The Animal Goddess

But Why so Insecure?

All the kids finished munching on their lunch and walked back into the museum seeing Nora waiting for them. Lucy was the first to ask a question.

"So Estrid's gone back to see Skadi and Stein right?" Lucy brushed a piece of hair behind her ear.

"Of course, she needed some guidance. Some help. And she knew Skadi would know how to help her. The goddess of winter would be able to help her confirm if her nightmare was actually true or not." Nora replied back as she led the kids through the halls of the museum until they got to a case that had a book in it.

"A book? About what?" Erin asked.

"A book about spells, curses, antidotes. That kinda stuff. Now if you look to the right of the book is an inscription that fell out of the book, this has the exact recipe to be able to see others dreams. The recipe was a mix of berries, the fur of a bear, crushed up hooves of a pig, guts of a fish, an eye of a deer and pine nuts." Everyone looked at her in digust, some even uttered out an ew. Nora giggled at everyone and smiled. "It is pretty disgusting the mixture but it allowed people to understand how to help others cope with their dreams."

"But why was Estrid terrified in her dream?" Troy asked. Jeremy hit his friend's shoulder. Troy shrugged it off though and waited for an answer.

"Well there's a big answer to that small question. One word though." Nora said.

"One word, ha puh-lease." Vanessa uttered.

"Insecurity." Nora ignored the sassy teenager. Lucy, Erin and Troy were surprised at the fact that Estrid was actually insecure about herself.

"But why? She seems so cool and perfect, she loves herself doesn't she?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah but it was all a facade. Inside she's just a insecure little girl that doesn't know what she is doing or who she is. She believes she is worthless, useless and is a waste of space. She can't feel proud of herself, she never believed in herself. She didn't know how to love herself. She hides this all by trying to be cocky and not asking for help." Nora explained, Jeremy and Vanessa weren't paying attention but the other three were. "Shall we continue with the story?"

Estrid put her wooly hood down and knocked heavily on the wooden door of the shack. The door creaked open and there stood the woman this girl was looking for.

"E-Estrid? Come in." Skadi rushed as she allowed Estrid to walk into the hut.

"Where's Stein?" Estrid asked.

"Learning how to hunt for himself. I've taught him the basics so now he says he's going to advance on his own but he knows he's limits and asks for help." Estrid looked away, still ashamed of how she made her last impression before she left.

"I'm... sorry." The girl piped up.

"That's it? Just I'm sorry. Stein lost his eye because you didn't listen to me. He could have been killed by the frost giant if it wasn't just a simple back hand." Skadi said.

"Well what do you want me to say. That I shouldn't have tried to prove that I was ready, that I was worthy to take down Fenrir myself? Because now that you have said that, I'm actually not sorry. I'm doing way better without you." Estrid commented back, crossing her arms as she stared knives at Skadi. The woman did the same thing until she sighed in annoyance.

"What do you want?" Skadi asked.

"To tell me if my nightmare I had was true. That it's going to happen in the future." Skadi hesitated for a second.

"Alright, sit down." Estrid sat next to the fire as Skadi pulled out a bowl and a spoon. She started to put a few things in the bowl and started to crush it up. Once Skadi was done, she brought the bowl to Estrid and sat in front of her. "Drink." Estrid drank the mixture and spat out a bit of the drink.

"What the hell is this?" Instead of Skadi responding, she raised her hand up to the bowl and pushed it towards Estrid, signalling for her to keep drinking it. Estrid finished it and placed the bowl down, gaging and trying not to throw up.

"What you just drank had a mix of berries, fur of a bear, crushed hooves of a pig, guts of a fish, an eye of a deer and pine nuts."

"Why the hell would you do that Skadi?"

"So I can look at your nightmare through my mind." Skadi grabbed another bowl that was sitting next to her and chugged the mixture, not effected in anyway. "Give me your hand." Estrid gave Skadi her hand and the woman gently held it in both of her hands. "Now close your eyes and imagine your nightmare again, like you are reliving it child." The little girl closed her eyes and her mind started to rewind and play the nightmare once again. Estrid squinted her eyes and tried not to squirm from the fear she felt inside. She didn't want anyone to know. Skadi opened her eyes, pulled her hands away and gasped slightly. "My child, are you alright? You are not mentally scarred are you?"

"What? No I'm fine. What is it?" Estrid asked.

"It's bigger than I thought. There was never suppose to be two others."

"Wait what?"

"I... I don't know who they are but I saw their shadows. Did you not notice that?"

"No. I guess they'll just have to line up for a good ol' butt woopin'."

"Listen to me. This has gotten out of hand. You need help."

"No I don't Skadi."

"Estrid, you cannot do it on your own. You will die."

"Then I will die with honor then!"

"No you won't because you don't know what honor is and you never will know!" Estrid kept quiet after that. Skadi realised what she just said and mentally slapped herself. "You don't seem to respect anything but yourself Estrid. You need the help."

"No I don't. Forget I ever came here." Estrid flicked her hood up and opened the door, heading out to the blistering cold to get back to her village. Skadi sighed as she realised she hurt the girl. No one else could see that the girl was insecure except for Skadi. She had been in that girl's place once. All the gods and goddesses had once. The girl would never know that though, she didn't know how to talk to people, she had no human connection at all. And it never helped that her only family, a bunch of bears, never cared about her. They fed her and kept her safe but she was always the last one. No one liked her except for Stein. He cared about her. They made a promise that they would never leave each other's sides. But Estrid broke that. She ran back towards the giants instead of helping Stein. She regretted that and wished she could take that back.