These Things We've Gained: Eternal Love, Building Hope, Just Honesty

by Tales of Suspense and Drama

In the aftermath of "These Things We've Lost" people strugggle to create a new normal. (Slice of Life)

33. Chapter 33

- Chapter 33 -

24May2023 – Outside The Bounds Of Time – Tenth Part Of The Day

Vanaheim Royal Palace Guest Chambers

"Remember to lubricate the pivot point." Anthony was overseeing Blainn's project while he reviewed the simulation for the SITA defensive system that he was designing. His gaze rose from the report to see how the project was going. A charming little cybernetic bird was sitting on the workbench down the way from him. Blainn had created the handsome little creature. It just needed its colors now. "It's beautiful, what colors are you going to paint it in?"

"Thank you." Pressing the small rune on the underside of the bird's body turned it on. Blainn smiled as its eyes lit up in green. It warbled a little song then took flight. He held out his hand and the artificial bird landed on it. "I think I will name you… 'Asta' (love)." His seidr sprouted from his core to ripen into a Conjuration Spell. Focusing for a minute on the spell, he created the colors in his mind, letting them soak into the spell from his seidr. The spell released to coat the little bird in vibrant tones of vibrant red, light blue, deep black, and cheerful orange. It was charming to him, more so because the bird came into being from his efforts instead of anything else. That he could now forge and smith items where he couldn't when he first arrived there was pleasing to him. He liked that he knew a beautiful and useful handicraft. He couldn't wait to show his parents and clan members what he could make now. He particularly wanted to show his second mother and second father what he could cook now. His third father would be interested in his alchemy skills. His third mother would probably also be interested in his new alchemy skills since they could be used to make new nicely scented soaps. Blainn was certain that all his parents would be interested in everything he had to show them. A deep longing to see them again streaked through his thoughts as he began to clean up the workbench. It'd been years since he'd seen them. They were the most productive years of his life as the Rhodes brothers didn't like to sit around being lazy. They always had something for him to do or learn. As eager a learner as he was, he was also eager to see his family again. There was never a time when he'd been away from home and family for so long. His heart ached to see the lustrous halls, underground roads, and handsome caverns of the Asketill Mountain Range. His home was calling, and he wanted to answer that call.

"Morgan is waiting for you." Anthony enjoyed having someone to teach forging, smithing, and engineering to; someone who didn't judge him for what he made or how he used it. Being able to teach his skills to another person was oddly soothing to Anthony. It helped to settle his thoughts about being away from his wife and children for so long. Blainn was just a great student for him, and a great companion for his beloved cybernetic hound. His student and his hound had formed a fast friendship.

It was time for what was potentially the last test of the SITA devices' ability to replace limbs. James was a little sad to see the end, and a little excited as well. Being able to reliably replace a limb excited him. Letting go of Blainn didn't. The young Dvergar would be returned to his home unharmed, …and it would be another thousand years or so until they spoke again. Only one of them would live that time though. It had to be that way, the way that he'd set it up as. Everyone had a fate to reach. He couldn't stand in the way of Blainn's fate, wouldn't stand in the way even if he could. A little sigh slipped from between his lips. His confidence in the SITA-L limb replacement system was high, so it was time to begin the end. "Lady Sjofn, could you call Lady Aile, Lady Eldbjorg, and Lady Magnhildr, please," she nodded to him, so James called over to his patient, "Blainn, do you have a moment?"

Stepping halfway into the currents of time around the room, Lady Sjofn began to resonate her seidr to call to her sister handmaidens. Through her resonating seidr she imparted the knowledge to them of why they were needed. A fraction of a second later the Ladies stepped out of the currents of time and into the guest room.

"Ah, Sister! Is it truly so august a day?" Lady Aile spoke first.

"We greatly look forward to this, Sister." Lady Eldbjorg spoke with an expression on her face that betrayed the excitement she felt.

It was only Lady Magnhildr who maintained her calm. "We are prepared to observe whenever James is prepared to act."

"Thank you, Sisters," Lady Sjofn turned back to James, "We are prepared."

"Excellent." Turning back to Blainn, James patted the top of the SITA-L like he always did. "You're going to be laying on it this time."

"Of course, Ser James. Allow me to get my boot and pants out of the way." There was something different in Ser James; a sort of excitement in his eyes, as well as something else. Blainn wasn't sure what the other emotion was, but he almost thought that it might have been sorrow. Why it would be that confused him. He shook his head to refocus himself onto getting his boot and sock off, then getting his pant leg out of the way. Ser James needed him, so he acted quickly to get himself up onto the SITA-L. He marveled at how this SITA-L was different from the others. The ones that came before it were very plain, like massive bricks of iron. This one was covered in gold with orange gemstones accenting it here and there. There was even a crest in the center of the side with a hollow star in the middle of a triangle. The star had nine points. Writing in a script he didn't know covered the points of the star, and a sentence was written around the center bottom. At the corners of the triangle were three firehawks pointed towards the hollow star. Their wings were stretched out along the sides of the triangle until they touched the other firehawks' wings. They contained the hollow star as it drew them to it. It had an elegant simplicity about it.

A comfortable red bed coated the surface of the SITA-L. Blainn saw the purple fibers sprout up from the metal of the bed more often. This red bed was more comfortable for him. He appreciated it greatly. It even created a pillow for him to rest his neck against. "This is so nice, Ser James!"

"I'm glad you like it," James liked how the bedding system sensors and AI was performing so far, "If it becomes uncomfortable let me know."

"Yes, Ser." Curiosity was sprinkled through Blainn's thoughts, and he wondered if the bedding was going to change again.

His patient was ready, so James's began. "This is a test of the newest version of the SITA-L. This test will include several systems, one of those is the alchemy system. Instead of just watching today, I need you to take the New Limb Potion that the system is going to make. Is that alright?"

"May I ask what the potion will do?" Excitement overtook Blainn's thoughts again as he was doing something else new.

"The potion will put you into a sort of meditative state where your brain will become an open source of information which the UI Sprite will use to begin the limb replacement procedure." This was simultaneously new and tested technology. James smiled instead of grimacing at the new tech being used. He had a high confidence in this tech since he had a hand in creating it. He was also going to be the one seeing what refinements needed to be made. "Are you ready to begin?"

"Yes, Ser." Only a little disappointment came into Blainn's mind that he wouldn't be able to observe. No matter how much it hurt him, he still liked to see what they were doing. James' actions were always interesting to him. There were always layers to them.

Moving around to the end of the SITA-L, James pressed the well-hidden button to open the alchemy section, The cover plate slid back from the small section that's base was a small drain with a metal grating over it. He wasn't the one that was going to use it though. Next James went to the head of the SITA-L, next to Blainn's head. On the edge of the bed he tapped a small circle, saying, "Wake up, sprite." The circle opened like fan blades drawing back.

A golden spherical clockwork sprite floated out of the opening. A beautiful flaxen band coated in nano runes encircled the middle of the golf ball sized sphere. James turned to Anthony and called out, "Anthony, you need to give the sprite its appearance."

The busy engineer called back over his shoulder. "I know. I just don't know…," Anthony flushed and looked down, "I don't know if what I want is right, or… not. I need a few more things to make it right."

"Ok. We'll discuss it when I'm done with this." There was something bothering Anthony, but James couldn't handle it right then. There was embarrassment covering it in his voice. He didn't worry though. Herb was already moving over to Anthony, so was the hound. James smiled, satisfied, and went back to what he was doing.

A somewhat stilted but pleasant female voice came from the sprite. "How can I assist you, Colonel Rhodes?"

The addition of his rank caused a wry grin on James' face. His retirement ceremony was both in the past and future. It should have been years ago. It probably wouldn't be for several more years. Who knows? Maybe I'll make it to the ceremony tonight. He focused his thoughts back on the sprite. "You're going to go through the limb replacement procedure from start to finish. I'm going to observe you doing this. Set notifications to active. Set notifications to vocal, and begin."

"Yes, Colonel Rhodes." The sprite floated over to Blainn and stopped just over his face. It rotated almost like it was looking at him. "Ath heilsa, patient zero! What would you like me to call you?"

"Blainn is well." This was the sprite that Anthony worked on for so long. It was beautiful to Blainn. The craftsmanship was flawless.

"Blainn. It's so nice to meet you. Can you tell me what brings you to me today?" The sprite continued to hover silently.

The young Dvergar couldn't think of what to say, so he said the first thing that came to mind. "I have a false leg."

"Scanning," the sprite said, then almost immediately said, "Scanning complete. Right side violent leg amputation just below the knee, prior healed injury. Prosthetic limb in place and functioning. Ambulation is possible. Would you like me to tune and repair your prosthetic," the sprite paused, "or would you like me to replace your prosthetic with a matching limb?"

"Replace, please." This gave Blainn the feeling like he was participating in his own healing. It was a nice feeling.

"Beginning limb replacement procedure. Raising sterilizing field." A white energy field rose up at the edges of the SITA-L to form a box around Blainn. Sterilized air pumped through the box. A barely noticeable whirring came from the alchemy section followed by a white-blue and orange laced flash of light. "Emplacing blood vessel control and muscle control." A white line started at Blainn's head and rolled over his body right down to his toes. As the patient was being sterilized and prepared for anesthetizing the sprite went down to the alchemy section and retrieved a two tablespoon sized potion bottle half-filled with, "Retrieving New Limb Potion, assessed for size and age of patient – Blainn." Bringing it back up to the young Dvergar, it spoke to him, "Blainn, would you please drink this New Limb Potion?"

