Rose enjoyed being the mad little human who the trolls all doted on. They all made her life easier, and she was left alone for the most part. The more alone she was, the better.
"Good." Astrid reached back for her, grabbing Rose's hand and tugging her through a crowd of bodies.
She knew how Rose felt about that. But they were both trying. Astrid wanted to hug her sister more, to show physical affection that she didn't feel comfortable showing with many. Yet Rose hated being touched. Every time. It didn't matter who did the touching. It made her skin crawl.
She'd been getting better about it, though. Like right now. All she had to do was draw her hood up and block out the world so her mind couldn't recognize that all the pressure around her was a teeming swarm of troll bodies.
They were all heading toward stands that had been built by countless hands, which surrounded a clearing that wasn't quite an arena. Not really. Nothing like the labyrinth at all if she really looked around. The seats were only high enough, so that people seated could look over the heads of the trolls who were going to be showcasing their "prowess", and in only two rows. The rest was open to the air of Trollveggen.
They'd built the whole thing near a grove of trees that she knew were important to them. The trolls referred to the place as the Grove of Spirits because they claimed walking through those woods would allow a person to hear the whispered words of those who had long ago passed.
Rose had felt the deep wells of magic that were feeding the roots of those trees. She had looked through the realms to see it. The whispering beauty of white magic, gleaming just beneath the surface.
At least she would be able to stare at that magic rather than pay attention to whatever they were doing.
The trolls around her were all wearing their finest clothes. And there were so many other women.
Rose even tilted her hood back a bit to look up at the people surrounding her. The closest troll maiden was practically dripping with gemstones. Earrings swung from her stretched lobes. Tangled strands of gemstones looked like a waterfall dripping down to her neck, and some of them connected to an impressive spray of emeralds that dripped down her torso to create a top. Her skirts were voluminous, pretty chiffon that must have cost half a year’s salary all the way down here in the depths.
The troll woman beyond her was similarly decorated, although in different colored stones that made an impressive spray of color along her skirts. Gemstones, jewelry that must have taken years to forge, it was all quite impressive to look at.
And even more confusing.
"Where are we again?" Rose asked as Astrid tugged her up the stairs to what she assumed were very good seats. Her sister had been talking about this for ages, but Rose hadn't been listening.
"The bridal games! I've only told you half a dozen times."
"Bridal games?" Rose scrunched up her nose. "What in the world do you mean by that?"
The troll woman next to her suddenly loomed into the conversation. She had so many piercings on her face it looked like she was covered in stars. "The bridal games only happen once a century. It's a way for all the eligible trolls to show off. Those who are interested in a mate will show themselves at the end of this. We'll all gather in a line and then they’ll see who they are competing for."
Astrid seemed to stiffen with every word. Apparently her sister thought that Rose was still far too delicate to even think about something like this.
Rose wasn't delicate. She was just... using everything as an excuse not to be here.
Shrugging, Rose turned her attention to the surrounding land that had been flattened. Some of the trolls had earth magic. She had watched them smooth out the dirt here so that it wasn't quite an arena. In the labyrinth, all the land in front of them would have been dirt. There would have been blood soaking into the ground, and she would have been able to hear the echoes of the dying as she looked at the ground.
The land here had been laid out with moss. Soft, cushioning moss that made it impossible to even hear that there were still trolls walking across it to get to their seats. Pretty. Emerald green. So lovely that she knew it was intended to be a thing of beauty and not a showcase of power and pain.
Still, it was as good an excuse as any to disappear. Rose just didn't want to be here.
She was worried about Rhydian and what he was doing. He'd been so solemn yesterday. She hadn't had a good enough reason to see him today, but this was a good one.
Astrid reached for her hand and squeezed it. Rose's heart did that flippy-floppy motion it always did when her sister tried to connect with her. Like she enjoyed the connection, but also it was just... hard. Hard to connect with anyone these days.
The crowd roared, very excited now that they could see the men and women who were participating in the bridal games. They all rushed out in one big sprint. She could see quite a few of the men were jumping, likely to get as much attention on themselves as possible.
They were dressed in so little clothing she blinked forcefully a few times to make sure she was actually seeing what she thought she was. The men wore little more than loincloths, and most of those were moving rather drastically as they jumped. The women had bands around their breasts and similar cloths between their legs as the men, but that was it.
So much skin on display. So much muscle that made something in her stomach twist.
It wasn't that she was uncomfortable with other people's bodies. She had certainly seen enough in her day that it was hard to even think of them as anything other than meat suits that they all wore. But these were bodies that were meant to be seen.
"Look!" Astrid said, pointing at someone in particular. "I didn't think he'd actually do it."
Rose followed her finger and felt her entire world grind a halt.
Gunnar stood with some of the others. They were the last of the men who had wandered in. He didn't jump or try to get attention. He didn't need to. It was as if the light of thisplace sought him out. It lingered on the curves of his muscles, caressed the trapeziuses that made his neck look so thick and his pectorals that made his entire body seem even larger than it already was.
