Ragnarök

3 | Revelation

"But love is blind, and lovers cannot see
The pretty follies that themselves commit..."

Jessica in The Merchant of Venice (Act II, Scene VI)

❆

Princess Snow has only been about the rocky elevator thrice now, but she already loves the feel of it. The little noise it makes as the metal links clank against each other while lowering the elevator slowly, and the little pressure she feels in her lower stomach as she travels, and every little thing: she loves coming to Fólkvangr, as dastardly as that sounds.

But the feeling in her stomach may have more to do with the fact that she is coming here without her sister's knowledge or any justifiable purpose. She has been to the Underground once and it has already started to give her the push to break the rules and limits she has to live under.

Ever since she came back from underground, her mind has been riddling her with the man who got thrown into the dungeons. Snow feels like she knows him, knows him somehow. And more importantly, he knows her sister.

The Queen has never made any friendship or near acquaintance with a Vike, so the fact that this particular Vike's voice had the tone of belonging when he said her name bothers Snow. So much so that she decides to sneak out of the Palace during a Valkyrie meeting and come back here. It's not her first time sneaking out of the palace, but it definitely marks her first time coming to the most forbidden place she could visit doing so.

As soon as the elevator stops, she gets out and sneaks away from the Valkyrie office at the very beginning. She knows she has less chances of meeting a Valkyrie because there's a meeting going on in Valhalla right this moment, but she knows better than to risk it.

"Excuse me, milady," she hears a man say as she trails secretively. "But aren't you Princess Snow?"

Her eyes widen as she realizes her disguise has no use. She has on a black skin-tight pant and a grey sweater and has her head wrapped in a subtle scarf that she thought hid all that gave away her identity as the princess, but this tall man with a protruding scar on the right side of his face has identified her.

"Shh, don't be loud!" The scared girl panics and the man, who goes by the name Kohl Albescu smirks as he takes a step towards her.

"Take another step forward and I'll have you castrated," her authoritative tone comes up. Thankfully, one side of her brain reminded her the line taught by Veronica when Snow was young. She told the young one to use it if she ever met a misbehaving man.

"Whoa, there, Your Highness. Didn't mean to scare you. This man is at your service," he bows down. Snow smiles, her eyes peeping up to acknowledge and thank the deceased Ronnie.

"Good," she says. "I want to know the way to the dungeons."

Kohl raises a single eyebrow. "But why, Your Highness? The dungeons is no place for a Royal like Your Highness."

"But I need to see him. That Vike from when I visited earlier who got thrown into the dungeons. Can you please take me there?" Snow asks, forgetting she's not supposed to plead to the Vikes. Her mentor would be so displeased with her.

Kohl is mighty surprised, but he chooses not to say anything about the word 'please'. If she has said that without knowing what it means to say it to a Vike, Kohl prefers it stays that way.

"Of course, Your Highness. And I hope you mean Freddie Smith. He was the Vike from earlier. But I swear on Loki, he's a good man with only good intentions," he says as he leads her through the passage at the end of the floor and a long set of steep, narrow stairs.