The goddess ran her finger delicately along the petals of a flower that was colored a bright shade of yellow. "My husband will not destroy your world. Ragnarok is an event that will hurt everyone involved, including me."
"Legend has it that Thor will have to die for that to happen. A hero's death, they say."
The goddess pursed her lips and shook her head. "Dead is dead, little one," she let the flower go. "What mother would want her child dead?"
"Then why is Odin so bent on destroying the earth?
Is he that eager to lose his son?"
"Odin adores Thor way too much to let that happen. He has been fighting since time immemorial to make sure Thor doesn't fulfill the prophecy," she smiled at me. "No harm will come to your planet. Thor's life stands at the top of my husband's list of importance. Way above punishing your kind for their betrayal and incompetence. And even if it didn't..." she sighed. "The other gods would fight tooth and nail to make sure no harm came to their beloved worshippers. Everyone is terrified of being forgotten. Cast into the shadows like they were nothing."
"I didn't realize the gods were scared of anything."
She let out another soft chuckle. "All life forms fear something," she said, studying my face for a brief moment. "What are you afraid of, little one?" "I'm afraid of what my wife will do to me when I get back home." It was my turn to chuckle. "I haven't spoken to her in three days. She's going to strangle me. I haven't been around much lately, and I'm worried that she might think that I don't care for her anymore."
"Three days?"
"Yes. I have been here for the past three days, goddess. Do you not recall?"
Freya seemed to be thinking deeply about something, and I couldn't help but feel like it was something that she thought I needed to know and something that I may not be too happy about.
"Yes. You have been here for three days, little one, but time works differently in this realm."
I knew this was going to head in a direction that I was not going to be happy about. What did she mean when she said time worked differently here? How long had I actually been away?
"Goddess, how long has it been since my wife last heard from me?" My voice carried the same level of alarm that I felt. What if I had been away?
for a year?
"There's no need to panic, little one."
But I was beginning to panic. "Goddess," I was struggling to keep my head straight. "How long in earth days have I been away from my wife and not spoken to her?"
She let out a long exhale. "Roughly about four months."
The earth might as well have opened up its enormous mouth and swallowed me whole. I could hardly hear my heart beat any longer. How has it been four months? It didn't feel like four months. How come nobody informed me of this?
My goodness, Azul would have been worried out
of her mind. How was I going to explain this to her in a way that didn't look like I was cheating on her with a random woman? The panic in my heart began to give way to anger. How could I have been kept in the dark about such vital information? What if I got back and Azul decided that she had had enough and wanted a divorce? My marriage was already getting hit by too many things in its early years, and I didn't want to have this one added to the mix.
"Four months! I've been away for the past four months, and nobody fucking told me!" I grabbed a handful of my hair and began to pace.
back and forth, "I'm going to lose my wife. I just
know it"
"Surely you must have known Ayoki."
"If I knew I would be back home taking care of my wife and not gods throwing a temper tantrum!" I mumbled under my breath, "This fucking job. I need to quit already."
Freya placed her hand on my shoulder, and although it didn't have the same effect on Odin, it calmed me down enough to listen to what she had to say. She turned me around to look at her and let out a laugh that I hoped would be followed by a declaration of how she was merely pulling my legs. Unfortunately, I didn't find myself to be that lucky.
"I assure you, if I knew that you didn't know, I would have spoken up earlier," she said, letting her hand roll off my shoulder. "I do respect a man who truly adores his spouse."
"I need to speak to her. I need her to know that I'm sorry and I'm okay." My tone had taken on a more pleading tone.
The goddess thought for a moment and then shook her head in the negative. "I am afraid I cannot ensure communication between you and your wife until you get back home." My heart sank and my face fell a lot lower than hers, but then she suddenly lit up, "I can however show
you what she's doing in real time. That way, you
can know if she's fairing well."
It was not an offer that I wanted, but it was an offer that I could make do with. I agreed immediately, and she gave herself a silent pat on the back for helping the poor little human; I could tell because of the self-righteous smirk on her face. "That's fine. Follow me," she said, turning to the left side of the garden, and I walked behind her among a new set of flowers that I hadn't seen the first time around. They were extremely breathtaking—the only good thing that happened in this entire hideous situation. I walked almost side by side, Freya, and I couldn't wait to see how Azul was holding up. My darling.
We stopped by a glowing water fountain that had water flowing out of it that looked too glorious to drink. I was in awe and wanted to just stare at it for as long as I possibly could. My trance-like state was broken by Freya grabbing my hand a little tighter than I was comfortable with.
"You shouldn't stare at it for too long, Mr. Zenin; you could lose yourself." She loosened her grip when she was comfortable with the amount of attention that she was getting from me and turned to the fountain. "Call her name."
I turned from her to the fountain and waited for
the next request. The books I read all say you
have to offer some kind of mini-offer, maybe a gold coin. "Don't I have to offer a gold coin?" This question seemed to tickle Freya's funny bone, and she burst out into laughter. I didn't know why she found it humorous, but I was more concerned with seeing my wife, and right now, she was delaying that from happening. "Silly human," her laughter was fading now, "whoever told you that you had to bribe a water fountain?" I felt embarrassed, but I refused to look silly in front of her. "It says so in all the books on mythology."
She looked at me and smiled the way a mother
would be a child learning how to walk. She pitied
me. In a compassionate sort of way, she pitied me, and I hated it.
"Just call the name of your wife, and the fountain will show you," she said. She stretched a hand toward the fountain, and I walked toward it. I walked to the fountain and stared into it. The goddess motioned for me to talk. "Go on then."
I took a deep breath, called out Azul's name, and waited. A gasp escaped my mouth as I saw the image of my wife. She was not dressed in her usual fanciful outfits, and that was the first sign of nothing good. Azul was notorious for wanting to look fashionable every chance that she got.
even when she was going to bed. She was
wearing a one-piece pajama that looked stained and was worn too many times. She lay curled up on our bed that was covered in fast food wrappings; this was terrible.