l

-23-

It had been ten months since Peregrine Flight had been captured by demons, and Lind no longer dreamed. Most of her time was spent in confinement, as the guards did not trust her nor the rest of her flight in the hallways outside. Not after the escape attempt. Not after their recapture. She shivered and blew into her hands, yet the hot, moist air that washed over them did little to warm her body. She couldn't sit, couldn't stand, and could barely move in the cell, and as the days wore on she could feel her muscles wasting away bit by bit.

Her body had taken to a constant state of shivering in an attempt to stabilize her body temperature, yet even that did little for her; the cell was cold enough to hurt, cold enough to be noticeable, but not cold enough to send her into hypothermia and the Big Sleep that would accompany death. An intentional design, she decided, made to inflict as much suffering on the victim to as make them mad. There was no comfort to be had no matter what position was crafted, and as one piece of the body grew numb the cold would set in afresh like a slow-moving parasite devouring her heat. Sleep was a luxury that came most often when she didn't realize it, and with it, the dreams that once filled her head became hallucinations.

There was that rat tap tapping of the Nymph as it skittered past her door. Where are you? It called out in a voiceless whisper, an ageless phantom that sounded all at once next to her ear inside the chamber with her and miles away outside the cell. I know you are near. I'm growing larger, you know. I'm no longer the size of a house cat, but now a tiger, and once I molt again I shall be larger still. They'll bring you to me then, and oh, how I'll feast... I'm so very, very hungry, you know.

Those were the good hallucinations, Lind found. Though she disliked it, she'd started to accept the fate that awaited her at the end of the road. It was almost preferable after so much time in the cold and in the dark, where she was blind and shivering and wasting away. Now, every time they dragged her out of her cell-and drag her they did, for her legs always lost circulation in her time locked away-she began to hope that this was it, this was the end, and that she could finally, finally meet the hangman's rope and be done with it all. Yet instead they would always drag her to eat with her flight, and there they would dine in silence.

There was a cloud that hung over the flight now. Dark and looming, it seemed to manifest whenever the flight was made to interact, and with it came nothing good: Mist would grow restless and snap at Gunnr and Lind, then grew upset when neither Private attempted to defend themselves or each other. "Stop just fucking sitting there like a couple of rocks!" she snarled. "We're not dead yet, damn you!" It was left to Rota to pull her away from the duo, and this usually before she fell into another argument on a possible course of action with the Major. Sanngrior was pressing them to act, and each day came with more urgency, but Rota had started to push back, recognizing that half of them were in no condition to run.

"If we don't move soon than it won't matter because none of us will be capable of escape," Sanngrior snapped in a low, tight voice. "Each day brings with it new injuries and allows their angel eater a fresh molt. We either take our risks and go down fighting now or roll over and let them gut us like pigs."

"So you suggest we just run into the enemy's spears, is that it?" Rota hissed back. "We just charge in and take our own lives? Ha!" Her bark was sharp and strange coming from the Valkyrie, enough so to even draw the eyes of the withdrawn troops who stared into the bowls of broth that was provided as part of their daily meal. "We have one who cannot even run! Would you so willingly throw our injured into the wolf's jaw? Or maybe," she sneered, "you would rather abandon her to her fate and you to yours. Is that it?"

It had been enough to almost provoke Sanngrior into a fight with Rota, and indeed from Lind's perspective that was exactly what would have happened; Sanngrior would have struck Rota, and Rota would have lashed out in turn. Instead, the guards arrived right as the Major was rising to her feet, and off they went, whisked away to isolation once more.

And then would come the cold again and then would come the exhaustion. There was little she could do to occupy herself with in those long, uncomfortable hours, and so her thoughts turned inwards. She thought of her homeland, with its great, jagged white peaks and its frozen oceans. She thought of the large, tundra landscape where the snow never quite went away, and how in the winter the blizzards would blanket everything with close to three feet of snow. Ice fishing on lakes so frozen she could build a fire on top without fear of falling through and kayaking around broken ice in the oceans with her brothers and sisters, hunting large schools of coho and humpies, ling cod and rockfish, halibut, and, when they were extremely lucky, the occasional seal. Skiing down long, steep slopes to neighboring villages and avoiding fallen branches and logs half-buried by the latest snow. Riding bareback on the heavy-coated, muscular horses her family bred as livestock and watching as her eldest brother trained the year-old colts on how to respond to common commands. Hunting bears with her father and spotting the rare Black Strip big cat before it vanished into the woods. Preserving vegetables in the root cellar with her mother for the blizzard months. Learning how to knit alongside her sisters as a way to stop herself from mauling them when the blizzards made them all stir-crazy. Losing a colt in the middle of a storm and going out to search for it with Iansi against their father's wishes.

Iansi...

Had news of her disappearance reached her family? Was it reported as an MIA or a POW? The thought always made her stomach churn, especially after seeing how her father had reacted to Iansi's disappearance up into the highland mountains. Perhaps they were treating her disappearance the same way: refusing to speak of it, though the topic weighed on everyone's mind like a heavy boulder. "I have five children, not seven." Her father's voice came easily to her ears in the silence of the room, and perhaps that too was a hallucination, one that could be paired alongside the voice of the Nymph with its growth. "I don't know who this 'Lind' character is. My eldest daughter is Seeka, the second-borne." Her father had never approved of her running off to the Fighting Wings, and after Iansi's death, she'd feared that in his grief he'd disown her, blaming Lind and her association with the Valkyries for Iansi's death, though she was only an acolyte at the time. She'd tried to speak with him on the subject once, right before the funeral, and her father had made it very clear to her that it was a not a topic he wanted to speak about. She'd never had the courage to bring it up to him again.

To be forgotten in death by her own kin was to be lost along the planes of reincarnation for all eternity. It was akin to being lost in a blizzard, where her body was buried and crushed beneath the snow, trampled to death by the very ones out searching for her while she suffered a slow death by suffocation and hypothermia. A horrible sentence, and one her mind returned to day after day whenever she drifted off, only to reawaken in her cell trembling from more than just the cold.

Those times were the worst. Those were the times she snapped out of her restless half-sleep to her dead brother whispering promises she could never recall on the edge of her subconscious. Those were the times she woke up to his lingering scent, feeling a presence in the cell with her that had no body she could distinguish. Those were the times she screamed. Those were the times she was ignored.

Those were the times she was forgotten.

XXX

"Up. UP!"

Light poured into Lind's cell, and blinking bleary eyes the Valkyrie turned away from the sudden brightness, groaning at the pain it brought with it. Rough hands grabbed her arms, their grip tight and painful. Snarling curses, the two guards pulled Lind out of her cell. The woman grunted but did nothing, allowing them to drag her out as they had since her initial move into the cell. Her legs itched and prickled like they were covered in an ant's nest, yet she was allowed no time to massage them to get the blood flowing once more.

Instead the two holding her continued to drag her forward, dragging her down the long line of cells that may or may not have been empty and towards another location. Lind's feet dragged uselessly behind her, and reminded of Gunnr, the woman attempted to kick out in an effort to at least get her legs under her. Her actions did little other than reignite the ants biting and stinging her calves, and with a grimace she looked to her escorts, some sluggish piece of her mind wondering why they hadn't bagged her head as was common procedure.

