Chapter 7

I'll say it, I was just a kid. As much as my sisters didn't want to admit it, we all were…in the eyes of heaven, we were merely children who seemed to lose our way. I now understand that every trial placed on our shoulders, were merely guiding hands. A way to test and strengthen our resolve. I see now, that the laws of heaven are much more complicated than we gave them credit for. They were unknown to us, because we were not the makers of the creeds, we merely uphold them.

My time with my tutors gave me more insight than I care to admit, and, as a tutor myself, I now understand the importance of keeping my mouth shut. A seer's job is not to foretell the future, nor predict outcomes. That is merely an innate skill. Our true power lies within saying not what we desire, but, instead what we must. We have an immense power to see the unseen, and know our actions will influence our students. We know exactly what will happen, and, how it will happen.

That means of course, that occasionally we must lead our pupils astray. They must not learn by what we see, but instead, they must understand by experience.

This is why the heavens might seem cruel, because they even do such a thing. Even though it disregards its own teachings. That is to say, making Belldandy a human, leading Urd down a path of disillusionment, and my own lack of reason for being, was all merely a trial set before us, to make who we are today. Creation preordained it, and its peoples were taken in by the tides, swept into the seas of unknown factors.

I didn't see it before, because back then, I just wasn't smart enough to do the math. My sisters and I were merely the variables to our own equations…our friends and family members merely pawns. We used them to play and live out our own stories.

As the seer's gospel speaks;

There is no true evil to find deliverance from, but rather, doubt that clouds judgment and forthrightness. There is no greater good within creation, because to claim to be king of all, will lead into the ruins of none. Creation, and its peoples, are one single entity. One body and soul that must be protected and preserved, as it was intended. Each individual is merely a nothingness that builds everything, by birthing newness into the old. We invent, and we create, because we are the creation that we so value. To the creation we accept that its power is unknown, and we offer our complete highest praise. Together, as one, we make the higher powers that be, unified in our voices that echo through the eons. When everything harmonizes as one within the individual souls, we are remade in creation's image.

Thus is the way of creation.

Skuld, the book keeper. Norn of the future. Goddess first class, specialization foresight, unlimited license.

"I still don't understand why I have to do this…" Skuld muttered, sitting at the table across form her sister, refusing to go to the heavens. She received her second notice and had tried to hide it under her futon. Scrunched in the mattress, Belldandy had found it while doing the cleaning. "Can't I wait for a different goddess to summon me?" Skuld asked as Belldandy sighed.

"Skuld, you need to learn how to commune with your angel. Before you do anything else, it is a major priority." Belldandy explained as she rested her aching head in her palm, truth be told, she wasn't feeling well. "Aphrodite is a wonderful tutor in that respect. I can't force you to go, but I would implore that you do. It is for the best."

"Maybe in a few years." Skuld shrugged. "I just don't want to deal with her right now."

"Skuld, if you don't talk to Aphrodite, you won't grow strong." Belldandy couldn't exactly pinpoint a complaint, but she was feeling off, and with a soft sigh, she excused herself from the table, feeling the need to go hide in the bathroom. Belldandy knew mortal women sometimes suffered during menstruation, but she hadn't accounted for just how much.

For the first time in her life, she was actually thankful that Urd liked to concoct some of the most seemingly inane potions known to the heavens, because one of them worked well as an effective painkiller…now if she could only do something about the bloated feeling in her gut, she'd be much better off. Running cold water into the sink, she splashed it onto her face before a knock came three times, Urd's signature one at that.

"You feeling okay?" The eldest sister asked, looking on in concern. Her sister seemed rather ill, even if that wasn't entirely the case. "I can always mix something else up, if you'd like."

Belldandy declined. "I wish it were that easy, but according to the history lessons of old, it's meant to be this way."

"Who told you that tripe?" Urd groused, crossing her arms and leaning on the doorframe.

"Urd, I'm fine, really." Belldandy said as she dried off her face and meandered into the kitchen for some iced tea, Urd seeming to follow suit. "To be honest, I'm more concerned about Skuld refusing to go to heaven."

"I thought about that…" Urd nodded. "What is it now, her second one?"

"Her first from the war administration, a request from Lind to try out in the recruitment program…it was her second notice from Aphrodite." Belldandy explained, none too happy about her younger sister's desire to go against the whims of her tutors. They would mean the young goddess no harm, and open her eyes to a much greater creation than Skuld would ever deem possible. "Perhaps you should give Frigga a call, maybe she can convince Skuld to go up."

