Word count: 2697. 

Warning: Angst. 

❝𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚛𝚎, 𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚍𝚎𝚜𝚙𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚒𝚝 𝚊𝚕𝚕.❞

♔

A high pitched squeal left the young girl. She was running around, holding her light-colored dress up so she wouldn't fall over herself. A flower crown made out of seven different flower types rested upon her head, the ash blonde hair braided into one single braid. She was laughing, mocking her brother's who tried to chase after her. Their parents were sitting on a single blanket, holding each other as they watched their children run around. 

The large meadow surrounding them was filled with all sorts of beautiful flowers, making it look like a secret paradise, and not too far away the birds sang. A crystal clear blue sky accompanied the family, as no clouds could be seen and the sun stood high upon the sky. Tor had blessed them with this nice weather.

"You can never take me!" The young girl shrieked at her brothers', which only made them go faster.

All of the children were laughing, the sounds being like music to their parents' ears. Their mother held a warm smile on her lips as she watched with amusement. Every time the little girl's brothers almost would catch up to her, she would take a sharp turn and loose them for a single second before they were at her heels again. 

This time the young girl was sprinting towards her parents with a large, toothy smile on her lips. She ran up to them, taking their father as a shield against the two oncoming brothers. The young girl was hiding behind their father, thinking her hiding spot was the most brilliant one.

"Where could she possibly be, hm?" The oldest of them all asked, rubbing his chin playfully.

"Yeah! Yeah, where could she be?" The younger brother also asked, mimicking his older brother.

The father looked at his sons, playing completely clueless.

"I have no idea what the two of you are talking about" The king said, sounding very convincing, but he had to fight a grin that was making its way onto his face.

Suddenly a little head peeked from behind the king's shoulder, two pale eyes looking smugly at the two boys. The two boys shared a look before looking at their father.

"Are you sure about that, father?" The oldest asked as their father nodded, looking very serious.

Soon enough the youngest brother lunged forwards, rounding their father and scaring his sister in the process. The young girl shrieked, giggling as she ran away once again. Only this time, their father joined the hunt after the little girl.

"Father, help me!" The young girl called as her brother's almost caught her.

One moment she was on the ground, the next she was in her father's arms, he had swiftly caught her and swooped her into his embrace. The young girl clung onto her father, sticking her tongue out at her brother's who only watched her with a pout on their faces. She giggled as her father kissed her head, as he began walking over to the queen. 

His son's following after him. The queen sat there, a large and heartwarming smile on her face as she adored her little family. Everything was seemingly perfect, and for a moment, it seemed like it never would come to an end. This was a dream they lived in, and both the king and queen knew that both of them would treasure this moment forever. It was like a dream, and she never wanted to wake up.

A pair of tired eyes snapped open, a strangled gasp echoing through the trees. The slumped over girl had been snapped out of her seemingly never-ending dream. A dream, which was a memory too painful to think about. A memory that reminded her that she no longer had her parents. The princess could feel a stray tear on her cheek, which she quickly wiped away. Solfrid had been crying, and so had the heavenly kingdom above. She just couldn't stop. The sadness she felt crushed her entirely. It felt like someone had taken a huge chunk out of her heart and destroyed it. No matter what she did, she couldn't stop weeping.

It hurt, both emotionally and physically. The princess readjusted herself behind Arnbjǫrg, squeezing her best friend's waist slightly to let her know that Solfrid was awake. If the gasp hadn't given it away. Solfrid could see Arnbjǫrg slightly glance over her shoulder, giving the princess a sad, faint smile. The trio had been riding for two days, heading north. It hadn't been long after the three of them had fled the village that the rain started to pour down, soaking the horses and the girls. Neither of them knew where they were going to end up. They had stopped twice, only to let the horses rest. When they came to the first stop, they stopped by a smaller creak. 

Solfrid had with shaky movements gotten off the horse and stumbled towards the water. When she had reached the creak, the princess had fallen onto her knees, staring at her reflection on the water surface. Solfrid had noticed how beautifully the raindrops fell on the surface, creating a beautiful illusion that fed a curious soul, but that had been destroyed when she met her own eyes. The princess's face was covered in dried blood and smeared kohl. Her scleras were bloodshot, intensifying the color of her eyes. Her pale cheeks were tearstained. Solfrid looked like a complete mess and she couldn't bear to look at herself. Especially when her own mother's blood covered her face and neck. Quickly, Solfrid had cupped her hands and splashed her face, before rubbing it all away. She had erased the evidence of what had happened. But the image of it would never leave her. 

