Tove shrugged. “They hate anything they can relate to the gods.” She stood up, grabbing her pack. “Anything that would bring some interest to their boring lives. We should find a clearing.”
Erik stood and followed her. “You sound kind of bitter.”
She looked at the ground. “It’s not the first time I’ve tried leaving. Not nearly the first.”
Tove’s voice trailed off and he decided to leave it at that. They found a small clearing and Tove dropped her pack. She pulled two light bedrolls from it and threw one toward Erik.
“You seem incredibly well-prepared.” There was annoyance in his voice. As much as he’d felt Kvernes was a bit strange, the bedroll served to remind him that he’d nearly been stabbed.
She put her bedroll down and looked at him with a pitiful face. “I meant to ask. I meant to suggest it. I swear I did. I meant to ask as we walked back. But you mentioned my brother… and then he…” She shuddered and turned away.
Erik sighed, wanting to stay mad but unable to find the will. She had her own circumstances, clearly enough. Even if he were angry, there was very little for him to complain about. The weird reluctance to discuss what Helheim was beyond Kvernes and the nearby farms was something he found nearly impossible to ignore. They’d sent him on busywork and then ignored his questions. It was a train of events he was growing sick of.
“We’ll start a fire. You brought food?”
She turned back to him hesitant, but gave a nod.
“Good. Then you’ll answer every question I ask.”
Tove smiled. “Of course. Everything I know! You’re my chief and I’d never keep anything that might help from you.”
The woods weren’t exactly thick with fallen limbs, the forest floor being clear and easy to navigate for the most part. Still, he managed to find enough for the fire to carry on long enough for a meal at least. Tove started the fire as he had no idea where to even begin. She cut a notch in a dried stick with Vali’s knife and split it, lighting some dried leaves. She was impressively quick about it, something Erik decided he shouldn’t be impressed by as much as he should be worried he couldn’t do.
There were maybe six small metal pots that were sealed inside the pack. She took them out along with a folding iron grate and some utensils. She put the grate over the fire and put the pan on top of it. Erik’s failing interest in food was turned around immediately.
“You’re not going to boil it?”
Tove made a face. “Gods, no. It’s fine enough, but it ruins most things. And there’s no sense for flavor most times. Oily water with bones in it.”
She opened one of the jars and Erik could see a creamy white substance in it.
“What’s that?”
“You’ve not seen lard before? What sort of world do you come from?”
Erik protested. “Look, I’ve seen lard, you people just cook with weird… we don’t boil meat where I come from so how was I supposed to know that’s not seal fat or something?”
She opened another jar and pulled out thick strips of fatty meat. “This is pig belly, to put your mind at ease.”
“Yeah, and if I showed you a cheeseburger, you’d have no idea where to start, so let’s not get all judgmental.”
The lard melted and the pork went into the pan, sizzling. It was a sound Erik had realized he’d missed after so few days.
“You were going to ask me questions, were you not?”
He stopped staring at the pan and looked over at Tove. “Right. First off, where is Kvernes and what else is there?”
Tove nodded. “We’re in the area known as Spring. I’ve heard from people who lived here that every season has a place in Helheim, but I don’t know much more about the others. Lofgrund is the largest of the cities that I know of. I assume you want to make for Valhalla?”
“You know where it is?”
She shook her head. “Only that it is north somewhere. Lofgrund is to the north and the east. I’ve never been, but I know of a few small towns that exist between here and there—”
“Wait. Valhalla is here?”
She nodded. “Why would it not be?”
“It’s Odin’s hall. I mean, isn’t it?”
“One of them. Have the tales of the gods changed?”
Erik sighed. “They must have. I thought Valhalla was in Asgard.”
Tove laughed, almost dropping the piece of pork she was flipping in the pan. “The dead do not go to Asgard. What sort of foolishness do people believe in your time?”
“It doesn’t matter. I’m in the right place at least. So Lofgrund? Is it safe there?”
“I’ve only heard the stories of people near Kvernes. Most never travel more than a few miles from whatever home they built.”
“Why don’t they leave?”
Tove frowned and shook her head slowly. “I do not know. They never seem to mind so long as their lives carry on as they did the day before. It may be some magic Hel has placed on them.”
Erik’s brief visit from Hel hadn’t told him much about her, but it was a theory he was willing to believe. “And why not you?”
She went quiet for a minute, ignoring the meat even as she stared at it. “My days were not as fulfilling as theirs, I suspect.” She snapped out of her daze in a panic. “Oh, the meat!” She turned around grabbing a plate and put a piece of pork onto his, handing it across with a big smile. “But things can always change.”
He took the plate and smelled the meat, his mouth nearly flooding. He hadn’t realized how hungry he was until the food was so close to him. He took a bite, nearly burning his mouth. It was far too hot but he couldn’t convince his brain to stop trying to
