Legendary

The narration quietly identifies key players and units in both armies, continuing like play-by-play for a ball game. I felt dread again as the spill of sullen darkness like magma flows over the Bifrost bridge toward us. Their war banners flutter fitfully in the breeze, the deep drums mark their advance. A quick look at our army shows us immobile, barely seeming to breathe, as Sutr leads his forces up the rise toward us. Then the first show of nerves by the filmmaker: the camera cut swiftly to note the arrival of the ghostly ship bearing the dishonored dead. Hel was at the helm, guiding the ship as it sailed over the ground. Lines were flung over the side and villains of the Nine Realms swarmed over and down, joining the advance against our defenders. The sun shone bright and strong on us. Odin holds up Gungnir and the siege engines grind to life, flinging loads of projectiles that fragment on impact, drawing out screams of agony from the enemy. Sutr slows and halts a decent distance from us. He and Odin regard each other, then Odin signals: Sutr then hails his archers in response. I hadn't seen that the first time, and it might help explain why their casualty count was higher than ours from the arrows. We were more prepared.

The camera zooms in and you can see the hail of arrows embedding in our shields or bouncing off. After the arrows cease, we bring our shields down and break off the arrows. Then the berserkers come forward, pushing us to the side; the first disharmony in our ranks. They mill around in front of Odin, who gives the command to fire javelins. Fortunately, my back is toward the filmmaker since I'm righthanded and she's to the left. A quick pan of Sutr's forces show a few fire giants fallen, more wounded. Then the berserkers scream.

It still makes my hair stand straight up. The filmmaker almost drops the camera, recovering it with a muttered "fuck." The invaders shriek back, but the sound is higher and lighter than I remember, less fear-inducing than the berserkers. The filmmaker mutters "oh, Jesus," as the berserkers rip into the Muspell lines, and it's a prayer for protection rather than a curse. The filmmaker can't quite believe what she's seeing, for the camera swings between the valkyries proceeding to the rear and the berserkers ripping armor off, sinking fingers into flesh and tearing; the camera mostly stays with the berserkers. You can tell when the first of us launch, though, because the camera turns to us abruptly. "What the fuck?" she breathes as the camera focuses on us. You can see us circling, getting altitude and speed until we're all in the air, then the camera tracks us as we arrow for the front, a roar of approval in our wake. You can see one of the lead valkyries dive at Sutr, drawing first blood, raising another roar from the Asgardians. Then the valkyries break their formation to avoid projectiles, and disappear from view.

Now there are things I hadn't seen. After the valkyries deploy, the generals come forward and receive their orders. The gods are the shock troops and crash into the vanguard of the enemy. I see Steve get his orders and jog back to a unit of the royal guard. Bucky receives his orders and follows suit. The generals report to their units and begin their work. Some filter into the trees, but the mass of them advance, each with a section of the line to engage. Thor leads a group to intercept Sutr. Then the serious screaming begins as being on both sides get injured or killed. Slow or fast. The noise is incredible, and a coppery tang perfuses the air. Then the camera sees specks in the air and zooms in to see the returning valkyries. And a valkyrie falls from the sky. Brynhildr. The spear that punched into her is sickeningly visible.

You can see me take another slice of Sutr, then we landed around Odin. You can see we're not as immaculate as when we left; there's blood on us, ours and theirs, but our armor is still in good shape. Audio is turned up to the max, and I can hear Odin again, receiving our reports, sending runners to adjust the line of battle. Then the cry of Fenrir. Guttural, primal, savage. All our heads snap up, and an expression of resignation crosses Odin's face. Eir goes aloft, flies away, returns. Her face is frozen as she reports on the advance of the great wolf. Odin gives us our last orders. There's a pause I don't remember before we salute him again and turn for the rear. I can see me detour and come back laden with weapons. I've got the quivers on my back, a bow too, and my hands are filled with spears. Once more the valkyries streak up the field, following Odin, before one throws spears at the wolf, and they fly on.

