-55-

It was hard to judge how long they traveled. Despite the heavy snow, the land was still in the heat of its summer where the days ran long and at times endlessly. Tyr saw at least two nights in that time, though his mind and body told him they'd been trekking for much longer. He remembered the endless days of his homeland before taking the mantle of Daitenkaicho; long days where the sun would dip towards the horizon but never quite vanish, instead skating the horizon's edge before climbing back into the sky once more. In his younger years he'd always relished those days, where light was forthcoming and productivity was at its highest, where he could spend what felt like days training and working and then coming home to spend time with his family while light was still present, bouncing a babe on one knee while he bickered and quarreled and teased and joked with Ansuz. To coming home to the thundering rush of hounds-not his father's stock but of a gentler breed-and a toddler eager to greet him at the door. Of scooping up a laughing, screaming little girl amidst barking dogs larger than her and enveloping her in a warm embrace as his face was peppered with kisses.

Now no longer.

Tyr's gaze drifted to the large Tendee that lumbered beside him, and then hefted the woman on his back a little, readjusting the Valkyrie's position. Urd had never been excited to greet him like Belldandy had. She'd always been quiet. Solemn. Shy like only a child who'd been thrust into an alien environment could be shy. Reluctant in a manner by which expressing any kind of excitement at his arrival overstepped some unknown taboo. It had taken years, decades, centuries for her to break past her reservations, but upon conquering them had displayed a capacity for love on level with Belldandy-when the moment was right.

When the moment is right, Tyr thought. I wonder if such a moment is what has compelled you to continue as you are now. The Tendee's condition had not improved in the long trek from their initial impact point. Her head hung low. Her movements were slow and lethargic. She walked with a limp that had only worsened as the days had moved on, and Tyr, despite the time he'd taken to treat the injury on her left flank, held the real fear that his daughter was dancing with the prospect of a permanently lame leg the longer they went.

The tuvaak had been generous. Kind even. He'd taken them back to a wooden sled that rested upon bone bladed skis, and there he'd produced like magic a pair of snowshoes for Tyr. The sled was laden down with supplies; spears with stone heads, spears with bone heads, bolas tied with tendon-twine and a worn bow with fletched arrows. Tools made of bones, fur rolls made of seal skins. Lanterns filled with whale blubber. Water bladders filled with water so cold that Tyr wondered how the liquid didn't freeze in his mouth. And food. Lean caribou and fat seal, rich in protein and calories and perhaps the only thing allowing Tyr to continue as he was now.

The tuvaak had allowed Tyr to take his fill of food and water, and had even donated several of his furs-no doubt intended for border trade-to not only Tyr but Urd as well. Though it had taken a great deal of effort and the hunter's aid, they'd managed to dress several of the furs along Urd's back and neck, and had even fashioned 'boots' to help protect the Tendee's paws from frostbite out of spare seal hide. It had cost Tyr his metal hand, which had been retrieved from Urd only to be passed to the resident spirit, when the object had gained the tuvaak's attention.

A minor loss. Tyr had overcome the loss of his right hand before he'd even met Hild, and he'd learned to live without it long ago. It was more of an inconvenience at this point; the prosthetic, fueled by his magic to simulate the actions of a real hand, had been damaged beyond use after Urd had punctured it. The internal runes used to channel the energy were destroyed, turning the metal hand from a once useful tool to a stiff and lifeless hunk of cold metal. Again though, it had given him access to the tuvaak's supplies, and though he and Urd (and the Valkyrie, can't forget her) were still in rough shape, they were doing better than before.

They would need to find civilization soon though. The first-aid kit had only gone so far and would not help the more severe injuries Urd suffered from, nor ease the pain the Valkyrie was in or allow even Tyr's own hand a chance at healing. They needed proper shelter, proper medical aid, some place where Urd could rest and let her wounds mend and allow her to slip out of that Tendee form. Though he was loath to admit it, Tyr's worry for his daughter was growing.

Urd wasn't eating.

Though the tuvaak was generous with his meats and offered more than a fair share of caribou, seal, and even fish for Tyr and Urd, the Tendee took not a scrap of food. Instead, when they all stopped to rest and break bread, Urd would do little but curl up around Tyr and the Valkyrie, chewing on a small bit of snow before falling into a sleep so deep that there were moments where Tyr feared the Tendee might not awaken again. So far, each time his fears had been laid to rest but... there was a piece of him that noticed every time they packed camp, it took longer and longer for Urd to awaken.

Tyr chose not to entertain the thoughts behind why that might be. It was already hard enough to fight the growing sense of urgency that was creeping up on him as more time passed. The gnawing need that chewed at his gut to find civilization; a city, a town, a village, even a scattering of buildings that would allow his daughter a chance to recover. A chance to tend to her injuries, to stich her wounds properly and without fear of them ripping open again, unlike the messy stitches Tyr had attempted on her flank that had torn open not even an hour after they'd been applied. Of allowing her the opportunity to rest for as long as she wished in a place warm and protected from the elements. Some place where Urd could recover before she fell asleep and did not wake up again.

Some place where he could pass off the thrice-cursed Valkyrie on his back that Urd was wasting her energy on before his daughter fell comatose.

Before him, the tuvaak raised a fist towards the sky, a gesture Tyr had been quick to learn meant 'stop'. Both he and Urd came to a halt, and Tyr squinted out against the horizon, trying to figure out what had alerted the tuvaak. The man scanned their surroundings. The hills of unblemished snow were long gone now, though the snow was just as deep and dangerous as before. In its place trees had sprung forth, long and lonesome pines at first, before swiftly growing into a forest of quiet evergreens packed dense and tight. Now they were navigating through the forest via a long trail of white snow. The trees here had been stripped away, creating a path through the forest spanning ten feet in width from bank to bank. The trail was too clean to have been a simple animal trail, and was perhaps the first, if only, sign of civilization so far out in Chugach.

Now it appeared as though something was approaching them from further up the road. A black speck at first, growing in size as light reflected off something metallic. It was moving at a fast pace down the road towards the group, and at its approach the tuvaak grew restless. He shifted his weight from foot-to-foot, and the noise that came from his throat was low and guttural. The spirit looked back over his shoulder at Tyr, who awaited the spirit's secular guidance with a resounding calm. The spirit muttered to himself in his native tongue, then gestured for Tyr to wait before bounding off into the surrounding tree line with a subtle grace that left Tyr envious.

