Long May She Reign ||Valdis/Ivar/Any ||

[Valdis]

how come I never got used to the feeling of sleeping in a cage?
too long driving, too damn hungry; a tied-up hound but nothing stays

The arrival of Juice comes as a surprise, bur Valdis maintains a composure to mask the unexpected increase of their entourage. It’s almost suspicious to arrive as a trio while Ivar remains alone to represent his island. It would almost be tempting to slip away and back into Sylva’s forest, but her ambition roots her to the shoreline. Water continues to lap at her coronets, just barely within the tide’s grasp as her sapphire eyes slip across their faces, dwelling a moment longer on Ivar’s.

”A tour sounds lovely,” she forces herself to say as a diplomatic grin lifts the corners of her mouth. It isn’t so warm and amiable as mother’s as it borders along the coy grin that father often did (but she, of course, wouldn’t know that). Still in the process of refinement, Valdis struggles to entirely falsify her expressions. She is more to the point and less interested in time-consuming small talk. They are here to discuss matters, and then they are to return home where Mary may finally deliver her position-sealing child.

With a deep lungful of salty air, Valdis crosses the beach and follows the trail that Ivar guides them down, nodding as she notices how he lingers on her every so often.

Valdis