Chapter 125 - Chapter 29 Heavy is the Head

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For a moment it was all anyone could do just to stare at the walls surrounding them. The lights coming from the torches scattered along the hall illuminated the murals which covered nearly every foot of wall all around them. The murals themselves were magnificent, intricate and detailed, though the colors weren't as bright as modern people would've expected in such magnificent works.

The fact those torches seemed to burn without any smoke being created. Though they did give off a surprising amount of heat warming the cave quickly, something only Harry noticed at first as he canceled his Magia Erebea, shuddering as the pain of his various bruises hit him. He didn't let that dissuade him though, looking around avidly, though he made a mental note to look at the arithmancy of that spell at a later date. I have no idea why but I am just not getting as much out of that spell as I should be these days.

"This is, this is magnificent, and very odd." Dr. Vorlus breathed staring around. "This is beyond anything ever found before. The ancient Norse were not supposed to create art like this, just for the sake of displaying it! But, but these murals…"

Even the roof and floor of the 'cavern' had changed. The stone floor became nearly smooth under their feet except in the center, the edge of which Harry could barely make out under the mounds of Draugr bodies scattered like leaves all around. The roof now had ribs of stone crisscrossing it, fading into half pillars of stone slightly bulging out of the walls. The overall effect was somewhat grandiose. It could only be a hall of some ancient king or mighty lord of some sort.

Here and there were signs of the runic arrays that must have powered whatever magic had been at work here, but they faded as Harry desperately tried to study them. Despite having his mage-sight activated now, Harry couldn't make out anything beyond the ordinary at first except those fading runes for a moment.

The oddest thing about them though was that here and there in the runes which he recognized as Norse were other runes that looked like a cross between Egyptian and Aztec with something else added to them. Something that reminded him all too easily of the flesh-crawling, soul corrupting magic that Voldemort and his lackeys had been so enamored with.

Even as he used his occlumency to record the bits of the arrays which were still visible for latter study, Harry realized he was looking at two different arrays here. One superimposed upon and taking power from the other perhaps? A second later they were gone, and Harry sighed faintly. Damn, didn't see enough of it, a few new runes, but no idea what they do, ugh, experimenting with runes is so damn dangerous, yeah, let's put that off for a bit.

He kept on looking however while the people around him seemed almost stunned into immobility as they took in the murals and the changed hall. Even in his head Harry could no longer call this place a cavern, though he wondered why it had been hidden like this. Or, was it only hidden after Ragnarok and whatever it really did to the Asgardians?

In this manner Harry noticed a small hidden alcove at the far end of the hallway, glowing brightly to his magical senses but, when he ended his Mage Sight for a second, disappeared into the rock of one of the pillars. Moving forward he ignored everything else for now, eager to see what he could find out about the magic at play here.

Behind him Ororo and Jean began to help with the injured, healing them of the most debilitating wounds. The Draugr had fought like the mad beasts of legend they were, no doubt about it. Danielle in particular knew how close she had been to being overwhelmed, and made a point of going over to Garm, thanking him for his help in the battle. The direwolf grinned toothily at her, but replied that it was her mistress that had brought him, any thanks should go to her. Both Ororo and Jean looked at said mistress, who was still frozen in place, for a few seconds before she began to walk around the hall looking at the murals.

Hela's battle outfit faded out as they watched. The wailing skull mask faded into her red mask, the metal horns curving outward in what looked like a slow transfiguration as if the change was happening on automatic rather than by conscious command. Hela's armor also changed back into her red and black outfit, the metal and leather fading into the smoky dress of her more frequent choosing.

At the telepathic equivalent of an elbow nudge Harry turned from his work in time to catch the mask change, allowing the bottom of Hela's face, her cheeks and a bit more of her eyes, to be seen again. That portion showed a shocked wonder that Harry knew was vastly out of character for the poised queen of Niflheim. As he watched she raised a hand to her forehead, heedless of her nails digging into her fair skin and growling angrily at something.

Harry hurried over to her side, touching her shoulder lightly while looking searchingly at her expression. "Are you all right?"

"I, why can't I remember!?" Hela suddenly shouted, causing many of the others to turn in their direction. Ororo moved to join the two of them quickly as did Jean when they heard the cry.

"I remember, I remember some of these, I've even seen a few of these murals before. I remember being here with Sif I think… She was, she was teaching me something, something about interior design? I remember her not being very good at it, and someone else just laughing like a loon in the background." Hela's lips actually quirked into a smile for a moment before turning into a wince of pain.

Harry blinked and was about to laugh when Ororo's pinched his rear as hard as she could. Still wearing his crysis suit that didn't hurt of course but it was so out of character for Ororo (at least in public) it still stopped his words.

"I remember being a young child here, chasing someone else through these woods!" she said pointing to one mural. "They look so familiar, like a half-remembered dream. I was happy. I was happy in those times, I was happy here. But all the memories there are, I can't…" she struggled to find the words, her hand rising to her head once more. "The memories won't come! They're so, so fragmented! As if I am seeing a puzzle but not the entirety of the puzzle, simply all the pieces moving around in the air, and I'm staring at them all through a keyhole!"

Harry and Jean both made to take her hands, but Hela ignored them, moving on down the hall to another mural and staring at it almost accusingly. Ororo sent them a look, shaking her head minutely. Jean quizzically opened their telepathic link and Ororo replied quickly down that connection. "Remember, Hela is a queen, she won't want pity, and not even sympathy really. Also remember unless you've suddenly figured out a way to break whatever geis is on Hela we still can't help her."

Harry reluctantly shook his head at that question, and Ororo nodded at seeing her point hit home. "Then it's best to let her move around on her own for now. I'll watch her."

With a final shake of his head and a last look toward Hela Harry moved over to Dr. Vorlus, and the rest of the team. While Ororo moved to stand beside Hela and the two of them made their way around the hall, he moved from one to another of the team congratulating them on their part the battle, checking up on them as Jean did the same. She also called back to Hogwarts, telling Dennis and the others there they were all right, and had arrived in time to help Harry and his team.

With that done he gestured for Dr. Vorlus to join him for a moment. "Doctor, there seems to be something hidden in a little alcove here." He pointed to where his mage sight could still see several wards covering a small section of a half-pillar. "Do you think there might be physical traps on it as well?"

"Hmm…" Dr. Vorlus mused, tearing his attention away from the nearest mural with difficulty. The image in question showed what looked like someone wielding a hammer in the background as several Jotun charged him, while behind them in turn came several other warriors led by a woman with silver armor, long black hair and a sword, each detail given loving attention. Harry could tell it was a pincer movement of some kind, but why it seemed to draw Vorlus' attention he didn't know.

"I don't think so. This is obviously a hall of some sort rather than a burial mound, so traps would be incongruous. Although given these murals and the battle we just went through, I refuse to state such categorically." Vorlus' lips twitched in a wintry smile. "This art style is all wrong you know, the style of the rest of the hall makes much more sense, but the murals just don't fit what is known of the Norse lifestyle."

"Never been an art fan myself, sorry." Harry said absentmindedly, his hands moving in the air slowly as his manipulated the magic of the hiding place, noticing that only one of the wards around it felt like the vile-seeming runes he had seen moments ago. The power of the array was fading slowly, but he couldn't see what was powering it at present. A few moments passed while Vorlus went back to studying the nearest mural, mumbling under his breath as he stared at the weapons of the warriors, trying to use them to identify them since their faces were all faced away from the viewer.

Hela stopped occasionally, pointing at one scene, though surprisingly not the scenes of combat or violence for the most part. It was the other scenes, the ones of a more homey atmosphere that she seemed to recognize, of children scampering around woods, or of a meal being served in the hall.

"I remember this! That little girl in the background there, the one hiding behind a tree? That is me! I was playing some silly little hiding game, but we had decided instead to ambush someone, can't remember who, an adult I think…" Hela moved on shaking her head in pain again.

"How did the game end?"Ororo asked as they moved to the next mural.

Hela glanced at her, then away. "I think we all jumped her at once, and then I believe I found myself hung up by a tree by my ankles somehow. It was all in good fun of course, but I remember thinking that I really needed to take my sword training more seriously from then on. Even then you see I knew what my role was, and I refused to do aught but my best."

