Marriage by the Soul (2/2)
"Where's Haalfrin?" Resburn mumbles tiredly. "It's already morning, but he hasn't even left the temple yet." He looks around at the empty field, which is empty by now of the visiting Crow Clans. "Should we really be dallying around here for so long?"
Jay shakes his head, but remains silent. Faylin, however, stomps over to Resburn and smacks him upside the head. "Be a little more sensitive! He must be feeling very sad right now!"
Resburn feels a chill in his spine, and he turns to Faylin. "Oh…," he mutters, "Are you going to cry again?" He's never seen this woman cry before until last night.
Hearing his question, Faylin slaps him again. "Hmph! That really was sad yesterday! To think Haalfrin had to kill his own girlfriend. To think that girl was with us the entire time makes me sad. I wish I could've talked to her a little more."
Indeed, Faylin realized in retrospect that little Frey must have been attached to them, since she had gone through the trouble of inviting them all to attend her Ascension.
"Enough arguing," Jay orders them sternly. "We're still at the foot of the goddess's temple, so be respectful and keep quiet." He looks up at the temple solemnly, "We'll stay here as long as we need to."
While Faylin and Resburn are concerned about "inconsequential matters", Jay is busy thinking about the real implications of what they just learned. "Haalfrin and the goddess are in love with each other? Never mind that he never talked about having a relationship with somebody, this news is way too big…"
He shakes his head. "Ugh… Best not to think about it so hard."
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"Freyya?" Haalfrin asks, "How long has it been outside?" With no windows, and with the doors shut tight, there's no way to tell the time from inside the temple.
Freyya shrugs, "Who know? Lessa and Mora didn't care about time in the Void, so we shouldn't either." She smiles, "You know, all gods get married this way. Some gods I know of spent years in their marriage room before leaving."
"Years?" Haalfrin snorts. "that's ridiculous."
This makes Freyya laugh. "Silly! It's taboo to interrupt someone during this part of the ritual, so some people like to use this as an opportunity to escape work. A lot of these gods are normally EXTREMELY busy people, after all, and getting married is often their only chance to slack off."
"Haha!" Haalfrin chuckles, "that makes more sense."
"Eh…," Haalfrin laughs. "Anyway… I don't think we'll last quite that long…"
"Right…!" Freyya laughs back, "That won't happen. You can roughly judge time by now many times you go to sleep, anyway."
"True."
"…Hmm…, I'm hungry," Freyya sighs. She snaps her fingers, and a red flame flares to life in the palm of her hand.
The new light illuminates the small area around them, revealing the newly married couple. Freyya is currently sitting on his lap, and Haalfrin is sitting the ground with his back resting against a wall and his legs hanging over one of the large steps the Crows were sitting in earlier. Because of the chilly air, a large blanket is wrapped around the 2 with only their heads poking out.
"Sure thing." Haalfrin reaches his bare arm out off the blanket and grabs his space bag. He reaches inside and pulls out a small wooden box. "I have some honey cake I've kept saved up."
"Mmmm…," she hums softly as she wiggles her butt excitedly. "I'll have some of that."
As they both silently nibble on Haalfrin's cake, Freyya ducks her head under the lip of the blanket and disappears completely. "Thank you…" her muffled voice resonates from under the blanket.
"For what?"
"For sending me off like that." She breathes in deeply. "It meant a lot to me over the years."
She abruptly stops eating and stares at the floor. After a few moments, she looks troubled and speaks up, "You know, Haalfrin…? I'm ashamed to say, that I didn't actually recognize you when we first met."
"What do you mean?" he asks.
"Well," she slowly explains, "the first thing I remembered was becoming the Crow goddess. I just… seemed to materialize in a black palace, and I was told I was the new Goddess of Defeat. I didn't actually remember my mortal life at all, you see. I actually thought I'd been a Death god for my entire existence because of this."
She bites into her cake more aggressively, as if remembering something upsetting. "It turns out that the Universal Spirit of Fate doesn't like Time Travelers, or people having advanced knowledge from the future. When I BECAME a part of that past timeline, part of my existence was removed from this one; I forgot everything."
"I…," she finishes, "I only remembered my past when you shared your Yiir Name with me… all those years ago."
Looking up, Haalfrin recalls that event. "Yeah," he says, "When I shared my Yiir Name with you just after my duel with Kaalhyme, you nearly killed me in rage. I mean, you looked REALLY upset."
"Mhm…," she nods. "Strange memories were pouring into my mind. I remembered my past with you and your future. It was all too much, and I thought you did something horrible to my soul in that moment."
"Heh," she chuckles, "I realized my mistake once I got back to my house." She looks up with a smile and recalls how awkward she felt going to meet him again after she had remembered their true relationship.
Indeed, the next time they met was when she witnessed Haalfrin being saved by Kalastros; there, she gave him her Name. She was so shy then that she couldn't stop blushing.
"…Freyya…" Haalfrin hisses through gritted teeth.
"Yes?"
"Stop wiggling your butt!"
"Heh…," she coos as she wiggles more violently, "you getting excited?"
"Grr!" he growls, "You're too skinny! With no fat on our butt, your bony butt hurts when you move it like that! Are you trying to cut my leg off with those little butt knives?!"
"Kekeke!" she snorts, "Butt knives? I'll remember that!"
"Hmph!" Haalfrin snorts back as he stands up.
Sensing danger, Freyya squeals and leaps off his lap. Extinguishing the fire in her palm as she runs away, Haalfrin is denied any personal view of her little butt knives as he chases after her.
For several minutes, hysteric laugher echoes endlessly on the temple walls… up until the Crow lets herself be caught. Once the man finally catches her by the waist, everything goes quiet in the temple, and they don't separate again.
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The great, black temple doors slowly creak open, and a long man stumbles out. Greeted by the bright noon sun, Haalfrin holds his hand over his eyes and winces, "Ugh… so bright…"
"Haalfrin!!" Faylin calls as she runs over with tears in her eyes. "Are you OK?" In her mind, the only reason he'd stay in the temple for so long is because he must've been consumed by depression. She'd consider him a good friend after all these years, so there's no way she wouldn't be concerned!
Faylin stops abruptly and looks at the man in confusion. He… he doesn't look upset? In fact, the best word to describe his face is "Tranquility". Yes. He looks to be so at peace as he closes his eyes and slowly breathes in the fresh spring air.
"How long was I inside?" he asks slowly.
"A week," Jay says as he walks up from behind Faylin. "You ready to go back now? You got your feelings sorted out now?"
Unexpectedly, Haalfrin gives a wide smile. "Yes… I think I have."
None of them had ever seen Haalfrin smile so genuinely before, and they're shocked speechless.
"What?" Haalfrin turns around and gestures to them all. "No need to wait. Let's go back to the Threshold."
Jay walks up behind Haalfrin and puts his hand on his shoulder. "Can you tell me what was going on in there? Are you REALLY all right?"
"Heh," Haalfrin rubs his nose… bashfully (!?). "I'm really all right… and no. I'm not going to talk about what I did in there; it's private."
Resburn, Jay, and Faylin are genuinely freaked out by Haalfrin before; he shouldn't be so happy in this situation, right?
Still, seeing that his lips are sealed, they bury their curiosity deep in their hearts and obediently follow him out of the valley.
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End of Volume