[POTN] 1.1 - The Siblings

Chapter 1 - The Undying Viking

1.1 The Siblings

Another late summer morning in Stockholm - another anxious day for Kristina. Since before midsummer, all Sweden had been whispering about upcoming hostilities against Copenhagen - but Chancellor Oxenstierna had mostly kept his mouth shut about recent affairs when questioned by the stubborn, headstrong princess.

For Kristina, this war was absolutely unnecessary - she believed that the first and foremost priority of the Regency should be to end the war in the Empire, instead of warmongering like some kind of medieval warlords - a stance probably not echoed by the young King Gustav.

Following his 15th birthday, Gustav had been allowed to take part in Privy Council meetings - but he had been told to deliberately keep the recent developments from Kristina. Whenever she asked her brother about the Council's meetings, he just stared out of the window in silence, deep in thought.

Two officers from the Army walked into the chamber and bowed, with unusually serious expressions. Kristina kept herself silent, following the officers with Gustav - though the gaze in his eyes seemed like he knew what was going to happen beforehand.

"Your Majesty. Your Royal Highness," the Chancellor said following a polite nod, "The Privy Council has, on the 14th of September, 1643, decided that the previously discussed hostilities against Copenhagen shall commence in due time. The Sound Dues have long been placing a heavy burden on our finances, and we deem it necessary to free our Kingdom from Danish encirclement."

Gustav simply nodded, probably having been notified of the decision already. Kristina, however, immediately began protesting,

"What is the justification of that, may I ask? How is a war the solution for such a historical issue? How would bloodshed win us freedom?"

"We're not some kind of... barbaric savages! We're resolving this Sound Due issue peacefully. With dialogue. Not with guns and blood."

The Chancellor just sighed with wariness of the Princess's idealism, muttering an excuse about emergency Privy Council meetings, and exited the room.

"Gustav! You knew this, didn't you? and you didn't even bother telling me? Is that how much you value me?"

"I, ugh..." the usually assertive and confident Gustav was suddenly speechless - after all, he was King, and "the Chancellor told him not to" was definitely not an acceptable excuse.

"I know! You want war, just like them! A bloody warmonger just like how they would like their King to be."

"You know what, Gustav. If you deem me so worthless and unreliable, you may as well not talk to me anymore."

With that, Kristina stormed out of the office, leaving with a furious huff.

Gustav just stood there, gazing out of the window... his mind already replaying the tactics and strategies Field Marshal Torstenson taught him the previous month.

Kristina, like always, couldn't really keep on being angry at Gustav for too long. So after she thought he slept, she wrote a letter in Latin, calling him an absolute fool and a barbaric brute, though with less anger and more exasperation than during the day, and placed the letter on his desk by midnight. Little did she know, Gustav was watching from outside the room, utterly amused by the development. Upon reading the letter that morning, Gustav couldn't stop a smirk creeping onto his face, silently whispering to himself...

"I'm afraid you'll find me far more insufferable than this pretty soon, Krissie."