Te next day Margaret and the others got up just before the suns rise and started off again. Volundr, either due to his nature as a dragon or because he was an old man was harder to wake up. I tried for an hour, but he didn’t budge an inch, so I gave up for now. I moved to the big room we were in last night and let Geri and Freki out. When they appeared, they were curled up. After a minute the two sat up sleepily. When their gazes met mine, they both smiled like children and jumped at me. Before I had time to react, they took a tail each and began nuzzling them. This disturbed Huginn and Muninn who stuck their heads out of the two tails that weren’t being hugged and pecked at the two new faces.
“Grrrr. Don’t make me eat you.” (Geri)
“Tch. Stupid immortal bird.” (Geri)
“Kukukukuku.” (Muninn)
“Sister. Siblings. We don’t eat siblings” (Freki)
Geri sniffed the air close to Huginn and let out a sigh.
I couldn’t help but chuckle.
“You two are cute.” (Keeno)
“Not cute! Strong and fierce!” (Geri)
“Fierce and strong!” (Geri)
I smiled even more and began patting their heads. This caused them to nearly melt into puddles of bliss.
“Uuuuuuuuuuuu.” (Geri)
“Satisfaction.” (Freki)
“Hehehe. Oh right, how much do you two know about the world? Is there anything I or Ama need to teach you, or do we have to find other Spirits to teach you things?” (Keeno)
“We learned our purpose when we manifested in these forms.” (Freki)
“Protect Master, do everything Master says, find and capture strong person for ourselves, kill and purify any of the Souls Master deems beneath her. More like that. We don’t need to know anything else.” (Geri)
Both their tails were wagging, clearly wishing me to praise them for their knowledge. I couldn’t resist. They once again became puddles of bliss.
{You are spoiling them too much already.}
“You’re just saying that because you can’t pat them yet.” (Keeno)
{Yes…but you are still spoiling them.}
“Master’s Fated One…jealous.” (Geri)
“All of Master’s attention is ours.” (Freki)
{I’m going to punish you two so much for that.}
“Beat us and we will allow you to monopolize Master’s attention. Until then she is ours.” (Geri)
“We shall not lust after Master for that is your right, but we shall not give up the position of receiving all the pats.” (Freki)
{We’ll see. You two haven’t met Red yet.}
“The name…rouses instinctual need to give pats…rival for Master’s pats.” (Freki)
{Well, well, well, speak her name and she shall appear.}
“Red sensed someone is trying to steal Red’s pats. Where are they? Red shall cut them!” (Red)
“Eh? You’ve gotten so good at speaking Red. When did that happen?” (Keeno)
“Eh!? …Red wanted to surprise big sis, but pats are more important. Who is trying to steal Red’s pats!?!!” (Red)
“Geh! Apostle.” (Geri)
“Master’s pats are ours!” (Freki)
“Red will find you and Red WILL cut you mysterious rivals. Mark Red’s words!” (Red)
{…She could have stayed and let me lay her a bit.}
“…She could have waited. I wanted to talk to her some more too.” (Keeno)
“No words, only pats.” (Geri)
“Recharge pat energy and we will wake up the lazy dragon.” (Freki)
“We will punish the lazy dragon for ignoring Master.” (Geri)
“How did you two even know about that? You were asleep.” (Keeno)
“Lazy dragon’s scent. And Master doesn’t sleep with anyone other than Master’s Fated One.” (Freki)
“Master’s Fated One’s scent is deeply ingrained into Master’s soul. We can tell by that and instinctual knowledge of what Fated Ones are. Only option other than that is that lazy dragon ignored Master’s attempt to wake it up.” (Geri)
“When it comes to Master, we will do anything and everything. Kill whoever, however many, however brutally Master commands. We will take any strong ones though…but only if they match our tastes.” (Freki)
“Mmm…I want to fight pat rival.” (Geri)
“If Master allows it, we will when she gets to meet her Fated One.” (Freki)
They both looked up at me with shining puppy eyes.
“Only if Red agrees.” (Keeno)
“Hahahahaha! We will show the Apostle-” (Geri)
“Hahahahaha! We will show the Valkyrie we are the only ones deserving of Master’s pats!” (Geri)
Feral smiles grew on both of their faces, and they jumped up and ran into the room Volundr was still sleeping in.
“Hang on you two!” (Keeno)
They stopped in their tracks and turned to me.
“If you are going to be out and about, you’re going to need to wear clothes.” (Keeno)
“Constricting.” (Geri)
“Doesn’t matter.” (Keeno)
I was just about to pull out some of my spare clothes when they both somehow snapped their clawed hands and ‘clothes’ resembling a bikini bottom and a top made of literal seashells, but instead of shells they were made of a black metal connected behind their necks with similarly black chains.
“…Good enough I guess.” (Keeno)
With that they both nodded and went back to what they were doing.
{They are going to be a handful.}
{I’m going to step Red’s training up a notch.}
“You really want her to beat them that much?” (Keeno)
{I’m interested in seeing what happens if she does. With their mannerisms, I want to see if they become more submissive to Red. Guess I’ll be feeding them several souls soon so we can see what they do to people they deem too weak.}
“Incredibly. Huginn, Muninn, I know you two aren’t very fond of the weather out there, but I want you two to catch up with the others and go with them. Let Pram know of anything that might hinder them while I’m dealing with things.” (Keeno)
They hopped out of my tails and ruffled their feathers. Before they flew off, I noticed a weird glint in their eyes, but they flew off before I could stop them and examine what it was.
“Ama, note that down for me to investigate when we meet up again.” (Keeno)
I watched my two feathered friends fly off into the distance before a rumbling, scraping sound came from behind me. I spun around on my heel and was bewildered by what was happening. Geri and Freki were dragging Volundr, who was in his dragon form, by the whiskers through the doorway while he surprisingly remained asleep. Only when they had half his head out in the sunlight did he show any kind of reaction.
“Wake up lazy dragon!” (Geri)
“You are keeping Master waiting!” (Freki)
“The longer you sleep, the more your hair will burn!” (Geri)
“Oi! No! No hurting a family friend!” (Keeno)
“But Master! He won’t wake up if we don’t do something!” (Geri)
“Young ones, please quiet down your yelling. I have awoken. You must forgive this old man for his deep slumber.” (Volundr)
Sitting his neck up, he flexed it letting out cracking sounds like stone smashing against stone.
“Ahhh. The suns’ warmth does these old scales of mine such good. That aside though, I do apologize for my actions. It seems I’ve overslept quite a bit. Shall we head off now?” (Volundr)
“Geri, Freki, we will discuss this later. For now, though, come back here.” (Keeno)
Their ears and tails drooped at the light scolding and returned to the tattoos on my arms. I then climbed into Volundr’s back as he slowly began to move. I did apologize for the two’s actions, but he brushed it off as the mischief of the young. And thus started the first day of our fire-fighting excursion.
Alex: …I see I’ve missed a lot.
Well, you’ve been busy with your own family, so it’s understandable.
Alex: Yeah. But hellhounds, really?
Don’t look at me like that, that was all Keeno.
Alex: And where did she see a hellhound?
When that one annoyingly persistent one kept showing up due to your significant other’s prank.
We’ll end that conversation there.
Alex: Yeah…so…where is everyone else?
Still transcending. Should be done by tomorrow.
Alex: Things are going to get even crazier here, aren’t they?
You know it. I have plans now that I’m .
Alex: That smirk tells me it’s going to be fun, clue me in when you’re about to do something.