Chapter 1:

He has always had favorites, places his gaze travelled to in times of tranquility. The people of Asgard called them The Nayden or The Found. He had many Nayden, Ungar, a distant star that to him seemed to dance and shimmer with some secret merriment; some hidden mirth shining brightly from within its eyes. Or Hin a planet made up entirely of crystal clear water, it's shimmering waves a clash of reflected light from the planets sun. Thousands of oddities from thousands of different galaxies, all his at a glance. Heimdall was always a man of few words, speaking only when necessary. Because when so much beauty lay before a single man why stifle it with unnecessary words?

One favorite though he had watched for a little more than two decades. He had come to know it by the name of Avila or Ava.

Heimdall was drawn by a wing beat while glancing over earths oceans to compare them to Hin's. Shifting his gaze he glimpsed her for the first time that he had remembered. She was hovering just off the shore over the dark waters of the Pacific Ocean. Her giant blue wings catching the wind currents off the water and kept herself aloft. Her blue scales gave a dull shine in the grey morning light shining through the thick stormy clouds that stirred the water below with its presence. Pale blue horns curved from her skull just behind and above her ears slits. Yellow silted eyes calmly watched the rise and fall of the growing waves some even reaching up to touch her clawed feet. Her tail writhed slowly behind her, showing her irritation without words.

Seeing her like that, in that dark churning background filled him with stimulating emotion that he bathed in for a few moments before he turned to check on another planet. But he came back time and time again to find the strange girl that captured his subconscious and danced in his waking dreams. He watched her as she joined different teams of superheroes searching for a place to belong too, but never able to find the right people. Her body keeping her on the outside looking in.

And this was how it was for twenty two years.

XxXxXxXxX

"What is it that you may need of me my king." Heimdall said as he removed his gaze from the stars, turning around to look at Odin. Lifting his sword he kept it in front of him, resting his large hands on the hilt.

Odin stepped up to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Gatekeeper. Heimdall faced the city, Odin the bifrost and the stars.

"I am weary and seek you to sooth me with your stories of far away places."

"As you wish my King." Heimdall said turning back to the starry galaxies. "What do you wish to hear of?"

"Come Heimdall, every being in Asgard knows that you have favorites." Odin chuckled

"Yes, my King." Heimdall looked to Hin. "Giant waves crash together in never ending battles on Hin. Water so clear the only time one is unable to see the bottom is when the suns reflection is moving on slow water on an unusually gentle day." He turns his eyes to Ungar, "A distant star by the name of Ungar dances in a once dark galaxy. Lighting the whole place with living light, alive as much as the lone wolf called Bonecrusher on Engrim a planet of only forest, giant beast and icy springs. A scaled woman by the name of Avila sits on a couch and concentrates on the pages of a well worn book. The golden planes of -" Heimdall stopped mid sentence, the stream of words freezing as Odin began to speak.

"A female?" Odin now turned his gaze to the taller man. "Whenever I have come to listen to you before no woman has been among those listed." A minuscule smile touching his aging face. But Heimdall's face stayed neutral and he did not remove his gaze from the stars, his tone did not change either.

"My king you know as much as I do that I always look for the rarities in any galaxy and their are none like Avila in a hundred galaxies." Even with out showing it Odin spotted the unease that Heimdall felt while speaking of Avila to his king.

"Not even in a thousand galaxies?" Odin questioned, his smile growing.

"Not even in a thousand." Heimdall confirmed.

"A million?"

"Nor a million." His voice dropping to a rumble.

Odin gently nodded, turning his gaze to look past the Bifrost with Heimdall. A thoughtful look on his scarred face that Heimdall of course did not miss.

"It is a great sorrow that all of Asgard cannot see what you see, like the seas of Hin or Ungar the merry star." Odin sighed but Heimdall keener than the sharpest of blades saw the meaning in his kings words.

"Some beauty's shouldn't be disturbed, but gazed at from afar." Heimdall said, everything but his eyes tuned in on the King of gods beside him.

"I am not a yelping pup, I know of this." His first words were harsh but after a pause he continued and Heimdall sensed the mischief in his tone. A trait he had given to his sons, as well as a clever tongue. "But some beauty is meant to envelope oneself in and meant to be felt." Odin then turned to the dark gatekeeper his eye alive with his mischief. "I'm sure Thor can find this beauty and usher her to Asgard."

Heimdall bowed his head to his king in defeat and in farewell as he sensed the end of this meeting approaching. "As you wish my king." With a sharp nod Odin mounted his stallion and departed.

XxXxXxXxX

His red cape billowed up behind him, a coy smile shining through his blond beard. His heavy footsteps echoed in the massive halls, with a quiet grunt he pushed open the giant doors to the throne room.

"Ah Thor!" His father laughed as he entered both of them sharing smiles. They both had not forgotten the loss of Loki but with Odin's help and with the fixed Bifrost they could not be anything but happy. But deep down the still mourned the loss of the god of trickery.

"Father!" He shouted and embraced his open armed. "You summoned me?" He grinned at the king.

"Yes, I wish for you to bring a scaled woman by the name of Avila from Midgard to Asgard." Thor's smile shrank a little and his eyes grew confused.

"Why do you ask for this scaled woman?"

Again a mischief sparkled in the elders eye. "Because she is one of Heimdall's Nayden." Odin laughed. Thor's eyes widened and a smirk similar to his fathers spread over his face. After giggling at the two men's whimsy she looked up and said.

"Dear fates take pity on poor Heimdall, not even he can perceive the destruction the combined mischief of Thor and my husband can cause."