Eir wrapped a wing around Atreus, who was inconsolable over the loss of his mother. Kratos had done a double take over the sight of wings on her back the first time. But that was nothing over the reaction he had to her doing a full shift into a phoenix.
She looked to Kratos, who might as well have been carved from stone with how much emotion he showed.
However she understood. Kratos was so used to blood and death that the loss of his wife caused him to retreat into himself rather than show emotion. He grieved, but he was a very private person in his grief.
As Atreus exhausted himself in his grief, Eir went to Kratos.
"There is a troll in the nearby temple," she said simply. "It's at least a good century old and has a pillar that it uses as a weapon."
Kratos stared at her for a moment before grunting. She left, rather than say more and went back to Atreus. She was unsurprised Kratos did not come back for several hours, and when he did it was clear he had been in a rough fight.
For the next few days, Kratos cut down the trees Fay had marked for her funeral pyre.
Eir suspected that the trees actually marked the borders of the wards she had felt around the area. Fay clearly wanted them to leave the territory, as Kratos would be disinclined to go otherwise.
While Kratos had dealt with the troll she had noticed before, Eir was not happy to learn that the damn thing had a mate.
Some time later...
Atreus looked shocked and a little worried.
"Who was that? Why were you fighting?" said Atreus.
"I do not know," said Kratos gruffly.
"Hold still," said Eir, her tone leaving no argument. Kratos waited patiently for her to examine him. "Your healing factor does you credit, but you need to stop tanking hits. Eventually you'll run into something you can't just bludgeon to death."
Kratos grunted, but she was used to his nonverbal communication at this point. Just as Kratos had become used to the fact his adopted daughter (he had come to see her as such due to their sparring sessions) was a fierce protector and a bit of a mother hen. Fay had explained the concept of a Shield Maiden to him, and it fit Eir perfectly.
"What happened?" asked Atreus, concerned. He had never seen his father so beaten up before.
Eir frowned, as she felt something...off about Kratos. She had noticed he wasn't entire human, but until this point she had never had a chance to properly examine his power. It felt...disconnected...for lack of a better term from the world around him.
From what little she remembered of Fay telling her, Kratos came from another land. She suspected he was Greek, due to the very rare times he corrected her pronunciation of the old tongue or the runes she used.
Now that she had a chance to properly examine the flow of his magic, it was clear he had never properly connected himself to his new homeland.
She would have to look into ways of fixing that before it became a necessity.
"I do not know why he came," said Kratos simply.
"From what I could hear, he was looking for something...or someone," said Eir frowning. Kratos grunted. "I get the distinct feeling this won't be the last we see of him. Did he say anything unusual to you?"
"He said he could not feel pain," grunted Kratos.
"Wait. An invulnerability to pain?" said Eir, raising an eyebrow. "Was that a god by any chance?"
"I suspect so," said Kratos.
"What are you thinking?" asked Atreus, his curiousity overcoming his fear.
"That might have been Baldur. If I remember his myth right, he has a magically imbued invulnerability to pretty much everything," said Eir. "He did have one weakness though. I'm having trouble remembering what it was off the top of my head."
"Gather your things. We leave for the mountain," said Kratos.
"I thought you said I wasn't ready?" said Atreus.
"You are not. However now we have no choice."
Eir sighed.
"Good thing I spent all that time brewing potions. I have the feeling we'll need them soon enough."
This was going to be a long journey and she had the distinct feeling that she was finally going to find the answers to why the Morrigan had sent her to this place.
Eir was starting to become very annoyed. Since she had wings, she was able to scout ahead and thanks to a little spell work she had been working with Atreus on, share what she saw with him.
Atreus had found it fascinating and the two took their chance to practice the link whenever they could get away with it.
Originally it had given them such headaches that they had to limit it's use, but now they were able to hold it for a while.
Kratos had given his begrudging approval for the spellwork, as it meant he was able to find out what was ahead before any potential enemies could find them first.
She was still trying to link her sight to a mirror, but without the right materials was having little luck with it. It wasn't like she could find the right metals to create the artifacts she needed.
Down below...
"There's a bridge up ahead," said Atreus, as he saw through Eir's eyes. She flew a little closer at his mental request. "It seems there's some draugr up ahead as well, but they're not moving."
"Tell her to fly back," said Kratos. Atreus passed the message along, and within fifteen minutes there was a burst of flame.
Eir decided not to bother retracting her wings, and simply folded them around her like a cloak.
"Did you see anything of importance?" asked Kratos.
"There's a massive lake and a couple of statues in the direction we're heading... and...I think I felt some seriously powerful warding up ahead as well. Whoever put them there did not want visitors," said Eir.
Kratos said nothing, and they continued on.
