By The Grace Of The Gods

[Lief]

Leave it to simmer. It was as simple as that? He had way more faith in her ability to cook than she did, that was for certain! Still, she would have to trust him. It wasn't as if there was enough food for a do-over. She stirred it once more, before leaving the lid off so that he could add the meat when the time came.

Inside her mind she said a small prayer to Éar for the bounty she had sent their way, before looking across to Gideon with a curious expression.

"Flower?"

Snowflake she had adjusted to, it was hard not to when both of her Fathers used the term. But flower was new to her. The sheepish smile had her grinning from ear to ear though, it held just the right amount of cheek.

"I've found that sometimes things don't go as initially planned. More often than not they're all the better for it, too. You're a natural hunter, Gideon, and Thainbroek is lucky to have you."

Felix definitely agreed, as he sat there chewing on the fatty meat he had been thrown. Silly little stowaway. She wouldn't have him any other way.

[member="Gideon Crowseye"]

 

[Gideon Crowseye]

With a small shrug he finished cutting up the meat and tossed it in the pot leaving, with a bit of flour stirring it to thicken up. "Enough about me though, tell me about you. My story is a bit wild, but mostly plain you though, I don't think there's a plain detail about you." Pulling out a couple furs he lay them out in front of the fire as to watch the pot while they spoke in some small comfort. Felix quite happily chewing on some bits, no doubt he was going to get his fair share either way.

Pulling up a pair of chairs by the fire he invited her to join him before wrapping up in furs as the cabin heated up. "I figure we have an hour while the fires burn, tell me of the life of a princess. I bet it involves nearly as much sneaking about as mine!"

[member="Mysa Snowstrider"]

 

[Lief]

She watched as he simply tossed the meat into the broth, and could not help but feel somewhat sheepish. So that was it? As simple as putting the meat in with the rest? Maybe she could get the hang of this cooking thing, if she really tried. At least... Well, she'd see. It might taste horrible yet!

When he turned his focus to her, however, Mysa simply shook her head, and moved to sit on one of the chairs provided. She stared off into the fire, chewing on her lower lip, and for a long time said nothing.

Finally though her words did come, in whispered tone. Not once did she look at him, not once did her eyes leave the fire.

"I wasn't always a Princess, but you'd know that. You've lived here longer than I have."

A small sigh, when Felix curled around her feet, before she continued.

"I was brought here as a child, when my Master... Mother..." Her whole face twisted at that thought, a different White Lady though. It didn't hurt any less even now. "When she died. Don't ask." She didn't want to have to explain how Kära was all well and good right now. That wasn't her business.

"She'd asked specifically that I be sent to the late King's son, [member='Thurion Heavenshield'], and this was the closest they could get me to him. Thrand - Grandpa Thrand - took me in, treated me like family, introduced me to the Valkyri way."

Talking about him was painful, and she looked from the fire to her lap as her eyes stung. She didn't want to talk about this anymore, so she fell silent instead.

[member="Gideon Crowseye"]

 

[Gideon Crowseye]

He could feel the ground opening up beneath him as he watched her answer, it was in the way she stared away. He watched her as she was swept away by a memory, absent in both mind and soul. Even as she spoke of coming to the planet her heart was in her voice as she went quiet. Of course though, he hadn't connected the dots on that had he? He'd missed the battle, and the ceremonies thereafter, but there was a new king wasn't there? Terribly distant from his reality, but to her that was family.

Standing up he walked over to the pot and stirred it once more before turning back to her with a smile, more to conceal the lump in his throat then anything else. "Well, born a princess or not, I say we're lucky to have you. The Gods have a way of leading us where we belong no? So, that means born or not that way, you belong as a princess. Me, I'm a hunter, born and raised. The Lady of the Hunt is usually my only companion out here. Well beyond the team, but they don't talk much. Come to think of it nether does Ear, no wonder I'm rubbish at that. So lets try a game instead, something to pass the time and sharpen our skills while we wait? Maybe a bit of knife throwing?"

[member="Mysa Snowstrider"]

 

[Lief]

That was natural, she supposed. While the people would mourn the loss of their leader - Thrand especially, given all he had done, all he had sacrificed, for them - they remained disassociated. Most likely saw his family but did not connect the dot that their King had a life away from the Great Hall, that he too had a wife once, and sons, and grandbabies.

Gideon rose, and for a moment she worried that she had scared him away. But it was only to the adjacent fire that he strode, to stir the pot and give her mind a moment to focus on something else. She inhaled the scent of the broth, she curled her toes against her boots, and listened to the crackling of the logs. All sensations to ground her back into the here and now.

With a small exhale her haunted expression shifted, and she smiled genuinely up at him. He always knew just what to say, even if he seemed to think otherwise.

"A game? That could be interesting. What did you have in mind?"

Mysa hadn't really played games since Théo was little, when the duo enjoyed exploring the land without the knowledge of their parents. Always getting into trouble.

[member="Gideon Crowseye"]

 

[Gideon Crowseye]

With a grin he walked over towards a wooden crate in the corner of the room, a half dozen knives and axes were in there, user's choice. Hefting it up he brought it over to where they were and pointed to the far wall's thick central post. "That's the target, the game is simple. Each round you get five throws, get all five in the post, and your opponent doesn't you win the round. It ends when someone wins five rounds, you can choose any array of items you want from the bin."

Pulling out a mixture of axes and knives to show her he threw one with a slightly curved blade into the post. "We do it to keep out skill honed when the storms lock us in here. Spent three weeks in here once, could barely even get a foot past the door without losing it due to the snow. The cabin used to be used by three families, one of them tried their luck in that storm, and now there is only two of us who use it. The Gods don't show much mercy to the foolish and vain, I suppose."

[member="Mysa Snowstrider"]

 

[Lief]

She watched as he dragged a crate to the space between them; it was filled with a few different kinds of weapons, but it was the throwing axes that truly caught her attention and she lifted one to test the weight. More than agreeable. She gave a nod of her head. "Five rounds... Okay..."

There was no way that Mysa was going to win. No way at all. She was an okay shot with a bow, and could handle a sword, but thrown? That was foreign to her. All the more reason to practice.

"Wait.. The whole family was wiped out?" she inquired, with a small frown, "That's horrible..." How would it be if her family was simply snuffed from existence? The Heavenshields and the Hearthfires and the Snowstriders? It did not bear thinking about. She turned her gaze to where Felix lay, curled before the fire, and her frown deepened.

That was not a fate she wished on anyone.

[member="Gideon Crowseye"]

 

[Gideon Crowseye]

He nodded grimly for a moment before picking up a long dagger and throwing it into the post. "Aye, they'd come with us often, but no one is stout enough to stay warm in a great blizzard. They got lost, tried to get back, and we found them frozen stiff, naked as the day they were born. Its the worst sign, when you start to sweat and get hot. The frost is already setting in then."

Picking up a second knife he threw it with practiced grace into the post again. "The old widow died shortly after, a broken heart was more then she could endure. Poor, woman. She always sent them with little sweet treats." Throwing the third knife with some lost exuberance he nailed in between the first two with a small smile. "Sorry, not good dinner talk, I know."

[member="Mysa Snowstrider"]