#if you have any songs that have no chorus or stanzas and slowly and consistently change pls link me to it | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

eldrylva · 4 years

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Astrid hadn’t left the little copse of trees from the night prior. Skadi remained curled against the outermost edge of the small encampment, her large head resting diligently atop massive paws. They’d had dinner of stag that night, as was evidenced by the blood caked on the Denmother’s mouth and fur. A haunch was still on the makeshift spit that was perched over the low flickering fire.

“You have not ran with me since the night you returned.” Came pointedly from the side, and Astrid tucked her knees closer to her in her casual sit atop her furs. A bone was twirled between her fingertips, picked clean of any meat that might have resided on the thing. The Shieldmaiden settled a hard stare on the object of her attentions, though her ears burned hot with the words uttered aloud.

“I know.” She replied plainly, giving a quiet sniff. Her eyes were sore and her throat raw, and suddenly, despite having a meal of itself fill her belly, it felt empty with a hollow pit residing where innards should be.

“What did they do to you? Helya’s vile creations?” It was a gentle question, curious, concerned, as the onyx colored Dire Wolf let her ears swivel back against her skull. Her head lifted only just-so off of her paws, as if that would help her inspect Astrid better. The woman squirmed slightly in her seat, and her skin crawled with the thought.

“They played games of the mind. Consistently. Tried to break me, tried to tear and twist the wolf inside of me into a monster so they could instead impale me with vile wings they did not deserve,” she muttered. Her tone was bitter, harsh, the leg bone in her hands snapping and concaving in the center, splintering in her lap.

“They tricked me into fearing myself so that I would not try to escape.” It was a sentence uttered just barely above a breath. Skadi heard it, and that was what mattered. The Denmother’s head lifted slowly off of her paws, her neck inclining to its full height. The fur on her back bristled in anger and a low growl rumbled out of her chest. A short sound, succinct. Anger. It was a shared feeling that blossomed between the pair, but it was quickly snuffed out by a larger emotion, calm.

Astrid’s head lifted and was on a swivel to her right, and Skadi’s head turned over a shoulder as well. There was no hostility, just the impartment of calm. Rounding the corner came her father, Earl Eldr Fjalarsson himself. He was in his simple leathers, but with his heavy cloak of furs tucked over broad shoulders to brace him from the sharp bite of the coastal winter winds nearby. Wise eyes crinkled at the corners in an immediate smile framed by a salted beard of fire welled to life.

“Is this fire taken, my Ladies?” He rumbled curiously, easily taking up half of the clearing’s entrance on his own. A grin welled to life immediately on Astrid’s features, and Skadi chuffed softly in her mild amusement.

“As usual, the fire is yours, Eldr.” Skadi chimed in her impetuous ways, all in good lightheartedness of course. The Denmother bowed her head to the man who bowed slightly at the waist in kind. Rocking to all fours, Astrid and Skadi shared in a silent look, one of understanding, and Skadi departed the encampment without so much as another word, her large tail flicking a branch behind her before she disappeared into the shadowed depths of the forests as one, herself.

“Surely the Earl will be missed in the Longhouse this evening,” Astrid chimed playfully, tossing a grin her father’s way, whose shoulders rose and fell in a shrug.

“Then I will be missed. Your brothers seem to have little trouble in keeping the people pleased with entertainment. Synna with her songs, her voice reaches the heavens but is distinctly alone without her little sister to join in the chorus.” Eldr commented with a pointed stare down the fellow redhead’s way, and he took to stepping within the warmth the encampment wrought, the large man shuddering and rumbling with contentment. It wasn’t often their people grew cold in the winter winds, but their bodies bruised and broke just like any other.

“I haven’t sang in ages,” the woman lamented, throwing a look to the distant Halls of Valor before she chucked the bones into the fire pit in front of her father, who saw her neat and tidy ways with her boots resting at the edge of her bedroll. A brow ticked upwards and he swiftly bent to match, kicking his boots off and settled at his daughter’s side, throwing his cloak around her shoulders and tucking her to his side, sitting in silence a moment while Astrid rested her head on his shoulder, staring out to the Halls.

“Then sing for me now, little ylva.” He rumbled thoughtfully, sparing a glance down her way. “Sing for me before I ask your help in understanding your pain and your anger. It is an infectious feeling, leaving bitterness in the heart of your sister and brothers in a misplaced attempt at overprotection.” He sighed, a loud and heavy sound, one burdened by both the trials of trying to be a father to excited pups, and an Earl all in the same breath. Times like these where he could sneak away, especially with his youngest and his wife, were times he cherished the most. He peered down expectantly at the Huntress that squirmed slightly in his grip, and he pressed a gentle kiss to the top of fire-kissed curls and braids without much a complaint.

Shortly after, Astrid’s spine straightened and a soft melody in their native tongue could be heard. The woman’s voice was light and airy as it always were, and the wildlife and waters before her and her father carried in the comfortable and warm space. Eldr let his daughter stay like that, sing like that, for however long she wished. However long her lungs would allow. He was a patient man, and he felt his child’s worries and pain drift away between them for as long as one stanza bled into the next. He was quick to replace any lingering ebbs of worry with a blanket of calm, of security, for he knew that’s what she needed the most of right now.

When the song ended, Astrid’s shoulders rose and fell slowly in a sigh. Anchor. Eldr had rumbled a soft chuckle, pressing another kiss to the top of her head.

“I missed that sound, daughter.” He began quietly, a thick, corded arm giving her slender by comparison shoulders a gentle squeeze. “Now tell me. Help me understand this man that you have fallen in love with that your sister and brother have come to quickly resent. For your heartbreak. But your heart truly isn’t broken, is it?” He continued, shifting his head away from hers to peer down at her sidelong. “Your anger is not towards him, but towards the people that tore your second Pack apart. Left you licking your wounds with your tails between your legs.” He was nothing but a patient and knowing man, able to read the silent language his people’s bodies spoke without so much a breath parted between them. His children, especially his children, were no different. They weren’t allowed to be.

Astrid was silent for a long moment, and Eldr caught snippets of her voiceless words as he watched her carefully.

“I was chosen second to Duty. But that is our way, those of us that choose to walk the path that Varsen has. Skilled warriors, they would sooner fall on their own swords and axes before betraying the word that made their bond. I was angry, I was hurt, my heart -was- broken.” Astrid began slowly, carefully picking her words lest she fall victim to breathless lungs and an endless void in her gut.

“The love in my heart for this man surpasses any other that I have felt in my life, father.. Men and women I have had in my bed are just fleeting memories, fragments, compared to when he is at my side in every sense of the word. I am willing to understand, to live, for I know that if the Gods, if Freya, had intended for us to be together in the first place, it will happen.” Astrid sucked in a slow breath and her father loosed another rumble, straight nose curling slightly at her words with a shake of his head. He was here to listen, however, not to speak on her behalf. She could voice her thoughts without judgement. He was her father, not her Earl.

“Tell me how you felt before you have had time to speak with Skadi, Astrid.” He interjected softly for her, allowing his bearded chin to settle atop her head. Eldr felt his daughter freeze for a moment, a set straightness to her spine. “Help me understand the Astrid that sailed with her brother and a broken heart, first. The rest can come after.”

“Father... we would be here all night.”

“Then we will be here all night.”

#ic things

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