The Order of the Eye

The Order of the Eye


Prelude
The darkness wriggled and pulsed around her like a live thing, and for a moment, disorientation reigned. She froze, but the world kept moving around her. Senna knew this wasn't some trick of her mind due to the absolute darkness. To her senses, the darkness itself was a living, writhing presence, and the trembling and bucking of the root she walked on only added to her disorientation. She knelt carefully to smack the root, muttering, "Bastarding thing - be STILL!", all too aware that if she slipped, at this juncture of the journey, she might fall into the void forever.
Rising, she shouted then, a roar shattering the blackness. "And you, you fucking tree, you WANT ME TO, don't you?" The root trembled, a horse shaking off an annoying fly, but she sat down hard and clung to it until it stopped. Then the realization hit her, and she smiled, a dark, menacing thing. "You know, I'm sorely tempted to burn your fucking useless ass to the ground. You DO know who and what I am, don't you? I AM CHAOS! I AM THE VOID! This is ME!" Reaching her senses out, she grabbed ahold of the elemental chaos pressing in around her, with a thought wrapping it around the tree. It promptly exploded into light, revealing electric blue eyes framed by dark hair, booted feet firmly atop gray and brown and green of branch, but the light faded quickly, swallowed by the void itself. Senna's smile grew triumphant. "And see? I may be new, but I know what I'm doing. You're lucky, tree. You must have some element of chaos, or you'd have exploded." She smirked. "See, I know all about that chaos-order exothermic reaction...." The tree shuddered under her feet, then subsided. "Ha. Don't like that thought, do you? Bitch." She concentrated, drawing energy to her once more. The light began to pulse down the root, gathering far off in the distance, a small swirling globe.
Naturally, that was when she slipped. "Fuck!" Swiftly turning her focus deeper inward, she sought the deepmost part of her soul, the part of her that shared the heart of fire and chaos. Then she had it. Flames filled her vision and her mind, her heart blazed merrily and flames the blue of hot fire crackled in her eyes. In the blink of an eye, she'd charred handholds into the root and climbed back up the side of it, only to realize the root had grown wet moss in reaction to her magicks. Yggdrasil had just made herself slipperier. She looked back out at the expanse of nothing; creation and order had no power here, and even her form held some. She shuddered. Likely, she'd have fallen forever, swallowed by chaos. Standing again, she frowned and focused again, and a tendril of fire shot out. Cracking it like a whip, she slashed down hard across the root, which trembled again. Her lips twisted in a snarl. "What'd I fucking tell you? Don't fuck with me, godsdammit!" She gestured at the darkness around her. "You throw me off, and I swear I'll see you dragged down into that with me." The tree didn't react. "Or at least I swear I'll see you burn for a long, long time." The moss disappeared under her feet and the root stilled once more. She nodded. "That's what I thought."
That was when the voices began.
"Lopt. Lothur. Loki. Laukseen..." She narrowed her eyes. "Senna if you please."
The tree bucked suddenly, hard, and despite herself she was launched into the black void. A root grabbed around her foot, anchoring her, but still she continued to gain distance from the tree. Crossing her arms, she decided she'd just have to wait this out. Looking back, she had to admit the view was spectacular. The whole of Yggdrasil itself came into view, lit against the black. She gained distance from the tree, and grew more distant still, until she could see each of the nine realms. Midgard, Asgard, Vanaheim, Muspelheim and Niflheim, Jotunheim, Vanaheim and Alfheim, Svartalfheim and even Helheim appeared as if displayed for her regard. From here, they looked like so many multicolored, swirling marbles, each glowing with a light all their own and cradled by root and branch and trunk. She looked towards Jotunheim, where her destination awaited. She'd been so close!
"Laukseen. Do you know what it is you ask?"
She rolled her eyes. "You don't get the whole name thing, do you? S-E-N-N-A." The root tightened around her ankle and she yelped. "OK, OK! Ow." She reached down and tried to tug the root free, but it held fast. She sighed. "Fine. You want an answer, fine. Nope, I have no idea whatsoever. I just figured I'd come hang out with you, you know; I heard you had a thing for me...and you know how to show a lady such a good time." She smirked. "And you must know I've done stranger things. We could try and make it work..." She trailed off with another yelp as the tree tightened painfully around her ankle once more.
She reached once more for the fire within her and directed it with a thought along the root. "Loosen, now, bitch!" As it loosened, and then seemed like it would keep on loosening, she amended her order. "But don't you dare let go, or you're matchsticks."
The root obliged, and she nodded. "That's better. Yes, of course I know what I seek, what I'm doing! It's time magick came back to Midgard! Odin's Order couldn't last forever and, as you see, I -well okay, I was - unbound. I of ALL people should understand the full import of what I'm asking."
Suddenly, slimy bindings held her fast to cold rock. She struggled to escape, but they held her too tightly, too constricted. She could barely breathe, let alone move her hands or feet. In fact, she could only look up at the snake over her head, fangs dripping venom. In slow motion, a drop fell, splashing on her forehead. A sizzle and a flare of burning agony. Her nose filled with the scent of l her own flesh smoking and burning. The venom ran into her right eye. The second drop fell, and she blinked, but it burned right through the lid of her left eye. She twitched, trying to wipe it off instinctively. Her vision blackened, then she felt her own eyes melting out of her head and running down her cheeks. Her own screams of agony and fear reverberated back at her, her body arching and thrashing and bruising against the unyielding bonds and the hard rock until the very earth trembled with the force of her agony. An equally agonized voice reached her through the pain. "I'm sorry..I'm so sorry..." but she was so far lost to agony the words meant nothing. She could only scream. Then her voice gave out and she couldn't even do that.
Senna growled, ferally, as the wolf nature in her snapped through the vision. "Throw that at me, will you, you bitch!" she snarled. "I'll never be bound again - and by everything ever endured under Loki's name, I'll kill you all if you try!"
"Ah, but the one who had you bound...He's learned better now...Hasn't he?"
