When Darkness Falls - LOKI - Book One (Editing)

10. Weakness ✓

      "Are you excited for the festivities tonight?" Athelia asked Freya as they walked through the palace corridors towards the Bifrost, but when Freya did not respond, Athelia pressed on. "You are still angry with me?" 

      Knowing she could not lie, Freya refused to answer and left Athelia standing alone on the bridge as she forced her way into the crowd. There was no denying the strain between the two Dorian warriors, but neither of them would do anything about it, especially when it was Athelia who refused to continue Freya's training and forbid her from conjuring or wielding her battle magic when she was left to spar with The Warriors Three. 

     Freya didn't understand how dangerous it was for them. She didn't know what the young prince had done to scar the use of magic on this planet, and she didn't understand the fear the people had for them. Because regardless of whether or not Freya had ever actually been to war, she was still just as much as a world killer as Athelia was, and there was nothing the young neophyte could do to change it. 

     Even as she disappeared into the crowd, it wasn't the beautiful beige dress or the cascade of brunette curls that drew people's gaze. It was the scars on her arms and the intricate lines she and the other neophytes had carved into each other's backs during the months in the Geirjan Pit. Athelia was the only one who knew how proud Freya was to flaunt them. To them, it was something to be incredibly proud of, but to the people standing on the bridge - awaiting the return of their warriors - they were nothing more than markings on a murder. 

       Athelia tried to stay close behind, and the sea of people spread as she walked by. They gawked. They whispered. They pulled their children behind them. Athelia felt a strangeness in her chest, almost a tightness that made it hard to breathe. She wasn't sure if it were from prolonged exposure to the air on this planet or if it were because she was nervous about publicly greeting her future husband after he had been gone for so long. 

      She kept her gaze down, watching as her feet moved against the flowing colors of the bridge, trying not to remember the first time she walked it. She had almost thrown up for the first time in her life, and if it hadn't been for Freya holding her tightly as they bid Thor and the warriors a farewell, she would have proven to all of Asgard what she was truly capable of. 

     "Lady Athelia," Odin boomed upon her arrival.  "I'm glad you could join us." 

     Athelia looked up to see that the warriors had already begun to come through the portal. Her gaze shifted from Odin's facade of a smile to Freya, who was standing on the end, anxiously awaiting the return of Volstagg. 

     "Have you decided what will become of her?" Odin asked her. She looked up at the man in confusion, but his look of sternness did not sway. "After the wedding?" He explained. "With your marriage to my son, Dorian will finally have the peace it longs for, and the Bifrost will stay open to your realm. She will be free to return home to her family and continue her training."

     "Freya does not have a family," Athelia spoke softly as she watched her from afar. "And the longer she is here, the harder it will be to return. I fear if I send her back, I would be sending her back to die."

     "She is strong, yes?"

     "Not strong enough." Athelia looked over at Odin, a slight frown where a smile should have been. "Her eagerness for battle may make her seem as if she is a fierce warrior, but it's my job to see people for who they really are."

    "And what is she?" 

    "Confused."

     "How do you mean?" Odin asked, but Athelia's answer laid before her as a young warrior pushed through the portal, waving at the crowd until Freya wrapped her arms around her. It took Athelia by surprise. As far as she knew, Freya's only friends on this planet were The Warriors Three and Lady Sif, but the smile on Freya's face as she spoke to the young boy only proved Athelia's point. "You think love makes you weak?"

    "I know love makes you weak." She retorted, a bit too harshly than she had anticipated. "Love is why I am here instead of on Dorian. Love is why I have no idea what is happening in my kingdom or if I even have a kingdom left. Love is -"

    "Why you are still alive, Athelia," he interrupted. "Your father -"

     "I mean you no disrespect, Odin, but I do not wish to speak of my father with you," she told him, her anger hiding behind the binds on her wrist. Odin refused to look at her. Instead, he folded his hands in front of him and took a step back, slipping into conversation with one of the returned. 

     Athelia scoffed, turning her attention back to Freya, but when she realized the young girl had disappeared with the warrior she had embraced, she made her way to Frigga.

     "You seem perplexed," The Queen spoke softly.

      Athelia turned to her, but before she could speak, the crowd around them erupted as her future husband stepped through, clad in his crimson armor and holding a handful of small yellow flowers instead of his hammer. She watched as he shook hands, patted shoulders, and even fully embraced some of his other warriors, but eventually, he made his way to her.

     "I guess a congratulation is in order," Athelia spoke, forcing a smile on her face as he looked down upon her. "Well done." 

     Thor chuckled. "It would have been much sooner if you had joined us." 

     Her gaze fell to the portal, and she flinched as Thor gently took hold of her arm and nudged her back as a line of Marauders began to spill through. Her stomach flipped as she noticed the chains that bound them together and the swords still in the hands of the warriors that escorted them. "Prisoners?" She looked up at Thor, confused. 

      "Not everyone needs to die," he told her, watching carefully for her reaction. "Do you disagree?" 

      Athelia stared at him, tight-lipped. It was a test, one that she refused to partake in. Instead, she dropped her eyes to the flowers he still clenched tightly in his free hand, hoping it was enough to sidetrack him. "What are those?"

     Thor smiled down at the unfamiliar bundle and waved them at her. "Oh, these - uh, they're flowers,' he muttered, scratching at the back of his neck. "They bloom in -"

    "I know what a flower is," she said with a gentle smile. "But why do you have them?"

    Thor was quick to glance about the room, and when he found who he had been looking for, he smiled and nodded towards The Queen. "They're for my mother," he told her. Athelia nodded and watched as Thor turned to Frigga, who had been watching the two of them together. He placed a kiss on the dimple of her cheek and embraced her tightly.  

     Athelia did her best to ignore the tightness in he chest as the glimpse of her future self greeting her son in such a manner taunted her. She couldn't imagine being that woman. The ones waiting and longing for the return of their loved ones. It was sickening to think about it, and she had a feeling that years down the road, that is what would have been expected of her. 

     Her mind cleared quickly as Thor turned back to her and held up a small velvet cloth in his hand.  Confusion riddled her face, but when she glanced at Frigga, she watched the woman hold up her flowers with a smile. "I am aware that on Dorian, a man would bring his beloved a relic of war, and though I do not know you, I felt this was fitting for the future queen."

     Athelia took the fold of fabric and held it in her hand. She was beyond confused in regards to his gesture, even though he was right. She had been presented with many relics in her time, but she had never accepted any of them.

     She pulled the sleek dagger from the red cloth, and her heart sunk as she laid her eyes upon the handle, adorned with a single familiar ruby.

     "Where did you get this?" She asked, her question far more important than Thor had realized. He explained that he had plucked it from a body on Ria, and though her stomach turned with every glance at the small blade, she thanked him and stood up on her toes, placing a gentle kiss on the prince's scruffed face.

     "You like it then?" He asked her.

      Athelia tried to force a smile as she clutched it in her hand. "More than you can imagine." 

EDITED. 7/1/21 ✓