Chapter 28 – The Silver Palace
"You must be guided by me to reach Asgard, it is not strictly of your world. I can walk from world to world, but you cannot. That is one way we tell who is a major God. Most of my people can walk between worlds. Most minor Gods cannot. A few Witches can do this and once in legend a Wizard did also. What we are about to do is like what you call side-along Apparation. You all link hands with me in a giant chain, then you just walk along with me across an open space, and suddenly you feel just a shiver passing through yourself and you are in the world of Asgard.
To travel to another world is hazardous. You cannot easily return to your own world. This has happened in the past. A Witch managed to stumble into Asgard, didn't know how she did it, and was unable to return until a kind God, that would be me, walked her home. Now we just start to walk across this cavern and… did you feel it? Yes! You are now in Asgard. This cavern in Asgard greatly resembles the cavern you came from but look behind you – there is no circle here."
I didn't even need to look behind me. My sense of smell is extremely sensitive and as soon as I felt the shiver rippling through my body, I could tell by the change in smell that we had crossed to a different place. I don't know how, but this new cavern had just slight undertones of dank/earthy, but mainly smelled of tree resin and roses.
"Oh shit!" I must have said it aloud, because a lot of heads turned my way, including that of Odin, who stopped and turned to face me with a questioning expression."
"Sorry. I can't believe I said that out loud. I always contact my husband, so that he can alert all our Keepers, when we finish a significant stage of work, meet someone not even half as important as you, or move to a new location. I failed to pass on word of all three. I just got caught up in meeting you and finishing work on the ring of calcite crystals."
"Ah, I thought something immediately awful was about to happen. We can go through the tunnel to this world's version of your Reception Hall chamber. The twin of the white column is located there, and I suspect that you can use it to contact your husband. I use the two white columns to communicate between the two worlds."
He led us to a heavy metal door made of something that didn't look like the portal doors I was used to. This door did not slide into the ground. It was more like the door into the throne room of Castle Weasley. When Odin touched his spear tip to the centre of the door, there was a loud click and he was able to pull the door open. He must be very strong. The door was about eight feet high and four feet wide. The startling measurement was the thickness of over five inches. I knew that I couldn't access the white column by this path. Of course, I also undoubtedly lacked the ability to unlock the door. Like the door at Castle Weasley, it might not even be visible to those not traveling with Odin or carrying one of his accoutrements, like the spear he had just used.
Odin led us through a wide and quite long tunnel into a less elegant reception hall than the one in our world. It did not have polished walls and ceiling and it was less than half the size of the Durmstrang Reception Hall. I thought the ceiling here was a little higher, at least the white column only came up to within two feet of the ceiling. It was bare. Odin feared no damage to it within his domain.
"Sit with your back and head against the white column and try to make contact with your world," Odin suggested.
I did that, also sliding my ring onto my wand and reaching back to touch the column. I concentrated and whispered to Harry. It worked, just as it would have had I been sitting in the Durmstrang Reception Hall. I gave Harry a quick report, told him I still loved him – phrased better than that – and said I would contact him through the Black Stone. That also worked. The Stone was pleased to hear from me and told me that I should test all my powers in Asgard. Being able to do magic required that I be able to tie into the lines of magical force here, which were not powered by crystal circles. The Black Stone told me that, for now, it was best to commune with the Asgard White Column, since it seemed to emanate great magical power.
I broke contact with the Black Stone and tried to talk directly to the white column. I got no response back. I tried to draw on its power. I think that did work, at least a little. As I stood up and walked back to the rest of the group, I tried to continue drawing power from the column. It was still working, although I was less than thirty feet away from the column, so it wasn't a very practical test. I marked my spot, in case I needed to Apparate back to this cavern.
"Thank you for giving me the time to do that," I told Odin. "Harry worries when I just disappear, and he doesn't hear from me for over a day."
"Not a problem. I am happy to ease your family problems, but this was also a test of your abilities. Very few Mothers have been able to do what you just did. I also sense that you have been able to draw magical power from the White Column. That ability is more common among the Mothers I've tested, but half can't do that. A Witch who is truly gifted in magic can create magic in many strange environments. I have another test for you and then a quick test for your Muse and friends."
He walked to the far corner of the cavern, returning with a silver ingot. He placed it on the floor five feet in front of me. "What your people call 'Leviosum', if you please. You could do this on your home world. Can you do it on mine?"
