Sigurd, Astrid, Nyx and Logan
Sigurd looked at Astrid as she coaxed the winged horses to the ground. "Vill de blir under Deres styring?" (Will they stay under your control?)
"Ha de noensinne ikke?" (Have they ever not?) Astrid threw back, then she looked at the frowning Viking. "Seg ikke bekymr, Sigurd. Vi ankommer i tide." (Don't worry, Sigurd. We will arrive in time.)
"Loki leker ikke ved regel. Tilg meg om I bekymring." (Loki does not play by the rules. Forgive me if I worry.) He shook his head as she started to saddle the horses with the saddles she had designed. "Odin gitt meg forlater ta Slepnir. De rir hoppen. La det som andre drar." (Odin has given me leave to take Slepnir. You ride the mare. Let the other go.) Astrid nodded and let the black stallion she had called take wing. The white mare nuzzled her hand.
"Hilsener, liten søster." (Greetings, little sister.) Astrid scratched behind the horse's ears. She whickered in enjoyment as Sigurd mounted Odin's horse, Slepnir. "Skull vi flyr himmel?" (Shall we fly the skies?)
Oh, yes. Let us fly. The mare lipped some of Astrid's hair, and the woman smiled. Slepnir snorted, and the pegasus mare looked at him in disdain. You think o'ermuch of yourself.
Silence, mare. Let us go.
"Slepnir," Sigurd warned. Slepnir tossed his head and shifted his eight feet. "Astrid, la oss dra." (Let's go.) Slepnir bunched his muscles together and the pegasus took a run, beating her wings steadily. The two magical steeds took to the skies, and the two warriors of the Aesir headed to where they had been sent. A school in New Hampshire, New York, America.
~*~*~*~
They landed in the hours of early morning. Sigurd guided Slepnir to the gates and Astrid calmed her mount.
"Hva nå?" (What now?)
"Vi venter på dem se at vi er virkelige," Sigurd said calmly. (We wait for them to see that we are real.) "De er på kant om Loki leker med dem. Vi lar dem se oss, og ser at vi ikke betyr noen skade." (They will be on edge if Loki has been playing with them. We let them see us, and see that we mean no harm.)
"Da De sier, min herre." (As you say, my lord.) Astrid bowed her head. They waited in silence and stillness except for the occasional movement of the horses and the rustle of Astrid's wings.
~*~*~*~
Nyx woke up, and stretched. Something had changed. She got up out of bed quietly, trying not to disturb Logan as she drew on some clothes. She headed out, and she nodded to herself as she saw the two figures standing in the early morning mist. A tall, broadshouldered man in furs and armour, sitting astride an eight legged horse, and a blonde woman in much the same cosume, on a white pegasus mare, her own wings gently beating. Logan came up beside her.
"What are they doing?"
"They're being polite, and they're waiting for us to see that they are real, and not creatures of the mist."
"You know them?"
"Well, I know Sigurd." Nyx looked hard at the blonde woman with him. "I don't know the girl. Odin gave Sigurd Slepnir? They must take Cain very seriously..." She shook her head. "Sigurd! Er at De?" (Is that you?)
"Hvem spør?" (Who asks?) Sigurd called back, deep voice booming.
"Det er meg, Deres svart katt." (It's me, your black cat.)
"Elsker?" (Lover?)
"En og det samme, Sigurd. Mottakelse!" (One and the same, Sigurd. Welcome!)
"Katt! Det vært hva, hundre år?" (It's been what, a hundred years?) Sigurd laughed as Slepnir walked forward slowly, and Nyx opened the gates.
"Elsker?" Astrid asked Sigurd quietly.
"Det er over nå, min pike. Hun er en gammel, gammel venn." (It's over now, my girl. She is an old, old friend.) Sigurd dismounted Slepnir and caught Nyx up in a bone crushing hug. "Vi manglet De i Valhalla." (We missed you in Valhalla.)
"Sigurd! Jeg puster av og til!" (I do need to breathe sometimes!) Nyx gasped out and he put her down again, the two of them laughing. "Jeg manglet De også, bjørn." (I missed you too, bear.)
"Katt, Dette er Astrid. Hun er spesiell til meg." (This is Astrid. She is special to me.) He beckoned Astrid forward, and the girl dismounted.
"Jeg er Astrid, eller Valkyrie." (I am Astrid, or Valkyrie.) Astrid looked at Nyx coldly, then shook her offered hand. "You are not human, but neither am I. My mother was a mutant, and my father was an alien. You are a cat?"
"You bet, sweetie."
"I thought so..." Feline, know me.
"Oh, and aren't you the clever girl? Picked yourself a good one here, Sigurd."
"Ay, I know." Sigurd smiled proudly. His English was heavily accented. "She is smart, no? I be proud of my charge."
"And this is Logan." Logan stepped forward. Sigurd looked him over.
"He is yours, cat?"
"Mine."
"Then he had better take good care of you, or I will scatter his body to Odin's ravens."
"He'd say the same to you."
"Ja, I know. You get your claws in tight, cat. My brother then." Sigurd clapped Logan on the back, and looked impressed when Logan stayed upright. "He is stronger then he looks." Astrod was whispering to the horses, and she looked up.
"Jeg lar henne dra." (I will let her go.)
"She's your horse."
"I can find another when we need to return." Astrid took her things off the pegasus's back. The horse nuzzled her shoulder.
Call for me on the wind, and I will return.
Thank you, sister. The mare leapt into the sky, and her fading neigh hung on the air for a moment. Astrid shaded her eyes and looked into the sky after her.
"Come in, come in. And we'll find you something to eat. I'm sure you're starving." Nyx took Sigurd's hand and the blond man laughed.
"We have come from the Northlands this night, and we did not pause. Ja, you could say that."
