NOVEMBERLAND: the little shieldmaiden

20

At dinner, Mother was swirling around Viorica any moment she could. However, the excitement was not received by Viorica. Any minute she could she gave me an annoyed look, which just made me and Tyr laugh. He was invited to the dinner too, Viorica had insisted on him eating here. She said that he had no need for eating in that small little house of his all alone. To be honest, it was not small at all, but compared to what she was used to it was probably like a shed. 

Viorica looked like a crown jewel when she was sat beside the Lynrikan nobles. Everyone's eyes were appointed to her. Although the Lynrikans were used to light hair, Viorica's hair was like white silk compared to the blonde's of Lynrike. 

"What are you thinking about?" Tyr whispered in my ear.

"Not much, what about you?" I and continued looking at my Mother and Viorica.

"I'm thinking about why your sister looks different," he said, and it made me switch my eyes to looking at Alva. She did not seem different to me. She was as quiet as before, and she spoke only when necessary. 

"What do you mean? I know that her hair is done differently and her clothes, but she looks normal to me," I said.

"She looks scared like she was out of it," he then said. I looked up at him, but he was looking at her. And he was right, she had looked at the table the whole time. Just like when she was sad when she was little when Father passed away. 

After eating dinner some people had stood up from their chairs, and people had started mingling with each other. I stood beside Viorica, she had been talking about how she could not stand mother. To be honest, it was quite funny, but I was looking at Alva, Storm and Tyr. He had gone up to them, just to talk to them. Storm and Tyr had been at the settlement together, and they hung out sometimes, with Storm being close to him in age. Me and Storm had never been close, but somehow, my best friend managed to have a genuine conversation with him. I was closest to Grim, although I was not close to any of my siblings. I had not really talked a lot with Grim after Calibur.

"You love him," Viorica said and made me break out of my daydreaming. 

"What?" I asked and looked at her. She was looking towards Tyr and them.

"I-" was all I could get out. He was smiling, and his blue eyes glistened. 

"You do not want to admit, but you do. Although you want to care for someone else," Viorica said and looked up at me.

"I care for him, he's my best friend," I said and his eyes suddenly met mine. He smirked a little as he continued talking with my siblings.

"And you are lucky to have him, he loves you and there's nothing to neglect that," she said with a calm voice. "But you care for someone else too," she then added. I turned towards her, and I met her dark blue eyes. She was right. I cared for someone else too, but it was not in the same way.

"I don't care for him the same way, it's... it's-"

"Complicated," Viorica said as she ended my sentence in the word I wanted to say, but could not convey. 

"Yes. Complicated," I repeated and looked out in the room again. 

~

I sat on my windowsill later that evening, just looking out towards the kingdom. A few ravens flew by my window, they were the bird of Lynrike. They were believed to be sacred. Odin had two ravens, Huginn and Munin being thought and memory. A raven could mean luck or death, and sometimes a sign of the gods.