You Are My Romeo

Chapter 1: Visitors on the island

~ Astrid ~

"Raaah!" I roared as I swung my axe at the training dummy, chopping its straw-filled head clean off without even breaking a sweat. I balanced my double edged battle axe in my hands as I admired its sharpness and agility, running my fingers across its smooth, but sturdy wooden handle.

"I see the axe is working as it should?" A familiar voice echoed through the tunnel leading down to the arena as a grin involuntarily started tugging at the corners of my mouth.

"It's amazing, dad, thank you so much." I couldn't hide my excitement over my new axe any longer as a wide grin stretched across my face and I once again found myself admiring the perfectly balanced weapon in my hands.

A deep grief flashed across my father's face as he watched me with heavy eyes and a weak smile. "Your mother would be so happy to hear that, my darling."

At the mere mention of my mother, time seemed to slow as my surroundings changed from a warm and sunny day in the arena, to a grey, cloudy and downright gloomy winter morning on the docks. It wasn't my clearest memory, I was pretty young after all, but I was certain that I would never forget the sight of my father on that day.

My father's already pale skin had blanched even further on that day, resembling the pure, untouched snow that rested beneath our feet. His eyes, which were usually the vibrant color of the skies on a sunny day had grown dark and stormy as his bushy eyebrows weighed heavily upon them. His gaze on the lone ship that sailed painfully slow towards us was unwavering and with every inch it crept closer, I could feel his grip around my tiny fingers tighten more and more.

I remember wondering why his eyes never left the ship, wondering what was so important about it that he couldn't pay any attention to me, but as I focused on the memory and remembered all the little details about it ... perhaps it wasn't so strange after all. From the way his shoulders trembled to the way he subconsciously played with the bark brown braids in his beard, it was much clearer to me now than it had been when we were standing there on the docks.

I closed my eyes for a brief second and when I reopened them, I found myself back in the arena on a delightful summer's day, a gentle breeze blowing past me as I took a deep breath and shook off the memory of that day on the docks.

Suddenly, a rough, strong hand weighed down my shoulder and I turned to face my father, whose face was still set with the same grief from before, only this time his eyes had grown bright and his smile was now genuine. "Gods, you look just like her."

I studied my father's face, taking in the markings that had been left not only from the many battles he had participated in, but also from the heavy grief that had been weighing him down for the past years. He looked 7 years older than he was supposed to be and although the loss of my mother had not been easy on either of us, my father had taken it especially hard. I mean, how could he not? She was the love of his life after all.

I filled my lungs with the fresh air that filled the arena, tucking a loose strand of my long, blonde hair behind my ear as I became painfully aware of my braid which was in the process of falling apart. I pushed the thought to the back of my mind as I set my focus back on my axe — my mother's axe — and traced the freshly carved runes on the handle. 'Astrid'. "You didn't really come here to watch me test out my new axe, did you?"

A deep sound, similar to that of thunder, echoed through my father as he rested his heavily calloused hands on his hips and slowly shook his head, his dark, bear-skin cape flowing in tact with his movements . "Is it really that obvious?"