Odin was shuffling his feet, waiting for someone to answer the door. What if she gave him the wrong address? Did she actually have some interest in him? Is this just some joke to her? Odin shooed the thoughts from his head and took a deep breath. He realized his scruff had grown out and he wondered if he should have shaved. Lost in thought, he was startled when the door opened. Odin's mile-a-minute train of thought came to a sudden stop at what stepped out of the house.
Ava was at the door, her friend shadowing her. Maggie gripped Ava's shoulder with a finely manicured hand.
"Now before I release Ava into your custody, you are going to promise me you'll have her home in one piece, got it?" The older girl could be pretty intimidating when she wanted to be.
Odin nodded solemnly and before he could even open his mouth to reply, Ava was shoved into his chest with a, "You kiddies have fun and be home by midnight!" The door slammed shut behind them.
Odin gently dislodged a flustered Ava from the front of his shirt. He gestured for her to walk forward and scratched at the back of his neck.
"Did you do all this?" he asked as he walked towards his running car, nodding to the flowers that lined the walkway.
"Wh-what? Oh yeah. Wrathia tells me that Black-Eyed Susan's were my mom's favorite flowers, so we planted those together." Odin thought to ask about her mother but thought otherwise when they reached the car. He opened the car door for her and then walked around to enter the car himself. Ava noted the music with prominent resonator guitar played faintly in the background. Over the sound of girlish giggling, Odin spoke up.
"Ava, these are my sisters. Raven, Crow, Meryl, play nice or I'll tell Olai."
"Yes, mom," the three replied in eerie harmony and continued on to quietly talk amongst themselves.