Chapter 18 – A Return to The Library (Harry).

Hermione Apparated us right into Odin's Forge. She placed her purple diamond at the centre of Odin's magical circle. A flick of her wand brought the circle to life. It was right into the charging oval for McGonagall. Hermione told us that this might be a time to converse with Yggdrasil. She added all of us, including McGonagall to the conversation.

The first question was whether Viorr was finished with his hang and willing to arrange a time to go through Odin's library. Yggdrasil replied that Viorr had finished this morning and determined that he must travel to Vanaheimer. He had arrived there an hour ago. I passed that message along to Circe. Could we talk to Viorr through Yggdrasil? No, we couldn't do that now. Viorr had given orders that he not be contacted while he was away. He was expected back in two or three days. That information was also passed on to Circe. Her return message was worrying: "I should be back on Vanaheimer. We can explore any changes to Vanir prophecies after Viorr has left my world.

Hermione asked us if we thought she should recall the Quest team from seid space. We should gather here, in strength, until we figure out what is happening.

"That's wise, and some of us should return home, just in case." Ron jumped in so fast that I knew he desperately wanted to say that, but couldn't, until his Minister-wife provided the opening. His courage failed at the point of suggesting that she must be among those to return to the Ministry or the Hogwarts Pyramid. Just as well, she clearly had no intention of doing that. I knew when Hermione had library on her mind.

Hermione ordered the Quest team to Apparate to the lawn in front of the forge, after leaving messages for the Brrrin that we had an emergency and would return when we could. Could we contact them through Yggdrasil? The note was also to say that we were exploring their request.

Ron stayed with McGonagall. The rest of us moved to the outside wall of the forge to await the rest of our team.

"I'm going to ask Yggdrasil about the Brrrin and their dead world. Also, about whether Salazar Slytherin ever was the leader of Hel. Also, I need Yggdrasil to connect us with the Dark Gods on Unicorn World." Ginny and I encouraged her to do that. She sat with her back against the wall of the forge and quickly developed that far-away look indicative of Stone communication.

Hermione was still in communication with Yggdrasil, when the rest of the team arrived and began to set up camp on the still relatively campable meadow around what had been Odin's main buildings. The grazing herds kept the grasses short. I explained to the team that it may be a while until this sort-of Quest resumed. We certainly would visit Valhalla and stop back on our world, before resuming. "I probably shouldn't speak for Minister Hermione, but..."

"I thought so!" Hermione was excited. "Slytherin was never the leader of Hel. Yggdrasil doubts he was even there. Some of the Dark Gods are multi-being, free spirits of the Brrrin, although most are Aesir. They are not solitary spirits. Yggdrasil says at least some were entire wealthy criminal gangs who became free spirit and then merged. It struck me as unlikely that they could have survived this long as solitary individuals. Also, Circe says Viorr did not arrive on Vanaheimer by traveling through the pyramid. Either he knows a back door, or he didn't go to Vanaheimer. Circe is doing her best to follow up from her end. Yggdrasil says that he didn't transport Viorr, nor did Viorr enter seid space from inside Yggdrasil. He just told Yggdrasil that he would be several days on Vanaheimer and didn't wish to be disturbed.

"We'll follow up on that later. For now, I propose food and drink inside Valaskjalf. I want a sneak peek at the library, before going through it in detail with Viorr. I just want to orient myself and renew my feel of its organisation. I doubt Viorr wants to explore it in as much detail as I do, or to take the time to make copies, so that we each have one. Asgard is a very temperate world, but it's hot and humid today. it will be good to get into Valaskjalf's magical climate control"

It took a few minutes for everybody to select what they wanted to carry inside. Hermione led us across the little bridge and into the palace. "Already feels good," she announced immediately, but I'll just command the palace to keep conditions exactly like this.

She led us into the main part of the palace, telling us to set up in the large dining hall. "I just want to stick my nose into the library. I love it's smell."

Ginny and I went with her. "This will be a treat for Harry," Hermione announced as she opened the library door. "Viorr!"

As we walked into the library, Hermione's shout had many other team members close behind us.

"I thought you agreed to contact us before you entered Valaskjalf. Do I need to change the magical locks?" Hermione's tone conveyed deep discontent. "You told Yggdrasil that you were on Vanaheimer for several days. The Vanir government is in a panic. I wanted to arrange a time, after you finished hanging, to divide the contents of the library between us."

