“It is funny,” she said after a few moments of silence. “I am very happy right now. Had you told me a few weeks ago that I would never be a Valkyrie, but would instead be making a wedding dinner for my husband. I would have been very upset.”
“You said you trained your whole life to be a Valkyrie?”
“Yes,” she said with a slight sigh. “I wished to be Prime Valkyrie, but most women who enter the sisterhood want that. I would have been satisfied just passing their tests.”
“I see,” I said.
“You sound upset,” she said as she turned back to me. “You should not be. A queen has more value than a Valkyie, and I will still be able to serve you in combat. Well, there is another way I wish to serve you as well.”
“Oh?” I asked, and then she laughed.
“Other than my wifely duties. I wish to write and sing your saga.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“You have lived an amazing life,” Aasne said quickly. “You possess great powers and have used those powers to defeat evil and save others. The Idonan are Vaish now, but our people are gifted with song and poetry. A wife has many duties, and I am looking forward to cooking for you, standing by your side in battle, pleasuring you in bed, and bearing your children, but I also wish to sing your saga and have my rendition passed to all of our people so that they can know your glory.”
“I’m not sure I really need everyone to know about my glory.” I smiled politely at her and then took a sip of my wine.
“Stories give others hope,” Aasne said with a shrug. “Soon all the Nordar clans will be united, but there are hundreds of billions of us, and none but a select few will ever come to know you. What will everyone think of you?”
“It doesn’t matter what they think of me,” I said. “All that matters is that I stop the Draugr and save the galaxy.”
“That does matter,” Aasne agreed, “but what if the men, women, and children knew your song? What if they knew of you saving Eve? What if they knew of your meeting with Zea and your escape from Trappist? What if they knew how you saved the orphans on Queen’s Hat and prevented the corporations from taking it over? What if they knew that you saved the Prime Valkyrie’s life without hands?”
“You’ve been doing some research on me,” I chuckled.
“Or course!” she replied. “I want to know everything about you. So do your people. Imagine being a young Nordar boy, and you hear the epic saga of his ruler King Adam. You hear of how he treats women. You hear of how he helps others who are weaker than him. You hear of what it means to be a good man. How do you think this boy will grow up?”
“He’ll want to be like that,” I said with a heavy sigh. “I see your point.”
“What of the Nordar girls?” Aasne continued. “From your saga, they will learn how a man treats and respects a woman, and they will learn that all women have different strengths and ways of solving problems. Ever since our clans were separated, our kings have been arrogant bastards who were more concerned with themselves. Now we have a king who would risk his life and his women to help not just the Nordar, but the entire galaxy. It is wonderful, and the saga will usher in a golden age amongst our people.”
“You might be putting a little too much weight behind a poem,” I said, but then I remembered Yu’s words about King Arthur, and what that story had done to that kingdom on ancient Earth. Would my saga help my people become better humans?
“I know these things work,” Aasne said. “Do you know why girls wish to be Valkyries?”
“No,” I admitted.
“Because we hear about the Prime Valkyrie. We know her story. We know about her family. We know how many years she has spent training. We know what weapons she prefers, and we know her face and voice. She is a heroine to every young Nordar girl who wants to be strong. We all love her even though we will never meet her.”
“Hmmm,” I said. “You held up rather well when you first met Madalena on Oskmay.”
“My legs were trembling, and I thought I was going to piss myself,” Aasne laughed. “Even now, I find it hard to believe that she is my sister-wife. In some ways, I find it harder to believe than the fact that I am Queen of all the Vaish. There have been many Prime Valkyries, and Nordar girls know the history of most of them, but none have been as celebrated as Madalena. She is practically a living god walking amongst us.”
“She is pretty incredible,” I said.
“And to think that I am allowed to share her husband,” Aasne sighed and then shook her head. “Well, that is just one more reason I wish to compose and sing your saga. I must find a way to get your attention. Eve has powerful magic, Zea has computers. Paula and Kasta have their machines. Sivaha already was a queen, and she is irresistible to men. All of them are beautiful and talented. How will I find my place? I am not the best warrior, I might have guessed that I was more talented than Sivaha, but her skill during the battle at the Prism Palace was amazing. She could have easily been a Valkyrie if she wanted, and perhaps the only better woman warrior alive is Madalena.”
Aasne let out a long sigh and then turned away from her cooking to face me. “So I cannot be your warrior. I am not the prettiest of your wives. Nor am I the most clever or intelligent. After all this time of trying to deny my Idonan ways and become a warrior, I find that my voice will set me apart. Can I sing for you, Husband?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Please. I’d love to hear you sing.”
Aasne nodded and opened her mouth. She sang softly at first as her green eyes stared into mine, but then she gained more confidence, and she closed her eyes as her volume raised.
The words were Nordar. I had been slowly absorbing the language, so I could only pick a few words out of her verses, but it seemed to be a song about Freyja and love. I wasn’t much of a connoisseur of music, but her voice sounded full and pure, and I felt a shiver of pleasure ripple along my spine when she began to change verses and hypnotically sway her hips in time with her music. Her performance was beautiful, and I found that I had to force myself to breathe when she finished singing.
“Wow,” I gasped as I clapped my hands together.
“You liked it?” she asked as her lips curved into a grateful smile.
“Very much.”
“Then you will let me compose your saga and sing it for you?” she asked.
“Yeah,” I said. “I want to make you happy. If this does it for you, then go for it.”
“Thank you!” she gushed, and then the pot behind her boiled over, and she spun around to attend to it.
“Sing another one for me?” I asked.
“Of course, my king,” she laughed, and then her voice broke out into song again.
Aasne sang and cooked for another fifteen minutes while I sipped on wine and enjoyed her voice. Soon it became apparent from her movements that the meal was getting close to completion, and she laid out a cucumber, dill, and olive oil salad for us. The greens were simple but delicious, and I heard my stomach roar for more after I had finished my bowl.
“Now for the aquavit,” she said as she laid out a dish of varied crackers, cheeses, and salted fish. Some of them were in a creamy dill sauce, some were glazed with a light dill and salt mixture, but everything was delicious, and we ended up finishing half of the aquavit bottle by the time we polished off the first course.
“You are hungry,” Aasne whispered as she pulled the empty plate away and went back to the stove. “There is plenty more coming.”
“Great,” I said as I went back to sip on my wine.