Author's Note: This chapter was so long that I split it into six parts. A total of 22 thousand words was written.
Part One
Asgard, 1084
It was clear to the people of Asgard that the young Princess and Prince were inseparable. Astrith, now thirteen years old, and Adari, now twelve, were on their way to the marketplace and the village to visit their friends and younger cousins. "Adari, slow down, please!" Astrith chases after her younger brother. They were allowed to leave the castle grounds occasionally, but only together and if guards accompanied them. The two loved to trick their guards into following them all over the outlying villages and the palace itself. Today was different. Today was the first day of winter, just a few days after Astrith had turned thirteen years old. The ground would be icy and difficult to walk, let alone run on. Yet, like nothing, Astrith watched her brother glide across the ice. "Please, Adari! Do be careful!"
"Wheeeee!!!" Adari loved the sensation of gliding across the icy grounds as a considerable grin grew on his boyish face. He didn't want to stop! Sliding was way more fun than walking around in a boorish, typical fashion, "Hey, Astrith! Watch this!" The Prince grabbed a fake spear from a nearby barrel as he slid his way through the icy path he and Astrith wandered on; he raised his dominant arm with the spear high and gave a rather annoying shriek that resembled the 'call of a savage.' Due to his overexcitement, however, Adari accidentally slipped on the ice and stumbled on the ground only lightly. Still, he let out a giggle that assured his sister that he was okay. "Wow! That was fun!" He cheered, placing the fake spear beside him as he remained sitting on the ground, looking toward the distant mountains and the lush green jungles far away, "...I wonder what things are like beyond those mountains...Astrith, is it true that there are tribes who live in Kakari? I heard Father talk about it once but said it was perilous to venture to."
Astrith covers her ears when she hears him shriek. The young princess slowly catches up to her more youthful brother. "Adari, you know better than to slide on the ice so quickly. You could get hurt." She scolded him in concern. When he asked her a question, she glanced toward Kakari, a region of Asgard that the young royals were forbidden to explore. "Father says a huge and mysterious beast wiped out the tribes. I have heard him say this when speaking to Grandfather." She reached her hand to him, "Oh, honestly, little brother, why would you ever want to go to a dangerous place such as Kakari? Do you not like it here in the city and villages?"
"I do! I love it here!" Adari assured his sister somewhat defensively as he raised his hands slightly before his face, trying to convince Astrith everything was alright, "It's just that I always wanted to learn more about Kakari! Especially since Father came back with Lady Sarai!" He further added to his explanation. As he was about to continue, Sarai approached the children with a basket of bread, fruit, and other goods she purchased in the marketplace.
She had only been in the vibrant Aesir city for a little over 2 years, ever since Loki offered her a chance to live a new life among her kind. The young asynjur woman changed from her ape name, Zaika, to her birth name, Sarai. She'd discovered her birthname after finding her father, Kratos', journal while traveling from the jungle to the mountains. She had spent the last two years bettering herself daily to fit into this society. Although her reading, writing, and speaking abilities were still not what they should be, she showed no sign of giving up. Moreover, she had befriended Loki's wife, Sigyn, learning the 'human-like' parts of living, taking care of children, and helping out with testing the armaments for the palace since she still carried that animalistic strength within the then-feral woman. "Are not you two supposed to be back in the palace?" Sarai asked Adari and Astrith, "Or were you allowed to explore?" The lady royal smiled softly at the children.
Astrith placed her hands behind her back, and with a smile, she responded, "Not at all, Lady Royal Sarai! Father is busy, and Mother is visiting Vanaheim. Grandfather permitted us to go to the market. The two of us wanted to surprise Mother with a present.... and... we were also going to visit our friends, Ivar and Vernon, and our cousins, Kelmirla and Ragnvald, in the village."
In the distance, a red-haired boy could be seen racing toward the group with two younger children trailing behind him. On his back was a Rebec, an old age Lyre, a small Harp. The boy was Ivar, the duo's friend. "My Lady Astrith! My Lord Adari!" He smiled and waved at the two of them as he swiftly rushed along the ice. He caught up to the trio and bowed to Sarai. "Lady Royal Sarai! It is good to meet you!" Following quickly behind Ivar, the younger children, both around eight years old, nearly slid past the group altogether but were caught by Astrith and Adari, giggling and cheering to go again.
