Waltraute didn't say a word. She stood motionless as the guard made his report, telling Laufey how he and his companion found the Valkyrie lurking outside Hela's apartment. Suspicious, they checked the room and discovered it had been searched; while he himself went to fetch backup, his companion went to catch the Valkyrie. She put on a valiant fight: it took six of them to make her subdue (Brunnhilde's lips twitched at this). They had to break her left leg to stop her; even now Waltraute was using all her will not to moan in pain.

The guests were positioned around the throne, Hela and the Master on Laufey's left side, the Doctor and Romana off the stairs, near Brunnhilde. None of them talked until the guard finished. Then, Laufey turned his eyes on Waltraute, red pupils filled with rage.

"Every time I think I heard everything about Asgardians, they prove me wrong."

"Your Majesty ..." Brunnhilde began.

"Not now" Laufey hissed, raising a finger. "I will hear you in due time, but first I'd like your companion to tell me why a member of the warrior elite of Asgard stooped to such a low level."

"I am no thief" Waltraute said. "You may ask your guards if they found anything missing from the renegade's room."

"And how should they know?" Hela intervened. "I highly doubt they know what you were looking for."

"I wasn't looking for riches not for treasure, nor did I intend to steal from you, Your Majesty."

"Oh? That's interesting" Laufey grinned. "So, you were not looking for anything belonging either to me or my guest, and yet, you were looking in my guest's room. An intriguing riddle."

"Your Majesty" Brunnhilde now spoke again, "the reason of Waltraute's deeds lays in the instruction we were given by Asgard, and directly involve our case. I cannot tell you more now, but I give you my word I will lay down everything during the trial."

"And how can I trust you? You acted behind my back, broke a rule of my palace and insulted my guest. I am rather tempted to give her the Right on the spot and send you back to Asgard."

"Your Majesty, I ask you leave to speak" the Doctor interjected, raising his hand. The Frost King watched him curiously for a minute, then waived his hand, giving him permission. "I am afraid that, if you send back the Asgardian delegates, it could be seen as a declaration of war, and ... I could be wrong about that, but I don't think it's a good idea to have the mightiest power in the Nine Realms ... or one of the mightiest, at least ... to wage war on you."

"You underestimate us, Doctor."

"Not at all, not at all, but even if you want to wage war, I presume it will take some time to prepare everything, am I wrong? And can you really afford such a time?"

"And what would you have us do?"

"You could simply order the Valkyrie to be kept in your dungeons" Romana also joined the discussion. "Closely guarded, and with no allowance to speak with anyone, save me and the Doctor, given that we help Asgard in the upcoming trial for the Right, and if what happened, as Brunnhilde herself says, is directly connected to it, we must know. Every other decision, you will delay it until the Trial is finished."

"An excellent suggestion" said a voice behind Laufey – the Master. "Your Majesty, I strongly advise you to follow the advice of this young, but very wise, woman. It will satisfy your justice, since the guilty one shall be punished, without causing a diplomatic incident. Everyone is happy."

Laufey's eyes went from the Master to Hela to Brunnhilde to Romana. Slowly, his lineaments relaxed, as the rage in his eyes faded, substituted by an ironic smug. Eventually, he nodded.

"So be it. Guards, take the prisoner to the dungeons and put her into one of our best cells. No one can approach her, save for the Doctor and the Lady Romana. Make sure she is well treated."

As soon as the door of the room was shut, Brunnhilde collapsed on the bed. She was exhausted. The fight with the Frost Beast had been tiresome, and she didn't have a single moment to breathe before this new problem came out. You add one problem to the other, and you end up with at least a terrible headache.

Well, there was nothing to do but sleep on it. She was no use to Waltraute in the state she was now; on the contrary, she had to be in her best shape for the next encounter. Luckily, she had some allies, supposedly. That mysterious Time Lord, the Doctor, and her companion didn't save her friend for nothing, she'd bet her sword on it. She was just a little concerned about the other Time Lord, the one with Hela, agreeing with their suggestion, but there would be time to assert all that.

Summoning all her strength left, she was able to stand, and moved her first steps towards the bathroom. She would clean herself, then get a good, long sleep. She really needed it.

She was midway when she heard knocking at the door.

