brave in the heart. vikings

𝐶𝐻𝐴𝑃𝑇𝐸𝑅 31

𐂂

Merida pulled the cloak further onto her head. It was easy to hide her face among the hoards of people as she pushed through the market crowds toward the outer huts of Kattegat. It was her flaming red hair and the obvious limp to her walk that what cause for concern. But no one gave her any notice as she hobbled toward the Seer's hut.

She ducked through, brushing the drapes of the doorway to the side. Merida was enveloped with the silence as she stepped around the fire, welcoming the warmth beneath her cloak. The mangled face of the Seer brought her back to the last time she'd visited in search for answers. Staring back at the stitches that wrinkled his ancient skin, Merida had been left with more questions- both about her future and that of her place in Kattegat.

Sitting down in front of him, the Seer seemed to inhale sharply as he leaned back as if he were looking directly to her with his eyeless face.

"Ah, the Princess Merida. No protector with you?"

She didn't know why the statement surprised her so much. Everyone had heard about Bjorn's nickname by now, and it was no doubt that the Seer had already heard it before it had first left someone's lips. But hearing it so officially, by the eyes of the Gods, took her back.

"I wanted to come alone," she said.

"What question do you have for me today?"

"I want to know about my future."

The Seer barely paused for a minute before he listed the words, the same words from all those months ago. He did it blatantly as if no thought had to be put into it. "A band of knots, a waterfall stained red, a bear's fur, matted with blood and an orange city."

"What you say now is no different to the last time I spoke to you," Merida said harshly, attempting to rein in her patience.

The Seer remained perfectly still. "Because my answer to your question is the same. Perhaps another question would give you the answers you are looking for."

Merida considered his words for a moment. There was so much she wanted to know, yet at the same time there was so much she was scared to find. She wanted to know how she would die, if she would be the princess that Bjorn would marry and if she would ever be anything more.

Once, Merida had screamed at the thought of letting her life come down to the will of destiny, but here she was, asking the Seer for information about her fate, coming from Gods she still wasn't sure she truly believed in. She thought of her mother, about what she and her father would say: 'just try, no harm can come from best efforts'. That had always been about her princess duties, but the rules were transferable, she supposed.

'I believe in the gods. I believe in my father'. Perhaps Bjorn could place blind faith, but she certainly couldn't. Merida would always favour her freedom, even if that meant cutting the ties she'd come to hold tightly to. But then there was the fact that freedom didn't have to be alone. Freedom could be found anywhere, had she looked for it.

"Bjorn will marry the daughter of a King. Does that mean my fate will entwine with his as everyone says it will?" she asked, feeling as if the room had suddenly grown colder. But the crackles of the fire filled the quiet space before the seer replied.

"The will of the gods cannot be changed."

"That is not an answer," she said, her voice coming out as a plead.

"The will of the Gods cannot be changed. I have seen your futures," the Seer began. "I have seen the great ending and all that comes before it. Bjorn's destiny will lead us all to the point in which you will lie on the sands and watch your roles unravel."