Phoenix liked the court room.
The hard wooden seats, the rather simple design of flower patterns crawling up the once shining, golden walls, now hidden behind heavy, red curtains.
She kept them closed normally, the warm red a welcome change to all the cold gold surrounding her.
The colour reminded her on golden eyes buried into hers, and she didn’t need that right now. So the red curtains covered the gold, put up there during darker times, and whoever could know what other secrets too?
The sun shone through the open balcony, directly meeting her bare back, the warmth caressing the tensed muscles in her shoulders.
She was binding flower crowns, her long fingers so used to this movement – a welcome distraction from the repeating circles her mind wandered on, rather than the complicated art it once used to be.
The goddess gifted with a talent for the finer arts and the determination and time to practice found relaxation in her work, blowing away a strain of raven hair from her pale face.
One knot after the other, she could blend out the continuous whispers inside her mind.
Mercy will save him. Mercy will save him.
She didn't know yet what it meant, but as always, time would tell.
Right now she enjoyed the sun too much to worry about anything.
Phoenix had learned to value these moments of calmness, for she got only very few of them.
Not that she hadn't anything else to do, Odin was calling for her a couple of hours ago, expecting her to meet him at the feast this afternoon, an oracle like her a welcome guest to such events. Everyone wanted to know something about their fate until she told them.
Well, almost everyone, she thought by herself, a little smile betraying her otherwise serious face while her mind sunk into her memory for a moment.
"You really don't regret asking me?", she asked, genuine surprise numbing the nervousness creeping up on her.
The feast around them at it's high, her voice barely carried over the music in the background.
Heimdall only shrugged his shoulders, a smile wise beyond his young age on his lips.
"Why should I? Knowing one's fate can be calming, in a fast paced time like this, don't you think?", he explained, standing closer than he had to.
She lost herself in his golden eyes for a moment, before Odin cleared his throat behind them.
"You should return to your duties, Heimdall.", Odin said, meanwhile his contemplating look fixated on Phoenix.
Heimdall didn't reply, and bowed to his king, a gentle smile on his lips.
His short wink planted a grin on Phoenix' face, before she looked back at Odin again, her genuine smile turning into a plastic one.
Heimdall's steps were light-hearted, matching the rhythm of the now calmer song the musicians were playing, as if to make sure, even the last person sitting inside that hall could hear Odin’s words.
"Princess Phoenix.", he said, and she didn't understand how this formal greeting could sound so threatening, because the girl from back then only knew how to fit in and accept the place given to her.
"You are missed at the table, I suggest you return to your duties too.", Odin said, and while her eyes searched Loki's, by habit, he stared down at his plate, looking even more like a child than her.
YOU ARE READING
The Villain
Fanfiction[second part of The Soldier] Maybe Tessa's place just stays the losing side. Left behind on Midgard, the former soldier has to deal with losing yet another person because she can't reach them in time. Finding no answers to any of her questions rega...