I pointed my wand at the ingot as I focused upon the White Column, drawing what power I could from it. I managed to lift the ingot to the level of my waist, before losing control and dropping it.
"Very good for a first try. Now, Muse, what can you do? First try to talk through White Column."
Hermione reported that she was able to contact the Black Stone. She lifted the ingot to about ankle height, before losing it in such an awkward manner that she fell back onto her bottom.
Most of the rest of my team didn't do very well. Only Cissy managed to contact the Black Stone, but she then only managed to just barely shift the ingot's position. Catta lifted the ingot to the height of her shoulders and launched it several feet farther away from her. Mafalda got the ingot to knee level and decided to lower it gracefully from that height. Cho managed to lift it about an inch. That was it. We weren't nearly as strong as on our home world. This made me wonder whether the reported absence of magic on Elf World and Centaur World was correct or if it was merely a different flavour of magic. Perhaps we all functioned best in the magical environment in which we were raised.
"You all must be tired and hungry. Let me lead you to Valaskjalf, where a fine feast has been prepared in your honour and where very comfortable beds await you," Odin tossed at us, before walking briskly to a fairly wide set of stone stairs at the end of the cavern.
We traversed five turnings and two hundred and twenty steps before arriving at another door, which Odin opened as he had the last one.
We stepped through the door into a gleaming palace. It was all silver with large crystal windows in the ceiling as well as the walls. Perhaps it was glass, as Hermione suggested. The expanses were very big for crystal. As soon as he passed through the entrance, Odin strode in commanding fashion to a large silver throne-chair on a raised dais facing the corner where two long window-walls came together. As soon as he sat upon the furs covering his throne, two ravens landed, one on each shoulder, and started chattering non-stop into his ears.
I followed him toward that corner of the room, being careful not to step upon the short dais or to disturb his concentration upon what his birds were telling him. He had treated me kindly thus far, and I didn't wish to do anything which might provoke his wrath. I also wanted to take advantage to get a good look at his kingdom through all the clear surfaces around me. Everything within my vision was clear crystal. Even the floor I stood upon was clear, allowing me to look down the length of a cliff at a waterfall plunging into a ravine hundreds of feet beneath my feet. Before me and to my sides I saw the far side of the ravine. Strange trees grew from it, grassland and farm field in the middle distance, cut by a second stream, and then mountains beyond that. A closer look told me that the ravine, which as I followed it off to my right side was still going down, as far as I could see, as well as all the flat trees, were the bottom of a large bowl, surrounded by mountains on all sides. They seemed to be very high mountains, as confirmed by a look behind and above me. The steep mountainside continued for another hundred or more feet above me.
There was sky, with clouds and a bright sun. The clouds were moving, and birds were crossing the sky in a way that told me I was looking at actual sky, not the magical faux sky of the Hogwarts Great Hall.
On closer inspection, I realised that there were two good-sized mirrors at waist to floor level and right in the corner of the room. They blocked my view of the outside. There were moving scenes in each of these mirrors, from two different places. As I looked at Odin, hoping that he was ready to speak to me, I noticed three smaller mirrors on the floor in front of him. I saw movement in them but could not discern any detail.
I felt a hand on my arm and looked over to see Hermione. She whispered in my ear "I've never been in a place that shouts 'power' half as much as this room does. We were brought here to be impressed. I confess that I am… very impressed."
"As well you should be," Odin turned to speak to us. I designed this room myself. It allows me to keep watch over my kingdom, on the many worlds which hold portions of my kingdom. You wonder whether you look through glass or crystal. It is neither. It is a very strong and very pure magical barrier. The ceiling may look fragile, but I assure you that every other month, when a large rock comes bounding down the cliff, it merely bounces off my magical ceiling – no harm done. I didn't bring you here to awe you with my power and riches. I needed to check up on things after being away for too long. All is well. I will tell you of some of your foes, while we dine.
He looked at the rest of my team, huddled around the entrance from the stairs and gave them a beaming smile and an overly-expansive welcoming wave "do not be shy, you are welcome to come forward and share my view. Just please don't sit upon my throne, that would confuse my birds. Please come have a look, I don't bite."
