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[alderwitch]

"Making friends and influencing people wherever you go, old man?" Came Talya's rather jovial commentary from the back of their small group. She peered around Thrude to look at the blade being pointed at the thermovore. "Always love a trip to valhalla. We're with this tall blond scion, here. We've been promised protection and safe passage. And perhaps mead."

 

Talya's grin was cheeky as she added with a wink to the younger woman, "And hullo to both of you."

[N/A]

Thrude stepped forward, inserting herself between Frost and the point of the Valkyrie's sword (even if she had to shove him back to make room).  "SISTER of sword and spear, STAND DOWN."  She turned to Heimdall and nodded in acknowledgement.  "UNCLE, these mortals are GUESTS and ALLIES.  I have SWORN to them HOSPITALITY and SAFE PASSAGE in Grandfather's realm.  They hunt the THULE sorcerers, those WRETCHED SWINE whose FOUL sorcery ENSLAVED and DISGRACED my father.  They have reason to believe those WORMS have SLITHERED past our OWN defenses."

[Avenger Assembled]

Heimdall looked grave indeed at Thrude's words, but he stepped aside to allow the daughter of Donar through the gates. "The rites were fairly done, niece - the woman has been a Chooser since the last days of your father's binding. What cause brings you here?" 

 

"This was going to happen eventually," said the younger woman, shooting a look at her mother as she lowered her bow, the latter lowering her blade as well. "As long as Midgard's monsters have shelter here, someone was going to come looking for them." She did not look happy about the reality of Thule Society members in Asgard - none of the three there did, but the young archer looked the angriest of them all. 

Suddenly, Frost snapped his fingers, turning to Thrude, all innocence. "Of course! You have not heard story!" He pointed to the gates of Asgard. "Of how Kantor, in last days of war, transformed his woman into Chooser of the Slain, transporting her to heart of Asgard? And how she was at time pregnant with child of Kantor?" 

[N/A]

Sparks erupted from Thrude's icy-blue eyes, which threatened to bulge out of their sockets.  She half-spat, half-screamed "A CHILD?!  THAT FESTERING PUSTULE DEFILED ONE OF MY SISTERS, WITH BOTH HIS SORCERY AND HIS SEED?!"

 

She turned back toward Frost and Bombshell.  "Are THESE the 'minions of Kantor' of whom thou doth speak?  To my ear, they would seem his VICTIMS, not his cohorts!  What of their fate?  Do they claim sanctuary in Asgard still?  Or do minions of Kantor invade Asgard in search of these poor souls?"

 

[Avenger Assembled]

:"The rites were done fairly and well - and the child born here by the ancient custom, just as young Osla was." Heimdall nodded toward the maiden archer, whose cheeks colored at what was evidently a comparison she despised. 

 

"They never...told you the tale?" With a look at Bombshell, Frost kept the amusement out of his voice by sheer force of will. After all, unlike the rest of her kind, Thrude had been nothing but helpful that day. "Porheps we should adjourn to some area where all Asgard cannot see, eh?" With a look of distaste on his divine features, perhaps at having to agree with the hated Comrade Frost, Heimdall agreed - signalling Osla Jonsdottir to join their little trio as escort. 

 

"I will send word to the Valkyries to expect your coming. All of you." 

 

Of course, the Norse gods were not typically ones for private conversation - they wound up conversing on the streets of Asgard itself, walking their way towards one of the barracks used by the Valkyries between their deployments. This was familiar territory for Dimitri, though not on such friendly terms - several of the passing godlings shot him a hard look, or even reached for a weapon, before the sight of Thrude and Osla told them they didn't need to worry. 

"<I hope they throw you to Hel by the->" As a bearded warrior made a rude gesture at Frost's expense before stalking off and away, Dimitri nodded. "Ah! They must think me to be slain by you, Lady Thrude. What a charming notion." 

 

"Ragnarok?" inquired Osla pointedly, evidently meaning something other than the end of the worlds as she glared at Frost. 

 

"Ah yes!" said Frost. He put his hands in his parka pockets before saying reflectively, "Dr. Greta Göessler, I knew her in days of Great Patriotic War. She was a..." he looked at Osla, then laughed nervously. "Hah-hah, nothing your lovely mother would want me to say before your ears, young one. In any event, she was Kantor's personal physician - and more besides. As war came, and Kantor fled like the zek he was, he sought to give his woman power to match his own. So he did the Ritual of the Twenty-Seven, you know the one, with the blood and the defilement, and she became a Chooser of the Slain." 

"But it was too late," said Osla,, a sneer in her voice. "The fool had done his rites after Heimdall sealed the Rainbow Bridge. His woman was now a child of Asgard - so here she came." 

[N/A]

"Nay, this is the first I have heard of this smaller horror."  Thrude shook her head and sighed.  "Mayhap it was thought a trivial matter, compared to the sheer scale of the slaughter for which that curs-ed, damn-ed Kantor did use my idiot father."  She turned briefly to Heimdall and nodded in acknowledgement.  "Thank ye, Uncle."

 

She turned back to Comrade Frost, so far the most forthcoming of the group.  "This 'Göessler,' once she joined our sisterhood, did she renounce her loyalty to Kantor and his Thule-wizards?  Or did she continue to do his foul bidding?  And what of the child?  Do either of them still live?"

[alderwitch]

Bombshell's look of wide-eyed innocence was at least partly feigned, although she truly hadn't heard most of the details. Still, she had long ago learned that it was almost always best to claim ignorance and see what information was volunteered. Even with trusted friends, that wasn't always the easiest habit to break. Plus, she was content to play audience to the show Frost was putting on. 

 

"Mmm," Talya agreed in the silence as she cocked her blonde head to one side, "For a nigh-immortal, Kantor was often impatient in those days. I, personally, preferred that to the long game. I'd really rather spend the next few centuries enjoying myself rather than having to go stomp on his agents every few years. I mean, it is enjoyable certainly but sometimes one would rather picnic without the ants, you know?"

 

Nothing in Talya's voice or manner gave away any genuine emotion towards the man that had slaughtered the majority of their team over half a century ago. She turned her head to the side and then added, her tone slightly chiding, "For some women, there weren't many choices besides bedding down with demons... willing participant, though, one assumes?"

[Avenger Assembled]

The group found Greta Göessler in the stables of the Valkyries, working alone amid the night-black horses of the Choosers of the Slain. She was filthy and had neither golden helmet nor armor, but when she turned to see them arrive there was something regal in the posture of the tall, blonde, muscular woman with the flashing blue eyes, for all that she was wearing her skirts bound up to muck out the stables and was setting down a rake as they entered. She was a fallen queen, perhaps, but in her carriage and square shoulders was a queen nonetheless. "Lady Thrude," she said, wiping the dung from her hands. "To what do I owe the honor of this visit?"