RAGNAROK IS COMING
— The Hundredth Gathering —
"What state was the kingdom left in?" Harbotta asked as he shuffled deeper into the cushions.
Astrid looked up from her glass to see the woman- Avrid had introduced as Eritrea- covering her stomach with her hands, as if trying to keep herself together.
"The kingdom?" she breathed. "It is the entire realm they have taken hostage of. They slithered from the sea and plucked the royals like low hanging fruit, it was like nothing I have ever seen."
Astrid took a sip and watched Avrid's Court.
Rinka had been- something, when they'd met. She had taken one glance at Avrid as he landed right behind the rest of them, and bolted. He was floored the second he slid from Toothless with Rinka as the battering ram and Eritrea, Silver and Harbotta the troop. After Rinka had allowed Avrid to stand again, it was the slight female Fae - because she'd corrected Astrid that Elves and Fae were entirely different; though failed to mention as to how- who enveloped herself in his arms.
The twins were more dignified, though the bulkier one slapped an arm around Avrid and seemed at a loss for words when Avrid asked how he was.
Silver was the silent stone she'd come to expect. He bowed a hello, shook his leader's hand and relayed the state of their army since Avrid's absence.
It hurt him, Astrid could tell by the way Avrid kept finding Silver's white eyes, as if he was waiting for the chance to embrace his friend, but didn't want to push any boundaries.
Eritrea, gasping in joy as she turned and faced Toothless, darted over and grabbed his nuzzle between her palms, and beneath Astrid, the dragon started purring at the greeting. The vibrations made her ass slip to the side and she muttered a curse before- technically landing on the ground, though it had more of a fawn-learning-to-stand, kind of grace.
Unfortunately it drew all eyes on her; Astrid clenched her hands together.
"This is Astrid Hofferson, a… friend, from Midgard." Avrid said after clearing his throat.
For whatever reason, the word 'friend' felt like a slap.
She got an assessing glare- a literal narrowing of eyes- from Rinka. She sniffed, raised her eyebrows and crossed her arms with a clink of her gold bracelets in the space of five seconds.
Avrid walked over and put his hand on the small of Astrid's back, pushing her slightly, though did not force "This is Eritrea, my auditor."
Eritrea brought her violet eyes to Astrid and there was nothing Astrid could do to stop herself from looking the girl up and down. She was unbearably perfect, to the soft waves in her ink black hair, the small, sharp cut of her face, curved lips, hips, waist. Slight but curved by muscle. It was as if she'd been crafted from clay by the finest potter. Even the slip of a black gown, not accented nor shimmering with finery, made her look like a Goddess.
"Pleased to meet you, Astrid Hofferson." Eritrea grinned.
Toothless growled a goodbye a second before he took off and into the skies, shaking the florals edging the base of the sanctum. Avrid glanced up but made no other comment as he turned to Rinka.
Against Eritrea, was like night and day. Where the soft brown skin and gentle eyes of Rinka made her seem kind, she only used them to cut deeper. She stopped in front of Astrid and leaned into her face, staring right into her eyes.
Astrid curled her face in distaste and stepped back, and collided with the front of Avrid. His hands went almost automatically to her waist, and he looked at Rinka from beside Astrid's head.
"Play nice." he warned but the girl barely paid any attention.
She huffed as if bored now and turned on her heel, heading into the rest of the crowd that Avrid had marked as the officials in his Court.
It annoyed Astrid that she finally took a breath with the scowling girl out of sight.
"Don't mind her," the twin on the right said with a small smile. "Rinka is the possessive type."
It made Astrid wonder what she was being possessive about, and then she stepped out of Avrid's hold. "I can handle possessive."
The thicker of the two twins grinned at Avrid with something in his eyes that looked like a private joke, but didn't care to elaborate as a woman walked up to the five of them. She held a rolled piece of parchment in her tan hands, and threw dark eyes up and down her scroll.
"The council is in full assembly, my King." and glanced up to Avrid with furrowed brows. "Though McCallister is already inside, attending to a few of the professors that got caught in the middle of a White and Blue riot."