For the first time I see Odin's final moments. The clash with the massive wolf, foam dripping from its jaw, is brutal and short. Horse and rider work in concert, and Odin is thrown from Sleipnir's back when the horse is brought down with a deep slash of long sharp claws raking across his belly, gutting him. Odin screams in rage and inflicts grave wounds on the wolf; the Asgardian royal guard closes in to assist as Fenrir snaps his jaw shut on Odin and shakes him like a toy. You can see the precise moment that the life leaves his body. He flings Odin aside and bats Christy, one of the youngest valkyries, out of the air with his massive paw. The guards howl and strike the weakened wolf. Even with almost two dozen men on the attack, seventeen of them join Odin in death before Fenrir draws his last breath. I barely register the filmmaker cursing softly. The camera skitters over the battlefield as the fighting settles into a routine. There I am, bowstring around the neck of a fire giant, my wings beating hard as I pull back, the flesh surrendering to the force. I fall back as the bowstring slides through flesh and blood fountains out in a sick gush. I remember this one; the bow string got caught in the spine and I had to abandon it. The filmmaker is reduced to whimpering as the camera cuts to other valkyries wielding their swords from the air, units of guardsmen working together to defeat the fire giants or those from Niflheim. Everywhere you look is chaos and blood and fire as Sutr lights the forest with his sword. Acrid smoke joins the overwhelming smell of blood and the lesser smell of shit from bowels that released at death. Baldur's dogs dart in and out, bringing down invaders on their own and ripping them apart or helping the guard. The camera jolts around, catching moments here or there but not following anything through to the conclusion anymore.

Valkyries still circle, but you can tell we're getting tired. I see Irene go down, dashed out of the sky by one of Sutr's lieutenants. And more are brought down by projectiles. Including me. I see the arrow rip into my wing and my crash landing. Iron Man appears, using his repulsors against the fire giants before landing somewhere out of camera range. Then a few winged horses take the sky. The filmmaker inhales sharply. "What are they--where did they get--" The filmmaker finds a new branch of the tree and films the battle already in progress: Thor against the massive serpent. The track of the snake is clear; its venom kills all vegetation where it lands. "What on earth is he wearing?" The filmmaker sounds baffled at the sight of Thor in his Tyvek suit. Then the valkyries join the battle and I see the effect of our diversions from a different angle. We draw the serpent off balance by raising its center of gravity as it tries to strike at us, and Thor darts in, a vicious backswing of his sword slicing halfway through its body. Then he called the lightning to finish off the monster.

The camera follows us over to Sutr. Unbelievably, you can see little Eira following us too before the camera outpaces her. All hell breaks loose. I'm dumped from my horse, but fortunately for my family, you can't see my landing. The fire and smoke helps to obscure the fighting. Individual battles fade in and out of view. There's an awful second where you can see some fire giants kicking me around like a soccer ball, wings obviously broken, before it was mercifully veiled by the smoke again. Freyr slashes his sword through Sutr's abdomen, vulnerable from damage to his armor, and it looks like Sutr is mortally wounded. Then Freyr, Sutr's equal for a brief time, is slain by the last act of the dying giant, decapitated. His death whips the remaining Asgardians into a fury, and the last fire giants go down under their swords. I become aware of the filmmaker mixing curses with what she can remember of prayers. Right now she's stumbling through the Lord's Prayer, soon to butcher the Hail Mary.

There's a brief silence, oppressive, as we realize that there are no more foes on the field. Then there's a guttural roar of victory, a moment to savor the impossible, before our forces start checking the fallen. The few sons of Muspell who live soon don't, and you can see their corpses turn to coals and crumble into ash. Cloaks are ripped up for bandages, and teams of fighters turn into corpsmen, taking the wounded back to the citadel. I see Magni and Modi hauling ass carrying someone in Magni's cloak. You can't see me, but there's a growing bloodstain on the bottom. They join the stream of those going to meet the healers who have come out of the citadel to do triage.

The camera leaves the wounded and catches up with other citizens of Asgard who are coming to help with the wounded, put out the fires, and clear the battlefield. The narrator explains quietly that the activity continues through the night, and we're only shown snippets. The sun comes up on the smoking ruins of the forest and a large portion of Vigrior and the helpers who have worked through the night. The honored dead of Asgard are taken off to the lake in the distance, where they will be placed in boats and immolated.

