Frosted Dreams (NaNoWriMo2020)

Sorok deviat'

He leans closer, trying to make them out. Jaak jerks backwards when his own face appears out of the thing. The version of Jaak shown within it is young and laughing, on the border between being an infant and toddler. The next image to appear is that of Hel, a baby herself.

She has her tiny arms wrapped around the furry body of a young wolf, the tongue of a gray-green serpent flicking out to touch the smooth skin of her cheek. The rest of the snake's body is coiled around Hel's small waist as she slumps against the furry side of the wolf. Hel's eyes are lidded, her mouth stretched in a yawn. The whole memory is softly tinted with something that gives off a sense of love.

Jaak blinks and whispers to his sister. "Is that-"

"Myself with Jormungandr and Fenrir? Yes, it is."

"But how-" Jaak pauses. "What are these?"

Hel reaches up to touch a finger to the ghostly mass. Her voice is soft and wistful. "Memories. I think you know whose."

"Hel, how could you have Pappa's memories?"

"I told you I didn't just hear of what happened to Pappa. I knew the moment it happened."

"How?"

Hel lowers her hand, not looking away from the play of memories. "Because this appeared when it happened. I didn't know what had happened then, but I knew it was something bad. You see, Jaak, something in him had died. This is his mind, as it should be. It was killed and replaced by something else and if I were to hazard a guess, I would say that all of his memories were twisted and these here are the truth that he can't see now."

Jaak's expression crumples. "Why didn't you tell me this before?"

Hel twists to look at him. "Would you have even wanted me to tell you that a part of Father was dead? I thought it would be permanent, that nothing could be done. Why would I have ever hurt you by telling you that?"

Jaak explodes. "Because telling me the truth would have hurt far less than it does finding out that you hid it from me for a century and a half!"

Hel sighs. "I can't change what has been done, Jaak. It's too late now. So instead, can we talk about what this means?"

Jaak scowls at her. "You just said that it means there is no hope for him."

Hel shakes her head. "That isn't quite true. I had thought so before, but . . . this piece of Pappa, it isn't all of him. His mind but not his entire soul. He isn't completely dead. And besides, there is a chance that he can leave my realm. Baldur almost got to leave, so perhaps Pappa can too. The only problem is that we need to contain this piece of him inside something so it doesn't dissipate."

Jaak frowns, shifting in his seat to look closer at the specter that remains of his father's sanity. "How?"

Hel taps the crystal pendant lying on the table with a fingernail. "This. It's hollow, just large enough as well. When Mimir gave it to you, he knew exactly what it should be used for." She frowns and murmurs. "There is something strange about this crystal, some characteristic that I can't quite pinpoint." Hel shakes her head. "Regardless, this crystal can hold Pappa's mind. I think you're meant to take it from my lands with him inside of it to somehow restore him. I'm not sure how that healing can be done, but it must be possible."

"How do we get him in there?"

Hel smiles. "Now that, that is quite simple indeed."

Placing one of her hands on the crystal, Hel moves to touch the remnant of the mind floating high above her head. It flits away from her touch and she narrows her eyes at it, pursing her lips.