"Yes, ma'am." The lightly floral sweet taste of the potion washed across Blainn's mouth as he didn't hesitate to drink the potion down. The tingling through his face and down from there was instantaneous.

The sprite retrieved the potion bottle and returned it to the alchemy section where it was broken down into seidr and absorbed by the SITA-L's cores. "Scanning patient – Blainn for independent brain function."

The young Dvergar heard the first word she spoke, but nothing after that. A hazy limpness spread through him until he stared at the ceiling blankly. His mind had dissolved into an open and warm place. It was a place where he existed without thought.

"Patient – Blainn exhibits decreased independent brain function." The UI Sprite stopped hovering. It landed on the upper lip of its patient. Two tiny slithering tentacles slid out of the clockwork ball to snake their way up towards the young Dvergar's brain through the nose. "Accessing unlocked white seidr in patient – Blainn's pituitary gland." A pause and then, "Unlocked white seidr accessed. Unique Dvergar male schematic obtained. Fitting unique Dvergar male schematic into regeneration simulation," a longer pause came then. "Simulation complete. Activating pituitary gland." The sprite sent a pulse of seidr down its tendril to generate the New Growth Weave. It released the weave into the pituitary gland to activate it for new growth. It activated smoothly. Once that was done the sprite removed the tentacles, generating and leaving behind a Regenerative Weave to heal the small holes it created to get to the core of the brain. Then it sent back the leftover seidr to the cores. "New growth is now possible for patient – Blainn." The sprite withdrew its tentacles fully into its spherical body again.

"Engaging control of blood vessels. Engaged. Engaging control of muscles. Engaged. Removing the prosthetic limb from patient – Blainn." Two arms unfolded from the bed of the SITA-L. Each arm had a slender half square at the end of it. The two half squares connected around Blainn's leg next. A white light flashed at each of the points where they joined. Another larger white light flashed very briefly in the square itself. The prosthetic limb fell off to the side lightly. The sprite extended a table like surface from the bed of the SITA-L, which it then hauled the false limb off on to. A slightly steaming but bloodless millimeter thick slice of Blainn's flesh, including two thin slivers of bone, clung to the removed prosthetic.

"Engaging replacement cuff." From out of the SITA-L bed rose up a cuff suspended on four thin articulated arms. The cuff was small at first then expanded to fit smoothly over the stump of Blainn's leg. "Replacement cuff is ready to engage. Engaging now." The cuff began to spin around Blainn's calf with what looked like little hairs bristling in the inside of the cuff. A powerful white light began to build inside of the cuff as it spun. The little arms carried the spinning cuff downwards. In its wake was left a whole and functioning limb with proper dark skin and maroon leg hair. As the cuff moved on further it moved over the bend at the ankle to begin creating the foot. A few moments later the foot was done and the toes were the last thing to complete.

Only when it was done with the very tips of the toes did the cuff stop spinning. The hairs within it stopped bristling and folded down. The four slender arms took the cuff and folded it down back under the bed of the SITA-L. "The replacement is complete." The UI Sprite began finishing up its task. "Removing blood vessel control from patient – Blainn. Removing muscle control from patient – Blainn. Initiating countdown to patient consciousness." A small holographic countdown was projected out from the top of the sprite.

A keen smile touch James' lips. It looked perfect. He summoned his seidr scanner from his interdimensional pocket. It was time to see how perfect it truly was. The small rectangular device was set to scanning so James could get a handle on how the white seidr patterns worked out. The results paused him for a second, so he scanned again. A slightly wider smile spread his lips. Those results brought an even wider smile to his face, so he scanned one last time. The third set of results confirmed the first two. James turned his head and called out to Herb, "Can you come check this? I think it's clean."

Wonderment and pure awe flicked through the minds of the three Norn handmaidens who were observing the limb replacement.

Lady Magnhildr flared her sjel-seidr to her three sisters near her. They have just replaced a limb. It is not rotting off!

Like her sister, Lady Eldbjorg was marveling at the machine in front of her. She too flared her sjel-seidr out to her sisters. This is what I wanted just so. We can see to our sisters properly now!

It was Lady Aile who had the most practical view of all of them. I can barely wait to have one in the temple.

While her sisters were awed by the SITA-L, Lady Sjofn was not. She had seen all of the steps taken to make this wonder, from tiny to large. To her, the end result of those steps could be nothing other than a magical marvel. James had a look in his eyes that told her that even this great machine wasn't the end of their journey. There was more that he wanted to do with this, and she loved that she was going to get to see it as it happened.

Setting down the fresh batch of cream of tartar, Herb went over to see what James needed. When he saw Blainn with a whole leg he grinned. "That looks good," he spoke as his flesh receded back into the sparkling crystal of his soul. Through his soul song of life he examined the work of the SITA-L. He found the work to be without a flaw. The white seidr was spread through the limb with the two engine points appropriately placed. They allowed the white seidr to move into, through, and back to the rest of the body. It also matched the left leg. "This work is immaculate, Brother."

"I thought so." James was proud of how far they'd come in producing the SITA-L and other SITA devices. That pride included being proud of how Blainn handled the situation. The young Dvergar was everything they needed and more. James wasn't just proud of him, he was proud to know the young Dvergar as well.

The holographic timer counted down to zero then.

Snapping open, Blainn's eyes focused on the ceiling above it. Something felt different than when he went to sleep. At first he couldn't tell what the difference was. There was a warmth at the end of his right leg. When he stretched and felt himself flex his toes, he realized that the procedure had worked. He had another new leg. He sat up slowly, surprised to not be dizzy or in pain this time. Overall, he felt better than he had previously. It was such a splendid sensation that he wanted to share it with others. Sitting up, Blainn looked down at his right foot, flexed his toes again and then looked to Ser James. "I am ready to go back."

Holding up his hand when Lady Sjofn approached, James grinned widely at the young Dvergar. "This was the last test that we needed you for. Now we have to go on to the final testing and refinement phase. We'll pull in all manner of disparate people from all around the Realms to make sure that the process works on the different peoples of the Nine Realms," James's smile warmed as his pride in Blainn showed itself, "but you don't need to be involved in that." He reached out to put hand on the young Dvergar's shoulder. "It's time for you to go home, Blainn."

Just the thought was enough to take his breath away. Blainn wanted it so badly but felt obligated to protest. "Are you sure Ser James? What if you were to need me again?"

The desire to go home threaded tightly through the young Dvergar's voice so that James couldn't ignore it. He focused his soul song of stillness through his voice to make sure that Blainn would believe him and be assured that his time there was done. "We won't. Your time here is done. Now, you can stay here if you want, but I think there's somewhere else you'd rather be."

A misty sheen of happy tears coated Blainn's yellow eyes. Wiping his eyes dry, he let his happiness show on his face. "Yes, there is,… but…" He hesitated to leave his friends behind to return to his 'ordinary' life. Even without the Rhodes brothers and the Lady Norns he knew that there was no going back to his life before this. He had changed after all. He was no longer 'ordinary', and didn't want to go back to being so. Blainn wasn't sure where that left him. All he knew was that he wanted to go home to his family.

"But what?" James could hear the problem, so he went to talk Blainn through it.

"You are my friends. I don't with to leave you behind." The young Dvergar worried over offending them. Truly he didn't think he would but didn't want to chance it either. They'd been so good to him that he couldn't imagine intentionally hurting their feelings.

"Ah, I see. You don't need to worry about hurting us by going home. Afterall, we will see you again when we go home." A knowing edge crept into James' grin.

"We will see each other again, Ser James?" This sounded excellent to the young Dvergar.

"It will be a long while until we see each other. I'm sorry about that, but we will see each other again, Blainn." He gently squeezed Blainn's shoulder before letting go. "It's time for you to go home now."

Covering his face with his hands, Blainn grinned widely and wiped his eyes dry again. "May I gather my things?"

James stepped back out of the way. "Of course. Take however long you need and take whatever you want. Everything in that room is yours to have, the furniture included. I have things to discuss with the Ladies, so I'll wait here for you."

"Thank you! Thank you, good Ser!" Blainn headed directly for his room where he started gripping things with his apple red seidr and dismissing them to his interdimensional pocket. The furniture he dismissed one piece at a time, the bathroom mirror included, until his interdimensional pocket was almost filled up. He was most happy to take the books with him. The book on American Sign Language that Morgan had amended to add his Elder Realms signs to. It made him particularly happy. Behind him, Asta tweeted merrily on the writing desk. He almost considered leaving her there with Anthony but decided against it at the last moment. She was coming with him. She would be the only one who would understand what they'd gone through. She was a bird-brain like Anthony said. She was also a loving little creature that he created and didn't want to give up. As with the first time, his gaze was drawn inevitably to his journal with its pen and ink. There was one last thing that he wanted to write down, his goodbye to his friends. As Blainn wrote he thought over all of the things they'd done, the times they'd laughed together, the times they were sad together. The years he spent there were coming to a close, that was true. They would never leave him though. This journal was the proof of the times they'd spent together. As he finished writing his note to them, he thought about that; proof that firehawks existed; proof that the SITA-L was real.