Tyr watched the spirit vanish, conflicted now as he turned his gaze back to the abandoned sled that held the tuvaak's supplies and then back to Urd, who stood observing the approaching object in silence. Tyr wondered how good his daughter's eyes were in that form. Could she make out what he couldn't? The Daitenkaicho looked once more back to the object. Whatever it was appeared to be comprised entirely of metal, or a material that mimicked it, and the sunlight reflecting off it created a glare that hurt to stare at for too long.

The man raised his bandaged hand to shield his eyes, though it did little against the glare. "Is that a... truck?" he asked aloud, baffled by what appeared to be a large, silver truck approaching them. The vehicle slowed as it grew nearer, and with it more details came into play. The vehicle was indeed a truck; a Chevy pickup with an old and rusted horse trailer attached to the back. Tyr could see areas on the truck where the silver paint had been worn away by rough roads of gravel and salt, leaving the metal beneath exposed to rust and wear. It was an ugly creature, one that looked to have seen many a mile on roads both paved and not, and a part of Tyr wondered how the massive vehicle managed to stay on the snowy trail without either sinking through or sliding off the road.

The truck slowed to a stop at close to twenty feet in front of Tyr, and a man stuck his head out of the window. Music poured from inside the vehicle, singing above the engine from a pair of old and worn speakers. "You the Wonderbread with anikatiga?" He spoke with a hint of a French accent.

"Am I the what?" Tyr asked, staring at the man in complete and utter astonishment. He looked back at Urd, as if to ensure the Tendee was still with him, and then to the Valkyrie on his back, finding himself with the sudden need to assure himself that Tyr had not, in fact, wandered into another dimension where people addressed each other as bread.

Unfortunately, he had not.

"Well you sure ain't a Sourdough. Not dressed like that you're not." The man continued, then gave a long and low whistle. "Jeez-us Man, how'd you survive so long like that? You wearing a bathrobe and a fur coat!"

"I would hope I'm not any kind of bread," Tyr muttered. "I'm trying to get to Chugach," he said in a louder voice. "Or at least a village where I can get some proper clothes."

"Yeah, you the Wonderbread alright." The stranger sighed. "Fuck a duck I hate it when Aga is right. Your Nimiaiaq's gonna make the whole trailer smell like snake. Bad for the horses." The man pulled his head back in the window, and above the engine Tyr caught the vehicle's speakers sing out, And so I'm having a wonderful time but I'd rather be whistling in the dark. For a moment Tyr thought he heard another voice-not the stranger but someone younger-singing along with it before the slam of the truck's door destroyed his concentration.

The truck still running, the newcomer approached Tyr, dressed in what Tyr considered an absurdly light jacket unsuitable for the snow around him. While not exactly short, the man was by no means tall, settling on an average five foot seven that left him dwarfed next to Tyr. His hair was short and black beneath is beanie, and as the man's brown eyes met Tyr's, the first thought that came to the Daitenkaicho's mind was, this is a soft man. His face was kind of pale, his eyes placid as they roamed from Tyr to the Valkyrie on his back and then to Urd, observing them all with a poor attempt at stoicism that left him easy to read.

The man looked uncomfortable, standing before the Daitenkaicho and his Tendee daughter.

"You alone?" he asked. Hs gaze lingered almost suspiciously on the tuvaak's sled.

Tyr pursed his lips. "I was guided by another," he admitted. "He assisted my daughter and I in reaching this point."

"That so?" The man shoved his hands in the pockets of his jacket, the discomfort never quite leaving his face. "Who was he? A man? A spirit? What'd he look like?"

"He claimed he was a tuvaak," Tyr replied. "I was led to believe that was a hunter of some sort, is that correct?"

"Yeah, you ain't wrong Bud," the man said. "But anything can be a hunter up here. The bears, the seals, the men, the spirits..." He pursed his lips, and this time looked out into the treeline. Tyr thought he could see the tuvaak hiding within the shadows. The stranger looked back to Tyr. "What'd he look like though? If he was a man, was he a strange man? If he was a spirit, do you know what spirit he resembled?"

"Does it matter?" Tyr asked, a slender black brow raised in question.

"Yes," the man said without pause. "You a wonderbread-a qallunaat-sorry, a foreigner-so I ain't expecting you to understand, but there's rules we gotta follow up here. If you were aided, and that debt ain't repaid proper-like, then we gonna get cursed, and pardon mon anglais Monsieur, but fuck that."

Tyr was silent, looking back into the forest and then back to the stranger. "Am I to understand that you'll take my company and I to Chugach?"

"Per the Elders' instructions, yeah," the man replied. "Aga was specific. You and your crew outfitted and taken back home. Dunno what business you got up there, 'specially with Big Little Sister half-dead on your back anyways, but that's why they the Elders and I'm just a horse breeder."

Tyr's eyes widened. "You're related to the Valkyrie?"

"Who, Tanarak? Yeah, sure." The man shrugged, apparently unconcerned with the unconscious woman on Tyr's back. "But I got all my incarnation to worry 'bout her. Curses span into generations and the souls misfortunate enough to be reincarnated within them, so I'd prefer we address that now before your helper gets impatient with us."

Uncomfortable with the man's attitude, Tyr gave a quick explanation of the stranger, providing as many details as he could and watching as the stranger's face went from stark interest into white shock. "Is something wrong?" Tyr asked as he finished.

"You got the luck a some powerful spirits on your end, Wonderbread," the stranger replied. "You been hanging with a tornit of all things." He rubbed his gloved hands anxiously, then wiped them on his pants in a gesture Tyr recognized was born from habit. "Okay... so that's why Nanuq wanted the horses... okay, fine, I get it. Bejeebus, I get it." The man sucked in a long breath. "Kay Bud, this gonna suck, but anything the tornit gave you...give it back. Put it all back on the sled. Furs, snowshoes, weapons, whatever. Those ain't for you anymore'n they're for me." He scowled at the blank look Tyr gave him. "They ain't fit for man or Inua or, or god if that's what you wanna be called. They meant for the tornit, and the tornit lead hard lives. He letting you borrow his things, but since he passing you off to me, you need to give them back and I need to give him payment for you."

"Payment for me?" Tyr demanded, even as he danced in attempt at removing the snowshoes with his feet. His right foot scraped the heel of his left, stomping down on the leather strip keeping his boot in place. One foot free, he began on the next. "Why would he-" The stranger didn't hear him. He was already trotting off through the snow back to his truck, where a pair of young children-both no more than five-stuck their heads out the passenger side window.

"Akkaga!" The little boy shouted, "When we getting poutine?!"

'Akkaga' spun on his feet. "Pilip, you and Kshitija help the Wonderbread get the furs off him and Nimiaiaq. Have him load your auntie up in the back a' the truck. No lip!"

