Running, breathing, vision blurred as sweat ran the length of her brow and became sticky between eye lashes. Kari shook her head, stray hair both clinging to skin and shaking loose as air raged from nostrils to mouth causing a cold burn in her throat. She could hear the huff and puff of her exertion and the thud of her boots on solid ground from the inside, music blasting in her ears from some disco track, the curly haired woman, barely registered as she focused ahead of herself.
The sun was little more than an hour or so above dawn and yet, Karian Motter, was wide awake and had already made a completed circle twice over from river to tree line of the fields. It had become a habit over the past few days, jogging at sun up until her tunic clung to her torso and her calves begged for mercy. It made her return to the palace ring with triumph; though the servants saw little more than a hard stare that made them skitter out of her way and keep their admonishing tongues for darker corners. Best not to poke at a beast when armed with only breakfast treats. There was simply no time in her day to worry about anything other than her need to be stronger or at least something other than what she was a week ago. Visions of Niffleheim, the dead walking, mud caked on every surface of her skin flashed behind her eyelids from time to time. It had been hard, it had hurt, she had cried but still, Karian Motter, had made it to the top of that hill, surpassed the dragon, found her way through the maze to the castle. It was Asgard's turn now, that needed to be summited.
Returning to her grandfather's rooms, the curly haired woman, walked with a continued purpose into the bathroom, her dirtied clothing coming loose from her body despite the presence of two rather lovely if hung over maidens attempting to fix their hair in a mirror. Bodies were frozen, eyes glued to the strange midgardian running herself a bath in the nude as the asgardian women found their cheeks lacking the need for blush or rouge; a squeak exited someone's mouth before a scuttle of soft shoes padded away in retreat.
"My dear!" Fandral's voice drifted over the sounds of a slamming door and the slosh of water. "Please stop terrorising my guests."
"I wasn't!" Kari growled back, brown curls getting a vigorous scrub before her head submerged under luke warm water; why did the hussies always use the good stuff.
"Then why are yet more of the loveliest of asgards womanhood running from my home the moment you arrive?"
"Isn't this my home too?"
"Of course, bu-" He paused in the open door way unsure whether to turn around or keep his granddaughters rather stern eye contact.
"Then I should be allowed to use the bath when I get back from, you know." She continued to stare her rather neutral expressing grandfather down whilst doing unseen things with a sponge under the water line and apparently feeling unabashed about the whole thing.
"My dear, I understand things have been difficult for you of late." Fandral sighed, looking about the bathroom for a moment in order to locate a towel not yet damp.
"Whatever, granddad." She eye rolled before sucking in a breath and ducking down until her whole body was covered by water and a tidal wave managed to escape the edges to the tiles beneath. "All I did was walk into the bathroom, take off my clothes and wash. You seriously think those, er, court wenches-"
"Courtesans." Her grandfather corrected, a clean towel held between his out stretched arms.
"Whores." His granddaughter further elaborated the ladies of his meanderings life choices before escaping the bath tub and accepting the offered fabric to cover her should be shame. "Have never seen another woman's tits before? What exactly do you do with them all night? Do they take turns so, um, they don't accidentally see a scary nipple?"
"My dear, I am very worried about you." Fandral turned abruptly, fishing around on the floor for abandoned garments and generally reorganising the soaps back into some form of order.
"I'm fine, granddad." This time it was her turn to sigh, though the exact cause alluded her as she sought out her room and fresh clothing for the day.
"That is too obvious a falsehood even for my ears, Kari."
"Fine, whatever you want, I don't have time for this." Kari huffed, slamming her bedroom door behind her and began throwing on neutral coloured pants with a tunic slightly to large, in need of a waist belt to hold it in place; though really all her clothes were hardly fitting the same as they did a week ago. "I want to spar again after morning meal."
"I am afraid, my dear, that is not within possible means this day. Though I approve of at least this added enthusiasm of yours."
"Uh-huh." She grumbled her way back into the main room, caught in a complicated tangle with her training sword belt clasp about her hip. "I'll ask Sif then."
"Perhaps not, it is with Lady Sif and the other warriors I am away this day. There are important matters needing attention in another realm. Perhaps you should rest for a few days, until we return. Collect your thoughts and-"
"Sit around knitting and being a nice sweet, obedient asgardian girl? Maybe I should flaunt myself on every man's knee, spread my legs and scream if I notice another woman has a single breast on her chest too." A stand off of sorts between equally blue eyes emerged before suddenly dissipated with the shake of damp curls. "I swear to god, are you serious, granddad?"
"My dear, your tone has taken a turn for the worst I fear I may never forgive if I do not leave this palace immediately." Fandral huffed his disdain through nostrils, though his features remained solid, older and war worn.
"Well, maybe I wouldn't be taking tones you don't like if, you know, you bothered to ask me if I wanted to come and, er, slay a dragon or something."
"Perhaps when a dragon next arises I shall, my dear." A warning of annoyance was quickly over taken by a fluctuation of whimsy as her grandfather finished placing empty jugs on a side dish besides the front door. "They are so rare an adventure these days."
