Chapter 9 #2
I’m really enjoying getting to see the people, and I am not the least bit bored, but I ask, “Which wars?”
She rolls her eyes playfully and scoffs at me. “The time span for the recruitment period was quite large. I’d say anything from Egypt’s first dynasty, so 1250 BCE,” she taps her chin, “to the Battle of Hingakaka in 1810.”
I halt, gawking at her. “You mean to tell me that you were recruiting warriors for this tiny island for almost 5000 years?”
Her grin is wicked. “I’m not that old,” she huffs, and her short hair floats up and around her in the breeze, making her already young face appear even younger.
“How old are you, exactly?” I study her expression, and she flicks a stray hair away from her face.
“I’m one of the youngest. I just celebrated my 116th birthday. Mathilda is 200-something. I think. I don’t really remember. We don’t usually keep track.”
My mouth pops open in shock. “I thought you were my age,” I splutter out.
She shrugs. “It’s kind of the same, really. We don’t age here as you did in the human realm. I’m still considered a youth. Which is why I never recruited anyone. Odessa did a lot of recruiting, but she’s much, much older than we are.”
“There must be millions of people here,” I breathe, looking around at all the different faces. There is no way there are that many people here. This island looks so small from the terrace’s vantage point.
Confusion flickers across her face. “This isn’t the only island on Idirhalla, and this realm is only one of many that the Father created for his warriors.”
I glance sidelong at Odessa for confirmation, but she’s smiling and waving at the people passing, absorbed in her queenly duties.
“Oh, I didn’t know that,” I mumble.
The embarrassment of my lack of knowledge floods my cheeks.
We continue making our way down the street, then we slow as we come upon a large white tent spanning an entire alley.
The people inside are speaking or arguing with vendors.
Tables are full of fruits, vegetables, flowers, and spices.
They pause their bartering as we pass, turning to us with smiles as they wave in our direction. Everyone seems so happy here.
Mathilda sidles up on the other side of Mina and leans over her to tell me, “That is where all the best fruits and vegetables are sold.”
Odessa even points out a few stores to me in between her waves to the people.
“I know you’re used to the human realm with its rigorous customs and laws, but here, there aren’t so many rules and regulations.
Some of the citizens and their families find fulfillment in opening up stores to sell clothes, books, jewelry, or running bakeries and restaurants.
But some are happy to only live off the land.
The royal family provides the basics, but of course, for the extra things people desire, they will barter for them with gold, livestock, weapons, handmade items, and the like.
” She waves at a passing family as she explains.
Mina points out a little girl from a family that’s waving at us. “Her mother is from Egypt when Hatshepsut was the female king.”
Her revelation stuns me. There is an abundance of history and different ways of life, and they all live harmoniously in this place.
She waves to the girl’s mother, but I continue gawking at her.
Mina nudges my shoulder and points to the little girl who extends a tiny hand holding a red flower crown out to me.
I kneel in front of her, observing the flowers woven into a crown, similar to the ones my mother used to weave for me.
“Thank you so much. It’s beautiful.”
I reach gently to take the crown from her. She beams, her warm dark eyes sparkling, and she dips her head, insinuating I should do the same. I smile broadly at her as I bow my head, the noise of the crowd ebbing away as she places the crown upon my brow.
“Our savior,” she whispers, her little voice ringing in my ears. My smile fades as her words land a blow to my chest.
Meeting the people was not the best idea. How will I be able to walk away from this place now after seeing children like her who depend on me?
She looks up at her mother, her smile still dimpling her cheeks. I glance up to see her mother smiling down at her with pride and love. A lump forms in my throat as I work to swallow back my tears. When they both turn back to me, I smile through my longing.
“She’s precious.”
The woman bobs her head, whispering, “Thank you, Your Majesty.”
Before I can correct her, Odessa is pulling me along. Mina and Mathilda are right on my heels. The moment still pulls on my heartstrings, and the little girl’s words continue to ring in my head. Savior. But more than that, though, thoughts of my own mother weigh me down.
“Mina, is this an afterlife? Like, are the warriors dead?”
She shakes her head. “No, they’re granted new bodies when they choose to come with us. They leave their human bodies behind and accept Odin’s gift of a new life.”