Blainn continued to think on it until he came to the conclusion that he couldn't take the journal with him. The very nature of the journal could alter time and fates. His fingers ran down the page, caressing the book. The journal was too dangerous to what Ser James and his brothers were doing for him to keep. As Ser James always said, "Everything in its own time. That must be protected." As Blainn continued to think over the evidence of the firehawks that he'd collected over the years he was there his brows furrowed in upset. He flexed his new toes again. There were a few last pieces of evidence that he had that he needed to bring with him, he physically couldn't leave it behind. Things had to be locked away though so that the secrets he held couldn't get out until it was time. He signed unhappily as he accepted what he had to do. Blainn couldn't see a way around it. The evidence had to be locked up.

24May2023 – Outside The Bounds Of Time – Tenth Part Of The Day

Vanaheim Royal Palace Guest Chambers

The three Norn healers were sitting comfortably in the center of the room, waiting for the next round of testing to begin. They already had the younger Norns out finding good candidates for them to test on. James wasn't surprised when Blainn came out of his room carrying the journal that he'd been given years ago. The young Dvergar came immediately to James and handed him the journal.

"This is evidence of what happened here. It is dangerous to what you're trying to do," he glanced between the journal and Ser James, "so I'm giving it to you to dispose of." The first of what Blainn needed to do was done. He was glad that Ser James had the journal now. This still wasn't a tale that could be told.

"Alright." James set the mostly full journal down on the SITA-L carefully so that the pictures and notes jammed in there wouldn't fall out. It had to be carefully preserved.

"There are three things that I would ask of you, Ser James." His gaze drifted down to the floor before he steeled himself for what was coming. When he looked back up again, Blainn saw the good Ser waiting for him. "There are other pieces of evidence that can't leave this room." It pained him to say it, but honor wouldn't let him say anything else. "Lady Sjofn must send me back through time to put the false leg back in place. If I return home with a new leg, then I'll draw too much attention to what you're doing. My right foot cannot come home with me."

This was the tragic honor that James was expecting of an Asketill. It brought a distinctly unhappy feeling to his thoughts, but he had to admit that Blainn was correct. He let his unhappiness show on his face. It was high profile evidence that Blainn was walking around with. A heavy sigh came from his lips as he agreed wholly and unhappily with the young Asketill. "Ok, ok," he turned to Lady Sjofn who was waiting for him, "Lady Sjofn, can you take Blainn back through time to replace the prosthetic leg on him, please?"

"Yes, James." Lady Sjofn quickly extended her sjel-seidr to grip the young Dvergar with. She commanded it to bring the young Dvergr back through time to replace his prosthetic leg. It was a smooth operation. It only took a few minutes to undo the new leg. She knew that this wasn't what James wanted, and that made her respect him more. Men always tried to fight against fate, to overcome it like a competitor in a contest of wills. Fate was never like that though, and couldn't be overcome. James was the only man she knew that not only accepted fate but embraced it unhappily for his own uses. It was another high mark in his favor in her eyes.

The functioning of his right leg felt clunky now and Blainn heaved a small sigh of regret. The regret was punched swiftly to the back of his mind. The second of what he needed done was done. There were just two last things that he needed to give up, more evidence to lock away. "There are two last pieces of evidence I have to give. The most dangerous ones."

"What're those, Blainn?" James kept a puzzled expression on his face to preserve future interactions as genuine.

These were probably the last words he was going to speak, so Blainn hoped that his request would be granted. Taking a deep breath, he looked Ser James in the eyes as he began. "I am the last piece of evidence. I know too much and must be silenced. I know you can do this, Ser James. You're a colossal. You must take my voice and my seidr whispers. Lock them away."

It was distasteful for James to even consider harming one of the Asketill, but the young Dvergar was correct again, and he knew it. A colossal, you're more special than that. Before he began, he had to ask. "Are you sure?" Blainn didn't speak, only nodded his assent. "So be it, I'll seal them away until we meet again." Quickly as he could James began singing a hymn from the sacred music that would let him seal the sound of Blainn's voice away. No one would be able to undo what he was about to do besides himself. Underneath that hymn he sung his soul song of blessings to strengthen the hymn as much as he could. He guided the interlaced hymn and soul song like a luminous flow into the young Dvergar's mouth and down his throat. When it hit his vocal cords it branded them in Celestial Runes strengthened by a colossal. Blainn's voice would be sealed away until James removed the runic seal. Next he formed a runic cage of the Celestial Runes which he fit over Blainn's seidr core. It would allow him to practice magic up to a certain power level while silencing his seidr whispers completely. When the odious job was done he stopped singing. "I'm sorry, Blainn. It's done."

The young Dvergar almost tried to speak, but didn't. Instead, he signed to James, Don't be sorry, Ser James. I do this willingly. The S-I-T-A must be protected.

Even knowing what was coming, part of James still wanted to tear up over what he'd just done to one of the Asketill. Even if it was given willingly, he still felt ashamed of himself to have done it. "You're ready to go now." Without warning he turned and called out to his brothers, "Herb, boys? Can you come over here?" Each of them made their way to him. The cybernetic hound came with Anthony. "Today is the day that we all knew was coming. Blainn is leaving us and returning home. I need you to understand something first, before you say goodbye. Blainn has elected to have his voice and seidr whispers sealed away in order to protect the SITA devices."

Surprise blew Arno's eyes wide. He knew Blainn going home would happen, but he didn't expect it so soon or to happen like this. He stepped forward quickly and gave Blainn a hug. Then he let his seidr strike out from his core to devastate into a Conjuration Spell and a Learning Spell which absorbed his memories. The spells released to create a basket with pretty pink bows on either side of the handle. Reaching his hand out and further extending his seidr, he called the small, labeled, runed jars of sugar, brown sugar, molasses, yeast, flour, cream of tartar, corn starch, baking powder, and baking soda that he had in the kitchen. Pairs of measuring spoons and measuring cups came next. Out of his already extended seidr he struck another Conjuration Spell and Learning Spell which absorbed more of his memories. A small book was created when he released the spells. Arno tucked the small book into the basket and handed it to Blainn. "This has all of my bread recipes and many other recipes as well, with pictures," he motioned to the book then to the jars, "and you know what's in these jars." He handed them over with a huge grin on his face, letting his seidr shrink back into his core. "Thank you for staying with us."

Anthony stepped forward next to shake Blainn's hand like a Midgardian. "Thank you for putting up with us." Distress streaked through his thoughts that his friend might not be able to speak now and might have trouble practicing magic. It was a hard decision to accept. His gaze fell on the basket that his younger brother had given to Blainn. Anthony decided to give their friend a parting gift as well. He too extended his seidr out, but he extended it towards his workbench. He gathered up the small tools that he used to create the UI Sprites, every one of them, then a small piece of vibranium wire, and a small piece of star-felled steel. They were brought to his open hand quickly. He tucked them into the basket beside the jars of ingredients. After that he let his seidr flicker out from his core to forged into a Conjuration Spell and a Learning Spell. The spells released to create a small encyclopedia of Midgardian animals with detailed runic pictures. "Just touch the pictures and it will show you how the animals move. It's everything you need to make more toys like Asta."

Instead of extending his seidr over to his worktable, Morgan blazed his seidr from his core and remade it into a Conjuration Spell and a Learning Spell, which absorbed his memories. He released the spells to create a comprehensive encyclopedia of both ASL and the signs that he and the Ladies Ulla and Vanadis had come up with for things in the Elder Realms. It gave detailed instructions on how to create each sign. Morgan shook Blainn's hand like an Elder Realm Dweller, with him clasping Blainn's wrist while Blainn clasped his wrist. Then he handed over the book, signing, We didn't get to finish your lessons, so this will finish them. Thank you for letting me teach you.

The cybernetic hound dog rubbed his side up against Blainn's leg and pawed at him lightly, aroo'ing softly. Goodbye, Friend-who-is-like-me. May your cybernetics always function! He was happy to get a few pats on the head as a goodbye.

Flaring his seidr to Lady Sjofn, James whispered, When you return him, can you return him to where he'll be noticed, about six hours after you brought him here, and can you make a bright show of returning him, please?

Yes, James, her sjel-seidr flared and answered him in return.

Shaking Blainn's hand as Morgan did, Herb then summoned a copy of the book he'd authored on fermenting and other food preservation techniques and handed it over to the young Dvergar along with a few small runed bottles of different types of vinegar and some runed tins of picking spices. "It has a few more things in there that I wasn't able to teach you. I don't doubt that you'll learn it well though." A smiled warmly at Blainn, saying, "Thank you for visiting with us for so long. Thank you for helping us with the SITA devices and thank you for being so giving of yourself."

He held his basket of gifts and books close and tried to ignore the tears welling up in his eyes. This is goodbye, so fare thee well, my friends, Blainn signed to all of them.

Holding out his hand, James shook Blainn's hand like an Elder Realm Dweller. He switched his soul song of stillness to a soul song of blessings and stamped a powerful mark on the young Dvergar's forehead. It would keep him safe. It was what James could do at the moment. "When we meet again, I'll make something for you. A proper thanks. Until then, farewell." James released him and looked to Lady Sjofn. "Lady Sjofn, if you would return Blainn home safely please."

"Yes, James" she looked to Blainn then, "Come, young one. We must depart." With that she gripped him in her sjel-seidr and stepped back into the currents of time.

"Will he be ok?" Anthony worried over Blainn's safety with no voice.

