She wanted to save Hel for last. All that left her with was the Sanctuary Grove and the Witch's Cave in Midgard. Both held the threatening possibility of undoing all her work.
She saw little of the witch in her visions. Just a kindly old woman who would give Loki his mistletoe arrows as well as a place to rest on his travels. Part of Laufey wanted to meet her, and thank her for looking after her would be son. But she knew she couldn't make mention of anything, else she destroys all she's worked for up till now.
The forest was beautiful. She could live here she thinks to herself. The white oaks trees brimming with copper leaves. The mixture of blue flowers and green grass swaying. Yellow sprites dance along the wind, occasionally stopping to wave to her before going on their way.
She decides to selfishly halt her journey forward, in order to indulge herself.
Close by a stream she finds a fairy ring of mushrooms. The fallen red leaves almost make a pathway leading up to the jagged circle of fungus. She leans her axe against a wet rock by the stream and sits down. She brings her knees up to her chest and starts to unlace her boots. She slips them off and slowly dips her toes into the moist earth below. Wiggling them slightly so that they disappear into the soil.
With the rope that she usually attaches the Leviathan to she laces up the skirt of her dress around her thighs. Transformation it into puffy trousers.
She walks forwards onto the path of red leaves. The sound of them crunching below her feet only adding to the mystical sounds the grove emitted. She occasionally balanced on the balls of her feet. She counted how many steps she could take like this before her upper body began to wobble. She finally approached the circle of mushrooms and entered. Spun around a few times before her eyes shut. His voice appears in her head.
"What are you up to Pine Needle?" Her brother says. She is spinning around a circle of rocks she had set up herself. "I'm summoning a fairy!" A toothless little girl with skinned knees says. The giant was laying on his belly in front of her. His right hand pressed against his cheek. A puffy red beard lifted upwards as he smiles. "And what do you plan on doing with such a delicate creature once you've captured it?" The little girl stop spinning and thinks. "I don't know?"
"They are very beautiful yah know. Sometimes they will grant you a wish, other times they are as mischievous as you are. They don't stay for long, their wings will fly them back home as soon as summoned sometimes."
"Then I will pluck her wings off her that way she will stay and be my friend!" The tiny girl says while she continues her twirling. "You shouldn't play tricks on your friends Needle." He says as his voice fades away into the forest.
Laufey halted her spinning, she wasn't able to summon any magical creatures, she only managed to make herself dizzy. She wobbled over back to her boots and slips them on. She looked around for a large rock she needed to paint. She knew she would have to come across the witch's house first in order to locate the rock, but she was having trouble finding it.
They were almost too beautiful to kill. But her stomach disagreed with the notion. Laufey regretted not bringing a bow and quiver along with her. This was almost always unpleasant and inappropriate.
The white stag was drinking from a stream. She crouched down and held the axe above her head, eyes focusing on the animal itself and not the bloody mess she was about to make. "I'm so sorry." She whispers. She threw the Levithan with all her might. Violently, it landed in the animal's neck and sliced it almost all the way off. Its heavy head dangled limply on one side by the hide and matted fur, blood spilling out everywhere before it collapsed. She pressed her teeth together and pulled her lips into a grimace. Quickly, Laufey ran over and placed a hand on the beast. Thankfully it died instantly, but she still wishes it was done in a more respectful manner.
Pulling out her knife she began the long task of deconstructing the animal for dinner and supplies. She pulled the Leviathan out of the body. When she picked the spinal cord away from the axe it splattered blood along her face.
"Barbaric." A voice said.
Laufey left her knife inside the stag and gripped the axe with her bloody hands."Who's there?!" She shouts.
A woman sat leisurely in the branches of the tree right above her. Brown hair cascading down her face and body, feathers and trinkets scattered throughout. She wore no shoes but the rest of her was dressed elaborately. Beige pants with a copper studded belt. She wore only the armor of a Valkyrie for a shirt. Large iron breast cups along with a plated corset that ended above her midriff. Her shoulders were exposed to the elements but a thick yet dirty white fur-lined cloak covered most of her arms. The shimmer of silver tattoos on her arms reflected underneath the cloak.
She had a sword on her back Laufey noticed, but she didn't have it drawn. The woman didn't say anything as she dropped to the ground and approached her.
"I always knew your people were savages, it made it hard for some to pity you. Easier for other thinking you bumbling buffoons."
That sword, two falcons perching, she knows it.
"Freya," Laufey says quietly.
