Refuge

Idunn slept down the hall from him, in his home. Another surprise. She kept waiting on him to grow weary of her and pawn her off on one of his subjects. She’d slipped between the warm fur sheets and slept through the night, for the first time since leaving Asgard. She dreamed of nothing.

The blazing sunlight rising over the peaks woke her, but she rolled over, burying her face in the pillows with a groan. Despite her rest, Idunn was exhausted down to her bones, in her soul. A knock at her door, however, had her rolling out of bed in loaned pajamas, grasping for Halvor desperately. Every sudden sound was a threat.

“Idunn?” M’Baku’s voice came through the door. “Princess Shuri wanted to meet with you in an hour and a half.”

She yanked the door open, her sword still dangling loosely at her side. M’Baku looked down at it, then back up to her face, taking in Idunn’s half-flattened hair and tired eyes. He offered a stack of folded clothes: her armor and cape, freshly washed, and she sheepishly accepted it.

“Thank you.” She muttered, casting her eyes down. She felt stupid— she wasn’t in danger right now. She was just on edge, balancing precariously on the tip of a sword, any misstep ready to take her down.

When he spoke again, his voice was gentle, echoing her thoughts. “You’re not in danger here. No harm will come to you while you’re under my protection and that of my people.”

“I know. I’m sorry. I’m just… on edge.” She replied, shifting her weight from one foot to the other uneasily. She failed to mention, however, that the edge seemed to vanish, or at least diminish, around him.

“I understand.” He said kindly and gestured to the door on the other side of the room. “There’s the bathroom. If you need anything, please do not hesitate to ask me.” He turned to go.

“M’Baku?” Her voice was small and quiet, and he turned back to her. “Are you coming, too?”

His mouth twisted into a small frown. “Unfortunately, I have business to attend to with my tribe. And I’m not so sure the Princess would want me in her lab.” He said almost ruefully. Idunn tried to hide her disappointment and nodded, plastering the tiniest smile at the corner of her lips.

“I will see you later today, though, eh?” He asked, a hint of hopefulness coloring his words. She grinned more widely, more genuinely, nodding once more, and was rewarded with a small smile from him in return before he walked down the hall and out of sight. She watched him go with a small pang that she pressed down and out of mind.

The bathroom held the same air of understated luxury as the rest of his home. The shower was hot and inviting, pounding her fatigued muscles into submission. If not for the hour and a half time constraint, she was certain she would have stayed in there all day. As it was, Idunn was nearly late, reveling all the options of water pressure and temperature, shampoos, soaps, oils, and scents. She forced herself out after forty-five minutes, wrapped in a fluffy towel, and dried as quickly as she could, her dark skin glistening and moisturized.

Much better than hiding out in a cave in the mountains.

Idunn was sure she could have dressed in any number of clothes in the dressers of her room, provided by the kindness of her host, but she was glad M’Baku had correctly guessed that she was more comfortable in her armor. She left her cape behind, not wanting to appear any more out of place than she already did, but didn’t hesitate to strap Halvor into place. The flask Valkyrie had passed her before the funeral sat on the dresser, and she hesitated for only a moment before stuffing it in her armor at her hip, beneath the sword. She wasn’t sure why, but something told her to bring it.

A vehicle was waiting outside, and the transport to the cliffside laboratory was breathtakingly swift and beautiful. The woman flying it introduced herself as Okoye, the General of the Dora Milaje.

She introduced herself as Idunn, only Idunn. Any titles she once held were obsolete now; master blacksmith and armorer, keeper of the Brenna Loga Smida*, Einherjar captain, and member of the Asgardian Royal Guard. Now she was just… refugee. Reminded of that, she was silent for most of the ride, something she was sure Okoye interpreted as rudeness, as she was a bit colder to Idunn as she led her off the hovercraft and into the lab.

Shuri met them just outside the doors, bouncing in place with pent up excitement. “Idunn!” She grabbed the Aesir’s hand, pulling her inside after saluting to the General, who saluted back and headed off in the direction she came, clearly glad to be done with her escort duties. It would have hurt, but Idunn’s tolerance for pain was so much higher now that it barely registered.