Oh no, not now! she mentally snapped, and with anger giving her new energy she opened the door in a fury, saw quickly who it was and cut them off before the Doctor had even opened his mouth.

"Shut up! I had to face a giant monster today, and my best friend is currently in jail because of you! I am grateful for your help, I'm sure you're on my side, I agree we have to talk, but come back in a hour, no, two, and let – me – rest!"

And with that, she slammed the door in their faces.

"I told you it was too early" Romana remarked, amused by the Doctor's disconcert.

Two hours later, now in a much calmer mood, Brunnhilde reached the Doctor and Romana, in the flat space in front of the palace, in what she thought was the Frost Giants' idea of a garden (the Doctor had the idea of stick a post-it on her door before leaving). It didn't take long for her to find them. The Doctor was laying down, legs-crossed, his back against a piece of ice, his hat lowered upon his eyes to shield him from the reflections of the sun; Romana sat on a nearby bench, deeply immersed in a book, her white fur elegantly disposed to avoid folds to ruin it. Neither of them seemed to pay attention to her coming.

"I'm ready to talk" Brunnhilde announced. There was no reaction. "Don't tell me you are sulking for earlier?"

"I am just waiting for you to move a little to the left, you're blocking my sun" the Doctor replied from under his hat.

"And I am hoping she won't move, because if she does, she's going to block my sun" Romana interjected. Sighing, Brunnhilde just sat on the same bench as Romana.

"Happy now?"

"Pretty much, yes. Now, we can talk. Doctor, will you do the honour?"

"No, no, go ahead. Aren't you the diplomat between us?"

Romana rolled her eyes. "Talking about sulking, see an example. He is mad because he thought he could convince king Laufey to let your companion walk free, and didn't like me stealing the spot with a more reasonable proposal."

"Could you please stop it?" Brunnhilde almost screamed. "I appreciate what you did, both of you. I don't think I would ever be able to convince Laufey myself."

"You're welcome" Romana smiled. "But we have to start thinking of a strategy, not least of all because Hela and her advisor, this so-called Master, definitely have one. We need to be allies." A cough behind, from the Doctor, made Romana roll her eyes once again. "And the Doctor thinks the best way to be allies is to tell each other why we are really here, both of us. So, I'll start. We didn't know anything about Asgard's internal problems when we came here, we are here because the High Council ordered us to look for ... well ... the Infinity Stones."

"What?" Brunnhilde exclaims. "What is Gallifrey's interest in the Stones?"

"The CIA ... our secret services ... detected someone is going to use them, in a relatively recent time. We have to locate them, take them to Gallifrey, lock them out and see that this does not happen. We have a mechanism to trace them, and the first stop was here, on Jotunheim."

"Well, your mechanism is correct" Brunnhilde nodded. "And, as a matter of fact, this is the reason why we are here. Right before Hela broke out of her prison, we received report of a robbery committed at the Repository, one of the most secure banks in all the universe. Two items were stolen, a map of some sort and ... the Tesseract."

"What?" the Doctor jumped on, suddenly excited. "The Tesseract? Asgard's ultimate weapon?"

"Yes" Brunnhilde nodded. "Odin decided to lock it away from Asgard when he gave up any military projects. There still was someone faithful to her, and he didn't want to risk his own weapon was using against him, or other realms. It was also a sign of good will to all the Nine Realms."

"Doctor ..." Romana's mind was racing through, extracting from her memory bits and pieces of the Gallifreyan history she learned at school. "The Tesseract ... our histories said it had enormous power. He could transfer a whole army across worlds, open portals ... its energy could be used to make weapons! Some say the first TARDIS engineers used it to develop our transcendental engineering!"

"I think I know what you're getting at. There is an Infinity Stone inside the Tesseract, isn't, Brunnhilde?"

Brunnhilde nodded. "The Space Stone. I don't know how or when Odin found it."

"It doesn't matter right now" the Doctor dismissed her. "Why did you suspect Hela, or the Master, had the Tesseract in her room? It doesn't take a genius to see that such a dangerous weapon needs a safer way of containment, and a less obvious hiding place."

"And that's why I do the talking, thank you, Doctor" Romana cut him off. "But the question still stands."

"We had to start somewhere, and no, we did not expect to find the Tesseract there. However, we hoped this could give us some clues regarding Hela and her intentions in coming here. It's no secret the Frost Giant don't love Asgard, and Laufey is resentful to pay us tribute. She may have come here to gather an army, and if she has the Tesseract ..."

