Children of Ragnarok 4

Tired and weary from his day of labor in the sun, Haydn trudged up to his room again for the night. He was ready for his shower but knew he'd have to contend with his sister, who'd been imposing on him for two nights now. At least she'd stopped yelling...

Teagan had spent the last two days working on rebuilding her food stores. Scraps had been plentiful of late with one of the families who had been staying in the inn bringing in several small and messy children. The elf needed only to visit beneath the floorboards of their room. The sudden abundance of food left her with more time to think about other things, such as finding fabric for clothes, and materials for tools, and time for wondering how Haydn was getting along with his sister. But the tiny woman did not dare try to venture into his room, and not only because the giant had blocked her way in. His sister had mentioned hunting Aesir, and as an elf, she was the descendant of an Aesir herself. It was probably best not to get involved with the towering woman.

But she still had so many questions for Haydn. She passed by the hallway he always walked along when returning home from work, the wall separating the two of them as always. Until she remembered a crack running through the wooden boards and old wallpaper. Hesitantly, she peaked her head out to watch the giant go by. He always seemed to be getting back around the same time.

He was just steps away from his door when he felt her. So many hot spots behind the adjacent walls and doors, under the floorboards and above his head, but he could still sense that tiny little speck of warmth closest to him in the hallway. It was time. She had to be wondering why he covered her mouse hole, why his sister was there inexplicably. And if he didn't take care of it before he left, he'd have many a restless night ahead.

"Yes?"

Teagan barely kept herself from scurrying back into the wall with the surprise. How did he keep doing that? She had only been watching him, not even a rap or a wave to try and draw his attention. Even so, she waved at him hesitantly; unsure what her first reaction to the man who had tried to befriend her and then had turned her away so suddenly should be.

"I'm not upset with you," he assured her. "You can come on out of there." Not that it would have made a difference if he had been.

She stepped away from the safety of the wall as her flood of questions returned to the forefront of her mind. Why was he choosing to talk to her now? What was going on? What was with all the mysteriousness and everything his sister had said about hunting Aesir?

Teagan raised her arms up in a wordless shrug, confusion written all over her face. If a picture was worth a thousand words, then the tiny elf's expression was worth a thousand more.

Frowning with dismay, Haydn mockingly shrugged back at her. "What? What do you want me to say? I'm leaving soon, so what difference does it make to you?"

This time the elf waved her hands with an emphasis that seemed to shake down her tiny frame. Concern and confusion splayed across her face. The question was clear: "Why?"

The giant let out a sigh through his nostrils. "You and I have no business being friends. There's no point in it."

Once again Teagan waved her arms in the forceful gesture.

"I'm. Leaving!" he reminded her, more emphatically than before. "You understand that, right?!"

It was then that his door opened, and his sister stuck her head out. "Who are you yelling at?" she demanded. "I only hear one--" She stopped when from the corner of her eye she caught a flash of blonde hair. "Is that an elf?" she exclaimed.

Teagan froze as the hard green eyes of Haydn's sister landed on her.

Haydn turned to the intruder, his expression changing as he glared at his sibling, his jaw clenched. "Don't you dare," he hissed in warning.

But she didn't heed his words and with a flick of her hand, as if it were dripping with water, Hayvn sent a small spray of flame in the direction of the little being.

As the flames neared her, Teagan gasped and back-peddled. Out of instinct, the magic of her only line of defense wrapped her in a cloak of invisibility.

With nary a twitch of a muscle or a dart of the eye, the flames quickly dissipated at Haydn's behest, his furious gaze never leaving Hayvn's figure.

"What are you doing?!" the girl shrilled. "Why'd you stop me?"

"I won't let you murder her," the man snapped, quickly pushing his sister back into the room and closing the door behind him as he joined her. "She's done nothing for you to justify killing her like all the others!"

Stunned. Shocked. Surprised. All those little words that began with "s" couldn't have properly conveyed what was going on in the elf woman's head. With a shudder, she forced her trembling legs to bolt back towards the crack in the wall, fleeing what was left of the scene and leaving her even more confused than before.

"They're supposed to be wiped out, anyway!" Hayvn reminded her brother, lowering her voice. "What difference does it make? They'll all be destroyed eventually."

"You don't know that," Haydn insisted, dressing down with frustration, his boots thudding as they hit the floor. "It hasn't happened yet, and it doesn't have to."

Teagan began rubbing her arms briskly as she paced back through the walls. Her hair had began to stand on end and her heart had beat its way up into her throat. Let it be, she told herself. This was more than she was prepared to deal with. Let it be, she begged herself as she found her feet taking her right back to the blocked off mouse hole.

"But it is going to happen, whether you like it or not. Whether you help with it, or not," Hayvn retorted, giving her elder sibling space to go about his business while they talked.

Now shirtless, Haydn turned to his sister, his expression terse. "And what if I stop it, all together? Huh? Then, what?"

Teagan continued to eavesdrop. Not really sure what else she could do at this point. From the way they were talking... was it still safe for her to stay here?

Hayvn could only stare back at him, somehow not having dared anticipate he suggest not only defying their father but actively countering his plan. "H... how would... how could you stop him?" Hayvn stammered, watching but not seeing as her brother continued to disrobe and move to the bathroom. "How do you think you're going to stop Ragnarok from happening?"

Haydn looked over his shoulder as he stepped into the smaller room. "I'm going to find Hel's child first." With that, he shut the door and turned the bath water on.

Teagan pulled away from the wall, shakily making her way back to her nest up in the rafters. How had she of all people stumbled across something like this? Something she could barely understand. And what was she going to do with the information? Who could she tell? Who would even listen to a speechless little elf lost in Midgard, anyway? No one had come when Frejr had gone for help. And if a god couldn't bring back help, what could she ever hope to achieve?