Worship of the Gods
"Healing is impossible in loneliness;
it is the opposite of loneliness.
Conviviality is healing.
To be healed we must come with
all the other creatures to the feast of Creation."
Wendell Berry
Chapter Seventeen: Our Gods Are Your Gods
The Next Day
The Shrine of Gods
Ellie knew the sun was a star. She had just never felt it before. The breath-taking difference between a fact and a feeling gave made her heart beat faster.
She had been called to meet Loki Odinson in the Shrine of Gods. It was a circular platform en-route to the palace where the faces of deceased Gods were carved out of gold and surrounded an inner circle. The guards allowed her passage into the shrine, shooting her wounded arm a glance as she entered. Loki stood facing the sun with his hands behind his back.
When she neared, she saw his eyes were closed. He was unimpressed with her that morning. Ellie feared he'd mystically conjure one of the gold heads to topple on her and squash her.
"Being called to attend to your wounds was not on my itinerary this day," he said.
Lowering her over-used rune, Ellie mustered a half-hearted shrug. "Being injured wasn't on mine either."
Wind whistled around them, carrying notes of songbirds and the clanging of Asgardian life. Blusters of leaves dove and fluttered past, carried on the gentle breeze. She smelt warm bread wafting from the royal kitchens and was at peace for the first time in several days. Her gaze slid across the faces of the gods and goddesses. Many looked old, with deep grooves for wrinkles around their mouths. All of their eyes were closed. They too, were at peace.
The sun, only just beginning to rise, painting red over Asgard. In streaks of orange, Loki and Ellie were engulfed in the hues. For once, Loki's steel eyes were soft with sunlight.
"Do it again," Ellie said, pleasure oozing from her. She looked at Loki as he stood, watching the Kingdom waking up. "Please. The pain is going."
A knowing grin crept onto his lips. Snatching up the praise, Loki was silently glad he had been chosen to show Ellie magic. "Once more. I'm not a fairground ride."
"You wish," she snorted. Closing her eyes quickly, she crossed her legs and settled. As the waiting began, it was over. Loki lowered himself to the ground and pressed a finger to Ellie's temple. Electricity pulsed from his skin, travelling through her brain in a millisecond. With a gasp, Ellie was free once more.
She could feel the sun. Its heat didn't burn, it licked her body and wrapped her in sweet starlight. Energy swarmed her and she liked to imagine it was God. Never before had she experienced enlightenment and it was becoming a drug.
In her mind, she stretched her left hand out and envisioned the light streaks of the sun. Like snakes, they curled around her limbs. They slithered up her arms and onto her face, peppering their tongues over Ellie's bruises. The swollen skin felt soothed and began to realign back to normality.
Warmth swam around her neck. Ajun's attack had made her spin spasm with pangs every few minutes. Those lightning bolts stopped, transforming her posture so she could sit straight.
"The runes don't work so well on me," she said. "Because I'm human."
Loki nodded. "Yes. You should be thankful that my Mother's little mice are following your every move."
The Queen Mother's spies were hard to spot. Ellie figured she was being watched several days ago when she saw a sheath cleaner poking her head out of the stable window to watch Ellie enter the feast hall. The same woman was also a barmaid in the Gala Inn.
With a frown, Ellie hummed a response. She tried to focus on her newly healed arm and body. It was refreshing to have one which didn't ache. For some reason, magic always left a sweet taste in her mouth; like a Parma Violet.
She licked her lips and opened her eyes. "Thank you for healing me, my Lord. I'm eternally grateful."
"Wait," Loki said.
"For what? Can I go back now?"
The prince's eyes became slits. She took that as another order to be quiet. After several moments of looking around the empty shrine, she coughed. "Nothing's happening."
"Your observation skills are quite remarkable."
Following his icy gaze across the horizon, Ellie found the sun had nearly risen completely. Its rim kissed the bottom of Asgard's edge. The entire city was basked in heavenly red so even the water was aflame with its glow.