She doesn't hesitate or leave an opportunity for the goddess queen. With the Leviathan in her hands, she runs forward and swings at Freya. The goddess jumped into the air and transformed into a falcon. Laufey wouldn't let her escape back to Odin and foil everything. "Falki lio!" She screams. The wooden falcons chase after the queen. Laufey plucks the dagger out of the stag and darts after the chase happening in the sky. The wooden birds swarming the goddess, ripping feathers off her with their talons. Freya drives higher into the air as the spell wears off, moss and pine needles falling from the sky. Laufey feels them falling into her face but keeps pursuing the bird. Suddenly she is tackled from the side by a creature. Tusks digging into her flesh. A boar. Her student Hildisvíni she realizes. Shit, how close by are the rest of her family? Her son, her husband?
Her stepson?
She stabs the boar with her dagger in its back leg. "No!" Freya screams from the air. Hildisvíni squeals out in pain. Freya falls from the sky and lands on her hands and knees. She crawls frantically towards the pig. She casts a spell from her hands and closes the wound from her dagger. Fear in her eyes.
"No please don't die, please I'm sorry I... Why would you try to save me after what I said to you this morning?!" She says through tears. Hugging the still boar.
"I'm... sorry?" Laufey says hesitantly at the sight of such hysteria she caused her.
Freya looked up angrily at her. "Leave my forest savage."
"Your forest?" Laufey returned her cold attitude.
"Yes my forest, go back to your own realm and eat rocks or whatever else you jotunns do to pass time. Leave me to my solitude."
The last part of the word, 'solitude' echoed. Her wound from Hildisvíni, it was suddenly freezing, the cold began spreading throughout her entire body. His tusks were poisoned. "S-olitude?" Was the last thing she remembered saying before her face hit the floor. She wasn't passed out, but she couldn't move a single bone in her body. Her body is rolled over onto her back.
Freya stands over her with her foot on her chest."Hope whatever kills you uses more respect then you did to the deer." She looks down disgustingly. "Or maybe my husband's good for nothing son will find you and..." She stops before she finishes the sentence.
Laufey couldn't move, she tried flailing her arms and legs but it only made all her other senses weaker. She wanted to scream but she couldn't. She was about to die she realized. Thor, did she just say Thor was on his way?! He would strike her with his lightning hammer like he did her family. She was terrified, she didn't feel if her body was trembling but she was in her mind. Freya's expression changes suddenly as she looked down at her. She spoke something to Hildisvíni and then scooped Laufey up into her arms.
She must be taking her to Odin. She wasn't able to finish her journey. She failed once again. It was all her fault, she shouldn't have wasted her time in the mushroom ring. Once again she let her own personal pleasures interfere and ruin everything.
The elder should have kept her chained to his necklace. She would happily sacrifice her freedom in order to avoid where the Valkyrie queen was taking her.
Thor's hammer, the sound it made when it shattered through her brother's skull.
She realized she was crying, she couldn't see clearly. Her eyes were playing tricks on her, through her tears Laufey thought. She thought she saw a giant turtle above her.
It wasn't fair she dreams, for the giant's only enemies to be the gods themselves. She was hovering in a ball inside her mind. Face in her knees. Why would her people make foes with the most powerful beings in existence? Why did the gods even attack them in the first place thousands of years ago? She knew the stories from long ago but she pushed the knowledge away from her mind and gripped tight onto only her emotions. They grew bored of eternal existence and squished those below them for fun.
She hated the gods, all gods. She hated how no matter how hard she fought them, they would always win. The fight would never be fair. She could train every day for the rest of her life and never be able to subdue a single one.
She thought she could finally feel something, the cuff on her ear tingled.
She wanted to kill a god, any god she realizes not just watch her son do it.
She wanted Loki to kill Baldur and watch as Ragnarok sundered their perfect state of existence just like they did to her. To avenge her nephews Modi killed, to kill him with her own hands, not send Loki to do it for her. She hated them, all of them.
Narfi appears in front of her. Laufey's heart collapses in her chest. What a cruel game her mind was playing on her. A wave of disappointment washes over her. Her long lost friend fades away.
"You are easily distracted." A woman's voice calls out. It wasn't Freya. Smoke poured out from her ear cuff. The transparent woman took shape within the cloud. She wasn't as transparent as before. She almost looked like she was made from stone. Her eyes were still the same. "I offer my assistance to you once again. Allow me to assist with your desires. I will help you kill a god." Laufey didn't respond to her. She closed her eyes in disgust at herself after being so openly told her deplorable desires.
"Would you help me kill Odin?" She says bitterly, sinking to a new low by even encouraging the conversation further.
"No child. I myself will choose the god you kill." The woman says with an expressionless face.
"Then there is no point, a god is about to kill me at this very moment. What is the point of this offer if I die?" Laufey says.