"I made sure of it." A soft smile touched James' lips as he looked at his brothers. James' gaze fell to the SITA-L. It was time to begin another round of testing. Dagmara, Birgir, Blainn. Someday I'll be able to thank you all properly. Until then, "Let's get back to work."

24May2023 – Outside The Bounds Of Time – Tenth Part Of The Day

Vanaheim Royal Palace Guest Chambers

The pale-eyed freak stood hidden wearing the hunter's black garb, watching. Always watching his Starks. This was another roller-coaster of a day, as the Midgardians said. He didn't mind though; he was just watching now without gathering data. He had put in thought about delivering his cure to Rhodes and seeing it to the Nine Realms, then setting down the Operant Flame. Watching his Starks was no longer yielding useable data, so he'd started shielding them from Josiah's incessant nattering. He could feel how Josiah didn't like this, but he hadn't come to bother him since he'd started shielding his Starks. That was when he realized it. If he was there he was outside of time, so no lives were being lost as he was there. So long as he stayed with the last of his awakened Starks he could have some peace. That was a rare occurrence for him as Josiah was especially outgoing and chatty, so like the man whose chest he'd sprung from when the pale-eyed freak had stabbed him with Josiah's dagger. One stab and Josiah had strung forth into being, eating the Englishman's soul in the process. Then he ate the Englishman's wife and four children, the baby in a single bite. It was a bizarre and successful night on that cutter going from Hamburg to London those centuries ago. On one side he'd created Josiah, the devourer of souls, that night. On the other side he created Josiah, the path to his cure, that night. From that moment forward the Prime Stark had been nattering in his ear about anything and everything that could be chatted about. The hungrier or more restless the Prime Stark was the more ceaseless his voice became. Stark 10 was very much like the Prime Stark, he simply wouldn't be silent until he felt like it. Like Rhodes, the pale-eyed freak just wanted some peace now. Just a little peace so that he could gather his courage to go to Helena for the last time. Wait a little longer for me, my rose of the desert. I will come back to you.

24May2023 – Outside The Bounds Of Time – Tenth Part Of The Day

Vanaheim Royal Palace Guest Chambers

An evident dislike for losing his friend so suddenly hovered in Anthony's mind. To distract himself from that, Anthony went back to his workbench with his cybernetic hound. His brothers went back to their work as well. He let his seidr flicker from his seidr core, to forge into a Conjuration Spell and a Learning Spell which absorbed his memories. He released the spells towards his workbench where another tiny set of tools burned into existence. He hoped that the tools he gave Blainn would do well for him, because the young Dvergar had the talent to use them. Anthony had personally ensured that he had the skills to use them. Back at his workbench he picked up a small board of a device, the SITA-M. This one was coated in gold and orange gemstones like the SITA-L was. Taking it over, he opened the side of the SITA-L and smiled as ten empty racks folded out. The SITA-M fit smoothly into the first rack. There were another nine waiting in his interdimensional pocket just waiting to be stored with the first, so he summoned them one by one and placed them in the racks. The SITA-L was one step closer to completion. It was time to finally get the UI Sprites their appearance. The other sprites would be updated when the SITA-L's was updated. The whole network would update at once.

Letting his already flickered out seidr forge into another Conjuration Spell and another Learning Spell which absorbed more of his memories. He released the two spells out in front of him and caught the small piece of notepad with a small list on it. Then he fed his seidr back into his core. Going over to where Rhodey had retreated to, to his desk, he handed the small piece of paper to his older brother. "This is what I need for the sprites." His gaze fell downwards when he saw Rhodey's eyes widen slightly as he read the list.

Something approaching embarrassment was playing across his younger brother's face. James understood why, and didn't feel the need to directly acknowledge the cause of it yet. That might tempt his brother into being fully embarrassed. That never ended well. Instead of acknowledgement, he just put a light smile on his face and looked up to Anthony. "Ok, I'll get what you need. Why don't you use the combat data to begin on it?"

"Ok, sounds great!" It was all Anthony needed to get to work on the UI Sprite's appearance. He needed to work faster, in his opinion, since his cybernetic hound was eager to meet this new sprite.

James flared his seidr out to Lady Sjofn to whisper, Can you please take this list and retrieve what's on it? She quietly took the list from him then slid back into the currents of time. A moment later she returned to him with a memory cube of what was needed. He bowed to her and took the cube, flaring his seidr to her, Thank you, good Lady.

The memory cube on his workbench was calling again. It had all the combat data on it that he needed to begin modelling the 3D animations that the sprite would need. He'd already decided that the sprite was going to be a 'she', but hadn't decided on her name just yet. He only had a small list of names so far. Her appearance was basically decided on, he just needed the specifics of her face and the right pitch of her voice, so he continued to work on it like a sculptor with a block of marble. Even when Rhodey brought him a memory cube with what on it he needed he still continued to work until he knew that she was perfect. The UI Sprite was a perfect replica of a woman who he was coming to have more respect for. The woman wasn't perfect like the sprite was, but Anthony was learning to live with that. No person was perfect. He understood that better than most. A broad grin touched his lips as he looked over the next and hopefully last iteration of the UI Sprite. No, people weren't perfect, not like machines. Machines could be made to be perfect, or at least closer to it than people. "You're my gal, and you're perfect." Suddenly Anthony came across something that wasn't perfect, the upload/update times on his sprite was atrocious to him. It needed to be faster, so it needed to be redone.

And so Anthony went to work on making the upload/update time faster, as fast as he could. The hours ticked by and Rhodey called them to a meal that he ignored. There was work to be done. As bedtime approached, he realized that the tech he had to work with just wasn't up to his needs. It was the tech of the Elder Realms and it still disappointed him. He didn't like it when Rhodey came to pry him away from his memory cube to go to bed. It turned out well enough though, with him working through his dreams. He dreamt of new machines with faster speeds than what he had. He was less happy when he woke, and Herb forced him to come eat breakfast since he'd skipped dinner before. That too worked out well as he sat explaining his problem to his brothers with a mouth full of sausage and egg.

The cup of tea in Arno's hand was held in a perfectly regal pose as he listened to Anthony talk about how slow he thought the Elder Realms tech was. A petite smile touched his lips. Only a few years ago his older brother was raving over how nice the new tech was. Now it was 'outdated' and 'moved at a snail's pace'. He couldn't help but shake his head in amusement. If it wasn't faster, then it wasn't better to his brother. "Use a seidr diamond to replace the heart of it then," he volunteered, "Rip out the engine and put a new one in. Isn't that what you always do with your cars? And wipe your mouth." Arno didn't tell him to wipe his mouth because he wasn't an animal. They both knew what they were.

The suggestion stopped Anthony cold. It wasn't something he'd given any thought to. Now that Arno had whispered that little bit of gold in his ear he couldn't stop thinking about it.

Knocking on the table twice let Morgan get his brothers' attention as he was eating the rest of the food in preparation for another walk. Can't you just imprint it? He thought it should work, like what he was doing with his golden sand creatures.

Anthony's head tilted slightly to the side. Grabbing another biscuit, he said his swift thanks to his brothers then went back to his workbench. A little part of his mind felt like an idiot. He was always so focused on his tech that he found it hard to look up from it and see other alternatives sometimes. It was why his brothers were so integral to his creative process. The forced him to look at other ideas. It's a good idea too. Very swiftly his idea was fleshing out and filling in throughout his thoughts. Anthony thought something then that he hadn't openly acknowledged before. He wished he'd had them when Loki was stricken with cancer. It wasn't just their company he missed, it was their input too. He didn't dwell on that for longer than a few seconds though. There was more work to do. Miracles to create for Loki, he thought happily. Leaning back, he caught his legs in the legs of the stool. Then he flexed backward, arching his back, and looked to their resident Norn upside down. "Lady Sjofn, can I get an Invigorating Rune? Please?" The rune blazed across his chest as he saw Rhodey watch what he was doing. That was fine. Rhodey was watching him always anyway. "Thanks!"

Now he was ready to work. Anthony's seidr flickered out of his core then he tried to condense it down into a powerful but small spherical seidr diamond. As he was condensing it down, he put a set of commands in it to act like a basic construct. The seidr diamond turned out to be about the size of an orange. It wasn't as small as he needed but it would work for the first prototype. The Invigorating Rune filled his seidr core, so he didn't worry about having enough seidr to make another one if he needed. Testing the construct came next.

The construct summoned from the diamond smoothly and performed its tasks flawlessly. The problem with the imprinting came when he used a Trifling Regard Weave on the diamond. When the imprinting was shrunk down it began to fail. The smaller it was shrunk the more the imprinting failed. Diamond after diamond, they all went the same way. He would have given up on the idea, but the imprinting provided a smoother functioning of the construct when it worked properly. It intrigued him enough for him to begin trying other means of imprinting, both magical and mechanical. He wanted a success. Each of them failed him like the first type of imprinting failed. At the end of the day there was only one thing left for him to try; the hunter's voice. He'd seen Morgan using it to imprint his golden sand beasts. It worked so much better than anything else that Morgan had tried. Anthony wanted it to work for him too.

Gripping the diamonds he'd made previously with his seidr, Anthony broke them down into his own seidr and fed it back into his seidr core. With that extra seidr he made a seidr diamond the size of a grapefruit. The crystalline structure felt light and airy to him. As the crystal was forming out of his seidr he whispered to it the code for a construct with the hunter's voice. The sound of his voice coated every molecule of the crystal. Despite it functioning better when shrunk, it still wasn't working quite right. He broke down the diamond into seidr, absorbed it, and tried again. More power. Extending his wings to draw in more power brought a fast hand on his shoulder.