Her eyes grew large as she took in the lab; everything gleamed in shades of white, silver, and glowing, electric blue. Graphic artwork adorned the spiral ramp in the center of the room, and the walls themselves didn’t seem to be walls at all. “Are we in a cave?” Idunn wondered aloud, accidentally cutting the Princess off in her explanation about an invention she had recently completed.

“Of sorts. We are actually underground.” She gestured to the wall of glass that Idunn had not far looked beyond. Now that she did, she saw a large, open cave, the walls glittering with blue-chrome metal. “That is vibranium; it powers our nation. It’s the strongest material on Earth and we use it to shape everything around us.”

“It’s beautiful.” Idunn remarked, pushing down yet another pang of homesickness. This was not her forge. “I’ve heard of vibranium, but never worked with it.”

Shuri beamed and continued to drag her around the lab, chatting excitedly about the gadgets she was working on, the ones she was improving, and the things she had planned. She spoke so quickly, the blacksmith’s head spun just trying to keep up. “I’ve already shown Dr. Banner around, and I could barely get him to leave. I’m setting up his own section in the lab to run any test on vibranium he wants to. He’s more interested in the properties, but I want to make things, you know? I’m as much a gadgeteer as a scientist.” After pulling her to various tables and workstations, Shuri gestured to the sword strapped to Idunn’s hip. “Will you tell me about that one?”

Idunn pulled it out, tapping the side of the arrowhead pommel twice so that Halvor pulsed with rainbow colored energy. She didn’t miss how the pair of Dora guards at the door tensed at the sight of it, their spears shifting ever so slightly in their grips in unspoken symmetry.

Shuri squealed in delight, however. “What is it?” Her hand hovered over it as Idunn held it horizontally between the two of them.

“His name is Halvor.” She murmured, sighing as she ran a single finger over the knots etched painstakingly into the fuller. Halvor hummed under her fingertips, the metal warming pleasantly. “He’s fought at my side for centuries.”

She furrowed her brow. “Centuries? Idunn, how old are you?”

“Much older than you, Princess.” In Midgardian years, Idunn supposed she appeared to be in her early twenties, but she was well over twelve hundred years old. She carefully placed the short sword in the Princess’s waiting palms.

“How did you forge it?” She asked, turning it over carefully, seemingly disappointed when her poking and prodding did not lead to anything.

“I was the keeper of the Asgardian forges.” Idunn recalled, a small smile touching her lips and tugging the corners upward. “It’s made of enchanted Uru, and only responds to me. I can channel my magic best through it, as it took an incredible amount of magic and energy simply to shape it.”

“What do you mean, you channel your magic through it?” Princess Shuri asked curiously. “Like a magic wand of some kind?”

Idunn snorted. “Hardly. May I demonstrate?” Shuri held the blade out to her, handle first, and she took it back, not bothering to resheath it.

The Princess led her to a row of mannequins and pointed. “There.”

“Eh, it’s a bit… destructive.” She said, looking at the dummies. “I do not wish to break your lab.”

“You won’t break my lab.” The Princess said scornfully. “Everything in here is made of the strongest metal on Earth. Come on, show us what you’ve got.” Despite her words, the Dora near the door looked nervous at the mention of ‘breaking the lab’.

Idunn took careful aim at the center dummy, wearing a black suit with silver teeth at the collar, and let out a small wave of her weakest fire magic, flowing from her center, up your arm, and through the blade, exiting the side as a flash of red energy as she slashed across it diagonally.

The mannequin flew halfway across the room before skidding to a stop, bursting into flames, and burning for a few seconds before disintegrating on the spot into a pile of black ashes. Idunn blinked in surprise. At least, she’d thought it was her weakest magic. Once it had pulsed through her, it felt… different.

She turned back to Princess Shuri, biting her lip at the slack jawed look upon her face. “Sorry…”

“That was my newest suit!” She exclaimed, running over to the dust and sifting a bit through her fingers.

“I’m so sorry, I really tried to be gentle.” Idunn apologized profusely, sheathing the blade.

She waved off the apologies. “It’s fine. I will have to improve.” Still, she looked vaguely shaken at just how easily the Asgardian had taken down what should have been the strongest suit of armor on the planet. “I have been working on some new sword prototypes as well since you arrived.” She led Idunn to a solid wall and tapped one of the beads on her bracelet. The panel opened, revealing a pair of black swords that left her stumbling a few steps backward.

