Big Sister, Big Brother

This flash piece is a rough draft of a scene from the prequel novel of The Prophecies of Ragnarok, a Norse mythology based new adult series I'm currently writing with Meri Benson. It may or may not end up in the final version of the novel. This was also written in response to 8Letters' #31Letters challenge, an invitation to write every day for the whole month of January.

Here are the shorts we've written so far for the prequel, in chronological order:

• Birthright
• Ice Queen
• Quiet Time
• Tyr Lends A Hand
• Big Sister, Big Brother (this story)
• Prison Break
• Escaping Asgard
• New Normal
• Marriage Plans
• Brother's Keeper
• Final Hour
• Resistance and Steps
• Forsaken
• Revenge Served With Rage
• Goodbye, Good Friend
• Inheritance
• A Winter's Bargain
• Death Finds All
• Homecoming
• Reconnection
• The Hour of the Wolf

Hotel Fen, the first published book of the series, follows after this point.

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In Norse mythology, Hel is said to preside over an underworld realm where she receives a portion of the dead. She is referred to as a daughter of Loki, and is described as having been appointed by the god Odin as ruler of a realm of the same name, located in Niflheim. Her appearance is described as half blue and half flesh-colored, and further as having a gloomy, downcast appearance.

Hodr is the blind son of Odin and Frigg, who is tricked and guided by Loki into shooting a mistletoe arrow which was to slay the otherwise invulnerable Baldr, his twin brother.

(Wikipedia)

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Fenris had been a terrified mess when he arrived in Loki's cottage. Geiravor had been waiting for him; she'd thought he'd only been out for a walk and hadn't realized he'd gone to the palace to see her, missing each other entirely.

And though she didn't asked him any questions, he quickly confessed that he'd shapechanged, and bitten off Tyr's hand. "It was an accident, I swear," her little brother kept repeating. "I shouldn't have—"

She shushed him, wiping off the specks of blood that remained on his jaw and throat. Because she wasn't a shapechanger, she hadn't really given much thought on the possibility that Fenris might be one, though he was of the age when Jotnar magic began to manifest.

"It wasn't your fault." Thankfully, she managed to keep the ire out of her voice. But not from her eyes, which were steadily changing into a darker shade of green, as they tended to do when she was emotional. She was no shapechanger, not in the way Fenris could transform into a wolf or their father into a mare, but she could manipulate her appearance. The Jotnar called that ability glamour.

She continued to tend to Fenris' cuts and bruises, then prepared him a warm meal and sent him to bed early.

It was only when she was sure he was already asleep that she got back to her feet, pulled her cloak around her and headed to join Odin and his family for dinner. Tyr was probably twisting the story by now, waving his stump around and transforming Fenris into a fearsome beast that needed to be chained. She was eager — no, raging — to give them all a piece of her mind.

As luck would have it, she found Baldr making his way to the palace from the training courtyard, coming directly into her line of sight. She squared her shoulders and stalked determinedly forward, the bright glow of the moon above them washing out her already pale skin. "I demand recompense for my brother," she called out.

Baldr halted and turned to face her. For the first time, she saw something dark and sharp in his otherwise habitually amicable demeanor. "Was Tyr's hand and my brother's beating not recompense enough?"

The latter half of the sentence knocked the wind out of her sails, at least for a moment. His brother? What had Hodr done?

"Stay away from him," Baldr warned, stepping forward and crowding into her space to get his point across. In response, she shoved him hard on the chest with both hands, knocking him back while she put some distance between them and prepared herself for a fight. She'd come prepared; she had a knife somewhere on her person, and what appeared to be a harmless belt around her waist was actually a staff that had been enchanted with runes to render it collapsible.

But he only gave her a long, hard look before pivoting on his heel and walking away.

She couldn't let him have the last word, however. "Next time, pick on someone your own size!"