Another guard waited for the three of them towards the end of the hallway, where a massive metal door barred the cell block from the rest of the facility. The demon in question shouted at them, their tone rushed and urgent and gesturing them with one hand. The pace of Lind's escorts increased, and Lind grew more alert to the fact that whatever was going on was not part of the usual enigmatic flare that was so often reserved for the flight. "Wait…" Her voice creaked, an alien sound to her own ears, and she once more tried to get her feet under her and failed. "Wait, stop…" she protested. "What are... "Her left arm tugged away at the demon holding her, drawing his attention, and Lind had just enough time to catch the bright, feverish look in the man's eyes before one hand released her in favor of crashing into her cheek. Pain blossomed along her jaw line, and then Lind's world went black.

XXX

"in.. L... .d... .Li... ..Lind!"

Lind's eyes fluttered, and the hand at her shoulder jostled her harder. "Stahh…" She groaned and rolled away from the person, yet the individual was persistent.

"Lind, on your feet. That's an order."

There was an aching familiarity to that voice, and before her mind could fully grasp who was speaking Lind was on her feet, legs pulsing rhythmically to a heart that had begun to thrum to a rapid beat. "Yes Ma'am." Left her lips before she could stop it, and blinking owlishly, she looked around at her new surroundings. Her head was pounding and everything was blurry through her left eye, but she was aware of a lingering sense of familiarity from the room she was in. What it was, Lind was not yet certain, but something about the room screamed at the back of her head, and the fact that she was once more amongts her flight was making Spear Mint restless. She rubbed at her left eye. Her vision didn't clear. "Where are we?"

"We don't know," Rota said. "They rounded us up all at once and led us here." She was supporting Gunnr with one arm, with Mist supporting the crippled Valkyrie on the other side. The Private's condition had only worsened in the extended isolation. Without proper medical care and sanitation, the Valkyrie was left drawn and pale, her eyes sunken and hollow in her head and her flesh covered in black-purple bruises that never seemed to heal. She'd acquired a tremor in the past month or so, and it had only grown more prevalent the more time passed, leaving the woman shaking against the two Valkyries supporting her. She looked ill.

But that was no surprise. They all looked ill.

The Major rose from where she'd kneeled to rouse Lind, not without some degree of effort. Her mouth peeled back into a grimace with each movement, yet of her pain she voiced nothing. Instead, her eyes blazing within her skull and skin taunt against her cheeks, Sanngrior looked at Lind. "Something has frightened the guards," she said. "I need you to listen very carefully to me, Lind." Something was very wrong now. The last time Sanngrior had called Lind by anything other than her callsign had been over a year ago. "Look around you. What does this place look like to you?" Her eyes remained locked on Lind's person, watching the woman with such scrutiny that Lind squirmed beneath the weight of her gaze.

For a moment Lind hesitated, uncertain if she understood what the Major was asking her. Then, her face thoughtful, Lind turned to survey the area, turning in a slow, staggered circle to fully observe her surroundings. The room was small. Not much bigger than the cell they'd once shared, if she was to judge. Tile lined the floors and ceiling, all unremarkable and somehow reminiscent of the bathing chambers they were allowed to use every other day. The trash bin had been removed from the room, and they'd taken away the shower curtain as well, but Lind still thought she recognized the long row of outdated shower faucets that took up a corner of the room. She stared at them for a long time, a well of raw emotion gathering in her chest as Spear Mint began to tremble. A high keen rose in her ear, and at first Lind misidentified it as something she herself was producing before realizing it was her angel she was hearing. It was a bizarre and alien sound that Lind had never heard Spear Mint utter before, and in it a blanket of sadness fell upon her shoulders as she identified it as a sound of sheer, guttural desolation.

The woman bowed her head and brought a hand to cover her eyes, finding them dry to the touch. "This is it." Her voice was soft but resigned, a sound just above a whisper. "Oh Yggdrasil, they're going to…" She could finish the sentence and instead bit her lip. She dropped her hand and looked at her flight.

It had been twelve months since they'd been captured, and on the eve of a year's imprisonment, their angels were about to die.

Sanngrior watched her with an unreadable expression. Lind couldn't hold the Major's gaze. Mist looked scared. Gunnr too. Rota closed her eyes and swallowed. "This is it." Sanngrior's words came out a whisper. "We fight. We give it our all. We fight until we can stand no longer." Brave words, but lacking. The strength that stood behind Sanngrior's words was missing, and it was disheartening to hear the resignation in the Major's voice. "We-" They were words Lind would never hear finished. Words that would forever leave her wondering when, over a century later, those old memories were revisited and reviewed time and time again. For just as she was about to give her final orders to the flight, more guards, these all dressed in heavy, featureless uniforms, stormed inside with weapons blazing.

One of them, a female, judging by her muffled voice, began shouting directions. The demons, fifteen in total, swarmed the room and its occupants, and bewildered, Lind and Sanngrior found themselves cut off from the rest of the flight. Of everyone present, only Rota and Sanngrior fought back. They didn't want the flight divided, didn't want their small group of five separated, and perhaps, for those two at least, didn't want to fall wondering what had become of their kin.

Two demons slammed into Lind with such force that her head bounced off the wall they pushed her against, bringing stars to her gaze. Through the stars she watched as Sanngrior fought off five of the demons at once, tearing off the strange, baggy mask one demon wore and destroying the staff weapon of another. Rota managed to take three down with her; when she was struck she appeared unphased, as though never feeling the burns imparted to her flesh with each strike of their weapons. For one clear and definable moment, Lind watched as The Major and The Sergeant reached for each other, watched their fingers brush... and then watched as Rota finally fell to the abuse the weapons enacted upon her body and Sanngrior was at last pulled away from the rest of her flight. It took all five of the demons that brought her down to pin Sanngrior to the floor, and her bellows echoed with such ferocity within the small room that Lind felt the vibrations in her bones.

They dragged Rota back to Mist and Gunnr, who stood watching with expressions that Lind imagined matched her own: wide, frightened eyes, lips peeled back in a grimace born of terror as they cowered away from the demons who held them at bay, broken and terrified of what awaited them. Someone, this voice masculine, began shouting something Lind vaguely recognized as numbers, and then first Rota, doubled over in pain, and then Mist and Gunnr, were dragged towards the western door. The Rabishu's door, leading to the Rabishu's nest. One of the guards holding her against the wall spoke up, and someone behind him rushed through a reply that caused the man to jerk back nervously. The others were taken through the western door, and as they left Mist looked back. Their eyes met. "Lind, I-"

And then she too was gone.

The room lapsed into silence. The demons pinning Sanngrior to the floor didn't move. Neither did the ones on either side of Lind. One of the demons holding Sanngrior said something. Another one not occupied with holding either of the two Valkyries responded. Sanngrior grunted. "Rai-" And had her head yanked back and smashed into the tile floor. Blood began to stream from her nose and mouth, and she coughed up a wad of red phlegm.

Another question was asked among the guards. Another answer was given. Lind strained her ears to hear anything that might be happening on the other side of the western door. She heard nothing. Another guard asked a question, and his tone was urgent. The demon who replied sounded angry and nervous at once, and again Sanngrior stirred beneath her captors. "At-" She tried again, and once more was unable to complete her thought as this time, a fist collided with the side of her skull. The demon who struck her snarled at her, and the Major tucked her head against her sternum in a vain attempt at protecting herself.

The western door opened. The guards who'd escorted Rota, Mist, and Gunnr returned, empty of their cargo. Lind felt the strength leave her knees. They buckled, gave out beneath her, and she began to slide down the wall until one of the guards grabbed her by the arm and hauled her back to her feet.

The ground tremored beneath them.