With varying degrees of boldness, all my team eventually came all the way up to the windows to enjoy the view. It relaxed them as quickly as it had relaxed me. There is something about spending days underground, which makes the soul cry out for just a brief glimpse of sky and green countryside. This Quest had given me a visceral sense of how burdened the Goblins were by their life underground. No wonder Ruppasta's supporters had been willing to revolt. From there I shifted to less generous thoughts of how cruel Cotto and Firenze had been to try to enforce rules upon me and my team which would have forced us underground for many months, without even a brief break to stare at a star or breathe fresh air on the surface, even at night. That, as much as being ripped from our loved ones, just struck me as pure nasty. Yes, I was still more than a little angry at that pair. I could be more forgiving of King Gobbledegook. For him, living underground was simply natural. His work world being totally separate from the world where Goblin females lived was also natural. I don't think he could even understand how cruel his Quest rules had been.
I noticed that Odin was already leading us to our dinner and hastened to catch up with him. He was obviously headed toward the wide stairs at the end of the room. These were not at all like the stair which had brought us into this room. There was no door barring the way, the stairs were silver, with little bumps to improve our footing, and the stairway was brightly lit. Also, it was only fifty steps, taken in one straight path.
The stairs disgorged into a room which was very much the size and shape of Hogwarts' Great Hall. The wall to my left was all the same sort of clear magical barrier we had seen in the room below. The other walls and the floor were silver. Most of the ceiling was silver. Just at the end quarter of the room, next to the open wall was the ceiling transparent. There was a long silver table set almost against the clear wall. Odin led us to the table, pointing as we went to a smaller stand-up table for Pegasus and Cantring. Aagog looked around for her spot, but Odin told her that she must sit at table.
A tall elegant Goddess approached us. She looked very much like Professor Celine. Odin introduced her to us as 'my companion Frijjo'. Hermione had apparently heard of Frijjo and looked puzzled but said nothing. Odin answered the question she hadn't asked.
"Yes, Frijjo has been my companion for twelve millennia. A major God or Goddess can appear to be whatever age they choose. That's another way you can identify a major God or Goddess. My apologies to my good friends Brighid and the Cailleach, but a major Goddess neither ages nor has her appearance chained to the march of the seasons. Frijjo often chooses to be quite young. I prefer a more mature appearance for myself. It is only fair. If I paraded around looking as young as my darling companion, others wouldn't always show me the proper respect and I would be forced to display more wrath than is my wont."
Okay, then. Frijjo sat at the end of the table next to the window as Odin sat at the opposite end and positioned me at his right hand. I expected him to choose Hermione to sit on his left, but he motioned her to sit at my other side and asked Professor Celine to sit next to him. This didn't seem to portend good things. I hoped that Adrienne could keep her Siren charms in check. I had no idea how jealous or how dangerous Frijjo might be. I confess that one reason I had wanted Adrienne Celine on the Quest was to use her influence over Gods, who might otherwise be less than friendly toward us. That was admittedly very unfair to Adrienne. I also hadn't considered the possibility that we would be dining with both a God and his all-but-wife. Now I needed Adrienne to be in her colder Professor Celine guise. I was grateful that she had assumed that role and even more grateful that Odin first turned his attention to Hermione.
Food and drink, borne by Goblin waiters, appeared as soon as we sat down. The Goblins here were a little taller than our Goblins. Goblin kings were unusually tall, but the shortest of our waiters was taller than either King Gobbledegook or Goblanze.
Odin seemed to prefer fruity sauces with lots of cinnamon and other spices. Some of the sauces were predominantly sweet, but with the pungency of spice. Others were very pungent, even hot, without a hint of sweetness. The sauces were paired with roasted game – boar and bird, as well as with a host of vegetables. There was a golden bread, with butter and jam available. There was plain fruit. There were four wines to choose among. There was fruit juice, or there was water – I was going to say plain water, but this was water with attitude - it had a sulphur taste and a bit of an odour. I found it mildly unpleasant, but Odin downed two glasses of the stuff. I felt that I had no choice but to finish my water.
Odin had eaten and drunk a fair amount and now it apparently was time for discourse. "The ravens bring me news of your world. Yes, they can cross between our worlds. I was telling Hermione that she has a very worthy animal companion. I would expect the Mother to have something more formidable than an owl. I have a young raven, whom I would be happy to gift you. It speaks and will learn your language quickly enough. A successful Mother can make good use of a feathered spy."
"Thank you very much, I can see how a raven spy could be of great use. The birds also seem very intelligent."
"They are. I think they are smarter than some of your kind, at least they make fewer mistakes. Don't be offended. There are sharp Wizards and there are dull Wizards, just as there are sharp and dull of most creatures. These ravens are enchanted. They draw upon brains larger than their own."
