It is late at night in England. The zikavirus virioness sitting at the counter in the hospital is resting her head in her palm, and she has a hard time keeping her eyes open from both tiredness and boredom. But then the doors at the entrance suddenly slam open and a SARS coronavirus two virion enters full speed. He seems nervous. The virioness noticed and wants to ask him if he needs help, but the virion already disappeared into the main hall.

The virion, named Lucius, races towards the maternity ward and forces himself through the door. He looks arounds hastily, and asks a young basophil behind the counter to which room they brought his wife and if his son has already arrived. The basophil looks at him in confusion. "This is the medical ward, sir. The maternity ward would be that way." He says, as he points to the left.

Lucius leaves and runs to the direction the basophil pointed at, and finally enters the ward where he needs to be. He repeats his question to the basiliskus behind the counter, who in turn tells the number of his wife's room and that she's now resting. Then lucius runs straight to the room. "My son! I want to see my son!" He yells, as he enters the room. He looks to all directions, but purposely doesn't pay any attention to his exhausted wife. "So... you're not going to ask me how I feel?" She asks. Lucius, still ignoring her, has finally spotted the crib and runs toward it to look at his son. "OH, FUCK ME! There's three of them?!" He yells out of surprise.

"Yep."

"Why didn't you tell me that we were going to have triplets, Freya!"

"How would I know?"

Lucius finally calms downs and takes a better look at his pups. He notices that one of the little ones has snow white membrane proteins. Lucius turns back to Freya. "One of them is white." He says with a frown. "Is there something wrong with her being white then, Lucius?" Freya asks. The frown on Lucius's face becomes even more prominent now. "Her...? I asked for a son, not an useless girl! And yes, there's a lot wrong with her being white! Especially if it's caused by albinism! Albinos are harbingers of bad luck!".

"Oi! You didn't asked for three at once either. Besides, the other two are boys. So, be glad that you have TWO sons even! And NO, albinos AREN'T harbingers of bad luck, you dingbat! It's just a minor membrane protein mutation!" Freya yells at Lucius.

"Albinos ARE harbingers of bad luck, Freya! And I want her killed before her bad essence starts to work!" Lucius yells back.

Freya jumps out of the bed, blocks the crib from Lucius and bares her teeth at him while letting out a deep and loud growl. "Don't you fucking DARE touching my daughter!" She says. Freya's golden-yellow eyes look fiery, and Lucius has to admit to himself that she's quite threatening. For the first time in the eighteen years he's been walking this earth, Lucius actually is a bit afraid of a female. ''Y-you know what? You need your rest. I'll go home now and think of names for the boys.'' Lucius says, clearly humbled by his wife's reaction. Then he walks out of the room. ''Don't worry, Mama will protect you from that brute.'' Freya whispers when she hears soft squealing noises coming from the crib.

"Is everything okay, Mrs. Reeve?'' A voice asks. A nurse walked in to check what's going on. Freya returns to her bed and calms down a bit. ''I'm fine. I just were in a disagreement with that daft TWAT that just fled.'' She replies. The nurse nods at her and then turns to the door. ''Go to sleep now, you need it.'' The nurse tells Freya, before she leaves the room and closes the door.

The next day, Lucius returns to the hospital to pick up Freya and the triplets. While in the car they start to bicker again. ''I'll drop you and the pups off at home, then I'll go the city hall to register their names. So, what's the girl's name?'' Lucius asks. ''Loki.'' Freya replies. ''Loki? Isn't that the name of some pagan deity? What a weird name for a girl.'' Lucius says. ''It was the first name that came to my mind and I like it. It suits her perfectly too." Freya says. ''So... what names did you came up with for the boys?''. ''Vesuvius and Etna.'' Lucius replies. It was silent for a few seconds before Freya decided to say something about it. ''Italian volcanoes... really? And you think the name I came up with for our daughter, is weird?''. Lucius just looked at her, then back at the traffic. He realized it was a bit weird indeed, but he liked the names as they sound unique. He decides to respect Freya's name choice for their daughter for this very reason.

