Jormungand

“I never lied to you.”

Icy wind blew through her long blond hair tousling it in a way that would make any other woman cringe in horror, but not her, what did she care for things as unimportant as tangles?

“No? What do you call it when a woman tells you she will love you forever, but then sends you away?”

He had none of her stoic composure as he yelled at her, tears tracked down ruddy cheeks, wind burned yes, but also red with rage, red with pain.

“I never lied to you. I will love you forever, but you cannot stay. Would that I may, that you and I could have a quiet life together, outside the angry demands of my world, but I gave to you all that I could. These last three years of happiness together, and our son.”

She spoke gently, placing a hand on his cheek to wipe away the mixture of grime and tears. She placed a soft kiss on reddened cheek, to sooth him like she would her one year old son.

“But why? Iarnvidia, you act as if someone if making us go, but all I see is you, pushing us away, willingly, maybe your heart is so cold that you don’t care about me, but our son? He’s barely weened, you’re his whole world! How can you just disappear from his life?”

He pled now, holding her hand captive in his own. He looked down at their perfect toddler, quietly playing by himself on a blanket a few feet from them, oblivious to his parent’s distress.

At the mention of her son Iarnvidia smiled, the radiant light of love, material on her face. She worried for him, his fate was heavy and his life might be difficult, but he is legend made flesh, and she was proud for her part in his making. How could she make his father understand that the winds of fate were larger than both of them, that she was doing what she had to protect them both?

“You may ask me two questions and I swear not to lie, but ask a third and I can only tell you lies.”

He looks stunned at this, it wasn’t the answer he was expecting to his pleas. When she made the offer her face went completely blank. He had never seen her like this. Iarnvidia was there with him physically, but she looked out at him through alien eyes, she was channeling something ancient. He was frightened by this change in his lover, and scared to know the true answers, but he had to ask for them anyway, he couldn’t just leave and take Alarik with him without knowing why.

“Why do you want us to leave?”

Iarnvidia spoke in a flat tone, devoid of any emotion or inflection.

“If you stay the boy is in danger, and you along with him. You must leave before Thor finds him here and destroys him while he is young and vulnerable.”

Iarnvidia’s lover’s face had never looked so confused. They had until now had a simple life in their little cabin among the fiords, just the two of them, and then a year later, just the three of them. She had known all along that it would just be for a short time, but he hadn’t. He had thought it would just be them, in peace, forever. He knew nothing of the brutal world where she was from, that her son had been born into. She wished it didn’t have to be this way, but these things had been decided long before the two of them found one another. So she waited, she had one more answer left to give.

“What? Why would Thor, you mean The Thor? God of Thunder, hammer-time Thor? Why would he want to hurt Alarik? He’s not even real! Stop this! You need help! Let me take you home, there are people who can fix this kind of thig, you’re not thinking clearly.”

He stumbled across his words, processing the information as he spoke, believing it less with every breath. He was relieved now, to have an explanation. It wasn’t that she didn’t love them, she was just cracked. It made sense to him in a way, she had always been strange, he loved that about her, that she was different. She spoke in riddles and always with that mysterious smile like she might be leaving something out, and was daring him to guess. He had been swept along in the tide of her since the first moment he met her grey eyes, daring him to follow her. He knew now what she needed, she needed him to help her, and she needed him to take care of her, to make her well. It was all so clear to him now.

Iarnvidia heard his question, he had ask several, but she would ignore all but the important one, at least give him that.

“Alarik is the name you gave him, but his true name is Jormungand, and he is the Midgard Dragon, Worldbreaker. His mortal enemy Thor will seek him relentlessly, to end him now, before he can grow into his legacy. They are destined to be locked in battle together until the end of the world. The protection granted Jormungand from this land is gone with his teething and he is hidden no longer. Thor is coming. If you take him take him across the ocean to the land of your father’s he will be protected a little longer, long enough I hope.”

Iarnvidia’s lover shook his head in amazement. She spoke as if reading from a script, from something written a long time ago, until the last part, she had come back to herself, the hope was hers alone and not prophesy. Now that she looked like his beloved once again, she went to her son and plucked him up from the warm grass, and tucked her nose in against Alarik’s head to smell his sweet baby scent. He knew he shouldn’t believe her, which any logical man would see it wasn’t true, but she had spoken with such conviction, and here in the wild fiords of Norway, speaking of Thor and destiny didn’t seem as ridiculous as it should. So he ask one more question, even though she had only given him two.

“Will we ever see you again?”

She only had two true answers, and they had already been given, so Iarnvidia told her first lie to her lover, and he last, “Yes.”