"No need, I've already asked Aphrodite to come here." Urd said then, sipping on her tea conspiratorially. "What is it about my little sisters trying to avoid Aphrodite? Is the big bad goddess really so terrifying?" Urd chuckled.

"She isn't that bad." Belldandy said with a shake of her head. "Yet, she is an intimidation, I'll give her that."

"Especially to a young goddess who'd never thought she'd be sought out by the great goddess of the night." Urd quipped, knowing that Aphrodite was a bit more liberal with her students than some of the others, but she was highly respected and recommended, despite her name. "You warmed up to her, eventually. I think Skuld will too. It'll just take time."

"Do you really think so?" Belldandy asked, seeming more like a worried mother hen, than an older sister.

"If there's one thing about you and Skuld that's the same, it's that you both lean heavily on the side of caution." Urd shrugged, not particularly bothered by it. She knew the youngest of the family could easily fend for herself. "She's just more aggressive about it…but, Aphrodite's an old pro. She'll get Skuld to see things her way."

"When will she be coming by?" Belldandy asked then, wondering when to expect their heavenly visitor.

Urd just shrugged. "Whenever she feels like it, I'm not her keeper."

"You could have just taken Skuld to heaven with you." Belldandy said, giving Urd a searching look.

"I could have, but, Skuld isn't the only one who could use a chat with her old mentor." Urd left it at that, making her way out of the room, before giving her younger sister a sideways glance, pulling a bottle of pills out from what seemed to be thin air. "Oh, and Belldandy…these are made for a woman on the red, give them a try."

Belldandy didn't bother to comment on Urd's need for meddling, but took comfort in it anyway. Even if she did tend to bend the rules, or outright break them, it was normally all for the good of her sisters, at least usually. Instead, she decided to make a shopping list, she would need a few things from the store if she hoped to make a dinner fit for a goddess of the pantheon.

"Trouble in paradise, huh bro?" Megumi laughed as she nursed a beer at the local pub. For the first time in several weeks, she was finally able to pry him from his household chores and his studies. She knew he had to have been having a hard time of things, because quite frankly, he looked frazzled. Tired beyond belief, he couldn't very well keep his eyes open in his morning classes. "Is Belldandy still home sick with the flu?"

He nodded weakly, happy everyone had bought the lie without question, though they were all more than a little worried. It was strange to many, as Belldandy rarely ever took time off of class. "Yeah, she's doing a little bit better, but the headache is killing her, and yesterday, she refused to eat anything." He shrugged away the sense of foreboding and bubbling in his gut. "I'm of no help either. Nothing I can do about it, expect wait things out." He offered, which only caused his sister to take a long swig of her beer in return. "She's been having a rough time of it recently."

They were closer than close, in more ways than one…the kind of siblings that did everything from eating dinner to taking baths together, back when they were still children. They had the same friends, and the same taste in music. He also ended up sharing a room with her, and that meant they never really had any sort of privacy, not even as teenagers. In her youth, she would borrow his shirts and his pajamas, and he often wondered if her tomboy nature wasn't something more.

One day, back when they were still in high school, he'd actually asked her about that, which, as he remembered vividly, earned him a good strong punch to the side of his face. Perhaps that was why his sister could so easily read into him, they were more like twins, rather than anything else. They were both mindful of each other, now that they were older, and turned the other cheek, most of the time.

Megumi popped a few nuts into her mouth, just for something to do, and then she considered the way he looked. Bedraggled and as if he had been ran over by a car. "So have you, you look like hell." Megumi said then. She didn't buy his story that it was just a flu. "I don't know what you guys do over there, things get pretty weird sometimes."

"Yeah, well that's family for you." He said, shrugging off her concern. "Belldandy was a package deal, not that I mind." He downed the rest of his beer and put a few bills onto the counter as a tip.

"What self-respecting guy would?" She asked him honestly. He didn't say anything, and merely gave her a clueless look. It forced her to roll her eyes in return. "Just make sure you take care of yourselves." She told him, truly concerned. "If you ever need anything, you should stop by the apartment."

"Don't worry Meg, things are basically normal…maybe they're too normal." He gave her a lopsided smirk. "I think Urd and Skuld are going to have a really big blowout eventually, but that's normal too, so it's no big deal."

"Uh-huh." Megumi nodded, a bit skeptical. "Whatever you say. Just be safe on the way home."