Senna froze. "Well...I..." She hesitated. "I...can't speak for him! We're - each of us - different now. For better or worse? We'll see."
"You're not sure."
Senna glared. "Can we NOT talk about my relationships?"
"Okay." The Tree said. "We could always do this..."
Senna was thrown hard into the door of a small Honda, which was skidding sideways as the semi slammed into their little car, screams echoing around the cabin. Everything happened in slow motion; she noticed her best friend's head at an odd angle, just before it smashed painfully into the bridge of her nose. Then they were plummeting, falling, and she screamed even louder, the water growing closer. Then it filled her whole view. The windshield exploded inward, and the cabin flooded in a heartbeat. Icy cold and searing pain flooded her body, something in her broke with a wet pop, and she gasped reflexively - but there was no air to fill her lungs, only water. She tried to cough, but there wasn't enough air left in her lungs, and she panicked. Numb fingers scrabbled for the seatbelt, but her vision was already dimming. She felt her body weaken, then reflexively force her to gasp again, but there was only the water.
Then she gasped, laughing, a two year old baby, crawling towards a toy, black and shiny. She just had enough of her own formidable, adult consciousness left to recognize the terrified scream of a mother as she picked it up, feeling the cold hard metal of the gun as her baby fingers landed right on the trigger.
And then she felt the fur burn off her body and her flesh melt. She barked one last time in pain and fear before it all went black.
She fell once again, and this time, she was naked, chained, splayed in a metal container. She felt blood drip down her thighs, the rest of her so swollen and raw she knew she couldn't walk. The door opened again, but her eyes wouldn't let her focus enough to see anymore, and they hurt anyway, so she shut them. What this one looked like didn't matter anyway. She let herself fall away as she felt him thrust into her...over and over...but it didn't matter anymore...
No one would come save her. They hadn't the twenty times before, and she still bore the bruises from when she'd still had hope, still fought even though she was chained, her throat still raw from unanswered screams. Hands wrapped around her neck, and she fell, thankful, into darkness. She was sixteen.
Then she was herself. She doubled over, and was promptly violently ill.
"If this disturbs you, then walk away."
Her reply was admittedly shaky, but she managed. "It's going to take more than a few visions to stop me, you pathetic sapling, but thanks for the mind fuck." Her mind was racing, gibbering in pure terror - no one still living should know what it felt like to die.
"Very well," was all the reply she got before the nightmares continued.
Then suddenly, they stopped. She blinked, confused. Then a darkness appeared in her vision. Her eyes widened. If it reached her, she knew, she would cease to exist. Not just die. Her existence would end. There would be nothing. She would be nothing. She tried to move, to run, but the root held her fast. She was screaming in horror before it even touched her....and then there was nothing.
Her wolf awareness returned first, snarling ferally. The rest of her shook, curled up in a little ball, incoherent.
Something spoke but she was too shattered to comprehend it.
The wolf, however, did and it reacted, doubling over and seizing the root in its teeth, tearing at it and growling. That snapped her enough out of her catatonia to regain control, seizing the root in her hands and pulling herself hand over hand back towards the root she'd been walking on. The length of root behind her suddenly bucked, twisted, and slashed, then stabbed directly into her side. Her body arched and she screamed, tearing at it. Abruptly, the wolf took over again, and she snapped at the root, sharp teeth breaking it off and tearing the root from her body. She spat it out with a growl, then licked at the wound in her side. Then the wolf let her have control again as she pulled herself along the tendril towards the root she'd been tossed from. It was laborious going, and she weakened, blood streaming into the void around her from her side in droplets like rubies. Reaching the root, she doubled over, shaking, then decided it was best to let the wolf take control for a time while she stepped back to recover her mind again. The wolf's sure-footedness carried them far more swiftly over the narrow root than her two feet would have, and her wolf didn't share her fear of falling. The root tried lashing out again with a narrow branch, but the wolf leaped and it merely scored her hip, not even breaking the skin. Breaking into a lope, the wolf closed the distance towards Jotunheim, and she took over once again when the gently glowing barrier that sheltered Jotunheim was before them. Most of them knew this barrier as the atmosphere, and she wondered idly if the denizens of Jotunheim knew what energy it was that truly kept the mass of air from streaming out. With a chuckle, she remembered that Midgardians thought it was gravity. She pressed a hand against it, but it held fast, inflexible. She couldn't so much as get one finger to pass through it. She sighed and took out a knife, then stopped. She looked at her side, at her shirt soaked in blood, then drew a necklace from under her shirt. She shrugged and drew her finger over the wound in her side, then touched her finger to the pendant, covering it in blood as she muttered under her breath.
"Ek em einn me, minn atferer inn, yarr veggr ek va." ekkja m, iggja , mebli verek ganga ." -I am one with you, my energies are yours, your walls I pass. You know me, you accept me, by blood price I enter into you.
Her Norse was still rough, but it must have worked well enough, because she pushed through and thudded bodily into the frozen ground of Jotunheim.
She winced and sucked in her breath. Then she cursed, loudly.
She was now in serious danger of freezing to death. She'd miscalculated where she'd enter, badly, and the supplies she'd stored were now by all appearances fifty miles off, by Mimir's Well. She should have passed through directly there. Shivering hard, she realized fifty miles wasn't going to be an option. What had gone wrong? Had she gone through all that only to freeze to death?
She sighed, and reflected momentarily. After all it wouldn't be such a bad way to go, would it? She was exhausted, bleeding, and her mind...She'd never be the same. She didn't know how she'd ever be sane again. The world deserved to burn. Sparks flared in her eyes. No. She couldn't let that fucking tree win. Never. She sighed, pushing to her feet and looking around. Of course she'd land in the most useless, barren stretch of this plane...