Whatever that meant, it mustn't have been too serious as Avrid shook his head with a smile. "Thank you Liel, but your work is done for now. Enjoy the gathering with the rest of us."
"You work too hard." Eritrea seconded with a squeeze of the woman's arm.
Liel rolled up her scroll and only bowed, walking back to the crowd of people behind them and shouting orders; clearly not planning on doing any such thing.
It was only then Astrid realised who those people were.
All dressed alike, with vague differences on the colour of the collar's leaf but inherently in black. Tight- almost second-skin-tight- leathers that made their movements look like silk. It felt discomforting that they all looked alike, with their hoods going up one-by-one, there wasn't a single creature too tall or too wide, none that didn't have the same amount of muscle as the one before. Covered head to toe in black cloth, roughly a dozen of Avrid's Court began to line up in a triangle formation with Liel at the tip of it.
She had her hood down and stared at Avrid and his friends but they got the hint before she could yell, walking to the front of the triangle and forming a V.
Astrid was walking alongside Avrid and somehow wound her way to his side.
It earned a poison ridden glare from Rinka.
She swallowed the lump in her throat. "Avrid maybe I shouldn't-"
"Nonsense." Avrid said and slid his hand to the small of her back, pulling her an inch closer. He leaned into her ear then, and though there was a small army behind them, he seemed to whisper low enough only she could hear.
"We will display a united front, you and I. It should disband any arguments that you should not be here."
But she shouldn't be here. And it was insurmountably clear. Even under their hoods it felt like Avrid's Court was watching her, waiting to strike, as if she was some seductress that hath taken their King with dark spells to get his crown. The only ones that didn't stare with calculating looks were the twins and Eritrea, though that seemed more out of respect for Avrid than anything.
"Avrid," she groaned.
"This is your best bet at surviving Sanctum, Astrid. You will be here for thirty years, and surviving is the easy part for most Initiates. As human, you are at a natural disadvantage, so use this time to make friends in high places and your name will protect you."
Because she was broken and weak.
Avrid straightened without another word, nodding at the two guards in front of Sanctum's main gates.
Walking into a room full of killers had been nerve wrecking, if it wasn't for Avrid's warm hand to focus on, Astrid thought she would have tucked tail and ran. She caught eyes with creatures of knife-like features, pointed ears, large stocky beasts that had to be giants at the mere size of them. And when all eyes slipped from Avrid to her, Astrid decided the wall at the far back was of the most interesting design she had ever seen.
A man with hair the same shade as Chief Stoick's burst through the crowd. "Avrid! By the Gods, I thought you were too good for these little parties?"
And then he walked away from Astrid to leave her cold and shaking as he caught the man in a hug.
It seemed so quiet, as if every Kohuru watched Avrid and his Court sink into the cushioned sofas in front of a roaring fireplace that could have kept the whole of Berk warm. When the twins and Eritrea took the largest sofa and Rinka the one next to them, Avrid the next one, Astrid went to sit somewhere at the far end and hopefully out of sight.
But Avrid had pulled her between his knees and she was a second away from growing cherry red because she was not about to sit on his knee, no matter what kind of 'front' he wanted to put on.
Though Avrid smirked as if he knew exactly what she was thinking and turned her by the hips, pushed lightly until she got the hint and sat between his ankles.
The strangeness hit Astrid when he ran his heavy hands into her hair and gently massaged away the headache he shouldn't have known she had.
Hiccup and Avrid. Yggdrasil, a civilization, the nine realms and their creatures and beasts.
Astrid closed her eyes and pretended none of it existed.
That she was in Berk, sitting by the gentle fire of the Great Hall after putting her brothers to sleep and daring to leave her own skeleton mother in charge. That this was still Avrid behind her, but that he'd never left and they grew together of their own hearts. No fronts, no pretending because survival meant playing a game of favour.
It was fruitless though when Harbotta asked Eritrea of her latest 'drama', as he put it.
She spoke of some war in Alfheim- and if Astrid remembered correctly it was the one of Elves and Fairies- and of the brutality of it.
