She hugs her brother Sammy, kisses her sister Jade on the cheek, and drags her sister Coral in for a hug.Coral looks irritated, but I can’t figure out why.
Liz must see me watching.As she flutters down from the edge of the gaping hole in the side of the hotel, she says, “She’s not bonded and her siblings are.Coral doesn’t like them to have anything she doesn’t.”
I’m sure we can find her a blessed?—
“She’s insisting she’ll only bond a flame blessed.”Liz lifts her eyebrows.“Unless you’re volunteering?”
I’ve learned with Liz that ignoring her is sometimes the best option.We have a lot to do today.After I adjust my flying speed to accommodate her slow pace, I realize that it’s going to take usforeverto reach the rendezvous point for Hyperion’s honor guard.I’m debating asking her to just ride me when she starts speaking.
“You said I should tell you when this happens.”
What?
“Last night, I dreamed again—this time I was someone else, someone named Gyda.”
And?
“Do the words vanir and æsir mean anything to you?”
The vanir are our ancient enemies.We vanquished them before we left Earth.
“I’m not sure you did,” I say.“I think they may be the creatures stuck in the volcano—the vanir.”
She thinks the demon creatures who can take blessed forms are the vanir?I suppose that could be true.We should ask Euphrasia about them.She lived on Earth for a time before my people left.
Liz’s wings stop beating and she falls a dozen feet before she starts flying again.“How did I not know that already?She and I need to talk—badly.”
I’ll try and arrange for that today.I believe she’s supposed to be in the group of water blessed allowed to bond today’s brights.
“Perfect,” Liz says.“Because when I was this Gyda person, guess what dragon bonded me?”
How should I know?
“Her name was Freja,” Liz says.“She was a massive ice vanir, with the most gorgeous, diamond-like scales, and virtually see-through wings.”
Should that mean something to me?
“Your father was married to a Freya,” Liz says.“Don’t you think those names are close?”
Was she the same creature you encountered in the volcano?
Liz sighs and her eyes flash.“I’m...not sure.I mean, the names are a little different, and the woman in the volcano was, well, she was a humanwoman.So maybe not.But it feels like it’s too closenotto be connected somehow.Freja and Freya?”
As I said, it’s a common name with my people.
“But both of them were powerful and important.Both of them are somehow connected to the blessed before they left Earth.Both of them are connected to the creatures I think are the vanir.Don’t you think that matters?”
Do you want to go back to the volcano now?
“I’m hoping I’ll dream of this past world again—more than anything, I want to ask good questions when I do return.When I asked Freya questions last time, she mocked me for knowing nothing.She said what I was asking was all wrong.”
What would you ask her now?
“I want to know what happened—how the vanir were trapped in that volcano.Or if they aren’t the vanir, I want to know who they are.”
Describe the vanir in your dream.
“They’re like the blessed,” Liz says.“Except instead of strike, flame, earth, and water blessed, they’re moon, storm, and ice vanir.”