"I don't care what the two of you do, but leave her to me." Aphrodite said as she talked with Urd and Belldandy at the living room table. "I don't want you anywhere near the little lady. She's willful enough, and I can't have her thinking she can shy away from me." She sipped on some tea, and offered Belldandy a reassuring smile. "She isn't going to emulate you, of that, I'm sure."

A distant memory of hiding demurely behind her older sister came to mind. Belldandy remembered quite well how shy she could be as a young goddess, and even though she had spoken to Minerva first and had made a strong bond with the woman, she couldn't avoid Aphrodite forever. Though, it had taken quite a bit of coaxing from her older sister before she even considered coming out from her locked bedroom door. It had been a very trying time for her back then…

As it was around that time that she'd lost her first, and only male tutor…

She shook away the memory, least it take hold and turn unpleasant. "I think this is a little rash." Belldandy finally settled on saying, though she felt completely out of place, her position in this world not lost on her. "I have always been under the impression that a seer would take her first."

"She has problems really communicating with Noble Scarlet." Aphrodite said slowly. "I believe that Hera and several others will become fine tutors for Skuld later, and it's already decided that the seer's will take great joy in training Skuld. However, it's moot if she can't commune properly." It was then that she gave a glance to the locked door, and the tinkering coming from within. "I firmly believe that between Bastet and myself, she will take comfort in our methods."

Belldandy cleared her throat at that. "Not that I'm trying to adamantly disagree, but, it may not be so easy. Skuld's not exactly fond of being reminded of just how young she really is." Belldandy explained a bit shyly. "Add that detail along with the fact that you're both very well-endowed women, who prefer to be scantily clad, and I fear the worst of Skuld."

"Her issues with her own self-image is quite apparent." Bastet agreed, considering that with a fondness that the younger goddesses at the table would never be able to interpret. Aphrodite shared in the good humor though, after a nod from the blood, she continued. "Skuld would benefit deeply from Our training right now. She is a wet clay that needs to be molded. She should find her inner beauty, and flaunt it, because she has a great deal of it."

"Speaking of that, Keiichi is coming home soon." Urd said then, a concern for the mortal man coming to surface. "Don't you two think you should cover up, just a little bit?"

"That's true as well." Belldandy agreed, a tiny blush on her cheeks at that, thinking of what he might say to the sight of the tea room. "He's an oddly prudish specimen, especially when it comes to the male species."

"I'm as covered as I need to be." Bastet replied, though the dress she was wearing started just below her ample breasts, and continued onward, in long flowing silks. Aphrodite's attire was also lacking, as it was merely one of her silken sheets, tied around herself, and it was thin enough to be entirely see through in the afternoon light. It was so thin, in fact, it couldn't even be called a toga.

"Come now, Bastet. We don't want to give the poor boy a heart attack. From what I've heard from little Urd, he'll be petrified as it is, with two strange goddesses loafing about." Thankfully, Aphrodite was the voice of reason. With measured grace, she turned her silken cloth into a fully flowing dress, covering enough of herself to appear tasteful. "There now, if I can wear this, surely you can do something, now can't you?"

"I'm a woman, not to mention a deity, and I certainly don't intend to bow down to a mere mortal's beliefs." Still, she could admit, she'd give the poor man a fright, and settled with amending her form into a large but beautiful black cat…her looming size not unlike that of a panther even if she was a bit more slender. It was how she usually appeared in court, and her golden jewelry contrasted sharply with her pure black coat of fur. "There now, surely this won't startle him."

Belldandy and Urd shared a look, and both nodded in silent agreement, though it was Urd who spoke. "Chances are, he'll freak out even more."

"Well, that can't be helped." The Egyptian goddess replied with a flick of her tail. "If it so helps him, I'll purr really sweetly into his ear and calm the boy."

"Or kill him." Urd smirked. "I can't wait to see that."

"Urd!" Belldandy chastised, looking between the three goddesses, feeling entirely inferior. "Please be careful, Bastet, you know not of Keiichi's fragility. He's a very strong willed man, in several respects, but he's indeed very modest."

"Well then, this should be fun." The catlike goddess replied, stretching out lazily.

Aphrodite just shook her head with a sigh, disregarding her good friend. "Belldandy, if I may have a few words alone with you?" She asked, standing from her place. "Walk with me, if you would."

It was not a request, Belldandy knew the woman better than that. Her tutors were all very commanding in their own way, though, they were cordial and friendly as well. She stood and followed behind Aphrodite, even as the two left in the room prattled on about some new potion that was all the rage in heaven. The mortal could only feel totally and completely awed by Aphrodite, as she was a deity who was praised even by goddesses.