When Anthony turned around, James asked him, "What's going on?" Why are you drawing in power through your wings, he thought neutrally.

"I need more power to imprint the code on the atoms of the crystal. I think that'll work." He wasn't certain it would work either, but it was the last of the ideas Anthony was currently working with.

"What's your end goal?" James prepared himself to channel Anthony's power if the reason was good enough.

Goal? Anthony realized that he'd gone down such a rabbit hole with this project that he couldn't remember the beginning or the end. It took a few minutes of thought to track his own actions and thoughts backwards to what exactly his beginning and thus end goals were. Oh yeah. When he looked at his older brother he had an answer. "To make the sprites faster."

All day James had been watching his younger brother. He already knew most of what Anthony had been up to and wondered if his younger brother was working or playing. "Do they need to be faster?"

"Of course! They're outdated now and slow too. They need to be replaced." Anthony spoke with confidence in his assertions.

James smiled in amusement at his brother confidently telling him that something was 'outdated' when they hadn't even finished building it yet. "Ok. So what do you want to do?"

It took a few rambling minutes to get Rhodey to where Anthony was in his rabbit hole of ideas, but it worked out in the end. "That's why I need more power. More power for more speed."

Putting his right hand back on Anthony's shoulder, he spoke. "Alright, we'll do it together." James reached through the link in their seidr and began Anthony channeling more seidr from his surroundings through his wings. It was extreme power that his younger brother channeled into his voice.

With the hunter's voice Anthony took the channeled power and whispered coding to the seidr diamond. When he'd whispered a section of the code to the gem he the forged a Trifling Regard Weave in his flickered out seidr. It released towards the gem to shrink it down to the side of a pinhead. After that he forged a new large sheet of seidr diamond around the pinhead sized gem and whispered more sections of code to it. That sheet came with a Trifling Regard Weave which shrank it down to coat the pinhead sized gem. Interstitial diamond grew to connect the two of them. Despite wanting to go much faster, Rhodey kept him going at an achingly slow pace to keep his accuracy high. Sheet by sheet, layer by layer the two of them worked until all of the UI Sprite's code had been whispered into a seidr diamond that was the size of a marble when it was done. Anthony never knew how long it took them. All he knew was that he had more than enough time to get the job done. The second to last thing they did was to extend even more of Anthony's seidr to create a beautiful flaxen gold band around the center of the gem. He spoke nano runes to it before letting it settle into place around what he'd created. To finish up the UI Sprite Anthony forged from his flicked out seidr a Conjuration Spell and a Learning Spell which absorbed his memories. When he released the spells together, they formed two burnished gold, clockwork, half-spherical halves that latched onto the each other and fit smoothly around the banded gem. They covered both the gem and the band around it completely. As soon as the halves latched together to conceal the gem, the clockwork gears and tiny mechanisms on the rounded halves began moving. Orange seidr from within the ball, from the gem, shone out through the little cracks and spaces. The power in the ball was obvious. It just needed to work now.

Tapping the ball twice, Anthony spoke. "UI Sprite, wake up." He withdrew his wings, folding them back down. Rhodey took his hand off of Anthony's shoulder as he went to watch the sprite. The hopeful engineer fed his seidr back into his core.

The sprite spun a few times then projected itself out over the clockwork ball as a perfect, mini-hard light copy of the woman he was using as his model. Instead of looking complete as a woman, the sprite looked roundish and slightly undefined as a child instead. "What is my name?" Its first words were filled with curiosity.

Anthony still puzzled over that, and still came up blank. He just didn't have a good name for her yet. He didn't want to use his model's name, since he was already using her likeness, but nothing else was coming to mind. A name carried with it a sort of concreteness and the sprites were still undefined in his mind. They were like puffy little clouds to him, full but without definition. "I don't know." Maybe I should just use her name. An idea came to mind, a memory of a small factoid that he needed now. "Wait! I know what your name is!"

The sudden spike of happiness in his brother's seidr brought Arno's eyes up from distributing freshly baked rolls. They were going onto the plates of meals that he was making up to go into someone's interdimensional pocket. They would probably go into Morgan's interdimensional pocket, maybe into Anthony's pocket. He knew that those two had the least amount of food of the five of them. A few of them would be passed off to Lady Pirkko to go back to the Grand Temple with each one being a different meal. He knew she liked to use his brother's Precision Recording Spells to replicate the meals that he sent to her. She sent him back letters telling him how much her fellow Norns were enjoying his food. They always made him smile. He enjoyed being friends with several of the Norn Ladies. Moving around the kitchen, Arno placed the meals for the Norns in a box on the end of his counter. They were immediately teleported through time to the Grand Temple, to wait for Lady Pirkko to find them. Friendship filled his thoughts, then love, so he pulsed more seidr to his baby girls. He almost couldn't wait to introduce them to Lady Pirkko and the other Norn handmaidens.

When he was done, Arno cleaned up his kitchenette with a Restoration Spell in his cantaloupe seidr. Then he began to work on his crystal smithing, setting his notes with pictures out first. In a large thick metal crucible, he poured the pure crystal sand, a rainbow of colorants and additives to produce sparkle and stability. Placing the crucible between his hands he extended his seidr into it. The more cantaloupe seidr he extended the hotter the crucible and its contents became. Orange streaks began to become visible on the sides of the metal crucible as it heated. Everything in the metal crucible slowly began to melt down into a goopy glop. At the moment that the melted crystal was ready the orange streaks became fully colored, so he began to stir it until it was an even consistency. That was when he took the melted crystal from the heated crucible, moving it with his extended seidr. Arno set the streaked metal crucible aside with his seidr. The molten crystal floated between his hands, a white-hot sparkling mass. It was time to shape the mass with his seidr. He was making something different today. Normally he made pretty bottles for Morgan to put his potions in. Today he was still going to make some art pieces. Reviewing his notes with pictures quickly Arno began to sculpt the molten crystal into pretty bottles that represented each of the Nine Realms. His notes, gathered by Lady Sjofn, held pictures of the notable places of each realm and the Royal Palaces. He recreated those places immaculately around the outside of the bottle. Each bottle held the same amount of potion, but that was the only similarity that they had. Every bottle was as colorful and unique as the realm it was representing. When they were done, he put the nine bottles in his kiln with his cantaloupe seidr, to allow them to cool and set. They would be buffed after that. Arno would show them to his brothers and husband when they were complete.

Until then he brought the meals that he'd made over to Morgan, as his older brother wasn't as busy as the rest of them. He was only working on testing the magical AI in his golden sand beast. It was scurrying through a maze on all fours, with its tail waving out behind it as it found its way through. The sand beast's long neck supported its angular head. The wings folded down behind its front legs and attached to the body were shimmering in the maze as they moved. Arno admired the little beast for a moment before he caught Morgan's attention. "Here, for your interdimensional pocket."

Extending his rusty orange seidr, Morgan gripped the meals that Arno brought over for him, dismissing them to his interdimensional pocket. Can you make more desserts for the kids? Snacks too?, he signed to his younger brother. By his estimation he had enough meals to feed a whole army for a few days. He only had a few desserts though, and very few snacks for his son.

"Absolutely! Any specific requests?" Cooking for his nephew made him just as happy as cooking for his undernourished brothers.

Mississippi mud pie? Morgan wasn't sure what else Jason was going to like. The boy had just come into contact with various brownies and chocolate pies, and he loved them both. Just having more meals, desserts and snacks for the boy brought a deep longing to his heart. He'd been so long in that room that he was becoming despondent. Rhodey said that Anthony would be ready soon. 'Soon' was really indefinite to him though. Morgan wanted is son back, but he also wanted his younger brother to be well. It was a frustrating situation.

The darkness in Morgan's eyes told Arno what his brother was thinking about. He lunged forward, wrapping his arms around his older brother and expanding his seidr to convey his love for Morgan. Arno smiled when Morgan wrapped his long arms around him. The little chef pulled back and looked up at his older brother. "We'll get through this. We weren't here at the beginning, but we'll be here at the end. Ok?"

Another quick hug let Morgan more physically agree with his younger brother. I know. It can be hard to wait some days. I want Anthony to be well, but… I miss my boy, he signed to Arno.

"I miss my kids too," Arno kept his voice down to avoid distressing Anthony. "Both Herb and I do, but we have to stay strong. Rhodey says it should be soon. Anthony hasn't had another fit in months. He only expects one or two more and then the sickness will have run its course! We can take Anthony home then."

I hope so, Morgan signed to Arno, because hope was the only thing keeping him smiling.

The topic of conversation between Morgan and Arno was overheard by Herb, who was sitting in the center of the of the room in the sitting area. A book on African violets was in his hand. Arno had liked the little plants before they'd come there, so he planned on getting several of them to rest on the windowsills of their front room. They come in many different colors after all, so why not have many, he thought, then he heard what Arno was saying to Morgan. As he rose a tingling went through his body. It almost felt like a soul song of perception but was just slightly off of that. Dusky rose pink strands began to form in the air at about his shoulder height. "James! I think we have a guest."

The cybernetic hound barked a few times, "There's a thing, Friend! It feels weird. I don't think I like it," at the churning mass that was forming in the room with them. A shiver of fear went through him. He didn't want to be put to sleep again, so he ran over to his bed and pulled it on top of himself to hide.