It took Lind a moment to realize it was something more than the quivering of her own legs. It was something everyone felt, and the Valkyrie flinched when the guards began shouting to each other in panicked voices. One of them, the head demon who'd been shouting instructions since the guards had entered, had a voice that rose above the rest, and it rang with authority. New orders were shouted, and the others fell silent as they looked to her before rushing to follow her instructions. The guards hauled Sanngrior to her feet. She lashed out and struck one of them in the chest with a kick that took them all by surprised, and the victim was thrown against the wall with such force the tile around her cracked. Again the guards swarmed, and with renewed vigor the Major tossed them off her.

This time everyone who wasn't preoccupied with Lind joined the fray, and had Lind been more herself; had she not seen with her own eyes what awaited them, had she not already accepted the idea that they were trapped, that none of them were leaving with their angels still intact, had she still had hope, than perhaps Lind would have seen the opportunity that Major Sanngrior had provided her and acted. Perhaps together, they could have fended off the guards long enough to escape, or at the very least bought them some few, precious moments before the inevitable was to occur.

Yet the moment came and went without Lind ever seeing it, and soon enough the guards had the Major once more under control. They marched out of the tile room and into the Rabishu's nest they descended.

There was a strange light to the chamber, a muffled, dark pink that filtered eerie shadows and thick miasma through the air. There was a rancid smell to the air like spoiled meat, and it made Lind's stomach roll with something more than just nausea. She could hear something skittering along the walls and in the shadows, yet the dim light of the room provided her no sight of the Rabishu. She could feel it though. By Tehome's depths, how she could feel it. It was watching them from somewhere up high, maybe even on one of the makeshift cocoons Kestrel Flight was bound in.

Another earthquake rolled through the building. The demons murmured in distress. The head demon from before spoke up, and her voice echoed loud and clear throughout the chamber. Like a canary in a mine shaft, Lind thought, and shuddered. As soon as that canary went silent, the miners were going to run, leaving the Valkyries to the poisonous gases and whatever other horrors so awaited them.

A rumble vibrated through the facility from somewhere far off, and Lind thought she heard something that sounded like explosions before deciding her mind was playing tricks on her. More hallucinations. False hope spun on in a last ditch effort to keep her alive, when really all Lind wanted to do was hurry up and let the thing finish her off. Preferably, some small piece of her thought, before the Major. Though it shamed her to admit it, she didn't want to see how she'd go.

She didn't want to be the last to fall.

Three of the demons holding Sanngrior released her, retreating back towards the door as two other demons, these armed, moved forward. Lind was released and shoved towards Sanngrior, and as she stumbled forward the remaining two guards released their hold on the Major. They too retreated, leaving the armed guards to bring up the rear and cover their exit, their weapons never leaving the two Valkyries. Then first one, then the other armed demon vanished inside, and the Valkyries were left alone in the Rabishu's nest.

"Lind, listen to me." Sanngrior grabbed the Private by the shoulders. Blood still streamed down her nose, and it dripped to the floor in shiny red orbs. "They're being attacked."

"Wha-" Lind's eyes widened, yet the Major cut her off.

"There's a raid, Lind. Someone's attacking the facility. We need to hold out until someone breaches the room, do you understand?"

"I-how can we-"

"We find a way," Sanngrior replied. "We need to tell them what we've learned, do you understand? The information needs to get back to higher headquarters."

"But the ang-"

"Lind, shut up and listen to me," Sanngrior snapped. Another tremor. This time with a sound of actual explosions. "This may be my final order. Live. Keep your angel alive, no matter what. Get to whoever's raiding the facility: Valkyrie, Aesir, Jotun, Man, whoever. Get to them and tell them what you know. Everything. They need to know what's going on here." Something skittered behind Sanngrior, and Lind saw the miasma shift as though something was crawling through it. "The Daitenkaicho needs to know that Niflheim is trying to find a way around the Doublet System, do you understand?" Sanngrior demanded. "They need to-"

That screech.

That Yggdrasil-awful screech.

She felt Spear Mint surge forward before she could even think to stop her, watched in growing despair as The Major's Raanee Baagh surfaced, and watched as the Rabishu, the Nymph fully grown now, appeared with its false head dangling high above their head.

And then the Major roared.

It was a sound the likes of which Lind had never heard before. A sound that was deafening and terrifying in one instance, and then in the next moment revitalizing and awe-inspiring. The Rabishu froze as though paralyzed by the sound, and in that moment the Major grabbed Spear Mint by the foot and ripped her from the air with such force that Lind cried out from the feedback. Her angel smashed into the ground, dazed, and Sanngrior released her in favor of her own angel, jumping up and wrapping both hands around Raanee Baagh's foot. For a moment she dangled off the ground, and then the Rabishu regained its bearings, lashing out in a manner that spoke of an instinctive reaction.

Its stinger shredded through the angel's right arm, the Major's roar having off-balanced it enough that the strike didn't fully connect. Yet it was still enough to make Sanngrior scream, and she lost her grip on Raanee Baagh and fell to the floor in pain. "Grab Spear Mint!" she screamed. "Don't let it get your angel!" She staggered to her feet, lips peeled back in pain as her right arm dangled at her side. Above her head Raanee Baagh was retreating, head tossing as she tried to fight off the effects of the Rabishu's scream. The Major turned to face the monster as Lind kneeled at Spear Mint's side. "You face me now, Beast!" she bellowed. "By the one-hundred and eight names of all my incarnations, you shall fall at my feet.

"This is my final act." The woman fell into a stance Lind didn't recognize, one different from all the training she'd suffered through at Sanngrior's hands alongside her flight. "This is my final dance, Beast. This is my Nadanta." The air in the room began to change, and the sigil on Sanngrior's brow began to blaze like a burning star of gold. Lind could feel the hair on her arms and the back of her neck rise as energy began to gather around the Major, and gathering her angel against her, the Private watched with baited breath as a strange, wicked aura began to form around her commanding officer. It began to blaze with golden, burning energy, and in that moment a small spark of hope trickled into the Valkyrie's heart.

A halo of energy surged from her brow, almost appearing in that moment like a third eye composed of light, and Major Sanngrior began to dance towards the angel eater, her actions slow, deliberate, and filled with such raw power that Lind could feel its weight bearing down on her. The Rabishu retreated, perhaps feeling what Lind felt, and Sanngrior pressed forward, her angel dancing around her head in a manner that somehow emulated that of a large, burning beast of pure energy.

Sanngrior howled. It was a sound without words, but filled with emotion, filled with energy, filled with power. The Rabishu screamed, and in that moment the spell Sanngrior was enacting, her mysterious Nadanta, was interrupted. The image of Major Sanngrior's surprised, horrified face would forever be an image that would haunt Lind's subconscious. Raanee Baagh abandoned her mistress at the screech, and if not for Lind's grip on Spear Mint so too would her own angel have left her for the angel eater's cry. She watched the Major rush towards the beast in a last act of desperation.

And she watched the Major fall as the Rabishu surged towards Raanee Baagh. It ducked down low, slithering towards the angel like a serpent, and then rose to its hind legs in a massive display that Lind had never seen enacted from another angel eater before. The Rabishu's maw opened impossibly wide on Raanee Baagh's approach, and with a single snap, a single bite, Raanee Baagh fell headless to the floor. Sanngrior froze mid-step, less than ten feet from the beast, and the power in her brow went out like an eclipse. The energy in the room vanished with the light, leaving Lind once more in the subdued lighting of the room.

For a moment, and only for a moment, Sanngrior remained on her feet. She turned, her body trembling, almost vibrating with the pain feedback sent through the link between Raanee Baagh and herself. Her eyes met Lind for a brief second. "Li-" And then they rolled back up into her skull, and the Major, at last, fell.