Once past the draugr she had seen, they found themselves confronted by something that made Eir's nose turn up in annoyance.
Cannibals, really?
"Boy, stay out of this. This fight is mine alone," said Kratos.
"But father..." started Atreus, but Eir held out a hand.
"Killing another person is different from killing animals, monsters or the undead. The act changes you," she said simply.
Atreus was silent at that. Kratos made short work of the majority of the men, but one managed to slip past him and Eir who was defending.
"Father!" he shouted.
"Atreus!"
Kratos and Eir reached him at the same time, only to find Atreus had been quick thinking enough to pull out his knife in defense. The problem was that the way the man landed caused him to fall on the knife, killing him. Atreus had a distraught look on his face, and Eir pulled him into a hug.
"Oh little brother... It's going to be alright."
Atreus wept, having not expected that to happen. Kratos tentatively reached for his son.
"Close your heart to it," he said carefully. Seeing the men turn into draugr, Kratos shared a look with Eir.
"I'll stay with him," she said, feeling guilty that bastard had gotten close enough to Atreus in the first place.
"Sister..."
"No Atreus. You did nothing wrong. Those men were scum and would have needed to be put down regardless. Think about it, they were openly talking about us as a food source. They are not innocents," said Eir softly.
Atreus sniffled a bit, but nodded. That alleviated some of his guilt, but it would take a while for it to sink in. Eir wrapped her wing around him in comfort while Kratos made short work of the undead. Atreus took her hand and held it tightly.
As they made their way out of the temple, Kratos spoke softly to his son. It was clear this journey would cause a great change, likely for the both of them. Perhaps Fay intended this to be a way to repair the bond between father and son.
"Sister...is it really alright that I killed him?" said Atreus.
"Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment."
Atreus paused.
"Isn't that from the tale you told me a while ago? The one with the rings?" said Atreus.
"Yes," she replied without hesitation. "To put it simply, history is written by those who are victorious. Those that run from what needs to be done are cowards. Those men back there were not worth wasting your sleep over."
"They were criminals, plain and simple," agreed Kratos. "Such men would have been put down in my homeland as well."
Atreus took comfort, because if his father agreed with Eir's assessment, then there was no dishonor in killing that man. Either way, he was staying close to his sister tonight.
Brok was a curious creature, and for some reason felt like he was missing something.
"Wait. You're a dwarf?" she said in surprise.
"Yeah, what of it?" he said gruffly.
Eir's mind went back to that disastrous Valentine's day nonsense Lockhart had cooked up.
"No reason," she said quickly. No way in hell was she mentioning that when it was almost guaranteed to piss the man off. Especially since she had a chance to get some quality weapons and material.
Brok seemed to eye her for a moment, and she had the distinct feeling he wasn't seeing her, but someone else entirely. She wondered if it had some connection to her birth mother.
She eyed his wares as he talked to Kratos about the axe Fay had left behind.
After a few moments, she found a decent sword that she rather liked as well as a few other things.
Eir picked up the sword and did a few test swings, and was pleased with the result. It was certainly better than the one she had been using until this point.
"Don't expect me to hand the fucking thing over for free," said Brok.
"Of course not," she replied. To the surprise of everyone else, she did a twist with her hand and tossed him a gold coin.
Brok looked satisfied when he did a quick test and found it to be real gold.
"Where did you get the gold?" said Atreus.
Eir made a face.
"I've had it since I crashed through the stave, but my magic control was so shoddy I haven't been able to access it until now. Where did you think I got all those seeds for the plants I used to brew my potions with?"
She did have more things stashed in there, but accessing it was out of her reach at the time being. What she could retrieve now was very limited, as the higher tier items (like her personal weapons) required more finesse than she had at the moment.
"Feel free to browse, and if'n you have something interesting to sell I'd be happy to take a crack at it," said Brok.
Eir had a sudden idea.
"Actually, would you be interested in a few trades?" she said.
She left a few potions lighter, but with more than enough material to work on her side projects. Brok was happy as well, because healing potions were notoriously expensive for damn good reason, and he was able to get rid of some excess junk he had lying around.
"What are you planning to do with all that stuff?" said Atreus.
"I'm going to make a set of scrying mirrors, so you can both see what I see while I'm flying," said Eir happily. "Only reason I haven't made any before was due to not having the right materials or tools to work with. Proper engraving equipment is hard to find."
"I'm happy we met Brok, but I'm glad we're leaving this area," said Atreus.
"Same," said Eir. Meeting a proper dwarf was a real experience and she found Brok's regular cursing to be highly entertaining to listen to.
As they settled into camp for the night, Eir went to work engraving the runes on the metal she had picked up from Brok. By morning she was too tired to continue...but the mirrors were done at least.
Kratos was not amused.