"I see" the Doctor agreed. "And then there's the Master. He is a renegade Time Lord, with a list of crimes on his head longer than my scarf. Also, he's my oldest friend and enemy. Anyway, you can be sure that he's not helping Hela, or the Giants, out of loyalty. He has his own agenda."

"So, what do we do?" asked Brunnhilde.

"Well, I don't know you, but I am going to ask Waltraute what she saw" Romana said, rising up from the bench. "As your help in the upcoming trial, I am entitled to visit her, and I have a right of confidentiality. I will tell you what she said to me."

"Good, you do that" the Doctor agreed. "I am going to retrieve K9 from the TARDIS. He has a pretty good tracer incorporated in his systems, and if I program it correctly, he can track down the Tesseract."

"Wait" Brunnhilde stopped them, as they were already leaving. "You can't go off like that, you need information. You" and she pointed at Romana "need me to tell you some codes for Waltraute to trust you, and you need to hear about the Tesseract ... unless you walking away was your way to say you'd just improvise."

"No, I needed to stretch my legs, but thank you for providing us information before we ask. Very kind."

Not surprisingly, the dungeons were by far the less pleasurable place in the palace. They were dump and cold, only barely lit by the few torches attached to the walls. The guards were also nothing but unpleasant: they didn't harm her, nor they addressed her, but Romana still could feel their eyes on her body as she stood up, demanding to see the prisoner. Their chief took his time to verify she was allowed to do so, which quite tested her patience (or rather, her impatience), and no matter how much she pressed him on, he would not hurry. It seemed like hours until Romana was finally admitted to Waltraute's cell; and by that time, she was freezing to death and rather distressed.

Waltraute slowly rose up from her 'bed' (a thick block of ice with a blanket on it) and looked warily at her.

"Hi" Romana began. "We have not been introduced yet. I am ..."

"The Time Lady assisting us in the upcoming trial. Yes, I know."

"Good. Can we also skip the part where I convince you to trust me? We have a lot of work to do, and not much time to do it."

"No, we can't" Waltraute snorted. "The mission we are sent on is secrete, so ..."

"Yes, yes, Brunnhilde told us, you have to recover the Tesseract and the Infinity Stone inside it. Now can we ... ?"

"No" Waltraute was firm. "If you have indeed spoken with Brunnhilde, then she has with no doubt giving you a token, or a coded message, which I could recognize."

"Oh, for Rassilon's sake ..." Romana sighed. "She told me to tell you that, and I hope I pronounce it correctly ..." and she went on pronouncing a string of guttural, deep sounds, which made Waltraute laugh.

"You need to work on the accent, Princess, your throat is way too close for the Hutt language. But it will do, for now."

Thank the Menti, Romana thought to herself.

"Now, tell me what did you find out last night."

"I searched the rooms of the renegade and her advisor: the Tesseract wasn't there, as we suspected. In the Master's room, though, I discovered papers with some mathematic formulas written upon them."

"Did you take them?"

"No, they were under a sort of locker, beside the bed ... not something made of ice as the Giants do. It looked like he put them under it so that they wouldn't fly away. I tried to move it, but it was like ... glued to the papers."

"Couldn't you at least see the formulas?"

"Not in their entirety, the device was very well placed. Anyway, I was on my way out when I heard noises outside the door. I hid just in time. It were two Frost Giants. They came in, used a tool to detach the papers from the device and went out. One of them looked at them and smiled: he said the Master had kept his end of the bargain. I tried to follow them, and it was then the guards saw me."

"Have you seen where they went?"

"Yeah" Waltraute nodded. "They took some stairs to the lower levels. They have mentioned a laboratory, which honestly surprises me. Since when do the Frost Giants care for science?"

"Since when indeed" Romana sighed. "I shall report this to Brunnhilde as soon as I can. Now ..."

"One other thing: the renegade. They didn't talk at all about her. They kept referring to the Master, and the Master only, as if she wasn't part of the picture."

"Did they?" Romana smiled. "That's intriguing, thank you very much. Now, I am sorry to bother you, but I really need you to fill me in about Hela. I think I need a recap in Asgardian history."