"I'd be surprised if the Eastern and Northern borders haven't collapsed already. In no time they'll be ravaged by the Sirens." Eritrea marked and played with a slip of midnight hair. "If I had been there with Helil I could have maybe stopped it from escalating, but my focus was on the children."
Astrid caught the small, comforting circles Harbotta drew on the pale woman's arm. "Do not feel guilt on it, the Merfolk were about to annihilate those they found themselves decimated by. It is an inevitable circle of savagery that we cannot stop."
His words made Astrid reach for a delicate glass of something she prayed was mead. Instead of the familiar smooth, bitterness of Berkian mead, Astrid found it light and crisp. Cool as ice and fruity almost; absolutely delightful. She grinned and necked before reaching for another.
And then frowned because either she was a lightweight or that stuff worked fast. A warmth spread from her stomach to her head and Astrid leaned against Avrid's leg, curling like a cat in his warmth. That was another thing that had been taken from her: warmth. Every breeze felt like ice on her skin and despite the fire roaring barely feet from her, Astrid felt only comfortingly warm.
She felt- content. Listening to the Court talk of things she couldn't care less about. With Avrid's hands on her neck or scalp of forehead, always rubbing or gently scratching as if she was indeed an animal. Astrid didn't care though as she closed her eyes and listened to whoever was playing some sort of music throughout the academy.
…oOo…
"Welcome to the hundredth Gathering." Aurora announced and there was a simultaneous bow from her people who smiled. "We are here, despite your individual missions, to celebrate the fact that we are just that: here. We are the lucky, the wise and strong to live on and fight for the vision of Radox. As we have done in every Gathering, we honour the lives lost in battle and celebrate our continued existence."
She thanked the male who offered a slip of parchment, and took a moment to read the names etched. The names of Kohuru that never made it home.
With a sigh that moved the ruffles of silk on her chest, Aurora's silver eyes moved down and down, flipping through before she found the exact tally.
"In the five years since our ninety ninth Gathering, our people have lost two hundred and fifty six brave men and women. They hail from the Court of Blood as thirteen percent, five from Colours, two of Hallow and one point six from Velvet."
Avrid knew those numbers already, but found a small sense of pride that his own Court had no casualties. He looked across his men, scattered amongst the shadows and no doubt catching every word said between the warriors in the hall. Not that Aurora would know if they had.
"From Lander's Bay two of our children were found slaughtered in their beds, killed by the traitor Yohim- though rest assured. Judgement was dealt and new security measures installed to ensure this never happens again." Avrid watched Aurora scan the families of this loss with sorrow, as if they were her own children.
She dipped her full lips and nodded at them before continuing. "From Sanctum the numbers took the other seventy five percent as we lost initiates and those recently graduated."
Liogoo came unbidden to Avrid's mind, the image of her face shocked white with Loki's arrow run through. He took a breath and willed it gone, shut in the recess of his mind with every other soul he'd failed. It was impossible not to glance down at Astrid as she slept through Aurora's speech, because he'd failed her in the worst of ways.
The sturdy sight of their leader naming off those lost left a chilling sort of silence in the hall.
"But despite our losses," Aurora breathed and walked the length of the small podium. "We have gained much. The treaty between us and the Dark Elves that found themselves refuged in Vanaheim, held fast with the trading of goods and produce for their stay. As well as some common ground between King Odin and Jotunheim founded by none other than Lord Hunm from the Court of Blood."
Ivar slapped his general on the back in evident pride and Rinka rolled her eyes beside Avrid. "At the cost of his own men." she muttered and crossed her arms.
The constant bad blood between the two realms was an accomplishment to have settled, but as the Crown's second stated, it had been done with the price of Kohuru blood. Given as freely as a lamb for slaughter. It was what made respecting Ivar's Court impossible, he cared only for glory.
Aurora then turned the wall behind her and lifted a hand. With a few moves of her fingers, she bid the bricks to rearrange, becoming a map that displayed the nine realms with Yggdrasil at the top, Asgard then Vanaheim and Nidavellir, Alfheim and Jotunheim spanning out to the sides with Midgard in the centre. The bottom three formed an arc of Muspelheim, Niflheim and finally Helheim; the latter of which had been darkened to symbolise its irrelevance to their current states.