Disentangling himself from his younger brother's seidr, James turned to see who was coming though. It had to be a Norn, no one else could get in. He smiled when he saw the color of the sjel-seidr. It was Lady Audhumbla's sjel-seidr. He wondered what the august Lady was coming to them herself for. She normally sent her handmaidens. They were always enough for whatever he needed. "Be on your best behavior, boys." He wandered over to stand next to Herb, looking over to him. "It's Lady Audhumbla's sjel-seidr."

"I thought so." Herb wondered what was taking so long. All of the other Norns he'd met simply stepped in and out the currents of time around them.

Worry began to filter into James' thoughts as the lines of dusky rose sjel-seidr just churned in a mass in front of them without her stepping out of them. There was a strange pull from the churning lines,

"Do you think something is wrong?" Herb was keenly aware that he didn't know what was going on and it bothered him.

"Shield the boys." It was James' only answer as he allowed the hardened white soul stone beneath his skin to rise to the surface and cover every inch of him. Herb had the boys shielded with the soul song of blessings by the time he was done. Nothing could harm him now, he knew it, so he reached into the center of the mass of sjel-seidr with his left hand to see what he could find. He wasn't sure how he could help Lady Audhumbla if she was in trouble, but the urge to do so was still there. Right away the churning lines began to pull him into them like a line into a fishing reel. He could feel where it was trying to take him, with who, and when. He switched his soul song to his soul song of withering so that he could sever that line. James wasn't going anywhere just yet. They'd be on time to where they were needed but go in their own time. He couldn't feel the great Lady, at least he didn't think it was her. There was something hard at the edge of his fingertips. He reached in further for it. A snapping, crackling sound came from the mass of sjel-seidr lines. It fizzled out around his hand. By then he'd taken hold of the hard tube that was in the middle of the mass. The hard, white metal, shiny cylinder with smooth, white wood caps at either end was all that was left in James' hand. He examined the strange object and quickly discovered that it was anchoring something. He could feel the anchoring but couldn't tell what it went to. Shaking it produced a noise that told him it wasn't empty.

"What is it?" Herb was curious that a Lady as powerful as Lady Audhumbla had sent them a tube. He wondered what they were supposed to do with it. "What's in it?"

"I don't know," James said as he switched his song to the soul song of perception, "Let's find out."

24May2023 – Very Early In The Morning Before Sunrise On Vanaheim

Vanaheim Royal Palace – The Lord's Chambers

Love flowed through Sean as he wandered the halls of his memories with an echo of his beloved other half; his reflected sibling, Aiden. The first memory he flowed through was of him and Aiden playing with toy cars when they were five years old. They were sitting on the hardwood floor in the living room with their mother. She was reading a book to them, showing them pictures from it. The words were blurred out but familiar.

That memory flowed into the next memory of him and Aiden. It skipped forward to them doing homework in their room. They were fourteen years old and sitting at their matching desks in their bedroom. Their books were open, and they were reading from them. The texts of the book were a little less blurry this time, yet still familiar and unable to be made out.

That memory flowed into the next one, skipping backwards to where they were reading stories of the clan's history as written by those who remembered it. They were ten years old at that point and taking a break from shoveling out a barn. Clan memories were precious, so they opened the books in their minds and read them to each other. The texts were significantly less blurry this time. He was beginning to be able to discern the words.

Before he could make out the words of the histories they were reading, his memories flowed on to another one. This memory skipped backwards again. He and Aiden were sitting side by side on a thick tree branch of the tree in their back yard. The setting sun was abnormally pink that day. The clouds were shockingly white. The blue sky was dark, and he thought he could see stars in it. There were seven years old then and were reading a book of poetry. They took turns reading the poems to each other. Sean could almost make out the words in the book clearly. Then they looked up to the sky.

The stars zoomed down from the sky as Sean zipped upwards to them, taking on his adult form. His mind was sucked up into a star bridge to launch him across the heavens and into the darkness of the void. Past stars, comets, nebulae his mind whizzed until he passed even Vanaheim. He could see a shining golden city in the distance. He was approaching Asgard quickly. Sean braced himself to land on Asgard, but the city fired a blast of energy from its underside. A roaring, swirling, grinding maw opened up in the space beneath the city. Unease crept through his mind as his course changed to head for the maw instead of the city. Throwing his arms up was instinctive. Sean knew it wasn't going to save him. He didn't need saving though. The maw was a star-lined course flowing so smoothly that he didn't notice that the end was nearing. His course took him to a dark, metal realm with no clouds or sky, circling no star.

Flickering lines of light crept across its surface. They were the only thing that let him see the metal realm in the velvety blackness. Star light wasn't enough to make out anything about the realm. Looking over it he thought he might know where he was, the Celestial waystation. The last of his course took him through the outer walls of the waystation, down through its uninhabited layers into a room in the living quarters of the station. His mind eased into the body there, sitting at a wide white desk in a large white chair. A contained smattering of tiny stars with little planets, like a contained bit of light sat off to the side on the bed like the broken piece of the universe that it was. A large, thick tome bound in dark green leather sat open before him. There was a jar of deep black ink to his right side and a fancy feather quill in his hand. Sean was writing another journal entry, just cataloguing his daily events.

While he didn't necessarily control the hand he was writing with, he still felt a sort of connection to the body he was in, even if it wasn't his own. That was why it was weird when his hand seemed to be jerked up to the top empty part of the page to write a few invisible strokes before going back to his journal entry. He seemed completely unphased by having his hand moved. Then he did it again and was unphased again. Sean recognized that the person whose hand was writing was the one who was unphased. The young seidmadr thought this was odd. The person writing just kept having their hand jerked upwards, seemingly without their knowledge. His attention to this was brought to a hard stop when he heard what the other person was thinking about. Sean instantly knew the value of what he was hearing.

I found a memory structuring machine today. Hm, no. First Light said its purpose was as a memory structuring machine, but what he described is complete control of the memory chains, even over breaks in them. It offers complete control over the mind itself, healing even.

The voice whispering in his thoughts sounded familiar, but he couldn't quite place the voice.

Its use is fascinating, and I can't wait to explore it more tomorrow. The station has some… drawbacks.

The person writing looked towards the bed then back to the journal.

Despite those, I still look forward to exploring more.

From beside the man writing came an unnatural voice. It was a combination of screeching high tones and rumbling low tones that came together to create something wholly uncomfortable to listen to. It spoke three simple words.

"Don't leave me."

The memory went fuzzy and faded then came back several moments in the past. It left Sean sitting at the desk staring at the page he'd been writing on. His gaze was drawn to the top of the page, so he touched it there. At the place he drew those invisible strokes, a rune unlike any he'd ever seen flared to life in many shades of pink. He didn't know how he knew what the rune was, it was just in his mind. What he knew was that the special rune contained coordinates that could lead him safely to the Celestial waystation. He knew that it was also an invitation to go to the Celestial waystation. An invitation from who?, he thought curiously. From the back of his mind whispered, We're on the move now. We must move together. Suddenly he knew who it was who invited him, and why. The mightiest of all Lords was beckoning to him again, and he wasn't going to refuse the honor.

Snapping awake from his rambling dream, Sean instantly rubbed at his temples as his head throbbed. The five quiet spaces in his mind were reminding him of how little time he had before his mind blew out, rupturing fatally. It still wasn't something he could handle around Frey. He was careful to not wake his lover as he disentangled himself from his arms. Frey was nude and curled up next to him. Previously he was curled around the young seidmadr. Warm relaxation and the tingling aftereffects of deep pleasure still traveled through Sean's body. It was Frey's mark left on his body. Looking down at his lover, he thought, I can't take you with me, it's too dangerous. Angling out his seidr, he bent two Conjuration Spells and two Learning Spells which absorbed his memories of what he wanted. When he released the two spells together, the first set of spells formed a small piece of paper with a brief note on it. "Frey, I have something I have to attend to for Loki. I should be back shortly. – Sean". He set the note on the bedside table closest to him.

The next set of spells clad Sean top to bottom in the traditional traveling clothes of his people. The pristine white underwear with delicate ties that he now wore extended from his torso down his legs to cover his feet too. The deep black pants covering them had thickened knee pads sewn into them. They buttoned up with shiny silver buttons and laced down the side of the calves in silver ties. The deep black boots that laced up the front with silver laces covered his socks and pants. A deep black linen shirt with silver ties at the throat and shiny buttons at the cuffs was tucked into his pants. Over that was a poncho-like, supple, deep black leather cloak with the hood pulled back and a split down the front. There was traditional stitching around the outer edge of the hood that would announce who Sean was to anyone who knew of the Satska Soledras clan. More than the stitching, what would identify him was the weapon he carried. Its sheath, made of imbued white gold and ornamented in gems in the clan's colors, attached easily to his pants and housed his Thjödannhöttr (princely dagger) once he summoned it from a small pocket in his sarammr made just for it. Its blade leaked his sarammr in misty puffs when he touched it. The Thjödannhöttr was a nearly forty centimeter long dagger made of white sarammr metal and formed into a long blade with a hilt fit to Sean's own hands. The metal of the blade was inscribed with his full name and title written in black staining, and there was no crossguard on it. The hilt was made of imbued white gold with gemstones carved into the runes representing the clan. It was his right and privilege to carry the Thjödannhöttr and wield it in defense of his clan. Carrying it didn't worry him though. There seemed to be no one left who remembered that his people existed. It looked to him like even Aideshan and Aidesh had forgotten the Satska Soledras.

