I cannot trust him.
I know, and you don’t have to.
Go without me. I will stay out here.
Absolutely fucking not. I’m not leaving you alone.
I promise not to get into any trouble, she said with a weak smile. Westley sighed—he would not win this particular battle. He turned to the couple.
“Show me the way,” he said, gesturing in front of him.
Laeknir lingered as Astrid led Westley into their cottage. He didn’t take his eyes off either of them until Laeknir heaved in a breath and turned away from Solveig, who made her way to the edge of the cliff. She sat down and closed her eyes.
I’m alright, she whispered.
If you lose yourself, I will find you, he said before turning to enter the house.
“Please, have a seat, Your Highness,” Astrid said formally.
“Just Westley,” he corrected out of habit. Astrid nodded and bustled around the kitchen.
The dead needn’t eat in Hel, so Westley wondered what she was up to. He couldn’t see what she was doing when she opened the cupboard doors. She returned with arms full of different crystals and pinch pots.
“I thought mortals abhorred witchcraft?” he asked.
Laeknir dropped down into the seat across from him and Astrid sat at the head of the table, laying her ingredients out carefully, one by one, in a row.
She emptied two pinch pots of white salt onto the table, flattening the pile into a smooth surface before she answered without looking. “You’ll find, Westley, that when one dies and spends an eternity in Hel, your beliefs change.”
“That happens in the world above as well,” he answered thoughtfully.
Astrid met his gaze, her eyes softening like she recognized his inner turmoil.
“It is a difficult thing to manage, when one’s foundation crumbles because of lies and deceit, especially by those we loved and trusted.”
Westley only nodded as she focused on her task.
She drew three runes in the salt. Westley craned his neck to look at them properly.
The first was a line with two arrowheads pointing north. Divine energy. The second, a straight line with short diagonal strokes in opposite directions at the top and the bottom and a small arrow in the middle of the line, pointing east. Protection from evil magic. The third was a line with two diagonal dashes on the right side, turning down. The Ansuz rune, for gods and ancestors.
Astrid took another pinch pot, revealing black salt. She created a perfect circle around the runes. Once finished, she took her crystals and laid them one by one on the outside of the black circle.
“Could you tell me what these are for?” Westley asked, unfamiliar with the use of the different coloured crystals.
“Clear quartz, for guidance through the fog.” That one she placed at the very top of the circle.
“Selenite, to purify the space and enhance our spiritual connection.” She placed this white stone at the bottom of the circle.
“Smoky quartz, to ground us in the earth and bring a sense of calm.” This one went to the right.
“Rose quartz, for love, healing, and strengthening of bonds.” She placed on the left side—the four points of a compass.
“And the others?” Westley asked when she made no move to continue. Astrid had her eyes closed, her hands hovering over the remaining crystals.
“I’m trying to sense if any of them wish to join.”
“You believe this works?” Westley asked Laeknir.