She gestured to each one and began speaking of their leaders, the new ones that have been appointed and those of which have fallen, speaking of Niflheim. "From our intelligence from the Crowns, it is apparent that urgent action be taken to ensure Hela does not appoint one of her higher demons to the throne. Though we know this as a difficult task- not only gaining access into the realm as she tightens her borders everyday, but speaking with the queen has always been our downfall."
Because Hela doesn't care for the Radox and even less for their constant attempts at peace.
Aurora lifted a hand in the direction of Avrid's Court. "I call on Lord Harbotta Muil, as his men have been the lead on this matter."
Harbotta breathed deep before he lifted himself away from where Eritrea was sprawled over him, and walked through the parting sea of Kohuru. Men and women separated to allow him passage, feared of irking his known temper with the mere brush of shoulders.
Harbotta nodded to his superior and moved the map until it displayed a near perfect recreation of the twelfth gate of Hel, made from amethyst and glittering with the souls of those it took to make. "This was our sole point of access, but Hela has since sealed the gate entirely. The Ice Giants under my jurisdiction have fallen silent, raising concerns that their activities may have been compromised by Hela's security forces."
Avrid breathed through the growing anxiety in his chest. If she got word of any of their movements…
"However, my brother and I are preparing to move in and breach the gate. Should we fail, it is imperative to begin fortifying the neighbouring realms Muspelheim and Midgard from her reach." Harbotta urged, his tone cold and warning.
He seemed to look at each of the Kohuru before nodding to Aurora and moving from the podium.
Aurora dispelled the map with a wave of her hand. "But let us put business behind for the rest of the week. And I call Headmaster Urfan to relay the games he has orchestrated."
Avrid ran a hand across Astrid's head, gently waking her. He got a bleary eyed glance before she sat up and stretched in similar form to a cat. Barely awake, she looked around and nodded when Avrid gestured up at Urfan for her to pay attention. The games would not be safe for Astrid, but she should listen to begin marking names that were being called into conscription for participation.
"Tomorrow marks the commencement of a field mission to address a pressing concern. A creature has breached Yggdrasil's roots and poses a threat to Shadow's bed, endangering the safety of our students who frequent the forest for their studies in poisons and potions. The mission will be led by at least three Court admissions, accompanied by a contingent of fifty members to ensure efficiency and foster healthy competition." Urfan remarked and lifted his arms. "Other than that, the rest will contend with our usual games. Duels are limited to day three to five, and the students will begin their displays for possible Caches to watch on day six."
Astrid blinked and whispered to Avrid, "Caches?"
"Students that will be personally tutored by graduated Kohuru," he replied.
Urfan lifted an empty roll of parchment. "I have etched the names of the Courts I'd prefer to target this creature on the back, though any may write their name- with the exception of the Velvets as they will be standing ready to tend to any casualties."
With that, Aurora smiled and dimmed the fires, made the music stream louder and took her leave.
Eritrea pushed her dark hair back. "Shall we?"
"We haven't been in the games in ages Avrid." Rinka grinned and raised her brows.
He sighed. "It's up to the rest of you."
Rinka clapped her hands. "We haven't fought together in five years. Boys, Eritrea."
The Fae huffed in resignation.
"Let's kill a beast." Rinka exclaimed, and darted off to write their names for tomorrow.
…o0o…
The inside of Sanctum was as beautiful as the outside, Astrid remarked as Avrid guided her up and up the soft, worn stairs. Every inch of the academy had life in it, from the arched corridors to the murals above, patterned floors that looked to be made of woven roots and dropping vines along corners. Even the air smelled fresh, wafts of citrus and rain every time they turned a corner.
It was awfully quiet up here, away from the rest of the Kohuru who Avrid stated would be sleeping in the hall like one huge sleepover. But they would be staying in one of the towers reserved for guests and the final year students because apparently, Avrid didn't feel it safe to leave her among the likes of Ivar looking for any chance to behead the human in their midst.