"I detect no traces of gamma rays in the palace, master."

"What? Are you sure?" the Doctor asked.

"100 % sure. There is no object in the palace emitting gamma radiation."

"So, the Tesseract is not in the palace?" Brunnhilde asked. "That's just great."

"But logical nonetheless" the Doctor sighed. "If Laufey is really plotting to rebel against Asgard, I suspect it won't be clever to keep the Tesseract when an Asgardian envoy could find it."

"Then what do we do? Start start going around Lafey's kingdom with a metal dog?"

"I do detect something else, though, master."

"Really? What, tell us!"

"There is something distorting the signals, master. It may be an attempt to cover the gamma waves."

"Good job, K9! Can you trace back the source?"

"It will take time, master. This cover is very uneasy to read. Estimated time to end ... thirteen hours and forty-two minutes."

"What?" Brunnhilde screams. "I thought your dog was supposed to be a very advanced computer!"

"He is" the Doctor retorted. "And the Frost Giants are not an highly scientific people, so this means the Master is behind this: he is good at science, very good unfortunately."

"May I suggest an alternative, master?"

"Go on, K9."

"Supposing that this Master is the creator of the distortion, it would be logical to find his place of hiding and search here."

"So that if we found the origin of the distortion, we can disable it, and then you will trace the Tesseract. Oh, that is brilliant, K9! Good dog!"

"Except, I don't think guards will allow us to enter in his room at the palace, not after Waltraute's attempt."

"We don't need to" the Doctor grinned. "K9, search for traces of artron energy. We go to the Master's TARDIS."

Romana came out of Waltraute's cell wishing for a hot cup of something and some blankets, and also for a moment to sit down and process everything she has been told. She had to inform the Doctor and Brunnhilde, of course, but she had to form her own judgment and thinking of the best line to sustain the Valkyries' case.

Lucky for her, it didn't seem a very difficult case; on the contrary, it seemed quite simple. Hela was the right-hand woman of Odin, but rebelled against him when he changed policy; she killed other Asgardians, and now she was defiantly betraying her own planet by giving the Giants the biggest weapon in Asgard. She clearly was not qualified for the Suppliant's Right. Of course, Romana knew that now she had to hear Hela's version, at least out of courtesy, but that could w...

"Hello, my dear."

Oh no.

Hela stood at the entrance of the dungeons, amongst the guards. She had changed in a greyish fur coat and a tiara; at her fingers, she had some shining rings. Even in her state of mind, Romana had to admit she now looked much more like a princess.

"I hope I am not intruding. They told me you went to talk with the Valkyrie in the dungeon."

"So?"

"I assume she gave you her version of the facts concerning my past guilt. I was hoping you would like to hear my version too."

"Another time, perhaps. At the moment, I am very cold, and ..."

"I also made prepare some food and wine in my room. It's almost lunch time, and I thought you may appreciate a more ... comforting situation where to speak" Hela added. Romana briefly thought of refusing, but her grumbling stomach and her almost-frozen fingers reacted loud and clear. And her brain also added that, in this way, she could prepare a more complete case, and everything would then be over.

"Alright, then. Lead the way."

"How much farther?" the Doctor asked, clutching in his coat, the scarf raised above his nose. For the last ten minutes, K9 had been leading him and Brunnhilde up along a steep mountain path behind the palace; even though both he and the Valkyrie were in good physical shape, it still remained a tiresome activity.

"We are approaching, master. Approximate time of arrival: ten minutes."

"You said that ten minutes ago!"

"Sorry, master. I keep calculating speed upon your biological rhythm of walking, and it is growing increasingly slower."

"Well, sorry for us biological beings feeling tired!" the Doctor snorted. Behind him, he heard Brunnhilde laugh. "That's what you get when you welcome onboard a mini-advanced computer."

"Why do I get the feeling this is what you normally do? Go around the universe arguing with your computer dog and your partner?"

"Romana is not my partner" the Doctor retorted. "She has just been sent to assist me. As soon as we are over with this quest, she is out."

"Are you sure? I don't mean to pry, but you two actually seems to ... kinda work together."

"Really? How so?"

"I've seen it all of the time in our ranks: two individuals apparently incompatible can actually work together amazingly if given a common purpose. It's how it works for me and Waltraute: I am friendly, sociable, a people's person, bent on breaking the rules more often than I should, and she is stern, silent, utterly dutiful and devoted, with no distractions whatsoever."