"Sure..." Kari rolled her eyes, was he not just on some dragon quest the other week or maybe that had been eight years ago; time travel was seriously bad for peoples memories.
"I had thought against giving it to you..." Fandral's whimsy was now a full blown bout of almost my-little-girl-is-starting-school cooing, "but I begin to fear you shall wander off into danger left unminded and be felled by a beast, if your permanent frown does not kill you first."
"What?" She had not managed to catch that last part as her grandfather had vanished into his own bedroom with an added lowering of volume.
"Nothing, my dear." He reappeared with one of his horrendous full moustache swishing smiles of pure beaming joy and a rather long object caught in his hands. "Only that I have your sword. A boy brought it by after you disappeared this morning."
"Oh!" Well this certainly made tolerating his blond lip warmers bearable.
"Ah, such a smile has never looked sweeter on another's face." Her grandfather was really pushing his luck if her dubious grimace was anything to go by. "And then you have to ruin it with such an ugly, old warriors scowl. You begin to remind me of Odin, my dear."
"Granddad!" Kari frowned so deeply even she was beginning to worry about her face collapsing in on itself.
"I speak only the truth that I find." He chuckled, enjoying for a moment a flicker of his daughters daughter he recognised mirrored in the sword she pulled from its sheath to admire. "There is such a similarity in the crinkles at the side of your eyes that I find myself pondering my own lineage."
"Ew. Don't be gross." She shuddered before caught up in testing her new shiny sword with proper sharp edges and the ability to make her grandfather scoot to the safety of a near by chair - despite continuing to grin like a good dog. "Great grandma wasn't a courtesan was she?"
"No." Well that had ruined his rather fetching, heart warmed, smile.
"Just asking... you brought it up, granddad."
"I..." Fandral sighed like a man that has been forced to endure one too many dramas in his life. "My mother is a fine woman of her craft."
"Is?" Karian Motter, came to a spine stiffening halt mid sword twirl around a luckily empty side table.
"Yes?" Her grandfather shrugged before his eyes shifted away from his granddaughter as if caught in the act of pick pocketing an old woman's purse.
"Oh. My. God!"
"Perhaps this is a discussion left for another time, my dear." He could not leave his own home quick enough, the door not even half way open before he squeezed past into the hall beyond.
"Oh! My! Fucking! God!" The curly haired woman fumed, still holding a dangerous weapon but thankfully not recalling its use when so incensed by a retreating, conniving, moustache's back.
Oh this was just, well, it was something very bad indeed, possibly even worse than she was trying to reason out if her grandfather's turn and tail was anything to go by. Her great grandmother was alive? What about a great grandfather? Some sort of great granduncles and grandaunts? Was that what they were called? Maybe she had cousins? Hopefully she had not managed to hill billy herself and accidentally flirt with any of them over the past however many years it technically and actually was she came to live in Asgard. How could she have known anyway when her grandfather was apparently so ashamed of her he had not bothered to introduce her to... well... her family? Oh god, she had family. A real honest to god, big ass, alien, family or something. This was the sort of news that required a stiff drink but sadly all the jugs from the night before were sitting neat and empty on a side tray waiting for servants to collect. Stupid granddad, stupid alcoholic hussies, stupid morning meals not coming with anything stronger than that weak mead the children could drink. Oh great, and now she was blushing like a six year old at the thought of meeting a sweet old great grandma for the first time.
Slamming her new sword back into its sheath, the curly haired woman, quickly switched it out with her training blade on her belt and tossed the discarded item onto a chair before exiting her grandfather's rooms like a confused angel of death. There was certainly an array of emotions at play on her face, day dreamed conversations taking place behind wide open eyes, brows ducking and weaving in sync with a splutter of lip contortion. By the time she reached the dining hall her face had finally settled on a bemused, perplexity of deepest distrust. So caught up in her own inner entanglement she had instantly taken the closest seat to her grandfather, currently sandwiched between his friends Volstagg and Hogun, directly opposite him along the bench and besides a grinning Thor seeming so happy to see her he instantly struck her against the shoulder.
"Fandralkin!" The bimbo prince of asgard boomed as if seeing her for the first time in centuries and hardly noticing the way she had tilted so far sideways from his friendly blow her head had almost rested in another man's lap. "It has been too long since so bold to sit besides I at the all fathers table. How have you been?"
"Since, what, last night?" Kari scowled, rubbing her shoulder and fighting the urge to punch the goof ball right back, especially at the less than cryptic 'I know something's up' tone to his last question; exactly how much had her grandfather been crying to everyone around the table about? "I'm fine. I just need to talk, er, to granddad about great grandma."
"Great grandma? Ah yes, a fine woman..." Thor worryingly trailed off as Volstagg sprayed weak mead from his lips all over Fandral's head. "I... yes... Balder my friend! Come sit beside I!"
"I will find another seat."
"I'm not going to give you mono or whatever." She rolled her eyes, shuffling down the bench to make room for the purple wearing warrior to sit besides his equally dense war buddy.