The boy flinched at the older man's tone, then shared a look with his sister. Both children vanished into the truck, the window rolled up, and then both of them, they were twins, Tyr noted, threw the doors open and leapt out of the truck, where the little girl slammed it shut behind her. With a speed and exuberance that spoke of youth, they raced to meet Tyr. A few feet away the boy stopped to crane his head back to stare up at Tyr and Urd. He pointed with a hand stuffed inside a blue glove. "They might be giants!"

"Boy," the little girl spoke in a deep voice.

The children erupted in a fit of giggles over some joke only they were privy to, and then the two of them knelt to help Tyr out of his snowshoes. With both off, the girl grabbed them and raced off to return them to sled. The boy took Tyr's fur coat and folded it with a level of reverence that was borderline religious and almost spooky to watch from a child so young. Tyr missed the warmth the cloak brought, but did his best to ignore it as he turned his attention to Urd. Here, both children stopped, their eyes wide and uncertain as Tyr approached the Tendee.

"Nimiaiaq!" Urd started at the stranger's voice, and the spines along her back bristled in alarm, causing both children to retreat. "You let the young'uns help you out a' those coats, you hear? Otherwise you spending the trip North in the pickup's bed where it's cold instead a' the horse trailer where it's warm, yeah?" The stranger was guiding a large, heavy-bodied workhorse towards them. Its brown body was wrapped warmly in a coat that Tyr almost envied, and when its eyes fell on Urd's serpentine form it let loose a scream.

Urd flinched back, head stooped low, made anxious by the distress in the horse's cry. The stranger cursed, his focus returning to the horse, and once more filled by a sudden and reckless sense of urgency Tyr acted, not so much pulling the coats off the Tendee as ripping them off as he juggled the Valkyrie on his back, and almost tripping over the small boy who came to collect them. The girl, just as reckless or perhaps just as brave as her twin, slipped off first one 'boot', then another from Urd's paws, and through such combined efforts both Tyr and Urd were relieved of their borrowed possessions.

"Akkaga!" This was the little girl screaming this time, and Tyr was not at once made aware she was speaking to him. "This way, Akkaga!" She waved the Daitenkaicho over to the truck, and as both Tyr and Urd moved to follow, both twins stopped and raised their hands. "No!" Both children cried.

"Nimiaiaq, you come with me!" The boy yelled. "You won't fit in the truck." He ran around the truck, taking a long detour around the nameless man and the horse. "You scaring the horse! We gotta hide you so he calms down."

Urd appeared to have other ideas, however, and was instead following after Tyr. The man paused as the girl opened the back of the truck. "Urd, follow the boy. I'll join you once your friend is inside, I promise you."

A distressing noise came from Urd's throat, and the Tendee didn't move, her tail whipping anxiously behind her and only fueling the horse's apprehension. Her body lowered and curled up upon itself, the Tendee slunk backwards, and Tyr once more saw the telltale sign of red bleed into her gaze. The man swore vocally, almost missing the truck's back door opening. Without thought- without care even- he threw the Valkyrie onto the blanketed seats within, then raced back towards Urd at such a speed he wasn't certain if his feet ever touched the ground.

"Urd, Urd! Shimmey, calm down! Calm down for me, please!" He reached the nervous Tendee just as the last bit of violet vanished beneath the ruddy red hue, and recognized he was probably going to be in a lot more pain by the time he calmed his eldest down again. The Tendee shrieked, and the cry was of such an intensity that it left Tyr's ears ringing. White-violet electricity danced in her maw, and though Tyr couldn't hear he saw the twins retreating in terror, screaming. Damn it Girl! Not here! Not now!

He reached her before the Tendee had a chance to put her lightning to work, leaping for his daughter without thought to the consequences and wrapping his arms around her neck. He felt spines bite painfully into his arms, but was rewarded for his reckless act as the god's combined weight and momentum dragged his daughter into the snow. Urd squirmed beneath him, yet her struggles were weak; too much of her own willful neglect had robbed the Tendee of her strength, and even the lightning fizzled and died before it could leave her jaw.

Eventually she stopped struggling, and Tyr loosened his grip, staring down at his daughter wearily. White foam frothed at the tips of her mouth, already starting to freeze, and her eyes, though bright, were unfocused, the red within them once more beginning to fade away. She was panting wildly, and Tyr watched as small, fast clouds formed around her snout. This is bad, Tyr, his own voice warned him, at this rate, she won't last another night.

I know, Tyr told that piece of him. Yggdrasil, I know, I know!Picking himself up, the man towered over the Tendee, feeling for the first time since childhood very small and very powerless. Could Chugach care for his daughter, if they made it back there in time? If Urd hadn't just burned their bridges with the Truck Driver and his twin children? Was Chugach even capable of administering the aid Urd would need to recover? Did Urd even want to recover? Or was she happy to fade away into the night like her Valkyrie friend, following her companion into Yggdrasil-knows what afterlife?

The ringing in his ears began to fade, and it was only then that Tyr realized he had been joined. He looked over his shoulder, finding the Truck Driver standing a few feet off. "Come on," he said. "I'll help you get your Nimiaiaq into the horse trailer, if you like." His two children stood on either side of him, each grasping tightly to one of his hands as they peered over at the fallen Tendee with cautious curiosity.

"Your horse?" Tyr asked.

"It's fine," the man replied. "He's got some blinders on right now so he don't panic, and, well...he's a gift for your friend, anyhow..." The man pursed his lips, a deep, regretful look passing over his face. "They ain't got much use for horses. They're more of a... delicacy, if you catch my meaning."

"Nimigiak-livak tuvaak?" the tuvaak's voice whispered in Tyr's ear.

"I...catch your meaning," Tyr replied. "Thank you for your aid."

"Yeah..." the man muttered. "Don't thank me yet. Aga and the Elders still gonna take a pound a flesh from you, and you may still be cursing my name."

"What is your name?" Tyr asked.

"Aaja," the man introduced himself. "Aaja Tuttukpak-Kajistiaat. The young'uns are my younger brother's, Pilip," he raised the boy's hand, "and Kshitija." He raised the girl's hand.

"A pleasure to meet you," Tyr replied. "I am Daitenkaicho Tyr Odinson." He turned to his daughter, then stooped, and with some effort, scooped his daughter up onto his back, as much of her as he could gather, at least. "The big one here is my eldest, Urd. I apologize for her behavior. The journey has been... difficult, for her."

"Disastrous, you mean," Aaja muttered. "You still want I should help?" The sentence was scrambled enough that it took Tyr a moment to understand what he was asking.

The man shook his head. "I have her," he replied. "Your trailer doesn't have any more horses, does it?"

