Father and I had made up along the journey and I was honestly exited to see the glorious Winchester, well, from outside, I doubt they would welcome us in due to the circumstances but I stayed optimistic and was curious to see what my father had planned to do. We stayed the night at a neighbouring village with my fathers advisers and a few worriers, by the time I woke up father was already preparing for the negotiation, I still felt guilty about forcing his hand like that but all I could do was wait for him to come back.

An hour passed... two, I waited patiently for my fathers return until finally, In the late evening he came back, as far as I could tell It went well but father was exhausted and went straight to bed, I managed to get something out of one of his advisors but all I understood was that it went well, so well in fact that Alfred invited us again to feast in his haul and discuss some matters they had agreed upon! This was good news, no, amazing but the lack of information given to me was unbelievably frustrating, no one would tell me anything!

The day of the dinner came and as soon as I woke I stormed to my father and demanded to be invited to it, so I could at least get some grip on what was happening, my father gladly allowed me and told me it would serve a good lesson, father knew this would happen so he brought me a dress to wear to the dinner, which I was thankful for since I only had my armour that wouldn't send a very friendly message...

When we got to Winchester I wasn't too impressed... It looked like any other fortress from the outside, then we entered, and... wow, It was truly huge, and when we got to the palace, it was so beautiful I couldn't help but pick out every detail to my father and praise it. Soon we got to the haul, the king and his family were already there and they too looked quite proper, I took my seat, next to my father and decided that I would not drink a drop of ale or wine and maintain concentrated and focused at all times! One of the first things I noticed was that the seat opposite me, and next to the king, was empty... wasn't an advisor or Alderman supposed to fill that seat? I didn't ponder on it for too long and soon they brought out the food, I was just about to make myself a plate when the saxons closed their eyes and started murmuring something... It was creepy...

I turned to my father who was just as confused but all of a sudden a door flung open and a boy ran to the empty seat next to the king, frantically closing his eyes and starting to murmur like the others, I couldn't help but giggle, these strange traditions were oddly hilarious to me, we waited until they had finished and then started eating and discussing, I carefully listened to King Alfred, my English was long out of practice but I could still understand what he was saying, he introduced his wife, Lady Aelswith and his son, Edward, the boy who had just run in, I couldn't help but smile when he was introduced, Edward on the other hand looked down in embarrassment and apologised for his delayed arrival, this time I had a good look at him, his angelic wavy short hair of dark golden colour, his pale freckled skin, his slightly crooked nose and his eyes... gods his eyes were... so captivating, I could look into them for ages, I probably stared at him for a good minute with a big smile of my face, I mean come on he was so adorable and innocent looking, eventually I snapped back and started to focus on the conversation more but out of the corner of my eye I could see Edward fidgeting with his hands, he had three golden rings on and would play with them as well.

As I was completely zoned out from the horribly boring discussion, I realised this boy was looking at me, unafraid of the chalange I looked back at him, maintaining direct eye contact I slowly began to smile, but... he wasn't breaking eye contact... instead he lay back and lowered his chin to look at me through his eyebrows, I was quite taken a back and tilted my head while furrowing my brows, before I could receive a response Alfred turned to Edward and whispered something in his ear after which Edward straightened up his posture, gave me a final more serious look and turned to talk to the people at the other side of him, great, my only source of entertainment was gone and I had missed a big part of the conversation I had initially planned to stay concentrated on, damn that charming boy, he had completely sabotaged me!

At one point I broke my promise not to drink and gave in, I started talking to one of the advisors and also my good friend, Arvid, we agreed to go out drinking with a few other friends of ours after this dinner which at least gave me something to look forward to. Fast forward, father and Alfred had shook hands and I practically ran out of there, I couldn't wait to let all my tension and stress be dilated by jugs of ale. I met up with Arvid, Liv, Orm, Magnus and Froya outside the palace and we headed straight for the first alehouse we saw. We collected our ale and sat down at a table, immediately I started chugging it from my cup and, the group began sharing dangerous stories where they had almost died, I found them all so hilarious, I don't know if it was the ale or what but I was laughing my ass off more then anyone else.

Some time later, after I had calmed down, I was talking to Liv when Arvid tapped me on the shoulder and said "Hey, look who's here", I turned to the directing he was pointing in and saw that Edward and his company had entered the alehouse, being quite drunk and very full off myself, I stood up and stated in a loud voice "If it isn't the prince Edward! Come sit with us my friend" but before I could sit down Arvid grabbed my arm and said with a serious tone "Signe, are you sure about this?", "yeah yeah, don't worry I won't do anything stupid" I responded getting back into my seat.

Ooooooo it's getting suggestive
"I won't do anything stupid" she says lol
Signe is a biiiit of an alcoholic if u can't tell 😭