Eyes downcast focused on the movement of hooves beneath her, her ears full of fluff, mind numbed by the cold of a world far off somewhere in the cosmos. Sleipnir halted; she blinked at the stillness and ignored the shift of weight behind her as Balder dismounted. Muffled words collided in the air around her, trying to breach her defenses but repelled with a dismissive sigh as she was lifted down from atop the stallion.
"Kari, my dear?" Fandral was hesitant despite Balder's assurance this blue-skinned, red-eyed creature was in fact his granddaughter. "What have they done to you?" He caressed her cheek, pushing back the braids covering her face and tried to force her gaze to meet his. "Loki, do something."
Her pupils dilated at hearing the trickster's name, head snapping to follow the smooth voice of the god of mischief talking so casually to her grandfather. Did they not know of his guilt? Probably not, the monster likely denied knowledge of ever seeing her when she went 'missing' or made some equally ridiculous claim. Something in her mind tore, a sense of morality cracked the day she smacked the fish dead against a tree trunk. Here he was, Loki prince of asgard, plucking fish from a stream and holding her by the tail ready to beat her into something consumable. It was survival; she was going to kill him.
Kari shook from her grandfather's hold, about her shoulders, clenching her hand into a fist as ice formed like a sword around her arm. She threw herself at the trickster, fury felt and heard as she screamed at the surprised prince without time to brace himself for impact. Thrusting her arm into him, it seemingly slipped through followed by her body as she gasped and hit the ground unexpectedly. Rolling onto her back she saw the illusion disappear, Loki smirking at the attempt on his life now behind a stunned Balder.
"I'm going to kill you." She growled, back on her feet and trying to fight her way out of Fandral's capturing arms. "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU LOKI!"
"She has gone wild!" Fandral struggled, scooping her off her feet to try and halt her progression toward the prince.
"IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!" She clawed at her grandfather, escape and attack the only judgment running through her mind. "EVERYTHING! IT'S ALL HIS FAULT!"
"Help me!"
"HE DID IT!" She pointed Loki out, gaze never removing from his entertained expression despite the swarm of arms jumping into the fray to control her. "HE SENT ME THERE!"
"Her mind has been perverted." Volstagg grabbed her as she escaped Fandral's clutches via biting and pinned the fighting child against his rounded belly whilst Thor got a face full of her left foot.
"NO! LET ME GO! IT'S ALL LOKI!"
She was pinned down, Sif having taken matters into her own hands and sat on the girl to keep her from irrational behavior. Body aching, lungs finding it difficult to draw breath from the pressure on top of her, Kari finally relented though her eyes remained transfixed on green keeping a safe distance. Oh he was loving this, even after a year apart he still derived pleasure from seeing her squished beneath him. The difference now, however, was Kari felt no fear of retaliation; a hold was broken, harness loosened and in the end she felt sure she would make him bite down on the bit before being reigned in.
"-gone mad." Fandral's exasperated words fluttered through the raging ringing in her ears.
"It will take time, friend." Volstagg interjected. "Who knows what cruelty may have befallen her in that ghastly realm."
"But why does she look so?"
"It is her choice to." Loki, still holding her stare, explained. "It appears, Karian Motter, has discovered magical talents in the fields of transformation and the element of ice. Certainly an explanation as to how she managed to survive so long in Jotunheim alone."
"I found her living with frost giantesses." Balder added.
"Frost giantesses?" Fandral was shocked, possibly appalled and hissed at a rather vicious looking scratch mildly weeping vertical along his neck. "They are the cause of this?"
Trying to drown out the continued conversation, adults as always talking about her like she was not right there, Kari dissolved her glaring contest with Loki to stare at the ground. She wanted to cover her ears, so as not to hear how they spoke and the casual uses of vile words like 'monsters' in reference to her year long guardians, but her hands were pinned to her back and held tight by the lady warrior. Shutting her eyes, forehead resting on the dirt beneath her, she willed her mind not to hear anymore through gritted teeth. It was to no avail, however, what little of her person not weighed down beginning to shake at the overwhelming desire to cry. She shook her head, rubbing the dirt in until mixed with the prickle of tears turning to mud and panted heavily in hyperventilating fashion.
The crowd around her, above her, finally became silent as she screamed as loud and long as she could over and over. It was the only way out, her head becoming lighter as she screamed to bursting point again forcing her body to go without the oxygen it so hungrily craved. It was such a relief when darkness finally took her and she could hear no more.
She knew not the length of time having passed when she next awoke but light was filtering in through the windows as she remembered it used to during the mornings. The room was warm, uncomfortably so as she was no longer accustomed to asgard's seasons. Blinking in the swirling gold ceiling decorations she allowed the fuzziness from her eyes to clear before turning towards the sounds of shuffling paper. A red haired, serious, sort of woman sat in a chair besides the bed thumbing bored through a book. It took her a long glance to recognize the woman with how much she had changed since last seen. She was dressed far nicer than a year ago, her hair tied high with various adornments and there was a definite protruding swollenness to her belly – Egill had been busy.
"Prue?" Kari croaked, pushing the blankets off her chest to release some of the uncomfortable heat underneath as she strained to sit with a bruised and aching body.
"You are finally awake." Prue sighed; annoyed and relieved at the same instance and placed her book down to lean in closer to fill the girls forehead. "We were worried, you have been unconscious for several days with a fever."
"A fever?"
"Yes, you have been very ill." The redhead pulled away, returning a moment later with a cup of water she poured from the side table. "Drink this."
"Thank you." Kari sipped the thirst-quenching beverage as the other woman helped her keep it steady. "I feel… strange."
"Strange?"
"Yeah, like… this were a dream?"
"You are still recovering, girl." Prue placed the cup back on the table, a layer of concern etched across her features. "It will take time to get back to full strength."
"Yes but… I can't… everything is so… I can't focus on where I was."
"Where you were? You have always been here, girl."
"No, I… I remember snow and leopards and wolves and-"
"A dream." She tore her from reminiscing.
"A dream?" Kari repeated as if captivated by the meaning.
"The fever made you delirious, you were rambling in your sleep about all sorts of nonsense."
"I was?"
"Yes, now lay down and rest whilst I tell the others you are awake." Prue stood, waiting for her to shimmy lower on the bed before tucking her under too warm blankets once again.
Watching her friend vacate the room, Kari frowned at the explanation she had just heard. A dream? Was everything that happened in the last year a jumbled up dream? Why did her head hurt so much? Strange flashes of memory dancing in and out of her vision that burned her mind with how realistic but divorced from her they felt. Playing in the fields, going swimming with Garthar, Dagur and the others. Eating in the dining hall every night, sat next to her grandfather telling her stories she could not remember beyond a variation of syllables. It looked real, but it did not feel as real as the dream she now only half remembered. The giantesses, fishing, Tom, snow leopard kittens and even the bullies in the village; they were fading like the snow melts in spring.
What was happening? What was real?
"Kari, my dear!" Fandral was strolling towards her, his horrible moustache upturned to follow the spreading smile on his face. "You are awake. How do you feel?"
She stared at him, as if not knowing him, which caused him to slow his pace and descend his arms from the promised hugging position they had been in. A wary gaze, furrowing of brows on either side, as they studied one another from a short distance.
"Kari?" He queried, tentatively as he came closer still as if approaching a frightened animal.
"Granddad?" She sucked in a lungful of air, preparing herself for what she would say next. "How did you get that mark on your neck?"