Brenja

Like all Dwarven women, Brenja was born and bred to marry. Her father was in the guard. Her mother was a maid. Brenja was determined to be more. She studied the male Dwarves carefully, but none within the walls of the village of the Winter Hawk clan caught her interest, and so she went to Dhulgalir. She knew poverty. She was determined to rise above her humble birth. As she approached her ninetieth year, the year a Dwarf was considered an adult, she studied how to be attractive to Dwarven males and carefully invested in jewels and dresses, much to the chagrin of her twin brother, Bjarni, who was more modest, like their parents.

Brenja’s shrewdness paid off, however, for when she was ninety, at her first Choosing, she caught the eye of the young King, Ívarr. They were wed. Almost immediately, she became pregnant.

Two years into her five-year pregnancy, Brenja was surprised when Queen Tesni of Linwood sent representatives seeking an alliance. After consulting with her husband, however, the pair decided to wait. When Halmar aligned with Bhimar, so did Fannar, and Brenja and Ívarr chose Brynhildr to head the Shield Maidens after they were betrayed by Vígdís.

At first, they thought that they had chosen correctly. However, when the war was over, it was Vígdís who returned and chastised them. Now in the third year of her pregnancy, Brenja, along with Ívarr, found herself chastised by the Shield Maiden. They were allowed to stay on the throne only because she was pregnant, and only until the older twin would come of age. A year later, the two of them, along with Vigdis, went to Linwood to sign the Treaty of Hearts, making Fannar part of the Five Kingdoms Alliance.