The shower felt like a gift from the Gods, never have I felt so clean from a bath. The lady who set my chambers earlier had left a selection of body oils that made my skin smell like roses. I dried my body down and wrapped myself in some clothing. Kili had clothing set in each of our rooms, prior to us all arriving. I walked slowly into my chambers, expecting to see Vili however he was not in here. Thankfully. I searched the chambers for some clothing, quickly climbing in to them. Never forgetting to place my dagger back in my waist band.
"Never travel without a weapon? Its comforting to know you haven't changed." Vili said. I turned around to find him leaning against the entry way.
"One can never be too careful. We need to be mindful, if we cannot shift here we need to rely on weapons." I said.
"Or that's why one has me." He said with a smile.
"From what I can remember, you were always the one who ended up on the ground clutching yourself after we trained." I joked.
"Lies!" He shouted as he ran at me. I ducked and weaved around his massive frame, avoiding his attempts to wrestle me.
"Vili are you mad! We could destroy my chambers!" I shouted in shock at his sudden attack.
"Same old Freydis, always making excuses. I would best you anyway." Vili said with a smirk. Damn that smirk. I leaped across my bed and swung my arms around his neck so I ended up on his duck.
"Trickster! Don't use your God like gifts!" He yelled as he attempted to free himself from my grip. My small body and frame made me quick and nimble on my feet, but I still had the strength of a God. Vili thrashed around the room before slamming us both into a wall causing me to loosen my grip. He seized this opportunity and flung me by my arms to the bed, placing me into an arm lock and pinned with his mass of a body. I fought my way to loosen a leg, the collided it with his rib cage. He let out a large oomph before collapsing to the floor.
"See, I still have it." I said standing up and flicking my long wet hair over my shoulder.
"Not yet you don't." He said, ripping my legs out from underneath me. I fell back first to the ground, smashing my head to the ground. Vili pinned me well, both arms in a lock, my legs tied and pinned under his. It was true, he was getting stronger. If we were home though, it would be different.
"If I was a normal being, that would have hurt." I laughed as I tried to rub it better.
"Awe poor little Freya, do you want me to kiss it better." Vili said in a child like voice. We often bullied each other like this.
"And get your infectious lips on my? No thank you!" I yelled as he attempted to kiss my head. We struggled and laughed for sometime before easing ourselves. This was nice to have, I knew soon this would change once again. We laid side by side regaining our breath momentarily.
"I've missed you, Freya." Vili said quietly. I looked over to see him breathing steady and staring at the roof.
"And I you Vili, but it still feels like yesterday we spent one last night in the cave drinking and singing." I said, following his motion and staring at the white roof.
"Hmm, that was a good night. Ale, boar steaks. We could have taken over the world that we. Our battles and glory together we sung about, they still are."
"I'm glad they are, they can serve as a reminder how good of a team we are." I said. The air became quiet as we both were deep in thought.
"Do you ever wonder what might have happened if you did not go in to slumber those following days?" Vili asked breaking the silence.
"The adventures we could of had, the places we could have found, battles, songs the glory." He continued as I listened.
"I... I often think of what might of happened between us." He said quietly. My heart dropped and picked up the pace. He thought of it too?
"I have given it much thought, enough that it followed me through my slumber and night walks. To me, it feels as if you had never left my side." I said, thinking back to the endless night walks I had during my slumber. Vili rolled over and sat up on his side to look at me, curiosity swum amongst his blue eyes. I sat up to match his gesture.
"I... I don't understand what this means." He said looking at me. I knew from rumour and previous encounters that Vili had laid with many of the townsfolk women, I was not naive. But I had never heard of him confessing feelings to one. All I could offer him in the moment was silence as I battled my thoughts. Vili placed his hand on the side of my face and stroked my face with his thumb. I could feel my heart beating in my throat, I was unaware of what he was planning to do.
"Freya." Vili said as he leaned in towards me. Sparks flew through my body in a rampage.
"Well this was about to get interesting but we need to stop this." Said a voice at the doorway. As a reflex I grabbed the dagger and threw it at the man by the door. Catching the dagger in his hands was Keon, he was the only one who could analyse my attacks and stop them. I stared at him in disbelief as he had just saw Vili and I exchange some very personal words. I jumped up leaving Vili on the floor, he and Keon exchanged smirks for a moment.
"I'm sorry my Grace, but Kili has requested our presence urgently. There is some further information that we need to be advised on." Keon said as he cleared a path for me to leave. I looked back at Vili who had gotten the message and was following me out the door. We left my room and I met with my other companions by the door, they each gave me a strange look when they saw Vili following close behind.
"Vili, we will speak with you later once we have returned." Keon said, Vili bowed slightly, offering me a soft smile as he did. As we made our way down the hallway, I lingered back with Keon.
