Page 62 of Between Broomsticks and Beating Wings
“She has… interest in ensuring I fully come into my power,” I started, trailing my fingers over the cool stone wall. “My seidr seems to have strengthened upon coming to Hel, though my visions are still foggy. I have a long way to go in a short amount of time. And Hel needs me ready when the time comes.”
“How much time?” They asked, peering back at me.
“One week. Though, I’m not sure if she’ll permit us to return here.”
“She will. I’ll speak with her dear,” the skald said, directing us into a smaller cavern than before. There was a long stone table that sat in the middle of it, and they ushered me to take a seat at one of the wooden chairs around it, lined with a thin red pillow. Rune pulled a chair out for me and I smiled at her as I sat upon its cushion. She and the skald took their own seats, the skald not taking their eyes off me as they did. “One week isn’t much time, though, I suppose Helheim is the best place for you to learn to wield your talents.”
“You can already tell that?” I asked. Maybe I should’ve been uncomfortable that they were able to see into me so clearly, but I was more amazed than anything. I hoped to have that level of acuity some day.
“Seidr has different signatures, and yours is not of Midgard. It is of Hel. It’s no wonder your spells were so weak in your previous life in the mortal realm.” The way they said “previous life” made me shift in my seat, because that term was usually used to refer to the dead. And I supposed I had to get used to the reality that my time on Midgard had come to an end, and that version of me was effectively gone.
Rune found my thigh under the table and gave it a quick squeeze before returning it to her own lap. I glanced over at her, my gaze soft and appreciative, because she’d yanked me from that spiraling thought. She knew the skald’s comment would get to me, and I was thankful to be known in such a way. I wasthankful she was here with me, and my heart squeezed for this woman that I once claimed was my captor, a horrible sentence. But all she truly was, was a bleeding heart. And I knew by now that it bled for me.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
THE POWER SHE WIELDS
Rune
“What does it feel like?” I whispered, my voice surprisingly sultry. The sound coming from my mouth shouldn’t have been all that surprising, seeing as I’d been all but drooling at Kari since the moment she raised her hands to perform her first spell. Within these caves, she came to life. It was as if her spot in this world suddenly clicked into place, and her seidr flowed from her in a way that seemed so right.
Once upon a time, I too needed to get a hold of my power, and while some skills were easier to master, some took decades. But unlike Kari, I knew my place was in Valhalla, among the fallen warriors and the gods. I knew my task, my purpose, and had teachers to guide me, ones who had been attendants to Odin for thousands of years.
Kari was only now uncovering her place, her destiny. Once she was firm in this knowledge, she would be unstoppable. But for now, I would help guide her until she had no doubts. This was not something that could be forced. She had to choose apath for herself, and even my guidance would only do as much as she allowed.
“Kari?” I asked when she took too long to respond. I didn’t blame her, though, because I too alternated between being hyper present, focusing on every detail of her spell, and being lost in my mind, in a world of hopes and memories.
“Oh!” she said finally, glancing up with an embarrassed grin, a ball of fire blazing between her palms. “Sorry. This one takes a lot of focus. I can’t believe I’m able to do this at all! I never would have been able to cast a spell this strong on Midgard. It feels warm, even if I know it’s just an illusion. The false flames may emanate no actual warmth on the outside, but I swear, I have the heat of a true flame burning inside me.”
Before I could respond, the skald clapped once and said, “Very good. Let’s move on.” The attendant showed little reaction each time Kari performed one of her tasks, moving through a list in front of them and checking each skill off as we went. Kari had completed eight of them by now, and each time the skald told her to move on, I could sense her pride growing. The spells the skald had been having her practice were way more advanced than anything Kari had been doing with Áma, or even alone in our chamber here in Hel. “One more spell, and then we will focus on those foggy visions of yours.”
Kari nodded eagerly, dissolving the false flames and facing her palms down on the stone table. I’m sure the chill of it felt nice on her skin after maintaining that illusion.
“Now, this time, I want you to summon your favorite meal,” the skald said, focusing on Kari very intently. Their gaze shifted to me for a moment, telling me not to open my mouth, and I pressed my lips together in compliance. This test was for Kari. I wouldn’t let my knowledge of seidr influence her decisions.
“I can’t,” Kari said with a shrug.
“What do you mean you can’t?” the skald asked.
“I’ve tried about a thousand times. I can’t create organic matter. When I try to summon anything living, or anything once alive, it feels as if I were to tell myself to suddenly be pregnant with little pegasus babies. It just won’t happen. It feels like nothing.”
I tried to hold back a laugh, but it slipped from my throat and echoed in the room. Kari shot me a smile, but the skald just scowled.
They have no fun here, damn.
“Good. You’re discovering your limits already. Summoning food would be a very unusual gift for a mortal seeress, and a part of understanding our seidr is knowing when to stop wasting our time on a spell that will never work for us. Just like you cannot summon food, Rune cannot have visions. There are different types of seidr for different people, and that is the way of things.”
“You knew I wouldn’t be able to do it?” Kari asked with interest.
“I did.”
“Did you?” Kari shifted to assess me, her lips pursed, more in curiosity than annoyance.
“I had a strong feeling, seeress,” I admitted. I had a feeling if she was able to summon food, she would have done it by now, especially during our days at Áma’s.
“So, I guess I passed your test?” Kari asked with a proud smile tugging at her lips.
“I guess you did,” the skald said with a satisfied grin. “Now that I know the bounds of your seidr, what you can perform with ease, and what needs work, I have an understanding of where to begin. Next, are you comfortable sharing your most recent visions with me? And when did they start getting harder to decipher?”
