer fair. The local smith was said to lie in a fever, she claimed, and she didn't want to get him out of his sickbed for a task she could perform herself. Jovial amusement became surprise when Stefan lifted the mount's hoof and had to admit that in fact the horseshoe was sitting right in place. When he asked where she might have learned these skills, she claimed to have simply inherited them from him, who had always known to be an enthusiastic horseman not be afraid to get his own hands dirty if required.
Not soon after Erik Bjornsvatr came to court as a companion to the King's many sons, a lanky lad born with a hare's lip, dutybound from head to toe, but full of jokes, songs and merriment. Often they were seen riding next to each other at hunts or while travelling. When he left to join another knight as a squire, Sigrid was said to weep like her mother. Both of her sisters, her nurse and her father were most concerned that she might have inherited her mother's crushing sadness, but within a fortnight she retrieved and set her grief aside.
Within the next five years she became a beauty, a noblewoman who would become able to send out an army of knights into the darkest, rainy nights only by mentioning to crave for berrys that only grow in a certain part of the forest on her family's lands. Never did she exchange more than teasing or a hushed kiss at the wake of a night long's dance with them. When Erik returned to court, his hare's lip hidden by a beard, his shoulders made broader by year's of training and his laughter the very same she remembered, she was stirred. Unfortunately she had to watch many noble daughters being offered to him, his attractiveness being highly incresed by the fact he was heir of aduchy and his father was suffering from a severe sickness for months. At the next hunt she made sure a strayed fox would lead her abroad and her would follow her into the woods to save her. They were married a month later.
Their marriage was a happy one in the first few years, even if the spark that had lead to this match soon turned to an appreciating comradeship again. From all the things Sigrid proved to have inherited from her mother, her habit of giving birth only to daughters was the most noticeable trait. One day Erik came home with a cough he did laugh at as he did with all the minor nuisances brought by life, this time his merriment turned into spitting blood - within three months he died.
At his funeral Barrett Brais was rumored to have said his condolences, and to refreshen the acquaintance to Sigrid Bjornsvatr he made years ago.
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