Free food and ale: what could go wrong? [open]

Kattegat was full to bursting in that period.
The Gods were pretty generous, gifting the kingdom with a huge harvest and Björn Ironside decided to open a feast to celebrate the great gift that came from Freyr. People from all over the country started invading the streets and the buildings in Kattegat and the atmosphere was joyful and warm, with people smiling in every corner of the streets, looking carefree.

When Hilde heard about this huge feast, she first decided not to leave her house and to stay isolated from everyone. Everytime that some kind of social event came, she felt the urge to stay away from people and crowds. She basically never even had a clue on how to behave in front of people in general, so she knew she could've looked either silly or unpleasant in their eyes and she definitely didn't want that.

Eventually Björn Ironside opened the celebrations and all Hilde could hear was the roar of the people running drunk along the streets. She could hear the music coming from the great hall and she knew people were having the time of their life, drinking the best ale and mead, eating the best food.

Her feet started working by themselves, curiosity taking over the girl's actions. Hilde found herself staring at the feast from the entrance of the great hall.
"Oh, come on, stop acting like a coward. Have fun for once. We're talking about free food and good drinks. What could ever go wrong?" She said to herself in her own head before nodding at her thoughts.
Hilde finally entered the great hall, inhaling a deep breath that filled her lungs. The spicy smell of people, crowded and sweaty, mixed with the sound of laughters and music brought a brief smile to the girl's face that grabbed a cup and poured herself some ale.

The night passed as ale and mead kept being served. An old man took the girl by the arm and brought her to the center of the room, where he started to dance to the rhythm of the music, inviting Hilde to do the same with just a movement of his hands. She smiled at the man's movements, immediately accepting his challenge and starting moving her body along with the music. Between a song and another, she'd drink a cup full of ale. At this point Hilde had drank so much that she could barely stand so she just decided it was time to relax a bit. The girl bent playfully to the old man who just waved at her smiling before she could turn around to search for a small space to sit, in the corner of the room maybe, where it should've been quieter. She sat on a bench in the furthest place from the center, where everyone was still dancing, and pleaded the Gods not to throw up or pass out just yet. It was the first time she was really enjoying something apart from the training sessions, so she wanted it to last as long as possible. Hilde felt that her smile was unwilling to leave her face anytime soon and for the first time, she couldn't care less about showing her true colours. After all, nothing could go wrong.

see i’m living for the moment

Somewhere along the evening, he had completely lost his track of time. Every hour that passed seemed to be only minutes. Thinking back, he had no idea how he had spent his time until five minutes ago. His memory was blurry, as were his senses. He couldn’t feel his hands, for some reason. His tongue had gotten a life of its own as well. Walking around had suddenly become a hard task, but dancing.. Dancing got a whole lot easier. At this point, he could honestly say he was drunk. He didn’t even know if his father would approve of this, but then again, he hadn’t seen Rigas in hours. Or so it seemed. Lovise was hopefully having a good time herself too. He had dismissed her from her tasks earlier that evening. She had to enjoy herself when she had the chance. He knew she couldn’t be far away, as he had seen her a couple of times in the crowd.

Hopefully she had been smarter with the alcohol than he had been. Right now he wasn’t even sure if he could find the guest house the host had assigned to his father and his entourage. But for now it didn’t matter. In fact, he grabbed another cup of mead and joined a table of equally drunk vikings. Listening to their stories was what had kept him busy all night, if he wasn’t dancing around somewhere. The vikings didn’t seem to mind his presence either, which was nice as well. He recognised some of them as warriors from Skagerrak. Again he could feel his desire to join them in battle one day come up. In a couple of years, he wanted to share his stories of victory too.

But for now he would focus on his training. And getting another cup. Or maybe take a break for a second. Actually, that would be a better idea. Freyr got up, a bit wonky, and tried to find his way through the crowd. Apparently he wasn’t the only one who was taking a little break. He ended up sitting next to a blonde girl, who had this huge smile on her face. He couldn’t help but smile back, her enthusiasm igniting his. ”What a night huh?” He asked her, talking loudly enough so she would hear him over the music that was playing.

Free food and ale: what could go wrong? [open] Ezgif_11

That corner of the room was close to a window and the chilly air coming from outside was giving life to the poor girl.
The center of the room now looked like a complete different world, Hilde understood how high the temperature was back there just after she felt how cold the air was outside.
Her eyes wandered around the room, her vision was blurry and she was trying to focus on people around her, that were still dancing and talking loudly at each other. She didn't want to miss anything about what was happening around her, but her senses were almost knocked out by the alcohol. Her happy mood was nowhere near to fading though, with her smile still brighting up her face.
Although the air was really refreshing, the girl's face was sweaty and few strands of hair looked almost glued to her cheeks and forhead, looking like a gold frame that was mitigating her strong features. She tried to wipe away the sweat from her forhead with her arm and then used both of her hands as a fan, trying to ease her pain, coming from that high temperature that was raising because of both the alcohol and all that dancing.