"Major!" Lind was up and running before she could get her wits about her. Her world narrowed to Sanngrior's crumbled form, once so filled with power and energy and now lifeless and somehow delicate from where she rested on the floor. She didn't realize that she'd let go of Spear Mint, and didn't hear the Rabishu's scream until she saw her angel race past her.

"No!" she shrieked. "No! Not this time! Not again!" Without thought she hurled herself at Spear Mint, and collided with the angel, sending them both tumbling to the ground. Spear Mint fought her, her attacks the mindless flails of an animal, and Lind rolled her back towards Sanngrior. She picked herself up with a strength that hadn't been there moments before, and all at once became aware of the Rabishu's presence behind her. She looked over her shoulder, finding the beast skittering towards her. She tried to scramble away from it, ignoring her angel's strikes on her person. Yet the creature was large, and fast despite its size, and before Lind could react she found it had surrounded her, like a centipede curling around its prey. She screamed at it, and it retreated a couple of feet before reigning up around her. "No!" She snarled once more. "No, no, no!" She turned her back to it, dropping to the floor and shielding as much of Spear Mint's body as she could.

She heard it lunge, felt an indescribable pain in her head that left her blind in her left eye, and heard Spear Mint shriek in pain. She looked over her shoulder and screamed. The beast had Spear Mint by the wing, and was gnashing the limb in its jaws, not so much biting it off as it had Raanee Baagh's head as it was shredding it, ripping off feathers, flesh, muscle, and sinew from bone. It lurched back like a dog wrestling a bone, and both Lind and Spear Mint lurched with it, where the creature then lunged forward and bit onto more of the wing. It's eating us alive, Lind thought. Oh Yggdrasil, make it stop, it's eating us alive!

An angel, by definition, was a symbiotic creature that shared its life with that of its host. Its original purpose was to act as a power amplifier for the deity in question, boosting traits such as strength, magic, and comprehension to a height that would not normally be achievable under normal circumstances. However, an angel could not survive without its host, and so from the moment a connection was established, that entity was bound to their host, taking on the characteristic and personality of their host that was not often seen by the outside world. They became a different aspect of that deity. They became the 'Other Half'. They Became the 'Other Soul', the Outer Soul.

And what could become of a deity whose Outer Soul was endangered? The amount of theories behind this topic were as numerous as there were stars in the sky, for the reality was that no one knew. Deities hoarded their angels closely, and were instinctively reluctant to release them in an environment that was deemed dangerous to the deity in question, let alone the angel attached to them. Though the topic of Outer Soul endangerment was highly discussed, it was also taboo in the fact that no one was foolish enough to so recklessly endanger their angel.

Yet in those moments, watching as the flesh was carved from the wing of her own angel, Lind made her own discovery of what could happen. A discovery that would leave many a scholar and Tic scratching their heads in confusion and turning the scholarly world on its heads for millennia to come.

For in those moments, Lind made a decision. And her decision was simple.

"I won't let you have my angel!" The Valkyrie pushed herself up off Spear Mint and grabbed the imprisoned wing. She braced herself against Spear Mint's back, and risking the ever-looming fangs of the angel eater, wrapped her arm around the wing's bicep, and began to pull in the area where humerus joined coracoid. The Rabishu, against all odds, helped her, yanking back on the wing as it tried to draw more of the angel towards its expanding maw. Spear Mint's screams grew louder. The pain in her head grew more intense.

For a moment Lind lost sight in both her eyes, but not before she felt something give in her angel's wing. She felt something snap in her mind, and then both she and the Rabishu fell back as Spear Mint's wing was ripped from her back. The angel collapsed in pain, and when Lind's sight finally returned to her it was through a haze of muddy gold. She felt liquid streaming from her eyes, her nose, her ears, and when she swallowed she tasted nothing but blood. The sounds around her grew muffled, as though her ears were clogged with water, but she could feel everything. The hairs on her body were alive and tense, and she could feel the vibrations of everything from the angel eater scrambling to its feet-thirty six tarsal claws on eighting pairs of limbs-to her angel rolling on the floor and moaning in pain, to the dangling forms of Kestrel Flight and perhaps even her own flight off above her head. She could even feel the explosions at the door behind her and the ten people-demons or deities or something else-that stood behind it. The world was alive with vibrations, vibrations and energy, oh so much energy, and she gathered it to her person en masse. She turned her attention to the one thing in the room that her senses deemed as a threat to her Outer Soul, and without thought or rational, the Valkyrie struck out.

She lashed out in silence, and her first blow tore into the creatures carapace as though it was dough.

And as the roof began to tremble above her. As the door exploded in a hail of Valkyrie driven magic, she began ripping apart the monster that was an angel eater with the ferocity of an animal and the alien calm of a person not fully there.

All before the ceiling collapsed under the heavy artillery fire of combat search and rescue teams.

XXX

Lind? A voice was calling to her. One that was almost achingly familiar, yet whose name and face just escaped her memory. Lind! It called again, and a piece of a name came to her mind. Mint. Mint was calling her. Come on, Lind, snap out of it, you're scaring me!" Spear... Mint? Yes, that was her angel, wasn't it? Spear Mint? Was Spear Mint calling her? Please Lind, I can't do anything with you as you are now. Get up! The voice begged. She sounded scared. Open your eyes!

Lind grunted, her brows furrowing together as she took the angel's advice and opened her eyes. Her settings were both familiar and alien at once, and she stared at the mural before her without recognition. "I was... the Rabishu…" She rubbed her eyes with a hand. Her head was pounding. "It's dead. It's dead, right? Spear Mint?"

Another voice rose in her head, different from the first only in tone. It's dead... Lind, do you know where you are?

She stared at the mural before her, with its ancient weapons and many tapestries. "Medical…" she muttered. "I was... oh Yggdrassil, Sanngrior!" She bolted to her feet and almost fell flat on her face. Her legs were numb for reasons she couldn't recall and didn't care enough to remember, and as they prickled and tingled with pins and needles the Valkyrie stumbled through a sliding wall and into the main chamber. She froze when she saw the stasis crystals, as though seeing them for the first time, and felt the strength depart her body. She leaned on an empty bed (her bed) and stared at the row of crystals in shock. "I... I was…"

Lind, tell us your name. That voice from before. Not Spear Mint but… Pepper Mint? No, not Pepper. She was Peppermint. Cool Mint. Her other angel. The one who'd helped bring back those... memories. Take a deep breath. It's over now. You're back, she coxed. Ground yourself.

"My name..." Lind trailed off, and her eyes were drawn to the largest crystal in the room. A crystal which housed a tendee form that was huge for the amount of power stored within. The Major. "My name is Lind-Tanarak Kajistiaat. Third born of Sedna Kajistiaat and first daughter of Nanuq Kajistiaat."

Do you know where you are?

"The medical facility in Camp Uruku, built into the Uruku Mountains near the Sana District." She took a deep breath. Yes, everything was starting to come back to her now. Everything was starting to re-orient itself in her mind. She'd come to pay her respects to her flight and introduce Cool Mint to Peregrine. She was a Sergeant-not a Private, a Sergeant-assigned to a special duty tasking of surveillance by the Norn Urd under direction from Camp Uruku's Commander, because 'damned if we're going to let you work the squadron to death with your blasted physical training program, Lind' and 'Our budget does not allow for the continued destruction of registered multipurpose weaponry, Lind, so stop destroying our battleaxes with your damnable boulders'.

