Disclaimer: See chapter 1

Prose 12:

When Yui awoke she was greeted with bright morning light coming from Balder's window. She turned, hearing a comforting silence, devoid of birds chirping or bugs. Outside, to her astonishment and glee, was a flurry of snow gently floating down to drop on white covered ground and treetops.

For a moment she enjoyed the odd sight of beautiful comforting snow blessing the garden. That was until it was marred by the thought that she had to see Balder's face again. She was still sorting out what to do with him. For now, all she wanted to do was avoid him. With a house full of boys, that shouldn't have been a problem.

Then it dawned it her. It was Christmas. It was a white Christmas.

Sighing with bemusement, Yui crawled out of bed, gave the owner the decency to make it for him (it wasn't made when she first stepped into the room), made her way down the steps to the main room.

Downstairs was empty, with the exception of Tsukito still unmoving by the couch—they really needed to make sure he was still alive—and Thor, who was making a large breakfast. Whatever he was making smelled delicious. He already had a plate of flaky Swedish pancakes set to go on the counter. Now he was making some sort of omelet with sausage, bacon, and cheese in the center. It looked like a heart attack waiting to happen and Yui had a vague idea who it was for.

"Morning Thor," Yui greeted, thinking he was the only one awake. "I can't believe it's snowing."

"Morning Kusanagi," Thor said stiffly, jiggling the frying pan a little as the omelet started to crackle, his gold yes turning towards the large window of the dorm. "Yeah, my guess is Zeus finally cracked and let the seasons have their day."

"Making breakfast?" she asked, though she knew the obvious answer. "Do you need help?"

She guessed that Thor was cooking for everybody. Indeed he was. He already made pancakes and strawberry strudel for Hades, he was making a coronary omelet for Balder. Normally, Yui thought that cooks didn't like getting help. In truth Thor didn't mind, but he'd never ever let Balder and Loki near the kitchen appliances.

"Sure," Thor replied, "There is a juicer in the cabinet. You can squeeze some orange juice."

With that Thor opened the icebox and pulled up a meshed sack of oranges and plopped them on the counter. Meanwhile, Loki came bounding down the steps in excitement, cackling like a madman, "It's snowing! It's snowing!"

He ripped open the front door and ran out, his telltale snicker resonating in the muffled quiet of the snowing outside. Yui smirked a little. He at least could express the very joy she held in her chest at seeing snow on Christmas. If Yui anticipated Loki was going to stay out and enjoy the environment that graced their home daily, she was wrong. Almost immediately he ran back inside, snow dusting his hair, shivering.

"Damn I hate the cold," he whined. Yui withheld a small laugh as she continued to open the cabinet door for the juicer, only to have it slam shut on her. Loki's furious grey eyes were right on her as he hissed under his breath, "Oookay, what the hell did you do to Balder last night?"

Yui was shocked by what Loki said she barely could work the words out of her mouth, "Excuse me? What did I do?"

"Yes, temptress."

Gritting her teeth, she made to ignore him by opening the cabinet again, to get the juicer and help Thor, who had just left to find some potatoes for hashbrowns. That didn't sit well with Loki. He hated to be ignored in any sense. Here he was upset, which made things worse.

"Hey! Look at me when I'm talking to you!"

"I'm not discussing this, Loki. I did nothing wrong, but your friend did. That's all I have to say on the matter," her voice became shaky, flustered and showing that she was in fact upset about the matter. All she wanted to was to ignore it for as long as she could.

Loki's jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed, "You've got to explain why, after being alone with you, he climbed in to my bed with a raging hard on. A hard on, which quite frankly, most likely means his body's not done growing into it yet. I was left to handle it-I mean deal with it."

Loki quickly edited himself, blushing a little, not entirely sure if what he said came out wrong or not.

Yui slammed the cabinet door, causing the still sleeping Tsukito to twitch in his sleep. She stared at Loki with tight lips, however, she wasn't going to get embroiled in anger.

"Look! We kissed last night. That's it. That's all it was supposed to be, but your friend wanted…more. If I hadn't managed a good knock on his shoulder, there would be an entirely different mess to deal with. The very thought makes me…" Yui finished with a terrified shudder, her terror from last night returning.

Loki's eyes were wide and he at least gave her time to pause. His jaw visibly clenched and he could only manage a whine, "Why in the hell did you kiss him?"

