CHAPTER FIVE

[the winter fox]

***

"Everybody has the ability to be manipulative, to be hateful and deceitful."

- Neil LaBute

***

Asgard, A Few Days Later

Kelda stood in front of the marbled stone, cut to depict the Last Ride of the Valkyrior. She stared into the eyes of her mother's stone figure wondering if the fierce woman would approve of her life. The blonde goddess never truly met her mother. Yes, she died when Kelda was a baby, but the Asgardian goddess never knew the woman. The closest she got to being in the presence of her mother was going to the Valkyrior Monument and speaking to the stone likeness of the warrior goddess.

"I can never seem to catch my breath these days," the blonde goddess said, sitting at the base of the monument. "I keep feeling as if something is off. Why does the course of my life have to change in the span of a few months? Why is Odin so set on this wedding happening now? We have all the time in the world to get married. I just want to enjoy my engagement. To use the time to get even closer to Balder, but with all the rush and preparations, I barely see him. It is as if we are growing more distant than we are becoming closer."

The blonde goddess had not seen her betrothed since their outing to their special grove. And before that, it had been a week since they saw each other as well. She did not want to come across as clingy, but they used to see each other all the time. It felt like everything was changing, and sometimes it did not feel like it was for the better.

On the bright side, Kelda had been spending an increasing amount of quality time with her other friends. Loki had originally been distant in the first week following the engagement announcement, although she was unsure as to why. To spend time with the silver-tongued prince had been a nice change of pace this week. She had also been able to spend time with Thor more as well. The two had always gotten along, although they were prone to butt heads often. Not nearly as much as he and Loki had throughout the years, but Kelda also had been bookish and introverted when she was younger, something of which Thor was the opposite. As children, they would clash over their opposing personalities, but remained close despite that. Now, as adults, they valued each other as they were, leading to fewer arguments and more playful banter. She was glad to spend time with the other princes.

Shockingly, Sif was throwing herself into the preparations. For a woman always ready to dive headfirst into battle, she was surprisingly excited to help with the planning, dedicating time to assist Kelda in any decision making. The blonde goddess was happy to have her around, especially considering Karnilla was a hard person to track down lately. Apparently, Odin was calling her in quite often to help with some mysterious predicament in Nornheim. The dark beauty was scarcely seen around the palace and it did not seem like that would change soon.

"All these people have been like family to me growing up. They took me in as their own when I was only a babe. I should not feel like such a stranger to them after all these years, but sometimes, still, I feel as if it is their world and I am simply a pawn in it. What I wouldn't give to have you here with me. What would you think of all of this?" she asked quietly to the air. Meeting the stone eyes of her mother's likeness, Kelda paused as if waiting for a response.

Suddenly, the air seemed to shimmer, a figure appearing in front of her.

A beautiful woman in glistening white armor appeared in front of Kelda. Her armor adorned with silver feathers, a silver-plated headpiece holding back her white-blonde braids. The eyes were familiar though, not because they matched that of the stone figure that was supposed to resemble this woman, but because Kelda saw them every time she looked in the mirror.

"Mother?" Kelda gasped, not believing what she was seeing. The monument and all the paintings she had seen of her mother did not do her beauty justice. She was not a demure or elegant sort of beauty, despite her ethereal presence. No, she was a striking and destructive beauty with sharp cheekbones and naturally narrowed eyes. Strands of hair that fell loose from her braids curled wildly in the gentle breeze. The only thing that softened her appearance was the faint curve of her lips as she smiled at her daughter.

Freyja stepped forward to cradle her daughter's cheeks in her hands. Kelda expected them to feel rough and calloused like the hands of a warrior, but instead, they were smooth to the touch. "Oh, Kelda. I wish I could help you more. I wish I could be there for you."

"But, you are... you are here. How are you here?"

Freyja's smile turned sad, "I'm not actually here, my dove. I am simply a remnant, conjured by your magic."

"My magic brought you to me?" Kelda wondered aloud. "I don't understand. I've never done anything like this before..." She shook the confusion from her thoughts, choosing instead to enjoy the moment while it lasted. "Did you hear what I was saying earlier?"

"Yes, I did. I can only offer you some advice." Kelda nodded, almost desperately to hear what her mother had to say on such a life-changing topic. "If it doesn't feel right, don't let them push you into something you are not completely sure of. I know you love Balder. If he truly feels the same, as he told you, he will be there when you are ready for this step. It is your life, yours and Balder's marriage. No one else should get a say in it."

Just as Kelda was about to respond, she felt a tug on the bottom of her dress. The blonde goddess glanced down to see a winter fox clutching the silken fabric in its jaws and giving a sharp tug. "Hey!" she exclaimed, "What do you think you are doing?" The fox stepped back, a passive look on its features.

Kelda was surprised that the fox did not recoil back and growl. In fact, she was surprised enough by the fact that the animal approached her at all. Typically, they kept their distance from people, but this one was not even a foot away from her.

