The Tower: Happily Ever After

Looking for Trouble

After Thor had come to tell me about the vision he'd had that I'd save all of Asgard, I became like a dog with a bone. I became obsessed with the idea that I was supposed to save my new homeworld, but as Thor hadn't seen how it happened, just the celebration after the fact, I needed to know why. Every time I went out flying, either in my suit or with Brunnhilde on the winged horses, I'd circle in over the farms on the west where that feeling of fear was still lingering. The space that held it had neither grown nor shrunk in months and yet no source for the disturbance could be found. While it wasn't growing, it was intensifying. Guards were swapped out on the half-hour now and would come away pallid and shaking. Wanda and Billy both refused to go there anymore, and the few times Natasha and Bucky had gone, they'd slipped into dark states that took days for them to lift themselves out of. Steve had ended up banning them from going to check it out too.

Even from the air, the fear clawed at me. It dragged me back to my childhood when I was hiding from my dad, hoping his temper would ease back before he found me but knowing that the longer I hid the worse his temper got. To when I ran away from home and was living in the streets and it got so cold I thought I was going to freeze right through. To when Giulietta had taken me and was using me to get to Tony and I thought she was going to leave me disfigured as a gift to the man she was obsessed with. To the time when I was pregnant and my family had all panicked and I thought I would lose them.

It was an unpleasant feeling and yet I kept getting drawn to it. It was strange, maybe the threat wouldn't even come from there, but something told me it was and I was determined to draw it out.

"Your majesty," Brunnhilde called out, her voice almost being drowned out by the rush of air around us. Agadis had started throwing his head around and kicking out, his nostrils flaring as the fear clawed at him too. "As much as your fascination with this place is so entertaining for me, your husband will kill me if you're thrown from that horse and they're both getting very agitated."

"Okay, okay," I relented and nudged Agadis away from the zone of influence. He let out a loud whinny and took off as fast as he could, his wings beating hard enough to bruise my thighs, the speed making my eyes water. Brunnhilde shot past me on her steed and I let her lead us both back to the stables of the Valkyrior. When we landed she dismounted and was at my side before I even had a chance to swing my leg over Agadis' back.

"You need to let this obsession go, Elly," she said as I climbed down. "It will do you no good."

"Thor had a vision," I argued but she quickly cut me off.

"A vision of you being heralded for saving Asgard. Not of you sniffing around that spot every day. Whatever dark force is there - and it is so familiar I can taste it - it doesn't want to be found. Know who you are. You aren't the person who goes looking for danger. You're the person who protects the people you love."

"You're right," I agreed. "I just hate knowing something bad is about to happen and feeling helpless to stop it."

"Ahh but you aren't helpless," Brunnhilde said. "You are going to save us. It has been seen. Now go back to your family. What are you even doing here? Rebecca said you were finalizing outfits for the bonding ceremony."

"You're right, you're right," I said with a huff. "Okay, I better get back. I'm sure I'm already missed.'

"I'm sure you are," she agreed and looked around at the other Valkyrie. "Rosseveissa!" she shouted and whistled. "Can you escort the queen back?"

"It's fine," I said, not wanting to be a bother. "I can use the suit."

"It's no trouble," Rosseveissa said, sidling over to us. "Sarah will be there, correct?"