Page 17 of Odin

She retrieved her broom, and swept a load of snow down to where she could reach it. Then she scooped up a double handful and began to shape it into a ball.

Yes, it was childish. No, she probably shouldn't do this. But it was better than hitting him with a broom for being so frustrating and hot all at the same time.

She drew her arm back and let fly with the snowball. It soared right over his head and smashed on the next solar panel.

Now who was useless?

He turned. "Doctor Freyja? Are you all right?"

"No. I was trying to hit you," she admitted.

He nodded. "You need to aim better." He shaped his own snowball, but instead of throwing it at her, he lobbed it into the courtyard – right at that stupid sundial, sticking out of the snow.

Of course he hit his target, which thrummed like a gong at the blow.

"I can teach you," he said.

She grabbed another handful of snow. "I don't need help throwing things!" This one skimmed his shoulder, then careened off into the darkness.

He just grinned. "Yes, you do. Would you believe I stunned a reindeer with a snowball once? I hit it right between the eyes, and it just keeled over, right in front of me on the snow. When it woke up, I taught it to pull my sled."

"That is complete bullshit, I bet," she declared.

Olaf held up both hands. "It is the truth, I swear."

She considered for a moment. She knew there were reindeer herders in the mountains, and she'd analysed enough dead reindeer for Karl and his team here in the lab. If Olaf was from around here, maybe even living with the herders, he might not be lying. "I suppose you called it Rudolph, then," she said, setting her hands on her hips.

"No, I called her Dvoran. It means sleep," he said.

This time, she actually believed him. He might not be much of a maintenance man, but he was a champion snow-shoveler and a reindeer trainer.

"I've never seen a real, live reindeer. Only pictures of them, and the remains that come in from the mountains," she admitted.

"Well, it is no wonder if you cannot hit your target. You will frighten them away," Olaf said. He went back to shovelling.

Reluctantly, she retrieved her broom and went to work on the next panel. After a moment, she said, "You know, there aren't any reindeer where I'm from. No snow, either."

"Then what are you doing so far from home?"

"You mean, when I'm not clearing snow and searching for missing bodies?" She considered for a moment. "Maybe running away from my failures, or at least the people who remind me of them, all the time. What I could have had, if things hadn't gone so wrong. Working out what I can have, now all that I wanted is gone." Before she could say anything else, she went back to work, scrubbing fiercely at the panel surface to get the ice off.

"Then you are very brave, to come so far and try new things, when you have lost so much."

She blinked. Now he was complimenting her? "I'm not brave. I'm a coward, running from things instead of facing them. Not that there's anything left to face any more, even if I wanted to."

"Sometimes you need to run. Sometimes running away, sometimes running toward things. Life is not about standing still." He dumped the last load of snow of the roof, and began sweeping the last solar panel. "What would you do if I threw a snowball at you?"

He wouldn't miss, that was for sure. "I'd lob one right back," she said.

"Yet I am bigger than you, with better aim. This is a fight you cannot win," he said. He was already onto the next panel. He even swept faster than she did.

"Depends on what you mean by winning. I'd consider one good hit to the face or the groin a win," she said. She swallowed. God, what was she saying? She was his boss. She wasn't supposed to hurt him. There were laws about these things.

"So you would continue to fight an opponent, no matter what the outcome? That is both stubborn and brave. Very Viking traits. You are well suited to life here."

Freyja burst out laughing. "Yeah, if it wasn't for all the snow." She looked up, to find he'd cleaned off the last panel. They were finished.

Yet...she didn't want to go inside yet. She eyed the remaining pile of snow at her feet. "Hey, Olaf, do you want to build a snowman?"

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