Being in the wrong place at the wrong time was all it took for Adelasia's whole life to turn upside down. After being captured by the heathens raiding her city and taken all the way to the cold North, the youngest Ragnarsson takes an interest in her...
That afternoon Alasia stood at the pump, the muscles in her arm aching from the strength she had to deliver to get enough water to fill a tub to wash Ivar's clothes in. Because of the cold, the river had frozen over, which meant that she had to get her water from a well which was intervened with a hot water spring. She had recovered from her emotional episode of the morning, especially after Helga had so kindly let her stay in her cosy home and prepared a meal, the best one she had had since arriving in Kattegat. Floki had stared at her like she was some infectious disease, about to make his wife ill, but after a warning glance from the said woman, it had disappeared. Alasia had no doubt though that word would get to Ivar and she already feared the moment he would confront her about it.
"Adelasia, is it not?" a female voice stated suddenly, her voice clear and authoritative. "From the city of Naples?"
She turned around, immediately dropping the tunics she'd been holding as her eyes beheld the Queen of Kattegat. The formalities her mother had spent hour upon hour drilling in her took over and on automatic pilot, she dropped a little courtesy and bowed her head ever so slightly. "Yes, it is, Queen Lagertha."
The Queen eyed Alasia with a bemused expression on her face. "We of the North are not of such formalities."
"I apologise," Alasia said in return, sounding slightly awkward. What use served her mother's lessons now, if they didn't even come in handy when she was in a foreign country. She let her eyes fall upon the two women which stood next to the Queen. The one with the blonde braided hair was named Torvi, lover of the one who had taken her from her home and if she had heard correctly, the other woman's name was Astrid, a lover of the Queen herself. Though she still didn't understand a whole lot about Viking culture, she did know that some of the women were exceptional warriors and carried the title of shieldmaiden. Alasia fixed her gaze back on the Queen, wondering why a woman of the highest rank was visiting her, of the lowest. "What is it that I can do for you?"
"I have heard that you're Ivar's personal slave, is that true?" the Queen asked, once more sounding imposing.
Alasia had heard many vile words and probably untrue tales about the Queen of Kattegat from Ivar, both overhearing them and being told personally while she braided his hair. His relentless hate for his Queen was well known and understandable, considering she had murdered his mother and though she didn't owe Ivar any loyalty, especially not after his unasked for rant early this morning, she couldn't help but feel slightly squeamish at the intent stare the regal women were giving here. "It is true, I am his thrall."