"I could wish that everyone man, mortal and God thought in that manner," Ororo said.

Hela laughed, nodding her head. "True enough! Did Harry tell you about the Warriors Three? If not for their valor the three would be simply buffoons in gaudy clothing, and yet they do have a certain...straightforward and ponderously unstoppable fervor to them that seems to make up for that."

Ororo laughed, and the two moved on, joined by Garm. Ororo looked at the beast, bowing her head respectfully to it as the beast did the same to her feeling the power of the woman in front of her. By the halls of Niflheim, my mistress has definitely taken up with an interesting crowd. First the seidr man, then this one, a lady of the storm like unto Thor. And then there is the avatar of her of her mistress's opposite. Whatever is next?

Hela's reaction to the scenes in the murals became worse as they went on, her headache increasing as did her feelings of something being wrong. How could they know, who made all these? This was a scene, my siblings and someone else, another relation somehow, though that's impossible, Sif and Thor were childless, I know they were! But, how could anyone have created these murals with such detail, and why can I not remember?

Even so, the feeling of this place was fighting to put a smile on Hela's face. There was just a feeling of homeliness here, of being protected and welcomed in a way that she had never felt before. Oh Hela felt safe in her own halls of course, in her own dimension entirely in fact. But that was different, that was something from her own power, this was something else entirely, she had no word for it.

The two of them suddenly stopped and stared at one particular mural. The next scene was of a valley, with several giant creatures, Jotun, Ororo presumed, stomping down the trail into it, chasing after one man, while another stood on top of craggy overhang. The overhang looked as if it was made of small rocks, set in such a way that you knew just by looking at the picture what was going to happen. "He's going to drop that outcrop on them isn't he?"

"I remember this too," Hela laughed. "There was a group of rogue or supposedly rogue Jotun, they came down from their mountain fastness and absconded several dozen human children. The locals called for Thor but he could not track them, he was never that good at tracking or hunting you see, far too blunt and impulsive. And then someone had discovered a way back to their lairs that was previously hidden until their arrival. Then...someone else came along, offering his aide for some reason or other." she said gesturing at the image of the person on top.

Ororo looked at the individual closely, noticing what looked like the shape of some kind of bird behind him, almost merging into the man's own image. Interesting. Could that be Loki? If so, Hela still can't connect this image to Loki because it is a positive memory of him perhaps? The geis on the Asgardians is looking more and more insidious every time we run into it! Her eyes flashed lately, but she shook off the dark mood listening intently as Hela went on.

"He not only found their trail, but he freed the children. Then he somehow tricked the Jotun into believing him when he told them which direction the children had gone, some tale about a lone hunter having snuck into their camp and leading them off."

Hela laughed harshly, causing several of the others who were milling around, or gathering the Draugr's remains to burn towards them in surprise. "I can still remember hearing Thor's roaring bugle of a voice thundering out over the mountain passes. 'You poor fools, I'm not trapped here with you, you're trapped in here with me!' Always the great protector Thor was, yet never did he…" Hela scowled, but stopped herself before going further, shaking off that thought quickly.

She stopped again in front of the next portrait over. It was a family scene of some kind, with a girl she recognized as herself watching her brother Fenrir wrestling with two human-looking boys while two men laughed at something in the background, ignoring the children for now. One of them she could see was Thor, the other, his features were only vaguely familiar to her. He looked a bit of what she could recall her father looked like, but that couldn't be, could it? He had never treated her like this!

For some reason Hela felt tears begin to form in her eyes, but was brought back to the here and now before she could continue on. Garm had been trying to get her attention by nudging his large snout into her side, but realizing what he wanted Ororo sent a small spark into Hela's hand. Ororo turned aside from the murals, staring out over the bodies of Draugr. "I'm sorry to say that it's time once again to return to the here and now."

Hela looked irritated but nodded in agreement, staring back at Ororo. "Some of the dead were not Northmen, many of the children seem to fall under that category and their souls will need to be cared for."

"I will take care of that." Ororo replied.

The two of them began the grim business of separating the young children from the rest of the Draugr, with Garm following at their heels. In this they quickly gathered the rest of the team, even Jean, who had all been talking quietly among themselves, going over the battle. This was grim work on many levels, and Paige, Piotr, and Amara all had to stop occasionally, leaving the hall out into the sweeter air of the passageway leading to it. Even Danielle and Nikolai in their helmet and mask had trouble staying to the task, both the smell and the sights of the grotesque, distended bodies of the Draugr's corpses, children and adult getting to them all.

Luckily Harry had heard them gagging and looked up from his work to hit them all with a few spells that banished the smell of the dead Draugr. That had kept all but Paige from throwing up, although they were still sickened by the remains. The bodies of the adult Draugr were bad, the bodies of the children were heart-rending, the sense of wrongness that seemed to pervade their shrunken forms staying even in death.

Hela grimly moved around the hall, stopping at each adult corpse in turn. Her hands hovered over their chests or heads occasionally flexing in a way that only partly occurred on the physical plane. When she stopped her hand held a green glob of gas or something which seemed to pulse with violet light.

More than one of the Custodes turned away as Hela held it out to Garm, who chomped down perfunctorily. It didn't seem to taste very good if Garm's expression was any judge, although his wolfish muzzle made deciphering his expressions a tad difficult for those that didn't know wolves or dogs well enough. But he kept at it, and Hela kept ripping, neither wavering in their determination to get the grisly task over with.

Minutes after that work began Harry sighed, draining the last ward and suddenly Vorlus could see what he had been concentrating on, a small alcove carved out of the half-pillar appearing before his eyes. After a final moment Harry reached in, pulling out the object inside.

It was a belt, slightly larger than Colossus's waist in his metal form. It was about four inches thick too, and covered from buckle to tongue with intricate designs carved into the leather. Hung here and there along its length with rings of stone which were in turn carved by other designs, this time of various weapons and animals. The design on the leather was of some kind of beast moving along its length, twisting over itself with many clawed hands grasping. But if you looked at it another way, the beast and the background changed places. The buckle itself was metal, beaten iron, with the equally intricate maw of a lizard beast of some kind, the tongue of the buckle being shaped like a spear seguing into the beast's tongue at the bottom.

"Hela, Dr. Vorlus, does this look familiar to either of you?"

"Vaguely,"Hela said, almost but not quite dismissively as she turned from her work to glance at the belt. "I've seen it somewhere before, though I can't rightly remember where. It wasn't important at the time I know that." With that said she turned her attention back to the task at hand

Dr. Vorlus smiled in appreciation, leaning down to examine the belt closely. "Ah, this is an amazing example of true Norse art as we understand it, not like these murals for all their detail. It's decorated in the Oseberg style, so at least ninth century, though it could be far older given how well-preserved it is. Hmm… some of the designs on it look familiar, but I can't place them. It's obviously important in some fashion, but it doesn't match any of the famous belt designs I am aware of. But look, stone rings and iron buckle on the same item, interesting, and rather unique I think. I could look through my notes, see what I can find out about some of the specific images here, the belt buckle in particular could point to its significance."

Harry handed the belt over to Vorlus, placing a small tracking charm on it just in case. He couldn't sense any magic on the, but, though Harry couldn't really explain why, it did seem to have a sense of the mystical about it. It doesn't show anything in my Mage Sight, but then again neither did, what did Hela call it, a seidr trap? Magic worked into the stone itself rather than on the surface? Goblins used to do that with metal rings and other things, somehow working runic arrays into the various smelting processes but not stone. And I doubt they ever found the equivalent of the seidr trap, else they would've rebelled again at some point.

Although, Harry suddenly snapping his fingers and looking over to Danielle. This isn't the first item of Asgardian origin that I wasn't able to spot any actual magic in that was clearly still magical for all that. Somehow the Asgardians are able to create items of power that can only work for specific individuals. This could be another example of that, but if so who is it supposed to work for?

"Keep it for now doctor, but I think you should keep it hidden as well." Harry warned the history professor. "I don't know what connection it could have to the rest of this place, but it must be important to someone somehow, and given what they set up here…"

Vorlus made to speak, but Harry held up a hand. "I really doubt the age of this place should be taken as proof that whoever built it is gone, and certainly not powerless."