Rolling her eyes, Yui passed Loki, desperate to just get away. Her feet carried out into the snow, Loki's nagging following her, "What kind of lust do you have to be in to want to take advantage of someone who is only thirty percent sure what kissing is?"

Yui whipped around, the cool air stinging her cheeks, "It was a present. He gave me a gift and I returned the favor."

"With sex…"

"NO! A simple kiss! That's what I agreed to," Yui grabbed Balder's amulet around her neck, half tempted to tear it off. As much she was displeased with the maker, she couldn't bring herself to ruin the craft. "This is what he gave me. See?"

Loki took a hold of it and gave it a good look, not listening to Yui's explanation of the agreement. He frowned, not willing to believe Balder would give this to some human girl.

"He gave this to you?" he asked.

"Yes, I didn't ask for it, but he gave it to me."

"And you accepted it?"

"Yes!"

The cold breath that came out of Loki's mouth was staggered, portraying a frustration. "You don't know what this is do you? This is his mother's seal. She's the goddess of motherhood and married women. Balder had to be mistaken. He can't be giving this to a woman unless he feels he wants to attach himself."

Yui's brow furrowed, confused, "I don't understand…"

Loki didn't look at all patient, "If you want me to be blunt then I will. He gave this for your protection as his…um…mate, I guess, and future mother of his children. That's the least complicated explanation I can put. Brides and brides-to-bes were given protection items like these with the same protection attached."

Yui understood the gist of the purpose but the biggest question was why. "Why would he think to try…that?"

Loki was being lenient he thought in giving her an honest explanation, but if she wanted his theories on why Balder would be so stupid as to pull a stunt like that, he would tell her exactly how he felt, "Well, you've been hanging around each other a lot. Did you lead him on?"

Yui frowned. She needed to defend herself here, "No, I didn't. But what does that have to account for anything? He should know better, regardless."

Then the look Loki gave her was just as skeptical as any person could be, as if the response could be spoken through the light snowy wind. Yui shuffled her feet, her slippers starting to absorb too much of the snow on the ground.

"Really? Have you met him? He's not gonna give anything much thought. So maybe a touch to the hand—"

"Is just a friendly gesture." How hard was that to understand? Why should she be so guarded towards her friends? Yeah, they weren't the brightest or adept bunch in the world, but surely even the most knuckle-headed of them could distinguish friendship with romantic interest? Hell she even told Balder that during the Solstice Festival. "Loki, when are you going to realize that, maybe, just maybe, like all the rest here, that Balder is just as cynical and reckless and thoughtless about others? He perhaps is just a selfish brat!"

She knew herself she only meant half those things. She certainly knew she shouldn't have said any of it out loud regardless of how true it may or may not be. Yet, at that moment she didn't much care until she noticed Loki staring at a point behind her. Yui turned to see Balder standing staring, wearing a hooded sweatshirt and knit cap, a wood cutter limply in his hand at his side. Her gut felt ice cold when Balder said nothing and instead lifted the axe to rest on his shoulder and walked off into the forest, looking angry and upset.

"Great. Anyone else you want to insult before lunch time? Wanna tell Thor he has obnoxiously large ears and his cooking is horrible while you're at it?" Loki said sarcastically. Yui just rolled her eyes throwing her hands up in frustration as she made the immediate decision to return to the dorm to gather her things. Loki followed her and yelled, "Do yourself a favor and stay away from that boy!"

Once inside, Yui went straight to Thor and said quietly, "I think I should go back to my dorm."

The big Norse god paused from paring potatoes and turned to her, "Why? What happened?"

"It's—" she paused, taking a swift glance at Loki before lying, "—nothing. I feel like I've overstayed my welcome."

Thor wasn't buying it, his normally stone-faced expression scrunching slightly in skepticism. He glanced back at his friend who ascended the steps to finish dressing.

"What did Loki do now?"

"It's not just him. I may have upset Balder as well."

"Forget Balder and Loki," Thor grumbled as he piled the shredded potato bits into the skillet, which erupted in a sizzle and pop. "You have the rest of us to hang out with."

As he said that, Hades descended the steps in a dark robe, scratching his head, mumbling, "Good morning."

"M-morning, Hades!" Yui greeted. Thor was right and surprisingly insightful. Once the others got up she could be with them. "You're right, thanks Thor. I didn't know you could be so…"

"Understanding?" Thor said with the barest of smiles, "I'm not like Balder and Loki. And I'm highly aware of their immaturity."