The second sun lifted from its position, pushing its hellish colour back and into a beautiful yellow. A frightening creak of grinding stone echoed around them. Ellie gasped, flinching as the stone faces rose slowly. They took the breath from Ellie's lungs with them. Like magnificent beasts wrapped in gracefulness, they turned mid-air and continued upwards. It made her realise how small she was.
"God," she whispered, her voice dripping in awe. "What is this place?"
Loki tilted his head. "This shrine is meant to give sanctuary to the Aesir."
"I feel like nobody," she said. "I'm nothing at all compared to these."
"Well, everyone has their own interpretations. Even if it's highly depressing."
Ellie's eyes sparkled with statues' reflections. "Do they give you sanctuary, my Lord?"
"They are my family. I find sanctuary in knowing I am their legacy."
"There was a girl at the orphanage who claimed to be the great-granddaughter of William Shakespeare," Ellie smirked, remembering that scrawny girl with yellow hair. "She said she had his legacy."
"William Shakespeare," Loki tested the name on his tongue. "His name is scattered throughout Midgardian history. A masterful playwright and poet, was he not?"
"You know him?"
Shooting her an amused look. "Would you believe me if I told you yes?"
Ellie tried to imagine a Norse god walking through the mud-soaked streets of Elizabethan England. "No," she said.
It must've been his ancestors, or the sun which induced Loki's amusing reply. A childish smirk appeared on his lips and he almost leaned towards Ellie. "Thou art a flesh-monger, a fool and a coward," he said.
Ellie threw her head back and snorted. She wracked her brain for memories of Shakespearean dramas. "Uh, thou are as loathsome as a toad."
"You scullion."
"Rampallian!" she said.
"I'd beat thee, but I would infect my hands."
Scoffing, Ellie couldn't hold back her bite. "You really are a pretentious royal, aren't you?"
"Prentenousness emerges when there is a hint of doubt. Unlike you," he posed. "I have no hope of being superior because I already am."
"You have to be joking," she said. "I would never hope to be better than… anyone. I'm…"
"What do you hope to be, then?"
Having spent many weeks contemplating her place in Asgard, she knew the answer better than anybody. She was different. "Independent. Strong. Someone who doesn't slot into the universe like a puzzle piece."
"No, no." Loki said. "I meant how did you want to sell your labour?"
The prince was grinning, which peculiarly delighted Ellie. "Away, you starveling, you elf-skin, you dried neat's-tongue, bull's-pizzle, you stock-fish!"
"Please, Midgardian," he said. "Thy mother resembles a stewed prune."
"At least one of us knows what she looked like," Ellie coughed her last laugh. She hummed into her hand, watching the prince's reaction. He lapsed into deep thought, putting a guard around his emotions. Once again, he became reserved and said nothing more.
"We have statues like this, as well," she finally said. "Only they're not made of gold. Is it real gold?"
Loki blinked quickly. He emerged from his own head and approached the face of an old woman. Her hair was carved in thin ringlets. She looked fierce and did not smile. "It's not gold like on Earth. It is a material from the planet Titan."
"The statues on Earth are made of marble or stone. I mean the ones of our God's son."
"Stone to portray the son of a God?" Loki scoffed, shooting her a half-hearted glance of discontent.
Ellie clenched her teeth. Her fingers allowed the rosary to slip between them. "Clearly our son offers his people humility."
"Or pitiful respect."
"You all mock me for believing in my God," Ellie quivered, clutching her Rosary tighter. "All of you."
"All of us?" Loki repeated, almost harshly. She turned and looked up at him, daring him to push it further. "You are quick to categorise Asgardians as sharing one brain."
"How could I not? How many times have I been prodded for believing in a false God? Odin believes it. Cecelia finds my mind undeniably mundane and short-sighted."
The prince exhaled heavily. He then reached out and took hold of her sleeve, pulling her down the stairway and towards the palace. Ellie allowed him to pull her, slightly perplexed and fearful of what he had planned. His annoyance was fuelled with hatred, but impatience.
"Where are we going?" she asked hurriedly. "Loki, tell me!"
"Be quiet," he hissed. The guards spared them little attention. Perhaps Loki had enchanted them to mind their business. Could he really be that frivolous with magic? Yes, Ellie knew decidedly.
