Fridheim Freeze [Alva]

[Thora Heavenshield]

Spending the day out by Eirin’s Reach was always fun, Aunt Val would always have something delicious baked for her visit and there was nothing that could beat Aunt Val’s muffins. Her papa and mama were off high in the mountains near The Falls of Crystals, some important trip they told her that was to dangerous for Thora to go with them. So, while they were away, Thora stayed with her grandparents. But not today.

Today Thora would hang out with her cousin, Alva.

She was hanging over the wooden rails of the corral, her feet on the lower plank, “And what about that one?”, she pointed to a smaller creamy horse, “What's his name?”. They were going through them all, one by one. But Thora liked the creamy one, he had a lovely face with a long white stripe right down the middle. He seemed to like her too, as he slowly meandered over to the girls on the fence and nuzzled her, looking for a treat.

Thora pulled out an apple from her pocket, Aunt Val had given to her to eat, but Thora didn’t feel like it. It was one of those foods that was good for you. Creamy boy bit hard almost taking her fingers with it, but Thora giggled as he nuzzled her for more.

“Which one is yours?”, she asked Alva, and assumed she knew how to ride. Thora’s papa was teaching her on a small pony back home in the Northmark. She liked to ride very much, it gave her a sense of freedom even though papa was never very far away. And she looked forward to the day when she could go alone on a ride, just the two of them. Thora was not old enough yet, he would say.

[member="Alva Heavenshield"] ​

 

[Alva Heavenshield]

Alva had been buzzing all the morning long, she'd been ever so excited to see her cousin, Thora. She had even made sure that her room was tidy for the occasion. And, her mother had made a batch of tasty little hand pies, apple and cinnamon flavor this time. But, she'd been told they were for after supper, so she would have to wait.

But, of course, once her cousin arrived, the two girls were out to the stables quickly.

Dressed in a knit jumper, trousers, and boots, she was ready for fun. Joining Thora at the wooden rails, she gave her head of brown waves a shake, just to feel her hair blow in the breeze. But, her attention was drawn towards the cream-colored horse.

“He is Leif,” Alva said, nodding.

She watched brightly as her cousin handed over the apple from her pocket. Good idea. But, her blue eyes widened slightly as the horse nearly nibbled off Thora's fingers.

“Flat hand,” Alva said, holding her own palm out flat and setting the apple atop it. “Like this. They won't bite your fingers.”

Alva pointed to the last stall on this side of the corral, smiling wide.

“Mine is Nissa!” Alva hopped down and went to Nissa's stall, where the pony was waiting for attention. “She is friendly, not like those --” She motioned to the far side of the corral, where her father kept the war steeds that he trained.

“Do you have a pony, too?”

[member="Thora Heavenshield"]

 

[Thora Heavenshield]

Leif nuzzled Thora again insisting on the second half of the apple, and nearly pushing her off the fence. She took notices of what Alva told her to do and offered the apple with a flat palm and Leif plucked it off without any threat to her fingers. She had forgot the lesson her papa told her, and looked a little sheepish at the thought of it but that soon vanished as she gave Leif a good ruffle of his mane that was long and even more creamy than the rest of him. He was so beautiful.

"Yeah I do have a pony I use but he is not mine", one day she will have a pony all of her own, the Heavenshield house hold in the Northmark was already filled with pets enough of any family. But none of them were her's, mother had Molfy, Boo had Coi and Azi and his little wolf pup. And Thora loved all of them regardless.

Thora followed Alva to the stables in which her pony was housed, he was so cute and friendly and big. At least to small people eyes he was, and he was fat or maybe it was his breed. "Hello Nissa", she patted the long face as the pony tried to nibble her hair. "She is very pretty", she was too, she was pretty like Alva.

When Alva told her about the other not so friendly horses her father trained she became very curious as to why. "Are they mean", she asked looking over to the area where they were kept. "Are we allowed to go see them?", she asked even more curious now and from where she stood, they looked so tall and regal in their heads.