Vorlus nodded quickly, taking the belt and a small bag of holding Harry gave him. After that, Dr. Vorlus left Guardian and returned with his students who still gaped around the hall in shock and awe, never noticing Harry hitting them all with a few spells from the Confoundus school. None of them, not even Vorlus, would ever remember anything about his features or that of the rest of the Custodes.

After that he pulled off his mask, gesturing to the others to do the same many of whom did so with some relief, thankful that they could breathe free again. Despite all of the spells and science that had gone into them, nothing could stop their masks from getting sweaty and uncomfortable.

Harry chuckled quietly as he watched the students suddenly register Garm's presence as he moved, growling low in his throat as he hacked twice, his tongue lolling out. "Twice cooked meat always tastes so foul! I will need something to clear my throat after this mistress."

"I'll conjure up a giant breath mint for you later," Harry replied dryly.

Hela looked up from her ongoing work, gesturing angrily at the doctor and his students. "Well what are you all waiting for?! Get out of here and bring some wood! We'll need enough to build pyres for the honored dead at the very least."

At her imperious glare they all obeyed rapidly, causing Garm and Harry to exchange a small laugh. "Smart boys."

"Very smart." Garm nodded, turning back to follow his mistress as she moved forward once more, grimacing as he consumed more of the tainted souls.

Eventually they were done, separating the children from the adults and the children further into those who Hela could sense had believed in the Asgardians. About a fifth of the entire Draugr horde had been made of children. The two women exchanged a glance. "Funeral pyres are normally only used for those honored dead who have fallen in battle but I think I can make an exception in this case."

"It would be in a most foul thing not to," Ororo said, clasping her hand lightly. Hela squeezed back and the two women stood there silent for a moment joined after only a brief second by Jean and Harry. Harry took Hela's other hand, and Jean took Ororo's. "What do you need us to do?"

It took around 40 minutes or so for everything to be prepared to Ororo and Hela's exacting expectations. First, Jean turned the bodies of the adult Draugr, now soulless hunks of desiccated meat, into so much ash. Then she grabbed said ash and hurled it out into the wilderness beyond the cave entrance.

In contrast Harry and Jean worked together for a few moments putting the dismembered bodies of the children back together as well as they could, then putting each child on a small separate pile of wood prepared by the returning students and Custodes. Both the children of the North and the others were placed on these miniature funeral pyres.

By the time they were done, Ororo and Hela returned from wherever they had gone (no one had seen them actually leave), and everyone, even Dr. Vorlus, currently exclaiming over one of the murals to his students who were grateful for something to concentrate on besides the desiccated bodies of the children, looked at them. A few joined the Custodes in taking their hats off and Piotr and Paige both went to one knee, crossing themselves as they bowed their heads in prayer. While not as staunch a Catholic as Piotr was in most ways, Paige still believed, and the children among the Draugr had horrified her.

Gone was Ororo's Custodes suit, replaced by diaphanous silks of white wrapped around her in a manner Harry had only seen once before, when she presided over a ceremony for the souls of the children slain in the wizard's last stand in Camelot. The silk strands wafted behind her giving Ororo an altogether ethereal look as she moved forward on naked feet, ignoring the cold of the stone and the blood still splattered everywhere.

Gold jangled on Ororo's wrists, simple gold band on one wrist accompanying the Panja ring that Harry had given her on the other. Her hair was held up in a headdress, one that none of the others there had seen before, a thing of ivory and gold, with a sun set in the center, storm clouds and lightning bolts delicately carved out of the rest.

Hela too had changed. Gone was Hela's normal garb of red and black leather and metal armor replaced by a dark green dress, with no armor in sight. It covered her from shoulder to ankle, was open slightly down the side allowing her to walk freely, and only hinting lightly at her décolletage. Along the edges silver embroidery sparkled and shivered in the light of the lamps.

Her headdress and hair had also changed. Her mask had shrunk now only covering her eyes and forehead, the metal horns and side pieces gone and the color now green rather than red, her pearl-like skin on display even more given her outfit's dark black hair was loose down her back, a cascade of shimmering darkness so black it barely shimmered in the light.

The contrast between the two women was startling, light and dark, an Harry almost thought it had to be deliberate before shaking his head at the very idea either would do so. And the expression on their faces was the same. Loving grief mixed with sternness was as close as Harry could get to describing it, and Harry knew he couldn't ever really give their emotions justice at this point in time.

Standing in front of the rows of pyres the two woman looked at one another, then at some unspoken agreement Ororo stepped forward, raising her hands in benediction.

"Goddess of wind, Goddess of water, God of Earth and Sun and Star. Before you are children, whose souls and bodies have been taken from the wheel, taken from their rightful place in the great scheme of the universe of which even the mightiest are but a small part. No one alive today can know how they fell, how they were torn from the loving embrace of the wheel of eternity. But we have now avenged them, torn them in turn from their eternal prison, and ask that you guide these souls back into the great wheel so that they may come again, so that we may know them again. Guide their way in the darkness of this great journey. Give wings to them to dream by, and let them return from the darkness to the light to walk amongst us again in some bright future day."

It wasn't Christian, it wasn't Asatru, Hindu or any other major religion. But somehow the emotions of Ororo's benediction came through, and everyone there bowed their heads to join Piotr and Paige's in prayer.

For a moment the hall was silent, as Harry felt that sense of something passing that he had felt all those months ago outside the castle when Ororo had talked him into having a similar ceremony for the children that had died in that final battle. If I didn't believe in souls before all this, I surely would now, Harry thought, his head remaining bowed.

And someone somewhere had set this trap into motion, uncaring or perhaps even enjoying the fact that these little children would be ripped from the wheel for so long before getting the rightful chance to start over. That made him angry, and if he hadn't already determined to look into the Asgardian question as soon as everything else settled down, he certainly would have now.

Beside him Jean squeezed his hand, wordlessly telling him she understood his thoughts without him having to communicate them or maybe she had even sense them down that ever open telepathic highway between them. "Remember Harry, we've got one issue already coming up soon, let's deal with that before we go looking for more. And as Ororo said, we just don't know how to remove whatever is controlling the Asgardians anyway."

Harry nodded at her, but inside he thought to himself, Yes but if trouble comes looking for me, well I'll have to deal with it won't I?

After a moment of silence Hela stood forward while Ororo stepped back. Looking at the rows of dead in front of her, she began. "What was stolen from you in life, shall be repaid to you in the next. After your soul leaves this plane you will find eylandəvbarnœska, the 'Isle of childhood'. What comforts my land may provide shall be yours, and you will remain safe and secure. No harm or trouble will reach your Island by god, demon or mortal. This by my power I make so and so it shall be."

Harry's eyes narrowed as he and Ororo both felt a splash of magic from that, the sign of a magic sealed in the individuals own magic. So Asgardians can do that too, interesting. Hela had basically just vowed on her own power to see that done, and considering it was her realm and her right, Harry doubted any power short of her own mistress could gainsay it.

His eyes widened slightly in surprise along with every other person there save perhaps Piotr and Ororo as Hela actually knelt to the stone in front of the pyres. For just a moment Harry had had to stop himself from stopping her, but refrained, knowing not only was it not his place but that she had to do this. The events here in this hidden hall had shaken her badly, and intellectually he also knew that someone having somehow either perverted her power to let Draugr spread their disease to souls which should not have been able to take it had both enraged Hela and wracked her with guilt. She needed to do this.

"I should have felt what occurred to you long ago, it was my power that was so twisted and used to do this to you somehow, my power which was blinded in turn. I do not know who it was, but I will find out and I will make them pay." She rose and stepped back from the pyre, whispering so low that only Harry and those nearest could hear her. "And when we meet again in my realm I hope to have earned your forgiveness for not finding you sooner."

Once again everyone bowed their heads and joined with her for that moment, and Hela sighed as she stood up, gesturing Jean forward. Phoenix fire shot out from Jean's hands, and all of the pyres went up in flames, burning to ash within seconds.

Again there was that feeling of something unseen passing, and Hela smiled wanly. "They will find welcome in my realm, both believers and not." she said, taking Ororo's hands in her own. "Trust me on that sister."

Ororo nodded, squeezing her hands back. "I do."

