DIVINE CHAMPIONS 4: THE SUN'S CHOICE

THE FEELS

Ishaan turned to see Eir looking at him dreamily, a tray of tea cups in her hand slightly shaking. Ishaan ran to her, saying, "Here, lemme help." He took the tray from Eir and put it down on the table. As they sipped tea from the cups, while talking about stuff, neither of them lost eye contact. "Ishaan, your voice is..." Eir seemed to fumble with words. Wow! A thousand year old ex-Valkyrie was fumbling with words. Was he that good?

"That good, huh?" Ishaan asked, with hope in his eyes.

"It is magical, yet, painful." Eir said, "Why the pain?"

"Missing my family, you know."

"I understand." Eir said, "Your voice is magic, you know? I can feel it inside."

"Thanks, Eir." Ishaan smiled, "Ah, I had a question for you."

"Sure."

"If you are not a goddess, and not human, what are you?"

"To be honest, I have no idea." Eir said, as she finished her cup, "When I did start to understand things, I found myself in the care of Frigg. She brought me up in Asgard, before making me one of her special handmaidens. Then, when Lord Odin saw me kill a monster with bare hands, he enlisted me into the Valkyries. But that war thing, killing people, picking up brave men who died was not my forte. I had always loved healing people. So, when Lord Odin saw that, he kept me away from the Valkyries, and sent me here, to Menglod."

"So, you are brought up as a goddess?"

"Not exactly. I am only part god, as Lord Odin used to say. He sensed that I might be part human. By his own beard, I wish he's right."

"So, demigod?"

"Yeah."

"That is why you need a fireplace to survive this place." Eir nodded.

"And who were they? Your parents?"

"I have no idea. And to be honest, I don't care. They never bothered to find me in these thousand years. Neither did I need them. I have a foster mother in the Queen of the gods. I have a weird, but still nice foster father, in the King of the gods. Plus, I have a super cool guardian in Menglod."

"You are correct, Eir." Ishaan said, feeling what she felt inside, "It is good to stay happy with what you have, than lament on what you don't." Eir smiled, and held his hand, "It is a good thing, you know, that I felt you up there. You are such a gift."

There was a certain shine in Eir's eyes that Ishaan had noticed for the first time. 

The next morning, Ishaan was taken to Menglod. Finally. When he walked inside, Svipdagr sat on a chair, doing something on his smart wrist watch. Menglod, meanwhile, seemed to have just woken up, all fresh and smiling. She was drinking her cup of tea for the morning, and was still in her robes. She hadn't even left the bed, and was still half covered in sheets. Menglod was nearly as tall as Svipdagr. She had a round face, fair skin with freckles under her eyes, hair as blonde as Sol's, and aqua eyes. She had a tattoo on her neck saying 'LOOKS CAN BE DECEIVING'. She was in silky silvery robes. She had an overall gleamy look, and her smile seemed to fill the room. Definitely, she was the heart of the castle.

While she was into her senses after completely waking up, her two German shepherds came running at her, tongues stuck out, onto the bed, cuddling her, licking her all around. So far, Ishaan was just standing there with Eir, watching her do her thing. It was not until the dogs piped down, laying on her lap, did she look at him. "Ah, Ishaan Borgohain!" Warm smile followed, "What a pleasure it is to see one of your kind."

"Wow, I really am flattered." Ishaan replied. Over time, Ishaan had gotten much more confident talking to these mythological figures. Menglod finally got up from her bed, and said, "Walk with me." Ishaan followed her.

"Listen, there are a few things that you need to know." She said as soon as she was out of the room.

"What?"

"Yeah. The news isn't great. It has been a whole day in Midgard, and there isn't a news on Heimdall."

"You know about the quest?"

"I do." Menglod said, calmly, but with a sign of urgency, "While you are here getting yourself treated, my guard, Fjolsvid found your friend, lost and tired. They have been taken to a safe place, and once they can take care of themselves, Fjolsvid will return. Then, he would take you to them. But before that, I need to know how your wounds are."

"Well, Lady Menglod, Eir treated me to perfection. Fantastic healer she is."

"Oh yeah, she is. Eir is my favorite. Its a shame that she will leave us one day." Menglod's voice broke. Her face had a certain helpless look that made Ishaan feel as if he could never hurt this woman. Her giant-ish aura was that pure.

"She will leave you? Why?"

"It is prophesied that all my handmaidens would fall in love, and leave me. So far, four of them have left. Only three remain. Though, I won't be completely alone, will I?"

"No." Ishaan said, "I guess, you'll have Svipdagr with you."

"He's enough for me." Menglod said, "We can always wash up on our own."

"And do you believe that Eir will go soon?" Ishaan asked, as they walked out of the castle, back on to garden.

"Why are you asking me that, child?"

"No, because, you said that one day she will leave."

"Well, why is there a sight of hopefulness in your eyes?"

"What? No!"

"Whatever. Well, whenever she leaves, whether it be soon, or a long time from now, she will be let go with full honor. She is the closest to me, and I wish she falls in love with someone so amazing and great, that her life gets settled after she leaves Lyfjaberg."

"Is it true that she is only immortal in Lyfjaberg?"

"Well, yeah." Menglod sighed, "I hate the fact, but she will become mortal once she leaves the castle. The thing is, you don't age in here. In this healing hill, you constantly keep healing. Even you, Ishaan. So, since Eir is only half god, she will be mortal once she leaves the healing hill. She's been stuck at twenty since eons. Once she is out, she will resume from there. Now, why are you asking so many questions about her?"

True. Why was Ishaan so interested in her immortality? She was his doctor. Correct. Maybe because she had also accepted him as a friend in these last couple of days. But, this friendship was going to be long distance, right? Like Rishi was friends with Hnoss? But when they had spent the last evening in her chambers, there seemed to be some sort of energy between them that Ishaan had felt. What was that all about? Sure, he used to get distracted of everything when she was around, but that wasn't a big thing, was it?

Was it though? Ishaan's mind was confused.

"Well?" Menglod demanded an answer for her question.

"I don't know." Ishaan replied, "Yes, she's really pretty, which makes her really distracting, but that's it, I guess."

"Huh!" Menglod said, slightly satiric. As they turned to go back to the castle, she asked again, "So, what is the plan, Ishaan? How are you going to save your patron?"

"Do you have any idea what is going to happen to her?" Ishaan asked, "What is Skoll planning to do to her?"

"I don't know, no. But what I definitely know is that he would be there fighting you when you get closer to Heimdall. Wherever he is. You need to find a way to parry him and free Heimdall first. Freeing him first is always the choice. You can't fight Skoll. He's too strong."

"Oh."

"And, you need to find more things out, Ishaan. You know very well that your powers maybe under your complete control, but they haven't been fully manifested yet. There are things you will learn from your fellow divine champions."

"What is that?"

"You'll know when the time is right." As they neared the castle, Eir came out the door, in a seamless sky blue dress. Ishaan's heart took a big jump. "Oh, Eir, dear, why don't you take Ishaan and show him what his friends are doing right now?"

Eir smiled, nodded, and pulled Ishaan with her. Ishaan looked back at Menglod, who gave her a sly smile and lifted her eyebrows up and down. Ishaan felt his cheeks heat up.