Ida's POV-
By the time we finished helping the driver unload all of the food, the sun was almost completely set. On the main street, I could already hear music and chattering echoing and see the glow of the firelight.
I remembered how we used to participate for perhaps 30 minutes before I would be brought back into the cottage and put to bed, although when my parents had gone to sleep, I had sat at my window gazing out at the drunken community. Every time, I had longed to go join them, but without a doubt, someone would have told my father or mother. For hours I would gaze over at them, and once it became the wee hours of the morning, I would fall asleep to the haunting sounds of the stringed instruments and drums as they respected Baldr.
Eager to be able to experience an entirety of the festival for the first time, I dragged Fandral and Thor down to street where the celebration always took place.
Almost immediately, I spotted Ossar sitting on the grass beside jugs of alcohol.
"Can I take one?" I asked, plopping down next to him.
His eyes met mine only briefly before shifting to Thor and Fandral as they both sunk down beside me.
"Have all you want" his voice hitched.
He started to stand up, but I took his wrist. "What is wrong?"
He shrugged, letting me loosely pull him back down. "I do not know"
"You were one of my best friends here" I lowered my voice so that it would be difficult for the other two to eavesdrop. "and yet you are acting a stranger"
"I do not know how I am supposed to act" he shook his head. "One day you are one of us, and the next you are a princess. Am I supposed to bow when I see you? Am I supposed to address you as 'princess'? Am I even aloud to talk to you?"
"You do not have to bow or call me a princess" I smiled softly at him. "And of course you are permitted to speak to me. I am the same person as I was before I left."
"The castle is very mysterious" he took a swig from the jug he had. "It always feels like it is somewhere of happiness and richness, but the inside seems to hold dark secrets"
"Everyone harbors dark secrets" I pointed out. "Even myself"
"What dark secret do you hold?" he raised an eyebrow at me.
"Prince Loki is responsible for the murder of my father" I reluctantly whispered.
His mouth fell open.
"You must not spread that around" I warned.
"I won't" he promised.
I took the jug from him and threw some of the burning liquid back into my throat. Whiskey.
"How do you even live with that?" he asked slowly.
"It is hard to" I admitted. "I am still trying to learn how, to be perfectly honest"
"I would never be able to forgive someone if they had done that"
"It has been quite difficult to figure out how" I looked at him. "Although, he was young and his intentions were pure"
"Still, I would not have married the guy"
"Did I have a choice?" I paused. "And either way I did not discover this until after our vows had been made"
"That is tough"
"Tell me about it" I took another swig before handing back the jug.
"I am going to go mingle" Thor leaned over to me.
"Go for it" I waved off.
Beaming, he stood up and walked away. My gaze flickered to Fandral, who took the hint and followed Thor.
"I do not know how you do it" Ossar sighed.
"Do what?"
"Leave us all in this hell hole"
"I feel as though you, out of everyone here, would be happy for me" I frowned.
"Maybe I am just jealous" he shrugged. "I always wanted to be a warrior under Odin"
"I know, you never stopped talking about it" I giggled.
"I wanted it more than anything" his eyes caught mine. "But maybe a part of that was because I knew one day you would be there, too, and I wanted to be able to stay with you and protect you. You know I always liked you, Ida"
"I know" my eyes flickered down. "And I always told you I would be faithful to Loki"
"Was he faithful to you?"
"...No"
"And is he faithful now?"
"Osssar" I frowned. "That is my own personal business"
"I will take that as a no, then" he stood up and took another swig. "It should have been us in the end, and you know it"
Confused, I watched as he walked away from me, joining a group of dancing girls by the fire.
Angrily, I reached over for my own jug and popped off the lid. Then I took a couple heavy sips. When I set it down, I had to take a deep breath to recover from the strong burning sensation.
This party was supposed to be fun, yet somehow it had already turned into something stressful. Now it was on me to create my own fun.
I looked around to see where the guys were. Thor was over chugging down a bottle of whiskey with this group of guys; and Fandral was standing tall with his arms crossed looking around.
I stood up and made my way through the small crowd of people over to him. When he saw me, he tilted his head.
"Didn't feel like mingling?" I asked him.
"There is no point" he shrugged.
"Why is that?"
"I do not like mingling with persons outside the castle walls"
"What do you mean?"
"I catch feelings too easily" he nodded in a direction, and when I looked, I saw one of the girls kicking off her shoes.
She was very pretty. I had see her face around, but did not know her well. I think her dad was a cobbler.
"I like her" he went on. "She is beautiful. However, from a distance it is impossible for me to become attached."
"What is wrong with attachment?"
