Chapter 1 Gestaþáttr
Groaning Freyja hears the booming voice of none other than Thora, “get up Freyja. I refuse to be late because of your choice in activities!” She yelled so loud that she woke up the neighbors, as a few people could be heard yelling to keep it down.
Before Freyja could lift her head to check the time let alone respond, the heavy thumping of Thora’s boots made its way to Freyja’s bedroom door and without warning got flung open with a bang.
Before the still half asleep Freyja stood a grinning Thora in the doorway in all her muscled 5’2ft glory , wearing a tank top and shorts that accented her long curly red hair. Standing behind her was Sif, who seemed out of breath from running around.
“At least my activities don’t cause someone else a mess to clean up every evening, and most of the time also end in a lecture from Mamir about interaction between jötunns and Æsir″ Freyja says looking Thora in the eyes from her cave of blankets.
“I was just making sure they don’t over take Midgard is all” Thora says as Sif’s brown eyes light up while Freyja gets out of bed and it is obvious Sif wants to fix her hair.
“You should leave that to the guards, also where is Belladonna?” Freyja asks as Sif grabs a few things from the light pink bag that Thora was holding.
Thora shrugs as they hear the front door open for a second time but no heavy slamming it shut and a soft voice calls out, sounding somewhat out of breath, “Thora, Sif...please don’t go so fast and don’t be so loud, other people can be sleeping.”
“We are in here, and it’s not my fault you’re a softy” Thora says annoyed as Belladonna walked into the bedroom, given a small shriek as she noticed Freyja was naked. “Who is being loud now, and when will you get used to Freyja’s habit of sleeping without clothes on?”
“But it’s indecent” Belladonna whispers. Thora picked her up with one hand, slinging Belladonna over her shoulder and put her on the sofa in the living room.
The living room was more of a library then a living space with the back wall facing the opposite to the bedroom being lined with bookshelves, the contents of the shelf seem to be solely books on history and mythologies around the world. To the right was a large sliding door that had a mat on the ground seemingly covered in cat paw prints.
A loud meow echo throughout the room as a stone portal with Elder Futhark on each stone arch piece with a rainbow bride coming out of it landing on the ground, two grayish blue Norwegian forest cat walked out from the portal and jumped onto the sofa, sitting down beside Belladonna looking up at her expectantly “Freyja? What do Bygul and Trjegul want from me?” she asked as the stone portal vanished.
Freyja walked into the living room wearing loose jeans and a black tshirt ”they probably want some attention and a bath” Freyja says with a smile as Brygul, the larger more fluffy of the two came over to her and she picked him up, petting him, “also Thora, for you of all people to just walk into someone’s place like that and being so careless, is very unlike you.”
Thora smiled, “you don’t sleep with guys or girls who are ugly or could do any harm to the great Thora” she says with a grin on her face, causing Freyja and Belladonna to roll their eyes with a bit of a small smile as they realized that they both did it at the same time out of habit.
“All the entrances, before you walk forward, you should look at, you should spy out; for you can’t know for certain where enemies are sitting, ahead in the hall” Belladonna say sternly looking at Thora and Sif, “Sif you should remind Thora of this sort of thing instead of just letting her do whatever she wants, and yes your right about Freyja but that does not mean you should be so carefree about being within an old friend’s hall. And another thing while I am on a rant! Freyja, stop sleeping with someone just because you think they are good looking and you should just try to find yourself a partner, because I don’t want to even think about how you don’t have every possible transmitted disease in the nine realms!” with her voice getting louder and more raspy as she got more worked up.
Ones Belladonna stopped and took a few breaths the others just looked at her somewhat shocked “are you okay Bell? You should really tell us if something is bothering you, instead of bottling it up” Sif said the concern was noticeable by all but the most dense of people, as Freyja got some water.
“It’s hard for me to express myself with so many outgoing and loud people” Belladonna says after finishing the water and Freyja throws Thora a box which she opened at ones and started eating its content “,both Thora and Freyja are very loud and outgoing so I try to not add to the crazy they bring...but should we not get going? We came here to make sure none of us would be late but now we are going to be late.”
“,we can still make it in time” Freyja said with a smile looking at Bygul and Trjegul who had been laying in the summer sun but looked up at their owner as soon as she mentioned them by name.“NO! NO NO NO! We are not taking the Bifröst those two can make, we got stuck for a month in Jötunheimr the last time. As much as I like a trip there for some Jötun thrashing, I am not going to deal with those two cats of your messing up my hunts like last time” Thora yelled setting down one of her feet with such force a loud crack and creaking could be heard from what sounded like the supports and everyone looked at her with concern. “,okay but this is the last time we do this unorthodox mode of travel. And may I add, super illegal. Unauthorized use of the Bif….” as Freyja finished putting on a feathered cloak that appeared to be made from a hundred falcon feathers on, she grabbed a hold of Thora while Sif and Belladonna held onto the cloak turning them into birds. They flew along the rainbow road til the portal showed up and they came out the other end in their first class which was being taught by a large muscled man with short ashen hair and a mechanical eye.
“...screaming I took them, then I fell back from there. Ah Miss Freyja, Thora, Sif, and Belladonna…how nice of you four to join the class but I do believe your class starts in an hour from now” the man said looking down as a loud meow could be heard echoing throughout the auditorium at the four birds and two cats.
