A girl, no older than eight summers, pushes her way through the bustling people of the village. All the hustle and bustle around her is the celebration of reigning in a new royal family. The courtyard before the large stone castle was full of people singing and dancing as they drank various wines and ales from their horns. They were rejoicing in their new future, one that they knew would be much greater than the last. Messengers had already been sent out, sending a royal guard with them, to spread the news of the new King Magni and his wife, and now Queen, Tovi.
The young girl, dressed in a new, clean woolen dress of her house colors of burgundy and baby blue and the soot wiped from her child-like face. Her snowy hair, now free from dirt and debris of the forest, washed and braided intricately out of her face. Her eyes, as blue as the glacier waters search over the roaring celebration for a certain hut she knew to be tucked off to the side.
A bright smile snaking its way across her pale face as she catches the bones and crows feet hanging from string decorating the known tent. Cutting through the remaining people to get there, she comes to a stop, calming her nerves.
Her father, when merely a boy, had traveled into town with his father, her Granda, to seek out the Seer himself. It was in this same tent before her where his prophecy had begun. A future so promising that he now sits on the throne in one of the largest countries in Midgard. Ever since she can remember, it was her favorite story of all the ones that he would tell before bedtime. And just like after every time he would tell it, she would make him promise that as soon as it was safe, he would take her even though they were miles away from the castle.
As soon as the ceremony had ended and the feast had begun, she slipped from the dinner table and slinked through the palace - she didn't care how hungry she was. She had her destiny to discover and she was sure that if she waited a moment longer, she would burst. She couldn't believe how her brothers weren't already speaking with the Seer or on her heels trying to reach him before herself.
'True men they will be if they get distracted by the food in front of them' she thought, fighting a giggle 'or worried about facing their mother's wrath.' The boys were all afraid of their mother, and Skadi was too, but this would be worth the scolding she would receive.
Her small hand pushes the stiff dark curtains aside and steps through, letting it fall behind her as the darkness of the yurt consumes her. The fire in the middle was the only source of light, casting shadows amongst barren walls of his home. Almost looking over him, thinking he was part of the darkness himself, the seer sat on his pillows facing away from her.
"Princess Skadi" The Seer's deep raspy voice fills the tent as he sits, still unmoving. The girl's icey hues narrow as her colorless brows pinch together in confusion.
"How is it you know my name?" She commands, trying her best not to show her uncertainty as she moves closer.
"The God's tell me many things Princess" he chuckles darkly "What good is a prophecy if I do not know who it belongs too"
'That's fair' she bemused before she finally understood the Seer's words.
"Does that mean they have spoken of mine?" She moves quickly to his front, unprepared for the sight she was met with. She knew he was considered other worldly, but she wasn't prepared for this.
Where eyes normally sat, was gnarly scarred flesh, having been seared when he was but a boy. A ritual of sorts for someone like him, to only heighten his abilities. A nose was present and wide while sitting high over a mouth painted messily with black kohl. His skin was as ancient as he was, showing the centuries of the life he had weathered. A tattered black cloak and dressings engulfed him as he sat with his large staff across his lap. In his skeletal grip, a stick hung limply to stoke the pyre.
"They have" he turns his head slightly. His low hanging hood draping across his face, making him seem even more cryptic than before and raising the stick slightly to point out a stool just to the left of him. Doing as the girl was told, she moved her way around the fire, making it a point to not cross before him, and sat down slowly. She faced him, ready for him to speak as her anxious hands play with the new woodland fur of her sleeve.
"Seidmadhr?" She asks after a few moments "May I as-"
"Seidmadhr is a name I haven't heard in years" he rasps, nearly emotionless, yet his voice has changed only slightly. "Your mother has taught you well if you know the language of the Old."
"She teaches us a lot" Skadi's cherub face pulls together in a scowl as she looks down, attempting to hide her rude expression "More so me than my brothers"
"She knows your mind is wiser than theirs despite their years before you" his eerie voice spoke once more.
"I am not, mother and father only want me to use Seidr as my weapon, and not an axe" she murmurs, envious of her four older brothers whom father worked and trained with daily.
"Just because it is not now, do not think it isn't ever" He states.
Skadi whips her head up, her frosty gaze wide and eager to hear more. Moving forwards in a rush to sit on the end of her seat. The beads and metal bands in her hair clink together as they hung to the small of her back, curtaining around as she sat forwards, her clenched hands in her lap. "So many things have changed for you, and you will see that in your upcoming years.
"Tell me Soothsayer" She commands, only lightly "Tell me of my fate"
The sides of his mouth twist upwards at her making the young girl feel uneasy once more. She may have been a bit too impatient, but she was so close to knowing!
"You walk in dual lives, hearing the talk of the living and of the God's" she pleads "What words do they have for me?"
The large being before her smirks at her inability to control her commands. It was evident to him that she had waited for this.
"They tell me of a Monster rendering the paw of a white wolf" he pauses as if listening to other forces at work, still eerily unmoving. She almost wonders if he had become permanently frozen in his spot from his lack of movement. Though she is also sure he has lived millennia and his bones were close to dust. Her childhood imagination gets the better of her as she imagines a large poof of dust when he moves to sit.
