You Taste Like Oxygen
"Darling?"
Sigyn looks over her shoulder, her arm outstretched to the apple tree she was harvesting fruit from. She smiles; Sylvie leans against the doorframe of the small cottage. She twirls one of her knives between her fingers and admires the view of her lover gathering their breakfast.
"It won't be long before he finds us."
Sighing, Sigyn nods and turns away to complete her task. Odin will be coming soon. They must prepare.
Each time they snuck away, the All-Father made the trek out into the woods and fetched his daughter and the handmaiden she loved.
"It is not right," he would say. "She is to marry another."
"She does not want another!" Sylvie had shouted back.
"It cannot be broken. We will speak no more of this." And so they would return to the castle, heads down in embarrassment for being caught, but never in shame.
I wish we could stay here forever, Sigyn thinks, not for the first time. I don't want to marry that oaf, Theoric.
Boots crunching leaves and sticks behind her alert her to Sylvie's presence, and then her arms slip around Sigyn's waist and her chin rests on her shoulder. "These look like very good apples."
Sigyn rolls her eyes and huffs out an annoyed breath.
"Oh come now," Sylvie nips at her earlobe. "You've done a wonderful job with this little garden."
It was true. Sigyn had built a small kitchen garden in the front of the cottage where the vegetables and fruits got the best sun. She'd planted everything herself and tended to them carefully over the years. Even on days when Sylvie was not with her, she'd come to this little patch of Valhalla and nurtured her plants.
"We have to leave," Sylvie says gently. "You know if we return before he's left to retrieve us, the punishment will not be as bad."
That was true enough. Sigyn would be confined in her living quarters for a time, so as to keep her and Sylvie separated. That wasn't so bad, she was still allowed to practice her magic and had a shelf of books to read.
Sylvie would endure more. Odin would plague her with hours of lecturing that would reduce down to insulting her for trying to seduce a betrothed woman. And after, she'd be sent on some personal assignment of Odin's, created to keep her completely occupied for weeks instead of stealing away into the night with Sigyn.
"Pack your apples and prepare for the journey back." She removes herself from Sigyn. Sigyn turns to face her, holding her apples in a woven basket against her stomach. Sylvie reaches out to finger a lock of her curly blonde hair. The taller woman sighs. "I am sorry about all of this. You don't deserve a lover who can only give you inconsistency." She drops her hand to her side. "I hope you know that I hate this. And if I had the power, I would end your betrothal and marry you myself before all of Asgard."
Then do it, Sigyn clutches her basket tighter. Find a way to free me and let us live our life together in truth.
Though a promising sorceress, Sylvie cannot hear her thoughts, and so she merely places a light kiss on Sigyn's cheek and turns back to the cottage to gather her things for the hike back to Asgard.
Sighing, Sigyn begins to follow.
A twig snaps. She jerks her head to the sound. She quickly examines her surroundings, finding nothing but her vegetables in rows and fruit trees bordering the garden. A deer, likely, off in some distance, passing through towards the river that runs close by.
Snap!
Sigyn spins, eyes searching. She stops abruptly and gasps at the gigantic green-skinned creature standing between her turnips and carrots. Lizard-like in appearance, its black eyes stare at her intensely. She's unable to scream, having been mute her entire life, and in her shock she drops the basket full of her precious apples. Her body begins to shake with a deep rooted fear that twists her stomach into knots. Whatever this monster is, it is no friend.
She has no weapon and is surely outweighed by several hundred pounds. The creature makes no move towards her, its body heaving with breath.
Sylvie! If the princess came to check on her, she'd draw attention and put herself in danger. Sigyn will have to find a way to rid them of the beast. Hesitantly, she takes a step backwards.
The lizard-thing bared it's fangs at her and takes a heavy step towards her.
Maybe she can lure it away from the cabin? If she sprints, maybe she can gain a decent head start and have a chance of out running it? Every single part of her was screaming to flee anyway. If she could save Sylvie, the chase would be worth it.
She takes another step with her bare feet. A hissing reaches her ears, a warning from the predator hunting her. She fights down the urge to whimper.
Calmly now. Calmly… don't let it know what you mean to do.
"Darling?" Sylvie shouts from the cottage. "Hurry. We really must be going."
Sigyn freezes, sweat forming at her temples and her eyes wide with sharp focus on the brute before her. Her breathing shallows; it's such an ugly thing and it's glaring at her with the cruelest, most hateful look.
"Darling, did you hear me?" Sylvie steps out of the cottage. Sigyn can't help but glance over at her, her fear rising. "What are you doing out here?"
She snaps her eyes back to the beast, expecting it to pounce and shred her body apart with its black claws.
But the beast is not there.
Sigyn whips around, scanning the forest for the looming creature. She spins the opposite way, frowning. It's gone, as if vanished into thin air.
A buzzing sounds in her head, loud enough to hurt. Sigyn whimpers and places her palms to her forehead, applying pressure as if the act will give her some sort of relieve.
"Sigyn?" Sylvie is there, gently grabbing her elbows. "What's wrong?"
She can feel herself panicking. She can't meet Sylvie's eyes. She glances back to wear the monster had stood, though still there is nothing there. And when she looks around her, the forest she has known her entire life blurs and lurches, patches of the cottage fade away as if being erased.
And a voice that is Sylvie's, that is different from the loving tone she knows, that does not come from the lips she's kissed, proclaims, "Well…you lasted much longer this time."