After that, the girls had been riding on, not stopping until all of them, including the horses, were exhausted. Jórunnr and Arnbjǫrg had tried their best to set up a makeshift shelter, while Solfrid had gone off to search for some sort of herbs or something else that was edible. During all of this time, it was raining. The sky had been gray for Gods know how long. It had seemed like it never would end. Solfrid had found some blueberries, raspberries, cloudberries, and roots. That night the girls had eaten what Solfrid had found in silence, and afterwards gotten some well deserved rest. Or, at least Jórunnr and Arnbjǫrg got to rest properly. 

The princess couldn't fall asleep. She was afraid. Solfrid was afraid that she would have to relive those final moments, but she even a princess like her couldn't fight off sleep. Eventually, sleep embraced her, and as she had feared, the vivid images of her parent's slaughters were on full display and she couldn't do anything about it. She felt so powerless. That nightmare had been so raw and unfiltered. She had woken up from that nightmare screaming, crying. Arnbjǫrg had awoken immediately, and when the ginger had seen the distraught mood Solfrid was in, Arnbjǫrg had embraced her and comforted her, wiping away her tears and soothed her until the princess had somewhat calmed down. 

Sometime later they were on the path again, still heading north. Jórunnr and Arnbjǫrg had come up with the plan to lay low for another few days, before turning around and heading back to the village. But the two girls also had to think of their own safety, as well as the safety of their friend and princess. Solfrid had been riding behind Arnbjǫrg the entire time, snoozing of every now and then. The rain had briefly stopped, but then it came back, this time as a light drizzle, sparing the trio from getting completely soaked. As Solfrid sat there, her mind began wandering again. 

To her parents. To her brothers. Njáll and Úlfr. Are they okay? Are they still alive? Did they manage to fight off the intruders? What if they hadn't made it? Suddenly it felt like some stabbed her in the heart. She couldn't bear to think about it. Solfrid truly didn't know what to do if she were to loose her brother's too. She couldn't bear to stand the thought of losing her entire family without knowing why. Why had they been attacked? What had her family done to provoke such a savage attack? Solfrid vaguely remembered the colors that the intruders wore. A shade of blue and silver. 

The princess had never seen those colors mixed together before, and she had been taught which colors were associated with every kingdom in Scandinavia. No kingdom in Scandinavia had the colors blue and silver. Who were they? Perhaps they were outsiders from another place. Solfrid had heard those glorious tales from men who went on raids far away, but nothing more than that. 

These thoughts swirled in her head, making her zoom out, not paying attention to anything. Jórunnr and Arnbjǫrg shared a glance when they noticed that the light drizzle had stopped. The two of them glanced back at a spaced out Solfrid, but neither of them thought about it for too long. The trio continued with their ride for, as the sun traveled all over the sky before finally settling at the horizon.

"Let's stop here and find a spot where we can build a shelter" Jórunnr said once they had reached a large flowing stream.

Solfrid had snapped out of her trance, now looking at Jórunnr with tired eyes. The princess noticed Jórunnr taking in all of their surroundings before nodding to her left. Arnbjǫrg had seen Jórunnr's gesture, and began following her. They rode upstreams for a while, before Jórunnr pointed out a small cave. It was the perfect size and the girls would easily fit in there together. Jórunnr was the first one to dismount and lead her mount towards the cave. She tied the horse to the nearest tree before entering the cave, checking so everything would be okay. Which it was. Jórunnr peaked out, motioning for the two girls to follow her lead. Arnbjǫrg dismounted first, followed by Solfrid. Solfrid went to the cave while Arnbjǫrg tied their horse next to Jórunnr's. 

Solfrid's eyes looked around the cave. It was large, so there wouldn't be any issues fitting. It was dry, and somewhat warm. Arnbjǫrg walked past her, as the two girls began to work on a fire. Solfrid helped, doing whatever she could for them. After having everything fixed, including tacking of the horses, the trio sat around the fire. It wasn't a large fire, but it was big enough to keep the cave lit so that they would be able to see properly. Being in a somewhat soaked dress without being able to change wasn't the most comfortable thing, yet the young girls had adapted, since they really couldn't do anything about it. Soon enough, both Jórunnr and Arnbjǫrg had went to sleep. 