Aaja shook his head, leading the way to the trailer. "I had some forewarning. Not much but... some. One horse. Edit the back trailer so there ain't no horse stalls. Grab a portable heater and line the floor with fresh evergreen branches to help cut the cold." They approached the trailer, and Aaja opened the back door. A blast of welcome warm air struck Tyr's face, and though the inside steel walls smelled very much of horse, it was as Aaja had described it. "Come on, let's bring your girl up front next to the heater." He allowed Tyr to drag Urd inside, and with both children following Aaja closed the door behind him. "Go ahead and lay her down, the branches are springy and will help cushion her against the steel floor, and I've got plenty of horse blankets we can wrap her up in-and you, if you don't mind horse-'till we get back across the border and get something better suited for the both of you."

"Does that mean we're still getting poutine?" Pilip spoke up, daring the silence as Tyr carefully laid his daughter out on the floor.

"Depends," Aaja replied. "Hey Wonder-sorry, Tyr, you and your girl like poutine?"

"You'll have to forgive me when I say I don't know what that is," Tyr replied. His eyes had gone back to the wound on Urd's left side. The one that had nearly torn open a hole in the Tendee's stomach. It looked red and swollen, the tips around the edge of the wound yellow with a growing sign of infection.

"You've never had poutine before?!" the little girl, Kshitija, spoke in disbelief. "How have you lived?!"

"Quite well up until this point." Tyr muttered under his breath. In a louder voice he asked, "Do you have any medical supplies?"

"Yeah, we got one in the truck and one here in the trailer," Aaja replied. "We'll stop and by grab some food for you both in Dawson City before crossing the border back into Alaska and making the jump to Chugach. Hate to say it, Bud, but your girl looks like she ain't had nothing to eat in a month of Sundays."

You're not far from the truth, Tyr thought, and wondered if Urd would even bother with 'poutine' or if she'd just turn her nose up to it like all the other food items that'd been offered to her. Yggdrasil's roots, at this rate he'd try damn near anything short of shoving food down Urd's throat to force her to eat. "Thank you."

Aaja waved him off, instead heading towards the trailer doors and withdrawing a tin container held against the door in a mesh pocket. A large red cross adorned the front, and as he returned to pass it off to Tyr, one of the children spoke once more. "Can we stay here in the trailer with Auntie Nimiaiaq?" Kshitija asked.

Aaja raised a black eyebrow. "I'd say it's up to Mr. Odinson," he said. "You don't want to stay with Auntie Tanarak?"

Pilip shook his head. He hesitated for a brief moment, his eyes sliding back to Urd before looking between Aaja and Tyr. "...Auntie Tanarak told us."

Both Tyr and Aaja stared at the twins, Aaja in the midst of handing over the medical box to Tyr, both with their arms outstretched and frozen in this new and unexpected announcement.

Together both men spoke aloud, each verbalizing their disbelief.

"Your Auntie Tanarak?" Aaja asked.

"The half-dead Valkyrie?" Tyr asked.

"When?" they voiced together, followed by, "How?!"

"On the ride down here," Pilip said.

"Auntie came to us when we were sleeping," Kshitija joined in. "She said that her fate is out of our hands,"

"And that Auntie Urd needs us more," Pilip picked up. "Auntie Tanarak said we need to be the healing presence..."

"That will help anchor her soul to this land," said Kshitija. "That way it'll be harder for her to lose herself,"

"When she goes after Auntie Tanarak," finished Pilip.

Together the twins stared up at Tyr and Aaja. "So can we please stay here in the trailer? We promise we'll behave!"

Tyr glanced at Aaja, at a loss of how to proceed. While he knew of premonitions in dreams and astral projections amongst entities attempting to commune with others, Tyr also recognized that it was a very specific type of magic, and not one so easily inherent in all people. The twins' explanation implied that not only were they capable of receiving such premonitions in dreams-and at such a young age- Yggdrasil they were only five- but that the half-dead Valkyrie, the burden he'd been forced to carry on his back, had the strength of will to send her spirit out to these two young children and pass on her own premonition of things to come. "Is this a magic in your people?" He asked.

"It can be..." Aaja pursed his lips, and Tyr was alarmed to see that Aaja was in a similar state of bewilderment. This was not a common thing, then, and certainly unexpected on the part of the local family relations. The horse breeder looked at Tyr with caution. "Would you mind if they stayed back here with your daughter?"

Tyr hesitated, and then looked back down at the Tendee in question. Urd's breathing had calmed, and her eyes (by the Ancients he'd never been so glad to see that her daughter's Tendee aspect had eyelids despite its serpentine nature) were shut. The Daitenkaicho didn't like that he couldn't tell if his daughter was listening, asleep, or in just too much pain to care either way. "I will stay back here as well," the god said after a moment. "And I have no issues with the additional company, if you find it appropriate as well, Aaja." A double meaning; Tyr had no intention of leaving his daughter alone in the horse trailer during transport, and if by chance something happened, he would be there to protect the children, as necessary.

Aaja nodded in cautious agreement, and though he smiled Tyr could see in his eyes that he very much did not want his niece and nephew staying in the back of a trailer with a stranger and his giant snake-monster daughter. The fact that Aaja chose not to voice his displeasure lent credence to his own beliefs in the explanation provided by the twins. "We'll stop for extra poutine on the way then, yeah? Get you guys one of the walkie-talkies so we can keep talking." The man fought back a scowl, which twisted his face into something Tyr wasn't quite sure he wanted to recognize. "It's a long trek home. Good five or six hours or so, given traffic."

"It's fine," Tyr announced. "After the journey to meet you, mere hours are a walk in the park."

"I sure hope so," Aaja breathed.

Aaja left them soon after that, returning only with a pair of backpacks-one light blue, the other black, both with cartoonish images of a masked man Pilip informed Tyr was 'Captain America' on the back, and a large, blocky device Aaja explained was a 'walkie-talkie'. He handed the device over to Kshitija, who promised to teach Tyr how to use the device, and then Aaja was off, the steel doors closing shut and leaving Tyr and the children-both his and not his-in cozy peace. The twins were a blessing in disguise; eager and sincere in their desire to help, assisting Tyr with opening the medical tin and aiding not only Tyr's injuries, but cleaning Urd's injuries as well.

At some point the walkie-talkie chirped, startling Tyr, and a static-voice that was only vaguely recognized as Aaja's came over the radio warning them that they'd be on the move soon. Tyr passed on his own message saying they were ready with aid from Pilip, and then took a final look outside one of the small windows that lined the trailer's side, rubbing off the fog that had built up from the heat and peering outside to look at the tuvaak's sled. The horse, bridled, was tied to it, and stood dolefully as it awaited its fate amongst the returned pelts and equipment loaned to Tyr by the tornit.

