Healing
Chapter 12: Healing
The first thing you became aware of was a pain that slowly, but surely crept up your limbs and into your core, the second was a rustling sound you could hear somewhere around you. As soon as you managed to open your eyes, you cringed in pain.
“What the hell happened in order to feel like this?” You asked yourself, before images of hateful glares and something akin to clubs flooded your brain. The rustling sound came back and a blurry figure came into view. For a second you thought it had to be one of the servants, come to finish you off, but when you felt a slight pressure on your hand and a concerned and familiar voice speak, you felt like you could breathe again.
“Norns, girl. You gave us all quite a scare.” An old man said as he held your hand and sat by your side on a chair or something like that you assumed. You couldn’t really see much, except for blurry shapes and even that seemed to be too much for your brain to handle as it was begging you to close your eyes again, but you forced them to remain open just as you forced your voice to break free from your throat.
“What?” Was all that came out of you and it sounded so quiet and strained that you cringed by the sound alone. The man quickly stood up and the sound of water being poured filled your ears. He then brought the glass or something to your lips and helped you drink. Never in your life would you think water would taste this divine, but by the Norns it did!
“To answer your question, you were attacked by a clan of upset servants who pretty much left you for dead. Luckily your friend, erm… Djúp? No, Djúpvi?”
“Djúpvitr” You screeched. Remembering having a friend by that name.
“Yes, that’s the one. Now keep your mouth shut and listen. She found you and alerted Rydigg who alerted the other heads Dalla and Vigdis as well as the king. He was outraged that servants under the crown would act in such a vicious way and ordered the palace guards to find out who were responsible. I, of course, was also brought to the attention of my help’s condition and I have been checking on you for almost a week now.”
Then the man’s voice became soft and even pained. “Svinnr, I thought you were dead. When I arrived here at the healers’ wing, your dress was covered with blood and you looked so pale. Your lungs kept giving out and prince Loki spend the whole night pouring his seidr into you to heal your worst injuries. I had never seen him like that before, so… so out of control. He kept shouting commands and prevented others from touching you unless he knew that they weren’t going to hurt you. I’m sure he will come to check on you later. If it were up to him, he wouldn’t have even left your bedside, but the king and queen quickly reminded him of his duties as a prince. Ever since then he comes in here once or twice a day to stay by your side.”
“Water.” You screeched once more and you felt your energy plummeting quickly, but you couldn’t close your eyes yet. Not after that story. All the names the man had said and all the things that had happened were hard to process. Especially since you hardly remembered anything. Eventually you lost the war against your own body and fell back into the darkness without even realising it.
When you opened your eyes again, your vision was better than before as you could vaguely make out your surroundings. Everything still had some kind of blurry edge to it, but at least you could make out the shapes for what they were and you quickly realised that you were not in the healers’ wing anymore, but a bedroom that felt familiar. Your throat felt even more like sandpaper and you tried to turn your head to see if there was a glass of water or something along those lines on the bedside table, but the movement made you wince in pain.
“Shhh, don’t move.” A smooth voice said.
“Water.” You sounded like a dying person who was living her final moments after spending months in a scorching desert without a single drop of water. Again you heard the pouring sound and then you felt the cold glass press against your lips. You winced at the pain it caused you to have water poured down your sore throat, but at the same time it was soothing and you couldn’t get enough of it.
“Thanks.” You managed to croak out after you had your fill. “What happened?” Even though your eyesight wasn’t as great as it normally was, you thought you could see the man’s face constricting as if all kinds of different emotions were trying to win the upper hand. He remained silent and eventually settled for a facial expression that was as hard as a rock.
“They attacked you.” He began and his voice sounded both accusing and hateful. “And you were all alone.” His voice and its tone were getting too much for you, but when you tried to burry yourself further under the blankets, you realised that you couldn’t move.
“Why can’t I move?!” You squealed in horror and panic.
“Stop, you’ll hurt yourself!” He said as he shot up from his sitting position and rushed to hold you down. “Svinnr, please! Stop trashing about!” But you were beyond reason by now. Your vision was getting blurry too which only made you panic even more.
“HELP!” You finally screamed even though it hurt to strain your throat so. “I CAN’T MOVE!” You heard the door being slammed open as more people rushed into the room, but instead of helping you they all yanked you down onto the matrass to keep you still. That was until a hand moved to your forehead and your whole world went black.
The next time you opened your eyes, you were all alone.
“You’re awake.” A cold voice stated.
“Not that alone, it would seem.”
“Who?” The man came closer for you to look at him. He had black hair that was smoothed to the back and big emerald green eyes that were gazing down on you.