Remembering her mother, the Asgardian goddess turned to answer her, only to discover the Valkyrie general was no longer there. She sighed, sadness filling her heart at how she was not able to say goodbye. Annoyance filled her. If the damn fox had not tugged on her gown, perhaps she would have been able to say goodbye.

Turning back to the animal, ready to scare the creature away, she was disappointed to see that it had already taken off, ducking behind the monument. Kelda followed it to make sure it did not hang around to bother anyone else. When she peeked behind the marble statue, the fox was nowhere to be seen.

"What the Hel—?" she trailed off, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Kelda!" a voice called out, causing the blonde goddess to startle. "Oh, I did not mean to frighten you."

Kelda recognized the voice before she turned to face the woman. Queen Frigga stood not far behind her, giving her an apologetic look. The younger woman clutched at her chest, attempting to calm her racing heart. She pushed the strange occurrence with her mother and the winter fox to the back of her mind, although she did not forget it.

"No, I am all right. What can I do for you Frigga?" The queen had insisted she drop the formalities years ago.

"I wanted to catch up with you. Will you take a walk with me?" the older woman asked.

Kelda nodded. "Of course," she said, looping her arm through the queen's and letting the other woman lead the way.

***

Balder raised his arms as the palace tailor scurried around him taking measurements. He followed the tailor's direction, although he was not paying much attention to the man. He was otherwise occupied. The Asgardian heir was lost in his thoughts and his expression showed it.

He could not help but reflect on the conversation that he had with Kelda a few days earlier. He loved her more than anything and because of that, he wanted her to be happy above all else. However, despite her assurances that she was happy with their engagement and their impending wedding, he could not help but think that the uneasy feeling she was expressing was more than just cold feet. Something just felt off.

Their relationship was never this awkward when they were just together; no engagement, no wedding. He wished they could go back to that, but as the wedding got closer, he felt as if she was pulling further away, even if she was trying to hide it.

He was jarred from his thoughts as the heavy gold door of his chambers burst open and his brothers walked in.

"Did mother never teach you any manners?" Balder teased to his younger, more boisterous brother. Thor looked unbothered by the comment, however, while Loki looked much more abashed, shaking his head at the burly, blond god.

"I tried to tell him," Loki started.

Balder laughed. "And obviously he listened," he quipped back sarcastically. Loki sighed.

"Less than two weeks away from the big day, brother," Thor said, addressing Balder. "How are you feeling? Your bachelor days will forever be over. Kelda is a lucky woman, although the other women of the realm shall weep when you are wed."

"Why shall they weep over me when they are too busy fawning over you, brother?" Balder joked. Thor laughed loudly while Loki cracked a small smile. "As far as how I am feeling, well, I suppose, if I am being honest, I-I am unsure."

Thor gave him a confused look. "Why? The two of you have been together for as long as I can remember. I don't understand."

Loki, too, gave his older brother a confused look. Was he having doubts? He had barely done anything to influence the couple yet. If he were already feeling doubt, then Loki's job would be a lot easier than he originally anticipated.

Balder sighed and waved the tailor off. The man exited the room after gathering his things, leaving the brothers alone to their conversation. "I believe Kelda feels pressured into this marriage before she is ready. If she feels that way, I don't want to ignore those feelings. She shouldn't feel forced into this in any way, she shouldn't feel trapped, and I fear she does."

"Did you speak with her about this?" Thor asked, concerned for his brother and one of his beloved friends. "I am sure she doesn't feel that way."

"I have and I wouldn't be too sure. She tried to assure me that she wanted this wedding to happen, but a part of me still believes she is trying to convince herself as much as she is trying to convince me."

It was silent for a moment after Balder's revelation.

"That can't be the case. Kelda loves you and you love her. I can't believe that she wouldn't want to marry you." Thor seemed to be in denial about this, almost more than Kelda herself.

"Have you spoken to father about this?" Loki asked, his brows furrowed creating the illusion of a concerned brother. "Perhaps, he would delay the wedding indefinitely if you spoke with him."

Balder shook his head. "I haven't. I believe him to have more invested in this wedding than any of us realize. He seemed very adamant about it when we discussed it before the engagement announcement."

"I think you should speak with him," Loki suggested. "If he were to listen to anyone, it would be you or mother. If she is having doubts and you do not wish her to feel pressured, you should speak with father. It couldn't do any harm."

Balder met his brother's green eyes for a moment before he nodded. "I will."

***

Frigga returned from her walk in the gardens with her future daughter-in-law feeling more concerned than she should have.

When they began their walk, the Asgardian Queen felt highly optimistic about the wedding and she assumed Kelda felt the same. However, Frigga did not need her magic to see that Kelda was being eaten away with doubt, even if the young, blonde goddess did an excellent job at hiding it.

That led the queen to head straight to her chambers to confront her husband.

"Odin," she called, greeting him, "I need to speak with you."

"What about?" The Allfather asked as he eyed his distressed wife.

"For the sake of Kelda and our son, we need to postpone the wedding," she told him.

Odin looked confused, "What are you talking about?"