My mind whirls at the new information.
A caw from above has me swinging my head up.
My eyes narrow on the raven perched atop one of the towering black street lanterns, the red banner attached waves slightly in the breeze, and the golden sword emblazoned with two large wings on either side of the banner.
The bird clicks its beak at me, and a familiar sensation crawls across my skin.
That can’t be the same bird from the human realm, can it?
Odessa notices my stare and whispers in my ear while she continues to wave, “It’s one of our guards, Helena.”
“That’s not a bird?” I ask, my face pinched in confusion, before she nudges me. I plaster on a smile and begin waving to a family we’re passing.
She sighs, and I worry that my lack of knowledge is beginning to cause her some annoyance. “Shapeshifters, remember?”
“I thought that was just the wings to tattoos. I didn’t know they could actually turn into birds!” My voice rises out of the whisper and into a shriek. Mina giggles at my surprise.
But Mathilda casually says, “It’s a real challenge telling them apart in that form.”
Odessa ignores me as she continues to smile and wave to the people that we’re passing.
I glance at Evander behind us. His wings absorb the light from above, but his smile glows brightly as he tilts his head in question.
The movement is so familiar, like the raven that was once stuck in the chimney. The thought causes me to giggle.
Evander cocks his head even further, confusion marring his smile. He mouths, “What?”
I shake my head with a grin and turn back around.
Odessa nudges me and points to one of the buildings that’s painted a bright red.
“This is one of our schools. We have two. One is on this side of the city, and the other one is on Scota, the next island over. The classes are divided by age groups and are taught by volunteers with a curriculum approved by the crown.”
The bright red building is lined with children out front, some smiling, some with perplexed expressions at the crowd.
“What is their curriculum like?” I ask, curious if the school in Idirhalla is anything like the schooling my parents gave me in the human realm.
“Our material is a bit dated.” She wrinkles her nose in disgust. “We haven’t been able to travel back to the human realm, or any other realm, to catch up on new theories, and we’ve restricted our history lessons, so mainly they learn languages, sciences, and math.”
“You haven’t let us teach our history,” Mina grumbles under her breath.
Her comment breaks through my thoughts.
Odessa whips her head in Mina’s direction, anger radiating from her posture.
Then she sighs, her anger melting into exasperation.
“There’s no need. There’s no war coming. We shouldn’t frighten the young ones into thinking their purpose is to battle mythical monsters in a multi-realm war.” My mouth parts, clear disagreement on the tip of my tongue. History is important; history repeats itself if you don’t learn from it.
But Mina shakes her head. “Not now,” she whispers.
I don’t heed her warning.
“So you used to travel to the human realm a lot before?”
I hope it’s a subject she’s willing to talk about.
“Yes, of course, for centuries, we would retrieve the fallen that Odin had chosen. But as time went on, we received fewer and fewer directives. Then, we would often venture back and forth to learn the latest theories or technology we thought would be suitable for Idirhalla, but then that too ceased. We marvel at the human’s new inventions, but most are not anything we would like to introduce here,” she adds.
My curiosity grows.
Such a delicate balance of the old world meeting the new world. There are people here who lived in the human realm thousands of years ago. I wonder how much they marveled when the Valkyries brought them modern toilets.
The street begins to curve as we continue along, and the buildings grow closer together. We’re approaching the peaceful river and the large arched bridge that crosses it.
Mina whispers in my ear, “This is the mighty Ayele River.”
She walks closer to the bridge. The waters are a crystal clear blue, and several warriors float by on carved long boats.
Odessa leans back to hear something Julius whispers in her ear, and she nods in agreement before the ground starts to vibrate lightly.
Mina stands a few paces in front of us, her wings appearing and flaring slightly.
Her head tilts back, and she scans the surrounding rooftops.
Mathilda positions herself between me and the group of people that followed us from the Great Hall.
Her wings also reappear and flare slightly, as if she’s about to spring into the air.
There are fewer citizens gathered on this end of the street, and some were downright glowering at us before the vibrations began.
A stark difference from the smiling and waving citizens we passed at the beginning of the parade.