"So, come in and have something to eat!"
"Astrid! Komm!" Sigurd followed Nyx and Logan, but Astrid stayed outside for a moment longer, looking upwards to where the mare had flown. Slepnir snorted, and she led him to where she could feel other horses.
"Jeg ser etter Slepnir, og da kommer I." (I will look after Slepnir, and then I will come.)
"God ide." Sigurd nodded and started talking to Nyx, exchanging news of what had happened since they last saw each other. Astrid sat iside the stables, and then roused herself to her tasks. Tears rolled down her face slowly as she took Slepnir's saddle off and started to comb his coat and fed and watered him.
I don't understand you two. Slepnir sighed. You see him and your heart leaps. He leaves and you cry. Why don't you tell him?
"Jeg kan aldri. Han ser meg som litt pike." (I could never. He sees me as a little girl.) She buried her face in his flank and he snorted.
You twoleggers are stupid sometimes.
Logan didn't stop glaring at Sigurd. He couldn't help it. But when Sigurd patted Nyx familarily on the ass, he growled. "Watch it, bub."
"Cool it, Logan. We have history."
"Und such a long history it be, ja?" Sigurd grinned. "Thor still swears he never met a woman so strong."
"How is he? All of them?"
"Vell, fine. They be very concerned though. Thor hast threatened to kill Loki now, but we know we cannot touch him." Sigurd shrugged. "It is the will of the Norns. Ragnorak comes. Who are even gods to stop it?"
"We'll put it as far off as possible though."
"Come, Katt, it is always a good day to die!" Sigurd laughed.
"Crazy Northlander." Nyx smiled fondly.
"Ja, I am touched by the gods. Could I be utherwise?"
"So, what's your story?"
"Vell, I be called Sigurd, or Kriger-Llys. I be Odin's Warrior. He gives me power, and I call on him for aid vhen I need it." Sigurd unslung the sword and axe, leaning them against a wall. "I be safe here, ja?"
"I've wards up. If Cain comes, we will know."
"Und, Katt, I vant to meet the one of Janusz. We of the gods must stay together, no? She ist mine little sister, in a vay. I would like to talk with her."
"If she wants to talk to you, she will."
"Hast you met the new one, yet? Freya wast most displeased."
"Freya always was the jealous type."
"Ja, and Sif be that too."
"Willow is nice. You'd like her."
"The Aesir are uneasy. More so then I've ever seen them." Sigurd looked at Nyx solemnly. "Even the gods end in time, and the Norns are not being forthcoming."
"Crazy, the three of them are completely nuts."
"Ja, true. Ah vell, Astrid casts the Runes. She has seen naught."
Ducky
Ducky saw the winged horses, and went flying down to see if she was right.
"Astrid! It's so good to see you again!" she said to the other girl
Astrid
Astrid looked up, startled and wiping her tears away hurriedly. "Daphne? I didn't know you were here. How are you?" She patted Slepnir's flank as the horse snorted and stamped his hoof. "Ro, hest." (Quiet, horse.) HE shook his head, whickering.
Where is Sigurd? Who is this girl child who smells like a bird?
Sigurd is with the cat. This is a friend of mine, Daphne. "Don't mind Slepnir. He's overprotective."
Ducky
"Oh, how beautiful he is. WE could almost be family," Ducky said, smiling.
Astrid
At least she has good taste. Astrid laughed at that, and ruffled his ears.
"So, why are you here, Daphne? I have come with Sigurd on Aesir's business. Loki is up to his tricks again, and in we come, swords out and magic blazing. He has taken a mortal under his wing, and we muxt fight. It is as always, no?"
Ducky
"Yes, always fighting the bad guys. I live here. Poachers killed my flock, and the professor welcomed me here. My boyfriend lives nearby, so it's all good." Ducky smiled. "He's the reason I didn't migrate this year."
Astrid
"I wondered why you didn't appear. I am thankful what I thought might be true was not." Astrid smiled. "Will I get to meet him?"
Ducky
"Oh yes, he is actually here, right now." Ducky pulled her wooden duck call from around her neck and blew it, and at the window, another winged person appeared, and flew down to meet them. He also had a duck call around his neck.
"Astrid, this is my boyfriend, Warren Worthington the Third. War, meet Astrid, she's an old friend of mine."
Astrid
"You have wings!" Astrid exclaimed in surprise, spreading her own slightly before they knocked the sides of the stall and she settled them again. "Daphne, we must go flying some time. I admit to having missed company in the skies." Her eyes darkened. "And Sigurd will be so busy with this cat, he will not have time..."
Warren
"Oh, yes," Warren said, taking her hand and kissing the back of it. "It would be my pleasure to spend the day with two beautiful angels," he grinned.
Astrid
"Thank you for saying that." Astrid smiled at Warren. "I know that I am not, but thank you anyway."
Oh, girl. Why can't you see? Slepnir shook his head, then butted the small of her back, nudging her out of the stall.
"Come and meet Sigurd. He is breaking his fast now, I think, and I must admit to being more then slightly hungry myself. We flew from Norway last night, nary a halt."
Ducky
"Oh Astrid, come into the mansion. We have a big cafeteria, and two of the girls love to cook, and they made several pies and casseroles. They don't do much schoolwork, but they do a lot of housework. They're Amish," Ducky prattled on. "Oh Sister, I've so missed you. Part of me yearned to migrate these past few years, but I have rotts now."
Astrid
"I missed you too." Astrid stepped out of the stall and went to wash her hands. "Sigurd is not one for conversation most often, and the goddesses of the Aesir worry that I steal their men. It is difficult, sometimes." She shrugged as she wiped her hands on her jeans. "I be used to it, though. It is me. Ah, listen to me talk on so. You do not want to hear of my troubles."