"I had just returned from my last check-in with Urd," she recalled. "I had a prior appointment with Tic Nebo that I had to attend, and... "

The memories, old but now fresh after revisiting them, returned to her, and she grimaced. "I tore off my own wing," she whispered. "Spear Mint, I-"

Don't. Spear Mint's voice was firm. Don't you dare. It was either the wing or my life, and I'd gladly take one wing if it meant living long enough to see the Rabishu that stole it killed.

"I was a coward," she muttered bitterly. "I gave up when Sergeant Rota and the Major-"

Don't start. Cool Mint this time. You were in a situation beyond your control. You witnessed things that would have broken any of the others. But you're still alive, and now you remember.

Now you remember. Spear Mint echoed. Which means we need to fulfill the Major's final order.

Lind's eyes widened at that, and for a moment-just for a moment, the Major's face, pale and thin and strained, appeared in her mind's eye. "Live." The woman blinked, rubbed her brows, and straightened. The feeling had returned to her legs, and with it came a new resolve born of purpose. She took a deep breath, regarding her fallen flight with eyes bright with emotion. "I remember."

She left the room in a rush, sparing not a single glance behind her but promising herself she would return. Return to Peregrine Flight and if she could find them, Kestrel flight as well. They wouldn't be forgotten. Not now. Not anymore. She was almost running by the time she exited the facility, passing through the gates and the guard shed without so much as a second glance. There were two new privates manning the tiny shack now, the Privates Fulgora and Spes were long gone. As soon as she was outside the main perimeter of the medical clinic the woman had her cell phone in hand, dialing up the current CO she fell under with Sanngrior's absense and summoning both Spear Mint's and Cool Mint's wings, as Nebo had so instructed her.

The woman launched herself in the air with a force strong enough to kick up a back draft, and held the phone close to her ear. As soon as she heard the other end pick up, the Sergeant began speaking. "Ma'am? Yes, it's Lind. I need to speak with you and Colonel Freydis ASAP… no Ma'am, it can't wait. It's-I remember, Ma'am. I remember everything. It's important, and I need to tell you and the Commander while it's still fresh... Yes Ma'am. Okay, right, yes Ma'am, thank you."

She headed off in the direction of the squadron she was assigned to, and prepared herself for what she knew would be a long and grueling debrief.

XXX

Lind had to retell her story four times. First to her squadron commander, Colonel Freydis and her commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Toruun. A second time to the base commander on Monday, following Lind's appointment with Nebo, and twice more to a debrief team who requested on multiple occasions that she go as in-depth and into as much detail with her story as possible. Those times in particular were the most exhausting, both mentally and emotionally draining on a level Lind hadn't experienced in close to a century, yet on some level, rewarding as well. The story was finally coming to light. She was at last able to speak of the monster she'd encountered while imprisoned, and the knowledge that she was doing some good, that she'd revealed a new weapon that so put their angels at risk, set her mind at ease when Lind was finally allowed to retire on those days.

Which said nothing for the rest of the squadron.

In the weeks that followed, filled with questions for additional details and clarification on specific aspects of her memory, Lind became a raging terror for her squadron. Torunn had taken her out of a combat position once she'd been assigned over watch of Urd, and now, whenever she wasn't preoccupied with the Norn on Midgard, Lind was assigned the role NCOIC of combat training and drill, something that kept her on her feet and too busy to dwell on her remembered trauma. With it, however, came a new training regime that everyone, even the Squadron Commander, came to dread.

Had Major Sanngrior been there to witness it, she would have been proud.

"Grab your gear and report to West Field," she instructed sometime between one debrief and the other. "We're going for a run, from here all the way to Central District."

"Are you insane?!" someone from a neighboring flight, Weather Operations, if she remembered correctly, called out to her. "That's a three hundred mile run! We're holding almost one hundred pounds of gear on us! You'll kill us!"

Lind grew irritated with that person and several others who added their voices to the protest. "No wonder the Major was always pissed off with us," she grumbled under her breath.

They still ran though. Lind was unsurprised when the only people who could keep up with her own pace were a couple eager Privates and stubborn older officers who refused to let Lind run them to the ground. Chrono, one of the new Privates in the squadron who'd originally descended to Midgard with Lind, was one of them. Col Freydis, a woman who'd seen her own share of combat yet still managed to hold a cheerful disposition, was another.

And if the squadron resented her for the three-hundred mile run, which the repeated the day after, then they began to absolutely loathe her when Lind began introducing the moves she'd learned from Jackson back in Midgard. Except for Chrono, but then, Lind was starting to suspect that Chrono was a bit of a masochist when it came to physical training. Before the week was up, a hefty chunk of the squadron had protested enough that Lt. Col Torunn had to pull her aside and talk to her.

"Lind, you need to ease up on the training a bit." The week had flown by between the resurgence in her memory, the multiple debriefs, and a re-evaluation of the squadron training program to incorporate as many new throws and pins and runs as the squadron could handle. Monday had somehow become Friday before Lind had even realized it. "I know that at least some of this has to do with what you remembered-I can't remember the last time I've seen you so passionate about anything-but you need to allow time for the squadron to adjust to the new additions to the training plan. People are getting hurt trying to keep up with your pace."

"What would you suggest I do?" It was the polite thing to say. The proper thing to say. The exact opposite of what Lind really wanted to say, which was; "I've seen what Niflheim is capable of doing, and our current training isn't enough. They'll either adjust and survive, or they'll fall behind and be lost." A strange, almost obsessive need to train had befallen her in the week since recovering her memories, and with it had come an understanding on why the Major had always been so hard on Peregrine Flight, as well as a strong desire to ensure the squadron with all its various flights and careers were as best prepared as possible in case they found themselves in a similar situation to Peregrine.

"Lind, when's the last time you took leave?"

The question blindsided her, and for a long moment Lind stared at her CO with blank, confused look on her face. "What?"

The Lt. Col shook her head and sighed, the smile on her face twisted into a grimace that was both amused and disgruntled at once. "By the hair on the roots of Yggdrasil, Lind... I admire your work ethics, but this past week has been a bore on you. I want you to take a couple of weeks off."

Lind stared at the woman, still not fully understanding what she was hearing. Was this some kind of trick? Was Nebo speaking with the Lt. Col behind Lind's back? First him instructing her to take a full day off from training, and now her CO telling her she needed to take time off? She narrowed her eyes at the Lt. Col, who caught the suspicious expression and sighed in exasperation. "Apsu's waters, Lind, stop glaring at me like I'm a demon in disguise." Lind flinched. "You've been going at it non-stop since you were placed under my wing, and that was close to ninety years ago. I don't think I've seen you take a day off once in that time, not counting the various medical appointments in the Sana District or the times your Special Duty status calls you away from the squadron."

The woman planted her hands on her hips. Lt. Col Torunn was a portly woman with a bit of a motherly streak to her, but a Valkyrie who could still make her opponents cry during combat if they underestimated her. Most of the younger Valkyries only did that once, and Lind respected the woman for how she did her best to look out for the folks assigned under her. At least when that Nest Mother eye of hers was turned to any Valkyrie that wasn't Lind. "Take a couple weeks off. Get out of here. Off base, away from Sana. I'll make some calls to ensure the Euminides don't come hunting you down for status reports on Norn Urd while you're gone. Take a break, Lind. You're going to work yourself to death and drag the squadron down with you at your current pace, and I don't need Colonel Freydis howling my ears off because I let the NCOIC of training destroy the squadron she manages because I didn't give you time off." She smiled at Lind in an attempt at a joke. Lind returned it with one she didn't feel. "You need to relax and decompress from everything that's been happening in the past week, alright?"