Tyr could see no sign of the tuvaak anywhere.

The trailer lurched into motion, and Tyr sat down, pressing the stump of his right hand against Urd as if to reassure her of his presence.

"All will be well," Kshitija said, and Tyr looked over at the two twins, who sat huddled together amongst their Captain America backpacks and their walkie-talkies, watching him with wide, glacier-blue eyes. For a moment they didn't look five. Instead, Tyr thought he caught a glance of the adults they might one day become; a pair of calm and gentle sooth-sayers, beloved by both their home tribe and the surrounding tribes, and whose love was all-encompassing and infinite.

Tyr smiled, and felt that perhaps it was a little relieved. They're just a pair of puppies right now, Tyr thought. One day they'll grow into a pair of gentle giants, but for now they are puppies, eager to learn and eager to please.

The Daitenkaicho made himself comfortable against his daughter's belly and was unsurprised when a pair of small, fluffy puppies came to curl up beside him.

The trailer was warm and he was exhausted, much like his daughter.

The threat of danger was gone, for the moment at least.

I'm just resting my eyes for a while, Tyr told himself as he closed his eyes. Just for a moment, and...

And Tyr, surrounded by his daughter and a pair of grinning puppies curled up on either side of him, slept.

Above a truck and a horse trailer heading north, a red aurora borealis began to shimmer and dance.

XXX

A crack of thunder accompanied by the blinding flash of the lightning that created it caused Keiichi to bolt awake. For a moment, he was back in the Afghan desert wondering where the high ground was. Desert rain squalls may usually be brief, but they can sometimes bring devastation in their wake. The ground, so parched in the desert sun, does not absorb fast and heavy rains as quickly as one might think. What doesn't get sucked in by the thirsty earth flows downhill, fast. He had witnessed it first-hand early during his SEAL training.

In the third eight-week segment of BUDs, the teams start learning land warfare. As part of their training, they traveled to Camp 29 Palms, which is just southwest of the Mojave Desert. They were there to observe one of the established SEAL teams as they worked with the Marines on base during a Combined Arms Exercise. In support of this operation, the Navy's Fleet Hospitals set up a scaled down version of the 500-bed tent hospital that each was responsible for during wartime in order to bring their reserve detachments in for training.

The hospital was set up at the bottom of a hill that also had numerous Quonset huts along with the admin buildings, small Marine Corps Exchange, and of course, a bar.

When the rain hit, the hospital was, of course, inundated with water, sometimes several inches deep. They very nearly had to shut down the small hospital and transfer the few patients they had to the main base hospital. Fortunately, some quick actions not only on the part of the reservists, but from Keiichi's class had saved the day. It was a lesson that he never forgot, and which had possibly saved his life a couple of times in the field.

It took Keiichi a few seconds to realize he was not in Afghanistan or 29 Palms. He was in Yellowstone National Forest, in a tent with Belldandy. They had arrived the day before after stopping for some supplies in a small town. They had reviewed the camping options on the way up to the park, and decided that a back country trek would be best since it was still just past Memorial Day weekend, and there still may be a number of people camping in main campsites in the park. Keiichi had called ahead after doing a little research while Belldandy was away tending to the kitten and made the proper reservations.

The hike in was rather enjoyable. The website had warned him that the trail they had chosen was not being maintained and that parts of it had been grown over with vegetation, so when they had stopped for supplies before they arrived, he had bought the parts and fashioned a makeshift pace counter set to go along with Keima's compass so that he could track how far they had gone. Sure, he could have used his phone and the GPS on it, but what was the fun of that? When they arrived and checked in with the Rangers, they had warned him about the trail as well. He just smiled and waved as the couple set off.

On the way to their camp site, Keiichi had been pleasantly surprised at how adept Belldandy was at hiking. She had quickly picked up a good walking stick on their way and at no point did she slow him down, except when the kitten needed tending to, of course. When he asked about it, she reminded him that she came from a hunting family, and that sometimes the good trophies are way off the beaten path. She did not elaborate more on that, and Keiichi let to go in case it was a reminder to the goddess that she had lost her powers.

The campsite they arrived at was surrounded by pine trees. Keiichi set up their tent while Belldandy got started on making their dinner, which was some prepackaged, dehydrated meal. "Just add water", it said. Belldandy wasn't too enthused with the prospects and had bought a few extra items to go with it. Later, Keiichi would wonder why he had been surprised that Belldandy's cooking, even in the middle of nowhere, was still top notch.

That evening they both sat next to each other on a log at the edge of the forest. The stars were shining brightly, the arms of the Milky Way easily discernable without the haze caused by the lights of civilization. They said nothing, just sat shoulder to shoulder staring up at the naked sky. The only worrying aspect was when they had decided to head to bed. The almond haired goddess paused for one last look before she mentioned that she would need to bring Urd here when she returns. It twisted a knot in his gut, but that voice in his head told him to keep quiet, to let her figure it out on her own. Denial, the first stage of grief, could actually last a while. He made a note to himself to ask the psychologist when he got back.

Another crack of thunder brought Keiichi back to the present. He was lying on his back on a ground pad that Keima had provided along with the tent, sleeping bags, and backpacks. It had certainly saved him from having to purchase the items, although they did invest in a small, portable camp stove rather than lug his father's old two burner kerosene stove on the six mile trek. He turned to Belldandy as a flash of lightning illuminated the entire tent. The goddess was still sound asleep, undisturbed by what was going on around her. Clutched closer to her breast was the kitten (he refused to call it Teabag), also similarly oblivious to the storm that was brewing above them.

The tent was staked down quite securely, so when the rumble caused by the wind wall that the storm was pushing in front of it approached, he remained unconcerned but alert. In truth, the lightning was more worrying to him than anything else, as the timing between the flash and the rumble was steadily decreasing. When the wall of wind did hit, though, the timing still indicated that the lightning was occurring at least a mile away, or a mile above them, so he calmed down after that.

The rain and the wind came suddenly, shaking the tent violently as it was buffeted by the storm. Keiichi glanced back to Belldandy, who remained fast asleep, and idly wondered if it was her divinity that allowed her to sleep through such a racket, or if she was truly experienced in sleeping through such a horrendous storm.

As he hunkered down to wait out the storm, he felt something hit his head. He turned to it, just in time to get a drop of water in his eye. "Son of a bitch," he mumbled quietly as he looked up to the ceiling of the tent. There, he could see drops of water forming in multiple locations, all on his side. In fact, several drops had already fallen down on various parts of his sleeping bag.

