It was a long while before he spoke. He stood, unmoving, watching, waiting. For what, she didn’t know. Perhaps the first excuse that came to mind. “You rode across the Bifrost in that contraption. If you were really Thor, you’d be able to step foot on the bridge yourself.”
“You could’ve brought this up last time.” That would’ve been way easier than having to miss work and risk life or limb against a bunch of zombies. What if she’d been fired? All for something that she could’ve proven by walking on a fucking bridge? That dick. “But let’s go. I’ll walk on it right now.” At least the belt was supposed to help with the apples. But she could’ve brought Valkyries or something.
“You will?” He sounded nervous. She could barely hear him.
“Okay, this is getting ridiculous. Come down here if you want to talk.”
He did. Apparently, he no longer felt he had the upper hand. When he was downstairs, he said, “Well, you could still be Loki.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Modi scoffed. “That traitor would never have the courage to come here. This is Thor. I’ll swear any oath you need.”
“Let’s take a walk,” Hannah said, her hand resting on the hammer now securely back in the belt of power. Her confidence was growing by the minute. They could scream that she wasn’t Thor until their faces were blue, but she’d prove them wrong, whatever she had to do.
“Well, I—”
“If you don’t want to walk a few miles, I can tell you,” Magni said, “She picked up that car—that’s what it’s called—and set it on the bridge herself. We all walked onto the Bifrost together. I’ll vouch for her, as will my brother and my mother if you’ll believe her word.”
Emily waved and offered a shit-eating grin. “It’s true.”
“Do you intend to challenge me for the throne?”
“For the dozenth time, no!” Hannah shook her head, kicking the courtyard ground. “I just want a community. If I’m a god, I’d rather be able to talk to other gods about it and not have to hide that part of myself. This is my home too.”
He sighed, but finally nodded gravely. “You’re right. I’m sorry. After everything, I’ve been scared to trust anyone. Even Father has been under constant surveillance.”
Hannah started to say something, but Emily slid an arm around her hip and whispered, “Save it. We’re barely trusted as it is.”
“So we’re welcome?”
“Is that really Mjolnir?” he asked.
“How can I prove it?”
“Throw it.”
“At what?” Hannah looked around. She didn’t want to hurt anyone.
“I’d normally say Father, but he’s understandably skittish since the last game of it killed him.” He pointed toward a small ash tree in the corner of the courtyard. “I’d like a nice fire tonight. If that’s Mjolnir, it should be able to fell that tree in a single throw and return to your hand.”
She knew she should’ve practiced. She hoped never to get in another fight, so any skill with the weapon would be unnecessary.
“Alys says it can’t miss,” Emily said quietly, sliding her hand away and taking a few steps back.
Fine. She’d come this far. She certainly wasn’t going to turn back now. Drawing the hammer, Hannah took aim at the tree. There was no way she’d be able to hit this. It was too far away, and the hammer was too oddly weighted.
She flung her hand forward, and the weapon hurled straight at her target, demolishing the base of the tree and a good several feet up, causing the rest of it to crash against the far wall. “Oh.” Her jaw dropped as the hammer landed back in her outstretched hand. That had really worked. She was so lucky the hammer was magic.
An ecstatic Emily pulled her into a kiss. She’d done it.
“Very well. If it was only the one of you, I’d doubt it, but even I can see the resemblance. You are who you say you are. This is your home. Come, stay for a meal. Stay forever. Help us get back to Asgard.” It finally sank in. Again. She was a god. She was Thor, no matter how strange it still felt. And she could be accepted by people like her. She’d finally finished coming out again. Or mostly finished. Isabel could find out after Hannah had been hired. Which left her parents, but she could rationalize her way into waiting for that. It had been a long month.
“Thank you. We’ll stay for the meal. But we’ll be back to help with Asgard.” Hannah wanted to hurry home and tell everyone, but she never turned down food.