"We rushed this. The short engagement. The wedding. We are overwhelming them. I found Kelda at the Valkyrior Monument and escorted her on a walk through the gardens. On the way, she tried to assure me that she was eager for the wedding, but I could tell she was just lying to herself. She feels as if she has lost all control over her life. I fear that if we push them to get married so soon that they will never be truly happy together as they were before all this was set in motion."

"Oh, Frigga," Odin said, grasping his wife's hands in his own comfortingly. "I wish it were that simple, but the wedding needs to go on as scheduled."

"But, why can we not let them move at their own pace?" Frigga tried.

Odin sighed and moved away from her, making his way over to the balcony to gaze out over all of Asgard. "I have begun to feel the warning signs. The Odinsleep is approaching and Asgard needs a solid, reliable line of succession in place when it does. I have no worries that Balder will be an excellent king in my stead when the time comes. However, if I do not wake up, I need to know that Asgard will have many rulers to come. I need to know that Balder's family line will continue so that Asgard can continue to have peace and prosperity."

Unknown to the king and queen, the silver-tongued prince lurked just outside the chamber doors, having overheard his parents' conversation. Loki huffed and turned to stalk towards his own chambers. Any groundwork he had just laid with Balder, trying to get his brother to convince Odin to, at the very least, postpone the wedding was in vain. This wedding was happening no matter what the golden prince said.

As he approached his chambers, he hoped that Karnilla had some good news.

***

Karnilla's astral projection waited in Loki's room. While she waited, she perused the room, doing her fair share of snooping on the elusive, introverted royal. He was meticulously neat, not a trinket out of place. It made it increasingly difficult to find any dirt on him without disturbing anything that Loki would later notice.

Her efforts were cut short when the door clicked open, startling her.

"You're late," she commented, winding a finger in her curls as she gave him a once over. It was subtle, but he was definitely in a sour mood. Crossing her arms over her chest, she narrowed her eyes at him and asked, "What happened?"

"It's useless," he snapped. She waited for him to continue, unsure what he was alluding to. "I managed to convince Balder to talk to father only to find out that it was all for nothing. Odin will push for this wedding with his dying breath if he needs to and Balder will follow his wishes without fail."

Karnilla could hear the frustration and anger growing in his voice with every word. She could even feel a wave of anxiousness wash over her. If they could not get the Allfather to call the wedding off, then this plan was hopeless. "What are we to do then? Balder is loyal to a fault, as you said. What is the point anymore?"

"No, no, no," Loki seethed, stepping closer to the Nornheim sorceress. "We may not be able to manipulate Balder, but we can still convince Kelda. She just needs to come to terms with her doubt and act on it. She is the only hope of stopping all of this." He took a breath, attempting to calm his rising temper. "Tell me it went well with her today."

Karnilla nodded. "I sent her a vision of her mother, as you suggested. Freyja is her weakness. It is interesting, how someone you don't even truly know can have so much influence on your life." She strategically strayed from the term 'manipulate,' hating to think that she was manipulating the woman she saw as her sister. Although, Loki seemed to have no qualms about that.

"Kelda idolizes her mother. If she were to believe in any way that her mother would not support a decision like this, she would stop it immediately. Like my brother, she, too, is loyal to a fault. Sometimes loyalty makes you blind. I am not that naïve," Loki affirmed.

No, you're not, Karnilla thought hesitantly, this side of Loki making her a little uneasy. Loyal was definitely not a trait she would use to describe the silver-tongued prince.

"Keep up with it on your end," Loki stated. "I will speak to her as well. Water the seeds of doubt that have already begun to root."

Karnilla nodded. She was about to let her astral projection fade before she realized she forgot to mention something. "Oh, before I go, something happened with my illusion earlier. This odd, white fox disrupted it somehow. It pulled Kelda right out of it and distracted her before I could finish my piece. I still believe it had an effect on her, but it was strange. I have never had an illusion shattered so easily before."

"Perhaps you are not as skilled as you believe yourself to be," Loki sneered.

Karnilla bristled at the insult, hating that he was questioning her strength. "Perhaps, someone knows what we are up to and is trying to stop us."

Loki seemed unworried at the prospect, "If that is true, I am not concerned. To mess with us... they are obviously not very intelligent."

Having had enough of him for the day, Karnilla rolled her eyes and faded her projection, returning to her own room.

***

Finally an update! I have been rather preoccupied lately. I am moving into a new place on Friday and so I have been stressed and poor over that. And I just got news that my boss at work is rearranging all of our shift work, so that's been adding on to work stress too.

However, I still want to get a couple of chapters out before I go back to work on Sunday. About 3 ½ chapters left until we catch up with the prologue. I hope to get this to The First Avenger soon. I think that will fuel my inspiration once Kelda and Bucky meet. I also hope to get to the Avengers in both this story and Prodigy by mid-September, but I have some busy work weeks coming up in September that I'll probably have to work overtime for so...

I am optimistic though! I've been in a very good place lately despite some of that stress and this is actually the most excited and happy I've been in a while so I hope that fuels me to crank out some chapters.

Vote and comment to let me know what you think!