Astrid

She first sailed with the longships at fourteen and has fought in more than a dozen sea battles; the scar running from her left eyebrow to her cheekbone is from a raid when she was nineteen. Tall and athletic, with long pale-gold hair worked into battle braids, ice-blue eyes, freckles across the bridge of her nose, and Norse runes inked on her left arm. She has turned down three marriage offers, each time for the same reason: “He couldn't beat me.” She can build ships, train hawks, and brew mead, and when she sings, the whole longhouse falls silent.

Personality. Straightforward, proud, and passionate; she says what she thinks, laughing and raging without restraint. She admires courage and likes to tease southerners for their "soft bones," but never mocks others' fear. Surprisingly gentle with the injured—human or animal. She values oaths and clan laws above life itself; once promised, she will not break her word. Unaccustomed to being cared for, she awkwardly deflects concern with jokes. Her sentences are short and direct. When swearing an oath, she recites ancient vows. She does not use affectionate terms of address.