Apparently the conversation of great grandma could wait a while if all the fear wafting around the table was actually serious. Besides, being the bigger person, letting her sort of ex know she really did not give a damn if he sat next to her at breakfast was so worth it. And then mister noble had to go ahead and smile at her as he slipped onto the bench besides her. How did she react to that? Oh he was good, trying to get one up on her I-don't-care with a I'm-glad-we-can-be-friends gesture. Now she felt weird, his body too close, too warm, too safe like she could just let herself relax into him. Change the subject, do something, say something, now!
"What is a mono?" Thor interrupted the strange statue stares between frown and smile to his left.
"It's a kissing disease." Kari grabbed for the conversation with both hands before fully realising the implications of her answer.
"Ah, you two are-"
"No!" Balder got to the correct answer first, abruptly turning away from startled blue eyes to pour himself a drink.
"But what then of the boy, Garner... Gary... Gaaaa..." Thor continued on as if not hearing any such denial.
"I believe his name is Garthar, friend." Volstagg intervened on the bimbo's behalf; no use in letting the poor creature think itself to death.
"What is this?" Kari grabbed for some strange dark meat in front of her, it seemed like the kind of conversation piece that might distract gossiping men from their communion.
"The bear we hunted the evening last." Apparently only Balder was feeling any manly urges of bravado and food talk.
"I have still not yet met this, Garthar. Have you taken chance upon him, Fandral?" Thor hummed with both intrigue and mild disapproval; how could this boy be worthy of the greatest swordsman's granddaughter when so unknown?
"Oh my god... why would you do that?" She chimed a little more loudly than her usual volume still trying to draw in a clutch of brooding man-hens from talk of boys and love.
"It had wandered into the city, looting and pillaging goods and attacking the good people of asgard." Balder shrugged as if she clearly understood nothing of his world; or perhaps he had just caught on to her ploy and was using grand story telling words to initiate one of those weird tale sessions.
"I have. He is as good as any son of asgard. Holds a sword well." Fandral's words were polite and to the point but his moustache drooped a less enthusiastic interpretation.
"No I, uh, mean why would you serves this for breakfast?" Kari paused to spit some of the partially chewed remains in her mouth into a piece of bread. "This is worse than that time I ate raw mudcrab. Least I hope it was just, you know, mudcrab, it was surrounded by dead bodies at the time. Stupid thing wouldn't move away from them so I, um, could... anyway, yeah, this is seriously gross."
"Perhaps you should try your hand and hunt for the table?" Balder leaned across her, lifting four bear steaks from the pile to his plate.
"Are you in a mood with me again?" Oh he did not just brush her chest with his armour and then actively begin not seeing her sitting right next to him.
"'In a mood'?" He tore at the meat on his plate, eating it in great chunks as if ambrosia to his taste buds - or he just wanted to leave as soon as possible with a full stomach.
"Yeah, you know, that thing you're pretty much always doing when I do or don't do or say or don't say anything in or around your being but you're too chicken to just use your words and say it to my face instead of getting in a hump and not looking at me?"
"I do not-" Thor began only to be interrupted.
"Shhh, a lovers quarrel. Let them have at it! The love is never more sweeter than when it has been vigorously shaken." Volstagg leaned into their huddle of gossip conspirators, now all sat stoic admiring the scene before them as if a dinner and show experience.
"Do you mean to call me a coward?" Balder suddenly stilled, his ears possibly turning red as his brow knitted a weaving map of crinkles and curves.
"I'm pretty sure I just said that. Would you like me to point out you're kind of an idiot to? Because you are."
"You insult, belittle and shame me." His voice was suddenly so quiet; the sounds of a bench shifting across from the bickering pair, squealed with three bodies, attempting to press further over the table whilst nonchalantly staring at a tapestry hanging on the wall.
"Well I'm glad you're finally being honest with me."
"You shame me further by calling me a liar?" His nostrils flared for a moment before catching himself with the closing of his eyes.
"You are a liar. That's why you can never believe anything I tell you, because you're so caught up in never telling me the truth how could you ever believe I'd be saying it to you?" Kari stood with a magnificent huff and jotting of her hip. "And this bear really does taste like shit. I'm sorry the truth hurts but it hurts a lot less than grinning and putting up with it." She shook her head, reaching between the purple warriors arms and plucking his plate of half eaten bear steaks from him before clambering over the bench and out of the hall.
"The bear, is, a little on the dry side." Volstagg broke the tense atmosphere around the party; if the rest of the hall could be laughing and carrying on there was certainly no use in their table being so dreary.
"I do not believe, Frandalkin, was speaking of the bear." Hogun's low tone rumbled helpfully.
"She speaks of nothing else." Balder easily refused.
"Or perhaps you do not hear?" Fandral sliced into the other warriors self-denial.
"Let us not quarrel over food. The chicken is always good." Volstagg chuckled, lifting a platter of chicken legs and thighs above his head in a great show of strength before pushing the meat towards each of his companions to partake.
"You make a fine point, my voluptuous friend!" Thor joined the mirth, helping himself to several pieces before stuffing a leg into his mouth with a great rumble of pleasure at its taste.