"Please...call me Sarai," Sarai said, addressing the younger aesir, "Let us keep things casual. So, you are heading to the village?" She raised an eyebrow at Astrith and Adari, using her sharp hazel eyes to scout out any sign of trouble the children may not know. Failing to see any sort, she merely gives them a slight approval. She relaxes her posture, "Perhaps I should accompany you after I deliver these goods to the rest of the servants back at the palace. Are you five okay waiting for me?" she paused, "Can I trust you to stay out of trouble in the village?" She asked them, her tone firm but not too demanding, narrowing her eyes to emphasize any potential mischief or danger these children might get into if they were not careful. Though there was no trouble presently, Sarai warned, "You know that should any trouble arise, there will be....um... what is the word..." She paused again, trying to think of a particular word that she had just learned thanks to Loki's continuous teachings in reading and writing, "Uh....con...consequen.... consequences. Yes. That. That is the word I was looking for." She chuckled, feeling proud of herself for memorizing and sounding out the word correctly the first time.
Astrith giggles softly, knowing that she and her brother often get into trouble for their childish pranks. "Yes, Sarai, we may wait for you to return here!" She raises her younger cousin, Kelmirla, to her shoulders and holds her legs to keep her steady. Adari does the same with Ragnvald.
Ivar smiled, rising from his bow, and pulled his Rebec from his back. He starts to play a piece he'd written, beginning to dance around the group. "No need to worry, My Lady Sarai, we shall wait here, and I shall keep an eye on our royal troublemakers," he teased, poking Astrith lightly with a grin.
Astrith laughed at her friend and began dancing to the music, keeping Kelmirla steady on her shoulders as the younger clapped her hands together. "Oh, like you have not gotten into trouble before, Ivar!"
"Easy for you to say, your father does not hate your musical talent!" Ivar retorts.
Sarai could only let out a small laugh when she decided then to make her way back to the palace to drop off the goods for the other servants to put away. It was still quite a walk away, but with her stamina still as high as it was when she left Kakari, this was an easy feat.
When she re-entered the palace, Sarai spotted a fellow servant who just happened to be waiting for her and the goods in her basket. Walking over to them, she told her that the items in the basket were things that would allow the others to return to their duties smoothly. Sarai then noticed a familiar face approach her from the corner of her eyes. It was Loki. Sarai greeted her best friend and mentor with a huge grin, and her hazel eyes seemed to be beaming with joy, especially since these two had nothing but fond memories and joy in each other's company. Putting her hands behind her back to maintain a slightly more 'poised' stature to her excitement, she forms the right words as she finally speaks to Loki. "Hey! I thought you would be gone for longer to take care of the things you had to do!" She practically blurted out, speaking a little bit too quickly. Sarai's face turns red out of embarrassment after realizing her mistake, and she quickly backtracks, "Heh, sorry, I guess I was talking too quickly again..."
Loki smiles when he sees his friend, Sarai, and approaches her. The fiery-haired jötunn prince of Asgard laughed lightly at her comment about speaking too quickly. "Need not worry, Sarai," he smiled at her. Loki had watched proudly since bringing Sarai to the Asgardian City as she progressed in her learning. Deep down, he wished naught, but for the ape girl, he'd met as a younger god. He was proud when his wife, Sigyn, picked Sarai to be her Lady Royal, a significant position in the monarch hierarchy. "I thought that you had gone to the marketplace today." He responded. After a moment, he realized the castle was quite quiet and that the sounds of his children seemed to have vanished. "Dearest Sarai, have you seen Astrith and Adari?"
"I did. I just returned from the marketplace and gave the goods to the others," Sarai corrected Loki in the first presumption. When Loki asked where his children were, she quickly realized that they still had planned on exploring and having their share of fun. She knew the children could rely on themselves for a bit if they wouldn't go too far from home. Sarai let out a small, hopeful sigh, "They are also in the market, but their friend and cousins accompany them. I am not sure if I should go along with them or let their friend keep an eye on the two. I still have to read that book you gave me the night before. I am having trouble understanding this one section about...um..." She again struggled in trying to find the right word to describe sorcery. It started with an 'M,' but because she hadn't gone that far into the book, she didn't know, "uhh....gods, why is learning to read, speak, and write so hard?" She let out a slight groan, understandably frustrated with her progress slowing down some before looking up at Loki, "How do you do it? You speak, read, and write like nothing! You make it look way too easy!" She giggled, her smile only to fade moments later.
