Legends

Chapter 57: The French Learns to Ski

Lafayette had assumed naively that learning to ski would be simple. She was completely totally utterly wrong! She'd assumed, having in her spare time before Lakehurst and Bayonne were turned to rubble by the Abyssals, been learning to wakeboard. And she'd assumed, incorrectly as she now knew, that skiing wouldn't be so dissimilar.

After the dozenth time of spitting powder out of her mouth, she slowly rose to her feet with Thyra's help. The woman at least making an effort not to laugh, probably because she could sense that Lafayette would've punched her kanmusu strength be damned if she did. "You made it a lot farther this time." She said.

"I still became a giant snowball on a hill though." Lafayette sighed.

"Much of our journey is uphill and its only the last bit down into Tromsø that's got a slope." Thyra explained.

"Surely you're not saying I'm ready!" Lafayette gasped.

"I am serious. And please don't ever call me Shirley again." Thyra deadpanned.

"Wow really? An Airplane reference?" Lafayette asked.

"I felt it appropriate given your last attempt was an adequate impression of one." Thyra replied.

"Okay, now I know you're mocking me." Lafayette huffed, annoyance creeping into her tone.

"Only out of necessity, Mein Freund." The use of German endearments caught Lafayette off guard and clearly Thyra hadn't intended for it to slip out either for she looked uncomfortable before changing the subject. "Eugen needs a repair ship and soon. I can't do anything more for her."

"So it's a case of now or never then is it?" Lafayette asked.

"I'm afraid so."

Well, there wasn't much more to do about that now was there? Thyra put Eugen on her own back as Lafayette was still learning this new craft. There wasn't any change to their clothes except they were all outfitted with scarfs. Thyra broke trail upslope out of the village at an angle that took her towards the next fjord. They'd go around the steepest parts of the island's center but in doing so, took on the challenge of sun facing ascent.

"Mind your step." Thyra warned. "I may have talent in this but I am not all knowing. And an avalanche would sweep you away as easily as a tsunami can."

"Noted." Lafayette followed her trail, taking extra care to use her ski poles to stick the ground in front of her, testing the snow as Thyra had shown her.

As they traveled, her mind wondered to the strange woman. Thyra was not normal. She couldn't be. Although everything she had said fell within the bounds of normal human capabilities Lafayette felt she wasn't being entirely honest. Granted, she didn't get the feel that Thyra was a shipgirl either. Although it was possible she was suppressing it. Titanic had told her that it was not an easy thing to do but there were several methods that one skilled enough could master. Of one thing that Lafayette was now absolutely certain was that Thyra was not Norwegian. She was German. Her accent had been hard to place originally, mixed as it was but her little slip up earlier coupled with the softness she showed for Eugan clinched it for the carrier.

Just who was Thyra? Why was she here and not in Germany? How long had she been here? And if she was a shipgirl, why hadn't she joined the fight? "She did save us though. She fended off those Abyssal planes somehow." Lafayette thought. Her memory of that fight may have been poor but she swore she recalled hearing the sound of heavy shellfire just before she passed out. Could that have been Thyra's real form? Lafayette knew that whatever had made that sound had been big and it had big guns. A battleship's guns, she was sure of it! A thought came to her, but it was impossible.

As she was pondering it however, their course took them off the snowfields and up a treacherous rock ledge carved into the mountain side. "Mind your footing through here. It's slippery." Thyra warned. It was the only way over the summit and down into Tromsø on the other side. Thyra and Lafayette stopped to remove their skis. Crampons would be of more use for this bit. Still using their poles for balance, they started up.

The ice covered rocks were slippery and the ice that covered them made them brittle in nature. The constantly expanding water was cracking the rock, eroding the mountain bit by bit just as the glaciers of old had done thousands of years ago when they carved the fjords. The same process was happening today but on a much smaller scale. Smaller or not, it was no less dangerous as Lafayette discovered.

It took one bad step and the next thing she knew, she was dangling with both legs hanging off the ledge and holding on by the tip of her ski pole. "Oh, oh SecNav! HELP ME!" She screamed, her whistles sounding continuously. She couldn't help it, she was so frightened.

Pressure was exerted on the tip of her pole and suddenly Thyra was there, lifting her up effortlessly. "Run!" She growled and when Lafayette didn't comply as fast as she would've liked, she scooped the carrier in her arms and took the rest of the ledge in a handful of strides before swinging hard to the left. Lafayette was set down in the snow unceremoniously as from somewhere behind her, the low rumble of an avalanche roared below them. She must have triggered it when she let off her whistles. The village...

Three loud bangs broke Lafayette's train of guilt. It was the same sound she'd heard before. Heavy shellfire, unmistakable in its presence this time. When she stood and faced Thyra however, the sense of power around her was already fading as was the faint outline of a warship. In the slope below them, three large craters stood blocking the avalanche's path to the village and diverting it down to the sea.

"Thyra..." Lafayette gasped.

Thyra still had Eugan on her back and simply stared hard at her as she helped her the rest of the way upright. "I told you to mind the ledge." She growled and once Lafayette was standing she let her go and turned away.

"Thank you!" Lafayette called after her but she didn't slow. Huffing, the carrier undid her skis from their stowed position on her back and began to put them on.