The camera slowly pans past the carnage of the battlefield to the undamaged field, the blades of grass heavy with dew, then fades out gently.

The brief credits roll, and the lights come up.

I swipe at my cheeks, grateful that my makeup doesn't run, and take deep breaths to steady myself. Before I can do anything more, the filmmaker stands and turns around. "Thank you for attending this viewing of "Ragnarok," a powerful film that explores the meaning of myth and the compelling nature of belief." She draws breath to blather on further, but a man in a nice suit comes to the front of the theater.

"You Melanie Kipp?" She smiles at him.

"I am. I--"

"You've been served," he interrupts her, shoving a bundle of papers at her before turning and leaving. Her jaw drops, and she looks down at the document and up at his back. This unusual activity seems to put the evening to an end, and people start to stand. I pry myself out of the seat but before I can do anything else, my parents are there. My mom grabs me tight, wiping tears off her face too. My dad just shakes his head and joins the hug before gently disengaging my mom and leading her away. I'm not fooled, though, there's another conversation in my future.

I find the other valkyries, and we cling together for moral support. Then we huddle, talking quietly. "I didn't remember it being that bad," Dagny mutters, and our heads nod in unison.

"She's looking over here," Serena observed, and we all whipped around to glare at her. She has a look of dawning recognition on her face, and it takes all my self-restraint not to go over to her and threaten to rip out her spine. Or maybe just rip out her spine.

Loki joins us. "Are you all right?" he asks us all, looking at us with compassion.

"I didn't ever think I'd have to see that again," Carol said. Serena puts her arm around her supportively. "To see Odin die like that--"

"I didn't see that when it happened," I say, and heads nod again.

"He believed he would fall and did not want the valkyries to see," Thor said, joining us. I have to scrub my cheeks again. "I have filed a 'lawsuit' to halt distribution of this 'film.' It was made illegally. The battle of Ragnarok is not to be gaped at, and certainly not to be profited from."

"You could see our faces clearly," Carol said tightly. "With facial recognition, our identities will be out there right after the first public showing."

"We can join the lawsuit," I said grimly. Thor beckoned the lawyer over and we got his card along with an appointment first thing the next morning.

Bucky, Emma, and Steve joined us. The men looked furious, and Emma was white-faced. She'd been in the rear the whole time and hadn't seen the carnage as it had happened. Our enlarged group glared at the filmmaker again and she started to look worried.

"It's bad enough that this film was ever made, but you can identify so many people," Bucky fretted. "Alex and the other women are going to be looked at like freaks if this is released. It won't matter whether or not they currently have the wings." Arrangements were made for them to join the meeting tomorrow.

"There's an injunction to keep her from dumping the film on the internet or making it public in any way," the lawyer said briskly. "It keeps a lid on it until the matter can be heard in court. I have spoken with her personally to be sure she understands that."

Daniel joined us, looking disturbed. "She'll violate the injunction if she's worried enough about the lawsuit," he said. "This film will make her name in film, it's the career opportunity of a lifetime. But only if it's seen. It'll probably be worth any amount of fines to get it out to an audience." He looked around. "I'm sorry. This new cut is a lot more intense and detailed than the first one I was shown." All I could do was look at him bleakly.

I had a restless night, and I was exhausted when we met at the lawyer's office at seven. They other valkyries looked to be in the same condition and I have rarely been more grateful than I was for the coffee than an associate brought in for us. That tipped me to the importance of our lawsuit; a paralegal or legal secretary usually gets the coffee, not a lawyer. Legally, it was going to be an epic case, the first one involving the rights of an interstellar entity. It was probably going to go to the Supreme Court. Looked like this film was going to be career-making for more than one person.

The lawyers tastefully didn't dwell on that, and got down to our expectation of privacy. They believed that we did have a reasonable expectation of privacy since the battle was never meant to be recorded by either side and it took place on a completely different planet where most Midgardians were not allowed to set foot. Those who did enjoyed the confidence of Asgard's rulers and a mutual trust.