"That's right, you been around them forever."

"You make it sound longer, but yeah. So…" he slid a cut of butter onto the hash browns and at that moment, Apollo came bounding down the steps, jumping over the log of Tsukito body. "…what happened?"

She braced herself on the counter, not wanting to repeat the specifics, but instead decided to recount what happened outside, "I got angry with Balder and as I was arguing with Loki, I didn't call him nice things."

Thor paused almost full stop and glanced at the human girl with every ounce of worry etched on his face, "What did Balder do?"

For some reason, the way Thor said that phrase made her feel better. It made her think that he could believe her. He could've very well said something along the lines of "Why were you upset at Balder?" Here, Thor seemed to know and understand that his naïve friend could in fact do things that could anger people.

Still, she couldn't recount everything, now that Apollo and Hades were awake and about, with Tsukito making one last attempt to recover from his detrimental high last night, "Let's just say he pulled something on me last night that I didn't appreciate."

It was obvious Thor was sifting through his thoughts, to try to piece together what Balder could've done. Regardless, he resumed his cooking and said calmly, "Have you tried discussing this with Balder?"

At Yui's horrified gaze, Thor clarified, "Hear me out. Balder needs bluntness sometimes. Trust me he appreciates it more. He doesn't like people discussing things behind his back. If you have a problem, tell him so he can correct it. If that doesn't work and he starts acting odd…then…" He sighed and said with finality, "Keep away from him."

Deciding to ignore Thor's warning—the second warning for her to stay away from Balder-she didn't know how else she could make that clearer to Balder last night. True she shouldn't have called him the things she said earlier. Maybe Thor was right. Balder was in the wrong, he screwed up, but at the very least she should let him know why she was upset. That's what she was here for right? To teach them? But he had to know he did something wrong.

Yui sucked in a deep breath and lightly patted Thor's shoulder, "Thanks Thor. I really appreciate the advice."

"No problem—Apollo! Leave some for juice," he commanded as he spotted the Sun God with an armful of oranges and one stuck in his mouth.

Yui got dressed into some warmer clothes and took a moment to collect herself. Meanwhile, Takeru was busy fanning his pseudo-conscious brother. At least Tsukito was close to being fully awake. She spoke with Hades in hopes to calm her nerves a bit, but both he and Apollo were wondering what Yui was planning as she was dressed warmly for the outside rather than indoors.

Finally she had gathered enough courage to go out into the snow and at least take a calm walk through the white world, wandering in the direction of where Balder was last seen headed. It didn't much matter if she couldn't find Balder or not. I good walk in the cool air could clear anyone's head.

She could hear noises in the woods and hoped that was Balder. She followed the abrupt thunking sounds until she came upon Balder in a clearing of trees, taking big logs and chopping them into firewood with rather measured strokes of his axe. The frown on his face was tight and unforgiving. Judging by the size of the firewood pile, he looked to be taking out some amount of frustration and anger on the logs.

He didn't seem to notice her as she set foot into the clearing, fully engrossed in his chopping.

"Balder." She for a moment believed she called his name too softly. But that thought flew away when his blue eyes that reflected the expectant cold in the air snapped to her.

"Oh," his voice was surprisingly deep and gravely making it painfully aware to Yui that he perhaps was crying earlier, "It's you. Come to wipe the brat's nose?"

He finished with a strong chop through a piece of wood, the wood splintering from the force instead of being cut cleanly.

That stung. Yui thought in regards to his cold comment, but she wasn't necessarily apologetic. "No, I just wanted to talk."

He leaned over to pull away the pieces from the ground and clear it away, his eyes flitting towards her direction intermittently, his brow furrowed horribly as he moved, "Talk."

Despite the bite, Yui spoke, not really knowing where to start, "I was upset, you know. I still am. Why did you…do that?"

Balder lifted the axe with one hand and with a great swing stuck the axe into the chopping block. He looked prepared to speak, but instead wiped his nose and mouth with the back of his hand as he looked down on the ground. He was buying time. He was trying to think up of some excuse, but in truth he couldn't think up of one thing to serve as a viable excuse.

"Just—" he quickly stopped himself. "I don't know."

"Yes you do," Yui hissed a little more viciously than she intended. "We had an agreement Balder. And you went too far."