She admitted that it did feel safer, though the fact that she would be sleeping in the same room with Avrid was a more than a little- off putting? They'd slept under Toothless's wings every night for the last several weeks, but something about being just the two of them was far more intimate. There was no Sunnil and Rhyther to wedge between.
By the fourth floor Astrid was well and truly out of breath, though he kept a slower pace and thankfully didn't offer to carry her. At the fifth floor, Avrid stopped heading up the winding staircase and ushered her past a silk curtain to where a large, dark oak door lay at the very end of a corridor.
"This is where I slept during my years at Sanctum." He offered and opened the door.
"You have your own room here?"
He smiled. "I spend a lot of time here teaching, so this room is left untouched. A home away from home."
When she walked in surprise raised her brows. His room was- beautiful. Not grand and splendour like the quarters Drago had assigned his Immunes, and generally rather small as the tower was a circle, but homely. A large bed, easily the width of Toothless sat in the middle, facing a small door to her left that held what seemed to be a toilet area. Black and white sheets draped down from the middle of the roof with what looked to be small candles held afloat- but not burning- amongst the silk. At the far end was a bookshelf no higher than half the wall, and to her bewilderment was candles, plants, books, ink and quill- and the most surprising- were shells and rocks nestled neatly in a corner; as if he wandered the beach and found them beautiful enough to bring back as a memory.
Avrid walked in and set his cut cloak on the edge of the bed and on top of what looked like the most expensive, black tinted sheepskin. He walked to the end and lit those candles, already casting the air with scented wax- pine of all things.
Astrid could only walk in, and minded to take off her muddy boots before trampling them on what appeared to be cushioned flooring. She walked to the small, black painted chest at the side of the bed and ran her hand along some sort of circular contraption. She poked at the stick hovering over a metal disc before Avrid sucked in a breath.
Astrid yanked her hand back, worried that she'd wrecked something in this beautiful room before he came over.
"That is something a little ahead of its time, it plays music." Avrid said and pulled out a drawer from the chest, shuffling through and then pulling out a similar looking disc with runes carved that she didn't know the language of. "This is something you will be familiar with, hopefully."
Astrid watched in fascination as he moved pieces of the contraption and then ever so slowly, laid the hovering stick down on the black metal. He turned a lever and sure enough, a lullaby played from the box.
Astrid's heart seemed to melt at the sound. It was her mother's lullaby- well not technically, but it was the one she'd sung before her husband died. Sung by someone else, a male but beautiful nonetheless. Slow and smooth, breathed words with some instrument in the background that made her want to sway with her eyes closed.
This, this was the kind of music that she danced to. None of the upbeat notes Drago's musicians played, but quiet like sunsets in the summer, like the night sky from Avrid's window. A gold coin view of the waterfall they'd walked under this morning, of the twin valley and lake lit by dragonflies.
Astrid turned to find Avrid watching, something akin to the peace she felt on his face.
She cleared her throat. "You have a beautiful room."
He smiled and gestured to the bed. "Make yourself comfortable. I'm going to get washed up and then I will leave a set of clothes in there for you to do the same if you wish?"
"You trying to tell me I smell?" Astrid tried, but she got only a tired grin back.
"Never."
Before she could find a reply, Avrid walked in and shut the door quietly, leaving Astrid to snoop. Though she found herself at the window, watching the pulses of light fade in and out. Beyond the glass, the night sky stretched endlessly, a canvas of darkness adorned with shimmering stars And then, out of the corner of her eye, Astrid caught sight of someone running along the edge of the water, their silhouette illuminated by the soft glow of the moon.
She craned her neck and dared open the window's latch seconds before the girl running was caught, swept off her feet until her capture tumbled to the grass, eliciting a wave of dragonflies to light up their grinning faces. She caught the woman laughing, and then squirming as she was tickled. Punishment for her capture. Astrid found herself smiling at the pure joy on their faces, and then pulled the silk curtains closed when their long stares turned to fast, passion driven kisses.