"I have to be honest, however," the lead lawyer said, rubbing his eyes. He was Clark Andrews, the lead partner of the well-respected firm of Andrews, Early, and Lee. "This film is going to be released, one way or another, legally or not. The filmmaker's ambition and the money that can be made from it will make it attractive to distributors, and I have heard a rumor that a number of prints of the film have been made and are ready to be shown. All she has to do is put them into the hands of theater owners, and the rest..." He shook his head. "Realistically, the most we can do is set precedent for the future and try to contain the damage with this film." He shook his head. "I'm sorry we can't do more," he said to us. "We talk about the law being a sword and a shield, but seeing that film last night made me very aware that this is just a vague metaphor. A real sword and shield would be much more useful."

"And this is pro forma, but we must officially caution you against attempting a more direct personal solution to the problem," Amelia Early said briskly, sweeping all the complainants with a gaze. "I didn't see the movie, but from what Clark said, all of you are formidable warriors who could cause a lot of damage with very little effort. You may be served with restraining orders if she figures out who you are, and I would advise you not to fight them. Just stay away from Ms Kipp. Don't even make so much as eye contact with her if you see her. Don't give her a reason to make this into a public spectacle."

"There is an emergency hearing this afternoon," Kim Lee said with a sigh. "We have amended our filing to include the complainants Ann Doe, Betty Doe, Cathy Doe, and Donna Doe," she nodded to us. "Given the practical difficulties of suppressing this film as discussed by Clark, we need to focus on what remedies we will be asking. Amelia and I have only heard Clark's description of the content of the recording, however, and one thing I need to understand is that there is the implication that you ladies actually have wings?" The four of us looked at each other uncomfortably. "As our clients" we'd signed representation agreements prior to the start of the meeting and I'd paid the retainer for all of us "whatever is said in this meeting is privileged and confidential."

"We used to," Serena said reluctantly, after a pause. "But because we got our powers directly from Odin, when he died, our wings went away."

"I still have mine," I said after debating whether to lie by omission.

"What?" Lee said, startled.

"The mechanism works differently for me. I still have mine." The three lawyers, plus a couple more associates looked astounded and excited.

"May we see?" Early asked, and after another hesitation, took off my suit coat and reluctantly extended my wings into an electrified silence. Well, electrified from the lawyers, anyway. It was no big deal for the rest of us.

"My god," breathed Andrews.

"You can see why I don't want it to get out that I still have these," I said pointedly. "You people are looking at me like I'm a freak. Imagine what others will do." The lawyers looked only slightly abashed.

"Why are some of the feathers different colors?" one of the associates asked, and I put the wings away self-consciously.

"The little gray feathers are all that's left after the battle," Dagny said in a hard voice. "We had to imp the rest on." That sparked an explanation of feather care. I was asked if they could see the wings again, and they moved the feathers gently to see the scar tissue underneath. When I'd had enough, the wings went away again and everybody sat down.

"My niece is not a freak," Bucky said in a dead flat voice that was starting to acquire the tinge of a Russian accent. The lawyers looked at him nervously as he patted my hand where it rested on the table. The interesting organometallic substance of his left hand caught the light in the conference room.

"We understand," Andrews said to him. "And I especially want to warn you to keep your distance from the documentarian. Your reputation is going to hurt you if anything happens to her." Uncle Bucky nodded curtly.

The meeting was steered into safer channels, namely what we wanted as a remedy. Thor wanted all recordings and copies destroyed, and alternatively, jail time for trespass and illegal entry into a sovereign nation, and forfeiture of all profits from the film.

"What do you ladies want?" Andrews asked us politely. We'd put our heads together as Thor made suggestions that tended to end with the filmmaker fried by lightning.

"We want all frames that show any living valkyries excised from the final version of the film and all of those images destroyed from all recordings, copies, or any images taken from the recordings," I said in a steely tone. "Additionally, you can see my dog in a few seconds of the film. Those have to go too." The other valkyries nodded.

"You have one of those dogs?" Andrews said, sounding a little faint.

"Yes. She adopted me after the battle. She's still quite young, and she needs to be protected," I said with resolve. The other valkyries added their support to this.