"I know, I know, and I'm sorry," his flashing blue eyes met hers as it was apparent that his frustration was getting the best of him, but immediately he softened, "I'm sorry. I thought…I don't know what I was thinking."

Clearly, she thought.

"I thought that's what girls and boys…are supposed to do, " his voice was noncommittal like he couldn't pinpoint the exact words to say or explain and to Yui it sounded very juvenile. Naïve. So naïve that Yui resisted the urge to ask him how old he really was. That would probably frustrate the boy more.

"I thought it was supposed to feel nice," he murmured, more to himself than to her. To finally get close to someone.

"That shouldn't matter," Yui said. "We had an agreement. A kiss—which I thought was nice—but it was just supposed to be a kiss. We agreed no tongue, no fondling, nothing more and you took it upon yourself to break that agreement."

The boy just looked even more confused and incredibly upset.

"Balder, you can't go so fast with girls. Or with anyone else, let alone doing something they don't like. You'll scare people away."

That was as simple as she could make it. And yet, after a gusty silence, Balder nodded, understanding. "I'm sorry. What can I do to have you like me again?"

She could feel herself dumbing down to talk to a petulant four-year-old, but she could see that Balder understood that pouncing on women was not okay. And it was Christmas. She wasn't going to spend the "season of good tidings" angry. She slowly walked towards him, placing a comforting hand on his arm, "You don't have to do anything. And I'm sorry I called you names. That wasn't nice."

Balder smiled lightly and replied, voice cracking slightly, "It's fine as long as we're cool."

"We're cool…almost literally," Yui laughed, warming her hands in the pockets of her jacket while Balder glanced over his shoulder towards the woods.

"Do you want to see something interesting?" he asked, his smile bright against the falling snow.

"Uh…sure," she replied, not entirely sure what to expect.

Even as she followed him into the snow deeper into the woods she began to question and wonder what to expect. Balder seemed to know exactly where he was going and if she were honest after "making up" she followed him with some trepidation.

They finally stepped near a bare grove next to the large lake that was covered in white ice. Balder held a hand out and told her to pause, "Quiet now."

"What is it?" Yui whispered, eyes following Balder's arm as he pointed next to a large knotted tree over a snow-covered rock den. There, pawing at the ground, scrounging up berries and nuts, was a big hairy bear.

"That bear there," he said, Yui secretly loving the harsh sound he made as he pronounced "bear". "See her?"

It was hard not to see her, but Yui was hoping they weren't too close. Before she had enough time to ask Balder if they should step a few paces back, he had already calmly started striding towards her like he was approaching an acquaintance.

"Hey Gerda," he said softly and the bear turned her head up to see Balder. Instead of growling, running away or attacking, the bear galloped towards him, almost gleefully rubbing her head against his chest. Balder laughed and wrapped his arms around her neck, rubbing his cheek against the top of her furry head. The bear made a high short rumble that caused Yui to jump, but apparently it was just a noise of exultation.

"This is what you wanted me to see?" Yui asked not moving from her spot a safe distance away from the massive creature.

Balder continued to playfully rough-handle the bear, grunting from both parties, and Balder laughing more. He turned to her, hand outstretched towards her, asking for her to take it, "Come on. Don't you want to meet her?"

"But…" she whined, backing at the bear's gaze.

"Come on," he waved his hand beckoning her. "Do you trust me?"

Truthfully, ever since last night's incident she wasn't too ready to trust him implicitly especially with a big carnivorous animal. Regardless, she reached out and touched his hand, stumbling slightly as he gently pulled her towards him and the bear.

Balder stroked Gerda's fur, showing Yui how to touch her, "Here you can touch her. She doesn't mind."

The bear's fur was unbelievably thick and coarse, but, in the chill and snow, comfortably warm. Balder was right, she didn't seem to mind.

"I met her a few days back," Balder said keeping Gerda's head occupied as Yui stroked her hunched shoulder timidly. "She's really nice. And she's got cubs in her belly. Wonder how they get in there.."

He reached down and over, patting the side of the bear's enlarged stomach with a smile on his face. Meanwhile Yui thought almost aloud, Nope. Too much. Not gonna ask if he knows the 'Birds and the Bees'. I don't want to know.

