The Virtue

The Theory of my Soul

(song for this chapter is breathin' cover by Adam Christopher)

"I don't know what I feel, I am soon going to be 21 years old and it feels as if my life is incomplete, I have never been kissed, touch or held." I say with warm tears trying to jump down from my eyes to cheeks, "with mother forcing marriage down my throat after my birthday celebrations, I feel lost" I continue.

I shift my gaze back and forth from the ground to Medusa's kind green eyes, she is not a pretty woman but a beautiful soul. A gypsy from another land, she is thin and her raven hair covers most of her face, reaching down to her waist. I lock my eyes into her's and silence creeps in for a while. I can hear the rain drops outside, it's beginning to pour again

"Why do you fear the unknown?" she asks with a gentle smile

Medusa pushes my brown hair back behind my ears and lifts my chin up

"Your beauty and talents have a great reputation in France and the lands far away, a woman like you is so much more than what she thinks she is, then why do you doubt yourself so much? Why don't you have patience to wait for what is yours will soon come to you" she tilts her head to look at me more carefully

I bite my bottom lip and look at the crystal placed on the table, it is sweet pink in colour and it is reflecting the fire in the fireplace, as if the flames are dancing inside the crystal

"All you have to do is wait" she says to me a fierce tone

"How long?" I ask, "Mother is already betting on her plan to find me a husband at my birthday celebrations and I must chose one!" I say quite angrily

"Choosing a husband blantly is for the poor and peasants, you are a royal" she says with a smirk and her response baffles me

I sweep away the tears on the corner of my right eye and look at her, "What do you mean?"

"The Gods have already chosen 'The One' for you" she stands up and pours herself a glass of wine

"CHOSEN? WHO?" I jump from my cushion seat to follow her around as she paces back and forth, almost giving me a headache

"I don't know, the gods didn't tell me his address" she jokes

"Medusa, As your princess, I demand to know what you know about this!" I stomp my foot while still following her around

"I don't know anything, my crystals told me that you have a man written in your destiny and he will arrive in your life soon" she says and smile

"How soon?" I question again, hoping that she would answer me this time more elaborately

"I told you what I know Nova, asking me the same questions again and again won't birth answers from the air" she says with straight face

She bends down to take out a pot and lights up the fire while pouring water in the pan, then she proceeds to cut carrots and onions while I just stand there mute and shocked

"Why did the questions stop?" Medusa chuckles

I take her arm and turn her towards me and I ask "Will he love me, the way I have always wanted to love? Will he take my name the way angels sing? Will his lips make me blush? Will he accept me the way I am?"

The conversation suddenly turns serious, with both of us looking at each other's face hoping to search for answers on ur skins, she places the knife on the side and wipes her hands on the apron

"He will love you, in all the ways he can love you and by all the ways he know how to love a woman like you" Medusa says with a smile

"What if I choose not to marry?" I ask her, "Oh don't fool yourself, you are a royal, you have to marry someday. It is in your fate"

I love my freedom a-lot and I have never been in love before so I have cannot fathom what love would look like. All of my ladies are in love or married and the idea of it fascinates me. Many men have fallen in love with me but I have never reciprocated those feelings. I am beautiful from outside but fierce on the inside and that shoos away all the men

"Hmmmm" I say, deep in my thoughts

I know that Medusa wants to put this topic to rest and carry on with her life, but I could not stop thinking about what she just said. A man? That I love? and who loves me the way I should be loved? I cannot take in all the Information that I have been told by her just now, Will he be kind? Will he like sword fighting? or archery? or summer? the way I do? I wonder what he would smell like or how his touch would make me feel, will my blood rush and my heart beat a little faster when I hear him say my name?

"Am I right?" Medusa interrogates

"Huh? Pardon me, I didn't hear you" I reply still looking out of the window, "I asked you'll be leaving for the castle soon?" Medusa tilts her head to ask

Oh the castle! I almost forgot that I don't live here, Medusa makes it feel like home to me. I have to rush before mother notices my absence at the family dinner. I grab some carrots and put on my cloak while munching on my carrots like a hare.

"It's quite dark outside" Medusa says with a concerned face

"It never scares me" I say while putting on my boots

Medusa opens the door and the air is chilly, it has stopped raining but I could still feel the droplets dropping from the sky. I feed Ella the carrots that I had and gently pat her on the neck

"Remember what I told you, and don't choose a husband, he will choose you" she says in a rather serious tone

I nod and mount my horse, "Farewell Medusa" I wave and she waves back to me, A part of me doesn't want to leave but the other part of me knows that I have to

"Haaaa!" I say to Ella and ride towards the forest on the muddy road

Suddenly a man on the horse crosses my path so swiftly from right to left that I almost fall over, Ella neighs and I grip her reign. How dare he cross me like that? Who is he?

I calm Ella and decide to follow the man and his horse, I know I shouldn't but my curiosity takes the best of me, I turn my horse to the left and follow the man in full speed

'Sweet by face and fierce by nature' is what my father used to describe me, I rush after the man and the horse, it starts raining and it feels like some sort of a deathmatch

"Stop! In the name of the king I demand you to stop!" I scream and he doesn't listen. "STOP I SAID!" I scream again with no effect, I tighten the reign of Ella and increase my speed, Ella neighs

"Stop! As a princess, I order you to stop right now" I yell and he stops immediately

"Who are you? And what are you doing in the blood wood at this time of night?" I say while taking out a knife from my boot and I examine his body as it turns towards me

"You are the princess?" he asks in a funny accent and giggles

"Yes, and you? who are you?" I ask while pointing my knife toward him even though i feel he cannot harm me but I cannot always trust what I feel

"Dear princess, My name is Floki" He smiles and reveals his face.