She didn't even realise someone was so close to her until she heard a voice coming from her side. Apparently, her attempt in not missing anything around her was failing. Hilde immediately turned towards the direction where the voice came from... too fast. Her head spinned roughly for what it felt like an hour while in fact were just few seconds. The girl squeezed her eyes shut and then opened them again slowly, trying to focus on the person whose voice captured her attention. A guy was sitting next to her, someone she never saw before. Of course, she didn't know lots of people in Kattegat, apart from the warriors that usually trained with her, so he could be either a villager she just never ran into or a guest from another kingdom that arrived in Kattegat because of the feast.
Hilde's smile reflexively grew wider at the guy's words. "Indeed it is!" her voice came out two octaves higher than her normal tone probably because she was literally screaming. She understood that her screaming wasn't so necessary, just a moment after, but she also thought it was better that way, at least she was sure the guy heard her.
"I never saw you before. What's your name?" she asked, getting a little bit closer to the boy, while an innocent smile formed on her face and curiosity grew obvious in her eyes that were scanning his features. He had long brown hair that fell down his face very nicely. "His whole face is very nice" Hilde shook away that thought from her mind, she could see his beard was not grown yet, so he was probably very young. The girl stepped back, gaining again a small piece of composure that was one of her most relevant traits, but never moved away her eyes from the boy's ones while waiting for his answer.

see i’m living for the moment

In a way he felt like all this was part of growing up. Becoming a man. He was young, for sure, but his father wouldn’t let him wander around all by himself if he thought he was not ready yet. It somehow had to mean he was not a little boy in his eyes anymore. Coming to Kattegat proved he was ready for the next steps. Maybe not to be a viking warrior yet, but to have more experiences as the son of an earl. He would learn about other villages, other people, other ways of living. And other ways of fighting. But that would be a worry for the next day. Right now, he didn’t even think about any of those things. He just enjoyed himself, and his company. They sure were quite an entertaining group, but at last he felt like he needed a break. Maybe some fresh air as well. Or just another cup of mead. Which ever would cross his path first, he would settle for.

But none of those things seemed to matter when he found new company. A stunning blonde girl caught his attention and he couldn’t fight the urge to go talk to her. Very strange, since he had never showed any interest in such a thing before. He was strongly dedicated to his duties, so girls were never on his mind. But now, the alcohol had opened a whole new world for him. He even had the guts to go talk to her. He wasn’t really a shy person, but he was impressed by her appearance. His greeting wasn’t the most elegant one, but at least it made her turn around and smile at him. "Indeed it is!" She agreed with him, maybe a little bit louder than he had expected. He chuckled and looked at her with an amusing look in his eyes. This would be an interesting conversation, he could feel it in his bones.

"I never saw you before. What's your name?" She then proceeded to ask him. Now he laughed out loud. Another side effect of the alcohol that had taken over his brain. Everything seemed to be a lot more funny than they actually were. ”Ofcourse you’ve never seen me before. I’m not from around here”, He explained his sudden burst of laughter. ”I am Freyr, son of Rigas”, He then introduced himself. He had no idea if she would have heard of his father, but he was sure soon his name would get more famous. Because he was an earl now, and those were pretty important around here. "And who are you?" He then asked, curious about her in a way he couldn't even explain if he had to.

Free food and ale: what could go wrong? [open] Ezgif_12

The boy immediately confirmed what she suspected, saying he wasn't from anywere nearby. ”I am Freyr, son of Rigas.” He then said. That name wasn't new to the girl's ears, but even though she tried really hard to remeber who this Rigas was, she couldn't recall it. "And who are you?" The boy asked, before she could think further about the piece of information he gave her just few seconds before. "I'm Hilde, daughter of..." She tried to answer introducing herself the way he did, but forgot, for a brief moment that she actually never met her father. "Well... Odin. He's my father." The blonde girl finished her sentence with a bitter flavor on her tongue, her gaze on the empty cup she was holding in her hands. She grew up with Bryrja, but she always knew that the old Valkyrie wasn't her real mother. She never understood why her parents abandoned her and the thought of being a nuisance always knocked on the back of her brain. The girl inhaled deeply and turned her head to give attention to the boy next to her, before showing again her beautiful smile. She honestly didn't want to get depressed, not when she was finally having a break from her annoying and depressing daily thoughts.

Her eyes scanned again his face and her thoughts went back to his name and his father's. The thought of knowing who his father was couldn't leave her mind but the alcohol wasn't helping her getting through her memories. "I think I've heard your father's name before." She said while staring at the boy, her forehead a bit frowned. Just then, like a flash, the moment when she heard the name Rigas for the first time came to her mind. "Oh... Rigas." She said in a low voice with a little smirk on her face. That day, at the training camp, everyone started talking about this new earl in Skagerrak who won the title after a duel with the previous earl. Rigas became pretty famous because he was very cold and harsh, so Hilde didn't actually expect his son to look so friendly, but maybe it was the alcohol effect.
The girl raised her shoulders at her own thoughts and then went back to the boy. "So, how do you like Kattegat? Freyr?" She then asked, emphasizing his name and trying to tease him a little bit. She was probably playing with fire. The boy was an earl's son and she was nobody's daughter. She didn't know anything about him and how he could react to her teasing was a mystery, but she trusted the alcohol to ease the atmosphere.
Before he had the chance to answer, the girl got up and grabbed the closest pitcher that was full of mead and poured herself a cup. She felt like she needed to be even more drunk that how she was to handle this conversation. Hilde went back to Freyr's side and showed him the pitcher silently offering him some mead.

Subject: Re: Free food and ale: what could go wrong? [open]

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