"I'm sorry, I just needed to find one of my father's documents, which relates to the almost-palace which he left to me. I wouldn't steal what is rightfully yours. This document is of no value to you."

"Much treachery!" Catta declared, as she popped out of invisibility mode, holding an arm full of books and paper, which she had extracted from Viorr's pouch. Catta dumped her evidence at Hermione's feet. Hermione knelt to examine the papers. Viorr took a step to stop her, then apparently decided he was too outnumbered to try that. He chose persuasion, instead.

"Look, as I said, I just popped in to get documents that relate to property left to me by my father. I have no interest in the sort of papers, which would interest you. My father kept valuables in the home, really a secondary palace, which he left to me. They are in a very secure vault, which I am unable to open. Knowing my father's ways, any brute force method would cause the vault to destroy its contents. They'll be auto-Apparated into the sea. I've tried everything I know of, which doesn't carry that risk. I'm certain that the answer to my need is in this library. I didn't expect that you would understand. Just because my father left you this house, doesn't mean he meant to leave you the contents of the vault in the palace, which he left to me. His intent is absolutely clear."

"So do I, Hermione responded. Whatever is in the vault belongs to you. I think we may be able to help you open it. First, I want to see what you planned to take, without my knowledge. This is Odin's diary. This is a copy of a different person's diary, or perhaps just long-ago Odin. Odin diary. Odin diary. Ahh, this document does describe another palace, with detailed drawings and notes. You are welcome to that one. This is an account of the forge. I think not. This is a letter from Vili - most definitely not yours. Aah, a treatise of habitable and non-habitable worlds, with and without Black Stones. What does that have to do with your vault? Do you have adventuring in mind? I think I'll keep it in exchange for the document about your home. That's the pile. Accept for those two, I'll pile the rest here for future sorting." She pointedly looked all around the library. "I don't see evidence of massive looting at least. Shall we go unlock your vault, then come back here to copy and divide the library?'

Viorr eagerly agreed.

We prepared to travel to Viorr's home. First, we paused to let Circe and Yggdrasil know that we had found Viorr at Valaskjalf. Yggdrasil said it was surprised that Viorr was where we found him and pleaded total innocence.

We made sure we had plenty of wands and spiders for the trip to Viorr's home. Viorr looked suspicious.

"We're not going to rob you." Ginny promised. "Given your breaking our agreement, we just want to be sure you're not taking us to an ambush, where we are unable to defend ourselves. I feel safe. Shall we go?"

We all linked hands, or limbs, and Viorr Apparated us to his home. It was even larger than Valaskjalf. "This is Elfheim," he told us. "Now that you've brought a small army, and have it on call on my lawn, could you ask your ravens to inspect the house and then have four of you come inside with me." He opened the door. We sent in two ravens. When we heard pecking against the door, he opened it and the ravens flew right to Hermione and Ginny's shoulders. Both reported an empty house. "Satisfied? Good, now you agreed - just four of you."

Hermione, Ginny, one of Aagog's bodyguards, and I stepped forward.

"Not the four I expected, but okay, follow me."

We followed Viorr down a wide, stone staircase to a mostly below ground level room, with a floor which was bedrock. There was light from windows high up on the walls on three sides of the large room. Viorr led us to the end of the room, where a large Odin-metal door was set into a wide Odin-metal frame, inserted into the bedrock.

"Here it is. Can you open it."

"I can only try," Ginny told him, as she stepped forward and touched her Odin-stone to an indentation on the nearest side of the frame. There was a metallic click and the metal door slowly swung upward.

I threw a large ball of light from my wand into the depths of the vault. I saw a metal ladder going down the near side of the vault. It was a huge vault. I'm sure it was fifteen feet down to the floor and twenty feet on a side. There were shelves around each wall and huge mounds of silver and gold in the centre of the room.

"Thank you, may I take it from here. I'll see you at Valaskjalf in three hours. I promise to knock at the door."

I felt an urge to explore the vault, but Hermione turned and led us out of the house, out to the lawn and with a joining of hands, back to the meadow just beyond the bridge of Valaskjalf. "He'll have to knock," Hermione promised. "I'm going to work with Ginny and Yggdrasil to change the magical barriers. He won't just wander into Valaskjalf again."

"Yggdrasil has identified a problem. The palace controls are set from the dais of the throne room. Odin decreed that we must not make use of his throne room. Yggdrasil and I have debated whether or not simply going onto the dais to reset the entry codes violates that proscription. Yggdrasil says Odin would want me to use the dais to change the codes, ifcodes if that made me feel safe. He wanted me to spend some time in his palace. I'm wary. Yggdrasil says to give him a day to try to reach Odin, then go ahead, if Odin can't be reached."

