Eremophobia: The deep fear of stillness, solitude, or deserted places.
The singular frost chick that had managed to wriggle into Darcy's handbag and transport itself to Midgard with her had eaten through half her apartment in its quest for blood. Darcy had resorted to surreptitiously dropping the chick behind the deli case when she went grocery shopping and picking it back up after she was finished, during which time the chick would have managed to devour at least half of the sliced meats and a good portion of potato salad.
And because Darcy really does not want to lose all of her couch, she calls up Helblindi for damage control.
"My God," Helblindi mutters as he approaches the chick, holding a stool in front of him like a lion tamer. "What exactly did you let it get into?" The frost chick, exactly the same size as it had been before, cheeps angrily at him and snaps its little beak. One would never have expected it capable of such destruction.
"It likes to eat," Darcy says helplessly, holding up her hands and holding a thumb over the dial button of her mobile, to call 911 in case it is absolutely needed. Helblindi is wresting the chick into a little muzzle, and his hands are already bleeding something fierce. "It loves potato salad. I've named it Henry."
Helblindi rolls his eyes, glares at the little chick who is trying to gnaw through the muzzle.
"Why did you keep it?" he asks after catching his breath. "You could have let it loose to wreak destruction, or if you just wanted to be a nice citizen, you could have released it into Australia. I hear that particular landmass has all sorts of vicious creatures."
Darcy shrugs. "I get lonely sometimes, when you're not here," she says, as if this explains everything. "Henry reminds me of you. Kind of. I mean, if you were a bloodthirsty fowl."
"Right. Of course," Helblindi says, still watching the subdued chick warily. "Hopefully he has not killed anyone yet. That would be a real problem. Frost chickens are nigh impossible to control once they first taste human flesh."
Darcy, unable to help it, lets out a giggle, and Helblindi wraps her in his arms and ponders over her questionable sanity.