"Additionally, I want damages for emotional distress," Serena said, scowling. "I didn't sleep last night, and I'm going to have to go back into therapy for this. She knew it would be upsetting for people to watch. That's why she's so excited. Fucking ghoul."

"Oh, that's a good addition," one of the associates said, scribbling something down. "Negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress--"

"Get on it," Lee said, and the associate ran out of the room. Other associates received assignments to look up case law and precedents and left.

"We're going to rewrite the law on privacy and free speech," Lee muttered with relish, nodding to us and leaving to start rewriting the complaint to include our grievances.

"And what do Captain America and the Winter Soldier want?" Andrews asked. "Because there's an argument to be made that you're public figures and have a reduced expectation of privacy."

"I disagree with that," Steve said. Andrews raised an eyebrow. "We were Avengers, but that was before we died. We've been leading private lives since our return. We're not superheroes anymore." Bucky agreed.

"We're going to be writing new law on returnee's rights," Early said, and got up to leave. "Fortunately, this is just a hearing on the injunction. We've got time to polish this up for the filing of the formal complaint."

"All right," Andrews said. "It would also help me if I had a better understanding of Ragnarok, what it was supposed to do, how it was supposed to happen, whose fault it was." Loki related the prophesy for him. Even with full details, it didn't take too long. Andrews finished his notes, then looked up, puzzled. "So why didn't this happen?"

Loki grinned at me. I sighed and related my conversations with the Norn. Then I had to explain who the Norn were and that their relationship to Yggdrasil was. And the importance of the World tree.

"They sound like witches," he muttered. "Frankly, I'm uncomfortable with the supernatural aspects of all this." I rolled my eyes.

"It's just magic," I said crisply. "And magic is just science we don't understand yet." Thor grinned at me. "The Norn were originally frost giants, they're not bizarre new life forms."

"But haven't they changed during their association with this tree?"

"They have," I acknowledged. "But that's an evolution, not a creation. For gods sake, they like chocolate. How weird can they be?"

"Pretty weird," Serena said, her voice bubbling with mirth. "You didn't tell him about the swans."

"Swans?" Andrews asked warily.

"Yeah," I said in resignation. "They don't like me. Skuld keeps them as pets or something. They associate me with the creation of the feather capes that are a symbol of the valkyries. Apparently she made the original cape with their feathers. They hold a grudge." Andrews rubbed his eyes. "One bit me," I volunteered the information. "They're pretty hostile. If you see them, you should back away, put your hands in your pockets for safety. But they also made a big fuss and got me treatment after the battle, so I guess maybe I owe them." I thought about that briefly. "Next time I go visit the Norn, maybe I should bring some swan chow or something." The other valkyries burst out laughing.

"This is not a matter for levity," Andrews chided us. "If that even happened."

I scowled at him. "Oh, it's real. I have the x-ray to prove it. Believe it or not. The facts don't change regardless of your personal belief." I leaned back and crossed my arms. He looked at me cautiously and grunted, moving on.

When we finally got out of the meeting, I found Damian waiting at the curb with a pod. Although he offered to see the other valkyries home, they had other destinations and scattered. Inside the pod were heaps of flowers: iris (wisdom and valor), gladioli (flower of the gladiators), white heather (protection), lots of ferns (shelter), red carnations (admiration), and a box that contained a head of garlic (courage, strength) and packets of flower seeds: nasturtiums (victory in battle, conquest), white poppies (consolation), violets (watchfulness). There was a box I'd almost overlooked of red rosebuds (pure and lovely). I snapped off some leaves and handed them to him (you may hope). Then I looked back at the box with the garlic and seeds and started to laugh. He joined me, and helped me carry everything up to my apartment when we got there. After Eira was greeted ( he had a nice meaty bone for her in a cold bag) I thanked him for the flowers, then put my arms around him and dropped my head to his shoulder. He sighed and put his arms around me, then asked how the meeting went. "Oh, my darling," he said. "The things that happen to you."