In the following years, Freya had to protect Loki from Lucius's attempts to kill her, multiple times. Freya even scratched or bit him in some cases. Luckily, Lucius eventually decided to stop trying to kill Loki, but he didn't stop mistreating her. All because she happens to be an albino. Freya felt so bad for her and wanted to help her out of this horrible nightmare, but she couldn't do much. One day however, Freya noticed that Loki has a special love for nature and animals and that that is her way to cope with the whole situation. Freya, who in secret is wiccan, thought that this is maybe the way to help her. So, she taught Loki everything she knew... but still in secret. Lucius is strictly Noxsolisan and he doesn't tolerate any other belief in his family.

Loki sits at the table in the backyard when Freya puts a glass of lemonade in front of her. She looks at her mother, then at the crows. ''Why are there always so many crows in our backyard...'' She pauses as she looks up at the roof of their house, before she continues. ''... and on our house?''. Freya smiles as she turns to look at all the birds. ''I feed them.'' She replies. ''Why though, they're scary.'' Loki says. ''They're actually quite friendly when you treat them right. They're very intelligent birds and they even bring you something in return if you feed them regularly.'' Freya explains, as she shows the things that the crows gifted her. ''I love crows. They're my favorite animal and I once had one as my familiar. But they're so misunderstood by most microbes.'' One crow lands on the table with a loud caw and Freya pets it on the head. Then, Freya walks inside the kitchen and returns with a small paper bag. There's a text on it that reads 'BIRD SEEDS'. Loki has just learned to read and write the word bird at school, but she doesn't know the word 'seeds' yet. ''What is that, Mama?'' Loki asks. ''This is what I feed to the crows. Do you want to try?'' Freya replies. Loki's eyes grow wide and she vigorously shakes her head. Freya smiles as she understands Loki's fear. Crows, as do other birds, do in fact have sharp talons after all, and they may accidently hurt her. Even when Freya herself offers seeds in her paw, she occasionally gets a bit scratched. She takes a bit of seeds and throws it in the garden. All the crows immediately fly toward the seeds to eat. ''You can try to do the same, if that's more comfortable to you, sweetie.'' Freya says. Loki takes a little bit of seeds and throws them away. She didn't threw the seeds as far away as her mother did, so the crows land closer, which startles her a bit. Loki hides behind her mother, who smiles at her. ''Don't worry, they won't hurt you.'' She says. Then she continues to throw the seeds.

Two years later, Freya and Lucius are preparing their pups for their meeting with the young particles they've been betrothed to. Lucius seems excited, but Freya isn't. Being a virioness, she already knows that her sweet daughter will end up in the same patriarchal spiral as every other virioness. Like her, Loki will be forced to marry a virion she may never truly love, move to live with his family, and eventually she'll be forced to produce pups for him. In coronavirus culture, females are basically worthless, except for when it comes to bearing young. It has been this way since ancient times, but she wants it to change. ''This is just so wrong.'' She thinks to herself, as she selects a dress for Loki to wear. Coronavirus virionesses aren't even allowed to wear trousers, while virions may wear anything they please! Oh, wait, that isn't entirely true! Virions in turn aren't allowed to wear a dress or a skirt either... except for a kilt over in Scotland. There's a high level of male privilege among coronaviruses. Freya wonders if that was ever the norm for other viruses too, or bacteria, or cells maybe?

''Where are we going today, Mama? And why do I need to wear this fancy dress?'' Freya snaps out of her thoughts as soon as she hears Loki's voice. ''Oh... uh... we're going to see your future husband, sweetie.'' Freya replies. Loki's face displays a confused expression. ''Aren't I a tad too young for that?'' She replies. ''Don't worry, Loki, you're not going to marry him right away. You first need to wait until you're seventeen years old.'' Freya smiles. Though, even seventeen is still too young to her opinion. Freya continues to make Loki ready for the meeting, then she takes her by her little paw and directs her to go downstairs.

