Chương 101: Chapter 98 – The God Leaves Her Room

"Go try him out. I want to see that he meets what you were imagining," Freya explained.

"Put him in your pouch and have one of the girls or instructors take you to the steed pens. There is a pasture there and it has more than enough room for you to practice using him at his full size." Chelsea glanced at the aquarium, then at Freya.

"Come with me." Freya immediately looked toward the door, and the ease in her face faltered.

"I'll watch you from here."

"No, come on. It's not the same. I'll look like a crazy person talking to myself."

"You are a crazy person who talks to herself," Freya retorted.

"Not wrong. But seriously, I want you to ride him with me. Something tells me, there's plenty of room." Freya stared at her for several seconds. The room had gone quiet again. Sunlight from the window touched the floor between them, and Bradford remained perfectly still inside his aquarium, unaware that his first outing had become part of a divine social crisis.

"Why do you make it so hard to tell you no?" she asked.

"Fine. But I'm not talking to anyone." Chelsea raised her shoulders and dramatically mocked, "Can't let the mortals know I'm actually super cool and like the best gift giver ever."

"Oh, shut up," Freya said with a smile as she put her helmet on. Chelsea looked back at the aquarium on the floor. Bradford stood exactly where she had left him, his tiny tree swaying slightly whenever he moved one slow foot across the sand.

"Can I keep the tank too? I think he will be cute sitting on my desk when I write."

"Yeah sure, I don't have any use for it," Freya said with a shrug.

"Yes!" Chelsea shoved it into her pouch with delight. The pouch accepted the aquarium without complaint, though Chelsea was already thinking through where it would sit on her desk. She could picture him there while she wrote letters to home, a little piece of Junstruce resting beside the ink and paper. Freya stepped up to the door and stood still. Her posture changed the moment she faced the hall.

The relaxed woman who had laughed with Chelsea over gifts and turtles disappeared beneath the weight of the helmet and armor.

"Please keep up. No dawdling." Chelsea gave a single affirmative nod.

"Yes ma'am." Freya stood still for a few more seconds before the door opened by itself. She stepped out first, and Chelsea quickly followed. The hallway was empty, but Chelsea still had to fight the intrusive thought telling her to announce that Freya had finally left her hole. They made it down the stairs without encountering anyone close enough to stop them. The main hall downstairs was empty for the first time Chelsea had ever seen it that way. No Valkyr lingered near the tables. No servants moved between rooms.

No loud conversations carried through the open space. The absence of activity made the Hall feel strangely large. Chelsea glanced around as they crossed it. Where was everyone? Outside, the morning air was cool against her face. From the top of the main steps, she finally saw a few people in the distance, though all of them seemed preoccupied with something in the opposite direction. Freya paused near the edge of the stairs and looked toward the right side of the Hall. Chelsea lowered her voice.

"Hey, want me to fly us there?" As she asked, she assigned her flight titles and felt the familiar readiness settle through her wings. Freya nodded and pointed to the right of where they had just exited, still back toward the main Hall. Chelsea stepped behind her and assessed the problem. Freya was enormous. Carrying someone her size was possible, but wrapping her arms around her from behind was harder than Chelsea had expected.

"Just warning you, I'm not getting handsy. This is just the most comfortable way to carry someone in flight. At least that I've found." She tried to reach around Freya and failed.

"Hey, squat down a bit. Yeah good enough." Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Freya gave a quiet breath of laughter but did as instructed. Chelsea wrapped her arms around her as securely as she could, then gave a couple of test flaps to stretch her wings and catch enough air beneath them. Once she was sure she had the balance, she lifted off with Freya held tightly against her. For stability, she wrapped her legs around the goddess as well.

The takeoff was smoother than Chelsea expected. Freya was heavy, but Chelsea had enough strength to compensate. She flew high enough that anyone below would only recognize the white-winged demon Valkyr. They did not need to know she was carrying their hidden goddess across the grounds. The Hall shrank beneath them. The roofs, paths, and trees of Valhalla opened out in every direction. From above, the city looked even wilder than it did from the ground.

Greenery filled the spaces between buildings, and the larger trees rose higher than many towers. Chelsea kept her course steady and fast, following Freya's earlier direction until the steed pens came into view. They reached the stables within minutes. Chelsea landed carefully and set Freya down gently before releasing her. She looked around, expecting horses, maybe oversized rams, or something else that fit the general barbarian theme.

Three griffins stood roughly a hundred meters away, watching them with sharp, suspicious attention. Chelsea did not know what the appropriate response was, so she waved and curtsied.

"What are you doing?" Freya asked.

"I donno?" Chelsea responded, giving an exaggerated shrug at her.

"They're fucking griffins. Harry Potter was supposed to be nice to them or something."

"Uh no," Freya responded, laughing.