Almost immediately after the last Draugr body disintegrated, a feeling of protective, boisterous welcome which had been in the background since the battle ended grew to a point everyone was feeling it. The Custodes and the students began to smile, the atmosphere noticeably lightening as Harry looked around in faint surprise at the effect, which was like a cheering charm on steroids.

Turning his attention away he saw Dr. Vorlus moving forward, his eagerness to question this goddess in front of him pushing through everything else going on at last. While she didn't exactly match any of the images he had ever seen every one of the Custodes and Guardian himself had called her Hela, so he was willing to go along with that until evidence proved them wrong. And to question an actual Asgardian goddess! What could she tell me about our past, about my faith?

Harry intercepted the man before gathering up Vorlus' students as well with a single glare. "This is not the time Doctor." When Dr. Vorlus made to speak Harry cut him off, "This… is … not… the… time. Hela's just fought a major battle, and had an equally large shock to her system, not to mention the grief she's feeling right now, hell that we're all feeling."

Despite understanding where Guardian was coming from, Vorlus still opened his mouth to protest. However the other man went on before he could get a word out. "Besides, did you ever ask yourself why Magical Minds was funding your explorations? What problems they could see coming up that no one else could?"

At that Vorlus frowned, the rest of his intellect coming online at last to try to override his knowledge lust. His frown soon turned into a smile however. The feeling of this place was such that no one could really stay irritated for long. It was even working on Ororo and Hela surprisingly. "I suppose I can talk to her later, can't I?"

That had come out almost as a plea, but Harry didn't make any comment on it, his voice going on much lower now, so only Vorlus could hear. "Possibly. As I said, there are reasons why I don't want you to question Hela about her past too closely. Or didn't you notice Hela was in pain while looking at those murals? There's something really wrong with the Asgardians, and we're only just scratching the surface."

And our continual poking around the edges might evoke a response. Harry thought grimly. I am more certain there is something, or someone behind what has been done to the Asgardians, and if that is the case I don't know if I can predict the manner they will respond to us.

"I see." Dr. Vorlus replied shaking his head, not following all of Harry's thoughts but enough to see his point and remembering Harry's comments when he handed over the belt. "Very well, I won't try to press questions on Hela just yet." He looked at his students, none of whom seemed to have connected the goddess before them with the goddess of mythology so different was her appearance. They were more interested in talking to the Custodes, and simply looking at the murals exclaiming about the richness of them, the depth of detail. Several of them had even brought along notebooks and were quickly jotting down notes.

Harry smirked as he noticed one of his students, one of only two girls, was flirting with Nikolai. Paige was nearby her head cocked thoughtfully while behind them Jean, Danielle and Piotr were talking quietly, smiles on their faces as they did. Just then a loud rumble went through the hall, causing many people to cringe and others to look around in shock, with Piotr going so far as to change back into his metal body.

Then they stopped, all eyes turning to Garm, who despite his still fearsome appearance somehow contrived to look sheepish for a second. "Well excuse me, Draugr souls don't exactly fill me up you know. And I'm always hungry after a battle."

"I actually think that's an excellent idea," Hela said, stroking the great wolf's ears for a moment. "There should be a feast of victory after such an epic battle, truly one worth a skjald's song! Then too," she went on, turning to look back at the space which had previously been occupied by the funeral pyres. "We also feast to celebrate the dead."

She shrugged effortlessly, her dress flowing to match. "Normally that would occur a week or so after their death, but given all our disparate duties it makes more sense to do so now. It is intended to show death that the living are not afraid of it, that we honor their memory and will enjoy the life they no longer can, while at the same time showing the dead the life they can look forward to, be it in the halls of my realm or in their next journey through the wheel."

"I agree," Piotr said, coming out of his armored form wincing as he did. While Ororo had healed the worst of their wounds, she hadn't healed all of their injuries. After all, wounds were part of the learning process for any soldier, getting rid of them after every training session or fight would both cheapen the experience and make them far more prone to make stupid mistakes in the future.

"It would be like saying 'fuck you' to the undead bastards." Paige said with a nod smiling over at Hela. "I'm in."

Harry smiled faintly, exchanging a glance with Jean, Nikolai and Ororo, the most experienced of those present, who all nodded. What everything all those arguments boiled down to was that they all wanted to get wasted and feel better after the emotional and physical turmoil of the past few hours. Which frankly was fine by him. "Clare?"

The little female house elf appeared beside him, causing many of the students who had still been looking around at the murals jotting down notes or talking earnestly to Dr. Vorlus about one mural near the entrance to stop and stare. All of the Custodes however took it in stride, smiling or waving at the newcomer.

The house elf waved back smiling widely. None of the masters and mistresses or their non-magical friends ever took the house elves for granted, which all of them liked, even the oldest ones who had always thought a good house elf should never be seen. "What can Clare do for you master, mistress?"

"I am going to be conjuring some furniture here in a moment Clare for a meal. Could you hop back to Camelot and ask the cooks to prepare a meal for around 20 or so?" He said, glancing at Garm. "With at least six portions of pure meat dishes. Or do you not like anything cooked?"

"Grilled and charred is fine, so long as there is a lot of it." Garm replied, all his teeth showing in a grin. I like this Seidr man even more now!

Ororo smiled, going down to her knees next to the house elf. "Could you also bring some alcohol? Some of the fire whiskey I think, and a brandy for myself." She looked apologetically over at Jean, who shook her head waving that off. I'm sorry Jean, but after the day I've had, well I think I just need a drink.

"I on the other hand won't." Harry said, smacking his chest with one hand and grinning over at Jean who rolled her eyes but still sent a brief burst of appreciative emotions down their telepathic link. Even Harry was beginning to be affected by the feeling of euphoric cheer in this place. It was the mix of a cheering charm and more physical feelings: the warmth of a fireplace after a day out in the cold, the smell of a good meal, the feeling of being protected against both man and weather, of fierce protectiveness and of being safe.

Which, Harry thought, looking down at the large symbol of a hammer etched into the very center of the stone floor, makes a lot of sense considering whose hall this was, Defender of the common man indeed! I wonder if this was his main house, what was the name of that again? Or was it something like a summer home or maybe just his preferred house to raise his children. I'd guess those are the other unknown children in those murals.

"Clare will do so mistress, master." Clare said, curtseying prettily.

"Well I don't know about you," Paige said, cracking her shoulders before reaching over to grab Danielle. "But us girls, I think we need to head off somewhere and get changed. And I fo' sure ain't gonna cancel my metal form with all these boys around and give 'em a free show."

"I will take you back to Camelot with the Masters permission, miss." Clare replied.

Harry waved them on, and all the girls save Ororo and Jean disappeared with the house elf. The men all looked at Harry and he shrugged, waving his hands. "If anyone wants to change out of their suit I can cover you."

Not surprised when all of the men shook their heads Harry quickly turned his attention to transfiguring the table, only to be surprised when Hela moved to his side to give him the critiques on what the wood should look like, the chairs and the designs on both. This was a lot of finicky work, since she seemed to prefer a heavily ornamented style rather than the simpler style Harry could conjure without much concentration. Harry shook his head, smirking at her. "Do you want to do this?"

She waved a hand airily. "Certainly not, you're doing just fine on your own, with me directing you of course. With the women in your life you should be used to taking direction at times."

Blushing and looking away Harry coughed at the unintended innuendo, as Jean laughed aloud nearby and Ororo simply smiled, winking at Hela. She in turn suddenly realized how her words could be taken and flushed slightly but did not look away.

By the time Harry was done with the chair and tables to Hela's satisfaction, Clare and the others were back. Kitty was with them: she had been in Camelot hanging out with her parents at the time they had gotten word that Dr. Vorlus had found something. She moved immediately towards Ororo, pulling the older woman into a hug. The two of them talked for a few moments Kitty's sad expression showing that she knew what had happened here.

With them were five other house elves, each of them with her hands in the air levitating several dishes forward. One of them looked askance at Garm then over at Master Harry. "Master, will the large doggy eat at the table?"

"I will eat here thank you," Garm said, growling low in his throat. "And I am not a dog. Would a human like to be called a monkey?"

"Evolutionary speaking wouldn't that the other way around?" Nikolai asked, then ducked a swipe from Garm as he move to sit at the table.

