Loki-Struck

Chapter 18

~Bethena~

   (I figure everyone would love to know more about the soon to be princess so here it is)

   Once I had a family. Once I was not a servant. Once I lived life normal, and had a real smile on my face... but that was once. Now it all seems like a fairy tail gone horribly wrong.

   A million years ago, it seems, I lived in a house. I had a mother and father and 9 older brothers. The house was quite large, all of my siblings and I had our own bed chambers, and it was hidden deep in the woods. My father had always told me he chose to have a house in the woods, because one must always recognize that natural beauty all around. And I for one firmly agreed. I absolutely loved the trees around our house and spent all my hours that I possibly could out side.

   And although I believed my fathers reason, I knew there was a second reason that no one ever spoke of in our family. We can hear the trees speak. Now most would call me insane, but trees make the best of friends. Sometimes as a very young girl I would spend hours just talking to them, and listening to stories, for trees tell the best stories. They tell stories of love, of war, and of unbelievable magic, and sometimes even the lost realms that used to exist. Yes they are the best story tellers, but only because they are older than any one who lives and have a memory that stretches on forever.

   My brothers found talking to the trees odd and boring, they preferred to live life in the now, instead of listening to their words of wisdom and their stories. And that living in the now that they did is what caused our family so much trouble.

   Like a band of thieves they were, causing trouble in the kingdom. Sometimes they wouldn't return home for the simple fact of the punishment they would endure from father and whom so ever they crossed. The trees found this very annoying, they didn't enjoy the trouble my brothers caused, and sometimes they would tell on them when they didn't return home.

   When I was seven years old, my brothers burned down Lord Paxton's barn. At first the fire wasn't so bad, but of course my brothers didn't stop there. They had a hoot while throwing ale into the fire, which caused it to spread to the trees. My eldest brother John, the only brother whom never went on escapades with the others, rushed to help put the fire out along with my father. But by the time the fire was gone, half the woods were burnt down.

   The trees mourned their fallen brothers and spoke very little. Soon enough by the time I turned eight years old, the trees stopped speaking all together. And by then all the people in which my brothers had crossed had, had enough of them and decided to take matters into their own hands.

   My mother and I hid in the wine cellar and listened as the mob stored the house above us. I listened as swords clashed and men yelled. When my mother could no longer take sitting with me and not helping she stormed up into the house, commanding me to stay. But before she had been gone a minute, her lifeless body tumbled down the stair back into the cellar, landing right in front of me. And then that's when everything went silent and eerily still. I couldn't move, I couldn't speak, nothing. I sat there for what seemed an eternity, until I smelled the all to familiar smell of smoke.

   The trees began to scream, they screamed and pleaded my name, as if they knew I was still alive. And in a rush I stood up and ran for the stairs, stopping at my mothers body to apologize and then ran up the stairs. My entire house was nothing but flames, and the smoke began suffocating me immediately. The last thing I remember is is being carried by strong arms out of the flames.

   When I woke, I was in the palace healing room and being cared for. And only one person came to speak to me of my family... King Odin.

~~Hello darlings!!! So I hope this explains more about Bethena to you, and I hope you liked it.

Until next time...