Balder continued to talk to the bear quietly in his old Norse vernacular while Yui watched bemused. She was reminded that Balder and animals got along well. They seemed to be drawn to his natural charm and he to them. How in the world did that ever happen? Given Balder's love for a certain type of food Yui couldn't quite get why some of the more docile of animals felt at all at ease around him.

"I don't get you sometimes," Yui said aloud, accidentally. Balder glanced at her, "Hunh?"

Yui shook her head, embarrassed, "I mean…you like to eat animals and I've seen you tackle a large boar intending to kill it and yet they are drawn to you. Like…how?"

Balder took one glance at Gerda, as if that were the answer, until finally he stood, "Yui, I love animals and yes I do like eating them. I don't see why the two have to be mutually exclusive. Take Gerda here. She loves fish, but she's not going to actively go out and kill every fish she encounters if she's not hungry. And that boar…he was a ferocious beast. I hardly equate that with the fawns that love me so. See, its all about the cycle," he said, twirling his finger in a circle to make a picture, "Right?"

"No I understand it. Life cycle," Yui confirmed. "Sorry, I didn't mean to ask such a loaded question."

Yet Balder was having none of it. In fact he seemed happy that she was asking questions about him. All this time he had been used to asking questions about humans or Japanese culture and never once had someone thought to ask why he was the way he was. Every one seemed to take him for granted.

He got down on one knee as Gerda pawed at the ground, nabbed some hidden frozen berries, gave him one last nudge and lumbered over to hide from the cold in the sanctuary of her den.

As the creature disappeared, Balder leaned back in his seat; all the way back into the snow, facing the sky blissfully. Yui watched as he lay in the snow watching the snowflakes fall gracefully, the white flakes unfortunately not touching him. It was then that Yui wondered if Balder at some points disliked his invulnerability. It sure came in handy when petting a large animal, but what about experiencing the soft flakes as they gently landed on earth?

She didn't think to ask him that question. Why should she when he was smiling anyway? Yui instead buried her hands in the pockets of her jacket and sat down in the snow next to him. Perhaps she was being small minded. She was looking at it from the perspective of someone who had always had the pleasure of snow falling on her, on her tongue to catch them. She wouldn't trade that experience for the world though.

"You know…where I lived we didn't get snow very often. Maybe during one or two months out of the year, but it seems strange that in my memories I've always remembered playing with my brothers in the snow clearly. Like yesterday. My older brother would wet the bottom of the metal sled, let it freeze so it would glide down the hills fast enough to blow my hat off," Yui didn't realize she was talking aloud, she was just speaking, staring at the gray sky, watching as the flakes grew bigger as they fell towards her. "My other brother sprained his wrist once doing that, but for whatever reason, no matter how much my mother fussed, he didn't seem to care. Dad would build igloos, which you know, when you're five you think is pretty big. Big enough to hold you and shield you from the cold."

Yui glanced over to see Balder's head turned towards her, his face passive as if he grasped every word she said, his chiseled mouth slightly upturned in a small smile, "That's the first time you have ever told me anything about yourself. At least such a personal story."

She could only shrug, "Yes well…it's not much."

Yui let it as is, trying hard not to think of family. Her eyes closed against the thought maybe too long. It wasn't until she felt a warm hand enclose around her small one that she realized that Balder may have sensed her distress. His strong thumb brushed over her knuckles as an act of comfort, mouth open as he fought to come up with the words.

"I like you, Yui," he said as a whisper into the air, letting his words grace the winter sky. "I think I really like you."

At that her jaw hardened and she sat up, her hand slipping out of his. As she got to her feet, Balder looked on in confusion, "Balder, I need to tell you something."

Balder got to his feet, looking eager and concerned for whatever she was going to say, "Yes, of course. You can tell me anything."

"Balder…I…" Yui took a deep breath, feeling saddened deep in her heart. Balder's rather pathetic face didn't help matters. "Balder, I appreciate your friendship. You're fantastic, that fact should be plain. But…I'm not here for the type of relationship…you're wanting. I'm here to teach you and help you understand humans. It's not just you, it's the other gods as well. You should be concerned with learning about humans too."

Balder's expectant face pulled into a rather downtrodden gaze. Whatever Yui said really, really must've hurt him. Her heart ached for him. She knew rejection hurt. While Yui was never rejected herself, her friends were, and she was very in tune with their emotions to know that having someone you admire and like reject you was extremely painful. And for Balder, who was so used to getting admired by, predominantly by people who loved what he represented, rather than his character, it must have hurt a million times more.