Thinking quickly, Keiichi reached up and put his finger on the point where the drips were occurring, then traced his finger down the side of the tent away from him. The bead of water obediently followed, and in spite of the wind pushing the walls of the tent around and the lighting continually illuminating the inside, he was able to successfully redirect all of the leaks he found to different locations. He sat there for a moment watching for any new formations, but as another flash lit up his surroundings, he saw no more.

What he did see, though, was the outline of something outside the tent. One flash, and it was just a vague outline. Another flash, and it became more distinct, a large, hulking form that immediately brought one word to his mind.

BEAR!

Keiichi quickly turned and reached to his pillow to grab his Colt that was safely ensconced there. As soon as he turned back to where he saw the form, though, it was gone. However, there was plenty of rustling around the tent, so he felt like it was still there. What little food he and Bell had brought was safely stowed away in a 'bear bag' about twenty feet up in the air on a branch that appeared to have been cleared for just this purpose. He sat there for a few minutes, listening to the rustling. One thing that he could not understand was why it seemed to be coming from directly above them. Even if the bear had decided to climb the tree the food was in, it was about thirty yards away. No reason to go up a tree above them, and certainly not in the middle of a storm like this.

As he sat there primed to act if the animal attempted to breach the tent, the volume of rain hitting the tent started to taper off. Along with it, the intensity of the lightning flashes subsided even though the time between the flashes and the thunder did not slacken. The rustling above them also stopped. Keiichi waited a good fifteen minutes before he was satisfied that the danger was gone, then finally laid back down. After a few minutes more, he was asleep.

And the storm continued to rage around them.

XXX

Drifting.

Drifting...

Drifting in water...the ocean churned and sighed, and she was...

She was...

Sinking...

Life. She was alive. Somehow, by some means, she was still alive.

"You seem quite certain of this, little child." A voice spoke to her, coming from everywhere at once. She thought she opened her eyes but saw only darkness, and then decided that she didn't need her eyes. She was alive. That was enough for now.

"Why is that?" The voice around her spoke once more, and she found a small comfort in it. It was a soothing voice. An all-encompassing voice, one whose breath and sighs brought a gentle and soothing melody to her mind. Like the sea. Like life. For water was life; where there was water, there was life, and if she was in water, then she must be alive. She thought this with the same simple, devout belief that the sky was blue like the ocean, that she was the eldest of three and thus the Secret Keeper, that birds flew and fish swam and that birds swam and fish flew, and that like those two contradicting creatures she was the fish in the air and the bird in the sea, the deer that ate meat and the cat that ate grass. For her there was no question of what the water could have meant. Water meant life for her mother's people, landlocked as they were. And so where there was water, there was life. If she was in water, she was alive.

"An interesting belief." She thought she heard the voice laugh but wasn't certain. "One to share with Tanarak when you meet again. Her views would differ greatly from yours."

Tanarak...

That name...

She...knew... T.a.n.a.r.a.k...

Lind.

Lind.

She opened her eyes, yet the darkness still encompassed her. Lind. Where was Lind? Where was she for that matter?

"You already answered that question, little child. You're in the water."

She searched for the voice but found nothing that could be the owner. Yet this was magic, she was certain; strange magic, alien magic, wild magic, and its rules were unfamiliar to her. It had a familiar taste though. Urd recognized that she was not in her body.

"You were guided by my grandchildren, do you remember?"

Grandchildren... children? Had she... seen...two children? No, no, there'd been dogs, not children! More horrible hounds, yipping and snarling and showing their teeth as they'd tried to herd her away from her father, and then-

And then...

She writhed, the pain of the injuries of her physical form sending phantom bolts of agony through her astral form. Gods, she wasn't living, she was dying! This wasn't life, this was death! Black death, deep and penetrating, a blanket of deterioration that was smothering her, pulling her down and away from the physical shell she'd slipped out of.

A terrified mewl came from her mouth, and as her jaws parted she felt the inky blackness surge into her, thick and slick, a living tar that clung to her lips, her tongue, her teeth, and then slid down her throat. She felt it fill her lungs, felt it grow harder to breathe...

Release. Air. Light. She was submerged underwater, but the sensation of suffocation, of drowning was no longer. She looked around her and saw nothing but the infinite depths of the ocean, and was reminded of her childhood with its stories of Tehome. She looked down and saw darkness, looked up and saw light in a cast of luminescent blue.

"To think, Tanarak would have such a dramatic friend. So you are Urd then? Don't answer me." An image came to her mind then, that of a woman, small and ancient, her face wrinkled with age, her hair long and white. She floated in front of her dressed in a parka of thick fur, but she appeared not at all affected by the water around her. "You really are Nimiaiaq then, aren't you?"

She opened her mouth to respond, and was immediately silenced, "Hold your tongue."

She stared at the ancient sea-woman in confusion. The old woman said, "You going after my daughter, are you not? Tanarak? Whom you call Lind?"

She nodded with some caution, and the woman nodded with her. "Good. You understand. I would almost think you were aware of the trial already laid out before you."

She tilted her head at an angle in consideration, and then inclined her head in agreement. Yes, she was aware, though how she'd obtained the knowledge was a mystery to her. Trials always came with those who went after the dead, or the dying, as was Lind's case, but why that trial meant her silence was a mystery to her.

"It is because you are in the boundaries between life and death." The woman explained. "A realm I myself know very well. When I was your age, I went hunting with my father. We quarreled, though I can no longer remember why. Fear I think, or anger over my spouse being a-goodness, did he believe it was a dog or a bird? In a rage he threw me from his kayak. When I tried to climb back on, he chopped off my fingers and I sunk into the water, where I drowned. I became the sea and the underworld's guardian together because of that, and my children were born from my fingers-the walrus, the whale, the seal, and others... but that is another story. As I sank drowning I crossed the border between life and death, and hung there for a while. That is where you are now, Child. And like myself, this realm has passed on to you the secrets of the dead and dying."

"You are incomplete." The woman continued, "Not living but not dead. Your people have a term for it, as I recall. Not your father's people. Your mother's. 'Dead but dreaming', do you know it?"

She did. She knew it very well, and the term brought with it a level of fear. That was an old term, an ancient term, used to refer to the Ancient One whose body had laid the foundation for the multi-dimension. 'dead but dreaming'. A state of being alive even in death. Only those of immense power were supposed to fall into it, for they were the Ancient Ones; incapable of life or death for they existed during a time where such concepts did not yet exist. That she, a child born beneath such concepts, might be bound by similar rules was a thought almost too terrifying to contemplate.