The woman lifts her hand into the sky. A portal opens and a window to the same apocalyptic world she had visited before appears. "Through this window is the god I need-"
She stops abruptly, then continues.
"I will allow you to kill the god through this portal. His death will save countless lives in my world. He is a savage monster. Every life he has touched has been cursed. He is responsible for the deaths of his wife and child, his father and grandfather. My family was snuffed out by this man."
"Why give such a man to me? It sounds like you should be the one to kill him and put an end to the suffering." Laufey asks. The woman lowers her hands, the portal drifts close to her, almost as if she was about to push it into her.
"He is lost in a sea of regret and rage. I am unable to approach him, but if you." A smile appears on her face. "Distract him, it would set in motion the ability to kill him once and for all."
Laufey uncurled herself from her knees and looked at the portal, but does not enter. She lifts her fingers up to the ear cuff and rubs it. "If I do this for you, would our bond be broken?"
"I will remove the cuff from your ear if you do this."
"Is time traveling back to my past and preventing all of this from happening off the table?"
The woman doesn't speak for several moments. Her eyes flicker several times. "No, I can still offer you that as well. I was able to see your desires to kill a god and simply offered you my help."
Laufey's ear was starting to burn. The woman walked quickly to her. "You must make your decision now Faye." 'Faye?' Why would she call me that? She wonders. She backs away from the woman suspiciously. The woman sashes an arm through the portal, it disappears.
"Disappointing." She says while fading away.
Freya shifts into her vision as she wakes up. She is looking at the ear cuff, her fingers are brushing against the runes inscribed on it.
One of two things were happening. Either the house was alive and moving, or she was still feeling the effects of the tusks. Laufey could hear the rattling of plates and cups as the house moved. The sun suddenly set from the cracks and windows and a blackness darker than night appeared outside. The movement stopped and she started to sit up. She feels a thorny prick from her ear cuff. Reaching for it her hand touches small tendrils of vines wrapping around her ear.
"Don't touch your ear until I finish with this." She hears Freya say across the room.
Freya.
She summons the Leviathan, not knowing where it even was. It is in front of the goddess on a table, her glowing hands hovering over it. "Wait, I'm not finished! Ugh-" Freya shouts as the weapon disappears off the table, the force knocked several glass bottles and wooden bowls off onto the ground. Laufey grips the weapon tightly and stands up. She realizes she is as naked as the day she was born. She ignores the matter and holds her axe out toward the goddess. "Where am I? Why haven't you killed me yet? What were you doing with my ear? Where are my clothes?!" She yells.
Freya was busy picking up the bottles that fell onto the floor. She wiped an iridescent liquid up with her hands. Or at least it looked like liquid. She gathered it up in her hands with no trouble at all and simply dumped it back into the bowl. Once she was done cleaning she stood up with a groan.
"What did the runes on your dress read again? 'Fallegt ferðalag?' What is that dwarvish? Whatever, look here, 'beautiful traveler,' Let's get several things straight... You wondered into my woods with a set of custom-made enchanted clothing the likes I've never seen. A dagger made of metals from Jotunheim, a realm none have been able to get to in decades. A weapon identical in strength to Mjolnir, forged by the disgusting Hulder brothers themselves. And an earring seething with the power of a god from an entirely different world. You can just stand there naked for a moment while I try and make sense of the everything."
Laufey readies her weapon, her knees bent ready to attack her. "Oh and also, you're a giant who were all assumed dead."
"You'll pay for what you've done to us!" Laufey barks at her.
"What I've done? Sweet girl, I don't even know your name. For all I know you are just a runaway jotunn who pillaged every valuable item off the bodies of your dead...-"
"Silence!" Laufey shouts. Freya looks at her for a while. Her eyes occasionally drift downward.
"I'm sorry, that was not worthy of me." She says looking away. "You're clothing is by the window over there. Go put it back on, I was simply examining it, interesting shoes."
Laufey slowly walked towards the window with her axe still facing the Valkyrie queen. She sets it down for a moment while she throws her tunic and dress on. She walks over to her boots but not before picking up her axe with one hand.
"I am not going to hurt you child," Freya says.
"Do not call me child wench," Laufey says. She had both boots on but couldn't lace them up while holding the axe, she leaves them as they are.
"What should I call you? Your dress says 'beautiful' but I don't know if I agree with that." Freya smirks.
"That is none of your business. What have you done with my ear?"
