Horrible Terrible Things

Chapter Eleven

The world was warm and calm, birds chirped around me and I nestled down back to sleep only to wake abruptly with a pounding head and throbbing arm.

I sat up slowly with a hiss and looked at my arm which was crusted with dried blood but no cut remained.
My mind slowly caught up with me enough for me to realise I was not in that horrifying cave with not-Thor.

Sparse trees surrounded me, a lake several feet away with sweeping fields and farther away snow-capped mountains. I stood and stretched and made my way to the water, kneeling down to wash away my blood only for a soft voice to stop me.

'You will be stuck here if you wash it away.'

I turned and had to shield my eyes from the bright sun to see the outline of a tall woman dressed in white. I could not place her face due to the brightness off the sun.

'What's happening?' I asked.

She answered like she had been awaiting me, 'You have been brought here. By some greater force.'

I tried to hide my frustration with a straight face at her riddle of an answer. I must have failed as she let out a harmonious laugh.

'Evangeline dear, I don't mean to confuse you. Rather I can only give you small pieces of information which will guide you in becoming who you are meant to be.'

I shifted on my feet and took a cautionary step toward her, she did not move away from me but simply folded her hands before her. The light shifted and I glimpsed her face.

Her slim figure was dressed in a simple white gown, over one shoulder fell a gold embroidered cape. She was regal and poised, her lips upturned into a closed smile which reached her blue eyes. Her dark blonde hair weaved intricately on top of her head.

'Hello, Frigga.' I breathed. My eyes meandering over the landscape around me. There were no threats. This was no illusion.

'Is this-' I began, panic rising in my chest.

'Valhalla. Yes.' Though her words should have had me screaming in fear that I was dead - that I was in the place Asgardian's went to rest - it was her levelled tone which only had me nodding in acceptance.

'You're not dead.' She continued and swept her arms around her to venture to the scenic mountains in the distance, the lake and expanse of field.

'You were brought here because I am to tell you your fate.'

'Isn't everyone's future meant to a secret?' I could only take in the woman before me, the golden glow surrounding her, how warm she was, how the sound of her voice calmed me. Frigga was my grandmother. Thor and Loki's mother. And I was the one who could visit her in Valhalla? It made no sense, what was so great about my future that was deemed important for me to have travelled into another dimension?

'Come,' Frigga offered her hand, palm up and I had no choice but to take it and even flinched at the weight of her hand on mine and her soft and cool skin.

As sensing my unease, Frigga reached out to smooth back a stray hair of mine,
'You are safe here. I have so much I wish to share with you. You are a great blessing for this family my dear, I'm sorry I can not show you more than I am able.'

I frowned and Frigga softly ran her knuckles down my jawline,
'Eva, how much you do look like my dear Thor.' Her head cocked to the side and her eyes welled with unshed tears as my own began to form.

'I know it has not been an easy life for you my granddaughter.' She nodded as I did, my words choked in my throat.

'There will be love. You are worthy of the healing it will bring, I promise.'