Then she spied it. Trees. She pressed a hand towards her side, and slowly started towards a nearby stand of what passed for birch on this world, if birch were twenty feet thick and several hundred feet tall. They'd at least break the wind. Reaching their shelter, she gathered some of the tiniest branches, and called fire once more. The branches burst into fire, but the warmth died quickly in the wind, which the trees did little to break after all. Fuck it. She sighed, and leaned back against the birch tree, closing her eyes. Pain speared through her side as rough bark snagged the bloodstained rip in her shirt. It had partly dried and stuck to the hole in her side. She sighed and plucked the fabric free of the bark, then turned towards the fire, allowing herself to be mesmerized a moment by the shifting flames. The fire cracked and sparked, and the sudden noise startled her. She jumped with a yelp, her wound smacking against the tree. Fresh blood stained pale bark as the wound opened anew, surging with fresh blood - and then an idea hit her. Maybe she didn't need her cloak, her boots. She drew the rest of the shirt around the wound, binding it to stop the bleeding, Then she thickened her energy barriers, forming the image of a shield in her mind, and drew a finger in the air. "Kenaz," she murmured, focusing on the rune, her will focused on forming a protective wall and on fire, torchlight, warmth. The rune flared blood red - and the air around her warmed, the wind bending around her shield. She shook her head, dizzied as it drew energy. She focused again, and her feet wrapped in energy. Boots. She sighed, warming, then grinned. It had worked! Now out of immediate danger, Senna knew she'd still have to move fast. This kind of spellwork was unbelievably draining - but it was that or die. And after all that, she knew one thing. She would not let that tree win.
A day and a half later, she reached the Well, and stopped, considering its guardian. Mimir. A preserved head, still said to give sage advice. She opened her mouth to speak, reaching for the trinket she'd brought. She began to ask her question, as if in petition, ready to wait for his distraction as he answered. Before she could say a word, however, Mimir forestalled her.
"There's no need for tricks. There's no prohibition against you taking it, you know."
She blinked, surprised. "Ah. That IS good to know."
Mimir's eyes opened. "The price was for those who seek knowledge. And especially for Him, so avid. His test. Not yours."
She considered. "Well, that makes this surprisingly easy, then." She reached towards the well, drawing out a shriveled, round object with a grin, dropping it into a leather pouch. She nodded at Mimir, and quickly turned to leave, before he could change his mind.
The head spoke again. "We were friends, once, you know."
She nodded. "Aye. I remember. You were always kind, Mimir."
The head smiled. "And you were always....entertaining. But also. You did not seek to know too much...You had no need for the knowledge of the world."
She smiled. "No. It's not knowledge that I seek."
"Aye." Said Mimir. "For you, that would be...." He paused, considering. "Boring. For you, all knowledge would just destroy the mystery and all joy of life. Therefore, be careful, Senna, with that which is now in your possession. Your nature is...not its nature."
She nodded. "Thank you, Mimir. And I will be careful. I do not intend to have it long."
"Then until we meet again. Though what you intend, and what will be are often quite different - and I know what you will do." He smiled, a little sadly. "Our next meeting may be a very long time off."
She smiled, more of a flashing of teeth. "You'll not stop me?"
"I?" Mimir chuckled. "How could I deter you? You'll do what you will, as you ever have. Just have a care you do not dare too much. Again."
She laughed aloud. "Ah, my friend, but that's what I do best."
She turned and retraced her footsteps, then called once again on the amulet around her neck. She at last stepped once more into the Ginungagap and onto the root of Yggdrasil which slid through it. This time, however, the tree was quiet. There was no fighting, no voices and visions.
Senna lifted her foot off the root, just about to step through the barrier of Midgard. She paused, foot in the air, then turned and considered the Tree. Her eyes narrowed, sparks flashing in her eyes as she considered Yggdrasil. Senna shook her head. "No. Too late." She turned and stepped through the barrier. Behind her, the Tree shuddered, then exploded into flames. She hit the winter-frozen ground of Midgard hard, grinning ferally. Suddenly her grin faded. The world spun, then went black.
Far above her still form, the tops of lowered storm gray skies reflected ruddy red and orange. Beyond them, flames rippled through the skies as Yggdrasil burned. The worlds were on their own.




Chapter One


The small fire lit the forest around the two men, flickering cheerful and bright, though the warmth it promised was deceiving. Voices carried softly, accented British and American, strengthened by worry. Each word hung punctuated by breath frozen white in the frigid Canadian air, thick with pine and smoke.
"She should have been here by now..." The blond American man frowned as the other leaned forward slightly from the shadows, the fire's light gilding darker, walnut hair.
"You know I can't sense her unless she chooses, Connor, and right now, she's not choosing." Laughing softly, Connor replied, "You mean you have no idea if she's even alive, do you. Your own mate..."
The man across the fire merely narrowed his eyes in reply, crossing his arms across broad chest and squaring broader shoulders, assessing Connor. The jade green of one eye glinted in the firelight; the other concealed deep in the shifting, fireborn shadows. Finally, he snorted softly before looking away and leaning back into the shadows again. "I'm worried too."
Connor blinked, surprised by the admission from the man. He'd come to realize Dan held himself very close, despite the years they'd known each other online before meeting in this place, in this time, but he merely nodded. "I'm sure she's fine, Dan."
A terse "I'm not", was all the reply he got before the silence fell again. Connor frowned, but Dan did not elaborate.
The cold deepened and hours passed, the night edging towards dawn inexorably while they waited. Tension ebbed and flowed as the shadows were revealed and banished by the firelight, the moon cast behind clouds, then again revealed.
Finally, impatiently, Connor stood and threw a few more logs on the fire, risking giving voice once again. Tentatively, yes, but he was unable to endure the weighted, immovable silence further. "We'll need to move soon...How long can we wait here?"
Dan glanced at Connor, green eyes meeting pale blue. "We're not lea..."
Breaking off suddenly, Dan shot to his feet, startling Connor. Then the snap of a twig reached his ears. A foot fell, then another.
"Senna?" Dan called softy, and a dark haired, dark clothed figure stepped out of the forest.
Senna. Connor sighed in relief, but instantly, Dan darted towards her, and Connor noticed then how she staggered, hunching over her side protectively.