"Sounds like a match made in heaven, but that's not me and Romana. She's not my type of companion."

"And how is your type?"

The Doctor smiled. "Smart, brave, curious ... preferably blonde" he added, fondly remembering Jo (and Polly). "Eyes shining with wonder in front of the universe, voice filled with enthusiasm, like a ... chicken just come out of the egg, looking at the world for the first time. The gender is irrelevant, I actually had some great male companions" he concluded, as Ian, Steven, Ben and Jamie resurfaced in his memory.

"And Romana is ...?"

"Oh, for being smart, she is smart, they don't give you a triple first at the Academy for nothing; and as for brave, I honestly don't know how many Time Lords, nay, people, who'd agree to go on such a mad quest. It's the curious bit that she's sorely lacking. She displays what I always hated in my own people, this air of superiority, as if we are too precious to mingle with the rest of the universe."

"Funny, I didn't get that vibe from her" Brunnhilde thought about it. "She's a little stiff, I grant you that, but didn't give the impression she was dismissive, or arrogant, and mind you, I have daily contact with the Asgardian elite, I know how to spot a snob. Perhaps she's just not used to this life; you may give her some time and see how it goes."

"Perhaps" the Doctor muttered under his breath, as K9 came to a sudden halt in front of him. "What is it, K9?"

"It seems we have found the other TARDIS, master. And I detect a life form waiting for us outside."

"What life form?"

"Doctor!" the Master's voice echoed from above, as his owner towered on the edge of the cliff. "You're late, I was expecting you sooner. Come on, last steps and you're arrived, I have a cocktail prepared for you and your guest."

"That's not good" muttered Brunnhilde.

"No" the Doctor sighed. "No, it definitely isn't."

"Do you feel better, my dear?"

Romana couldn't help nodding. After the cold and the dampness of the dungeons, sitting next to a fireplace, sipping some cold wine from a glass after a brief snack, was a welcome change. Almost instinctively, the Time Lady relaxed her back against the chair, whose ice structure had been covered with the skin of a beast, to protect against the cold sensation.

"I'm pleased" Hela smiled. "I really must admit the Giants surprised me: they are considerably less barbaric than I supposed. Granting, Asgardians tend to think themselves superior to all other creatures in the universe, a fault, I think, we share with the Time Lords."

"Is it a way to tell me you should make your deposition now? Because, let me warn you, I am grateful for the food and the wine, but that doesn't mean I won't be impartial."

"No, of course not, but it was worth a try. So, what did Waltraute tell you?"

Romana straightened up on the chair, struggling against the feeling of comfort: it wouldn't be useful to anyone if she relaxed too much.

"She told me you were the closest ally of Odin, the head of his armies. She told me you immensely enjoyed that position, in fact, you enjoyed it too much. Valkyries still use you as an example of what one of them should not be: cruel, sadistic, blood-hungry."

"Interesting."

"At some point, Odin wanted to stop his campaigns, he had enough of blood and death. You were otherwise convinced, and when the king – your father – didn't listen to you, you rebelled against him, slaughtered his entire body guard and tried to make him a prisoner into his own palace. He barely managed to defeat you. After that, he punished you accordingly, exiling you into the dark dimension they know as Hel, until you escaped."

"Is that all?"

"Actually, no. You see, Gallifrey has not forgotten about you. I heard you and Morbius were ..."

"Lovers, dear. There's no need to sugar-coat it. I am not ashamed."

"Good. Well, apparently you and him plotted to take control of Asgard and Gallifrey simultaneously, and then launch a campaign bent on establishing the dominion of our two planets on the entire multiverse. You were defeated, and each one left to the mercy of his own race. And now I think it's really all."

Hela took a deep breath, but did not seem to be angry at what Romana just said. This could be good news, maybe after all what Romana told was only what she expected. It was also bad news, though. If she wasn't at least shaken by the accusations, it meant she had some trick up her sleeve.

"You expect me to deny what you said?"

"Are you going to deny it?"

"I'd like it, but unfortunately it would be very easy to dispel my attempts at lying, so no, I am not going to deny it. What I am going to do, it is to make you see the other side. Correct me if I am wrong, but it is not stated somewhere that, if I prove I was obeying orders, then this would diminish my guilt?"

