Twisted Hearts

Lies - Part 3 (Brynhild)

It had been a beautifully sunny day so far. Breakfast was provided, as usual, by the All-Father in the great lodge where the highest gods and Odin's family lived. I had woken up early and eaten before daylight so as to meet Heimdall at his hall and start his watch. Before I could make my way over to him, he had met me as I stepped outside, startling me in the process. His foreknowledge seemed constant and was at times un-nerving.

He looked very different from the evening before. Instead of a colorful tunic, boasted light, leather armor with metal trim. He was covered everywhere except his head. His head boasted even more braids than last night. Not a hair was out of place.

We did not greet each other. Heimdall simply turned and walked towards the outskirts of Gladsheim, Asgard's greatest settlement and fortress of the All-Father. There was not much conversation. The wall surrounding the city was serviceable, but even I could see that it was no masterpiece. To get up the wall there were small footholds carved into the wall to scramble on to a small path on top of the wall. Stones were spaced unevenly and parts of the path where we walked were noticeably unstable. Stones and rubble were strewn about. I had to walk carefully to avoid tripping and falling down the 20 foot height.

Heimdall looked back at me to make eye contact, "It's funny you think you are in a place to judge Aesir defenses Brynhild. If I recall, you spent most of your life in pitiful tents or holes in the ground. Your clan couldn't defend against the weather most of the time much less intruders like the giants." He looked at me pointedly as he paused his stride.

"I wasn't going to say anything!" I exclaimed. " But if you think this wall is going to be anything more than a tripping hazard to giants, then you're crazy."

He remained silent. Something made me think that he was not used to others responding to him with such remarks. His look reminded me of the same look some of the boys in my clan had given me when their antics did not rile me up to their satisfaction.

"You may be right, for now, but in the not so distant future there will be a man who will offer a deal to build us a new wall. One that not even the giants could breach. Besides, omission is another form of lying. If you want to keep to our deal then you should say what is on your mind, I can hear it anyway."He smiled, triumphantly.

I am sure I looked skeptical, "Will there be any giant attacks before this man comes to build the wall?"

His smile faded. "I do not know that."

"I thought you were Heimdall. God of foresight. Knows everything?"

"The common folk like to exaggerate as a distraction from their short and wanting lives. I can see far into the future only rarely. Most of the time, it's like seeing double." He shifted his weight and continued his walk along the wall.

Was this how Heimdall normally acted? He seemed much more curt with me than he had been the night before.

As we walked he would look outside the wall out to the bifrost bridge and then back into the fortress. Sometimes it seemed as if he reacted to something he saw or heard from the streets, but I could not quite tell.

Could he hear what I was thinking now? I silently thought of a question, Do you walk the wall everyday? I concentrated on the question as hard as I could, but Heimdall did not react.

He turned around to check on me since I had slowed my walk. I met his gaze.

"I have come to expect better questions from you, Brynhild. Such a stupid question is beneath you," he said, exasperatedly. "It is my job as the watchman of the Aesir to monitor and anticipate threats. Of course I am here everyday! Every morning and every evening unless the All-Father has a request for me."