✥ ✥ ✥
Emily dragged Modi and Magni away from the festivities after they’d had half a dozen drinks and their fair share of goose and goat. Hannah followed once she’d finished draining her drinking horn. They gathered at the top of one of the towers, and Hannah saw out over Idavollr for the first time, and found herself speechless.
In the very far distance, the land still smoldered where Asgard had once stood, but everything before and around it was so beautiful. It was overgrown, with massive trees, vines, and piles of rubble, but there was a serene beauty to it, abandoned as it was. There were crystal-clear lakes—or maybe they were fjords—green hills, icy mountains, and a few large animals, which seemed distinct from what she’d find on Earth.
The sky was a whole other beast. When the sun was up, it looked almost like home—well, her other home—but it was setting now. She’d never seen so many colors in a sunset. She wasn’t even sure what a few of them were called. Above it, the stars were already starting to shine, and they were larger and brighter than any she’d seen in Midgard. It was like they were right there. She felt as if she could leap up and touch them. Maybe she could.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Thrudr asked. She hadn’t been there a moment ago. How long had Hannah been staring? “I saw you all sneaking off. If I’d known it was just to watch the sunset, I wouldn’t have worried. I’m so glad we managed to find a new sun. So few were willing to volunteer.”
“What?” Hannah stared.
Thrudr chuckled. “She was eaten during Ragnarok. We had to find a new sun to take the role, but fortunately her daughter volunteered.”
Hannah blinked. “What?”
Modi clapped her on the shoulder. “It’s true, Father. Fenrir ate her, just as he prophesized he would do, but the world couldn’t go on without a sun, so we found a new one.”
“Huh,” Hannah said.
Emily shrugged. “It’s not any weirder than anything else we’ve learned.”
“Was that all you wanted?” Magni asked, looking to Emily. “To take in the view from up here?”
She shook her head. “Would you like to tell them, or should I?”
“You can,” Hannah said.
“All right.” She sighed, taking in a deep breath before she spoke again. “That guy back there isn’t Baldur. At least, we don’t think it is.”
“What do you mean?” Thrudr asked. She was family too, and they’d already told her. Hannah had to accept that they could trust her.
Still, she bit her lip. How much should they reveal? Even if everyone here understood, based on what they’d said about Loki, it wasn’t the best idea to reveal Alys. At least not yet. Should they admit that Hel was trying to break in? “It’s just a hunch. We don’t have anything to go on. Not yet, at least. But we don’t think it’s really him.”
“Why wouldn’t it be?” Magni asked. “I know Baldur, just as I know you.” He sucked on his teeth, his eyes narrowing as he looked between them. “Well, he has been a little odd since he came back, but it’s been decades. Surely, if it wasn’t him, he would have done whatever he’d wanted by now.”
“Unless he’s after an apple. He can’t get into Asgard any more than you can. We need to expose him first.”
“You speak madness,” Thrudr said. But the words lacked conviction. She must’ve noticed something off too.
“I know you think he’s one of you, but please don’t trust him. We’ll have proof next time.” If Alys managed to get any. “But don’t try to get to Asgard without us. I don’t know what he’s planning, but I p
romise it’s not good.”
They all remained silent for a long time, but Modi finally nodded. “I trust you, Mother. If you say he’s not who he says he is, I believe you. I’ll be on guard.”
“Thank you.”
“And you will hurry back?” Magni asked.
“This weekend. Definitely.”
Emily nodded. “I have more sick days to burn anyway.”
“I don’t know what that means,” Thrudr said.
“Don’t worry about it.”
They all hugged again and started heading out, avoiding the rest of the crowd and walking toward the car. “So, Thrudr, tell me about yourself,” Hannah said. “You’re Emily’s and my kid too?”
She looked up between her two burly brothers. “Unlike Magni here.” She laughed, giving him an affectionate slap on his exceedingly large bicep. So he wasn’t Sif’s kid? “But yes. You really don’t remember anything?”
Hannah shook her head. “I’m sorry. The three of you feel kind of familiar, and when I first gave them a chance to explain, it all felt right, but I don’t know if that’s only because I wanted to believe it.”