“Do you know who I am?” He asked gently. You racked your brain, because he looked so familiar, but no name came up in your head. “I understand if you-“
“Loki!” You blurted out, being absolutely sure that that was the man’s name. His eyes went soft and you even spotted his lips quirking up a bit.
“That’s correct. And what is your name?” You did remember that so you told him, only he looked a bit weird when you did so. He opened his mouth to say something, but was then interrupted by the door opening and someone sighing deeply.
“You were supposed to call me when she awakened.” A woman said as she approached your bed. “How are you feeling, dear.” She asked you with a warm smile. She didn’t look familiar, but strangely enough that didn’t worry you, because she looked quite friendly and harmless. You grunted in response to her question which made her chuckle a little.
“You’re probably wondering what is going on.” It wasn’t a question yet you still nodded your head slightly to confirm it for her. “Well, let me tell you. You were attacked by an angry group of servants who have mostly been hunted down and locked into the dungeons to await their trial. You broke three ribs, your left arm, cracked your eye socket and terribly bruised both of your legs. Your right one has a large fracture just under the knee. Furthermore you are suffering from a concussion, so don’t feel bad for not remembering things or being sensitive to light and sounds. Can you tell me where we are now?”
“Asgard.”
“Yes, that’s right. And what is your name?” Rolling your eyes hurt you quickly found out, so you pretty much groaned out your name.
“Indeed. And do you know your profession?” You tried to remember you really did, but all you could remember were books and ink.
“Librarian?” You tried, not at all that confident. The woman nodded and scribbled something down.
“That will do for now. Let me introduce myself. I am Eir, the head of the healers and I have been charged with your care. We have wrapped your arm, leg and head carefully to get your bones to heal properly. Once every four days we will come in here and rub your leg in with a salve to heal the bruises, we will also do this on your ribs, given that we can’t wrap them.” You nodded your head.
“Thank you.” You muttered as the woman smiled down at you.
“Don’t worry, dear. And now you should rest.” Eir said and then turned to prince Loki. “And we should leave you to it.” Prince Loki snorted.
“Alright, Eir, as you wish.” He then turned to you. “I will visit you again, soon.”
The amount of time you spent awake began to increase and you quickly realised just how much lord Blekk, prince Loki and prince Frey visited you. Even the ambassador and the queen had found time to visit. Your concussion had been pretty bad, but with the help of Eir and her group of healers they had managed to clear the fog mostly, however your ribs, arm, legs and eye socket needed more time to heal and so you were stuck inside lord Blekk’s bedroom until the bones had mended themselves once more. Today prince Frey was sitting by your bed, reading you a story that was famous on Vanaheim and had been a favourite from your childhood. He was just telling you about the wicked elven maiden, when a soft meow was heard and a cat jumped onto your bed.
“Hreiðmarr!” You exclaimed happily while prince Frey shot you a curious look.
“I don’t think Eir would be happy with this furball leaving cat hair all around.” Prince Frey chuckled.
“Well, what Eir doesn’t know, can’t hurt her.” You said while shooting him a mischievous smirk and picking up the cat to snuggle with. Prince Frey chuckled and reached out to pat the cat as well. Prince Hreiðmarr however wasn’t having any of it as he hissed at him.
“He still doesn’t seem to like me, my lady.” You laughed at that.
“Yes, Hreiðmarr has a difficult personality and is quite picky with his people.” You said as you scratched him under his chin. “At least he has stopped clawing at you.”
“Well, can’t argue with that.” He said as he placed the book on your bedside table. “Let’s discus something else. I have heard your family has been here?” He inquired and you groaned in response. Yes, your family had been here. But apart from your brother jumping on your bed and actually being happy to see you alive and well, your parents were distant and quiet. Perhaps the presence of prince Loki hovering over you made them feel on edge, or the fact that you were sleeping in a bedroom that was almost the size of their house. Yet it felt like they were disappointed to have been called over to the palace to see you were awake and doing ‘just fine’.
“Yes they were here. They promised my little brother and I that they would come back next week.”
“You don’t really sound excited by that, if you don’t mind me saying so.” You sighed and absentmindedly stroked Hreiðmarr’s back as he purred loudly.
“My parents are not really… fond of me.” You finally mumbled out after a moment or two. Prince Frey gave you a pained expression as he gazed deeply into your eyes.
“What makes you say that?”
“I don’t know how to explain it, but my parents act very differently with my brother than with me. When my brother fell down an old trap in the forest once and hurt his head, my mother hovered over him for weeks, but I nearly died and she hardly even seemed disturbed by that.” You said sadly. Before prince Frey could say anything else, the door opened and lord Blekk came into view with Egil walking behind him. You wanted to squeal in happiness when you saw him, but he looked dreadful and hurt as he had his eyes on the floor, defeated.