The princess envied how easily they could just fall asleep, but as those thoughts passed her mind, she shook her head, rubbing her temples. It wasn't fair of her to be jealous of her friends. Instead, she tried to sleep. She had to. Her body was starting to become heavy with exhaustion, and she could barely hold her eyes open. Solfrid slowly laid down next to Arnbjǫrg, resting her head on the other half of the fur-covered saddle. Her eyes closed, ever so slowly, before Solfrid uncomfortably let the darkness consume her. 

However, it didn't take long before the princess sat up with a forced cry mixed with a gasp. Her entire body had jerked her awake, new, fresh tears streaming down her face as her underlip trembled. She smacked a hand over her mouth, casting a fearful glance towards Jórunnr and Arnbjǫrg, afraid that she had woken them up. 

But to her relief, she hadn't. Her two friends were still heavily asleep, and Solfrid could pick up the softest of snores coming from Arnbjǫrg in her panicked state. Solfrid was borderline hyperventilating as she stood up and stumbled towards the exit of the cave. It was in the middle of the summer night, and it wasn't so dark, however it was raining, heavily, once again. She stood in the opening of the cave, watching the cave as tears continued to roll down onto her cheeks. She knew that it was going to be hard to recover from this. She knew that this certainly had changed her.

A piece of her fragile heart was now missing and nothing could ever replace it. It would take a long time for her to grieve her loss, and she wished she was able to do it properly. But to make things worse, she would most likely miss their funeral, being out here in the forest. Her face scrunched up, as she sobbed. 

The princess cursed herself for losing control like this over her own emotions. She cursed herself for not sensing this chaos earlier. She cursed herself for going out with Jórunnr, she cursed herself for being weak in front of her mother and she hated herself for making her mother upset the last moments she would had in this realm. She knew that neither of her parents would be able to Valhalla now. They hadn't died an honorable death, and she cried harder when she thought about the fact that they most likely were going to be stuck in Helheim for the rest of the entirety. They would be stuck in that cold, miserable place forever. 

Solfrid wept, falling down on her knees as the rain seemed to pour heavily at this point. Her feelings were all over the place, as she felt herself breaking more. Her entire body was shaking, as wind began to pick up. The trees around them began swaying, as the wind which traveled through them almost sounded like whispers from the forest's many souls. The sky above became darker, soon filled with black clouds. Thunder rumbled in the distance. After a couple of moments, she wiped her cheeks with the deep red sleeve of her dress. Solfrid looked up towards the sky as she stood up on wobbly legs. 

Her expression went from a sad, heartbroken one to a angered, furious one. Her bloodshot scleras made the place ice blue colors of her sharp eyes stand out even more, as it almost looked like they shined. She was going to do something that she probably was going to regret later, but she needed to take let her feelings out. The princess began cursing the Gods out, loudly, but her voice slowly drowned in the sound of the down pouring rain. 

She cursed Oden, Tor, Tyr, to name a few. She cursed them for not giving any of them a sign of what was supposed to happen on her feast. She cursed Skuld for not giving her a vision of the massacre.

Her voice was filled with rage, poison, grief, and heartbreak as she went on. She went on and on until her voice became hoarse, but she was able to utter one last sentence.

"What have I done to make you believe that this was the punishment I deserved?!" She croaked.

Her voice was swallowed by the sounds of the forest, becoming nothing more than a desperate cry. Suddenly, she felt a pair of arms wrap around her fragile body. Jórunnr and Arnbjǫrg both offered their comfort, which Solfrid almost immediately fell back on.

"It's going to be okay. You will fight through this, and we will be by your side through it" Arnbjǫrg voiced, Jórunnr agreeing.

"You will always have us. Please remember that, my princess" Jórunnr added.

Solfrid couldn't say anything. She didn't find the power to voice her thoughts, but she turned around in their embrace, squeezing both girls hard as a sign of appreciation. The girls stood there for a while, intense feelings forming the humid atmosphere around them. Neither of them noticed the two abnormally large ravens who had watched everything from far away. The two black birds shared a glance between each other before leaving the great forest.

A certain somebody wouldn't be too happy about the events that had occurred. 

♔

― 𝚎.𝚛