After the Frosta ting, Erlend went home to Husaby with his wife, children, and Simon Darre, who now had his sister’s son, Gjavvald Gjavvaldss?n, with him. He was afraid that the reunion, which Sigrid had been yearning for with inexpressible joy, would not turn out well. Sigrid now lived at Kruke in good circumstances; she had three handsome children with her husband, and Geirmund was as good a man as could be found on this earth. He was the one who had spoken to his brother-in-law about bringing Gjavvald south so that Sigrid might see him, for the child was always on her mind. But Gjavvald had grown accustomed to living with his grandpar ents, and the old couple loved the child beyond measure, giving him everything he wanted and humoring his every whim; and things were not the same at Kruke as at Ranheim. Nor was it to be expected that Geirmund would be pleased to have his wife’s bastard son come visiting and then behave like a royal child, even bringing along his own servant—an elderly man whom the boy ruled and tyrannized. The man didn’t dare say a word against any of Gjavvald’s unreasonable demands. But for Erlend’s sons, it was cause for celebration when Gjavvald came to Husaby. Erlend didn’t think his sons should have any less than the grandson of Arne Gjavvaldss?n did, and so Naakkve and Bj?rgulf were given all the things they told him the boy possessed.
Now that Erlend’s oldest sons were big enough to accompany him and go out riding with him, he paid more attention to the boys. Simon noticed that Kristin wasn’t entirely pleased by this; she thought that what they learned among his men was not all good. And it was usually about the children that unkind words most often erupted between the couple. Even though they might not have an outright quarrel, they were much closer to it than Simon thought was proper. And it seemed to him that Kristin was most to blame. Erlend could be quick-tempered, but she often spoke as if she harbored a deep, hidden rancor toward him. That was the case one day when Kristin brought up several complaints about Naakkve. Erlend replied that he would have a serious talk with the boy. But after another remark from his wife, he exclaimed angrily that he wasn’t about to give the boy a beating in front of the servants.
“No, it’s too late for that now. If you had done it when he was younger, he would listen to you now. But back then you never paid the slightest attention to him.”
“Oh yes, I did. But surely it was reasonable that I left him in your keeping when he was small—and besides, it’s no job for a man to hand out beatings to little boys who aren’t even in breeches yet.”
“That’s not what you thought last week,” said Kristin, her voice scornful and bitter.
Erlend didn’t reply but stood up and left the room. And Simon thought it was unkind of his wife to speak to him in this manner. Kristin was referring to something that had happened the week before. Erlend and Simon had come riding into the courtyard when little Lavrans ran toward them with a wooden sword in his hand. As he raced past his father’s horse, he rashly struck the animal across the leg with his sword. The horse reared up, and the boy was suddenly lying under its feet. Erlend backed away, yanked the horse to the side, and threw his reins to Simon. His face was white with dread as he lifted the child up in his arms. But when he saw that the boy was unharmed, he put him over his arm, took the wooden sword, and gave Lavrans a beating on his bare bottom—the boy was not yet wearing breeches. In those first heated moments, he didn’t realize how hard he was striking, and Lavrans was still walking around with black and blue marks. But afterwards Erlend tried all day to make amends with the boy, who sulked and clung to his mother, hitting and threatening his father. Later that evening, when Lavrans was settled in his parents’ bed where he usually slept because his mother still nursed him during the night, Erlend sat next to him for hours. Every once in a while he would stroke the sleeping child a bit as he gazed down at him. He told Simon that this was the boy he loved most of all his sons.
When Erlend set off for the summer tings, Simon headed home. He raced south along Gauldal, making the sparks fly from his horse’s hooves. Once, as they rode more slowly up several steep slopes, his men laughingly asked him whether he was trying to cover three days’ journey in two. Simon laughed in reply and said that was indeed his intention, “because I’m longing to reach Formo.”
That was how he always felt whenever he had been away from his estate for long; he loved his home and always felt great joy when he could turn his horse homeward. But this time it seemed he had never longed so much to return to his valley and manor and his young daughters—yes, he even yearned for Ramborg. To be truthful, he thought it unreasonable to feel this way, but up there at Husaby he had been so uneasy that now he thought he knew firsthand how cattle could sense in their bodies that a storm was brewing.