Chapter 2: Ch.1: Youth

Once upon a time, a Skald met a hunter at an old tavern set in the remote location of Krak. A city forever bound to snow, ice and some form of rain for most of the year, Krak was never a great tourist destination, but travelers were not uncommon. Due to the one main road leading to the northern capital, Krak was a common stop for travelers, bards, skalds and adventurers alike. Due to this, many general supply shops and taverns of all kinds were opened during the summer and spring, the only reasonable time for outsiders to make the journey through the mountain pass further north.

It was during one of such times that a certain skald made her way into Krak. She had arrived from the southern kingdom in order to find better working conditions after she was fired from her last job, she figured a common stop for travelers would be a good starting point, and quickly gathered enough trust in herself from the locals in order to play her instrument of choice at one of the local inns. A five-string wooden tool that would make the most harmonious of sounds if played correctly, and she did know how to make it sing beautiful melodies.

She would play during the day and stay there to sleep during the night, earning her denarim piece by piece through hard work and genuine effort to charm her ever-growing public. During one of these nights, just after she finished playing her last song, a young hunter came to her. With red cheeks and a clear hint of alcohol in his smell alongside the murmuring of a nearby crowd of people showed that he was msot likely dared to confess his feelings for her or some sort of nonsense.

"W-w-w-would you....Marry mE?!" His voice cracked at the last moment, truly an unfortunate chance.

Still, the skald was new to town and she had no real reason to marry such a man, no matter how adorably cute he looked. So, instead of directly rejecting him and going back to her room, she decided to play a little game.

"If you learn how to sing before the next moon come to pass, I will marry you." 

It was a promise that she didn't hope to actually abide by, it was just a little tease after all, but the look in the man's eyes indicated that he would very much seriously try to achieve such a thing. And so the days passed. Night after night the man would come into the inn earlier than usual, the skald would help him practice his singing, and the two would share their days of youth together until the last day before the full moon came, and the young man arrived one final time.

"Leora, I will sing with you today!"

Through hard work, dedication, and his sheer amount of cuteness, he managed to learn how to sing one of the simpler songs in her repertoire, and through it, he gained much more than just a simple hobby to pursue. The young man had effectively captivated the skald with his dedication, and she finally accepted his proposal.

She moved to live with him at his humble abode just outside the city, nearing the woodlands ripe with game. There they would spend the next year living together, until they were finally blessed with their firstborn child. A beautiful young girl of violet hair, a rare trait that is said to be passed down in the northern people. 

They named this child Freia, and she would become their most precious treasure.

Freia grew up alongside Leora, her mother, and Sigurd, her father. Learning the intricacies of the hunt from her father during the day, and studying musical theory with her mother during the afternoon just before bed. Freia was blessed with great intellect for someone so young, able to grasp the complex pieces of music her mother loved so dearly, and being able to keep up with her father's work in the field without complaint.

Together, they lived happily for most of Freia's childhood, and all things seemed well and good until one fateful day, the worst would come to pass. Deep into the night, Sigurd rushed into the house quite late for his usual schedule. He argued with Leora over something that young Freia didn't understand since she was just starting to properly wake up.

But something about the look in her father's eyes and her mother's face brought a sense of dread to creep up her spine. Something bad was happening, and she couldn't even tell what they were talking about.

"Freia, Freia my dear daughter. Please, take your mother's hand and guide her through the woodlands alright?" Sigured had knelt down to look the young girl in the eyes as he put a thick coat of fur around her shoulders.

"But dad, it's still so late..." Freia replied, not sure of what was going on. "Is something bad happening?"

"Oh, sometimes I wish you weren't so sharp..." Sigurd started to actually shed some tears as he stood up ,giving his own coat to Leora to wear.

"Take good care of her." He said.

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"I-I....Sigurd I can't just go.." She tried to refute but he just shook his head.

"It is too late, if I go with you I will just slow you down." Just then did Freia notice something.

"Dad...Your leg is bleeding!" The young girl exclaimed, worrying about her father.

Sigurd had met the worst possible fate that day. A raid was launched upon Krak by one of the local warlords, and he had gotten injured while fending off a small team of them on his way back home. At the rate he was bleeding we wouldn't be awake in a few hours, so running away wasn't even a possibility for him, especially since he couldn't use magic. With heavy eyes and tears falling down his cheeks, he just kissed his wife and gave his child one last hug.

"Please protect each other, I beg you..."

Then Freia just did as she was told. She wasn't all too familiar with the concept of complex military occupations, but she knew that when a deer was being hunted, it should run away. And in this case, it was clear that she and her mother were the deer in comparison. Running through the thick snow, the two kept going through the frost and the sharp coldness of the freezing air.

Delving deep into the woodlands, Freia guided her mother through the mapped areas that she and her father had marked with their knives into the trees of the forest. Running directly for the main road so they may escape to the capital through the mountain pass. It was a long shot, but they could make it if they kept going through the night. Or so she thought.

As soon as they made their way back into the road they found themselves facing a group of raiders. Bows and arrows in hand and ready to fire, they stopped whatever they were doing and took aim. 

"Please don-" But Leora wasn't allowed to finish her plea for mercy.

An arrow had been let loose and it pierce right through her throat. The woman fell to her knees, clutching her neck with both hands before she finally landed face-first on the snow, dying the beautiful white a deep red.

"Mom?" Freia was in shock, as she knelt down to shake her mother using her small hands.

"Seriously? You aimed for the mother?" One of the raiders spoke.

"Was I supposed to shoot the kid?" They replied, annoyed.

"Screw it, just take the kid. We'll sell her when we go back."

"Oh man, and she was pretty too." One of the other raiders said as he took a closer look at Leora's corpse.

Freia was ripped from her bother's body and thrown into the back of a cart. At this point her hands were covered in her mother's blood, and her mind was in complete shock. With nothing but an empty void in her eyes, Freia was taken away by the raiders away from her home. Her father presumed dead, her mother shot right through the throat, and as she turned around, she saw her hometown being burnt to the ground.

That night the falling snow was colder than usual, and the cries of a child could be heard through the countryside following the raid of Krak.

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