The Unknown

Chapter 63: Place of Endings

Later in the evening when Dahlia was getting her final shot of the day from Saida and was examining the stab wound which seemed only like a pink scar line on her side she knew she'd have forever, she noticed Saida's small smile at her assistance. Dahlia questioned, "what is it?"

Saida was never one to be overly cheerful and Dahlia could properly count on one hand the number of times she had seen the healer smile or show even a hint of a smile and this was one of those times. The healer answered, "it seems the poison is gone-"

Dahlia shot up in the bed she was lying on and said quickly and excited, "gone, as in gone gone? As in I can travel through a portal and we can all finally go home?"

While her excitement was slightly humorous to the two assistants who laughed, Saida disliked being interrupted, even by the princess so she shot her assistants a look and they quickly shut up and went back to work while Saida looked to Dahlia who sent the healer a nervous smile. Saida said, "from what I can tell, yes, but if even a small amount is left in your system on a cellular level and you travel through a portal across realms, it can cause it to return. To make sure that doesn't happen, you should ask the Queen to take you through portals travelling just here on Midgard. I'll be able to detect if there is any of the poison left completely after a few hours of being exposed to the magic from the portal and it won't have the same affects as it would if you travelled between realms".

"And then?"

"Then if there's no reaction, I think you will be back in your bed on Niflheim before tomorrow's day is up". While Dahlia was smiling, Saida turned to put away her equipment and Dahlia stood from the bed as Saida said, "I'd think about where you want to go, Princess. A whole realm of places to choose from and with a realm like Midgard, the cultural differences among the whole realm is shocking with how different the people can be. There's got to be a list of places you've wanted to go to, maybe choose your top few".

When Saida turned back, she noticed Dahlia's smile wasn't as bright as before and was looking to the ground in thought.

"Princess?"

Dahlia looked back up to the healer and said, "sorry, I was lost in thought. I'll think about it, thank you".

Dahlia then left as they curtsied while she thought about where she wanted to go, and she knew where she wanted to be, where she always wanted to visit, she just didn't know if she could ask her sister to take her back to the place she lost the woman she looked at as a mother and the place she believed her sister to have died. The year of sorrow was still a bit of a haze to Dahlia, as everyone seemed to know the overall state of the Queen's grief, when it came to Niflheim, but it seemed no one knew what Hela was like personally during that year or what she did. Dahlia didn't want to ask her or even Falcon who she suspected knew, as she didn't know how they'd react.

She made her way to the large fire to see everyone gathered around but instead of music being played and people dancing and singing and laughing, many were sat down peacefully around the fire eating, while stories were being told of battles, adventures, stories of other worlds. Everyone seemed captivated by the stories. Getting a plate of food from the camp cook, she saw her father and brothers sat leaning against a log by the fire and joined them. They smiled at her as she sat beside her father, Jörmungandr and Fenrir sat on the other side of him. Loki wrapped an arm around Dahlia as she cuddled into his side and slowly began to eat as they listened to a story.

Dahlia had long since finished eating as more tales were being told and hardly anyone had moved from their spots near the fire when someone tapped Dahlia's shoulder. She turned and smiled when she saw it was her sister, as did her father and brothers. Hela gestured for her to stand and follow, and she did as Hela smiled and said hello to the men of their family.