Vár sighed, immediately annoyed at the question. “You are not so stupid as to ask such a question, Erik. I am not fooled by your amiable face and easy nature. I’ve seen you in thought. But since you asked, I will answer. I do not consider the unwelcome praise of simple people to be companionship. I am not lonely, and if I were, that would hardly remedy it.”
“Well, if you want a friend, you can just tell me.” He held back a laugh. “You don’t have to act so tough around me.”
“This is where you expect me to laugh and give you a playful hit on your arm, isn’t it? I am not your farm girl.” She looked at him. “I find you interesting. Hel has not told me what it is you are, but even I see there is something.”
The clerk came back and Erik tried on the clothes again. They were a perfect fit. His old clothes were wrapped into a cloth bundle and the clothes Vár had ordered into another and they were sent on their way.
Ljunge stood when they returned to the room, Vár throwing the bundle at him. Tove was sitting in the bed, Erik went to her as Ljunge began to unwrap the bundle in his excitement.
“Are you alright?”
Tove looked down at her legs. “I am… I… thought you would not return from Valhalla.”
Erik chuckled. “That’s a solid guess. Hel came.”
“Ljunge told me all that you told him. We will go and see her now?” Tove’s hands were trembling, there was fear in her voice. “Has Odin forsaken us?”
It meant more to her than he could have known. There was no answer he could give to the question that would help her, not really.
“We’re going to talk to Hel. I’ll find out what I can.”
She gripped the covers to at least try to stop herself shaking with worry. She nodded quietly, tears forming in her eyes.
Erik could not imagine how it must have felt to be hated by one’s god. It was meaningless to him and Odin was only a legend who wanted him to be destroyed. For Tove it was not that way. Perhaps for Göll as well. Ljunge seemed unperturbed by the ire of a god and more interested in harassing Vár. He’d quickly changed clothes into a lemon-yellow outfit that Erik had just now seen.
Ljunge smiled at Erik when he laughed at the sight.
“It suits me well, does it not?”
Vár was visibly annoyed that Ljunge was so pleased with the outfit. Even Tove laughed at the sight, in spite of herself.
Erik turned back to her. “We’re going whenever you’re ready.”
She gave a determined nod. “I am ready.” She moved to the edge of the bed and stood, wincing.
Ljunge threw Tove the dress and she looked it over.
“How will I fight in this if we are attacked?”
Vár scoffed. “The same as you fight in anything else. Or would an enemy seeing your crotch render you unable to fight?”
Tove’s expression went immediately angry. She walked into the bathroom in a huff and changed there. The dress fit her well enough. It was well-made with fine fabrics. Thick blue and tan cotton with intricate silk designs between the cotton pieces. She offered no complaints after having put it on and, if Erik wasn’t wrong, seemed somewhat pleased to be wearing it.
Erik lifted Göll from the bed and they left, taking a streetcar to the center of the city. They went to the north, through a portion of the city that saw much more variety in the building design and the colors present. It was the closest to a difference in affluence among the people in Helborgen that Erik had seen. Some of the things there looked nearly modern. It reminded him that there had been no telephones or radios, but that the kitchens seemed fairly modern among other oddities.
“Vár, why are there no phones or radios or anything?”
Ljunge and Tove looked at him as though he’d spoke another language but Vár just kept walking.
“Too much comfort makes people boring.”
It was all she said. Hel’s keep came into view past the end of the northern part of the city. It was set across a sprawling, nearly empty lot, paved flat. The only features in the lot proper were a pair of hulking, obsidian dog statues. They seemed to follow Erik. They were only a dozen yards from walking between the twenty-foot statues when Erik realized they were following him. The necks had turned ever so slightly.
They continued past them and Erik could swear he heard them growl as he came to the stairs that led up to the main entrance. It was a simple staircase, if very large. It again reminded him that he was among things he could not understand. At the top landing, steel doors stood in front of them. They were thick, attached to heavy frames set into what looked like solid slabs of stone. There were intricate carvings along them. Erik recognized some of the figures as gods and goddesses, all of them bowing before Hel or falling before her in one way or another.
The doors opened without Vár having to make their arrival known and they walked through, the doors shutting behind without anyone in attendance. Servants came immediately moving in parallel to them without saying a word. Both were women dressed in black and gold. The outfits, in their color at least, bore a resemblance to what Vár often wore, though she favored red over gold in what Erik had seen at least.
They came to a stop at a waiting room off the main hallway. It looked much the same as the hotel lobby, though dressed in far more red and with more even lighting. Food was waiting there and Vár stopped at the door.
“Your warband will wait here.”
Tove protested immediately. “And why should we do that?!”
Vár looked at her, no hint of hesitation in the answer. “What Hel has to say to the leader of your warband