"Are you saying you attacked the palace under someone's order?"

"No, I'm saying my war crimes were committed under Odin's orders. My father can act all noble and compassionate now, but back then? Back then he was an arrogant young king, which nothing could satisfy in his lust for power."

"It's your word against the Valkyries, and they are official Asgard envoys."

"Actually, my dear, it's the Frost Giants' words against Odin's."

In saying so, Hela stretched her arms and pointed her finger against the ceiling. Romana looked up and her eyes widened. The entire ceiling of the room was engraved with ice sculptures, like those in the palace hall, but this time the pictures were not of battle and glory. This time, all she saw was Giant warriors on their knees, line after line after line, waiting to be brought to the scaffold by Asgardian soldiers.

"The massacre of Muspelheim" Hela explained. "The Giants appealed to Odin for other lands, to sustain her growing population. Odin said he would consider, but he waited as they starved. They try attack Muspelheim, but the Asgardian army went upon them before they could do anything. I was there, with my father. He ordered me to slay one thousand of them, just to teach them a lesson: you do not defy Asgard."

"Why it is engraved here?"

"The Giants remember everything. On the walls, they put their victories; on the ceiling, their defeats. Every time they look up, they remind themselves they could be better. Oh, and before you ask, every Giant knows the story."

"This does not make you innocent."

"But it makes my father guilty. It makes us equal. And I could tell you more, oh so much more, about Odin and his lust for war and power."

"And you didn't share it?"

"I never wanted power. My joy lies in the fight itself. I am a warrior, and nothing more."

"And yet, you went for the throne."

"Because my father disgraced and disinherited me!" Hela now shouted, with a voice, Romana realized with amazement, full of pain. "Because I couldn't bear to see his hypocrisy. He did not turn benevolent: he wanted to rule in peace, and understood that convincing the people your rule is good is a better way to do that than continually massacring them."

"You'd want me to think you're the victim in this?" Romana replied, trying not to crack a smile. "Do you have any proof of this?"

"You have. As a Time Lord envoy, I suppose you can access the Matrix, can't you?"

"I don't see why I should. Time Lords are not involved in this."

"Really? So, the presence of one of you up there is merely coincidental?"

With a satisfied grin, Hela saw Romana slowly, almost reluctantly, look up and search, until she saw the familiar shape of a TARDIS, and the figure in long, red robes sitting beside Odin, looking at the Giants being executed. The glass fell from Romana's hands. Hela smiled.

This is going to be fun.

"Ah, welcome, Doctor, and milady Brunnhilde" the Master greeted them, at the opposite side of the large flat space on the top of the cliff. A door was opened in the ice wall at his back, showing the marble interior or his ship. "I am so glad you could join me. I probably should apologize for the climb, but I just love the view from up here, and some exercise never killed anyone, didn't it?"

"That remains to be seen, with you" the Doctor retorted. "What do you say, we cut away from the niceties and get to the point?"

"Always the spoilsports, Doctor" the Master sighed. "Very well, if you insist. Step in" he said, waving for them to enter his TARDIS.

"Oh, no, thank you" the Doctor refused. "I may look not so serious as when we first met, but I still remember your booby traps."

"Which at this moment are deactivated. Seriously, Doctor, do you think I underestimate you so much? After all this time?"

After a moment of hesitation, the Doctor entered. The Valkyrie followed, hand on the eel of her sword.

"I believe you're looking for this" the Master said, pointing at the shining blue cube proudly displayed on a pedestal, inches away from the console.

"The Tesseract!" Brunnhilde recognized him, just in time before a discharge of electric energy came out of the wall and zapped her, making her fall unconscious to the floor.

"NO!" the Doctor screamed, rushing to her side.

"Oh don't be so dramatic, she's not dead" the Master snorted, while he set the controls. "I only needed out cold for the next couple of hours."

"Her and not me? Why?" asked the Doctor.

"Oh, you'll see, my friend" the Master grinned, as the doors of his TARDIS closed. "Time for a little trip."

NOTES

Surprise! Yes, I know, I know, I said the story was in pause until 6th January, but I couldn't resist, so ... here we are.

Once again, thank you to anyone who reviewed it, or put it into favorites and followed.