The Animal Goddess

The Challenge

"Alright young one, we're going hunting." Skadi filled her quiver with arrows then wrapped the strap around her torso and grabbed her bow.

"Hunting? But I've never hunted before." Estrid looked a bit worried as she stood up from her sitting position.

"Come on, it will help you." Skadi opened the door and walked out, Estrid following behind closely. They walked towards the forest, soon climbing up some rocks then sitting down on a rock. Skadi kneeled down, aiming her bow as she saw a herd of deer in the distance. "There, you see it." Estrid squinted her eyes then saw the herd.

"Yeah. What about it?" She asked.

"It will help you to think before you act. Now this is the scenario. You see a herd of deers, grazing on grass together. You can try and get all of them and risk not getting any food or take less down and still have plenty of food. What do you do young one? Better hurry." Skadi walked away and went towards the left towards the deer. Estrid became a bit alarmed then went to the right, picking up what Skadi was getting at. If she missed picking an option, Skadi would steal the opportunity. Estrid formed into a bear, stalking her prey from a distance as she walked a bit closer. Quantitiy or quality, she thought. Estrid got close enough to the deer to launch her claws at one, causing it to limp until it was into much pain to continue moving and fell. While that was happening, Estrid tried to go for two more but only happened to get one. Her mind started to race as she chased after another one. Um, okay, I've got two so far. Let's see. There's six more. Uh... maybe try to get one more, quality is better than quantity. It'll show Skadi that I'm ready... for what ever I have to face off against. Still not too sure on that. Estrid clawed at another deers leg, causing it to trip. She soon killed the deer and saw Skadi come over to her, a bit of a smile on her face.

"Glad you've been listening to me young one. Guess you also remembered the quantity or quality statement I told you about." Estrid nodded, turning back into her human self. "Good job, I think you're almost ready. 2 months practicing and you seem to be passing everything I've told you. Come on, let's take these deer back so I can cook them up for dinner later." Skadi grabbed three of them and hauled them onto her shoulder. Estrid tried to pick one up but it kept slipping from her hands. She turned back into a bear and got the deer onto her back, walking along side Skadi as they headed back to her hut. They got home to hear clawing against the door.

"Stupid paws." Estrid heard a grumble, laughing slightly as she realised who it was.

"We're home Stein." Estrid said as Skadi opened the door, they put the deers in a small pile outside. They would be safe as no one knew of Skadi's hut.

"Oh my god, you're a bear. That is awesome." Stein beamed with joy as he saw Estrid. Skadi laughed at his statement. She still had the rune marking on her hand from Estrid. Estrid turned back into her human self and sat next to the fire, Stein snuggling up to her.

"So you want to know your last challenge before I can let you go young one?" Skadi asked, taking a seat next to the siblings.

"Okay." Estrid said a bit unsure.

"Well, you'll need to fight a few frost giants to prove you'll be fine on your own." Estrid froze up, all the colour and emotions draining from her face as she heard frost giants. A month ago, Skadi had told the girl about frost giants and she has been afraid of them ever since. "I know you are scared but I believe you can take care of them. It won't be that hard, I promise. If everything goes south I'll step in, got it?" Estrid nodded slowly, soon lying down on the ground. Skadi sighed, seeing the girl slowly fall asleep along with Stein. It was a few hours later when Estrid woke up, smelling something delicious being cooked. Skadi looked over her shoulder as she grabbed a few plates and sat down next to Estrid and Stein. "You're awake, good. You need to eat. We'll be leaving after this for your last challenge." Stein had already woken up and started digging into the deer that was cooked. Estrid slowly picked at the meat then started eating it.

"I don't want to do this." Estrid uttered with a small voice, barely eating her food.

"You need to, I promise you'll be fine. It's only going to be two, I know a couple that comes out of a night that can get their asses kicked by you. Listen... okay, think of it like this, these two frost giants terrorise a village and you'd be doing those villagers a favour. They have no one to protect them, that's were you come in." Skadi grabbed the plates and put them on her wooden bench, soon turning around and putting her quiver on her back and grabbing her bow. Estrid stood up and grabbed her staff that she kept near the fire place. Stein followed along, although he didn't need to come, he wanted to. Estrid gripped her staff tightly, her knuckles turning white along with her face as they kept walking in the snow, towards Jötunheim. She was beyond terrified and little did she know that her fear was going to stop her from completing this challenge.