Random Norse Bullshit

Chapter 6: A Reminder That Odin Is A God And Therefore At Least A Little Bit Insane

Odin sighed as he followed Huginn and Muninn through a cold, wet corner of Niflheim. He was thankful for his fur cloak as he plodded through the snow.

Hel, Loki's youngest, had run off Norns-knew-where. Again. She was a curious, independent child that was always disappearing only to pop up again later (a trait that reminded Odin bittersweetly of her father), driving her parents to worry. It seemed no matter how many times the concepts of safety and little children staying near their parents were explained to her, she couldn't quite grasp the idea.

Most of the time, Hel returned on her own. It didn't stop them from searching for her every single time. She was gone longer than usual this time, meaning the search parties had grown far larger than normal. The fact that search parties had become normal at all was just another way Odin's bloodbrother and his brood had upended the once boring orderly life of the Æsir.

Ah well. At least his ravens had spotted her, in Niflheim of all places. Odin finally came across the little girl next to a frozen lake, chatting amicably with two of the denizens of the deathly realm. He called out to her, causing her to turn.

"Odie!" Hel shouted, face brightening, her young tongue stumbling over her words. "Odie! Odie, come meet my new friends! This is Ganglöt, and this is Ganglati. They've been showing me everything 'round here, they're so nice! Though they walk real funny..."

"I would be pleased to meet your friends another time, child," Odin told her, approaching. He narrowed his eye at Ganglati and Ganglöt, causing them to run off. "For now, let's get you back to your parents, shall we? They're very worried about you."

"I didn't mean to make them sad," Hel said, frowning. She didn't really understand the difference between worried and sad quite yet. "Oh, but I can't go yet."

"Whyever not, young one?" Odin asked, looking down at her.

Hel pointed at some nearby ghosts. The dead in that area were comprised mostly of those poor souls who had passed of old age or sickness and carried their afflictions into the beyond. "They're hurting!" she informed him, as if that was not plain to see, bouncing on her toes. "I said I'd help."

Odin felt his features soften. He kneeled down to look her in the eye, smiling sadly. "You are a kind one, child. But they are beyond anyone's help. It is best to leave them be and–"

"But I can help!" Hel interrupted. She ran off before he could stop her, heading for one of the nearest ghosts. "Look."

She touched her hand — the clawed, frozen one — to the ghost's form. It was obvious he had died from some terrible sickness in life, his eyes sunken even for the dead and his skin covered in rotten, mottled spots. But then a soft blue glow passed from the child to the ghost, and his form began to look far less like a moldy orange and more like the 'healthy' ghosts Odin usually saw in Valhalla. The dead man smiled down at her, patting her hair fondly before gliding away.

"See?" Hel asked proudly. "I can fix 'em!"

"Indeed," Odin breathed out, the gears in his head turning, "it seems you can..."

"Did you find her?" Loki asked the moment Odin stepped into the Hall, his face pinched with worry and fear.

"Aye. Fret not, my brother," Odin told him, "she is fine."

"Where is she, then?" Loki asked, unable to relax until he knew.

"She's in Niflheim," Odin answered calmly.

"What?" Loki startled. "What is she doing in Niflheim?"

"I have given her a section of it to rule over," Odin proudly declared.

That seemed to catch Loki completely off-guard. "You... What?" He blinked rapidly, staring at Odin in that piercing way he did when trying to spot a lie. Not finding a hint of falsehood in his bloodbrother, he spluttered and said, "Odin, she's eight."

"And a fine queen she makes for one so young," Odin told him, feigning obliviousness to Loki's distress.

"WHAT?!"

Inwardly, Odin chuckled. It was always so much fun when he managed to shock his favorite trickster.