Nevertheless, she straightened slightly and graced them both with a smirk. "Well, well, well-fancy meeting y'all here..." She tossed the package which she'd been hunched protectively over at Connor, dropping her playful smirk for a very real glare directed at Dan. "You bastard," she said softly, but with feeling.
Before Dan could even reach her side, Senna's slight form crumpled hard to the ground and lay unmoving, her face as pale as the frost around her.
Connor reached her side just a fraction after Dan did, only to be shoved away with a terse, "Get the bag!"
Furious, Connor snapped back. "She IS my friend, you know!"
Instead of anger, ice filled Dan's tone. "Get the bag, Connor. Now."
Shocked into motion, Connor turned around to get the bag-and a flash of pure light lit the woods like daylight. When he spun back around towards the source, to his surprise Senna was sitting up and again conscious, if dazed. To his further surprise, Dan had now dropped all pretense of reserve entirely. His hands rested gently on Senna's side, and he was curled tightly and protectively around her. Senna shifted just enough to rest her head on his shoulder, then Dan caught Connor's gaze and glared just long enough for Connor to become aware he was intruding. Then Dan's gaze darted to the bag.
"I really do need that."
Connor glared at Dan, then turned and grabbed the bag, throwing the tightly bound, bloodstained leather pouch hard at Dan with a snarl. Unfortunately for Connor's temper, Dan simply caught it deftly and tucked it under his shirt with a nod. "Thank you."
Connor fought to gather his temper and lost. "I'm not your soldier, Dan. Don't order me around like one."
"Don't be a child, Connor. It's tedious."
Senna pressed her hands to her head and glared at them each in turn. "Will you both shut the fucking hell up?! Before my head splits open, preferably?" Her slight southern accent did nothing to dull the edge of lingering pain in her tone or the annoyance with which she spoke.
Dan snorted and stood up, pulling her to her feet with him. She yelped with pain, wavering, but even as she dropped her hands to regain her balance Dan shoved her hard toward the fire. As Connor watched in horror, Senna pitched over, and fell directly on her face into the fire.
"The hell!" Connor yelled, and started towards her, horrified, but before he could move the fire flared up around Senna, and Connor recoiled from the sudden flare of heat and light.
Dan merely grinned. Then, to Connor's further shock, Senna stood up and, for all the world, looked as if she basked in the roaring flames, a cat curling up in the warmth of the sun. By the expression on her face, she'd even be purring. Connor's jaw nearly unhinged itself.
"Gods..." she said finally. "Warmth..." She sighed, and the flames lowered to ring her feet, almost companionably. She finally stepped out of them and walked towards Dan, no longer favoring her side. Yet Connor noticed as he watched her in shock that the flames still leaned towards her, until she was a good five feet away or so.
"Better?" Dan inquired, as Senna reached his side.
She nodded. "Muchly, yes. Thank you, love."
Dan nodded at her in acknowledgement, and then Senna caught sight of Connor's face and burst out laughing. "Believe us now, my friend?"
Connor's mind froze, and all he could do was stare at her and blink. Random thoughts chased themselves around his brain. Finally, they slowed, but true to form and with complete irrelevance to her question, the only reply Connor could think of was, "What the hell was in that fucking bag?"
Dan turned to Connor, putting a finger to his lips, a warning glint in his eyes as he glanced towards Senna, confusion clouding her face.
"Bag?" Senna asked. "What bag?"
Dan sighed and rubbed his temples while Connor's eyes widened. The..." Connor began, and then his blood chilled at the look in Dan's eyes.
Senna crossed her arms and glared at both of them. "What fucking bag?"
Dan winced almost imperceptibly, then grinned at her. "The food bag, of course."
Senna blinked, and that quick, disgust replaced confusion on her face. "Don't try that shit on me. You of all people should know better."
Dan met her eyes evenly, but did not reply.
Senna cocked her head at him and grinned. "You might as well tell me-before I get pissed. What fucking bag?"
Dan arched an eyebrow. "No," he said softly.
Anger flashed across Senna's face, eyes shifting from bright blue to ominous stormy gray, yet she spoke softly. "Why ever not?"
Dan fixed his gaze on hers. "Don't you trust me?"
Senna laughed, though no amusement shifted the anger from her countenance in the slightest. "Fuck that. Would you trust you, in my shoes?"
Dan winced, and Senna smirked. "So my mate. You're afraid."
Now anger filled Dan's face as he interjected. "I am NOT afraid!"
"Oh? Then why won't you just tell me?"
He glared at her, then sighed again. "To protect you, dammit!"
Senna's expression went deadly serious, eyes blue embers once again and firmly on Dan's. "I don't think I need this kind of protection. Now. I know you must have fucked with my memory because you didn't want to own up to something, and you KNOW that shit pisses me off. And now you know I know." She considered. "So. It seems to me, you OWE me."
The anger drained from Dan's face, and he smiled, tension draining from him slightly. "Of course I owe you. I knew there'd be a price. There always is, with you."
Senna nodded, and lifted a hand to her chin, folding an arm across her body and resting her elbow on it as she mused, an eyebrow arched. "Ah-ha. You either think you know the price I'd ask, or you're willing to pay any price." Senna regarded Dan closely.
"The latter," Dan agreed, nodding in his turn.
Abruptly Senna grinned. "Ohhhh, yeah-you really fucking owe me."
"Name it."
For a moment, surprise filled Senna's face. Folding both arms across her chest again with an almost predatory smile, she replied archly, "Anything?"
Connor, forgotten during this exchange, dared to break in with a chuckle, attempting to lighten the mood. "Be careful, brother. She'll likely ask you for the world, and I'd guess you'd owe her it." Dan arched an eyebrow at Connor, but Senna looked over with a slight smile and teasingly scoffed. "Pedestrian and mundane. I don't want the world, never fear on that score."
Connor laughed and teased. "Oh, so the world would not be enough for you..."
