--- Oh My Goddess characters owned by Kosuke Fujishima and not by me. ---
Chapter 8 - Teaching Skuld Skills to go to the Surface World
Skuld has been practicing her Second Class License skills in preparation for her test with Menorum, but isn't quite advancing very well. "Skuld," her patient instructor asks, "look in your heart to find the source of your power. It is your love that will connect you to the source of your Goddess powers. Here in Heaven it will come easier than it will on the surface world where you are farther away."
Skuld furrows her forehead in concentration, closes her eyes and balls up her hands into fists next to her chin. In front of her is a small rock, about the size of a baseball, that just isn't feeling like it's going to go anywhere for awhile. Skuld visualizes the rock, then lifts it with her hand (but without her hand), but it just isn't quite working. Skuld shouts a the rock, "Come on you stupid rock, float!! I order you!!"
Menorum rests her hand on her shoulder. "Stop Skuld, that's not the way to find your power." Menorum sighs and sits next to Skuld, she reaches out at her balled up little fists and brings them over to her lap, coercing them into relaxing and opening up. "Skuld, do you think you have ever felt love, not like the love you have for your sisters, but a deep love that comes only from yourself and makes you want to give it to someone else willingly?"
Skuld looks into Menorum's eyes and thinks about her friends, how they play together, but doesn't quite make a connection. Menorum sees this in her eyes and smiles gently to her, "I don't think you have experienced that yet little one, but you will, and when you do you will find your power. Now come, let's work on your design skills. I see you've figured out how to take apart that circuit board and make a clock out of the parts. Maybe until you find the love that will allow you to access your power, we can work on developing your mechanical and limited power skills. For the mechanical skills, I will have to enlist the help of a friend who maintains Yggdrasil's systems. The other skills that you can learn use only with limited power; like how to change your clothes, defend yourself against minor threats, and transport yourself to different locations."
Skuld looks down, slightly disappointed in her failure to find her source of power. She does, however, perk her ears at the mention of learning more about hard parts. "I know how to change my clothes, I learned that from my sisters, but how can I transport?"
Menorum looks over to her, "Well, first we need to find out what your medium of travel will be. To do that we need to look that up in Yggdrasil. We can go see your sister Urd and have her look it up for us."
Skuld smiles and hops up on her feet, Menorum stands, taking in the beautiful scents coming from the gardens. She nods to Skuld, "Lead the way little one."
Urd is floating in her terminal chair high above the floor, working on fixing code that causes bugs to pop out unexpectedly in Heaven. "Humph, you know, if I made a backdoor into Yggdrasil here, I could get in here a lot quicker and fix these problems, plus get me around all those extra logins and nonsense. Let's see here..." Urd commences to typing so fast her fingers are a blur with a mischievous grin displayed on her face. An hour or so later, Urd throws her hands up and cries out, "Success! I am soo good, I can out-program all the other sysops blindfolded! Ha! I'm a natural..."
Skuld and Menorum float in and catch the last part of Urd's exclamation, giggling at her display. Skuld looks up to big sister, "Big Sister, we need your help!" Menorum floats up next to Skuld and looks to Urd too. "We need to look up Skuld's travel medium, can you look it up for us?
Urd smiles down, "Of course! I can almost tell her future too, because I..um..well I can get that right for you. Come on up." Skuld and Menorum floats up to Urd's terminal and hang mid-air by her side. Urd types at lightning speed again and brings up Skuld's record, "wow, that came up fast, this backdoor access is working well!" she thinks silently to herself. She turns to Skuld, "looks like your travel medium is water Skuld, do you know how to swim?"
Skuld looks shocked and looks to mentor with pleading eyes, "Do I really have to learn how to swim?" Urd laughs heartily as Menorum smiles gently at Skuld, "no Skuld, you don't have to learn how to swim. You won't actually get wet, let me go show you. Urd, be nice to your sister! Thank you Urd." Skuld and Menorum float down to leave, with Skuld waving bye to big sister.
Urd waves enthusiastically to the two departing Goddesses, "Ok, go ahead and have fun. Don't end up on a desert planet!" Skuld looks back shocked, Menorum gently pushes her out into the hall, "Don't worry Skuld, Urd is just teasing you." Urd is starting to enjoy Skuld more now that she is growing up and can interact with her like a young teenager rather than a kid. "Little Sisters can be so much fun!" Before she gets too far, Urd projects a thought to her, "How is Skuld doing Menorum?"
Menorum closes her eyes briefly and responds, "Skuld hasn't found her source of power yet. She is having difficulty finding her source of love. She isn't developing that as fast as you and Belldandy did. I worry for her."