“It’s because you’re you,” Magni insisted.
Thrudr looked her dead in the eye. Hannah was surprised to see that, beneath the long gray hair, her own eyes peered back at her. “I’m sure you’re my father. Or mother, if you prefer. Granted, you never seemed all that concerned about gender in the first place. At least, that’s what Uncle Tyr always told me.”
“What do you mean?” Hannah needed this information. It was her life. Her history. Maybe it would start to make sense if she knew everything.
“You were quite quick to pretend to be Freyja once.”
“I did what?”
Cackling, Magni said, “It was only to get Mjolnir back.”
“Then why was Loki only the handmaiden?” Thrudr asked.
“He tricked Father, obviously,” Modi said.
As the three continued to bicker, Hannah let that sink in. Not that she used to be a crossdresser—that was weird, but it was hardly troubling as she was a girl now—but that Loki had been part of it. Everything she’d been told made Loki sound evil. Granted, she didn’t seem much like Thor herself. Could it be that he wasn’t actually that bad? Or at least that he hadn’t always been? “You don’t think Loki could’ve been trying to help?”
They looked at her in utter shock. “Of course not,” Magni bellowed. “That rat bastard.”
“You don’t remember, but there’s no way. You couldn’t trust that monster as far as you could throw him.” Modi spat on the ground. And Hannah could throw things pretty far.
Thrudr looked at Hannah with a sad expression. “If you knew the things he’s done…If not for him, you’d never have died. He started Ragnarok. Forseti is justifiably traumatized and terrified by it. I can’t blame him for being paranoid, even if it does sometimes mean that he behaves the way he did with you.”
This only raised more questions, but as they were already at the car, she just thanked them for the information. She’d ask Alys about it. Maybe they could fill in more blanks. If she kept talking to her kids about Loki, she’d give something away. “We should get going.”
“Of course.” Modi asked. “You’ll be back soon?”
“You couldn’t keep us away.”
They hugged and parted, with Emily and Hannah making their own way down the path as the others seemed to fall back into debating their father’s life.
She hoped Alys would have the proof about Baldur in time to stop whatever he was planning.
Chapter Thirty-one
The door was already open, so Hannah and Emily went right in. Alys wasn’t inside, and Hannah could smell smoke coming from the back. Emily led the way to the back door. “Hey, Alys, you out there?” she called.
“Oh, hey. Is it seven already?” they asked. “Sorry. I’ll be right in.”
“What’re you smoking? When will it be done? Is it for me?” Hannah asked.
“It’s always for you if you want it.” That cocky playful smirk that they seemed to have perfected played across their face. They looked different today. They always did, but despite the long purple hair, they looked more like when Hannah had first seen them, though a bit taller. Hannah tried not to unashamedly stare at their returned—and apparently upgraded—chest, and settled on only glancing occasionally. “How are my two favorite ladies?”
“We’d be better if you had that information already,” Emily said. “Sorry.” She reacted before Alys could even finish looking hurt. “It’s good to see you. I’m just worried about…Goddamn I hate saying our kids.”
“But you’re getting used to it,” Hannah said, beaming.
“I suppose.”
Alys sighed. “I’m working on it. I can’t seem too overeager. She wants to have Baldur’s help clearing the rubble, and I tried insisting that was pointless. I think she’s lying and seeing what I’ll do. It’s why I’m trying to be patient.”
“Patience sucks, though,” Hannah said. “Can’t we hurry up and do something? Like if you have any proof, then we can expose him, and then we can get the apples together.”
“I don’t think I’ll be welcome.” They paused for a moment, and that cocky grin returned. “What if I go as Baldur?”
“That still wouldn’t give us proof,” Emily said.
“Well, yeah, but…Damn it. I really want to see the cool magical stuff. It’s not fair that you two get to go, and I don’t.”
“I know.” Hannah pulled them into a hug. “I’m sorry. We’ll work on that. If you can expose Baldur, it’ll be a big first step.”