Freyja turned from a Greater spotted eagle, Belladonna from a Western marsh harrier, Sif from a Black-winged kite, and Thora from a Eurasian sparrowhawk back to their normal forms “,but you four do make for a good lecture on Bifröst laws…as you can see everyone, some people are able to use the Bifröst innately and because SOME people have used it in the past for illegal movement of goods, do we have laws and HEAVY PUNISHMENT in place” the four girls sat on the ground, looking shocked and fearful of their faith, as the old man had put so much force behind select words that even the other students who had done nothing wrong and were simply in class looking like they were up against the mighty Jörmungandr in combat “,But in the case of Bygul and Trjegul, they are allowed to use the Bifröst whenever they please. We should leave the rest of that for a few months from now, everyone can leave early as it seems I have to have a discussion with some freshmen.”
“..fröst..I hate it when we have to use that cloak of yours to fit through the portal” Thora said angrily as she picked some feathers from her hair and got up looking at the old man “,I tried to warn Freyja but had lit…”
“Thora that is enough of your excuses, I expect better from you of all people…” the old man said calmly cutting her off. “,Sif, Belladonna, Thora, and Freyja as punishment for your improper use of the Bifröst, I want you four to keep an eye on and show the transfer student around when they are due to arrive in a week’s time.”
“Yes All father Odin” the four girls said in unison as they got up and a loud echoing meow could be heard as Bygul and Trjegul left to go only Odin and Mamir knew where.
The four of them walked out of the class and Thora shot Freyja a murderous look. As Thora was about to say something, Sif pulled Thora towards her “Thora, you don’t have to say anything. Your expression says enough.”
Thora grumbled something unintelligible as Belladonna smiled “,this is where we all part ways til lunch” she said and walked to the right as Freyja followed Belladonna “, I wonder who the student is we need to show around.”
“Not sure but I just hope that they are not some creep” Freyja says worried as she could hear some of Thora and Sif’s conversation, which seemed to be about clothes. “,hey Sake. Do you know why Thora would even bother talking about clothes with Sif?”
“I have no idea but I do remember she was pretty good with a needle and thread when we were younger” Belladonna responded, seeming as confused as Freyja.
“The only reason why I can see Thora needing skills like that, is to stitch herself back together” Freyja says with a grin.
“Or maybe she likes to sew clothes” Belladonna said before they both burst out laughing as they head down the hall, Belladonna running her hand along to ruff stone “,hey Freyja...do you know what the main building of the school was used for before?” as a light tap tap tap could be heard coming from the floor which did not sound like someone stepping on smooth stone.
“No but I do know this building is so heavily enchanted, the stone for the walls and floor seems to come from the mountains of Svartálfaheimr and are made by the dwarves. This is weird as the school is in midgard and travel early on was very hard and dangerous for a small group, let alone a whole workforce and its materials” Freyja explained seeming lost in the information as she was not watching where she was going and ran into a short cloaked person “,oh sorry” the person nodded and ran off. As Freyja and Belladonna looked back they saw that the person’s black cloak had the sixth rune Kaunaz in a large golden font on the back.
“Kaunaz...why would some have that embroidered on their cloak? I know it has good and bad meanings but that is kind of asking for trouble” Freyja said as Belladonna shrugged.
“I would not worry to much about it, just try to not get yourself lost in thought again, you tend to not watch where you’re going when you start talking about stuff like this” Belladonna said with a smile as they walked into a large hall with wooden tables and chairs, with the skeleton of a dragon hanging from the ceiling that spanned across the whole several thousand seating hall.
The hall’s massive glass roof was held up by nine large curved beams which each except for one had a message inscribed in massive letters. The messages were in each of the nine realms native language “May we stand among gods, beasts and men to work towards a better future for all” Freyja muttered as they sat down at a table.
“,humanity is pretty impressive compared to our allies” Belladonna said with a smile “,we are the youngest of the races and yet we are able to stand as equals…mostly” as they saw a guy who’s build seems to be that of a jötunn and a Landvættir. Seeming to mostly have a humanoid upper body, with a gaping hole in the center of his chest that leads to total darkness like all jötunns have. The hole following the natural curves of his body and ending where a human pelvis would be if he was one. His lower half ending in a serpentine form. The skin seems to be made of a flexible bark like material, the segments of skin having a pulsating green glow like that of a human heart.
“Is that a jötunn and a Landvættir mix Freyja?” Belladonna asked in a whispering hush as she pointed to the guy, who seemed to be harassing a freshman from Vanaheim.
The Vanaheimdian’s pale skin seemed to flow as if a light breeze had blown past, a singular blue glowing light sat at the center of its skin changing shape. Its physical form becoming somewhat more visible as a single blueish green Tetrahedron appeared near the bottom of the dress like skin, while Freyja got up and walked over to the student and the guy.
“, I don’t mean to be rude but you’re making him feel uncomfortable,” Freyja said calmly as she used her hands to make a set of shapes quickly, the Vanaheimdian slipped past Freyja and the guy as he turned around.
“I was just trying to be friendly” the guy said looking Freyja up and down “,but if you’re looking for a good time then I don’t mind giving you a private tour” hearing their conversation Belladonna stood up and walked over to them “,oh I see you have a cute friend as well.”
“I am Freyja, niece of the all father Odin” she said with a smile, at the mention of Odin the guy seemed to shrink three sizes and he quickly slithered off “, and that is how I deal with guys I don’t like. But thank you for coming to try and help Bell.”
