Meetings in the Woods - Part Three

Another thirteen days passed with the same routine. He asked her for her name, she refused to give it and he attempted to guess until she left. At first she was annoyed and almost stopped herself from going again but she refused to let him win. It was her pool and she would go when she liked. During the days though, she wondered if he’d still be there when she returned and she found herself almost looking forward to it.

When she arrived that night she found him swimming in the pool, his clothes piled on a rock at the water’s edge.

“You’re always here,” she pointed out with the tiniest of smiles.

“Yes, I am,” he agreed, “and so are you. Even though you know I’ll be here, you still visit night after night. Why is that I wonder?”

“I come because I want to and I won’t let anyone take that from me,” she said, undressing and slipping into the water beside him.

“I wasn’t aware of taking anything from you. Besides, I can’t leave until I know your name.” He raised his eyebrows, “…the rules of the game.”

“Your foolish game; not mine.” Her fingers ran under the water slowly, watching the ripples flow on the surface as she thought. “Then I release you from your self-made prison Loki Odinson. You’re nothing if not persistent and I’d hate for you to use up all of your remaining days sitting here with me… it’s Angrboda.” She looked at him straight in the eyes. “My name is Angrboda.”

“Then it’s a pleasure to finally meet you Angrboda,” he smiled as he shifted towards her and took her hand from under the water. She almost pulled back but instead she let him kiss it. If he’d tried this on the first day, he’d have gotten a punch but maybe he’d earned it after all this time.

“So Angrboda of the Ironwood, why do you cry?”

Her smile faltered for a moment but she recovered quickly. “And why would you of all people care to know a thing like that? You’ve won your game, lie-smith. It’s time to leave the table.”

“Because you’ve given me something precious and I owe you for it.”

“My name isn’t precious, Loki. It’s just my name.”

“So why was it so hard for you to give then?”

She thought about this. Why hadn’t she just told him her name in the first place? “I’m stubborn,” she replied.

He laughed, “I know the feeling. Once I set my mind to something, little else will distract me.”

“Does that mean you won’t leave until I tell you why I was crying?”

“In all probability yes,” he smiled. “I have time on my side. I can wait for an eternity if I have to.”

She sighed and wondered whether it was wise to trust him with the truth. “I can help you, I’m sure of it,” he interrupted. “Just tell me what it is and I’ll prove it to you.”

“No man can help me, Loki” she said heavily. “I’ve been forsaken.”

“Maybe…” he said, nodding to her surprise. “Forsaken by all the Gods perhaps…. All but one,” he grinned widely like a young boy. “You only need one God on your side to make a difference and you have a cunning one on yours.”

“Are you going to make a child for me then?” She asked bluntly. “That’s what I cry for. I can’t conceive. I’ve tried for years and the Gods seem to forbid it. No men in the village will have me now. They think I’m cursed to be barren forever. No one wants a wife that can’t bring children into the world.”

Loki considered her revelation. “What is it you want more? To be a wife or to be a mother?”

“A Mother,” she answered instantly. “I don’t need a man to carry me into my dotage. I can do that myself but I can’t conceive without one.”

“You can conceive with me,” he countered. “We can use magic.”

“I have magic of my own, it doesn’t work on this. I’ve tried.”

“I’m not talking about incantations and spells,” he said, running his fingers across her naked hips were the runes were etched. “There’s a place I can take you. It’s down in the roots of Yggdrasil and it’s a source of Seiðr. Even Gods who are against you will bow down to the will of Seiðr.”

She bit her lip as she considered his offer. This was her best chance and she didn’t dare throw it away. “Why would you do this for me?” she asked suspiciously.

“Why not? I find you pleasing and I can give you something you want. I suppose it’s selfish but I’ve done very little good in my life so far. It’s in my nature to do the exact opposite. You’d be something of a redemption.”

“I don’t want to be your wife,” she warned. “Nor do I want to be beholden to you for the rest of my life. Come and go as you please but you must promise to never take the child from me, even if you change your mind. If you do this for me I’ll teach you the secrets of the Ironwood. A deal or nothing at all. That’s my bargain, Odnison.”

Loki licked his lips as he considered her proposal. “You have your bargain.”

She dived under the water and found the sharpest stone she could, holding it up in front of him. “An oath in blood.” She sliced her palm open before doing the same to his, pressing their palms together so the blood mingled and dropped into the water as one. “Thank you,” she whispered, feeling a hopeful lift in her spirits. Loki felt it too but for him, it was in the air itself. The sense of heavy foreboding was lifting, making it lighter to breath. It was like the forest had finally accepted his presence.

He wrapped his arm around her waist, pulled her in close and kissed her. “Don’t thank me until you’re holding your child in your arms. We have a long way to travel yet.”