“I based them on some things I found from Norse mythology. Do you like them? They’re obsidian and vibranium alloy.” Shuri continued, completely unaware of the edges of Idunn’s vision darkening as the room spun around her. She pulled one from its display, tracing the strange, curvy shape with her index finger. “We’re more partial to spears than swords here, but I think they’re nice.”

Idunn was going to vomit. It was a necrosword. If she had not pulled it from his body and destroyed it yourself, she would have been certain it was the exact same one Hela had slain her brother with only days before. “I… I need to go.”

Shuri frowned, holding it out hilt first. “Are they not accurate? I can redo them.”

“No!” Idunn shouted, louder than she intended. Vaguely, she was aware of the guards moving toward her, but she simply turned on her heel and ran, needing to get as far away from that sword and the memories it triggered as she could.

Unfortunately, she could only outrun one of them.

Even as she made it out of the lab and back into the field outside, she felt trapped. The fresh air helped, but she continued to sprint blindly, not stopping until she found herself surrounded by oddly colored flowers and tall hedges. The former Captain sank to one knee, panting, and dug her fingernails into her palms, the sharp pain momentarily clearing her mind. She was too broken to even cry.

Idunn fumbled for her own sword at her waist, seeking the familiar comfort of the hilt and something to hold onto as she fell to pieces. Instead, she felt the flask, still slipped beneath her armor, hard against her hip. She didn’t even hesitate before yanking it out, unscrewing the top, and draining half of the millennia old liquor in one go, coughing as it went down hard. The burn was a welcome distraction, though, and she sucked down the rest without thinking.

Breathing hard, she nearly tossed the flask aside before noticing it had refilled itself. Upon closer examination, the Aesir realized she could feel Asgardian magic pulsing softly through the Uru container. It was enchanted.

Already feeling the effects, she took a slower, more measured gulp, the heat spreading across her chest pleasantly. She looked around for the first time since she’d run in, and found their strangely spiked palace towering over her. Tall, flowering hedges surrounded Idunn on every side, along with trees and hard packed dirt paths. This must be their royal gardens.

She wasn’t sure if she were even allowed to be there, but the alcohol was beginning to cloud her judgement, reducing the blacksmith to more basic instincts. And right now, she wanted to look at the flowers.

So she did.

The garden was set up as some kind of maze, and she touched the vibrant petals gently as she passed, marveling at their sweet scent. It was like nothing else she had ever seen. Nothing she had ever heard of.

The ground seemed to sway beneath her feet, sudden and dizzying. Idunn spotted a stone bench, intricately carved and beautiful, a few feet away, and sank onto it gratefully. The realization that she had drunk entirely too much was slowly dawning.

“Well, that was smart, Idunn.” She slurred to herself. “Get fucked up first thing in the morning after offending the people who took you into their home. Fuckin’ dumbass.” She dug the toe of her boot into the dirt.

What would Kari say if he could see her now? She was a mess. She could almost feel his eyes on her, disappointed and worried. “That’s right, brother.” She mumbled to him. “I lived, and this is how I’m wasting that life.”

She choked on a sob. “I just… I keep wondering if I could have saved you. If I had forged you a better weapon, better armor, enchanted it better, maybe I could have protected you.” Idunn wiped at her eyes. “And now I’m on Midgard, and everything is so different, but so much is the same. I miss home. I miss the forges. I miss you.”

Unaware of the figure sitting down next to her on the bench, she continued to ramble on to nothing. “I want to hate it here, but everything is so beautiful. Even the people. I’m so stupid, Kari. I can’t fall in love with a Midgardian man. I can’t but I am anyway.” She tried to take another swig from the flask and was startled when a hand plucked it from her grasp before it reached her lips. Turning her head as quickly as she could only resulted in another wave of dizziness, and once her eyes focused, she saw Valkyrie draining it instead.

“Yeah, I think you’ve had enough.” She said, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. Your surprise must have reflected in your drunken eyes because she chuckled at you. “Don’t worry. It’s not like I’m one to judge.”

Well, that was good, because Idunn immediately leaned over and vomited into the hedges. The nausea had snuck up on her, and when she finally lifted her head, Valkyrie was holding another flask out. Idunn recoiled, but she just laughed. “It’s just water, I promise.” She promised, seemingly sincere.