The promise of food and lots of it pulled the students away from their various studies, and they all sat down with the Custodes, blinking as they stared at first Paige then Amara and Danielle. Of course there were a few girls among the students already, but while they weren't exactly unattractive, they weren't as young or as good-looking as these three.

More than one student there ran a hand through his hair and smiled hopefully towards these new girls, only steering clear of Amara as Piotr sat by her side, gently taking one hand in his, turning it upward to kiss her palm. She smiled, and the two of them pulled plates to them before standing up quickly and moving towards the murals, which neither of them had taken the time to study as the students had just yet. But as painters both of them were more interested in style and structure rather than the details and the sagas they seemed to depict.

Jean and Ororo sat on one side of Harry at the head of the table, gesturing Hela to sit on his other side. This seating arrangement made Hela raise her eyebrows at Ororo and Jean, who both shook their heads but smiled as they did. She shrugged, and decided to put off any long-term thinking for the night. Right now she had a simple objective: have fun and forget for a time what had occurred this day.

She grabbed up a large stein filled with some local alcohol, it wasn't mead by any means, but it at least smelled somewhat palatable. She downed the entire stein in one long gulp, then set it down, smacking her lips. "MMmmm, that is quite tasty, what is it?"

Harry blinked then looked at the bottle set on table. "Looks like a hard cider of some kind, huh, wonder where that came from."

A faint pop behind him heralded one of the house-elves, not Clare, an older male, appearing there, bowing his head slightly. "Master, it bes the chief elf's job to stock the wines. We's have brought many types of beer, hard ciderses, and many types of brandies for the mistress."

"Well keep it coming little wight, keep it coming!" Hela said, already holding up her flagon again, which Harry estimated was at least half again the size of a normal beer bottle.

She slugged half of it back before digging in as around them dozens of conversations began between the Custodes and the bemused students, unsure what to make about this strange gathering. More than a few were convinced they were actually dreaming all this. But they had all decided to go along with things for now.

Harry began to eat as well as did Ororo and Jean, but he reached out, stopping Hela from bringing the flagon to her lips a third time. "Before we all get too deep into our cups, I need to know if there could be more sites like this."

Staring down at his hand on hers, Hela flicked it off her wrist irritably, but did not finish bringing her flagon to her lips. "I do not believe so, but since this one was hidden from me I cannot say. I would have said that was impossible, but with the proof before me, I cannot argue that it occurred. I however have the feel of this now, if someone else has usurped the power over who dies and who is consigned to un-life, I will be able to track them down given time to analyze the, call it a magical signature. You human magic users know that different magic users have different magical signatures? This is much the same thing."

She scowled angrily, her grip causing the stein to creak from the pressure. "I wonder how they went about it in the first place, I should have felt the creation of so many unnatural Draugr, let alone their ongoing taint. And like that of my mistress, my power over such would bypass any wards or other defenses. But the first I knew of it was when they appeared to attack you and yours." Hela shook her head, bringing the flagon up to her lips and draining the rest of it before setting it down with a thunk.

"But that is for later, for now I wish to talk about something far less depressing. These feasts are for merrymaking, not borrowing trouble from Skuld!"

While he didn't get the reference to Skuld right away, Harry smiled genially looking around as the noise of conversation and laughter began to rise. The feeling of welcome and protection that Harry had noticed after the Draugr bodies were dealt with had been slowly growing in the air all the time. Harry likened it now to the feeling he and the other magic users could feel in Camelot now that the old castle was being used for its purpose once more, only slightly less joyful and more… Harry had trouble putting it into words, the closest he could get was rowdily protective perhaps. A feeling of being protected and welcomed that fully matched what he knew of Thor. "I don't think you'll have any arguments here about that.

Harry leaned back lightly, looking around at the goings on as Hela, Ororo and Jean engaged in a discussion about hair color and clothing for some reason. Kitty got in on that, talking about some of the hair care products she used before turning back to engage Banshee in a talk about his daughter, stopping the progress the man had made on his own drinking with some difficulty. Psylocke, who had been noticeably quiet up till now, was further down the table talking to Dr. Vorlus and Nate Price, arguing about political systems of all things, though how that conversation had come up Harry didn't know.

In a lull in the conversation about hair Harry joined in, engaging Hela in a discussion about runes, and telling her about some of the runic languages he used, which she had shown intense interest in. He did so for several minutes, enthralling her with many of the effects runic arrays could achieve, such diverse services, which Norse runes couldn't match.

Hearing that Harry shrugged his shoulders. "There's always more to learn I suppose. For instance that magic trap that was here, I've no idea how that could work. Do you?" Harry was very interested in that runic array, as well as the trick of how to hide runes inside the fabric of the rocks like this place had.

"Oh yes." Hela's lips twisted into a faint sneer and she shook her head. I've never spoken to him about it of course, Old One-Eye rarely teaches others his tricks, not like you. Not, mind you that your openness about your knowledge is a mark against you Harry Potter, but Odin believes that knowledge is power, and he refuses to share it openly. He learned that trick of embedding runic arrays into the very matter of things, hiding them from sight, ages ago, though it is a long process. I know the walls of Asgard have some protective wards embedded in them, and the Rainbow bridge of course is one of his greatest achievements."

She scowled sourly, shaking her head, irritable as she always was whenever Odin came up in conversation. His abandonment of her and her brothers because of the prophecy of Ragnarok was a festering wound in her for all Hela's personal power. But she shook it off, the mood of the place not letting her remain angry even as she tried to stay serious. "I am uncertain why he created the seidr trap here, but that bit at least was from him."

She gulped another flagon down, this time of the brandy Ororo had asked for, little under half an entire bottle's worth gone like water. "I am certain however, the Draugr were not from him. The old, one-eyed bastard could not create so many and keep the process hidden from me, not even on Earth in a place like this since they fall under my purview."

She held up a hand, dipping a fork into the seared tuna that was currently on her plate. "And before you ask, no, One-Eye would not have done it even if he could. While I loathe the bastard, and acknowledge he can be fell-handed when punishing those who cross him or betray the laws of the land, the level of vile cruelty this would have taken is beyond him. Not without something fundamental having changed within him to such an extent that his wife Frigg at the very least would know."

"I see." Harry said, leaning back and allowing Jean to engage Hela on a conversation about Niflheim and the stars Hela could see from there. While interesting and possibly useful in the long term that conversation did not grab Harry's attention just yet, and it went downhill quickly, the two of them coming up with their own names for the various constellations and legends about them.

Having used his occlumency to memorize them when they were visible, Harry was able to pull up an image of the runic arrays in the walls as they faded, their power source gone. So, that really was two runic arrays, one overlapping the other rather than part of it. That's incredibly difficult, having to separate arrays like that rather than tying them all together without them interacting negatively. So the, call them the 'Dark runes' I suppose, were a different language. They also felt different, but then again this whole place feels odd to my magical senses.

Could they have been a Blessing of some kind? People who didn't know about magic would probably belief that Blessings were the opposite of curses, but it wasn't nearly that simple. Blessings were personal, soul deep applications of power to aid and empower a place, object, person or task in a specific manner. Almost like wielding pure magic in a way, the original blessing was shaped by the idea of the caster to a degree, but the power had to come from the individual, and it also had to be, at least from humans, imbued with a bit of the casters own life force.

Harry believed this was what happened when his mother died to protect him from Voldemort. She literally sacrificed her own life to empower whatever magic she had set up that stopped the Killing Curse. The two diametrically opposite magics caused a feedback, which killed Riddle and wounded Harry, with the Dark Lord getting the worst of it since Lily was already dead, unable to take her share of the backlash. At least that was his theory. Blessings were incredibly rare among humans at the best of times.

Gods and Goddesses however could give them out like candy, much like being in many places at once it was one of the things that set them apart from mortal magic users. They could also pour far more power into Blessings, like those Harry had vaguely felt around the Vatican, without it really registering as magic per se. That could have been what happened here I suppose, a Blessing from a dark god in the form of those arrays layered on top of whatever Odin had done here to hide the Draugr from even Hela's senses. That says a lot about the power of the being behind it, like Demon Lord level power here, at best for just that, let alone everything else we've discovered.