Belldandy dared not speak, waiting to be addressed, as was their usual routine. They walked through the shrine's main entrance and into the wooded area, where Aphrodite came to a halt, leaning on a particularly favored tree. It housed plenty of wildlife. "Belldandy, daughter of Tyr, I fear that Skuld should not be your concern right now. Frankly put, she's of the heavens, and you're simply not. At least, not in your current form."

"I'm still her sister." Belldandy murmured quietly, feeling thoroughly chastised.

"Don't misunderstand me, Bell." Aphrodite told her quietly. "Your mother and father worry for you. Your grandparents pace the halls with unease, because they cannot be here when you need them most." She pushed herself from the tree, taking Belldandy's hands I to her own. "I fully believe this will be an experience that will be good for you, but many believe otherwise. They doubt because you doubt, they feel it so deeply, and they love you too much to watch you suffer."

"Mortals doubt." Belldandy said quietly. "I have never felt so conflicted in all of my life. So full of happiness, and so full of fear." She turned away, unable to look such a heavenly being in the eyes with such confessions, wondering how on earth Keiichi could do that for so long, knowing what he knew. "I've never felt so inept in all of my life. Never have I ever felt so utterly worthless, as I feel that I am in this form."

"Indeed." Aphrodite agreed. "If I may be so bold, I'm sure you know that once, it was acceptable for goddesses to bed down with mortals." Then, she stifled a laugh. "Well, perhaps not acceptable, but neither the judgment gate, nor the doublet system had been introduced…so, we were free to frolic with whom we wished." Such a thing amused her now. "Needless to say, I shared such lovely times with mortals. They have a particular charm about them, you know."

"I didn't realize." Belldandy remarked, surprised that Aphrodite was so forthcoming about the taboo of the past. "You with a mortal man? Most gods stutter over you, I doubt a mortal could even bespeak your name without blushing if they gaze upon the form in which you take." Truth be told, even Belldandy found Aphrodite a sight to behold, even if she wasn't inclined to the fairer sex. "Even I am humbled by you, despite my reserved inaction to your siren's call."

Aphrodite was simply that breathtakingly beautiful, her voice a purity laced with a wealth of deep passion. Her personality was as comforting and as whimsical as the sea itself, gentle, but oh so very deadly when horribly scorned. "Oh, but my dear, I have tall tales of my exploits." Aphrodite became distant then, a warmth in her eyes as she recalled a now far away past. "Anchises was a herder of sheep. The member of a junior branch family, to the royal family at the time." She said, the lilt in her voice gifting only fondness. "He was a sire of Aeneas. It was my vanity that so enamored me to bear Anchises a son, but it was that selfsame urge that the heavens found strange." Aphrodite explained. "Though I myself have never been mortal, Belldandy, I understand their plights well…as I had to do so for the sake of the mortals I birthed."

"Was your son not half god?" Belldandy asked.

"Even half mortals are much more a mortal than a god, child." Aphrodite replied. "Why, merely look at Zeus's boy, Hercules, for another example." It was rare to see half beings anymore, so she didn't fault Belldandy for her lack in understanding. As much of the stories foretold, they were not within Belldandy's grasp. "Half mortals don't have the same power at their disposal, and, must work much harder to utilize what little they have. It by no means makes them weak, but, it also offers very little in the way of comfort."

"Well, I must admit, I've found no solace in recent days." Belldandy said sadly, feeling as if now may be her only chance to glean insight from this woman. "I feel so confused, as this form doesn't allow me to understand the greatness of the world. I can't be one with it, as I used to be."

"I tend to think you'll struggle in such ways." As goddess, she was an expert at guiding the youth, but, she knew nothing of human difficulties, not really. Yet she accepted their trials all the same. "You are so powerful, because of the love you have for others, and the love that is bestowed onto you in return. I believe that power can manifest in a human soul as well. Maybe not as magic, but as something equally powerful."

"Maybe, knowing Keiichi the way that I do, I wouldn't doubt it." She said then softly, feeling so overwhelmed. "There are so many complications here, so many things I didn't put into perspective." Tears that she had no explanation for began to fall gently from her eyes, and she breathed a shaky breath. "Look at me, being reduced to this. Yet, even as I am, I fail to regret it. Doesn't that make me so horrible, that I would choose one man, over all of creation?"