While we waited for Yggdrasil and Viorr, we caught some fish and had a wonderful meal. Viorr showed up in precisely the promised three of our hours. He even knocked.

"I'm sorry I started us off badly. You've treated me well. I was father's favourite son, at least among the still-living sons. I think the two of you were his favourite people. I know he felt guilty about inflicting Vili and Frijjo upon you. He would want us to be friends. I'm willing to share the contents of my vault with you. I couldn't have touched them without your help. He left you his permission stone. That suggest he wanted you to have some of his wealth."

"I'm really not interested in that," I told him. "Your house, left to you by Odin, means the vault is yours. I don't need it and I think I would be going against Odin's wishes to take some of it."

"Of course, you need it. Maintaining Valaskjalf won't be cheap."

"But that's the point. Odin's wish is that I do not maintain Valaskjalf, or the forge, or the observatory. He willed them to Hermione and me with orders to supervise their decay. While the buildings stood, he wanted us to visit as often as we could, enjoy them while they were inhabitable, drink his fine collection of brandy, wine, and Asgard beer, and cook fish dinners with his collection of mushrooms and spices. That's what we intend to do. He wanted us to wait to disassemble and salvage his library. Now is the time. The knowledge must be preserved. It took Odin millennia to amass it. He said he inherited some from Old Mimir. The originals are dust. The library houses old, to extremely old copies. We should each have a copy. That's safer. It's your history. You must take a copy."

"I can't believe what a huge pile of gold and silver I now have. I expected some. That's why I was so desperate to open that vault. I'd never seen the vault. It was a lot larger than I expected."

"I didn't get a close look, but I'd bet that isn't silver, and it probably isn't gold, either."

"Looked real enough to me."

"Might be gold, although I doubt it. I think what you have is much more valuable than silver. It's Odin's metal. That's also what your vault is made of. It is half silver. So, shall we make a start on the library, before we consume some of your father's stores. Your choice: brandy, wine, Aesir beer, or mead."

"Mead. It's been a while. I know my father made it with his own honey, which his specially bred bees harvested from acres of carefully chosen flower and flowering herb plants. That must be what this mead is. Frijjo always said that mead was her undoing, but I knew that wasn't true. I was with Frijjo for several years. I left when Uncle Vili promised war if I didn't."

"I fought Frijjo often; I cooperated with her quite a few times, I learned from her; I fought on her side; she saved my life; I saved her life; she tried to help Vili kidnap my friend and her child; I consoled Odin when she betrayed him; I grieved with him when she died. We all had an overly complicated relationship with Frijjo. I think her brother and the other royal Vanirs messed her up more than Odin did. She would have treated you differently than she treated us, because you are a fellow God."

"She wasn't a God, until my father made her one. Don't sell yourselves short. The Aesir Gods, including father then me, are Gods because of rediscovered ancient technology and a lot of learning and practice of advanced magic. The two of you are well on your way to becoming Gods, if you decide that is what you want. Even the Light Guardian is a colony of normal ancient Aesir, who learned great magic and practiced for centuries to fully master it and become spirit. Fortunately, they represented the best and most learned of the ancient Aesirs and have devoted themselves to sharing knowledge and protecting others. What you call the Dark Gods are the same ancient Aesirs, but of bad character and mediocre learning. They help only themselves and leech off of any they encounter. Some were good Aesir, gone mad like my uncles."

We were sorting through the diaries of Odin and Old Vim, when we encountered several items of special interest. The first two were diaries written by Ve. Odin must have seized them when he imprisoned Ve. The third was an even more detailed description, drawings, and 'how to' manual for Valaskjalf, in even more detail than the Elfheim document. Viorr said that we should have the only copy of the Valaskjalf document, just as he had the only Elfheim copy. We copied the diaries. Hermione had paper and a copier; Viorr showed us where electricity was to be had at Valaskjalf. To Hermione's objections, Viorr declared that electricity was compatible with magic, although she was right that Vanaheimer electricity would kill her copier. Of course, Hermione had packed a fuelled generator. It worked. Viorr complained, "The stench! You could kill us with that thing!"

"I'll be quick," Hermione promised. Her speed was increased, because Odin's books were all magical books, made from individual sheets of paper, which were released from the binding, using a spell Viorr taught us. Another spell rebound them, after they were copied.