"The serpent will be forgotten once given"
'By the Norns, what is he talking about?' she thinks as he listens on 'This isn't how this is supposed to go'
"A safe sleep beneath three moons before banishing the black, that is what the gods tell me"
"That is it?" Her face contorts with confusion and disgust. She's waited for this?
"That is all they wish for me to tell you little girl, not all that they tell me" he smirks as if enjoying the way his words brought forth her fire.
"This isn't a game Seer!" her small voice fierce.
"If you do not like the answers you seek, then ask better questions" he rasps, holding out his hand, waiting for his payment.
Scowling at his soot covered palm, she stands tall before grabbing his hand and licking up his palm to show her submission to the Gods as thanks.
The girl all but ran out of the tent, furious with the Seer's words and running into the legs of a stout man. About to mumble her apologies for her actions, the man turns around, his face comforting her. With a wide grin beneath a wiry beard of fire, the new King Magni, picks up his daughter, only to notice her distraught face.
"When I saw that your seat at the long table was empty, I knew where I might find you" his deep voice soothed his daughter as held her tiny body in his arms. The townspeople cleared a path for their new king as he moved through the crowds. Magni was a man easily spotted and certainly couldn't miss. He was nearly a head taller than even the tallest of warriors and a broad stature to match that too. It's as if he was one the frost giants himself.
"What did the Soothsayer say to you?"
"A bunch of nonsense" she pouts, her bottom lip, trembling ever so slightly. She had waited for that? She still can't believe it.
"Tell me Skadi" he laughs wanting to lighten her mood "it all sounds like nonsense, but they do end up falling together. And when you realize what they actually mean, it is too late to do anything about it."
"But your fate didn't mention a monster" she mumbles, wanting nothing more than to move on from this and back into the castle where other children were playing and dancing. This catches the King's attention. Pulling his daughter back, he gazed into her icey hue, the one and only trait she had gotten from him, look wise. It was her attitudes and mannerisms that came from him. Out of all his children, his daughter was the one to understand his tactics the best.
The king places his daughter on a straw bale and kneels in front of her, wanting to know what the Seer had said.
"It mentioned a monster?" He asks, a voice as gruff as his appearance.
She nods her head as she looks up at him with a solemn face. Running a hand over the ink on his shaven head, he lets out a sigh.
"Let's hear it then" he pushes her as he plops down on the bale beside her, pulling her small frame into his.
"He said that the gods told him that a monster will render the paw of the white wolf. A serpent to be forgotten once given. A safe sleep beneath three moons before banishing the black" She huffs as she snuggles into her father.
"White Wolf eh?" he thinks of his wife's Elder familiar, Kaldr.
"I thought of him too" her small voice spoke as she looked at the party roaring around them. Magni nearly chuckles at his daughter's intuition. He plants a kiss on her forehead before standing.
"I wouldn't think too much of it Princess" he holds his war-torn hand out for her. "The God's will continue to bless us, my dear, and I do not doubt that great things are destined for you"
Skadi looks up at her father and places her small hand into his large one. It was only a second before she was soaring in the air and placed on top of his broad shoulders. Looking over the many patrons in the stronghold's courtyard, her eyes settle on her mother in the portcullis arch way. She was speaking to a few of her new handmaidens, bearing a kind smile to the new girls as she gently caressed her swollen belly. It would only be a few more months before the birth of yet another sibling, though this time it would be born a royal. The low light of the sconces catching her fair features, making her look even more beautiful than Freya herself, if it was even possible.
Her brothers, having a mock battle with a few of the children of the village. Their laughter and giggles carry over the sea of revering people as they strike each other with the wooden swords and mock axes. Wanting to have a go herself, but thought better of it, hearing the Seer's words ring through her skull. That may have been the only thing that hasn't angered her as much as the rest. She too one day would wield a weapon other than her magic.
It was then that Skadi knew just how much work she would have to put in to learn to properly wield a weapon as well as her father. She knew that if she could continue with her mother's lessons and have the skill of her father, she would be unstoppable.
'And every monster will fall before me' she smirks to herself as she looks down, catching her Papa's eyes, the ones that mirrored her own.
Her hand searches for his large pauldron, hammered and shaped into a head of a roaring bear as his war-torn hand holds her small legs in place. Looking up at the vault of stars above them, she pushes her thoughts to the rear of her mind to puzzle over later, and forces herself to take in all that the night sky had to offer. A feeling of peace washes over her, just as it always does when she observes the inky black.
"I will speak with the Seer tomorrow Daughter" He says up to her as she sways above the village people, making their way towards the entrance of the castle. "Tonight isn't a night of sorrows and worry. We earned this. Tonight is a night for celebration and rejoice"
Eyes still fixated on the glittering stars, her small smile widened at his words. And even though she knew Magni couldn't see, she nodded her head. It was more for herself than him, just as his words had been more for himself, rather than for her. The 'monster' the Seer spoke of to his daughter had him quite distraught. It will be something he will address first in the morning, rather than storming into the hut and demanding answers. He knew that would draw too much attention. So tonight he would drink, feast, and be merry for he had fought for the right to, after many years fighting for the wretched king. He and his family had earned this for the were Gods to bless those who are worthy of such.
Soooo, hi!
I'm new here!
Whatcha think?
Yautja King in the next chapter!
Side note - Hope you like Norse mythology because if you haven't gathered, its going to be a large part of the story, and of course our beloved hunters!