Yui had grown to know that gods like Apollo and Balder and Takeru were horrible at hiding how they truly felt, and through out all that confusion and mix of emotions Balder was going through, Yui never had to guess when he was happy and when he was disappointed. Every bit of his disappointment showed even as he desperately tried to mask it.

"Think about it," Yui continued. "If we fail, we'll be locked here. Zeus will undoubtedly make the punishments of being imprisoned here harsher. You won't be able to go home. You won't be able to see Hödr or your mother again."

That just confused Balder even more, and eventually his thoughts formed into words, "Being locked and imprisoned with you…and the others, isn't so bad."

"Balder!" she scolded. "How can you say that? Everyone else wants to desperately learn so they can return home. You have to feel the same. You can't sabotage this. Not now. Please Balder. You can't let me get in the way of that, because believe me, I'm not worth it. There are plenty of other girls out there who are better deserving of your…affections than I."

Yui laughed at the end to try to play it off, but it only seemed to upset Balder more.

"How can you talk like that about yourself?" he grumbled, almost looking furious that Yui would talk herself down. He fidgeted, unsure of what to do with himself, "You are better than that. Nothing such…I don't want…I don't like hearing that."

The kid was nervously scratching his arms, cheeks growing red, looking decidedly agitated, "You are perfect, honest, compassionate, understanding, how can you think that you are not deserving—"

"Balder enough!" she yelled, eyes squeezing tight in frustration. "I get it, I get it, but you need to understand, it just can't work out. I'm sorry, Balder, but it just can't happen. Not with you and not with anyone else here."

At this point Balder couldn't bear to look at her. He shifted from side to side, rubbing his forehead vigorously. Immediately, sensing his distress, Yui took one step closer to him, once again rubbing his arm to comfort him. She was afraid he would cry, so instead she gave him a friendly embrace, "It'll be alright. We can still be friends, okay? But if you pull a stunt like you did last night again, I don't think I could be near you for a while."

After a second or two of standing with Yui's arms around him in a warm hug, Balder managed to wrap his arms around her as well, not saying a word. He didn't dare to, not wanting to break what little comfort Yui could offer.

Perhaps in a way, his heart felt lighter. The weight of wondering if he could ever get close to her off his shoulders, despite the outcome. And in the moment he thought about it, she was right. The gods weren't here for courting. They were here to learn.

And he now realized he still had much to learn.

Too quickly for him, she separated; tugging at the pendant he gave her, "Now there's this…"

Balder glanced at it curiously, "Yes?"

"Loki told me what it means. I don't think I should be carrying this around, you know."

"What did he say it meant?"

Yui ran her thumb along the stoutly crafted chain, "It was sign of partnership and of motherhood, of which I am neither."

"He said that?" Balder frowned. "He's somewhat correct, but it's just a method of protection and nothing more. I don't know why he's gone and told you such trivial things."

"You're sure?" Yui asked, not sure of who to believe. "You're sure this isn't some binding tool."

"It is not," Balder assured her. "Especially not now since you have made it clear that all you want is friendship. It's just a gift, Yui. If you don't feel comfortable wearing it given the circumstances you can give it back. I'll understand."

"I'm going to believe you," she admitted, as it looked like Balder seemed prepared to take the pendant back. "I'll keep this for good luck then. Okay?"

One corner of Balder's lips lifted, finally giving her a smile, though it was plain he tried not to. Yui reached over and lightly patted her tall Norse friend on the back and the two trudged back through the woods back to the warmth of the dorm for breakfast.

A/N: So believe it or not this chapter was supposed to be longer but I decided to cut it off. Much of the dialogue from this chapter and the previous one was inspired by Richard Thompson's "Read About Love". He's really good at making dark satire out of a sexually curious boy's plight, but I'll be honest it's more of a Tsukito song than a Balder one. I would advise people to check that song out, but it only proves how old I am and he probably won't appeal to my younger audience. Moving on. One of the things I like about Loki is that he's like the "anti-Norse". For a Norse god he seems to hate a lot of Norse things. He hates the cold, dislikes fish, hates the water, kind of physically wimpy (compared to his pals that is) my guess is he was actually put in Hakoniwa because he is one gigantic failure of a Norse anything.

Next chapter has a small surprise (more of a surprise for me but I hope others will enjoy it).

Anyway...you know the drill.