Freya Valdis's Arc

Chapter 4 of 11

The dragon flew a full day over gray ice. Then, on the far shore, a house of gold and bronze rose from the frozen sea. Its roof shone like fire. Freya knew this was the god's hall. She had his name. She had his road. But she still could not remember why he had cast her out. Without that, she had nothing to force him to answer for. "Land short of the door," she told the dragon. "I need to remember first." They came down on the ice near the golden house. Elsa slid off the dragon's back and held out her carved pixie. The little wooden figure trembled in her hands, its starlit patterns glowing. "It's scared," Elsa said. "It knows him." She looked at Freya. "You should be scared too. Why aren't you?" "Because I can't remember what he took," Freya said. "He stole the reason. I want it back." The door of the golden house opened. A small figure stepped out onto the ice. White hair, blue eyes that burned like her lantern, robes cut from frost. He looked like a child, but the cold that rolled off him made the dragon lower its head. "Aezrath," Freya said. "You climbed back up," the god said. His voice was quiet and old. "I hoped the sea would keep you." "Tell me why," Freya said. "Why did you throw me down?" Aezrath studied her. "You truly forgot. I sealed it in you, so you would wander blind." He lifted one small hand. "But look at your own light." Freya looked at the cracked lantern. Its blue flame matched his eyes. It matched the frost in his robes. The same cold. The same power. "You were mine," Aezrath said. "My winter. My hand in the cosmos. Then you froze a world I meant to spare. Ten thousand living things, all still under your frost. I cast you out for it." The memory broke open like ice. Freya saw a green world go white under her touch. She saw the still faces. She heard her own voice, cold and proud, telling him it did not matter. She fell to her knees on the ice. "I did that," she said. "You did," Aezrath said. "So tell me, exile. What will you force me to answer for?" Freya could not speak. She had come to judge him. Now she carried the same guilt he did. The clean anger that drove her north was gone. Elsa knelt beside her. "You froze a world," the girl said softly. "But you saved a giant. You saved me from the field." She squeezed Freya's cold hand though it burned her. "That's not nothing." Freya rose. The truth sat heavy in her chest, but it was hers again. She turned to the golden door. "I remember now," she told Aezrath. "I'll answer for my world. You'll answer for how you threw me from it. We're not done."