It made Astrid look at Avrid's lips when he came from the bathing room. It made her wonder if-
No. She stopped the thought before it formed, barely made a remark and passed him to get into the other room. Inside was the same decor as his room. There were about a dozen different plants lining the oval bathtub with the same amount of candles. A soft steam rose from the turquoise water and formed droplets on the glass walls surrounding three walls of the room.
"You like green and black." Astrid whispered to herself, and pulled off her clothes.
It felt like a dream, to bathe amongst the stars. To find a selection of soap bars along one window ledge and to hear the start of a different lullaby drifting in from underneath the door. It felt like peace, to run her hands through the water and collect bubbles under her chin. There was a small breeze drifting in from an open crack of the window and it cooled her nape.
Though she might have bathed a little too long because Avrid knocked the door.
"Astrid?"
She didn't even bother opening an eye. "Yeah?"
There was a small chuckle. "Are you alright?"
"I'm-" Astrid breathed.
"I'm… happy." Perhaps it sounded ludicrous because there was silence and no reply from Avrid, but Astrid was happy. At peace at the very least, and it had been so long. Nothing ached. There was no freezing breeze or fear, nothing to worry about or no one to account for. There was only a bath drawn and heated by Avrid, no doubt. There were cotton pyjamas on the table next to her and a cotton towel. And beyond that, soft sheets and music, a beautiful night sky.
There was only happiness, no matter how long it lasted. It felt like this alone- or at least a few more of these baths- could heal that visceral, broken part of her soul.
Before her skin could wrinkle irreversibly, Astrid heaved herself from the bath, dried and dressed slowly. She wrung out her hair and plaited it, put probably too many layers of the creams laid along a different window ledge and drank some sort of minty liquid that made her mouth sting but taste marvellous.
She blew out the candles and pushed open the door to find Avrid reading on a chair she hadn't seen in the corner.
He smiled. "Tired?"
Astrid rubbed her eyes and yawned for an answer.
"Then sleep. Music on or off?" He asked, closing the book and coming around to open the sheets beneath her.
"On," she whispered and slipped into the heavy sheets. They felt like feathers on her skin.
Avrid nodded but turned the volume down. He moved back to the chair and opened his book.
"Are you sleeping there?"
He looked up. "Yes."
She contemplated it for a moment, long enough he turned back to reading. But then damned the consequences.
"Sleep in your bed, Avrid. There's room for the both of us." It was as quiet as a mouse, but Avrid's emerald eyes darted across the bed and then to her form. He seemed to think for a moment before he shook his head.
"I'll sleep perfectly fine here."
It felt like rejection and before she could stop them, thoughts came unbidden. Of all the awful acts she'd committed, the dirt and fingerprints on her skin that no fancy soap could wash away. She felt rotten for the tears and thankfully turned away before they could be seen.
But maybe not, because the sound of a closing book and then the dip in the mattress came. He was as cold as a stone beside her, but with the thin layers of clothing he always wore, Astrid wouldn't be surprised if he was in constant hyperthermia. Though he made no moves to get under the covers and Astrid didn't dare turn lest he see the traitor tear moving its way over her nose.
There was nothing but the music for a moment, so quiet she ached to turn and see if he was asleep already.
"I don't dream when I sleep by you." he said suddenly. Astrid wiped her face as casually as she could before turning to face him.
He lay facing the roof, candles shimmering like stars in his eyes. With his hands behind his head like that, Astrid could see the divots of muscle in his arms and caught the glinting of a ring twisted on the side of his neck. She could see the gentle slopes of his face and the freckles across his nose, the dark ink crawling up his chest and neck where the white shirt cut in a V.
"What do you mean?" she asked, if only to distract her from the beauty Hiccup had grown into.
His eyes fluttered closed. "I should say nightmares, but I sleep peacefully when you are near."
Astrid's lips pressed together. "What kind of nightmares?"
He breathed in, his chest expanding before he spoke. "I'm chained and- whipped, cut open again and again."
Her heart broke because she'd caught glimpses of the scars but never been brave enough to ask.