Idunn took it warily, but swished her mouth out and spat, feeling rude, before she took another sip, this one slower, measured.

“Better?” She asked, standing. Idunn tried to match her movements but sat heavily back on the bench before she made it halfway up. Valkyrie hauled her up by her elbows, and she nearly staggered into her. “Easy, easy.” She laughed, slinging Idunn’s left arm over her shoulder. “Let's get you cleaned up and back to the mountains, eh?”

Idunn stopped dead, dragging her heels in the dirt. “I caaan’t,” She slurred, clearly upset.

“Why's that, love?” Valkyrie was surprisingly patient with you.

“That’s where he lives, and I can’t seeeee him anymore.” Idunn whined, stomping her foot angrily.

“Yeah, okay, we’re going,” Valkyrie said, and in one fluid motion, slung the blacksmith over her shoulder, skillfully dodging her feet as she tried to kick her in the face. Evidently, that patience had run out. Idunn started to squirm in her grip before realizing every upside-down movement brought on another wave of dizziness.

“Nooooo, put me doooown,” She whined, closing her eyes to combat the spinning. She felt herself being loaded into some sort of vehicle, but didn’t open them even as it jolted with movement. The next thing she knew, she opened her eyes and found herself on M’Baku’s couch. She sat up sharply. “What the hell?” Idunn slurred, still drunk, but less so.

Valkyrie strode into the room. “Don’t worry, he’s still not back yet.” She handed the Asgardian another glass of water and, to her surprise, sat next to Idunn on the couch. “Go on, then, drink up.”

She sipped it slowly, training her eyes on her apparent minder. “Sorry you had to… see all that.” She mumbled after a few swallows.

Valkyrie waved it off. “Trust me, I understand. I’ve seen… and done much worse.” Valkyrie sighed deeply. “And… I’ve realized as of late that drinking your problems away to cope… to forget, it doesn’t help. But maybe talking does. I haven’t really tried that one yet.”

“If you want, ‘m all ears. And hands and arms and shoulders and eyes and… you know what I mean.” Idunn gestured vaguely to herself.

“That was more an invitation for you to talk to me instead of the empty air, but sure, sunshine, if that’s what it takes.” Valkyrie told he before taking a small swig of a flask she pulled from thin air. She saw the look Idunn gave her. “Oh. Habit, sorry.” She tossed it over her shoulder with a crash.

“Well, for starters, you do know my name isn’t actually Valkyrie, right?” She asked.

Idunn shrugged. “I figured once I saw your tattoo. You were a Valkyrie, right? What is your name?”

“Not just a Valkyrie, love. The Valkyrie. I was our fleet captain and leader.” She sighed again, this breath seeming to release some of the tension from her shoulders. “For so many years, I haven’t had a name… but it’s Brunnhilde.”

“Brunnhilde.” She repeated, liking the way it felt on her lips. “That’s beautiful. But why haven’t you told anyone?”

It was her turn to shrug. “Nobody asked. Until you.”

A warm fire lit through the blacksmith’s chest, and this time, it wasn’t from the alcohol. “Oh. Then I’m glad to be the first.”

“I am, too.” She squeezed Idunn’s wrist briefly, her warm fingers leaving her skin regretting their departure.

“Can I call you Hilde?” Idunn asked.

Her eyes softened, hurt brimming near the edges and threatening to spill over. “The last person to call me that… she’s been gone for centuries.”

“What was her name?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Brunnhilde snapped, but softened at Idunn's apologetic look. “Astrid.”

“Is that why you ran?”

“No. Yes. Not completely… gods.” She brushed at the corners of her eyes. “Hela killed her, same as Kari, whoever he was. I’m assuming.”

Idunn’s chest tightened. “Same as everyone else I love? Yeah.”

“Everyone?” Her eyebrows flicked upward.

“He was my little brother.” Idunn said, choosing to ignore her comment.

“I saw the swords. I told the Princess why you left in such a hurry. Or at least, why I thought you left.” The surprise must have reflected on Idunn’s face, because she elaborated: “She’d asked me to come in to see my Dragonfang. You ran right past me on your way out the door.”

Idunn hadn’t even seen her. “M’sorry,” She mumbled. Brunnhilde shrugged.