"This reminds me of a conversation from long ago." Aphrodite replied wistfully. "When you were selected to receive tutoring, you were much younger than the usual candidates. You were not yet ready to be off the hip in many respects, and yet, Odin pushed for Tyr to insist you begin your tutelage, even before Urd began hers." It made her chuckle fondly. "Oh, the uproar that caused was nothing short of astounding. I remember that, because, there was a high ranking, yet young god, who'd never taken a student. He insisted that he could turn you into fine, upstanding goddess. Many seemed hesitant to train you at that time."

"How so?" Belldandy wondered, thinking that maybe she and Urd weren't so different…yet, Aphrodite's distant gaze confused her.

"Well, Celestine had many ideals that we as council didn't agree with, but he was right about one thing." Aphrodite laughed. "You were then, and always have been, a gentle soul. You've always been very quick to feel the emotions well up from deep inside." She took Belldandy into her arms, a motherly gesture and little more. "He would report that you were always so quick to cry, and he feared greatly for you…that you would see an unjust world, and be broken by such a sight." Seeing Belldandy as a young woman, albeit human now, seemed little more than amusing. "You would have surprised him. Oh little Belldandy, if only he could see you, as you are now."

To be reminded of her youth, to be called that name, to be told she was still a child in the grand universe, gave her an immense comfort she couldn't voice. She was still little more than a young soul of creation, she had eons yet to grow. Belldandy was merely old enough now to feel a deep, romantic love, but her mind still had so much to reach for, so much to glean insight from.

To begin to understand what this woman spoke of during her lessons, it had driven Belldandy nearly insane, but she felt warmth as a human. A happiness within, that cradled fear, and even if the action felt out of place, she wrapped her arms around Aphrodite, weeping into her shoulder. It was nice, to at least receive some form of blessing.

Home, if it could be called that, was full of ruckus when Keiichi returned. He'd no sooner as he stepped foot into the shrine, as he was being ushered right back out again.

"She wants us to get out, so we're getting out before she beats us over the head with that damn broom." Urd said as she pushed Keiichi out of the front door, bags packed, and slung over him haphazardly. "Besides, the hotel has an indoor pool and room service, I'm not passing that up. You two even get your own room, so don't bitch."

"I-I'm not complaining." He said then, still confused by the events, though he was used to inexplicable things by this point in his life. "I don't think anyone would pass up a free place to kick back and relax, but, shouldn't Skuld be going with us?"

"It's a goddess thing, and you aren't the only one who doesn't belong here right now." She gave her sister a saddened look, then shoved Keiichi again for good measure. "Now go on ahead and get out of here. I'll be coming with you guys once I'm sure Skuld isn't going to blow a gasket."

"Out!" Aphrodite replied to the eldest Norn, broom in hand as she batted the young one ones away. "I said everyone Urd, and I mean it, scoot." She implored, with a sigh, as if she was a mother hen chasing off her little chicks. "Go on, skedaddle!"

"You heard the woman." Bastet replied from her place on the roof, still in the form of a huge and deadly black cat. "She's not even letting me in the house, and I'm one of the tutors that Skuld's to be taking lessons from."

"For the last time, you are too forthcoming." Aphrodite said with her hands on her hips, as her weapon of choice floated indignantly beside her. "That attitude may work well with Hild and Peorth, but it won't do the slightest bit of good with Skuld."

"You say that, but Anzasu was just as difficult. Arguably, more so, considering how often we would catch her playing around with Hild." Bastet replied, not particularly minding one way or the other, since she knew Aphrodite always insisted to have her own way about things. It was simply easier to go with the flow. "She is her mother's daughter, and as I recall, Anzasu was strictly my student, not yours."

"It may just come to that yet." Aphrodite replied. "And if it does, we'll do things your way, but I don't believe that's the case." She turned to those she proclaimed to be children, and offered them a smile. "Now listen, we've been looking after your family ever since Odin's firstborn, and creation knows we used to pamper both of your mother's behinds when they were little. Truth be told, I think I have more than enough stories of infant demons to last me for the rest of my days."

Bastet agreed dryly. "She's right you know…and that says nothing about you two." She said, giving Urd a pointed glance. "You are indeed your mother's child though you so utterly refuse it." She said with a shake of her head. "We can handle Skuld." She flicked her tail again. "Go, and worry not. Trust us, and we will do right by Skuld, and by you. I promise."

The group left, of course…but it was much less because of Bastet's insistence, and more due to the fact that Aphrodite was all too willing to beat them in the butt with her broom, should they disobey.