Chapter 16
16
The day after their sparring session, Natasha spent some time going over Friday’s security footage taken since the goddess had arrived. She wasn’t sure just what she was looking for, but something about the other woman made her instincts itch.
She’d also talked with Clint a couple of times, listening to his concerns and trying to understand just what he felt and why Luka upset him so much. He was acting similarly to while he was in therapy after the NYC incident of five years ago. Was it just what Thor had suggested? Magic?
Having discovered the goddess kept a journal, Widow managed to get her hands on it one day. But she was disappointed to learn she could not read it. Taking pictures of random pages, she snuck back to her own apartment.
She thought she might have luck in getting Friday to translate. But, no. The AI informed her that the runes were similar to the old Norse Elder Futhark, but not exactly the same. And the language was not Asgardian, but some other tongue Friday did not recognise.
Natasha wondered if Thor could read it, but she was unsure if she could find a way to ask. She knew he’d want to know where she had seen it and she couldn’t tell him the truth. Perhaps, if she mentioned accidentally noticing the journal when she’d had helped Luka back to their rooms, he’d accept that it was simple curiosity.
Nat cornered Thor in the communal living area one day. Stopping him before he left, she took him aside. “We need to talk. I have some questions for you. And, no, they won’t wait.” She looked seriously up at him. “You wanna go somewhere more private? You may not like having everyone hear this.”
Thor glanced at the other people lounging around. Lowering his head and his voice, he nearly whispered, “Does this concern my companion, Lady Widow?”
“Yes, I’m worried about her. Whyn’t we go to my room? It’s on the way to yours.” Nat drew him along with her into the elevator. “My floor, please, Friday.” She wasn’t giving Thor a chance to complain or baulk.
As soon as the door to her apartment swished shut, she started. “Luka is really not well, is she? And whatever is wrong, I believe is more psychological than physical. Though it seems whenever she has an ‘episode,’ it does affect her bodily. Isn’t it dangerous to her health? She should be under treatment, I think. You keep telling her to relax and not worry, not think about it, but that isn’t helping, Thor. If anything, it’s making her more stressed.”
“I’m only following the plan our healers have told me,” Thor sighed, sounding sad and pretty upset himself. “They tell me Luka should not try to remember; that the trauma she suffered was too great. We fear it might break her mind,” he sighed deeply. “Again.” He scrubbed his hands through his beard. “I could not live without her. I tried, once. It nearly destroyed me.”
Nat nodded, sympathetically putting her hand on Thor’s forearm. Time to pry a bit, she figured. While he’s vulnerable.
“Did you know she’s keeping a journal of some kind? I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s writing down everything she remembers. I saw it lying on the desk the other day. We had sparred and she answered a question I had about weapons. I didn’t mean to, but it triggered a memory. She got very upset, dizzy and complained of a headache. Luka asked me to help her back to your apartment where she could lie down.”
Nat watched Thor’s face closely. “What does ‘Ek eiga annar sýn’ mean, Thor? That was what was written at the top of the page. It was the only part Friday could translate. She said the rest was in another language.”
The god dropped his head into his hands. “Oh, Nornir! This is terrible! Just what Eir does not want.” He looked up at the Widow, “it means, ‘I had another vision’.”
“Who is she, really, Thor? Some of the things she has said are very confusing.” Natasha watched the god closely. His reaction just might give her suspicion more credence. If so, she had some serious thinking to do.
“I know you mean well, Lady Widow. I wish I could explain better, but I cannot. I must keep my Lady as she is or I will lose her. If she does return to her former self, my father will imprison her again... or just execute her. She has no one in Asgard nor here that would protect her. Only me. She is allowed to live only on my sufferance. If I abandon her, or she me, it will be her end. I cannot...” Thor sighed shakily, nearly a sob. “I love her too much.”
Shocked by his response and the depth of feeling expressed, Natasha let none of it show. She only knew of one other person Thor was so passionate about, and he was dead. Or so the big blond said. She didn’t think he had faked the pain she’d seen in his eyes when he told everyone the story of how his brother died saving his life.
If Luka was whom Widow suspected, the goddess had no memory of her life before he ‘died.’ She truly was a different person. What do I do now? Makes no sense to punish the body if the mind is gone. And I’d only be hurting Thor. How desperate is the poor guy to try and keep any part of the one person he’s loved so deeply and for so long.