Loki chuckled softly, "I believe the term you are looking for is Magic, my friend!" He put on a short display for her. He took up Sarai's hands. "I am quite certain the children can masterfully care for one another. The villages do not pose an immediate threat to them so long as they do not venture to the outskirts where the border between Kakari and Asgard's city stands. While I do not doubt that if you went with them, they would be masterfully protected as well, I would like to continue your studies for today." He assured her. As they walked, he led the two of them toward a garden. "We can continue the lesson outside if you would like. While learning about Asgard and our customs is important, it is more important for you never to forget where you come from."
Never forget where you come from... Those words struck true Sarai as she stuck close to Loki for her lesson to continue in the garden. At first, she thought that meant where she was born—in this case, she was brought into the Asgardian world here in this very city. But if Loki was referring to her upbringing. Such memories of her untamed, animalistic youth flooded back to her as a light smile spread along her gentle lips. She remembers all the good times with her adoptive ape family, swinging through the trees and roaming the jungle however they pleased. She even spied on the local tribes within the region in company with her animal friends before she got caught and taken into their custody the first time around. These were all fresh and still in Sarai's mind. "How can I?" Sarai wondered, staring at Loki with some uncertainty, "Even if I wished to forget...I do not think it is every day that you come across someone like me. I am more tan than most; my eyes are like the forests, my knuckles are quite profound, and my muscles are—well—rather built. I stand out like a sore thumb if I am truthful."
"No, Sarai, you do not just stand out. You shine," Loki said, hoping to reassure her that things are not always as hard as they seem. "You are a diamond in the rough," He sat on the marble bench. "Come and sit; we shall review your vocabulary, and then I will teach you some magic," he gestured for her to sit down. "As a Kakari Native..." he began, "You have the potential to learn and control magic. Explorers journals have described the tribes, including your father's, as very adept in nature magic and would often help the forest heal after lightning storms." He nodded to his friend. "Their Magic was limited, but they seemed to have some roots from an ancestor of the past, maybe one of the Elder Gods. However, the writing is unclear, and I can not distinguish some of the words."
"One of the elder gods...?" Sarai didn't know what Loki was going on about at this point. The young woman didn't know anything about her birth father other than he was an explorer and once a warrior alongside his brother.
While it was true that the natives within Kakari showed some talent for magic, Sarai had never seen any of the members she interacted with use it. So this gave Sarai more reason to appear perplexed as she adjusted her sitting posture, keeping herself a bit distant from her friend.
"My father was not born as a Kakarian. He was a man of the Sand, born in the Desert before his father brought him here to the city with my Uncle..." She only knew what she read from one of her father's journals. Still, when she noticed another book Loki had, which contained ancient text, she glanced towards it but shrugged it off, "Should I not be learning about the present and future instead of the past?"
"Sarai, one always looks to the past to prepare for their future. Only the Allmother knows what happens at the end of a person's life, but she cannot tell anyone. Learning about the future without learning about the past would be impossible. It may not make much sense, and it is difficult to explain." He rubbed the back of his neck lightly. "Ah yes, he was a formidable warrior, well known in the city. He is a part of the history book that has reached many children with each new school cycle." He opened their vocabulary book and raised it off his lap with his magic. As Loki was about to start more vocabulary lessons for Sarai, she felt a gentle, warm breeze from the south brush against her soft cheek. Such a breeze reminded her of the familiar humidity belonging to her former jungle home. When she tilted her head slightly to see a small group of purple petals dancing in the air, Sarai knew something was happening.
"Perhaps we should go see if the children are still alright before we resume any lessons," Sarai suggested and stood from the marble bench. This time, Loki followed her to the marketplace in the village, but by the time he arrived, she had already finished her search for the young royals and their companions.
Loki huffed, out of breath from the trek to the marketplace, and looked at Sarai with concern. "Are they not here?"
Sarai shook her head. "The wind," she said softly, reaching up to catch one of the purple petals, "South wind could only mean a storm is forming. It does not matter where the children have gone. If they are not back before the clouds grow black, this storm could prove to be as dangerous to them as it was to me. The raindrops hit you like pebbles, the lightning bolts are bright enough to blind you temporarily, and the thunder can even deafen you for an entire day!" There was some panic in her voice. When she felt a stronger gust of wind following the breeze, along with signs of dark clouds approaching the city slowly as it made its way towards the jungle to the far south, Sarai knew she'd have to get the children back to the palace quickly, or they'd be caught in quite the storm soon.