Instead of dwelling on that sorrow, Sean reached for the connection in his mind. A cold wave preceded Lady Audhumbla's voice. What distresses you, my Truthspeaker, she asked again. She had asked him several times in the past day and a little bit. May I come to speak with you, my Lady?, he thought to her. Of course, she replied. He found himself pulled through time and space to the Library of Time. When Sean turned, he found himself face to face with his Lady. Pushing back his one side of his traveling cloak, he instantly knelt respectfully before her.

She noticed, without making a show of it, that he was dressed as one of the Satska Soledras ought to be. He even had a Thjödannhöttr. A Prince of the clan? She hadn't known he had such standing amongst his people. It was good to know. You are worthy to be my Truthspeaker, she thought pleasantly.

"Ma'am…" he paused for a moment, not wanting to overstep his bounds, "have you looked through Loki's memories of her time spent on the Celestial waystation yet?"

"No, I have not." It was a ready answer. For her it had only been a short time since she learned what happened. She still couldn't stand to watch her precious litil-svass be tortured, sickened, and broken again. It was still raw to her.

Holding up his hand, he angled out his seidr from his core, then touched at the pearl of sjel-seidr there. It frothed and foamed in his normal seidr, turning it into dusky rose sjel-seidr. "I found something, my Lady. I believe it's important."

Reaching out from her seated position, Lady Audhumbla took her Truthspeaker's hand and merged their seidrs. It was a dream that she was watching, but a structured one. She could tell immediately that there was deeper meaning to what she was seeing, even if Sean didn't see that. What truly interested her was the part of the dream where he remembered Loki writing in his mage's journal. The sudden appearance of the Celestial rune was shocking to her, particularly since it was a rune made especially to invite Sean to the waystation. Lady Audhumbla broke contact with him, withdrawing her sjel-seidr and gently pushing his seidr to withdraw back to his core. The littlest Lord clearly wanted Sean to attend to this matter by himself, though she was loathe to send her Truthspeaker to such a dark place alone. It couldn't be helped. The littlest Lord's orders could be discussed with him, but not questioned. "I see," she said with a little sigh, "You must go alone into this darkness, but if you need aid, I shall come to you." After another moment of consideration, she spoke again. "I shall have a transport left at the Royal Landing Pad at the Vanaheimr Royal Palace. It shall carry you forth." She summoned a remote control for one of her personal transports and handed it to him. His memories of her memories of learning to fly a small ship would see him along. Lady Audhumbla bowed lightly to him. "Go with our blessing and return to us safely."

"Yes, my Lady." Sean was glad that he had his Lady's permission to pursue this matter. More than that he hoped that this would be something that could put together Loki's mind. He found himself pulled once again back through space and time to land silently back in Frey's chambers without waking his lover. Taking one last look at Frey, Sean pulled his hood up to hide his face and stole away into the night.

The mist of his sarammr shrouded Sean while the truth of his purpose guided him. He strode with determination down the corridors of the Royal Palace towards the landing pad where his transport was waiting. With his sarammr in place none of the guards saw him as he moved past them. Even the guards who were standing around the ship, wondering where it came from, didn't see him as he passed. All they saw was the powerful pink seidr of a Norn marking the craft. Sean used the remote control to open the rear hatch for himself. The guards withdrew in startled surprise then knelt down in respect when the hatch opened as he drew near to it. They didn't hear him as he boarded his borrowed ship. The ship itself was a design that the Nine Realms hadn't seen since the 2nd Era. Up top there was a single, white, long, rectangular wing with smooth rounded edges and corners. Beneath that single wing was a bubble of Svartalfr forged star-glass. It was glass made of hardened, tempered, condensed, star light. It shimmered in the night. A long lean body connected to the bubble, going out and tapering up so that the bottom was eventually even with the bottom of the wing. The landing gear sprouted out of spots along the body. The ship could only hold two people comfortably. Since Sean wasn't taking anyone with him, he didn't worry about that either.

Striding right into the ship, he closed and sealed the hatch behind him. Sean went to the front, going directly to the pilot's seat. Plugging in the remote control into the control panel started the ship's thin engines in the back of either side of the wing. The solders withdrew further away from his borrowed ship, and even further still when it hovered up to some thirty feet into the air. The landing gear withdrew as it floated up. With one last look towards the palace, Sean thought, I'll be back soon, Frey. A little sigh slipped from his lips before he put the coordinates into the navigation system. He knew where he was going, who was waiting there for him. He was going anyway. The light on the navigation panel lit up to let him know that path had been charted. He put his hands into the steering field, tilted the ship towards the heavens and launched. The little ship burst through the atmosphere to hit FTL travel as it hit the void.

Without coordinates, no one would be able to follow him.

24May2023 – Early In The Morning

Blodugrleid Nebula – The Celestial Waystation

The engines switched from FTL to thrust as Sean drew closer to the waystation. It was only mild surprise that tinged his thoughts when he saw small exterior panel on the Dyson's sphere pull back and slide sideways. The small docking bay lit up then. A multi-tonal pink shimmer spread over the entirety of the entrance. The normal white energy field that separated the docking bay from the void was glowing in pink tones. He steered the small ship into the bay and landed it on the bay floor. Once the ship was landed, Sean pulled the remote control out of the control panel, gripped it with his seidr and dismissed it to his interdimensional pocket. Something told him he was going to need it sooner rather than later. Wandering back to the aft of the ship, he hit the button on the small control panel near the rear hatch. When it was all the way open he hit the button again and then quickly jumped out the hatch, letting it close behind him.

Right away he could tell that he was in for trouble. He could feel the low buzzing in the air all around him. It filled the dilapidated docking bay ominously. He's here already, he thought, a little worried. Sean headed away from the ship to protect it, and up the large catwalk towards the hallway into the Dyson's sphere. He didn't make it all the way into the hallway before he felt the itch on the back of his neck that told him he wasn't alone. Turning, Sean's gaze fell on the broken piece of the universe that he knew was waiting for him in the dark. Living stars and planets were dotted here and there in the condensed bit of light that was this Celestial construct. "First Light, it's so good to meet you. We have things we need to discuss." Instead of a polite response, four tentacles formed from the broken shard of the universe before him. They wrapped wickedly tight around Sean, leaving him gasping for breath as the bones in one of his arm flexed inward and began to crack.

"Don't leave me."

24May2023 – A Quarter Hour Before Sunrise On Vanaheim

Vanaheim Royal Palace – The Lord's Chambers

Something jarring snapped Frey awake. It left a foul feeling oozing through his mind. He sat up in bed, quickly realizing he was alone. Extending his seidr out to all the rooms of his private chambers let him feel how alone he was. Using his seidr to try to grasp futilely at his connection to Sean through his seidr core left him feeling that something was very wrong. Frey then used his seidr to straighten his hair and braid it back into the ponytail he always wore. He let his seidr unfurl from his core to form into a Restoration Spell, a Conjuration Spell, and a Learning Spell which absorbed his memories. When he released them, they clad him in all white again and cleaned him from head to toe. In under a minute, he was dressed and ready to head out the door of his chambers. A worry built in his thoughts, and a need to find his young lover moved through him. Something was wrong with Sean, and he needed to set it right.

Maybe he's in father's office? Frey hoped that his lover was there. He found his vest where he discarded it on the floor a few hours ago. It still had the permanent portal stone that Sean made for him. Touching the permanent portal stone's rounded half let it whisk him away to his father's secret office. The candles were still lit. It was just as nice to be there as it was when they were there that evening. Unfortunately, Sean wasn't there. He almost left but he remembered that Ominni needed feeding for the day. It made him feel as ridiculous as ever, but Frey still stared at the floor for a few minutes despite that. It was just as easy to feed Ominni as it was the first time. He took the long dark dagger that had her home in it and called to her. "Ominni, awaken."

Again, Ominni appeared behind him. The condensed black light of her person glowed a little brighter. Through her seidr whispers her happiness leaked out. "Good… morrow,… Frey. What… offer… you?" She was pleased that she was going to be given the chance to get to know the baby she watched over when he was a man. It was exciting to get to know the next generation of Vanir's line. Vanir happy!

Kneeling down, Frey smiled at his new little friend. "I offer you sustenance." Ominni's dark blue seidr filled Frey's eyes for the few minutes it took for her to eat his memories. The light of her seidr slowly drained from his eyes leaving him vaguely disoriented again. When he became aware again, he looked to Ominni's flat face. It was weird for Frey, but he thought that she looked more satisfied than yesterday. He hoped that she was.

"Many... thanks. What... memories... to... seek? Ominni waited again for what she needed to make people forget. The line of Vanir didn't always need her, but they always fed her regardless. It was wonderful and she loved them for it.

"No memories today, Ominni. Thank you though." Frey was going to have to give heavy thought to things that the Nine Realms needed to forget. It was a profound power that he was given, and he wanted to use it for the good of the Nine Realms. His little friend bowed to him then returned to her home in the dagger without a word. The dagger went back onto the pillow on the pedestal. Frey looked around and wanted to look around at the books in the mini library, but he also wanted to find Sean. The feeling that something was wrong with him was still there. He touched the flat side of the permanent portal stone which took him back to his quarters and he headed for the door. The portal stone was gripped with his seidr and dismissed to his interdimensional pocket.