"Us warriors are not really encouraged to marry" he explained. "We are allowed to, of course, but our duty comes before love. We are not supposed to leave the castle grounds unless on an assignment, so seeing a woman in the village would be impractical. Besides" he relaxed a little, and shifted his gaze down to me. "I am here to protect you and Thor and see to it that nothing happens"
"It will not bother me if you stop...guarding...and go mingle. I will not say anything, you know that"
"I know" he smiled at me. "But I refuse to. It would be on me if something did happen, and I would not be able to live with myself if I had to return and tell the king that his son or daughter in law got hurt or worse"
"Well, I appreciate that"
"You can go hang out, though" he waved off.
"I am fine hanging out with you" I smiled.
"I don't know, I am kind of boring" he answered jokingly.
"Then why don't we liven things up and dance?"
"I am not much of a dancer" he scoffed.
"Neither am I" I grabbed his wrist and pulled.
Reluctantly, he gave in and let me drag him over to the bonfire.
"I have never seen people dance like this before" he observed.
"It is far from the way people in the castle dance" I raised my arms up over my head and began to move my hips. "You do not have to follow a set step, you just let your body take over and give in to the music"
"How?" he scratched the back of his head.
I could feel the whiskey beginning to make its way into my system. I was used to lighter drinks and had taken in multiple swallows of the strong liquid tonight. The world around me was just starting to melt together and my fingers were beginning to feel a little tingly.
"Let your body do the talking" I hummed, shutting my eyes and moving my feet under the moon.
"I don't know..." he hesitated.
"Please?" I opened my eyes again.
Blankly, he just stared at me, awkwardly letting his hips move in the most subtle way. It was obvious that he was uncomfortable in this new surrounding, but this seemed to be the most casual place you could possibly be.
I took his hands in mine, which were huge in comparison to my own. Tightly, I gripped him, pulling him along with me so we could dance in a circle around the fire. Above us, the moon was full-creating a beautiful illumination above us. The smoke from the fire seemed to swirl in a mystical way right up to the light in the sky.
As I dragged Fandral in circles around the fire, everything became even more of a haze. The dimness and the dizziness of the dancing made it seem like it was forcing the alcohol to push me over the edge of just tipsy. But I refused to stop moving. This was what I had always wanted to experience, and I was not going to let it slip by me. Who knew? This could very possibly be the last lunar festival I would participate in.
Fandral's POV-
"What the-"
"She is drunk" I responded calmly, putting Ida down but keeping my hands on her shoulders so she would not fall over.
"How did that happen?" Thor asked.
"You saw her drinking" I laughed a little and shook my head. "Poor thing"
"We should get her back" he shrugged.
"We could not stay for the entirety anyways" I replied. "I do not really want the king finding out that we came"
"I agree" he nodded. "Do you want me to carry her to the carriage?"
"Thank you, but I got it" I scooped her back up bridal style and lead the way up the street to the carriage.
***
"She can crash in my room again" Thor whispered when we got back to the castle, trying not to wake her up.
"I think it may be best that she be in her own room" I hissed back.
In my arms, her head lolled into my chest.
"You know she said she does not want to be alone" he reminded me.
"I will see to it that she is not, even if it means staying up all night" I assured him.
"Are you sure?"
"It is my job" I smiled.
"If you say so..."
Together, we walked up the grand staircase, stepping lightly to avoid being heard or waking anyone else up.
When I got to Loki's and her bed chamber, I gingerly pushed open the door. It was weird for it to be empty so late at night. Loki was most always either already asleep or had the doors locked while the sound of muffled moaning filtered through the wood. Not tonight, rather the huge room appeared darker than usual and oddly silent.
After shutting the door with my foot behind me, I went over to the bed and delicately laid Ida down across the bed.
"Loki?" she mumbled.
"No, it is me" I laughed a little.
Her eyes fluttered open slightly. "Fandral?"
"Yes, Sweetheart"
"Where is everyone?"
"Where is who?"
She shut her eyes again. "Everyone. The party."
"We left" I paused. "You needed to come home"
"I wanted to stay for the whole celebration" she whimpered.
"It was almost over" I lied. "People were already leaving"
"I do not remember that!"
"Shh" I pressed a finger to her lips. "You are going to wake someone up"
"Loki?"
"No, everyone else" I shook my head at her. "Do you want your pajamas?"
"I just do not want to be alone" her voice hitched like she was about to cry.
I went over to the wardrobe and pulled open the doors. Then I found her night gown and brought it back over to her.
"Here you go"
She held up her arms to me.
"What?" I raised an eyebrow.
"The world looks like a carousel" she paused. "I think I am going blind. I can not see anything"
"You just had a little too much to drink" I smirked.
She shook her arms at me.
"I can not dress you" my face fell.
"I can't do it myself" she sniffled.
"I can't" I replied sharply.