"Don't be like that. You can stop it at any point." The woman said, "Turn around and leave this borderland and recover as your father wants you to, if this frightens you. But know that Tanarak would remain as she is now, crossing this same boundary into death and leaving us all. She cannot turn back without help, and her path is strange and alien to me; I cannot reach her as I am now." The woman observed her with bright brown eyes. Hopeful eyes, she realized.

"Will you leave her?"

Of course not. Lind had saved her life. Lind had become one of her closest friends. She wasn't about to lose that after everything that had happened between the two of them.

"Good." The woman smiled, and perhaps there was some relief in her smile as well. "Then know that you are in the Boundaries, and as such you are 'incomplete'. Neither one or the other, and therefore with no Voice of the Living or Voice of the Dead. This is part of your trial, an Oath of Silence, as dictated by powers much greater than me. You understand them, yes? From the time of your near-death and the time of Tanarak's near-death, you have been under oath. You must not speak a word, must not reach out to commune, and instead must only seek and search and hope." The old woman paused then, and in her face agitation and tempered fear danced in a duet. "I can change it a bit." She said, "I can give you one Voice, given that you are seeking my daughter. But you must choose what that voice is."

"You can have the Voice of Life, and reassure your father and your kin that all is well. Commune with them and let them know what trial stands before you. Or...you can have the Voice of Death. You can commune with the spirits you'll meet, and perhaps even those Underworld Gods like me who guide those souls to rest. They may have details on Tanarak's whereabout..." The woman paused there, unable to continue, and it was through such lack of speech that the depth of her fear was made truly evident. The smile on her face wavered, and the woman whispered, "I can't sense her, you know. The Yakone is right above her head and I can't sense her at all. She's already been stolen from me."

The Green Trail.

"What is the Green Trail, Child?"

The path that fallen warriors walk. Her step-mother had told tales of it in her youth. There were three trails: The Blue Trail, walked in times of peace. The Red Trail, walked in times of war. The Green Trail, walked by those warriors-Valkyries and others-who'd fallen in combat.

"And you believe her there?"

They had fought a monster together. An ultimate destruction program that would have killed a planet if Lind and herself hadn't taken it out. They'd been in...jur...reeddaaaaaAAAAHHHHH.

"Child?"

And she didn't know where she was. Her body was alive and screaming in pain, so much PAIN. Her body thrashed and seized and-where was she? Where was the angel eater, the beast she'd fought beside Lind? Where was it? Where? Why was she in so. Much. Pain?!

"Chi-"

She thought she saw a person and lunged, certain it was the source of her distress. It'd been a human before. A human and then it'd turned into a monster, and then a... human again? One who'd sought to kill her soul! She was certain! A human shape, one that smelled of death, one that smelled of battle, one of hounds, one that brought despair in its wake, and she would kill it, she would kill it, she would kill it to protect herself and-

"rd!"

And she stopped. Pabba. Her Pabba was calling. She thought she could smell him in the darkness, near the shape that reminded her so much of her injuries and which even now sent her keening in pain. Yet she knew that scent, that scent of ash trees and steel. It was a soothing scent, one that eased her pain as if by magic. With it, her rage began to fade as well, and in its wake she was left shaking and afraid. She looked around but didn't see her Pabba anywhere. She almost made the mistake of calling out to him before remembering herself, and what emerged instead was a sad and lonely chirp.

The woman appeared before her again, and in her eyes was a great pity. "You have been wounded deeply, haven't you?" She thought she felt something touch her face, a hand maybe, but wasn't certain. She leaned into it all the same and was a little more certain of its tangibility. "And here I am, asking you to risk further injury-death even-by seeking out my daughter." There was anger in the old woman's voice, anger directed towards the old woman herself. "What a selfish old hag I must seem to you. I did not realize the depths of your own injuries. Your very soul is hurting, isn't it?" She thought she felt something stroking her head and sighed heavily. "I should not have come to you for this task. Even with a daughter at risk... death and reincarnation, even if it is not amongst our tribe, is a small loss when compared to a scarred soul."

"I shall speak with the others when you arrive." The woman decided. "You and your father will rest and recover until you have the strength to leave again, and I will find another person to make the journey after Tanarak.

She grew alert at once, alarmed when she felt the tangible presence begin to fade. No, no, NO! She couldn't just abandon Lind like that, no!

In her mind the woman was starting to turn, to vanish, only to pause at the last moment. The old woman looked back, and perhaps what she saw was not a deity called 'Urd'. Perhaps it was not even the serpent 'Nimiaiaq'. Perhaps instead what she saw was something else, something a little less god-like and a little more demon-like, or, given the circumstances, perhaps even a great deal more Ancient, for the woman paused and stared for what felt like an eternity.

The Voice of the Dead. Let her speak to the dead and to Nidhogg, Yggdrasil, and all the Ancient Ones the consequences of her actions. She'd find Lind and drag that damn Valkyrie back kicking and screaming if that's what was necessary.

The old woman pursed her lips, her expression unreadable. "You are still determined to go after her even with such injuries. You care a great deal for Tanarak, don't you?" She smiled a tiny little smile. "...Don't answer that." The woman sucked in a long breath. Bubbles in the water flew into her mouth. "Then for your perseverance...for your desire to save my daughter...and my own weakness in letting you go, allow me to give you two gifts. One you know already, the Voice of the Dead. The other... may keep your soul from deteriorating further, if you would allow it."

And as fate would have it, Urd would.

XXX

Belldandy awoke to the sound of a crying, squirming kitten. She blinked her eyes, and after some adjustment, could tell it was still early. The sun was just starting to illuminate the inside of the tent with its morning rays. She looked down and smiled at the small creature. Even in the few days she had it, she could tell it was putting on weight, which was a good thing. She did have one bottle handy, so she slipped out of her sleeping bag and pulled on a pair of sweat pants. She gathered up her cardigan and what she needed and reached for the tent's zipper before glancing over to Keiichi. The dark-haired man was still sound asleep in his sleeping bag.

She frowned when she saw that the Colt was out, noting that his hand was resting next to it, and wondered idly why he would have gotten it out. A cry from Teabag (she was determined to make that its name) brought her attention back to what she needed to do, so she slowly pulled the zipper to open the tent. She stood and shivered slightly after closing the tent back up. It was a chilly morning for sure. She took her squirming charge and placed him in the pocket of her cardigan that she had purchased for just this purpose. Inside was a rabbit fur lined pouch that would keep the kitten warm.