Together, they rounded a corner and entered the healing chamber. The tall ceiling, windows and fluttering strumkarls. Several patients shot them annoyed looks. They were munching on their lunch and clearly did not want to be disturbed. On the other side of the room, Ingrid stood listening to a baby's heartbeat.
Ellie swallowed the bile creeping up her throat. Her memories were so close, yet so far away in her mind. Like a distant dream, they swam in a murky fog.
The prince's hand pulled her to a bedside where a dying man lay. Around him, several healers were chanting lowly. A soft glow fluttered over him. "Your God is not just Midgardian," Loki said, his voice a low murmur. "The spiritual beliefs of all life in the universe are intertwined."
"I…"
"Can you really say you have not noticed how similar your little world is?" he whispered. Ellie looked across at him, feeling very warm.
The healers became much louder, drawing her attention back.
"Here came stalking in an inspiden creature,"
Had his haman in his hand, Said that you were his steed.
Jeg legger deg hans teage på halsen.
De begnyte å flytte fra land.
Så snart de kom for landet.
Then his limbs began to cool,
then came stalking in the animal's sister.
Then she made an end and swore oaths
That never this should do harm to the sick one
Nor to the one who might get this charm
Eller hvem visste hvordan å synge denne sjarmen.
Amen, vær så snill."
Ellie tilted her head, trying to understand the disjointed Norse and Norwegian strung together. It was a healing chant; she could tell that much from the swinging censers around the patient's bed. Loki looked at her, narrowing his eyes in perplexity. The Midgardian was constantly trying to figure out everything she could not hope to understand.
After a beating moment, Ellie looked up at Loki. "Amen,vær så snill. Amen, so be it?" she questioned. "At the end they said Amen."
Loki nodded stiffly.
"Who do you pray to?"
It took a while for the prince to drag his gaze away from the healers. He appeared to reminisce in Ellie's desire for knowledge. Only he could offer it to her in that moment and he divulged greatly in her passion. "The word amen is used to agree or approve something which has been said," he explained. "It is a word passed through worlds from Norse, to Shiväisith, to Hebrew which is ultimately where you have gathered the word."
Ellie blinked quickly, gathering her thoughts as she realised the prince knew more of her planet than he let on. First it was Shakespeare, now it was a religion that had been influenced by thousands of stories and tales. "So," she said. "When Jesus declared Amen, I say to you… He didn't mean it as a call for prayer?"
"No," the prince replied. "Sometimes the word means truly, devotedly or desirably."
For decades, she had believed it was a send-off for her prayer. It was like signing a letter to God. Now, she realised it was simply a word which had not manifested for her religion but for all creatures and beings. It was just another word in the universe.
"Perhaps our Gods are your Gods."
Opening her lips to respond, the words could only wither and die on her tongue as the Allfather walked through the archway. She stepped away from Loki and held her hands behind her back respectfully.
"Pray tell me you were not picking up the human from a half-dead state," Odin said, obviously holding little hope for Ellie's progress.
With a light laugh, Loki shook his head. "No, Father. We were merely taking a tour of the halls. She misses the company of decent living quarters."
"I… never said they weren't decent," she interjected. "They're very much so. I rest very well."
Shooting her a look, Loki fought the urge to strangle Ellie. She closed her mouth and offered the Allfather an awkward smile.
"In that case," he mustered. "Leave us," Odin said. "I'm sure you have running to attend."
Ellie bowed her head, glancing to Loki once more before leaving the shrine. She made her way to the training barracks and slipped into the crowd of warriors which had gathered in the courtyard. She found herself stood beside Lounn. He was bending up and down, getting ready for the sprint.
Ellie pulled her arm across her torso, enjoying her healed state. She rolled her head on her shoulders and touched her toes with a bit of a stretch. Asgardians adored running. It was one of their favourite past-times. People sprinted to the shops, jogged around the square and pranced in the taverns. She wasn't surprised their trainers were commanding them all to take a three-hour run around the city.
References
The Shrine of Gods – The Disney movie 'Atlantis'.