Senna smiled, but behind her, the fire rose abruptly though she spoke softly, as if musing to herself. "No. It's just that such are not for me, the precious and fragile things...Not after what I must have done to get that." She gestured toward the bag.
Dan nodded. "And that, love, is what I would protect you from...Not for the world would I have asked that of you..."
Sienna tilted her head, regarding the bloodstained leather. "Ah, but for that, you would ask it of me. Hm." She considered, then snorted. "And as usual...I am the only one who could've paid that price and come out intact." She smirked in a return to her usual humor. "Mostly. As much as I ever am, anyway."
Dan's only reply was to pull her into his arms and kiss the top of her head gently.
But later, when she asked him softly, "Was it worth it?" - for once, even he had no easy answer.












Chapter 2


          The sun broke too soon and too cold through the trees, but they rose with it. After a quick breakfast, they broke camp and made their way slowly through the snow, sun sharp in their eyes. They were wordless for the most part, scarves wrapped around their mouths against the wind and the ice crystals it bore. Every step gained through the snow was paid for in effort, and it wasn't long before they had to call a halt to rest, collapsing into the shelter of a copse of pine trees. Deep blue-green boughs swept the ground so heavy and thick that exposed brown earth littered with needles lay bare underneath, the snow snugged in branches high above. Wearily they sagged down, loosening bundles just enough to grab blankets and wrap tightly in them. Dan lay quietly, watching the boughs and watching Connor do the same, but Senna was quickly sound asleep beside him. Frowning slightly, he settled her against him and wrapped them both in his cloak, but she didn't even stir. His frown deepened at that; she was normally a very light and restless sleeper. He didn't like the way she hunched in on herself, either. His senses said something was not settling with her well. An hour later, however, when he woke her to continue and she was her usual grumbly and disgruntled self at having to wake up, he was reassured. He even managed to convince himself her exceptional sleepiness was just due to Senna's psyche slowly processing what she had endured for his sake, which was only to be expected.
The going got easier as they moved east, passing through the thickest part of the band of snow before they made camp that evening. Even accounting for the short daylight hours this far north, they had stopped early in deference to the toll their bodies had taken and the scarcity of finding supplies. Carrying as little as possible was a tradeoff; time spent tracking down winter-scarce game versus the lighter load. The river here, however, must have been rich, as Connor came back with fish relatively quickly this evening. Of course there was the ever-present pine-needle tea to drink; as sharp in flavor as the needles were in shape, at least it provided some needed vitamins. They ate wrapped in blankets and huddled close to the fire, shivering, its warmth scant.
"I think the temperature's dropping..." Connor said through chattering teeth, unbundling a blanket and drawing nearer to the fire, to a nod from Senna as Dan eyed the sky. A ruddy glow still rippled across it in sections, and it looked sooty. He wondered exactly what Senna had done to cause that. The skies themselves had actually burned for days, and not snow but ash had fallen. He smiled slightly, amused by the thought that back in society, there was probably chaos and calls that it was the Rapture or the Apocalypse - and they probably weren't entirely wrong this time. He frowned, but let it go for now. There was far worse to come, he knew. And as much as he longed to ask Senna what she'd done, she didn't need the association just yet, so he contented himself with a simple agreement.
"Hm. Yeah, looks like the clouds are clearing. It could be a cold night."
Connor chuckled. "Well, I got dinner - one of you can go get more firewood."
Dan arched an eyebrow. "Who do you think got the first bundle of firewood and set up the shelter? Hm? While someone got to hang out riverside and sit on his backside watching fishing lines?"
Senna nodded, stretching her arms, and added. "And who do you think hauled water back because someone had to keep his eye on the aforementioned lines? And who then also made sure you had a warm fire to return to? Hm?"
Connor stood, grumbling, but a playful grin teased the corners of his mouth. "Mmhmm. Fine. Seeing as how you two used your previous time alone so...ah... productively..." He paused for effect, then finished. "I see how it is," as Senna chuckled and threw a handful of snow at Connor. "You know," she said mock-archly, eyes lighting in humor, "If you'd, oh, say, just fallen in the river, we'd have all the alone time we want..."
Dan eyed the sky again and interjected. "Seriously though, the light's going to go quickly- don't be too long. I'm not sending a search party."
"We ARE the search party," Senna pointed out.
"Exactly."
As Connor headed out, Dan and Senna sat quietly, enjoying the firelight, peace and stillness, shifting together and doubling the blankets and sleeping bags around themselves. It grew noticeably cooler, shadows lengthening, until despite the wraps and the shared warmth, Dan noticed Senna shivering periodically. Shifting them closer to the fire, he murmured, "Will's moving; he'll be warm enough, right?"
Senna nodded. "He's smart enough to come back if he gets too cold."
Dan snorted. "And just stubborn enough to ignore it too, love."
Senna chuckled, but then fell silent again, though Dan could sense thoughts churning in her head. Finally she broke the silence again. "So. You do know what my price is going to be, right?"
Dan nodded, grinning. "Well, I assume it won't be the world..."
Leaning closer against him, Senna smiled, then slipped a hand under his shirt, pulling the leather pouch from his waistband. She inspected the battered, bloodstained leather closely before tossing it gently into the air and catching it again, then regarding it with a smirk.
"Nope. Not the world. I have standards. However." She paused, considering. "My price is whatever is in this bag."
She tilted her head, taking in the smug gleam in his hazel-green eyes and the smile playing about his lips, and scowled. "You knew I would ask that, didn't you?"
Ignoring her demanding tone, he shook his head. "It's you we're talking about. You don't ever do anything according to plan. I suspected you would, yes." His voice took on a warning note. "But I don't think you know what you're asking...."
She glared at him, but chuckled. "And whose fault is that?"
He regarded her seriously. "Yes. Mine. And there's very real reasons for that."
She nodded. "And I'm still annoyed, regardless of what they are. I'd rather face it."
