Of course, stupid Azar follows me right down.
Have we finally arrived?Was this where you were headed?He looks around as he lands.Because there’s nothing here.
He’s right.More than anything else, Iceland’s good at long, desolate stretches of nothing.I’m right in the middle of one, which is where I wanted to go.
Just not with him.
Or rather, all I’ve wanted since Freya spat me out was to come somewhere with him alone—but not like this.Not with him asking me stupid questions he’d know the answers to if only he’d rebonded me.Not with him following me only because he’s worried his pet human has malfunctioned.I don’t want him following to make sure I don’t slice someone up because I’m unstable.Or to keep me alive so they can chuck me back into that volcano.
He’s close to me for all the reasons I don’t want.
And when he says things like, that hewantedto follow me, and I wish he meant it the way I wanted him to mean it, but I know he doesn’t, well.I just spiral down without wanting to, feeling crazier and crazier.“I’m sorry,” I whisper.“You really don’t need to be here.”
We need you.
I’m really sick of hearing about the stupid volcano and their precious heart.“You know what?”I spin around to face him.“I had a dream about where the heart came from.”
His eyes widen.
“I—we’ve been so busy I didn’t tell you yet.”That sounds lame, even to me.“I wasn’t sure whether it was really a dream about the heart or just my own wishful thinking.”Why did I bring this up?Now I sound even crazier than I felt, and he’s looking at me expectantly.“In the dream, I think I was Gullveig.It was a long time ago, and I was telling the story of where the heart came from to three kids.”I shake my head.“Never mind.”
Azar sits like a golden retriever.I swear, it almost makes me laugh.I want to hear the rest.
“I—it’s not much of a story.”I recount how the goddess of the earth and the god of the sky met, and loved, and kissed, and how their kiss created the heartstone.
What is a kiss, exactly?
I’m reminded of him asking me before—and our practicing.My cheeks flush, and I hope he doesn’t notice.“It’s something people do when they love each other.”
She had barely met this sky god and she already loved him?
It does feel silly.“That’s just how the story went,” I say.
And this made the heartstone?That’s what we need?A stone?
“Apparently Freya had it,” I say.“She and Odin were marrying, and I thought their union would keep humans like me and the children in the dream safe.They were part of a group called the æsir, and their enemies were the vanir.”I watch his face carefully to see whether he reacts.
He doesn’t.
“None of that means anything to you?”I suppose I was hoping he’d either remember what the old woman had told us or maybe something his father had shared.
He shrugs.Not really.We have many blessed named Freja, Freya, Frey, Frejar, and so on.You appear to believe this dream Freya is the same as the one in the volcano, and that both of them are my mother.
“I do.”I nod.“I’m surprised you don’t.”
It’s possible, but I don’t think we know enough yet.What did the heartstone look like?
I sigh.“I woke up before I saw it.”
He frowns, like he’s thinking about it.
“I know, it was pretty useless as dreams go.That’s the other reason I didn’t say anything about it right away.”
If you really are dreaming as Gullveig, you could learn something important.Please tell me in the future what you dream as soon as you dream it.
“I will.”
Tomorrow we have another long day, and after speaking with Hyperion, I should tell you—we would need to somehow come back with alotof humans or...