Teabag's protests indicated he did not want to be in the pouch, he wanted to be fed. Immediately. "Yes, yes, I will get you taken care of," she said, trying to console the small animal. It didn't work.

The goddess took a small pan and added some water to it before placing the bottle she had prepared in it. She then lit the small camp stove and sat the pan on top of it to warm the water, and the bottle inside. As she waited, she glanced around and immediately noted that there was a canopy of cedar branches above their tent. She furrowed her brow for a moment as she could not recall if that was there before when Keiichi set up the tent or not but decided it must have been. She had not paid much attention since she was doing the cooking and did not go into the tent until well after it had gotten dark.

She shrugged and decided to ask Keiichi about it later.

When the bottle was sufficiently warm, she sat down in one of the light chairs they had brought and went about the task of feeding Teabag. He was a good eater, so after only a few moments, not only was the bottle nearly empty, but the kitten's belly had taken on the distinct pear shape associated with a full tummy. She set the bottle aside and went about rubbing its bottom with a wet towel to stimulate it to go to the bathroom. When that was completed, she placed the kitten back into his pouch in her pocket, where he curled up and went to sleep.

This gave the goddess a moment to look out and enjoy the scenery. When she exited the tent, the sun was barely peeking over the horizon, now it was just completely above it. When she looked around, she realized that it had rained the previous night. The smell of the clean forest put her mind at ease and she settled in to relax.

Except she couldn't.

Bolting up out of the chair, Belldandy realized she had forgotten something. It had been difficult, but she was determined to continue the singing that Nebo had prescribed for her. Even though she could not call out Holy Bell, the angel could still sing from within. In fact, the past couple of days, she had sung quietly to herself with the angel joining her in her heart. To her, it was necessary to do that since she did not feel like she had the privacy she had when she was at home. Now, out in the middle of nowhere, she was determined to sing out loud. "For Urd," she said to herself, and began to trudge into the forest.

The trail coming in and out of the campsite was fairly well developed, so it wasn't like she was just going to wander around aimlessly in the woods until she found a place and get lost in the process. In fact, they had passed a location she felt would be good the evening before. It overlooked a cliff that was about twenty feet high. She hoped that the acoustics of the area might allow her to get a good echo and make is seem almost as if she were singing a duet.

Where she stood on the precipice overlooking the small valley below, the sun was at her back. With the sun at her back, It cast a long shadow across the chasm to the other side. The light was just starting to travel down the cliffs on the opposite side some hundred and fifty meters away. She frowned just a bit as she noted a thin mist could be seen nestled along with the evergreens at the bottom. That would hinder the effect she was looking for as the higher humidity would dampen the sound of her voice somewhat. It didn't matter, because she was going to sing her loudest, so that Urd could hear, and hopefully come.

She knew that Keiichi thought Urd was dead. He might not have made peace with it yet, but the certainty in his voice when they spoke about it last had been unmistakable. In truth, Belldandy had thought the same, until the vision. Keiichi would argue otherwise. It was not a dream, she told herself as she scrunched up her face and balled her hands into tight fists. It was too vivid, too specific for it to have been anything other than the Sight!

"But how did Skuld know you were there?"

That came from Holy Bell, and Belldandy briefly wondered whose side her angel was on. But she was right, that was an unprecedented event. In all the incidents where she had used her Sight, or it had overcome her, she had never been able to interact with anyone in her visions, and they certainly had never interacted with her. However, Skuld was the strongest of the three when it came to use of the Sight, rivaling even their father in that regard. It's not outside the realm of possibilities that Skuld is strong enough with the Sight that she could become aware of another user observing her, Belldandy replied.

"That's a bit of a stretch," her angel reminded her.

"It's not outside the realm of possibilities!" exclaimed Belldandy out loud. When Holy Bell offered no further retort, the goddess looked around again at the scenery around her. "I know she's alive," she said quietly. "Now let us do what we came here to do."

The goddess cleared her throat, then burst out with a series of notes to test the acoustics of the area. As she expected, the echo coming back was quick and high enough to make it sound, at least to her, like two people were actually singing. That was the effect she wanted because in spite of their frequent fights over the matter, she missed the duets with Urd. As she started singing, she held a small hope that if she put her entire heart and soul into it, that Urd might hear.

It-suo me rron Risi pahl ste

Menn tom rrom Fresty vome

Tse snoff

The first part of the song was meant to be a duet, and once again, Belldandy was pleased that the echoes coming back to her gave the impression that two people were singing. She and Urd had sung this once before, and it was beautiful with their voices intertwined. This wasn't perfect, by any means, but it still gave her comfort. She turned her head slightly to the left.

Suyaf ta

Safian fe churi

Kiyat-la

To terus tsetnia

Ainen bi

Twu elun Mafto

I fi yun ni rronta sity

As she sang the first solo portion of the song, all manner of lifeforms around her, from the elk in the woods across the chasm to the caterpillar on a tree behind her, stopped to take in what they were hearing. A grizzly bear down in the valley, fat from the morning's foraging, sat on his hind quarters and looked up the face of the cliff. It could see the goddess above it, and with the sun at her back, it almost looked to the animal as if an angelic creature was behind her, singing along.

Belldandy turned her head back to the right as the second solo portion began.

Frres vome risi

Risi mo tsom

Risi men som rrome

I kendio ston

Dhis tomen so

Musweede davi saza

Once again, the sound reverberated off the valley walls and returned to Belldandy to be her partner in the duet. As the next solo started, she again turned her head and shifted into a lower key.

Yazwi toreo

Fizi se hela

Yageto rze i magite

Metwi de elessa

Dei

O midi saqwale e

Span matle qireto e

Onn matle seqwale e

Ize

This part was for Urd and Urd alone, meant to be sung in a lower key that was more comfortable for the silver haired goddess. Fortunately, Belldandy had enough range in her voice to be able to sing this part as well, albeit not nearly as competently as her sister could. She again shifted her head to finish the song.

Secle e

As she held the final note for an extended time, she hoped against hope that Urd had heard her song and would respond. When she finally let up, though, there was nothing other than the vague movement of the animals as they returned to their daily lives. She let her shoulders sag. Perhaps tomorrow, she thought to herself.

Then, the unmistakable sound of footsteps approaching. They were not coming from up the trail towards their campsite, so it could not be Keiichi coming to check on her. It was also not coming from down the trail, so it was not another hiker. No, they were coming from directly behind her, from inside the forest. They were approaching, and they were heavy. The only person it could be, Belldandy decided, was Urd. In her excitement, she turned to greet her sister.

"Oh my!" she exclaimed as a huge shadow covered her, blotting out the sun.

"Your singing is beautiful!"