He said nothing more and Astrid didn't press, she only reached across and pulled the ring from his necklace to its rightful place on his chest. It was a simple brush of skin on his neck, but her fingertips seemed to burn where they touched his frozen skin.
"You're always so cold," she remarked and couldn't resist splaying her palm over his cheek.
He inched into the touch and a dip formed at the corner of his lips. "I can never tell. S- it was burned out of me."
Astrid frowned and found herself repeating, "what do you mean?"
"I don't feel anything. Not a breeze or a lick of heat, comes in well when fighting but times like now…"
He couldn't feel her hands on his cheek. Because someone had burned touch out of him.
The image was enough to shatter her heart.
Astrid pressed with all her might against his skin and he made no sound, no move of discomfort. Tears came again but Astrid made no move to hide them. He was laying out such pain at her feet.
His eyes opened and then frowned at the sight they found. He lifted a hand to wipe away her tears and didn't move that touch, resting his fingers on her cheek so softly. As if she was precious, he cradled her face.
"Never? You can never feel anything?" It came out choked. Avrid sighed.
"I would give anything in the world to feel this, Astrid." he put his other hand on hers and then ran his fingers down the curve of her jaw, down her neck and his eyes focused on the trail. "To feel how soft your skin is, to feel its warmth."
He pressed gently at the base of her neck. "To feel your pulse, your breath on my face."
There was such sorrow in his words. How long had he lived like this? How long without so much as a real hug, a kiss? It sounded like such a lonely existence and she suddenly understood his love for his Court because emotions were all he had. He could get no comfort from the finest silks, the freshest air. It made sense why his room was so cosy, because he poured all that comfort into sight and sound.
"Go to sleep," he murmured, but with the revelations Astrid didn't think she could. She wiggled closer, pressing her covered body against his if only to keep the bed warm.
She closed her eyes and revelled in the arm that he placed under her head and at her back. "I'll let you know when you're cold then, so you don't die of hyperthermia."
Avrid let out a small chuckle, thanked her and told her to go to sleep again. Though she was already, and barely registered when he pulled Astrid closer. Pressing her against his chest as if he could push feeling back into himself, as if begging for it. And just before sleep did indeed claim her, Astrid vowed to pay whoever did this to him a painful visit.
…oOo…
She woke to soft snoring in her ear and blinding sun in her eyes. Though the curtains were ethereal and fit perfectly, they had no functional purpose and Astrid cursed them. She blinked against it before opening heavy eyes to the sight of Avrid absolutely sprawled across the bed; and she lay sprawled across him.
Astrid pulled away, untangling her arm from his side, her leg from between his heavy trunks and pulled his arm off her side- though he sighed and pulled Astrid in as if in reflex.
Heart hammering in embarrassment, Astrid managed to shuffle from his grasp and sat up against the headboard. The creak of it woke him and he grunted awake.
Bleary eyes found Astrid and she smiled. "Good morning."
Avrid yawned and Astrid covered her nose. "Oh Gods, your morning breath could kill."
He grinned and made sure to yawn right up to her face to which Astrid pulled a perfect manoeuvre to fruitlessly avoid.
"It's a skill," he grunted, voice hoarse from sleep. It woke something deep in Astrid's stomach that she pertinently ignored.
"It's gross." And Avrid lifted up to sniff.
"You're not much better." he said, scrunching his nose. So Astrid breathed right back on him and then darted away before he could retaliate. She stopped in front of the sink and downed a mouthful of that minty stuff as Avrid strode in.
His mouth stretched to the side. "You're not supposed to drink that."
She frowned and watched as he took a mouthful, gargled and then spat.
"Crap."
"Good luck with the diarrhea coming your way."
Astrid scowled before a knock sounded at the door. And then another.
She frowned at Avrid as he went to investigate. The sound of the door opened and then she heard a thump that shook the bathing room door. Astrid darted out to find Avrid laying on a heap on the floor, and it stunned her enough to be caught unaware as someone shoved a foul smelling cloth in her face. In seconds she was out, not even catching the face of their attacker.
…o0o…
Short, fluffy one but I feel like sometimes that's needed.