"I know you would," he agreed. "But, Senna...we can't afford the time that would take right now, and here is definitely not the best place. We should be home for that." He held her closer. "Would it help to know that I haven't completely erased the memories?"
She blinked. "You didn't?"
When he merely shook his head, she prompted him with a nudge. "What did you do, then?"
"Oh, I merely insulated you from them. A light energy barrier, using your own energy. A form of shielding which will slowly absorb, and the memories will...well..." He thought carefully, considering how to express it best. "Filter through, but slowly, giving you a chance to adjust to them."
She frowned. "As you say, we have neither the time nor is this the place, but I wish you could have asked, first."
He brushed a hand through her hair. "Love...I did."
She thought about that, and scowled again. "Oh. I suppose you could have. Nevertheless, I claim this." She hefted the bag. "Whatever it is."
Before he could react, she loosened the strings, turned the bag over, and dumped a white, round object into her hand. With a puzzled frown, she picked it up out of her palm.
"All that over a stone?" She tapped it, listening to the click of nail on stone, then turned it over, and froze as it revealed black pupil ringed by gray iris. She exhaled. "Ooooh. No. It's an eye...." Her eyes widened. "His eye. No way."
The emphasis she gave left no doubt as to whom she could be referring to.
Dan nodded. "Yes. That's it, all right. The eye. The very one Ol' One-Eye himself plucked from his head, in trade to Mimir for a drink from the well of all knowledge."
She stared. "Holy shit. That was...real...." Her eyes widened. "Then I must have..."
He smiled ruefully. "That's right. You went into chaos - the Ginungagap itself - to get that for me. Via one hell of a route, must've been, being down the Yggdrasil's root and all." His eyes unfocused briefly, reflecting internally a moment.
She caught it and nudged him gently with an elbow. "What?"
He chuckled. "Just remembering a similar journey..."
She grinned. "One your patron must have taken?"
He nodded. "Old memories."
"Yeah I get those too, now and again," she replied, turning the stone over and over in her palm, silent a while. Then she looked down at it. "Well. Fuck me..." she breathed, then her lips twitched into a grin, mischief kindling in her electric-blue eyes. "And it's MINE." She began to laugh, then collapsed into gales of laughter. "Oh, gods that's...perfect. They'd be shitting themselves...."
When she finally regained control, he extended his hand for the eye, examining it in his stead. Senna watched him carefully, knowing his thirst for knowledge burned as bright as the Wanderer God, Odin's, ever had...and was in fact one reason Dan had been drawn by the Wanderer. Avarice gleamed bright in Dan's eyes, but he handed it back. Instead of placing it back in the bag, she tugged the leather thong holding it closed from it. Swiftly, she tied the thong around the orb, and drew it over her head, tucking the orb under her shirt before settling again against Dan.
"Love? A question."
He chuckled and kissed her hair. "From you? Shocking."
She snorted. "I know, right? But seriously. Why the eye? Why not, I don't know, a vial from the Well itself, or something?"
He nodded. It was a fair question. "Because think of how much more that eye has become, soaking in that well. It's taken on the properties of that water....Without needing to drink some."
Understanding dawned across her face. "Aaaah. So you didn't have to pluck out your own eye." She chuckled. "Which is good, because I'm rather fond of both your eyes, greeneyes. Her voice took on a teasing note. "Leave it to you, though...Finding the easy way, and sending someone else to do it for you...You've learned from your patron well."
He shook his head and grinned, but replied, seriously enough. "No. It's just - why pay the price, when it had already been paid?"
She frowned. "YOU wouldn't have paid it anyway. I would have."
He shook his head firmly. "No. If that price had needed to be paid again, I'd have paid it."
"But you'd never have been able to take it from the well," Senna said, surprising him with the insight - the fact that she recalled it already. "So you sent me."
He frowned, hoping his block wasn't wearing off sooner than he hoped. He'd forgotten her strength of will. Nevertheless, he confirmed. "Aye, the energy would've bounced me right out."
She nodded. "Right. Because now, it'd see it as you trying to get your own eye back. Not allowed."
She smiled and reached a hand up to brush it through his unruly curls, speaking through a yawn. "You're lucky...you have me..."
He smiled lovingly. "I am very, very lucky indeed."
"Good." She said firmly, despite her evident drowsiness. "See you don't forget."
He chuckled. "How can I, when you remind me daily?"
He bent to kiss her gently as she grinned, then he caught the sparks dancing in her eyes. He grinned back. The least he could do was provide some distraction from the thoughts in her head for a time.
Much later, he watched her as she yawned, half-drowsing with her head in his lap while he softly stroked her hair, but his thoughts scattered with the sparks of the fire. They flitted and sparked up through the air, taking ash-dark wing through the skies...
Ashes grew, expanded, ravens croaked, and now it wasn't ashes, but feathers. Feathers drifting, floating and falling where they may gently back to earth. Drifting down with them, he could see it all...Connor wandering back to the camp at last, wood gathered; a bear, sheltered in her den with newborn cubs; the fish, sheltering beneath the ice. He knew the world. And he knew the dark-haired one sleeping in his lap, knew the cycle of birth and destruction, chaos and order that built it, but this time...he did not fear. He knew the steps to their dance, and knew this dance was theirs. At last. He smiled to see just the proximity to the Eye have such an effect on his sight.
But the next morning, he couldn't wake Senna up.


Chapter 3


          Senna twitched and whined, trapped in a horrible dream she didn't understand - she was everything, and nothing. She looked down at the world, then it was the cosmos, then the very entirety of existence somehow. She saw the threads that created the universe, then she became the strands that held it together, and her being stretched across the endless extent of the cosmos, expanded with it. The very forces of power and creation and destruction pulsed through her, the forces that pulled at those threads - and made them. Did she shelter them? Create them? Or did she destroy them, allowing them to become something vaster still?
The conflict pulled at her very being; then she exploded, consciousness spreading as fast as light through the cosmos, and she burned...no, she froze...and then she was nothing. Gone.