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[member="Alva Heavenshield"]​

 

[Alva Heavenshield]

Alva nodded, someday Thora would probably have her own pony, too. As Nissa came to greet them, she reached out to pat the pony's soft head and ruffle her fluffy mane. She giggled as her pony friend became acquainted with her cousin.

“She is pretty,” She agreed, nodding. “You can ride her – when father is home.”

Though she was very tempted to try saddling Nissa herself, she knew that her father would be very unhappy if she did. Nissa was so very gentle and friendly, but Alva knew that she wasn't allowed to be alone inside the stalls yet. Her head turned towards the other side, where the stalls were built up – their sides and gates taller and sturdier.

“Not mean,” She said, squinting over at the other horses. “But not nice, either.”

Alva glanced back to Thora. Surely she could give her cousin a small glimpse of the war steeds, looking was no harm. She nodded, and then swiftly scooped up Thora's hand to lead her across the sandy riding area. Most of the regal horses were dark in color, they were taller and even stronger than the other horses at their stables. Intimidating, yes – and maybe even a little scary.

“See?” As the girls approached, a few of the horses stamped their great hooves. A few more stirred, making the gates rattle. “Someday,” Alva started, eyes wide. “I will ride one. You, too?” She blinked at Thora.

[member="Thora Heavenshield"]

 

[Thora Heavenshield]

The pair cautiously walked over to the pen where the war horses where, Thora was very intrigued by them and she wondered what a war horse was, why it was needed. Being so young she did not have a concept of war, let alone what these horses would do in one. She actually felt very sad for them for some reason, they did not very intimidating and there was a sadness in their eyes as well. "Maybe they don't want to be so mean", she said her thought out loud. And she had to wonder if they had a choice.

"They are very strong", and they looked it very much, and held their heads high in defiance it seemed. "Yes", she suddenly said to the question of one day riding them. However, the circumstances of that ride would not be known to her, time would come for that. Yet, she found herself inching forward toward the pen and as she did they snorted in warning, with ears pinned back but they did not move. Her heart was racing, thumping in her chest with fear, they would sense it and their hooves poured at the icy ground. But they did not move.

Thora reached into her pocket for the second apple, showing it to the nearest one as she neared the railing never taking her eyes off him and slowly she crouched down and rolled the apple into the pen, before stepping back to Alva. They were very skittish, shifting in place and whinnying with a threat, nostrils flaring but the closest one was curious of the apple, and walked toward it. A long black nose sniffed at it, taking in the scent before grabbing it and bolting away to the other side of the pen. Thora smiled, he liked it and she could see him eating it.

"I want that one", she affirmed there and then. The big black beauty would be her's one day. "Which one do you like?".

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[member="Alva Heavenshield"]​

 

[Alva Heavenshield]

Alva watched the tall horses, blue eyes wide to take them all in. She nodded in agreement when Thora commented about their strength. Indeed they were strong, far stronger than Nissa. The girl glanced over her shoulder at her portly pony, then back to the war horses. She blinked a couple of times as Thora rolled an apple to one of the horses. But, a smile tugged at Alva's cheeks.

“That one is quite pretty,” Alva said, eyeing the sleek black horse.

And when the question came back to her, Alva tilted her head in thought. There was a fine-looking chestnut horse with a dark mane, it was quite nice. But, there was a bright form towards the end of the rows of stalls. Her smile grew.

“That one,” Alva said, pointing with a small finger towards a glorious white horse. It was still quite wild and untamed, for some reason, this appealed to the young girl. Of course, she knew the word war but knew very little about what it meant. There were images in her mind of soldiers, like the proud men and women they saw in town.

“These horses are very brave,” She said, nodding. Alva had heard her father mention many times that a steed like this was special, it was courageous enough to carry warriors. Carry them where? Alva wasn't sure. “I wish we could take one out,” Alva said, sighing.

But, father would be quite upset.