"Ah yes, probably the most interesting thing about you. I assumed it was an artifact from Tyr himself. He was always vacationing in other worlds. How my former husband let the giants keep such a foreign and powerful item for themselves is impressive." Freya said looking at the vine wrapping around her ear. "At first I thought it was controlling you. That you were some puppet from another world. But I was wrong, it's merely a tracking device. They are quite common, to be honest. I myself have put several similar devices on mortals over the years. It's so strange how the magic works within it. I can not understand the language. But I know what spell it is trying to cast, I would like to study it more if you will allow...-"
"Is there any way you can remove it?" Laufey asks her. Freya's eyebrows lift in curiosity. "No, only you have that power. It as a type of contract with a human who is owed or owes something. At least that's what mine were. Admittedly I used it a few times simply to spy on a mortal living an interesting life."
"We're all playthings to you aren't we?"
"Not very interesting ones." The queen counters. "Were you not told how to break the connection with the god who put that on you?"
"No, a woman working for a god put this on me."
Freya looks upon her with a hint of pity, like a parent information a child of something obvious. "She wasn't working for a god, she was a god."
Laufey shuts her eyes as she inhaled bitterly. "Of course she was." She said with an exhale. Everything falling into place in her mind. "She wanted to repay me for helping her even though I didn't."
"Well, you must have been a tremendous help with something. She only wants to repay you for assisting her. Simply ask for a magical sword or have her bless you with eternal beauty and be done with it if you want the cuff to disappear. Though I can't make any promises she will leave you alone, I still kept an eye on my mortals from time to time. Making sure they were not wasting my gifts."
"The gods have given me enough, I don't want any more 'gifts' bestowed upon me," Laufey says. "Mmm yes, thank you for reminding me of your heritage at every opportunity. Tell me of the axe, it is very impressive. The dwarven brothers made it I see."
"It was constituted to counter and kill your son." Laufey spat out angrily.
Freya narrows her eyes, a vine appears from the ground and snatches the weapon from Laufey's hands. It doesn't try and attack her, it simply brings the axe quickly over to Freya. The goddess scans over the weapon with quick eyes as she holds out a glowing hand and touches every part. As if searching for something on or in it. Her expression is an intense focus, mixed with fear.
Laufey summons the weapon, it cuts away from the vines and snaps into her hands. "Thor will pay for what he's done to my family." A sudden realization appeared to have washed over the goddess, her eyes softened slightly after.
"I'm sorry for whatever my family has done to you," Freya says with honesty in her eyes. Laufey shifts the axe down slightly.
"What my husband's son did to your home. It's unforgivable. Please, tell me your name?"
Laufey bends down and sets her axe onto the floor. She begins lacing her boots up, contemplating what she should and shouldn't tell the goddess. "My name is Faye." She finally says.
"Faye," Freya says. "It is a pleasure."
"Why are you not at Vanaheim? Or with your family" Laufey asks.
"I am afraid I no longer have a family Faye." She says leaning against a wall, she pulls the large puffy fur cloak around her tightly. "My marriage with Odin is finally over."
Laufey remembers Brok mentioning this, then adds. "That's right, and now he has locked himself away in his castle in madness."
"That's an exaggeration, he pays daily visits to his former "Pucky" advisor trapped to a tree, watching over the last portal to Jotenhime." Laufey remained quiet as she continues. "I thought I had seen the full extent of his brutality. Years went by and I started to grow numb to it all. Then he did something that opened my eyes to how blind I've become. He made sure I was punished accordingly for actions."
Freya walked closer to Laufey and removed her dirty while cloak. Where Laufey expected to find her wings hidden behind. Only, there was nothing there. How did not notice until now?
"Your wings..." Laufey says. "He ripped your wings off."
"I wish that was the only thing he did to me. But yes, he severed my warrior spirit. I am a Valkyrie no longer."
Shocked, Laufey walked over to the table and sat down. She looked around the house. It seemed so familiar. She saw a stave in the middle of the room, the fireplace, the way it sparkled with colors outside of orange and red. The potent smell of herbs mixed with the sting of urine and raw clay. Even this table. She brings her finger along the ripples in the wood. 'I've been here before.' She thinks.
"It's good to see you are finally making yourself at home in my house," Freya says standing above her. The closest she's allowed her to be so far.
"Forgive me, I will leave now," Laufey says as she begins pushing her palms onto the table to stand.
"Wait, I didn't mean it like that," Freya says. "That stag you slaughtered, I retrieved its body and had begun smoking the meat last night. It should be dry now, you are welcomed to it. It was your kill after all. I will make some tea in the meantime."
It was a kind offer the older woman made- Oh... Laufey pulled her lips into her mouth and pressed down slightly with her teeth as she kept silent in thought. How much of the prophecy has she messed up? Or was this always the case? The witch was never a witch, she was a goddess.