“The furball is back, I see.” Lord Blekk said as he approached you and patted Hreiðmarr on the head. “And prince Frey, how are you today?” Lord Blekk asked as he sat himself down on the other chair.
“I’m well, Blekk and please, you can call me Frey outside the court.” He said and Blekk nodded with a smile.
“Egil.” You said, ignoring the two men and focussing solely on your friend. “Come here.” Egil came closer and then slummed down on his knees at your bed.
“I am so sorry, Svinnr.” He said with so much pain in his voice that the tears immediately shot in your eyes.
“No, this isn’t your fault, Egil.” You pleaded with him while you clasped his hand in yours.
“But I wasn’t there to protect you.” He said and he finally looked up at you, though his eyes were bloodshot and puffy. “You could have died and I wasn’t there to help.” He added sadly.
“No, Egil, …. You are here now and I couldn’t be happier.” You said tearfully. “Now come here, you idiot, and give me a hug.” You both chuckled even though it sounded more sad than happy, but he did do what you asked of him as he hugged you close and pretty much squeezed Hreiðmarr between the both of you. You let each other go at the sound of a throat being cleared.
“Is that any way to speak to a noble, girl?” Lord Blekk said a little bit uncomfortable as he shot prince Frey a quick glance as if he was afraid the prince would take offence to your care-free way of speaking.
“You’re right, I apologize my lord. I didn’t mean any offence by it.” You said but you couldn’t quite hide your smile.
“None was taken, dear.” Prince Frey spoke before Egil could say anything and then smiled warmly at you as he stood up. “I will take my leave now, but if you need me, you know I’m at your back and call.” He said and then he kissed your right hand and left your bedchamber.
“I still can’t believe how much that man has changed.” Lord Blekk said after the door had been closed behind the prince. “I remember him as a lad, long before the Asgardian princes could even walk and he was the most desired bachelor in the nine. Perhaps he still is, given that he hasn’t married yet, but back in the day he was even worse than Fandral.” He mused fondly at the memory.
“He’s a good man and has a lot of interesting stories to tell.” You supplied. “He also tells me a lot of Alfheim and his inhabitants.”
“I don’t really trust him.” Egil said and both you and lord Blekk turned to look at him. He however sighed and sat himself down in the chair prince Frey had abandoned. “Don’t you find it strange that he is so close to you? I mean no offense to you, Svinnr, but you are supposed to be seen as a mere servant. Yet he was immediately charmed by you at Skírnir’s wedding even though he had just met you.”
“He believed I was a lady of the court.” You chuckled at the memory.
“Still, it worries me that he and prince Loki have taken such an interest in you. It’s great to have such powerful friends, but it makes me wonder what they want in return from you.” A shiver ran down your spine. What Egil was saying was true, after all lord Blekk and Djúpvitr had said something similar. You didn’t really want to think that they might expect something from you the more you got indebted to them. You were silent for a moment or two, getting lost in your gloomy thoughts, until Hreiðmarr licked your cheek and nuzzled his head under your chin.
“Can I ask you something, lord Blekk?” You said, completely changing topics because the thought of the princes wanting more than friendship was getting depressing and frightening.
“Of course, my dear.”
“I was wondering if you would perhaps allow me to resume my-“
“No.” He suddenly cut you off.
“Although I must say that it pleases me greatly to see you so eager to return to copying books, I cannot let you. Not only because your brain is supposedly still a little bit fuzzy, but mostly because Eir frightens me so and she will be cross when I let you work while you’re supposed to be resting.” You pouted at him even though you knew it was childish. Lord Blekk snorted and gently patted your hand. “Pouting won’t get you anywhere, dear. However, I hate to see you so distraught so I will bring in some books you can read.” You beamed up at him.
“Thank you, lord Blekk!”
Then suddenly a commotion was heard outside and a guard called out.
“Stand aside for the Allfather!” He yelled and a moment later the door to your bedchamber opened and the man himself walked in while Hreiðmarr jumped out of your arms and hid under the bed. Lord Blekk and Egil both stood up and then bowed as the king walked passed them.
“I’m glad to see that the healers have managed to clear your head enough for questioning.” The Allfather said and sat himself down in the seat Egil had occupied just a second ago.
“Lord Blekk, lord Egil, you are dismissed.” And with the departure of both men and the sound of the door shutting behind them, you were left alone with the king of the nine realms and his piercing blue eye.