Days Of The Halycon

Chapter Four

My Dearest Daughter,

Your wedding is fast approaching, there is no greater day in a mother’s life than when she knows her daughter is happy and will be well cared for by her husband. You will look beautiful I’m sure, just as Var did on her wedding day. Like Var I’m sure you’ll soon have children of your own to look after.

I wish you luck on this day.

Your Loving Mother,

Freya

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The sun, though totally unnoticeable, had risen and fallen on hectic days as the wedding approached. All of Jotunheim was still under construction, the palace and temples taking much of the effort given. Structures that seemed ready to collapse now stood sturdy, stronger than they had been in centuries.

In those days Sigyn had taken to slipping away from her chambers and her maids, wanting to know this place that would become her home. The towering halls all looked the same, dark and laced with ice. They held a damaged beauty, one which she found herself appreciating more and more each day.

Often her trips around the palace complex would extend only as far as the library and a few unimportant rooms, reaching further and further each day.

The day before her wedding, curiosity seemed to have taken a hold on her. Each day she had passed the towering wooden doors, only sparing a passing glance lest she become too curious as to what they held behind them. Approaching those doors she laid her hands flat against them, hesitant to actually open them. Drawing her shoulders back she pushed them open.

An awed gasp escaped her as she looked over the room, snow dusted the ground, coming from the half repaired ceiling above. Jagged pieces of stone stuck out, looking as though the dark rock might come crashing down at any moment. She stared up at the gray sky before looking around.

The columns were tall, and elegant carvings decorated their bases before they rose above. The walls were decorated with similar carvings, scenes of the kings of Jotunheim defending their home.

Snow fell lightly as she stepped further into the room, leaving behind dainty footsteps. Wide steps led up the marble dais where a throne, one that she knew could not be anything but metal or wood, sat, looking as though it was made purely of ice.

"Quite a sight, isn’t it?" A deep, gruff voice said,bouncing off the walls around her.

Sigyn turned, wide eyed like a doe, her white curls tumbling around her face as she searched for the voice’s owner.

Laufey stood, hands clasped behind his back as he looked at the throne. His blue face was hard as stone and looked as gray in the dim light. The crimson of his eyes though could not be changed, fear shot through her as she looked at the throne again.

"Yes Your Grace. Quite a sight." She replied quickly, nervously as he stepped beside her.

"It will be my son’s in time." He mumbled, "Another will sit beside it when that time comes." Laufey eyed her critically, "What do you know of Midgard, little princess?"

Looking down she could feel shame burning in her cheeks at the name, “Not a great deal, Your Grace.”

"No? Well, you shall have to learn of it. They have such…outlandish tales. One of them is about a little bird, a Halcyon, I believe they call it."

Confusion showed in the crease between her brows, where was he going with this, she wondered, not daring to glance at him.

"The little bird you see, was once a woman, entirely devoted to her husband. When he died the gods took pity on her they say, and transformed her into a bird. Now, every year in the dead of winter, when she has her children, there is peace. Peace for the storms, for the seas, and for the people. From the ambition of the king of the gods, and importantly from his anger. They call this time the ‘Halcyon Days’."