"Yes, I'd like that," Laufey said.
Freya exited the door and quickly shut it behind her. In the brief moment she saw, it was pitch black outside, almost like the moon and stars decided to not show themselves tonight. She walked around the house, it was cozy she thought. She walked over to the fireplace with a cauldron over top of it. She brings her hands to drag along the ridged exposed stone that acted as its mantle. Dust dragging along her fingers until it became too high to reach. Four small marks left a shadow onto the floor. Like a piece of furniture that had been left in the same pot for years. She looked back to the bed, there was only one pillow. Back at the table she had sat at she noticed there was only one chair truly made for it. She walked over to the bench Freya had been sitting on. She lifted it onto two of its four legs. Noticing the bottoms had the identical shape as the marking next to the fireplace. She was truly all alone here. Setting the bench down she embraced her hands around her waist, remembering her maddening solitude. She wondered how long Freya's had been? What she would have given for something like this to have interrupted her life in Jotenhime. The door swings open and immediately shuts, Freya held a plate filled with slabs of meat and plants. "If you'd give me a few more moments it's almost ready."
Laufey removes her hands from herself and smiles. "Take all the time you need."
"What did you do to it? Is this the magic of the Vanir?" Laufey asks astonishingly. Her mouth still full of food.
Freya chuckles. "No, it's an herb called rosemary. Tyr brought the plants over from his travels. It blooms a purple flower at its peak. Odin gave me the flowers thinking them a simple plant he had stolen from Tyr. I became infatuated with the smell for a while and decided to experiment with it. It tastes better on poultry if I'm being honest."
Laufey smiles. "I didn't realize you could change the taste of meat this way." Freya poured her another cup of tea in a wooden cup. "Remind me to show you the sugarcane growing outside."
Laufey picked the cup up with both hands. She had put some in the tea as well she noticed. It smells so lovely. "I can see why you'd become obsessed with it."
"You are more than welcomed to fill your pockets with it when you leave. If not properly watched over, the plant can grow into quite a pest."
"Thank you for the food," Laufey said respectfully. Wondering when she should take her to leave.
"You never told me what you were doing out here? A giant this far from Jotunheim at a time like this?"
She seemed trustworthy, but so many obstacles were presenting themselves. What should she say? Not say?"
"I'm painting a path for my son." Laufey finally admitted. Freya slides back down into a chair across from her.
"When I die, I wanted him to take my ashes to the highest peak in the realm and spread them off of it. I was making a path for him to take."
"This forest seems a bit out of the way..." Freya says through her cup.
"I-I've been adding several detours hoping to make his journey more exciting and memorable." Laufey quick adds. Freya smiles down at the cup now on the table.
"What a good mother, I'm sure I had all that energy and spunk on making activities for my son when he was still in my belly." Freya reaches for a necklace around her neck. Laufey couldn't read the runes on it because of how small they were written.
"Did you just recently discover you are with child? You don't look pregnant at all. I remember my pregnancy all too well. You don't glow trust me, it is just sweat, a lot of sweat." She says smiling.
"I'm not pregnant, the baby. Died."
The smile disappears from Freya. She looks at Laufey. "I- I'm so sorry. Please, it wasn't something we-?"
"No, no I never got to meet him," Laufey says unable to look at her. She was hurting from two things, her immediate lie told to a woman offering her kindness, and the fact that her lie had some truth behind it.
"I understand," was all Freya offered. "If there is anything I can do to assist you, let me know." Laufey reached up and touched her ear, one of the thorns pricked her finger. She felt a drop of blood pressure up onto the surface.
"Sorry I didn't mean that way. Why... why don't you stay the night? It's the least I can do for what..." She pauses. "For the things that have suddenly transpired."
Laufey smiles truly now. The visions were correct, she was indeed kind. "Okay, but, it's been night for so long." She says looking out a window of nothing but blackness. "Surely the sun must be rising soon?" Freya stands up and turns her back towards her. She lifted her hand into the air. "Heimili!" The house began to shake. Laufey reached for her axe and picked it up. Aiming it at the goddess. What a sneaky wench she thought, she was caught completely off guard. Was she trying to collapse the house on top of her? Freya didn't turn around to see her about to swing at her. The house suddenly stopped moving and the evening light was peering into the window. It gave off a beautiful golden purple glow. A beam reflected off her axe and hit her face, blinding her for a moment as she looked at the goddess. She lowers the weapon's head to the floor to cast the light away. Freya turned around to her with a smile, then confusion at the sight of the axe. "Sorry, I should have probably explained where exactly you are right now."