But why did he hide this hall in the first place, the belt, the murals and the knowledge they carry, or what? Harry shook his head. Stop it Potter. You've got Magneto and his faction to deal with now, like Jean said don't go looking for more trouble. Let Vorlus study the damn belt, find out everything he can about it while I put Eric ten feet under. Then maybe we'll have time before the next crisis comes along to see about getting involved further with the Asgardians and sorting them out. Wishful thinking I know, blasted spandex issue, but it could happen.

Having reached that conclusion, Harry's mind came back to the here and now. He was confused to find his plate was empty, and he watched bemusedly as his hand, with no direction from his brain, reached out to fill it once more. Allowing his eyes the room over the hall, he noticed first that Hela had somehow drained at least five bottles of various spirits, all of them littering the table in front of her.

He watched in amusement as Danielle stood up, ignoring two students attempting to flirt with them to move towards Garm, bowing formally to him before taking a seat on the stone floor beside him. The two of them leaned forward talking quietly, though what they were talking about was beyond him.

The two artists were busy, with Piotr holding a tray for both of them as they moved from one mural to the other, comparing styles, colors and other things of that nature that Harry couldn't follow.

Everywhere he looked people were having fun. Paige was flirting outrageously with a few of the doctorate students and enjoying herself immensely. Nikolai was flirting with one of the female students and getting quite a bit further than Paige was letting her amusements go. And beside Ororo, Kitty had conjured a chess set up and was playing with Dr. Vorlus while the two of them drank something fruity looking.

Harry smiled and leaned back, catching Ororo, Jean and Hela's eyes. "Hard-fought battle and a victory feasts, I could definitely get used to this kind of thing." That might've been the cheering charm sort of effect of this place, but then again it might not have.

"Indeed, but any party of this nature needs music. I don't suppose you could do something about that?" Hela asked. Despite the amount of alcohol she had just imbibed, Hela's face almost sounded even except for a slight slurring at the end of her sentence. She then slammed her tankard down on the table, and shouted, "Music! I demand music!"

No she's not drunk it all, Harry thought to himself laughing internally. "I could conjure up instruments," he said smirking at the goddess. While Jean and Ororo simply laughed at her. "Though someone else would have to provide the actual music."

"I can do that," Hela replied grandly. "Perform your magic Seidr man."

When she said that Harry got the impression he was being wound up somehow. Nonetheless, he did conjure up several musical instruments.

The Custodes members looked around as the instruments appeared in midair and Kitty laughed in delight, kicking up off of her chair as a song commenced almost immediately, Hela waving her hands in the air like a maestro conducting an orchestra, the instruments moving under her direction. It was no music that Harry had ever heard, ancient sounding like something out of the Dark Ages but fiery and upbeat for all of that.

"Come on Paige!" Kitty said, moving around the table and grabbing Paige, pulling her from between two college students and out into the open area beyond. Soon they were joined by most of the others, most having had enough to eat and drink for now and getting into the party atmosphere this place seemed to conjure. But Harry stayed back, looking at the students and Dr. students all still looked somewhat bemused over the current circumstances, but were more than willing to go along with it. For a moment Harry wondered if maybe the spells he'd used on them a little too credulous, but shrugged it off as unimportant.

Vorlus himself was staring askance at the chess set between him and Kitty, moaning about something and downing a flagon of beer of some kind. Harry made his way over to him, taking a seat next to him in Kitty's original place as the music continued. Behind him Jean hopped to her feet racing over to join the dancers.

Harry took a look down at the chest set then quirked an eyebrow. "Checkmate in two moves for Kitty. I didn't realize she was good at chess."

"I am uncertain if she is good, or I am simply not as good as I thought." Dr. Vorlus moaned, looking at him from over the top of his beer. "The jury, as they say is, still out on that point."

The way he enunciated each word clearly and consistently, and the way his fingers trembled where they sat on the table showed Harry that Dr. Vorlus had apparently had quite a bit more than that one stein of beer. "Are you alright Doctor.?"

"Do you have any idea," Vorlus replied, waving his beerstein in the air all around him. "How important a find this place is? It is easily the most important find in my field of all time, but I am not only thinking about that but about misconceptions that have built up which these murals shatter. When word gets out about this place, and what those murals show we can finally toss aside everything after the coming of the Christian converts, and oh my, you have no idea the row that is going to cause in the halls of academia."

"Then over there is the literal goddess of death Hela of Niflheim, and you won't even let me talk to her." He went on, pointing and spilling much of his beer as he waved it towards Hela who had moved around the table and was now calling out the time for some kind of dance that she had organized.

The dancers were laughing and hopping forward man to woman, switching off partners as they went before turning on their partner's arm to start again going the other way. It was like one of those silly folk dances, ones never done seriously unless by 'seriously' you meant seriously drunk, and all of the dancers were laughing as they went, even Piotr, who seemed to have as little dancing skill as a bear.

He watched as Ororo moved around the table herself, grabbing Hela's hand and pulling her out into the dance floor as the sound of them drum began to beat on the table keeping time instead and another song began.

Shaking his head, Harry turned back to Dr. Vorlus. "It's not that I don't want you to talk to her, or will let you question her if you can think you can come up with some that can work around whatever is blocking her memories. I'm just worried we've kicked over an ant's nest here, and more meddling with Hela in that manner will spark a response we can't predict."

This place had worried Harry from the start, showing both the power and the malicious nature of the person or individuals (he had no idea if it was an individual or group after all) that were somehow twisting the Asgardians, limiting them and depriving them of both power and their own pasts for some reason he couldn't discern.

"Oh like that makes it any better! They're my gods!" Dr. Vorlus growled, downing another gulp of beer. "And you think that someone is controlling them somehow."

He went on seriously despite the amount of beer he'd already drunk. "This place and the evil we faced here beyond anything I've ever comprehended. And you say someone is using my gods, including the ones who should have stopped something like that Draugr horde from ever coming into being."

"But I don't want to think about that tonight." He said, holding out his stein which was quickly filled by a helpful house elf and grinning happily as he watched it happen. Idly Harry wondered how many of them were scattered invisible around here. But hopefully they were enjoying themselves as only house elves could. "Tonight I want to get drunk, wholeheartedly, completely, drunk. Then tomorrow, after I bitch and moan about my hangover, I will get on with my academic pursuits."

Harry nodded, thinking that maybe much of that attitude had to deal with the strange bombastic, immensely enthusiastic cheering charm this place seemed to have cast on them all. Not that I'm going to complain. I really don't want to get involved any further with this Asgardian issue until we deal with Magneto, and I have time to prepare for it. Finding a way to Asgard on our own for a bare minimum. Still, I suppose I can do some more questioning myself.

With that thought in mind, he moved over towards Garm, who had curled up to one side of the table gnawing on a giant leg of something, Harry couldn't decide if it was moose or elk. Where the heck did he get that? Nevermind I don't think I want to know and it's not important anyway. "How are you doing old wolf?"

Garm shrugged his shoulders, his tail flicking from side to side as he watched the dancers, ripping a hunk of meat off the bone and swallowing before answering. "Humans are rather odd, such strange mating rituals you all have. Music I can understand, the howl after all is music. But dancing? It doesn't seem to serve any form unless… is it supposed to teach you how to spot potential mates by how physically fit they are?"

Harry held a finger then paused shaking his head. "No, no I'm not even going to try to explain it. But it's just supposed to be fun. I imagine you run or hunt for enjoyment, or find some place to laze about in a sun beam?"

Suddenly the giant wolf's ears flattened, and he slowly turned his head to stare at Harry. "Did you just compare me to a cat?" He asked softly or as soft as his deep cavernous chest allowed him to.

"No," Harry said, frowning. "I'm not much of an animal person, I've seen dogs lay about in the sun though."

"Not much better then,"Garm muttered, turning away. "And once again, I am not a dog."

Realizing that they had gotten off topic Harry opened his mouth to ask Garm what he thought about the horde of Draugr they had fought, and his opinion on Hela and their acquaintance.

Before he could though, Harry found his arms grabbed by Jean and Ororo, who pulled him out into the dance floor with a laugh. Garm wouldn't have answered him anyway. It was not his place to question his mistress, only give his opinion when asked.