Lucius and the two boys are sitting on their thrones in the courtroom, already waiting for the two selected girls from the Arden family to arrive. Vesuvius and Etna are both wearing a neat suit and they wear shiny, black shoes. Lucius always always lets them wear the exact same outfits, so does he today. ''Finally! My cousin is already waiting in the car for you two!'' Lucius says as the two walk down the stairs. Freya and Loki leave the house and enter the car. ''Is it far?'' Loki asks when they're driving away. ''Quite far, but not too much, sweetie.'' Freya replies.

Once parked in front of the gates of their destination, Freya and Loki get out of the car. ''Damn... that's one big nest! Anyway, ladies, I'll just wait here until you're done.'' Lucius's cousin says, as he looks out of the car window. Freya only nods at him, then she turns around to talk to a guard. Loki looks up at the nest's huge gate. Then her eyes fall on the family heraldry. It features a big, black wolf-like beast with one red eye, bristly fur, and big teeth. Unlike the winged stag on their own family heraldry, this beast seems mean. ''Mama, can we please go back home? This place scares me.'' She whispers, as she tugs at her mother's long sleeves. ''I know, sweetie, but we're obligated to be here. And I'm sure it's less scary once we're inside the boy's home.'' Freya reassures Loki. The guard opens the gate to let Freya and Loki in. While it opens, the gate's loud, creaky noise hurts Loki's ears. Once inside the nest's territory, a knight approaches them. ''Ah, you must be Queen Freya and young Princess Loki. Follow me as I direct you two to the palace.''

The king gets up from his throne and walks toward Freya and Loki. ''Welcome to the nest of the Burgess family, Queen Freya and young Princess Loki. I'm King Anthony and this is my wife, Queen mary'' He says as he shakes Freya's paw. ''Hello and nice to meet you, King Anthony and Queen Mary.'' Freya respectfully replies. Then the king turns around and signs to his son to get up and go stand next to him. ''This is my son and heir, young Prince Xynos.'' He explains. Freya looks at the boy and waves at him. ''Hello.'' She says. Xynos seems a bit shy and tries to hide away behind his father. But Anthony grabs him by the shoulder and pushes him towards Loki. ''Try to get to know each other while the adults talk.'' He says with a slightly stern voice. Then he instructs Freya to sit at the diner table with him and Mary. Loki and Xynos, clearly awkward with each other, just stand there for a few minutes without talking. They're both looking around or at their feet, while trying to avoid each other's gaze. Then Xynos finally starts to regain some bravery. ''So... uh... why are your membrane proteins white?'' He awkwardly asks Loki. Loki turns to him. ''Because I have a genetic mutation.'' She replies. "Is it... like, a disease?'' Xynos continues. ''No, but the doctor says that it does cause my poor eyesight, and I get sunburns more easily when I stand in sunlight.'' Loki explains.

''I don't get it! That sounds much like a disease to me! A vampire disease that is!'' Xynos says in disbelief.

''Don't say that, it's mean!'' Loki squeals.

''Why not. I'm a virus, am I not? I can say that because I can cause a disease myself!'' Xynos says proudly.

''Would you really do that? It's against the law!'' Loki gasps.

''I'm a Burgess! I can just go and give someone a piece of my COVID-19! My uncles and cousins do that all the time and no cop who does something about it. Heck, the entire city of Brighton fears us even! HA HA HA!'' Xynos continues.

Loki starts to feel uneasy around this boy and runs to her mother. ''I don't like to play with him, Mama, he's mean. And I want to go home!'' Loki squeaks. She climbs up her mother's lap and tries to hide her face behind her long hair. Anthony seems offended and is about to say something about it, but Mary taps him on the fingers and throws him a stern gaze. Then he sighs and continues their conversation.

An hour later, Freya and Loki leave the nest and enter the car. Loki falls asleep during the drive back home, and Freya stares at the flashing trees, houses and meadows. Like her daughter, she doesn't feel comfortable around the Burgess family, but she simply can't do anything to stop the betrothal. Lucius wouldn't allow it because he rather sees Loki go than stay.