"Oh, what brains do they draw upon? Must I train them to do so?"
"Yes, you must, for yours is one of the brains upon which your raven should draw. At present, it draws upon mine. Through the White Column in can draw upon the factual knowledge stored in your Black Stone. The Black Stone can't independently gather knowledge, but it has a great ability to store and regurgitate it. It gains knowledge when you commune with it. Your senses become its senses, only delayed in time. It is the same with my ravens. They tell the Black Stone what they see. Ravens have done this for millennia. The Black Stone can give quite detailed, if sometimes out of date, air maps to my ravens, before they set out to spy for me. I can give you your bird after dinner, if you wish to start training it. I believe it will also be able to exchange thoughts with your owl and Hermione's phoenix, as well as Adrienne's phoenix."
I told Odin that I was most interested in beginning the training of the raven, while I had his experience to draw upon. I explained the ownership of the second phoenix. That seemed to lower Odin's opinion of Professor Celine. He didn't demand that she get up and move farther down the table, but neither did he speak to her again and at our next meal, she did sit next to his wife. For now, his focus was upon Hermione and me.
"I'm sure you want to know what my ravens tell me. They know where the remnant of your Salazar Slytherin is hiding. He hides in a country known as Albania in your world. Two very minor Gods, Cadmus and Medaurus, protect him. They are minor Gods from a relatively minor tribe. Cadmus was a human who was elevated above his station three millennia ago. Albania was a part of his and his son's territory, so it's only natural that he hides your Slytherin in that spot. Cadmus and Medaurus are not without power, but I think a powerful group of Witches, especially one with Brighid, the Cailleach, and Scathach fighting with them, can easily best them. Cadmus is on the level of your Little Ba'al or Scathach and Medaurus is no better than Brighid. Neither of them would stand a chance against the Cailleach in single combat.
"My ravens also tell me that there are little basilisks maturing in the sewers of Hogwarts. Their venom will soon be deadly. Some have made it into your lake and been devoured by the mer-people."
"That's amazing! How could your ravens learn of things at Hogwarts that our Keepers are not aware of?"
"Perhaps your Keepers have learned of this, since you spoke to your Harry. They were very young basilisks. Perhaps the mer-people thought them eels or are not at all frightened of tiny basilisks. You must ask Harry."
"Can the ravens fly into Hogwarts?"
"They most certainly can. A bird which can fly between worlds is not troubled by the barriers around Hogwarts. Just as those barriers aren't tuned to stop Elf-magic, they have no impact upon the magic of this world. They can enter Hogwarts as easily as you or I can."
Okay, I suppose that made sense.
After a dessert, which Hermione said was very similar to baklava and might be baklava made from the honey of bees who feasted on very different flowers than the bees of our world, Odin decided to confide some more about our Quest assignment.
"You probably want to know how you must be of service to me to advance on your Quest with my assistance. To start with the very mundane, you must repair the concealment of the White Column, which you so impertinently stripped away. I know you meant no harm, and I don't blame you, but breaking things in other people's homes is frowned upon. You thought the support pillar was in Cho's home, and in a sense, it was, but in a larger sense it is part of my kingdom. Don't worry – you are freely forgiven.
"Your big assignment is to bring Sigrun to me. That means you must travel to Beyond World. We will discuss how you might achieve that, when we meet again for our morning meal. For now, I am quite aware that you are very tired. Frijjo will show you to your beds."
Frijjo motioned to Cantring and Pegasus that they must wait behind and led the rest of us to a narrow, circular silver staircase ascending from the far end of the eating chamber. We followed her single file up a level and into a curved corridor. Although we left the circular stairs, the stairs continued up at least another level. Frijjo provided the answer to my question.
"We are very near the top of mountain. Odin and I sleep one level up, at top of mountain. We all have very nice views."
Frijjo dropped us off in our rooms, where we were evidently expected to sleep in pairs. Hermione and I were shown into the first room. There wasn't a door to the room, just a row of strings of hanging amber beads, which apparently marked the location of a weak magical barrier. Frijjo instructed us to just push our way in with our shoulders. She left us with the cryptic instruction "the room will tell you when it is time to rise and when it is time to come downstairs to eat." She left us with a warning "Odin does not like guests who wander in the night. Be sure to stay in your room, until it tells you that you may leave."
Before I could reply, she was gone. We were expected to figure out the room ourselves. The summons to rise and to eat must be unmistakable.