"They are just animals. Treat them like horses." Chelsea looked back at the griffins. She chose to focus on Bradford instead. Chelsea pulled him from her pouch and placed him on the open ground. In his small form, he looked completely harmless. The tree on his back barely reached past her wrist.

"Oh my gods, I'm so excited." She did a small dance in place, then immediately jumped back.

"Uh whoa!" Bradford began to grow. His legs thickened first, spreading outward as his shell expanded above them. The tiny tree rose higher, its trunk widening while branches stretched toward the sky. Dark moss became a full patch of earth across his back. Wildflowers spread around the tree in clusters, opening across the shell with impossible speed. Within seconds, the palm-sized tortoise had become enormous. Chelsea stared up at him with wide eyes.

His shell alone was large enough to hold the tree and a respectable field of wildflowers around it. Each massive leg was roughly the size of an elephant. The ground beneath Chelsea's boots vibrated faintly as Bradford adjusted his weight. Freya watched Chelsea's reaction with a giant smile.

"I'll see you up there." She jumped backward toward Bradford's shell and easily cleared the crest. Chelsea walked forward more slowly. She placed one hand against Bradford's rough, scaly leg and let herself take in the scale of him. It was difficult to believe he was the same tiny creature she had held in her hands only minutes earlier. Then she stepped back, jumped, and flapped her wings to boost herself upward. When she landed on top, she stopped. The air changed first.

There was wind up here, soft and clean, moving through the grass and wildflowers. The tree stood exactly where it should have, offering shade across a patch of green that felt painfully familiar. Chelsea walked through the flowers slowly, touching the taller stems as she passed. For a moment, she was home again. Freya stood near the edge of the shade with her helmet off. The black waves of her hair moved in the breeze along with the flowers.

She looked pleased, but also watchful, as though Chelsea's reaction truly mattered. It had been over a month since Chelsea had felt this happy. She approached the tree. Freya held her hands out for Chelsea to take. Chelsea accepted them, and Freya guided her beneath the shade before sitting down with her back against the trunk. Chelsea settled beside her in the grass, close enough to share the shade but not touching. The wildflowers brushed against her legs, and the leaves above stirred softly.

"You're spoiling me," Chelsea said.

"Oh you know it," Freya replied. She rested one hand against the grass beside her and looked out over Bradford's shell with obvious satisfaction.

"Tell him to walk around. I put ears in the tree so you don't have to constantly walk to his head." Chelsea looked up into the branches.

"Oh you thought of everything. Bradford, please walk around the pasture. But avoid the other animals. Oh!" Bradford moved. Chelsea had expected a heavy lurch or some sort of violent sway. Instead, the motion was smooth and slow, with only a gentle rocking beneath them. The pasture shifted around them as Bradford began his walk. The griffins moved away at once, all three keeping a respectful distance from the enormous tortoise now crossing their space.

Chelsea relaxed back against the tree and let out a quiet breath.

"Are you trying to put me to sleep?"

"I thought you'd like this," Freya replied. It was peaceful. The sun warmed the field beyond the shade. The flowers moved with the breeze. Bradford walked with unhurried patience, each step carrying them across the pasture.

"So if... hypothetically, I wanted you to be my patron god. What would I get? I know I'd go back to one title but what would I get?"

"Ah blessings." Freya sighed.

"That's something I really suck at. They are so so hard to design. There are a ton of limitations and moving parts and if you change one aspect the whole thing falls apart. I bet that's why Magalesa gave you a title instead." Freya sat with her back against the tree, one knee bent and one arm resting across it. The breeze moved through the branches above them, carrying the smell of grass and wildflowers across Bradford's shell.

Below, the enormous tortoise continued his slow walk around the pasture, each step causing a gentle shift beneath them.

"That explains a lot. Magalesa doesn't strike me as the uh… smart… type," Chelsea said slowly. Freya looked over at her, the corner of her mouth twitching as though she wanted to laugh but decided against it.

"She's way smarter and more devious than she lets on. Honestly though, stick with Bodarex's. It's a bit like the havoc armor set. You already have something better. For people like Passion, blessings aren't something she gets to pick and choose. She feels lucky and is happy to get one even though it's very meh." Chelsea stopped touching the flowers and turned toward her. Freya was trying to sound dismissive, but Chelsea could tell there was discomfort beneath it. She had heard that tone before.

It was the sound of someone insulting their own work before anyone else could.

"Hey, I bet if you made it, it's super badass. Tell me about it. I want to hear what it does." Freya groaned and let her head fall back against the tree trunk.

"It's so embarrassing when compared to his. Well obviously it's called Blessing of Freya. I will skip the description because it's just vaguely about honor. Then it adds plus one to all numbers in your current title. And you get the title, the Battle Goddess's chosen." Chelsea's eyebrows furrowed and pulled up her titles.

"That's an insane blessing!"