"...Alright." The word came out with heavy reluctance. "...If you insist, I'll take a week-"

"You've got seventy days of leave to burn through, not counting the thirty-four days of use or lose, Lind."

"A week-"

"A month."

"Two weeks-"

"A month, Lind."

Lind sighed. "Three weeks under the caveat that I have to return to Sana on a weekly basis anyways." She tried.

Her CO didn't budge. "A month. It takes five minutes to move from wherever you're planning to be in Asgard back to Sana district via Gate travel. I am highly recommending you take a month of leave off, Sergeant Lind."

"...You aren't going to let me win this one, are you, Ma'am?"

"Nope," replied the older Valkyrie. "A month off."

Lind sighed, recognizing she wasn't about to get any further with her CO. "A month," she agreed. A thought occurred to her, and the Sergeant frowned in thought. "I... need to visit some family anyways," she said. "I suppose now would be as good a time as ever." She made a face, and Lt. Col Torunn grinned.

"Good. Then go input the leave dates and give me an idea on where you'll be in case I need to recall you."

XXX

There wasn't any snow on the ground.

A relief. Lind doubted she would have been able to find it if there was a blanket of white across the landscape. The tundra changed on a seasonal basis with the storms and the blizzards, and a tree used as a marker one year could be gone the next year. Yet the marker was still there, would always be there, because her mother, Sedna, had ensured it would remain a permanent fixture of the land. It had been an addition that Nanuq would have protested had he been made aware of it, but then the women of the Kajistiaat tribe were known for nothing if not their silence, and this permanent addition, among other things, was left unspoken.

She hopped off her mount, one of the regional long-haired draft horses renowned for their stamina, and produced a carrot from her pocket. The horse, a great piebald whose mane was braided to keep the hair out of his eyes, took the gift without comment, and as he loudly consumed it, Lind threw her ruck off her back and sat on top of it. It was surreal dressing in civilian clothes after so spending so much time in her uniform, and though the heavy parka she wore was comfortable, Lind still couldn't shake the feeling of wrong that came with it. Still, it was starting to grow on her, she had to admit, and the parka was much warmer than her uniform ever was, something she cherished with all her heart after the memories of the isolation cell returned to her. Even in the late spring the Chugach Mountains that divided the lands between Asgard and Jotenheim were cold, and after spending years in the more temperate climate of the Sana District, Lind found she wasn't quite as hot blooded as she used to be. A shame. She could remember a childhood running around in such weather as this in little more than pants and a tunic. Now, no longer.

The marker was small. Little more than a couple of stones that never seemed to move; boulders buried under the tundra ice that only remained surfaced from erosion, and as such no one would think twice about it if they came across it on a whim. The marker had probably been trod over multiple times in the years that had passed since Iansi's passing, and that had been something Nanuq had wanted: for him to be forgotten, to have been seen as little more than trodden earth, something entrapped within the ice and unable to move on without release. No one to sing their songs of release to free the trapped Torngasak, no Tupilek to observe the spirit's parting into the Yakone, the Red Aurora that was said to collect fallen souls.

Iritif is the same. Lind thought, and frowned. She knew almost nothing of the fallen member of Kestrel, that unfortunate Valkyrie who'd been killed by the Rabishu after its egg clutch hadn't set properly. Lind had visited Kestrel Flight alongside Peregrine Flight in the week following her recovered memories, and she'd noticed that there had been only three stasis crystals for the fallen members. There wasn't an additional bed to signify the lost member as there was for Rota, and Lind, not being part of Kestrel, wasn't allowed to observe Kestrel's meditation mural. She wondered if an older member of their flight or another member of their squadron had added Iritif's weapon and banner to the mural. Maybe she was like Iansi: forgotten, only spoken in hushed whispers as a topic no one wished to speak of.

Lind hoped not. Though it was not often spoken of, there was as broad a spectrum on what happened to a deity's soul in death as there were stars in the sky, and while Lind didn't know what Iritif's tribe believed in, she hoped the woman had at least been remembered by her kin. Valkyries in general had long, branching beliefs of the Fields of Reincarnation, the Green Field at the End of the Path, but the methods of how they managed to get their varied from person to person.

You won't forget though. Spear Mint whispered in her ear. None of us will.

Lind pursed her lips. No, after what she'd seen, she'd make a point of remembering Iritif. Iritif and Iansi both.

The woman rose from her ruck, then turned, untied the top, and began rooting through the contents inside.

It took her hours to build the second mural, and she worked well into the evening. Occasionally the piebald, a friendly boy from her brother's stock, would come over and nudge her in an attempt for more carrots, and Lind would sigh and straighten, her back cracking, before producing another carrot for him to munch on. He was a welcome distraction, and his insisting nudges for attention and nickers made her smile, slim though it was.

By the time she'd finished building the second mural the sun had just begun to set beneath the mountains, and Lind realized she'd obtained a guest.

The woman was tiny and bent with age, barely breaching five feet in height. Unlike Lind with her heavy parka, she was adorned like many of the locals in the area, in a light, summer dress comprised of caribou skin. Her hair was up in two tight, white buns on either side of her head, and her face was adorned in tattoos: three vertical stripes that ran the length of her lower lip and down to her chin, and three pairs of additional stripes along the length of her cheekbones and down to her jaw line. They were faded with age, and against her weathered, wrinkled skin were almost unnoticeable. She'd drawn the attention of the piebald as Lind was inscribing a name into the marker, and as the Valkyrie turned to look at her the woman spoke. "Who was it?" Her voice was rough, like the grating voice of a bear, though lacking the loud pitch they were so known for.

"A Valkyrie," Lind replied. "I never had a chance to meet her, but I wanted to make sure she wasn't forgotten."

The old woman said nothing, and brushing her hands on her pants, Lind rose and stepped away from the grave marker, a small frown on her face. "They probably already have a grave for her already, but... "

"Mass graves are impersonal," the stranger supplied, and Lind found herself nodding.

"I know nothing about her, but I saw her go," she continued. "She died in agony, in a land with no kindness under a roof that did not exist. The ones who witnessed her death held no love for her, and so forgot about her. They left her body to hang and rot in the middle of a room full of horrors, and I fear her spirit never found release."

"So you pay tribute to this unknown Valkyrie by creating a marker next to a nameless grave?" the woman asked.

"She's not an unknown Valkyrie. She had a name. Just like the owner of the grave her marker rests beside. They will not be forgotten. Neither of them."

The woman grunted. "Best not let your father learn of this."

Lind looked back at her, then back to the two grave markers. "He won't," she replied. "Iansi is forgotten in his mind, as is the location of his grave. And even if he were to remember, I find that as I age I care less and less about the opinion of others. There is only what I can do right by myself, and this feels right to me."

"Will you sing for them?" The woman asked.

"I'm not a shaman," Lind replied. "I'm a warrior. I can't enact those rights for them."

The woman snorted. "You do not need to be a Tupilek to sing the songs of release. You stand before your brother and your sister, and you cared enough to remember them where others would forget. Though your brother shamed your family and your sister hails from a foreign land, you would still remember them. But why bother remembering them if you cannot set them free?" She wagged a carrot meant for the piebald at Lind, scolding her. The piebald flicked his ears in irritation and tossed his head, snorting. The woman glared at the horse. "Don't you start. I'll have you sent back to your herd with no more treats if you keep that up."

