Gisila sat quietly on a cut log in front of a fire, struggling to enjoy her last night before entering the D’Angeline capital. She wasn’t from the wilds by any means, but she’d never seen this many people in one place. Even at this distance, she thought she could hear a murmur carried on the wind, though that could be just her nerves. So many people gathered together, were any of them going to be friendly? Would she be in danger? When she’d set out, or been sent out as it were, she’d insisted on the smallest number of warriors to accompany her, taking only the two men of the men that guarded her. Not only did she want to be received kindly by the King of the D’Angelines, she was accustomed to largely being left to her own pursuits so she needed the time on the journey to get mentally prepared for what lay before her.
She reached up and touched the feathers on the breast of her pet crow, Agnetta, her fingers looking for the familiar softness. The bird turned and preened a strand of Gisila’s dark hair, the feeling soothing Gisila a bit. Of all her birds, Agnetta was one of the most special. As though they could hear her thoughts, the birds she’d insisted on traveling with stirred in their woven cages, breaking her reverie and stirring her to action. She went to check on them, moving through the motions of their care almost without thought.
There were only three cages attached to the wagon, and they held the birds that Gisila couldn’t stand to leave to the care of others. Two of them held birds that were going to be released as soon as their injuries were healed, but one contained a young magpie that she had found after a storm sitting on her steps. The bird had been so young it didn’t even have the most rudimentary of flight feathers so she’d taken it in. She was worried that it wouldn’t be able to be free or happy so she insisted on taking it. The bird stirred a little under her gentle touch, ate as she handed it food and remembered when she’d left.
“Gisila! You are going as a delegate and potential suitor to the King,” her grandmother Ishild had said sternly, emphasizing her words with thumps of her staff on the wooden floor. “You have to represent us well, girl, leave the birds at home!”
A different woman would’ve immediately bowed to the matriarch’s wishes but despite her quiet nature, Gisila was stubborn. Arguments about her beloved birds were not new.
She spoke firmly and evenly, her quiet voice carrying easily, “I am The Blackbird, not taking them would be dishonest. We are Skaldi, the cold doesn’t care for pleasantries and lies. They should see me for who I am or not see me at all.”
The two women stared at each other silently for a long moment before Ishild nodded and said, “Good, girl. I will pass along to the chief that you will leave in a week.”
“Is it still struggling?” a voice said quietly near her, making her turn head to see Gebhard, the older of her two companions, standing near her. Despite being known as Widowmaker, Gebhard had a gentleness about him that helped put Gisila at ease. He was unmarried and if people whispered that he had a lover in the warriors’ barracks, they were wise enough to do it where he couldn’t hear them.
“Yes, she’s just not doing as well as I wanted. The finches and red-breast will be ready to be free again in a week or so but this little thing,” she furrowed her brow for a moment, “I just am not sure what she’s missing.”
Gebhard nodded, “Companionship maybe?”
Gisila sighed, “You’re likely right. None of us are meant to be alone, are we?”