Urd responds, "Well, Belldandy just naturally had that love in her for as long as I can remember. And I, well, had boyfriends at her age. She fits into the 'nerd' category, she is really smart, but doesn't seem to interface well socially yet. She'll get there someday I'm sure."
Menorum projects back as her and Skuld float out of the Yggdrasil complex into the bright azure sky, "Yes, she will, she may have to go to the surface planet before she finds her source though."
Urd puzzles, "Surface World, why would she go down there?"
Menorum cringes at the slip of her tongue, "Sorry Urd, that's confidential. I must prepare her for wherever she goes in the time I have with her."
Urd slams her fist on the terminal keyboard, "Damnit Menorum, tell me, what's going on with my little sister!? Does that explain why she got her third class license so young!? She can't defend herself down there yet!" Urd is very protective of both her sisters, even if she doesn't outwardly show it.
Menorum sternly replies, "I can't say Urd, please understand, she won't get hurt if that's what you're worried about."
Urd smarts at her reply, "You better let me know when she's going down there. As her sister I have a right to know."
Menorum sighs and doesn't reply, it's better just to drop it instead of arousing Urd's anger further. "Please Lord, forgive my slip of the tongue."
Menorum was distracted by the conversation with Urd and didn't notice that Skuld has learned how to be quite an acrobatic flyer.
Menorum pulled up the lead and directed them down to a fountain in another of Heaven's many Botanical Gardens. Menorum landed softly by the fountain, whereas Skuld tripped and fell on her knees. "Ow!" cried Skuld.
"It looks like you need to work on that Skuld, you won't make a grand entrance if you trip when you touch down!"
Skuld winces from the pain, "I'm sorry, I'll try harder next time."
Menorum walks over to the fountain and peers inside. "Skuld, come on over so we can get you started transporting."
Skuld gets up and hobbles over by the fountain. She looks at the water and then sticks her hand into it and splashes the water. "I thought you said I wouldn't get wet."
Menorum chuckles, "Yes, you won't, but only when you're transporting silly. Now step up here and look into the water. Since this is your travel medium, you'll have to visualize a tunnel that will lead you to where you want to go. Now, a puddle of water will have to be present at the start and end of your tunnel. So unlike what Urd says, you can't end up on a desert planet since there is no water there. When you visualize where you want to go, open the tunnel by 'pulling' it from the surface of the water and enter it. You should be able to see through any available pools of water at that location. If you won't see one where you want to go, you return back here through where you left."
Skuld looks at the surface of the water, which only reflects her gaze. She reaches her hand towards the water, grasping for something that isn't there. She looks to Menorum, "I don't feel anything." Menorum responds, "have you thought of where you want to go?" Skuld looks around and sees a birdbath a few steps behind her. "I'll try to go there." Menorum agrees and nods, "Good, now what do you think you'll see when you look at the end of your tunnel."
"The bottom of the birdbath!" Skuld replies. Menorum shakes her head, "not exactly Skuld, you'll see things that are above the birdbath. Imagine yourself laying at the bottom of the birdbath and looking up through the water. What would you see?"
Skuld closes her eyes and imagines seeing the bottoms of birds, their legs dangling in the water, a shimmering view of the sky through the ripples in the surface, and a bird standing on the side looking down at her. She pulls her hand away from the surface of the water in the fountain and feels a slight resistance. She turns to look at what's got her hand and freezes, a small hole has appeared in the water with a column of faint yellowish light emitting from it. "Skuld, good, now look at the birdbath..."
Skuld turns her head slowly and sees the same faint column of light emitting from the birdbath. Menorum smiles, "Good Skuld. Now, do you think it's big enough for you to go through it? If not, pull it open more with your hand." Skuld pulls her hand against the resistance and feels her power being drained. She pulls it open a couple of feet when she loses control of it and it snaps back shut.
Menorum smiles. "Good job Skuld, I suspect it closed because you ran out of power." Skuld nods, the fatigue evident in her eyes and slumping shoulders. "Next time you'll be stronger, and now you know what to feel for. Don't be discouraged, after awhile you won't need to use your hands to form the tunnel."
Skuld nods slowly, "Aw, now I have to walk home! I'm too tired to fly."
Menorum chuckles, "No you don't kiddo. Let's pick this up tomorrow. I'll take you home, here, hold my hand."
Skuld yawns and grasps her hand. Menorum closes her eyes and opens a portal through a nearby tree. She opens her eyes and smiles at Skuld, "Ok, let's get you home" and they step into the portal.