The horse neighed and stomped his foot in protest. The woman raised an eyebrow, as if getting ready to say something, but the piebald seemed to back down.

"I don't know if my singing will be good enough," Lind replied. "You always said I sounded like a screaming goat whenever I sang."

"Unless you've taken voice lessons since last I saw you, I'm sure that hasn't changed," the woman said dismissively. "But it's not how well you sing that matters. You know this. Stop making excuses." Lind cast a glare at the woman. The woman's expression didn't change.

"Old Bat."

"Sing your songs, Screaming Goat."

Lind sighed. "Will you at least screech with me, Old Bat? I don't like singing in front of an audience."

"Are you asking me to sing the songs of release for a man who should be forgotten?" the old woman challenged.

"You're here, aren't you?" Lind retorted.

The woman laughed. It was a raspy sound, like that of a raven or a crow. "I suppose I am. Alright. Sing your songs and I will join you, and together we will see if the Yakone will come and bear them away." Lind smiled. It looked relieved.

The songs they sang were long and deep and wordless. Contrary to what was believed, it was a pleasant sound. Songs that did not so much sound like the harsh screech of an old bat joined with a screaming goat but a set of songs that paid tribute to the world around them, at times fading to the whisper of a gentle breeze and at others rising to the sharp crack of breaking ice. The air pulsed and thrummed with their songs, well into the evening and into night, where the moon appeared as a sharp, white crescent against the sky.

Lind's throat was raw and dry by the time they'd finished, and she looked down at her companion, who'd come to stand next to her at some point during their song. The woman was watching her with bright brown eyes. "Let us sit," she said. "I've not seen you eat since your arrival. The horse has eaten more than you."

Lind said nothing, but followed the woman back to where her ruck rested, unsurprised to see it'd been joined by another bag made of seal skin. The piebald was lipping at a patch of grass a short distance away, and as the two of them drew near it perked up in interest, ears flicking forward at the prospect of receiving more treats. Tail swaying, he meandered forward, only to be shooed away by the old woman. "No. You've had more than enough treats for one day. Let us have our food or I'll roast your leg and dine on that instead." The piebald's ears went back and he tossed his head, eyeing the duo for a moment longer before trotting off to lip at a new patch of grass.

Lind removed the waterproof parka that had come standard issue with her equipment. She'd been using it to keep her own ruck dry in the tundra, and now she draped the long, white cloth out as something for the two of them to sit on. The woman removed a wineskin from her own bag as well as a smaller bag filled with caribou jerky, and Lind removed a rations packet from her own possessions. Together, the two broke bread, sharing the meal between them. Lind was amused to see that her own rations didn't seem to win the woman over. "This is what you eat now? I've tasted wolf dung that is better than this."

"Cheapest bidder," Lind replied. "JAW. Just Add Water."

"Just Add Piss' you mean," the woman grunted. "At least then it might have flavor. Get rid of that. There is plenty of jerky to split between us."

Lind looked at the woman and then down at her packet. Shrugging, she gathered the ration and tossed it back in her ruck. "I'll let the others try it," she said. "I know they'll enjoy it."

The woman huffed. "Only thing your siblings will enjoy out of that is the fact it came from a Valkyrie." Lind hummed in agreement.

The two lapsed into a companionable silence, watching the night sky as the early hours of evening slowly ticked by. "They said you'd fallen in battle," the woman said after a while. "That you'd been captured by Niflheim's children. That you'd been grievously hurt."

"I was," Lind replied. "That's how I came upon my fallen sister." The woman offered her the wine skin, and Lind took it and brought the bag to her lips. The water inside was cool and sweet, different from the water she more often found in Sana District or the Central District. Water melted from the Chugach Mountain icecaps.

"They would not let us see you because we are not citizens of Asgard. They do not trust us because of the Supporters of the Black Flag that dwell in this region," the woman continued. "Nanuq was angry. He feared losing a second child."

Lind said nothing. The woman lapsed back into silence. The moon began to make its journey across the horizon.

"Why do you wear your hair like that?" The woman asked. "I have never seen such a style before."

"It's a Valkyrie tradition." Lind was at least more responsive to this second attempt at conversation. "I have another sister that is lost, but may still be alive."

"Oh?"

Lind nodded, playing with the long strand of hair that dangled before her right shoulder. "She was my NCOIC when I was captured. She was not recovered with me." The woman tugged it, finding the pull somewhat reassuring. "When we lose someone, the old traditions they teach us is that we cut our hair. All of it, except for a small strand. The Shi Baku. It is to represent the one who is missing, and to remind ourselves that she is still out there. It is only cut once the missing Valkyrie is found."

"And if they are like your fallen sister?" The woman gestured to the new grave marker.

Lind stared at it, her expression bleak. "Then they are still found," she replied. "We hope we find them alive, but if it is only remains…" She shrugged as she trailed off, looking uncomfortable. "The Shi Baku is still cut. It is braided and knotted at one end, then left to dangle in the meditation murals."

"A strange tradition," the woman muttered.

"No stranger than waiting for the Yakone to appear."

The woman huffed and fell silent, and as another hour passed between them, Lind's pocket began to buzz. Both women jumped for different reasons, and Lind dug into her pocket and removed her cellphone. She squinted at the ID tag on the phone, then sighed when she recognized Nebo's name. "I must take this," she told her companion. "Will you let me know if I miss the Yakone?"

"Is it Valkyrie business?" the woman inquired.

"Something like that."

"Then go." The woman shooed her off, and nodding, Lind rolled to her feet and moved off to the tree line. The piebald, ever curious, ever greedy, followed her in hopes of another carrot.

She gave him an apple slice instead, then brought a finger to her lips. Don't tell. The horsed lipped at the fur lining the hood of her parka. She ignored it and instead answered the cellphone. "Lind here."

"Lind! Kyz, I got good news for you!" It was Nebo and he was almost screaming in the phone. He sounded excited. Lind sighed in relief. "Hey, so you know what I told you about the new angel implantation, right? Right? Well I just got back from a huge meeting with the Bel'tic after reading the report I wrote based off Cool Mint's manifestation."

"Right... "

"And you won't believe it! They amazed, Kyz! They want to fund more research into the program! You know what this means?"

Lind scratched her head, a small, amused smile on her face as she listened to the god's enthusiasm. "I haven't got a clue," she replied.

"It means we gonna bring your flight back!" Nebo was screaming of the phone now. "We got the funds for further research! We can perfect the operation based off what we learned from you and start moving on to Valkyries who lost their angel! Isn't that great, Kyz?"

Lind didn't hear him. Lind didn't hear anything after Nebo's first announcement. We gonna bring your flight back. The Major could recover. Mist. Gunnr. We gonna bring your flight back. They could awaken. Maybe with a different angel, but they'd be back. They'd be free. We gonna bring your flight back. She'd be able to see them again. Really 'see' them. Not in those damned crystals, but as themselves, laughing and yelling and shouting orders and running hundreds of miles just for the hell of it and... and...

"Kyz? Hey, Girl, you there? Lind?" The phone slipped out of her hand. Lind didn't notice. She was already racing out past the tree line and back to the marker, the piebald trotting after her like a loyal dog following his owner.

"They're coming back." The old woman looked up at Lind from where she'd been watching the sky. She raised a silver brow, and then released a shrill squack as the Valkyrie barreled towards her and enveloped her in a tight embrace. "They're coming back! Aga Sedna, they're coming back! I can't believe it, the flight's gonna wake up, they did it, they found a cure, they're coming back! All three of them: The Major, Mist, Gunnr, all of them!" Her voice filled the night sky like an owl's scream, and as her mother tried to calm her down, Lind laughed, then laughed harder still when her mother relented and joined her in her joy. "I can't believe it. I can't believe it! A century! A century of waiting and wondering and dreading they'd never recover, and they're coming back!"