A step before he reached the door out of his chambers dusky rose pink strands began to form in front of him. They churned to and fro. It only made him more anxious that it was Lady Audhumbla's sjel-seidr that he was seeing. It reinforced his opinion that something was wrong. Strangely enough, he could feel a pull from the center of the churning mass of lines. The pull became stronger the longer he didn't give in to it. He sighed loudly. While he respected Lady Audhumbla, he didn't want to have to deal with her right then. He wanted to right whatever was wrong with Sean, and then take them back to bed for another hour or two, pleasuring them both until their hearts beat as one. Despite wanting to give in to his deep desire for his young lover, he set that desire aside and carefully reached into the churning mass. Immediately he touched something hard, like a tube. When he took it in his hand he was pulled through time and space to the garden where his office used to be. Now the first light of the new day was seeping in.

The red rays of the rising suns were peeking out at the golden horizon.

24May2023 – Minutes Before Sunrise On Vanaheim

Vanaheim Royal Palace Guest Chambers

Odin combed his hair back and his beard straight while he listened to his wife who was already dressed in a lovely sunny yellow summer dress and sunny slippers. The half-sleeves had short cuffs and ended halfway up her forearms. They were made of a shimmery sheer material which he felt complimented the rest of the dress marvelously. Her glorious hair was braided into many smaller braids which went into one larger braid down her back. He smiled calmly as took in the majesty before him. He complimented her outfit by wearing an off-white shirt, a pale yellow vest, brown pants and boots. After another minute he chastised himself for not paying full attention to what she was saying. In his mind he played back what she'd said and came to the conclusion that she was right, that this was a good thing. "What manner of defensive system needs a warrior's movements? Perhaps he's focusing on the movements an attacker might make?" We have defensive systems like that already. Odin's mind drifted to the things that he thought were possible, as well as the things he thought weren't possible for anyone but Stark to build. It was an exciting thought that Asgard might share in this system. He resolved to make his Kingdom worthy of such a gift from Stark. Odin looked to his wife when Frigga gripped his wrist tightly. She wasn't looking at him any longer. There was nothing in the mirror that he could see. I'm blocking it.

"Behind you." She spoke quietly as a churning mass of dusky pink lines came into existence. She let her husband go to he could turn and face it. When he was turned, she gripped his left wrist as tightly as she'd had his right.

Odin turned carefully to see a churning mass of lines the color of Lady Audhumbla's sjel-seidr. He appreciated his wife holding onto him more then. As soon as he noticed it, he felt a strange pulling from it, from the center of it. Odin took up Frigga's hand and then reached his hand into the center of the mass. It churned and moved around his hand. Almost immediately he felt something hard at his fingertips. It seemed to drift into his hand on its own. The moment he had it in his hand both he and Frigga were pulled through time and space to where her brother's office used to be. The garden she created surrounded them. Through the clear windows he could see the dawn coming.

The first of the two yellow suns were starting to rise above the golden horizon.

24May2023 – Less Than A Minute Before Sunrise On Vanaheim

Vanaheim Royal Palace Guest Chambers

There was something strange in the room with him, but Thor couldn't tell what it was. It was in the stillness in the air, it was the itch on the back of his neck. Something was not right. He just couldn't tell what, so he went about getting ready for the day. He showered, dried and dressed himself in a sky blue shirt, navy blue pants and boots with a white belt. Then he pulled the top half of his golden blonde hair back into a ponytail and made sure that the hair in the ponytail was combed out and smooth. Next, he braided some of his hair here and there. Thor looked around the room warily again. There was still nothing that he could find that he could call wrong. It was causing his anxiety to flare up, not being able to find what was stilling the air around him. It was only when he set his gaze on his large, polished silver, rectangular, metal hammer, with beveled corners and a leather-wrapped, heavy wood handle that he finally smiled. Mjolnir was waiting for him. He picked her up, saying, "Ath heilsa, my friend. There are many books for us to visit today, aren't there?" He hooked her on his belt as he always did. The itch on the back of his neck flared up again.

Before Thor could do anything else, he noticed slender dusky rose strands coming out of nowhere. More and more of them were churning into existence before him. There was a strange pull from the center of the mass. His hand went to his hammer until he recognized the color of the sjel-seidr before him. Slowly lowering Mjolnir was the best course of action. He didn't think his father would appreciate him trying to strike any Norn, let alone the Matron of the Norns.

Thor didn't strike, but he did look into the center of the churning mass. The longer he looked the more pull it had on him. Eventually, he decided to reach into the mass and hope that it wasn't punishment of some kind. Immediately, he caught hold of something hard and cylindrical. It pulled him through time and space to a beautiful new garden. He looked up and saw the coming of a new day.

The rays of the suns' light danced in merry heat waves at the golden horizon.

24May2023 – Mid-morning on Earth/Midgard

SHIELD Headquarters – Washington D.C.

It was just a little free moment, but Clint took it readily to sit down for a moment. The hours long appointment with the memory recovery team was done, and he needed a break. Thanks to the former agents who tried to assassinate Deputy Director Hill, he'd spent the rest of his time arresting and disarming fellow agents who'd turned traitor. There were far more of them than he wanted to think about. What Clint did think about was Lilith, and the help that she'd hopefully already received. The director seemed in a weirdly upbeat mood despite the number of traitors that they were finding. There were things in his pocket that he was protecting, like he was protecting the gift from McCorrmick. He knew better than to wonder about what it might be or why it was being protected. He just thought it was interesting to see the Director in such a good mood.

He decided then that his mood needed some cheering up too, so Clint pulled his brand new burner phone and went to dial his home phone number. He didn't get the chance to. In front of his face a single slender dusky rose pink strand curled into existence. It wriggled and churned over and under itself. Then another strand appeared, and another, and another until there was a writhing, churning mass of them. An irresistible pull was coming from the center of the mass. The longer he looked at it the more he felt the need to touch it. When his hand was halfway to the mass he heard a sharp voice calling to him. He looked to his left to see his partner, Natasha, staring at him in disbelief. "I'm sorry, Nat."

Clint plunged his hand into the churning mass and immediately gripped the hard tube within it. From Midgard to Vanaheim, he was pulled through time and space to a new garden. "What the hell is…?" He didn't know what had just happened. The tube in his hand was light and felt empty to him. It was a shiny white metal and looked out of place in the garden that he was standing in. Plants were still sprouting from the rich soil beneath his boots.

The rays of the second sun's light spilled across the golden horizon.

24May2023 – Seconds Before Sunrise On Vanaheim

Vanaheim Royal Palace New Garden

"Clint?"

The agent of SHIELD turned when he heard his name in a familiar tone. A smile initially touched his face when he saw, "Rhodey!" His friend/coworker was dressed in a long sleeve forest green, button-up shirt, black jeans, and black dress shoes with a black belt. Then he saw Tony Stark awkwardly standing behind him, looking down with his hands shoved in his jeans' pockets. He was just wearing a grey tee shirt, blue jeans, and a pair of black high tops. His keys were dangling off of his belt with a little multicolored toy cube hanging with them. Each side of the cube was a different color, broken up into nine smaller squares. It could rotate to let him play whenever he wanted. Behind him were King Frey, King Odin, and Queen Frigga. Off to the side was Thor. Everyone looked a little awkward. Clint was calm though.

"It's good to see you again," James spoke as though his Vanaheimr Thegn's Badge was perfectly normal and nothing was wrong, "I'm surprised to see you here." His friend was still wearing the clothes from the conference room, a black tee shirt and jeans under a black and purple zip up vest. An empty quiver still hung off his belt.

The final rays of the second sun flooded over the edge of the golden horizon. Dawn broke on Vanaheim in glorious shades of pink, purple, red, and gold. It was like fire spreading on the clouds, illuminating everything below it.

Each of the shiny white tubes floated up into an evenly spaced circle in front of the garden fountain. They opened to reveal a small scroll with intricately drawn runes across it in a large transmutation circle. The tubes dropped while the pages floated in the circle. The transmutation circles all lit up in the light of the new day, radiating with brilliant sunshine. Brighter and brighter the circles glowed until they ignited. The pages burned, each producing a point of white light. From those points white rays emitted, first up then lowering until all the rays met in the center of the circle. The points began to spin around and around. A larger beam of white light, a little over the height of a man from top to bottom, extended down and up from the center point. A moment later the central beam solidified while the points of lights flickered out one at a time.

The beam took the form of a black-clad, blonde man hunched over an alien control panel, slowly inputting commands. The hood of his black cloak was pulled back, the stitching around the edge of the cloak was obscured. The arm punching in the commands had a torn and bloodied shirt sleeve covering it. Fresh blood was on his hand. His other arm was wrapped around his middle. He was pale, with dark circles under his eyes. One of his deep violet eyes was blackened. Blood was leaking through his eye from the broken capillaries. Bruising was forming around the outside of the eye. One of the dots of sunny seidr crystal that surrounded the outside of his eyes was crushed. Blood oozed out from under it, running in a thin trickle down. Two other thin trickles of blood were running down from his nose and a viciously split lip. He wiped those two away with the back of his hand and continued inputting the commands he needed. A fierce look of determination was etched across his face. Something was more wrong than they could see though. The low sound of buzzing insects surrounded the blonde man. It wasn't a noise that anyone liked.

"Sean!" Frey's voice rang out in fear through the garden.