Another song had started up, this one even more folk-ish than others, with everyone linking arms and dancing around a circle. Harry again couldn't place the music, but it was rollicking sort of tune, and everyone around him was laughing and having fun, so despite not being nearly as effected by the feel of the hall Harry went along with it until the song ended.

Laughing Harry left the dance floor as the song ended, leaning against the side of the table and grabbing up a mug of beer from somewhere. Several of the students were already out, their heads down on the table as they slept where they fell. Two others had moved to a corner, leaning against the wall as they cuddled. A helpful house elf had conjured some blankets for the sleepers, but the rest of the party was still going on, slowing down somewhat as the alcohol began to get to them, but not appreciably just yet.

He was rather amused to note Piotr and Amara to one side, trying to dance. Even Harry could tell they weren't really good at it, while nearby Danielle was moving as fluidly as a ballerina, shifting from 1 foot to the other, flashing through the steps of the dance as quickly as possible while also adding her own little fillips to it.

As he watched however, she came to a halt wiping at her forehead and moving through the other dancers to grab up a stein of beer. She downed half of it in one long gulp then burped so loudly Harry could hear it over the general hullabaloo, and he chuckled as she started to sway on her feet.

He moved towards her but Danielle moved away from him heading over towards Garm. She sat down again beside him, bowing her head, only to nearly capsize before straitening up slightly. "Thank you once again for aiding as great wolf," she said, though not in English this time, but in her native tongue of Cheyenne.

Garm however understood it, nodding his head eyeing the young human huntress. "You're just talking to me because you're too drunk to put one foot after another." He said chuckling as he took in her flushed face.

"No, not really," Danielle replied with a shrugged, then smacked his side,, causing the wolf to twitch away slightly. "Don't talk as if you don't enjoy talking about hunting old wolf, you know you do, all hunters do."

"Humph,"Garm muttered, shaking his head. "Younglings today."

"Fenrir would definitely benefit from your instructions," Danielle said changing the subject quickly. "More than I will if I'm honest. Much of what you describe was fascinating, but had no human equivalent. I certainly don't have your nose after all."

"Perhaps he would, and no, no you don't." Garm muttered, looking away. Garm didn't want to admit that it irked him something fierce that the younger wolf, who was frankly barely a teen in human years, was almost as large as he was already and showed no sign of his growth slowing down.

"D-don't be stuffy," Danielle said, smacking him lightly on the shoulder again even as she changed the subject once more, her words now noticeably slurring together. "But tell me, have you ever hunted on the grassy plains? Or just in the mountains? If you like elk, I think you'd really like buffalo."

Harry turned away from that conversation. He noticed then that Piotr and Amara had left the dance floor and were moving past him along the table with Piotr wincing occasionally as he walked and Amara apologizing profusely for something. "Step on his toes did you?"

Both of the younger people looked up and Piotr shook his head. "Dancing is not for the faint of heart, tovarishch." He looked past Harry has did Amara for a second, smiling slightly.

Harry looked behind him to see Danielle still talking to Garm before he turned back, cocking his head questioningly. "So she stopped chasing the two of you?"

"She did,"Amara said with a nod, leaning in so they could talk without the noise getting to them. "She wasn't happy about it of course, but why would she be? But she respects our decision, and," The neo-Grecian's smile softened. "Our friendship isn't so fragile our rejection of her is going to break it."

Piotr nodded firmly, smiling happily. "While Danielle seems to be a bit irritated by the lack of romantic prospects at present, she understood and respected the fact that my religion will not allow me to enter into relationships such as yours, tovarishch. I mean no disrespect, but it was not how I was raised."

Harry shrugged his shoulders. "It's not for everyone I'll grant you that. Though it isn't as difficult as you might think. We all four of us lean on one another, not all of them in love with just me, but with each other."

"But still it is more complicated than a one-on-one relationship," Piotr said dryly. "And," he hesitated looking over to where Hela was still dancing with Ororo. "Is it just me, or is it possibly going to become more complicated in the near future?"

"It's already slightly more complicated, though no decision on the full scope of that complication has been reached yet," Harry replied dryly. I can't deny I'm attracted to Hela and I could all too easily see myself falling for her, but it's not just me that needs to belief that and it's not just my choice to see where this goes. Hell, Emma hasn't even met her yet!

"More power to you,"Amara said softly, causing both men to look at her and she shrugged. "She hides it well, but I think another reason why she wanted to have this party was because…"

Like Piotr she paused before going on, shaking her head, the seriousness of her thoughts getting through the general happy atmosphere of this place pressing in on her. "You might not have seen it, but she was actually tearing up when looking at some of these murals. This place, it reminds her of something special to her. I think it reminds her when she was last truly happy and, and loved I think. I think Lady Hela is a very lonely person these days."

Harry nodded but made no verbal reply, having thought that already. As another song began in the background and they heard a loud shriek from Paige they all smiled and the serous moment passed once more. Harry waved the two of them off to acorner of the hall which was noticeably darker than the rest of the hall, smirking as he noticed Amara was pulling Piotr rather than vice versa.

He turned his attention back to the dancers as that song ended and Kitty moved out of the crowd to grab one of the hovering fiddles, setting it to her shoulder as she brought up the bow. First she played the fiddle portion of the American song, the Devil Went Down to Georgia, which caused Paige and Jean to laugh aloud dancing around one another and Betsy, who also recognized the song.

While her listeners clapped in appreciation, Hela clicked her fingers, and a page of music appeared before Kitty. "That was very good child, but I wonder if you think you could try your hand at this."

Wetting her lips for a moment, Kitty nodded, her eyes locked on the page before bringing the bow to the string again. The song now was old, ancient and deep but fey and light, even with Kitty having to slow down and even backtrack a time or two. It was an amazing song in many ways, but Hela seemed somewhat sad, as if it wasn't complete. Nonetheless her sadness went away as the song continued and when it ended she joined everyone else still awake who clapped and whistled their appreciation, even the canoodling couples in the corners.

When he tried to find out what the song was later using what he had heard of it, Harry had no luck, only finding out it was old and had passed through many tongues. The one currently in vogue was a Russian song whose name translated to 'In the arms of Mara'. But the meaning would still escape him for a time.

As the clapping subsided and the music picked up again, Harry moved towards Kitty, watching as Ororo pulled into a hug, the fiddle leaving her hand tohover in the air once again, joining the other instruments in the next song. "I never knew you could do that Kitten," he said, coming up to pull them both of them into a hug.

Kitty grinned, pushing back at both of them as she smirked at Harry. "I learned to play the fiddle when I was younger, I was always kind of good at it I suppose but I gave it up when I realized I'd have to choose between it and computers. To get anywhere in the music industry you have to devote a lot more time than I was willing to."

As Ororo gave her one more congratulatory squeeze and turned back to the dance floorHela moved past them, grabbing up another cup and downing it quickly as she sat down huffing heavily and wiping sweat from the visible portions of her face.

With a pat on Kittyhead he moved off, plopping down next to Hela, leaning back against the table as he took in the dance floor. "So, enjoying yourself?"

"Oh very much indeed, I haven't had this much fun in decades, perhaps centuries,"Hela said, actually giggling as she reached over to poke Harry in the nose. "And despite the horrible start to this meeting, the party has been magnificent Seidr man."

"Alright, would you kindly explain what that phrase means? This isn't the first time you've called me that, and I know I'm not made of cider, if for no other reason than you would try drinking me if I was." Harry smirked as Hela giggled a light musical sound that reverberated down to his bones before shaking her head and banishing the noise to glare at him through her half-mask. "So pray tell me what the name actually means."

"Well Harry, you are a magic user-"

"Yes, that has been proven rather thoroughly during our association."

"MMmm, 'association', hehe, such an amusing word, with all the connotations your mind can place upon it." Hela smirked sipping at, yes, her hard cider before continuing. "Ahh, but it is just an amusing little thing, I'm surprised you don't know it already from the bear-like academic over there."

She waved a hand toward Vorlus who had just returned from the dance floor where he had tried to dance with Nikolai and a few of his students. With the emphasis on trying, though Harry felt that was more because of the amount of alcohol he'd imbibed than anything else.