She screamed, and for an instant panicked at feeling restraint, flailing. Her forearm impacted something which gave with a crack and heard a sharp, "Ow, shit! Senna! Wake up, dammit!" Then she realized it was Dan, and she was in his arms beside the campfire, shaking and pale. She froze and burned in turns, was utterly exhausted and worn, but nevertheless grateful to be awake.
"Senna. Look at me," Dan demanded, causing her to look directly at him and notice the blood streaming down his chin courtesy of a deeply split lip. Blinking, disoriented, she could only watch it slide down his chin and drip to the ground. "I think you had a seizure," he continued, seeing her dazed, but awake. "You'll be out of it awhile, but you'll be okay, now, it's passed." She tried to tell him she was okay, but her lips wouldn't work right, so she settled for nodding. Even that didn't quite go right though, judging by the way her head wobbled. Dan frowned in concern and settled her close against him, watching until her eyes focused normally. When at last Senna could speak again, she told him of the odd dream as he tended to his lip. He didn't miss how she still shook as she recounted the feeling of being exploded across the cosmos. As she continued to gain coherency, Dan insisted she eat something and drink some of the tea Connor had prepared. Finally she felt well enough that they moved on, their journey continuing east, though she still burned and froze in waves, hunched uncharacteristically into herself and sullen. Days passed, and while they drew closer to home, Senna only grew worse. Dan, too, drew more into himself, watching Senna, but unable to do anything. Dreams of being the universe, and exploding alternated with dreams of falling forever into nothing, fire and ice reaching for her from either side, pulling her until she tore apart, but still she had to press on....down something which gave beneath her feet and threatened to buck her off with every step...And they grew worse every time she slept.
And then there was the oppressive, relentless boredom whose weight grew increasingly intolerable by the day. She couldn't sleep, but waking was no escape-and awake, she didn't have the interest to care.
Then came another deeply cold night, when even near the fire with Dan curled around her and Connor drawn near for warmth, under a pile of blankets, she shivered hard enough she feared she'd wake them. She didn't know Dan was already awake, but he kept still, for he'd seen what she did not: Eyes.
He was trying to figure out how to warn her to stillness without moving or speaking when the decision was taken out of his hands and into the firelight paced three enormous wolves.
Senna drew in a breath, which finally roused Connor, who shifted over, causing the wolves to draw back into the shadows. A howling in the distance told them where their packmates were; it was near enough to send shivers down Dan's spine and cause Connor to shrink into the blankets, but Senna merely curled up again, either not caring or disinterested. "They're just wolves," she muttered, closing her eyes, shocking both Connor and Dan into staring at her. "They're not here to hurt us," she said.
"How do you know that?" Connor said suspiciously, eyeing the shadows.
She yawned. "We have fire. We're not prey. Easy."
Dan watched her, calculatingly. "How DO you know that?" he asked, finally. "I'm the one who studied lupine behavior in school."
She sighed and responded, "I don't know. You must've told me. Besides can't you sense it?"
Her tone sharpened. "Now let me go back to sleep."
Dan narrowed his eyes. "You weren't sleeping."
She winced and sighed again, but didn't respond, and just then the wolves crossed into the firelight again on silent paws, eyes reflecting the firelight and every line of them full of lupine grace. Dan, having grown up with dogs, stared in awe - these were no dogs! Then his training kicked in, and in a mental shift that was second nature, he assessed the behavior and body language the three were displaying. Their tails were down, gently tucked close to their bodies, and their heads were lowered and slightly turned to the side. These were not aggressive pups. No indeed! In fact, he would say they wanted something.
They approached quite submissively, until they seemed to hit hit some key distance from him. Almost as one, all three dropped down and whined gently, wriggling closer to him and finally rolling over to expose their throats. Stunned, Dan stared. This was completely outside of any behavior he'd learned about, unless it was a recalcitrant pup towards the pack alpha, or junior pack members meeting another pack. His eyes widened at the latter thought as the three watched him, still whining gently, until finally he realized they expected a signal. He whoofed a sigh, settled back, and lay down. To his shock, the three immediately rolled back over and crawled up on the blankets, curling up. Huffing a sigh, the one closest to him put its head on outstretched paws, blinking sleepily. As the other two followed suit, he realized they had every intention of just going to sleep! "I'll be damned," he muttered, shocked. Senna grumbled and rolled over at his voice, whereupon one of the wolves with a white snip from its nose to up between its eyes shifted itself to lay its body along hers. Then another stretched its solid gray body out to lay on her other side. That finally was enough to cause her eyes to widen slightly in surprise, and he even caught a grin briefly flit across her lips. Seeing that, the tension left his body - and with that he finally noticed how cold he was. Shivering, he curled closer against Senna and the wolves, and Connor followed his lead, sighing as the warmth stole over him. He just had time to notice their scent -woodsy, rich and earthy, warm fur overlaid with a tang of blood, but distinctly wolf - before he fell asleep in blissful warmth.
And woke to screaming reverberating in his ears, his mind full of Senna's fear, his eyes full of sunlight and his nose full of wolf. He shoved the blankets away and shook his head to clear it, scrambling over to Senna's side, but the wolves were in the way, licking her face to wake her from yet another nightmare. She twitched and moaned, "Burn it...burn it...!"
She didn't wake til he placed a hand on her forehead and brushed a strand of shadowy hair from her eyes, which opened and blinked, opaque cloudy gray with confusion.
She growled, sounding for all the world like one of the wolves beside her, who whimpered and tried again to lick her face gently. They backed off as he settled beside her to calm her, but instead of quieting as her eyes focused on him, her face filled with fiery rage. She was on her feet in an instant, yelling at him. "Fucking burn the whole world down!"
His eyes flew wide in surprise at the sudden rage. "Senna..." he began, attempting to wrap her in calming energies, but she jerked as she felt it, startling him and breaking his focus.
"No! They're all sick fucks! They deserve to burn!" she screamed, fists balling at her sides.
Then Connor sat up, awakened by the commotion, and with that distraction he lost it entirely. She spun, sprinting for the woods.






