The Adventures of Princess Alvida

1. The guest

The doors of Balmung castle swung open. The sunbeams that struck their faces were so strong Alvida couldn't see the men clearly. Three dark outlines came walking towards them in a leisurely pace. Heavy steps. And judging by the sound of it, they were wearing lots of equipment.

There were clinging sounds of iron and metal, and Alvida soon realized that this was not the king's - or President's or whoever it was' - top men. This was the top men's work horses, and therefore just messengers. With deliveries like: "We accept the deal," or "Thank you for the rulership of the Suttung hillsides," or just: "Merry Christmas".

Simple messages that were only really sent to maintain a good relationship, or to patch up a bad one. Messages that the upper people didn't bother to deliver themselves.
In other words, this was going to be a short meeting, without protracted negotiations and tense vibes spread throughout the castle.

And that suited Alvida perfectly. Because either if this was a short or long visit, there was going to be a party. And that was the only thing that Alvida paid any attention to when they had guests - accept maybe also checking out the guys that came. This castle used every excuse to arrange a ball. Because balls were one of the things Alvida loved most in this world.

But at this moment, Alvida was a bit irritated that she had to waste her precious time on people who didn't even matter. It was so typical of her father to think that everyone should be greeted the same way, small as big.

Alvida rolled her eyes and stifled a yawn. May this be short! Every cell in her body was aching to run up to her room, call on the girls of the court and together figure out what she was going to wear tonight, and which boy each of them were going to make a move on.

Alvida loved matching the girls up with different men. She was actually quite good at it too, if she was going to be honest. Often better then the girls themselves.

Thank God she didn't have to find a man for herself. She already had the best one of them all.
The left corner of her mouth got pulled up an inch as she pictured Prince Karl. The most handsome man in all of the seven kingdoms. And he was rich too. And powerful. He was after all the heir to the Land of Glitny.

Small bubbles of happiness rushed trough her body when she thought about how jealous everyone had been when they got engaged. It had been in the cards for a long time but since the King of Balmung was a liberal man - and also never was able to say no to his daughter - it wasn't a given that Alvida would marry her intended partner.

But of course Alvida said "yes" when Karl got down on one knee. He was perfect.
And therefore, at all the castles parties, Alvida could - well knowing that she had secured the greatest catch - lean back and relax while enjoying watching the other girls' hunt.

The three men had made it down the forty meter long entrance hall. Alvida could see them clearly now. In the middle, a rugged man with a bald head and muscles that looked like they were about to burst. He reminded her of an ox.

On his left hand side, another big guy with no neck. In return he had lots of hair. That didn't match the rest of his image at all. Blonde curls.
The men stopped in front of Alvida, her father and her father's most trusted advisor; Hermod. They bowed down in some sort of tribute to the King. The man on the right was the first to get up again.

He looked different than the others. Alvida could see that he too was muscular, but he was slimmer. He was dressed in black from head to toe.
Alvida didn't understand why people would wear what she considered all-black clothing to be; funeral outfits. Unless they were going to a funeral of course. She loved colours. Apparently this man did not.

Even his hair was dark. It was short and spiky. He obviously didn't bother to comb before meeting the royalties. It looked like he came straight out of bed. He hadn't even shaved. Those stubbles were at least three days old.

The only thing light on him was his skin. His face had strong bone structure. And, again, dark eyebrows over dark eyes. From where Alvida was standing they almost looked black. He was watching the King with a relaxed, unengaged look on his face.

The ox in the middle had started to speak:" Your Majesty, we are here with a message from your good friend and... uhm - "

"Colleague," Curly whispered.

" - Oh yes, colleague it says, sorry, I'm so sorry," he looked down on the little piece of paper he was holding in his hand.

"That's quite alright my friend," the King laughed. He was the only one amused.

Hermod was standing there stiff as a tree, and Alvida was cursing inside - something she of course never would do out loud. How much longer did she have to stand here listening to this cuckoo? She didn't even manage to put on half a smile.

But Alvida didn't care. Why should she be smiling at these grimy men. They probably hadn't even taken a bath in over a week, and they smelled... outdoorsy.

Alvida's eyes wandered to the dark man again. His eyebrows were raised as he apparently was studying his nails. Alvida noticed a wound on his hand. It looked recent.

It didn't look like he was too impressed with his friend's 'thank-you' speech either. It didn't really look like he was particularly impressed about anything else either, as he glowered around the room, and then turned his head to the King - who was now speaking.

And that puzzled Alvida. Most people would give their right arm to get to visit the castle and meet the royalties. This man almost looked bored.

Suddenly, an electric shock ran through Alvida's entire body, as the dark man's eyes shifted from looking at the King, to staring directly in too hers. She looked down. And felt the blush spread across her face.

Thoughts like; 'What was I doing studying his face like that? And why did I look down as soon as he looked at me? Now he probably think I peeked at him because I think he is handsome or something. And why do I even care about what this man thinks at all?' filled Alvida's head.

She tried to calm down by reassuring herself that this wasn't a big deal. Besides, he was the one being rude, starring at her in such a manner-less way. That's right!

Alvida concentrated on her sparkly, baby blue shoes, that stuck out underneath her long, white dress. They were so gorgeous - she was going to wear them at the party that night but just couldn't wait that long to put them on.

There, she was all composed again. Alvida looked straight from the shoes to the King - who was at least half way into his long, usual welcome to Balmung speech - to avoid making eye contact with the man again.

"Hermod here... " said the King and held out his hand towards the slim man on his right hand side, "...will show you to your rooms, and I look forward to seeing you all again at the ball tonight."

"Gentlemen, if you will please follow me," Hermod said.

As usual, chills went down Alvida's spine when she heard his snake-like voice. And not in a good way. She had always disliked Hermod. She wasn't even quite sure why. It was just something about the way he looked at her. Like so tender and understanding.

Besides, there were a whole lot of rumors flying around the castle, about how he used his position to try and force himself onto girls. Ugh. When Alvida had asked her father why he couldn't replace his advisor he had always said that: "No one can make deals like Hermod." Alvida didn't doubt that for a second.

And when the uncanny stories about him reached her father's ears he said: "Nonsense! Hermod has been my biggest supporter throughout the years. If it wasn't for him I don't know what i would have done when the Queen died. He could never do something like that!"

Alvida breathed a sigh of relief when Hermod, the two bulls and the dark man left the hall. She kissed her father on his cheek and skipped happily away to her room.

On the way she decided to take a little nap before having the girls come over. For some reason she just felt exhausted and she needed to have lots of energy for tonight.

So that she could be her most exquisite.