He said that if I wanted to take a nap, he'd wake me up in time for lunch before the hearing, so I pried myself on the bed and fell in face down. I felt Eira settle in with me and went to sleep I woke up to find stew on the stove and all the flowers in vases around the apartment, with the rosebuds by the bed. I smiled at him, and Eira and I got up for lunch. During the meal, he offered to take Eira to the park after they dropped me off at the courthouse for the hearing. Eira looked hopeful, so I thanked him for his thoughtfulness, and for lunch and fixing all the flowers.

"The garlic was a bit much," I said, then grinned.

"I couldn't find any garlic in bloom," he said, shrugging. "And you can put it to good use." He offered to do the dishes while I got ready, and I accepted with alacrity before grooming and dressing in a black suit with white blouse. I slipped into a hoody to help obscure my face once inside the courthouse. As we walked out to the pod, I noticed that Eira's back now came about a third of the way up my thigh.

"You're growing, baby," I said to her, and she yipped and her tail wagged.

"How tall will she get?" Damian asked.

"Her mom is a little bigger than Torburn, her dad about the same size. So she's got some growing to do." I waved goodbye as the pod scooted away from the courthouse, then went in. After passing through the scanner, I flipped my hood up and found the courtroom, waiting for the judge to call our case. I joined the lawyers and Thor; the other valkyries and my uncles joined us shortly. All of us had hoodies. Melanie Kipp and her lawyers arrived just as the case before us wrapped up. They vacated, and the bailiff called us forward. Our lawyers explained the situation, adding on a gag order to protect our privacy. As expected, the lawyers for Kipp argued strenuously against both the gag order and the injunction against promoting or releasing the film. The judge heard both sides, asking pointed questions of both, and affirmed the injunction against the film and granted the gag order, expanding it to prohibit Kipp or her associates from trying to identify us for any purpose.

"The issues that will be raised are real, novel, and substantial," she said to Kipp and her lawyers. "I will not have you undermining the integrity of the legal process for personal gain. You may not promote or distribute your film in any manner, in any forum, until the matter is litigated."

"Your Honor, that could take years," one of the lawyers objected. "Interest in the subject matter is high now. My client stands to lose a lot of money from the delay."

"She should have thought about that before sneaking into what is at least a foreign country illegally," the judge said crisply. Then she turned to our side and approved restraining orders against all complainants. Kipp smirked over at us. I restrained myself from flipping her off and looked forward with a bored expression.

"Your Honor, I object. My clients were members of the armed forces of Asgard, but they are not uncontrollably violent. They have full faith and confidence in the legal system and are committed to having their day in court." The judge hesitated, and amended the restraining orders to expire after three weeks, which she felt would give us all plenty of time to cool down. The smirk dropped off the filmmaker's face and came up on mine. Deadlines for filing the formal complaint were discussed; the judge said that we couldn't use the usually ponderous legal system to drag out the lawsuit and took input from the lawyers about how long it would take to file, then set a date. It was sooner than our lawyers would like, but a lot longer than Kipp's lawyers were pressing for, so I guess it was a good compromise. Then our hearing was over. "I expect that they might do some forum shopping to get this heard sooner, so we need to be prepared for that. She might go on the offensive and sue us first, so the situation is fluid and we need to be prepared," Early warned us. I sighed when I was on the sidewalk. The pod containing Eira and Damian appeared. My uncles said they'd call later, and after hugs, the valkyries separated to do their own thing.

I filled Damian and Eira in on the proceedings. "I need to get a security system for my apartment that shows my coming and goings. Just in case anything happens to that woman, I need to be able to alibi myself." I'd also offer to get ones for the other valkyries. We needed to be smart and careful.

"Well, in the interest of an alibi, there's time for a massage," Damian suggested. "And I'd like to take you and Eira out to dinner." My pup perked up, so I agreed to it, and soon we were in a spa, and my tight muscles were getting pummeled. Eira curled up in the corner, having no interest in this part of the plan, but brightened up when it was time for dinner. We went to a French restaurant with a heated patio for dogs and their people, and had a pleasant, relaxing dinner. He drove us home and escorted us to the door.

"Thank you for today, Damian," I said, and brushed my lips over his.

"My pleasure, Alex," he said, grinning. He gave Eira a farewell skritch, and turned back to the pod after we were safe inside the building.