At last she released the woman, who grinned up at Lind with a crooked smile. "Valkyrie business indeed," she muttered. "I suppose this means you must depart? For your flight? It sounds like they are important to you."

Lind paused, regarding her mother with a deep, grave expression. She took the woman's words into careful consideration, thinking back to Nebo's words and her CO's instructions. They won't return immediately, she thought. It's progress towards the end goal. Not the goal itself, she reminded herself. It might take another century before the procedure has been tried enough to practice on an angelless Valkyrie.

And if she was honest with herself, Lind wasn't certain she wanted to leave just yet. Yes, she'd come to send Iansi and Iritif off, and only that, but truth be told... she hadn't been home in ages. Not since Iansi's death, and that had been long, long ago. She'd missed the mountains with its sweet water, the green aurora and the red aurora. Riding bareback across the tundra on a horse of her brother's stock. Bantering with Sedna whenever she appeared as was her nature, sometimes with the dawn, sometimes with the evening, and always with the sun and the moon in the sky.

A sudden wave of homesickness struck her, and all at once Lind realized why Lt. Col Torunn had ordered her to take a full month off. I'm going to bring her back a pound of caribou jerky for this, she thought, and smiled. It came warm on her face, and for perhaps the first time in over a century, felt right, felt natural, and before her Sedna brightened as well. "They don't need me," she said. "Not right now." She hesitated, then asked, "Are... are the other here? Papa and Aaja and the others?"

Sedna chuckled. "You believe your elder brother can keep your arrival a secret?" she asked, then reached up and kissed Lind's cheek. "We knew of your arrival as soon as you crossed into the Chugach. They're all at home hiding in the dark, ready to surprise you because they expect an old woman like me to drag you back against your will. Been like that since I left to retrieve you."

Lind released a sharp bark of laughter. It almost sounded like a seal's bark. "All this time?" she demanded. "Aga, you're horrible! We've been out here for hours!" She shook her head at her family's antics, but the smile didn't fade. "And they have been hiding in the dark all this time? The neighbors will think they've been raided!"

"Let them think," Sedna replied. "You had more important things to deal with." She paused for a moment, and then as an afterthought added, "The Yakone came while you were speaking to your friend. I have never in my years seen it so close to the earth before. If not for my old eyes failing me, I'd have sworn I saw a pair of forms dancing on their waves."

"Did you really?" Lind eyed her mother with a raised brow, not at all believing what the older woman had to say.

Yet her mother merely laughed. "Let's go home, Tanarak. Grab that blasted phone of yours and haul that ruck on your back. You've got many a story to tell by the hearth, and many people hiding in the dark eager to listen."

XXX

It had been a good month. A very good month, and Lind was happy she was able to experience it in the company of both her angels and her family. She felt... refreshed. Revitalized. Maybe a bit calmer and certainly much more at ease with herself. Lind hadn't realize how much she'd needed to take some time off. Yet it was good to get back to work, good to be back in uniform, and after over a month's break from the repeated descents to Midgard, Lind had to admit it'd be good to get back into the flow of things once more. Maybe she could speak a bit more with Urd on the condition of her angels, perhaps squeeze a few more details out of the Norn that had so come to her aide after the nightmares had started up again. Maybe speak with Morisato and see if Jackson was around for another sparring session. The Valkyrie was planning on kicking off a new and reformed program as soon as Monday rolled around for the squadron. This time it would be at a more gradual pace from the heavy increase in activity that had so injured so many Valkyries in the squadron.

She'd tried to practice some of her moves with Aaja and her younger brother, Anyu, but neither of them presented any real challenge for her. Her father, Nanuq, had been a better opponent, but Nanuq cheated: he knew all of Lind's ticklish spots and had arms the size of logs, and more often than not any match against him ended in a bear hug Lind could find no escape from. Not that she'd ever tried particularly hard against him, but... maybe Jackson had a move up his sleeve that could counter it. She was probably out of practice with the moves he'd shown her anyways, and he'd said he would show her more, so maybe Morisato could help her out.

She smiled, amused at her own train of thought. It'd been ages since she'd just felt... happy, for a change. It was nice. Yggdrasil, it was nice. She whistled a tune, one that got stuck in her head on and off and always reminded her of the little tune Mist used to whistle. Something about a... was it a pink submarine or a yellow submarine? She thought it might have been pink. The light of the Gate's descent began to fade around her, and as her vision cleared Lind jogged up the gravel road and climbed the porch steps leading up to the Morisato household.

She reigned in her strength before knocking, remembering at the last moment that the material used on Midgard wasn't quite as durable as that used back home. She rapped on the door with a knuckle instead, still whistling her little tune as she listened to the muffled voices inside. It'd be good to see Morisato and Urd and Belldandy again, she decided. Things were never boring when she was with them, and all three of them managed to somehow find new and entertaining ways to surprise her. I wonder if I came during another holiday. She thought. Maybe Jackson will open the door again. The thought made her smirk, and the smirk spread into a smile as the door clicked, disengaging a lock, and swung open.

It was Keiichi on the other side this time rather than Jackson and at once Lind realized something was wrong.

"Lind?" The man's face was taut and strained. "Oh thank god you're here," he breathed. "Listen, I need your help. Seriously." The man tugged at his hair, which was messy and tussled from what looked like repeated attacks at his scalp. "You have got to get them under control for me. I can't—I'm at my wits end. I'm about to kill them all."

Lind bristled at the comment, alarm bells ringing in her ears. "Mori-Jank, what do you mean?" she demanded. "Kill who? What's going on?"

"Keiichi dear, who's that at the door?" A voice Lind didn't recognized reached the Valkyrie's ears, and the woman noted the obvious cringe of the man before her. A woman Lind didn't recognize appeared in the hallway for a brief moment-a woman with brown black hair who attempted to make her way down the hallway and towards Keiichi-and then Belldandy was in front of her, blocking Lind from further view of the stranger. A very audible growl rumbled through the hallway, and then the woman was retreating, backing away from Belldandy as the woman forced her back into the dining room area and out of Lind's immediate view.

"It's like a bunch of cats, Lind." Keiichi was pulling at his hair again, and it was only then that Lind noticed the heavy bags under his eyes. "I can't-It's like a bunch of cats in heat squabbling over a tom! I can't-I can't go anywhere without them going for each other's throats! You got to help me, Lind!"

From further inside Lind thought she head Urd's voice, grouchy and ominous and irritable. "If you two don't stop this shit right now I'm going to drown you both in the bathtub!"

A cackle of laughter told her that Skuld was there.

"She won't leave Keiichi alone though!" Belldandy.

"What have I done?" The new girl. "I have done nothing to earn such ire!"

Lind blinked, staring between Keiichi and the end of the hallway, waiting to see if either the Norns or the stranger would make another appearance. Nothing but shouts met her ears, and Lind had to admit, it did indeed sound like a clowder of shrieking cats in heat. She looked back at Keiichi, and then sighed. Exciting times indeed. She thought to herself.

Well... shit.


A/N: Who is it? Who is it?


Comments of a Madwoman: Sanngrior's fall was really hard to write. It's refreshing to finally get out of that and into something a little nicer. A little bit of World Building and a little bit more on Lind's character, and now we can finally move into what will become the next arch.