“Hela slaughtered my entire fleet. And I was the one to lead them in.” She laughed bitterly. “I should have died along with them. But she saved me.”

The way Brunnhilde pronounced the last sentence, she knew. “You loved her.”

“I did. I do.” She looked Idunn square in the eye. “And I do not regret a single moment I’ve spent loving her.”

Tears welled up in Idunn’s golden brown eyes. “But doesn’t it hurt?” She asked desperately, wanting to cling to anything she could before her self-control fell away completely.

“Like being burned alive by the Eternal Flame.” She confirmed, her gaze never wavering. “Being with her… the time we had, however short, was worth every second of pain I endured after.” With that, she stood, brushing away the lone, escaped tear from Idunn’s face with her thumb. “Just my advice.”

“You… you’re leaving?” She hiccupped.

“I think you have some things to think about… by yourself. Don’t let me crowd the thought process. And…” She tucked a stray lock behind your ear. “Yes.”

“Yes?” Idunn was confused.

“You can call me Hilde.” A brief brush of her lips over her forehead, and she was gone with her next blink.

Bit by bit, Idunn sobered up, head and heart aching as one. Her visions were gone, replaced by a whirlpool of thoughts spinning through her mind at top speed. Could she really have fallen in love with this man so quickly? It was ridiculous. Still, she felt an extraordinary pull to him, so much so that everything else seemed to fall away when he was around.

More than anything, he felt like home.

Was that something she was going to run from because she was afraid of losing her home again?

Idunn knew she had to tell him.

♤♤♤

When M’Baku returned that evening, it was with a strange, keyed up energy surrounding him. Idunn was still just a bit tipsy, but had cleaned herself up, and the only lingering trace of alcohol was the slight burn in her chest. It was just enough to give her the confidence for her confession, but before she could even speak, he was pulling her back out the door he’d come through with no more explanation than “I want to show you something.”

Something turned out to be a small clearing halfway down the mountains, full of the Midgardian life and biodiversity she’d always admired about this planet. The sun was setting again, brilliant and blazing, and tiny spots of blue, red, and green light blinked through the humid air, settling on tall blades of grass and the leaves of the trees surrounding them.

“What are those?” Idunn breathed, gazing around in wonder.

“The lights? We call them fireflies,” M’Baku explained, a few feet away, searching her face intently. “Luminescent bugs; they come out at sunset.”

Birds called, insects chirped, and a warm breeze blew across her dark, sweating skin; in their silence, it was anything but quiet as she took in the meadow. “This is what you wanted to show me?”

“This is where I come when I’m overwhelmed, when I need to think, when I need to seek beauty or inspiration.” He confessed, and Idunn finally tore her eyes away from searching the dizzying exquisiteness laid before her to meet the equally dizzying, intense set of his stare. “I’ve not needed to seek such beauty since I met you.”

“M’Baku…”

He held up a hand to stop her. “Idunn, please, just let me say this before I lose my nerve.” He stepped closer, slowly, deliberately, as if not to send her running like a startled rabbit. She didn’t move a muscle, the hairs on the back of her neck pricking as if they sensed danger. She pushed down the paranoia and focused on the way his hands felt around hers as he took them.

“I know this sounds strange. I’ve barely known you for two days. But there’s this… I feel this pull to you. Like I’ve known you my whole life. Like we’re meeting again after a long time. Like we are—”

“Shh!” Idunn cut him off; however enthralled she was by his words and actions, a movement, chrome glinting out of the corner of her eye raised the alarm in her mind. Suddenly, she was back on Asgard, ducking around trees and through underbrush, fighting off Berserkers and searching for any others on the run. She wrenched her hands from his and drew her sword.

To his credit, M’Baku seemed more confused than upset, stepping back and letting his eyes roam from Idunn to the trees at the edge of the clearing, following her line of sight. “What did you see?”

“Something. Someone. Or I thought I did, at leas— M’Baku!” She screamed as a knife flew past from the opposite direction. She twisted out of harm’s way on pure instinct, and cold dread flooded her chest, like jumping into an icy lake, as it buried itself in his shoulder instead.

She spun on the spot, angling her body to protect the man she loved, and faced a man draped in black blankets, a hood covering his eyes.

He shrugged, and Idunn caught a flash of brilliant white teeth as he grinned. “Sorry. I missed.”