"Fine, then I will just be uncomfortable all night" she rolled over.
I let out a long sigh, knowing that this was a bad idea. "Fine"
It would not have been the first bad idea of the night, that is for sure.
Smiling, she rolled back around. I took her arms and helped her sit up, then cautiously undid the ribbon on the back of her dress. I tired to focus on other things in the room while unbuttoning the fabric, but her back was so smooth even in the darkness. When it was all undone, I slipped the sleeves off of her shoulders and the cloth fell down to her waist, revealing her whole body from the waist up, minus the undergarment she wore to conceal her breasts.
I let out a sigh.
Control yourself.
Biting the inside of my cheeks, I pushed her shoulders so she would fall onto her back, then slid the rest of the dress off of her. Purposely avoiding gawking at her almost completely exposed figure, I removed her shoes and socks.
"Sit back up" I told her.
"I can not"
"Sure you can't" I huffed, taking her wrists and pulling her back to an upright position.
I reached behind her and unclasped the undergarment, then slipped it off her arms. Then I reached over for the gown and gathered it up to the collar in my hands. Quickly, I slipped it over her head, then fed her arms through the sleeves.
"There you go" I stood up straight. "Is that more comfy?"
She nodded. "Thank you"
"Of course"
I helped her to lay back down, then sunk down on the edge of the bed.
"Do you need some water, or anything?" I asked.
She shook her head.
"How is the world looking now?" I scoffed.
"It is a circus" she admitted.
"Have we learned our lesson about drinking too much?"
"I did not drink too much!" she exclaimed just a little bit too loud.
"Mhm" I paused. "Just do not turn into Loki. At least you are not a violent drunk"
"I miss Loki"
"That proves that you are drunk" I chuckled, then stood up.
"Where are you going?" she asked.
"Are you fine by yourself, or do you need me to stay with you?" I asked.
"Stay with me"
"Until you fall asleep" I said it more as a statement than a question.
I knew she was drunk out of her mind, and I didn't want to do anything that she could get mad about in the morning. Worst case scenario, she would go and tell the king that I had raped her, or something. She would possibly assume so whenever she woke up and saw herself in her gown.
This could make me lose my rank as one of Odin's warriors, and could very well have me kicked out of the kingdom forever. Maybe I would live in the village...
However, it was too late to redress her now. And with my luck, that would be the one thing she remembered in the morning.
If I stayed in here with her the whole night, perhaps when she woke up and I was the first person she saw, I could explain myself to her. She did not seem like the type that would go off and tell Odin what she had had me to do. At least, not that I could tell...
Ida pulled the blankets up over herself and laid her head down on her pillow, but her eyes were still rested on me, never ceasing.
Sighing, I went over to the window seat and sat down, sitting forward and letting my elbows rest on my legs.
"Are you staying in here the whole night?" she asked.
"I might have to" I answered.
"It will be like a sleepover" she beamed.
"Not hardly" I shook my head.
"You can come sleep with me if you want to" she patted the bed beside her.
I frowned. "I will not"
"I do not mind"
"Whether you mind, or not, you are drunk, you are married, and I would not hurt Loki like that"
"When is he coming back?" she wondered distantly.
"I am not sure"
"Then why does it matter?"
"You will regret asking me that in the morning when you are sober" I snorted.
"I am not drunk" she slurred.
"You are very drunk" I raised my eyebrows at her. "Go to sleep"
"You can not make me"
"The alcohol will put you to sleep regardless if you want to or not"
"What if you are drunk, too?" she challenged.
"I am not drunk"
"How do you know that?" she asked.
"Because I barely had anything to drink, and I know my limits" I replied. "And it has become apparent that you do not know your own"
"Maybe I do, and chose to ignore them"
"You did not choose to ignore your limits, Ida, I saw the whole thing unroll" I raked my hand through my hair. "You drink more when you are distracted with something, and you had more than your share of whiskey"
"Why didn't you stop me?"
"Because it is your own choice how much you want to consume" I huffed. "If you were chugging straight whiskey I would have intervened."
"You do not have to always be there for me" she said slowly.
"I know. But your husband is absent so I must protect you until he returns. Nonetheless it is my vow to put my own life before the royal family whether he is here, or not. And at the moment, you need me more than the rest of them"
"What if someone breaks in in the night and you are not out there to do away with them?" her voice began to fade out.
"Volstagg, Sif, and Hogun would see them" I assured her.
She did not respond.
I sat up a little straighter, squinting in the dark, and saw her eyes were closed. I guess she had finally dozed off. Cussing under my breath, I twisted around and laid my head against the decorative pillow and shut my own eyes. The day had seemed to long, as if it had been three days in one. Tomorrow was a new day, and hopefully I would be able to get all of this drunken mishap shit straightened out.