Taking Loki by the arm, she dragged him back to the castle to save time. His worry increased at the sound of the panic in her voice. "Then we must go to the Allfadir immediately." The pair rushed to the palace's throne room. "Father!" He shouted, interrupting Odin's meeting with the King Of Nidavellir, Sigyn's adoptive father, Mótsognir.
Odin stood from his throne and stared down at Loki. "Loki, how often have I told you never to interrupt me in the throne room?"
Loki pauses momentarily, "I am sorry, Father, but the Princess and Prince have not yet returned from the marketplace. There is a storm headed south, and Sarai says it can be deadly to those unequipped for it."
Odin nodded to Loki and then turned to Mótsognir. "Apologies, my friend, our grandchildren are in danger. Shall we continue this conversation after they are returned home safely?"
"I think that is a wise decision," Móstognir nodded in agreement before he turned his attention to Sarai, approaching her with caution in his stride, "So you are the wild girl that the family has snatched up from her natural habitat. I dare say that you have quite the nerve to spin false claims regarding my grandchildren."
"I would never make up such lies," Sarai replied in a firm tone of voice, not once properly addressing him as the 'higher up' figure he is, "I know these storms. I know what they are capable of. If we do not get those children back, we could lose them for good."
Odin was a bit shocked by this. He, too, looked to Sarai, but less judgemental-like and more sympathetic. "Worry not, Sarai. I believe you. You are the only one among us who knows these wonders...I am confident that you will lead us to retrieve the younglings—but you will not do it alone." A rumble of thunder sounded high in the sky. The storm was still far but getting closer by the minute. Odin moves his gaze to Loki, now giving him a more serious demeanor than he did with Sarai, "You best be prepared as well, my son. If you are going with her, I am certain the children would be most pleased to see their father alive and in one piece."
"Yes, Father," Loki said respectfully. He bowed to his in-law Mótsognir and ushered Sarai from the throne room. "Sarai, as a Lady Royal, you must remain respectful to other Royalty." He explained. Loki wasn't angry with her. In fact, he was pleased that she still retained her free spirit; his point remains that her free spirit could get her into trouble someday.
"Come, you must show me how to prepare for a venture into a storm like this, and then we must leave to seek out the children." Loki led her to the armory mason to retrieve chain mail and to the royal blacksmith, Svod, to retrieve swords, spears, and the like. "We have a viable defense now. Is there anything else, Sarai?" The two would be accompanied by a small troop of soldiers in case they ran into trouble.
"I only ask of one thing from you, Loki," Sarai began to speak with a bit of a smirk, "Try not to be worried about when I go on ahead of the rest of you. In the jungle, laws and civilization do not matter. Sometimes you have got to unleash your inner wild...your inner /free spirit/." For these few minutes, Sarai quickly dismissed herself to another part of the palace to get changed and perhaps grab a couple of things, especially for the journey ahead. She knew it would be faster for them to take the Bifrost and let Heimdall transport them right into Kakari. That way, no precious time would be wasted, but Sarai couldn't read anyone's minds, sadly. So she couldn't know what the others wanted to do. Underneath her typical aesir dress, she put on the very clothes—or lack thereof—that she had on when the formerly untamed teenage girl first met Loki when they escaped a stampede of elephants. The dark blue-dyed loin cloth pieces covered her breasts and her lower areas, thighs, and buttocks. Knowing the children, they would probably be just entering the jungles by now, if not already. With the spear that she handcrafted as a child equipped to her back, Sarai returned to the small group of men awaiting her, and she wasn't about to disappoint those who wanted a real thrill.
"Now then...where do we start?" She turned to them, determination in her gaze.
"We all agreed that you should lead this expedition, Sarai," Loki said.
"Yes, since you know the jungle better than any of us, you have the best chance of getting us in and out with no casualties." The soldiers behind him nodded.
"Where do you think we should start, Sarai? What is the quickest way to Kakari?" Loki asked, elaborating his questions.
Odin and Mótsognir approached the group of soldiers. "Lady Royal Sarai has been an excellent addition to the family, a good friend to Sigyn, and a mother figure to the children. You may have heard of her father, Kratos. He was a warrior of long ago." The Allfather and Mótsognir stood far from the group as they conversed. "I am certain she will lead the men in and out safely with the children in hand."
"Yes, we would not want anything to happen to the future," Mótsognir said. He was secretly impressed with Sarai's forwardness from earlier and how keen these men seemed to trust her with their very lives.
TO BE CONTINUED...