Chapter 4

Fury blinded Senna as she ran, heart pounding in her ears in time with her footfalls, heedless of where she went, just needing to get away. Instinct guided her over the fallen trees and around the trunks, under the branches that slashed at her face as she ran. A small part of her brain that was still aware warned her she'd half-shifted into a wolf form, drawing on her wolf energies, but not shifting fully into the wolf's form. It was dangerous; harder to control the wolf in that half-state, but she couldn't stop. She drew - and it lent her legs strength, filled her lungs and sped her heart. She ran faster and farther than should be possible, unaware that Dan was just lengths behind her, having fully shifted to catch up to her. Her mental alarm shrilled as she sensed more than saw the cliff in front of her, and before she'd even considered what she'd intended, her muscles bunched and she gathered herself to leap over its edge into thin air - just as something slammed hard into her and they both hurled heavily into the hard ground.
          Dan growled as momentum threw him over the edge and he hurled through the air, hundreds of feet above the frozen waters of the Lake. His paws- hands - scrabbled desperately at the edge as he slid over, catching at the last moment on a thick root. His fall arrested, thudding his body into the cliff. Digging his feet into the cliffside, he pulled and clawed until he could poke his head above the ledge, meeting the gaze of a now horrified Senna. He pushed himself the rest of the way up and collapsed again to the ground, panting as she collapsed against him, shaking with fear and reaction. "What the fuck is wrong with me?" she demanded. "I nearly killed you!"
"Me? You nearly killed yourself!" he panted. Horrified, she burst into tears. He pulled her close and held her while she sobbed and he caught his breath. Panting, he closed his eyes and lay back with her cradled against him as the energy and adrenaline ebbed from his body, leaving him unable to move, exhausted. She curled against his chest, no doubt feeling the energy drain from his body and no doubt experiencing the energy crash herself, if to a lesser extent. Finally recovering somewhat, he sat up and propped his back against a tree, thinking about her question and how to explain as she re-settled herself against him.
He stroked her hair, and she closed her eyes, head on his shoulder. "So," he began. "How would you like to trade your reward for something else?"
She stared a moment, confused. Then with dawning understanding, she smacked her forehead with an open palm. "Oh my Gods. OF course. ME, and the Eye...Yeah that was gonna go well..."
He nodded. "Yeah. I suspect, it being order and knowledge and all that, it could definitely be fucking with you."
She looked horrified. "Gods! Of course! I don't WANT to possess all knowledge! Gods, how completely...." She broke off a moment, struck by a thought. "Depressing..."
He nodded. "Exactly. You need the mystery, the excitement and discovery...The knowledge the Eye possessed was destroying that for you, and its Order ... The conflict was tearing you apart."
She nodded. "It's the exact opposite of my very nature! Damn." She trailed off a bit, pausing to wipe the tears from her cheeks before continuing softly. "Besides, I like not knowing everything! There are some things that should not be known! I don't need to know why a rainbow works or why the stars shine! But for you..."
He smiled, nodding. "Aye, for me, knowing that it is light refracting from raindrop does not stop me from knowing how pretty it is, nor does knowing they're glowing balls of gas stop me admiring the stars."
She shrugged. "I know those things, of course, and you're right - but the point I was making remains. There should always be magick and mystery in the universe, the unknown, the unexplained and unexplored."
He looked down at her. "Then give me the eye back, and pick another reward."
She frowned, then somewhat reluctantly slipped the thong over her neck and handed it over to him, frown deepening suspiciously when he produced the same beaten up leather pouch the cord had come from and dropped the Eye back in. "You knew."
He shot her a look and shrugged. "I figured you had to give it a shot."
Her eyes narrowed. "You knew I wouldn't react well."
He sighed. "Think about it. Who you are. What it is. Who I am. Yeah I knew."
"Yet you allowed it."
He shrugged. "I owed you the attempt."
Her brow arched. "And you got to see how the Eye worked."
He smiled slightly. "There is that."
She nodded. "And now you owe me something else entirely." She mused, thoughtfully. "Something of equal worth, at least. Something..." She grinned. "Something perhaps only YOU could know the location of."
He arched an eyebrow, for once slightly caught out.
"And what might that be?"
Her grin widened.
"Laevateinn."
The look of surprise on his face was almost all the reward she needed.
She laughed. "Fair's fair. Odin's eye, Loki's sword.... Oh, but don't think that squares it, either!" She elbowed him gently. "You, my calculating and manipulative mate, have really dug yourself deep in my debt."
He laughed too and pulled her closer, kissing her upturned lips lightly. "And I am very well aware of that, my mischief maker."
Her eyes glinted. "Ah, but are you very well aware of exactly what that means, to be indebted on such a grand scale, to me?"
He smiled tolerantly. "No, but I suspect I'm about to find out."
She grinned. "You're damn right you're going to find out. Eventually." She paused. "When I find out what that means, I'll let you know."
He snorted, then groaned, standing and pulling her to her feet. "Well, come on then. Let's get back to camp. I can't owe you anything if you freeze to death."
"Aye. Camp...and then home."
He nodded. "And we're really gonna need some supplies for this one."
She chuckled. "Ooh yeah! Laevateinn! This should be fun!"
Dan shook his head, smiling at her rapid shift to such high spirits, then laughed as she batted, catlike, at the fat flakes that began drifting lazily down around them. "That's my girl. I'm glad to see you happy and playful, after all that."
Grinning, she replied with a shrug, "Why live in the past? You'll drown yourself in tears. It's the present we make, anyway."
Darting ahead, her voice trailed back to him, teasing. "Do try to keep up!"
He laughed once again, then shifted to wolf form, hearing the challenge to race in her voice. The two wolves raced each other among the trees, then were joined by their three new packmates as they dodged snowflakes and pounced in the building snowdrifts. Finally, they turned towards camp and their two legged friend. After that, their path, they knew, lead towards home and their new adventure.

         13