Wait, they could ride... sort of. Alva ran to the side of the stable and retrieved two broomsticks. She climbed onto one, skipping along as if riding a horse. Alva held one out to Thora. So, it wasn't a real horse... but it would work with a little imagination.

“Where shall we ride?”

[member="Thora Heavenshield"]

 

[Thora Heavenshield]

"Oh he looks like snow!", Thora approved of Alva's choice and in among the horses he stood out the most against the browns and creams and blacks. All the war horses had moved to the back part of the pen, still uncertain of the two young girls milling about their territory. "I guess you have to be angry and mean to be brave?", not really knowing what she was taking about, Thora supposed it might be that. "Or maybe you need to be afraid so you can be brave".

The entire thought was pushed from her mind when Alva ran off to find a couple of broomsticks and handed her one. For the moment, Thora thought they needed to do chores or something, not really knowing what to do with it but when she watched Alva throw her leg over it and pretend to ride a horse, she got the idea. She was learning to play, not that Thora did not play in the Northmark, it just was with Boo or the local boys, girl play was not something she was used to.

"Yes, lets pretend we are riding into battle on Snow White and Ice Cream", a quick thought for the names of their two choices of war horses, girly names for boy horses. "Over there!", she pointed to a shed that her uncle used to store grain and hey for the horses. "The castle is under seige!".

"Oh wait, we don't have swords", Thora looked around to see if there was anything to be used, and she spied some sticks for kindling .. perfect! She handed one to Alva, now the Knights of the Reach were ready to charge!

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[member="Alva Heavenshield"]​

 

[Alva Heavenshield]

Alva eyed her cousin sidelong, her words seemed like something her mother would say. Were brave people also afraid? She wasn't quite sure, but she supposed they might be. But, in the pretend world, there was no such thing as being afraid. On that note, she was happy to see that [member="Thora Heavenshield"] had taken the broom and made it into a horse as well.

“Yes!” She nodded. Already, the scene was alive in Alva's mind. The storage shed was no longer a place for bales of hay, it was a lofty castle! There were brave soldiers standing guard, but they wouldn't last for long without any help!

Alva kicked her foot against the ground, imitating a horse about to charge. But, she turned when Thora mentioned swords. Oh, yes. They couldn't ride into battle without them! She laughed when Thora handed her a stick, and she wielded it with enthusiasm – waving it into the air above her head.

“Ready?” She asked, and then nodded.

Alva let out a battle cry – a shriek that prompted her mother to look out the kitchen window – and she ran towards the shed, holding the sword in one hand and her broom in the other. Her boots galloped as a horse would. And she was soon using her stick to defend herself from imaginary foes.

“You shall not take the castle!” She said, in a low tone. But, she was struck! With a dramatic flair, she dropped from her horse and fell into the snow. “Oh, help!” She called to Thora. “Save me!” Though her words had a desperate ring to them, she was smiling.

 

[Thora Heavenshield]

Thora set her face with determination, her brows pulling in like she had seen her papa do when he was thinking about something serious. “Charge”, she bellowed when Alva was ready, and the pair galloped off in the direction of the ‘castle’. On their way through the battle field, Thora lashed out at imagined foe, chopping off heads and limbs and just as they were about to reach the guards, she heard to cry out from help from Alva.

Quickly she turned her ‘horse’s’ head and galloped back to her, now besieged by black knights about to attack. “Don’t worry Knight of the Reach, I will save you!”, but there was just too many! Thora fell to the ground, and rolled off her brave war horse now laying still on the ground.

“We shall fight to the end”, she called out to her cousin, and stood her ground waving her stick through the air pretending to fight off the foe bare down on them. She moved to stand beside Alva, and reached her hand down to help her to her feet.

“We fight together, we die together”, words she used from some story she had heard of old tales of Midvinter. “Uggghhhh .. I am done”, she dropped her sword and clung to her stomach and her imaginary wound. Thora staggered around the ground, a most dramatic death before falling over and laying still.

She couldn’t help but giggle as her own silliness, and Alva looked so silly too.

[member="Alva Heavenshield"]​