"Let us agree that I am ignorant of this matter. Out with it Hela." Harry smirked back taking a drink from his own juice. As he had told Jean, he wouldn't drink tonight, not when she couldn't. Though that hadn't stopped either of them from having fun, nor had Harry's oft dark thoughts. "If I am to be a butt of a joke, than I should at least know what the joke is."

"Oh very well," Hela sighed with a small pout at having her fun ended, but quickly smirked back at him thanks to the chance of getting to tweak his nose again. "You see, among our people, magic is the woman's domain. Indeed it is Freya's specific look-over as it were. Seidr is not something a man normally is welcome to play with, and those that do, well they tend to meet ends which are both amusing and a sign to others who would meddle in things best left to women."

Harry blinked then blinked again, before finishing his drink before shrugging. "Huh, I suppose that would explain why everyone from where I'm from was wearing dresses...I mean, robes. Never understood that myself."

Hela laughed and Harry joined her before Hela subsided, reaching out to poke Harry's nose, nearly missing and poking him in the eye as she swayed somewhat in her chair, the amount of alcohol she had consumed finally effecting her. "You're a Seidr man, a bad boy who's good with a spell and sword... but I like that."

Her lips quirked into an almost sinfully seductive smile, Hela's inhibitions having flowed away as the drink came in. Her eyes, which were now violet he realized looked on his. "So tell me, how good with your sword are you?"

"I've never had any complaints." Harry responded before he could stop himself. Shaking his head Harry broke eye contact to look around, realizing that this the party was winding down. Nearly all of Dr. Vorlus's students and his assistants were either drunk at the table, or asleep against the walls in places. Nate Price was still up, chugging back drinks with Sean in some kind of drinking contest.

Three students were still up with Nikolai, two women and one man dancing around one another with Betsy, who along with Jean hadn't left the dance floor since they had started, though he noticed that she had looked his way and smiled just now, which meant she might have felt his spike of emotions. That she was okay with Hela flirting with him like that was interesting, but Harry determined to talk to all his ladies later about this whole thing. As he watched Jean, Ororo joined the dancers after placing a blanket over Paige and Kitty, who had fallen asleep next to one another the far wall seemingly only a few moments after Kitty had finished her song.

Sensing this, he looked over at Hela. "I think it's time we start wrapping this up." He said rather sadly.

But she simply shrugged her shoulders, waving her hands in the air. The music changed again, becoming somewhat slower, far more formal. Ororo moved toward Harry, her hands outstretched, and he went to her, smiling as Hela looked up in surprise to find that Jean had approached her.

Jean pulled Hela to her feet and smirked at the goddess, her jade eyes flickering with more than the torchlight. "You seem to have continued your flirting ways." She said drolly, arching her brow at the goddess as if daring her to disagree.

Despite what could have come out as a rebuke, Jean let Hela lead the dance for a moment, and the two of them moved into a formal dance. One hand at their sides, the others held lightly, Jean turned as Hela held their joined hands above their heads for a moment, their other hands clasping as Jean came back around.

"I did, though I could try to blame it on the drink…" Hela said, as they continued the dance, now with Jean in the lead, turning Hela under one joined hand before both sets of hands began to rest on the other's shoulder blades.

"Hmm, I, we, will give you a pass on that I suppose." Jean mused, her voice light but her eyes sharp. "I like you Hela, hell I like you and respect you, but remember, whatever your attraction to Harry and him to you, there is more than just the two of you involved in this."

The sharpness in her eyes faded abruptly and she smiled, a loving, tender smile as she looked over at Harry, who looked up just in time from his own dance with Ororo to catch her eyes. "Harry loves us, Ororo, Emma and I. He may come to love you too, I can tell he's attracted to you already, but he won't make a move towards you if it would hurt any of us, and we, the three of us, need to know that we and you can love one another as well."

"Harry does not just the three of you either I think." Hela said softly, on hand moving lightly from Jean's side to rest lightly on her stomach. "I also understand he would love that adopted daughter of his Melody."

"No, just the three of us, but it is only the three of us who need to make a decision about you." Jean said equally soft, though her eyes had softened noticeably as well at Hela's gesture.

"I understand, and for myself, I can see such a thing happening all too easily. It isn't our, that is the Asgardians, common way and in some ways it galls me to admit that I could enjoy such a relationship. But you and Ororo are both magnificent, worthy of my respect and friendship. Affection may come in time." She shrugged. "But for this evening, I do not wish to think such deep thoughts.

"No, it's not the time for such things is it?" She laughed as Harry moved up beside them, realizing Ororo from their dance as Jean did the same. At a nod from Ororo, Harry turned then to Hela. The two of them had their own conversation as they danced, which followed Hela and Jean's though Ororo was more approving of Harry and Hela seeing if their courtship could lead to something more than Jean was. On the other hand just like Jean, Ororo was conscious of the fact Emma's feelings also had to be taken into account, and what she and Hela would think of one another was impossible to predict at this point.

Hela stared at his outstretched hands for a moment, then past him to Jean and Ororo, who were leaning against one another, their arms around one anotheras they began to dance, sharing a glance before looking back at her and nodding.

This time Hela let herself be led around, whirling lightly under her and Harry's hand, before clasping his other hand with the other, feeling Harry's arms around her waist before traveling up to her back as they turned. There was nothing overtly sensual about this dance, but there was an intimacy to it. And this time, neither of them talked, it would have spoiled the feeling of the moment.

But it couldn't last long, and as the music petered out they came to a stop and Hela sighed mournfully. "Alas, I think it is time I take my leave. My realm needs me soon, and so do my duties. This has been a lovely break, but such things must end, and I hear my own bed calling my name for the moment."

"Despite the battle which was the nominal cause for this party it has indeed been a lovely break from reality." Harry said, still not quite as taken in by the euphoric feeling this place gave off as everyone else.

He looked over to see Garm had already replied to a nonverbal summons from his mistress. But Harry was surprised to see that Danielle had curled up next to Garm, his large tail covering her slightly like a second blanket. Judging by the expression on his scarred snout Garm didn't seem to know what to make of that, yet had stood up quickly moving towards his mistress.

Harry looked over at Jean and Ororo, and Jean obligingly opened her telekinetic connection to him. "I'm going to give her a communication mirror, is that alright?"

Regardless of whether or not she joins us in our relationship Harry, Hela's proven herself a friend before this." Jean replied firmly.

"I definitely want to keep in touch with her," Ororo said joining the conversation thanks to Jean's connection with her. "She has proven her friend as Jean said and even if nothing truly happens between us, and you can't deny Harry that you are attracted to her, we should keep in touch."

Harry didn't even try to argue with Ororo, simply turning back to Hela. He held up ahead and suddenly held a communication mirror. This wasn't conjuration but summoning. After all conjuration couldn't conjure something which had magic spells on it as communication mirrors did. Harry had created a few of these when he had created the one he had given Emma so many months back.

Hela looked at it as Harry handed the mirror over, her face growing stormy, easily seen despite the mask she still wore covering the top of her face."This isn't a gift or anything like that, at least not the way you seem to think," Harry said quickly. "It's a communication mirror. Rub your finger around the edge, and you'll be able to connect with mine or the ones Jean, Ororo and Emma have."

Hela's expression calmed down noticeably, and she nodded. "I had hoped you would not think to give me such a tasteless gift as something you could but conjure in a moment, I should have known better." she said, smiling at him now.

"I can definitely see that this will come in handy."

She looked past him now, turning her head to look at Jean and Ororo. The two of them smiled at her shrugging their shoulders as if to say not yet, but keeping in touch was always a good thing. "We let you dance with him already," Ororo said aloud, chuckling.

"But you haven't even met Emma as yet, and as we've said several times, this must be a group decision."

Hela had to laugh as well. "That you did, no I have not, and yes you have said that. I must admit to some interest in the mortal now, she must be most formidable to keep up with the three of you. In many ways it must be said." She turned back to Harry, holding the mirror in one hand as Garm joined her, allowing her other hand to rest lightly on his neck. She held Harry's eyes for a moment, then slowly smiled, shaking her head.

"Till we meet again my Siedr man." With that she laughed throatily turned and opened a gateway to her realm disappearing into it before Harry could think of activating his mage sight.

He clicked his fingers at that, then shrugged his shoulders looking around with a faint smirk at the partygoers. "I guess we're bedding down here for the night?"