They nodded into her shoulder.
“Try talking to her again tonight?” Emily asked.
“I’ll try. I just—”
“Don’t want to seem overeager. You said.”
Alys pulled out of the hug and blew out a breath, giving a weak smile. “Let me just…” They pointed at the smoker. “If we’re gonna be talking a bit, I need to add some more chips and maybe a little more sauce.”
“Sure, take your time.” Emily said.
“You still haven’t said what it is,” Hannah said.
“Brisket. Figured I’d make it to celebrate. Or are we not throwing a party? Oh, and it’ll be done tomorrow. Hadn’t answered that either.”
“I have work,” Emily grumbled.
“We can party in the afternoon, then.”
“You have work,” Emily reminded them.
“And so do I,” Hannah said.
“Well, I guess I’ll just have to look after Hannah myself.” They offered as lascivious a grin as they could, which, as a shapeshifter, was pretty impressive.
“Saturday? Lunchtime? If you have the proof by then, we can go to Idavollr after.”
“I suppose.” With a dramatic sigh, they stepped over to the smoker. “Give me a minute.”
Five minutes later, they were all gathered on the couch. Hannah hooked a foot around the coffee table, pulling it close enough that she could use it as a footrest. “If you are…well, overeager…” Alys had said it so many times, it was starting to not sound like a word. “What do you think would happen?”
“Oh, I’m sure she’ll only kill me a little. Maybe flay me alive. I don’t know. She needs me, but…Oh.”
“What?” Emily asked.
Alys shook their head. “It’s nothing. I’m just leaping to conclusions.”
Hannah reached over Emily and rubbed their shoulder. “It doesn’t sound like nothing.”
“She’s already suspicious. Especially with how badly I don’t want her to kill you. It’s possible she’d use either of you as a bargaining chip. Perhaps killing you to get me to do something or kidnapping you or saying that she’ll kill you. I don’t know what pieces she has on the board—that’s kinda the problem—and I don’t know what she can do. It’s why I can’t just opt out. As much as I’d love to ignore her at this point, we’d never know about Baldur, and she might have someone else k
ill us or do it herself. She’s very cagey about her resources.”
“Then we’ll be careful,” Hannah said. “I’m really hard to kidnap.”
Alys shrugged. “If you say so.”
“I have superstrength.”
Emily patted her back.
Hannah sulked.
“Look, I’m trying. I’ll let you know when I know more.” Alys sighed. “I’m gonna go grab a drink. You two want anything?”
“Always,” Emily said.
Immediately coming out of her sulking, Hannah voiced her agreement.
A few minutes later, a soft smile on their face, Alys returned with a six-pack in hand. “It was easier than carrying just the three, and I knew I’d have to get these in a bit anyway.” They popped off the cap on the coffee table and leaned back, propping their feet next to Hannah’s. “How did they react when you told them? About Baldur, I mean, though I’d love the story for your whole coming-out thing.”
“Oh, that was great.” Emily beamed at Hannah, squeezing her hand on the back of the couch. “She shouted across the courtyard at Forseti and challenged him to dare question that she was who she said she was. And he made her destroy a tree with Mjolnir.”
“I’m sad I missed that.” They glanced at Hannah, likely trying to picture her doing it. Hannah supposed she didn’t exactly look the type. “I still can’t believe Forseti is in charge. Especially with Baldur, whether fake or not, being around. Why would his son be in charge? I mean, sure, he’s the god of justice and mediation, so he could be a good ruler, but there are plenty of older gods left. Is Freyja not there? I assumed she was in charge in her husband’s stead.”
“No idea,” Hannah said helpfully.
Emily set the empty bottle on the table. “We still haven’t gotten much in the way of introductions. I think they assume we should already know. We are Aesir, after all.”
“Yep, we’re a couple of asses.” Hannah grinned, setting the empty bottle down and grabbing another.
Alys smiled back. “You remembered.”
Thor: Daughter of Asgard Page 27