"What you witnessed was a momentary flame, my senses are returning and are heightened. Speak of this to anyone and we will have issues." I said trying to threaten him. But he saw right through my threats.
"No judgement here my Grace, its a good match if you ask me. But Odin may favour against it." He whispered with a smile and nudge. By the Gods, I didn't think of what the All Father would think of this. I swore never to engage on such matters, I was swore to never act on such feelings. My gut turned at the thought of our next meeting, that will be soon. We made our way down 2 flights of stairs and into a hallway. At the end of the hallway was a large double door, the door opened for us as we approached and Kili sat behind a large table, he looked displeased.
"Companions, thank you for meeting me here on such quick notice." Kili said raising from his seat.
"That is quiet alright Kili, now what is so important that it interrupted Freya's moment with you kin?" Keon said as he crossed his arms. My body grew numb as I felt all eyes fall on me. Curse you Keon, I thought to myself.
"Never mind that, we have more serious issues at hand. Kili, do you mind?" I said suddenly, urging the conversation to move forward quickly.
"Uh, right. Please take a seat." Kili said after he awoke from his stunned daze. We all took our seats in front of Kili as he straightened his posture and cleared his throat.
"For sometime now, we've had some reason to believe that someone in the realm has betrayed us all." Kili said.
"Betrayed us? Who would dare betray us!" Koba yelled, his anger boiling as he rose from his seat.
"Koba, calm yourself!" His brother urged.
"Who do you claim has betrayed us?" I asked with some sense.
"We don't know yet, we haven't got any leads to point fingers yet. The Dark Knights have knowledge of our movements, they are now aware of your presence in the city. They were aware of your awaken before we were." Kili said.
"Whoever it is, they must be close with us." I said, a list of names racing through my mind. I couldn't imagine who would have done this to us. Someone is trying to make Ragnarok to fall upon us. We all sat in silence as we absorbed the news, never in our time has anyone but Rokii tried to betray us.
"Wait, Rokii..." I said. My companions looked at me in disbelief. I knew they didn't want to say it, but they were thinking it.
"I don't think it is, Rokii was awoken one week prior to all of you. He would have needed more time to plan such a move." Kili said.
"Our original plan was to keep you all here until the plague was destroyed, but we now have to re plan this. We think rotating is the best option. As long as we have at least one of you here at a time, this will be do able. We will have to rotate cities though, keep them guessing. But we need to keep this plan between everyone in this room. If the wrong ears continue to hear our plan it will fail." Kili said. We all agreed to the terms, it was a fair trade.
"What is our next move?" I asked.
"Ivarr will be the first to stay, we will rotate weekly until we're confident that we have pinned the Knights. Only then will you all be summed to this world for a final battle." Kili said.
"Our axes and blades are eager to taste the blood of our foes once again, this battle will be glorious. A tale that will be told by humans and Gods a like!" Keon chanted happily, it is true we all felt the urge of battle. We were created for it.
"Do you think it would be wise to reach out to the world's leaders and inform them on the wars to come?" Koba asked.
"That is a lengthy process, we cannot walk in and speak to the leaders. To them we are average civilians. They have no idea of who we are, and for the time being we want to leave it that way. The only way for them to find out about us is by a grand entrance and proof of what we have discovered. When you three return home, try and see if you can locate the teachings we gave the humans long ago. I was never able to find the copies we had." Kili said as he rose from his desk.
"Now, you will all have until tomorrow afternoon to explore before you are taken home. Take the time to explore before your rotation begins, it will make the transition easier. You will all be assigned a berserker and one of his warriors. Ivarr, you will have Gorm and Erik. Koba, you will have Halfdan and Skarde, the twins. Keon, Trygve and Ulf. And my Grace, you will have Vili." Kili said with a serious tone. After the mention of his brother he gave me a smile.
"Vili is our greatest and strongest warrior, he assured us he was capable of fighting beside you." Kili said, I replied with a small smile. I could feel Keon's gaze on me, I could practically hear the smile form on his face. As we said our goodbyes and begun to leave, Kili called out to me.
"My Grace, a word if you will"
"Of course Kili, what troubles you?"
"I just wanted to express how happy it makes me feel to know you and Vili have begun speaking again. Vili was... troubled for a very long time after you left for your slumber. He vanished for years at a time. Only recently did he return at hearing you would be awakening soon. He cares for you deeply, and from what we have witnessed you feel much the same."
It took me sometime to process what Kili had spoken, Vili was truly hurt by my slumber. I couldn't begin to imagine the pain his kin felt when he disappeared for all that time.
"Thank you Kili for sharing this, I'll be sure to care for him during our time together. I will see you tomorrow." I said as I begun walking to the doors.
"He requested to be by your side while you were awake. He demanded to be assigned to you. I thought you should of known this." Kili said once more, making me stop in my tracks. Vili had requested to stand by me?