Days Of The Halycon

Chapter Three

Dearest Mother,

Worry not about having been too busy. I understand. We all must put the realm before ourselves and our own wishes. It saddens me to think that you will miss me. Rest assured I will find happiness here, Jotunheim is a unique beauty, one unlike any I have seen.

I do wish that you were here to help me along, it is frightening to be alone here, to be on my own. I will do my best in all that must be done, though. I will not let you or Uncle down, I would sooner face the axe.

Your Daughter, 

Sigyn

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It might have once been beautiful, Sigyn thought as they walked along the wide street that cut through the middle of the city. It was wide and worn down with small pebbles to keep people and carts from slipping. People lined the edges, eager to see the prince’s betrothed. Her eyes did not glance their way however, they were fixed dead ahead.

At the end of the road a palace in various stages of ruin greeted them. Again, it could have once been beautiful like the mismatched homes of stone and wood surrounding it. The stone walls, dark and stained from years of neglect looked down at her, icicles hanging precariously off ledges, threatening to snap and shatter against the ground, or against whoever was unlucky enough to be standing beneath them.

The though sent a shiver up her spine and she was glad for the cold that hid her fear. It would seem that even the buildings were daunting here, haunted and jagged looking, much like their people.

Much like my people, she corrected herself. These would one day be her people, she should become accustomed to thinking of them as such. Those who stood on the side of the road, the ones who had acted as her escorts and dressed her, even the man beside her, though they were entirely different would be her people. It was something she believed would be as strange for them as for her.

Agnarr did not speak to her again, yet she could feel him looking at her. The old man’s red eyes were piercing and it felt as though he could see her thoughts. Or perhaps he was simply inspecting how well the bargain he had made with Freyr had gone.

Undoubtably worse than he had thought it would, he was no doubt thinking they had given the realm the spare. The one without chances of her own. “I hope you will find happiness here, princess.” The man looked upon her with a warm smile she did not believe to be possible among Jotnar.

Her gaze turned away from the palace and to him in a stunned sort of silence, one where her lips parted and she tried to think of something to say. “I will.” It was a weak assurance but, still she had made an attempt to. With that bold lie she looked ahead once more, wrapping the prince’s cloak tighter around her shoulders. 

It smelled like him, and there was something unsettling about the smell of incense that clung to the fur like snow.

The closer they drew to the palace the more visible the repairs being mad to the structure were. Sections of stone stood out, though still dark they bore no cracks and were somewhat smoother than the ones surrounding them. It would seem as though Freyr had begun delivering on his promises already.

A selfish bit of her liked to believe it was for her, though the more rational part knew that was far from true. He had done it so that this might all go smoother, that they would deliver on their promise of protection just as readily when Vanaheim called on them. 

If they failed to do so the sacrifices she was making would be all for not. That put a sick feeling in her stomach and she abandoned those thoughts as they entered the court yard.