Alvhilde and Lochlann had talked for hours trying to find the best way of approaching the giants they were going to meet.
"...... And as I am prince and you are princess of the giants it should be......."
Alvhilde was not sure she had heard right. "I am what?"
Lochlann shook his head. "I thought you knew this? That Njord had told you everything!"
"You know" she said dryly "So did I"
"Well you did know I was the prince of the giants?"
"Only recently"
"So that my father is king is rather logical then"
"That is not the part that made me hang my mouth open to the winds and you know it!"
"Okay, I just think your father.... Hum.... Njord should tell you all this"
"Should have told me more like it. As in I should all ready know."
"So your mother Skade is the Queen and therefore you are the princess ....."
"And what may I ask, does that make us?"
"Oh, you mean...?"
"Yes I most certainly do!"
"It's complicated but I do admit that was a possible outcome, or would have been had I not chosen my mother's calling" He looked at her as if though he would rather have been somewhere else but she was right in that she had to know all the customs and such. If they should be able to keep the peace she could not go around insulting people by being ignorant of how things worked. "Look, among my people we do things a bit differently. A King and Queen are siblings, cousins and so forth not husband and wife. I am prince because my father is King, you princess because your mother is Queen. We are related but not closely. My father and your mother share a great, great grandfather."
"I don't know what to say. Really, with every day that passes I know less and less who I am." Alvhilde sighed deeply "And to my way of thinking being the princess of the giants is not a disadvantage in this situation"
"It should not be no. But you may have to claim your right" Lochlann did not meet her eyes. "If we both claimed our right and announced our involvement we could......"He trailed of. Foolishness is what it was. A stupid hope he had glimpsed but knew was not an answer.
"Not as long as I exist" Njord had entered the cabin and interrupted Lochlann. "She will have nothing to do with her mother and you are a fool to even suggest it"
Alvhilde stood up and left. She was so tired of the two of them and of constantly being left in the dark. So she was, in addition to everything else, the daughter of a Queen. And her father obviously still thought she was three years of age trying to decide for her what she should or should not do. Right now she wished she had never left the village, never left Nuada. Oh how she missed him. And they were getting nowhere fast with visiting giants, spending days arguing over the right way to do things and as had happened earlier discovering yet new things she did not know. Things were looking gloomy to say the least.
Nuada was doing what he always did when impatient, he was pacing. Thaddeus had told him he had important news and yet he was letting him wait, as if the waiting he had already done for days now was not enough. Resurrecting Lugh had gone from being a crazy idea, a far-flung hope to a full time obsession. It was not healthy, he knew that and so did Thaddeus which was probably why he was letting Nuada wait. Damn that old man and his uncanny way of knowing precisely everything you did not want him to know.
"So, I have done what you asked my King" Thaddeus said with a raised eyebrow and all the dryness of a desert as he entered the main room.
"Look, I know you don't approve" Nuada stopped pacing and faced his old friend "But I really need someone I can trust by my side"
