There wasn’t much to be said about Val for the time being, except for how good-looking she was.
She was a head taller than Maya. Her skin was darker and richer. Her platinum blond hair billowed down to her shoulders in waves, and her eyes shone like amber gemstones.
Besides all that, her body was fit when Maya last checked. Firm and strong, but also soft to the touch.
Val’s breath was minty and could heal minor wounds and cuts—though Maya found the last part only moderately important—too distracted by the former.
Maya was overly nervous around the Valkyrie.
Even more so when Val tried to stay close to Maya without understanding the meaning of personal space.
“H-how about you get cleaned, and I prepare some clothes for you, sounds good?” Maya proposed, wiggling her way out of Val’s proximity by diving under her lean arm.
She directed Val to the bathroom and how to use the shower—thankfully, without any sort of incident, as Maya feared there would be.
It gave her enough time to calm down from the heated encounter and prepare a spare set of clothes.
However, Maya didn’t account for the size difference.
She had hoped that, despite her smaller and curvier body, they would fit on Val’s more fit build—since they had roughly the same proportions.
Heat rose on Maya’s face.
The leggings were snug on Val’s lower body, hugging her waist and reaching just above the ankles.
Her shirt hung on her torso and didn't go all the way down, with her chest suspending it and revealing her flat and hard midriff.
Maya had a hard time looking away at how her own clothes fitted Val and how they still looked so good on her. The first thing on Maya’s agenda would be to buy Val some new clothes, or else she would go crazy.
“Why does she have to be so attractive!?” mumbled Maya, holding a hand before her mouth. “Seeing her in my clothes makes me feel so conflicted.”
“Bit. Small.” Val tugged on the leggings. “And. Stretchy?”
“Sorry, those were the best ones I could find at the moment, and I haven’t done laundry yet,” Maya apologised. “It should work, for now… until we find something better. I know the clothes are not a good fit for you… sorry.”
Glancing over at the bloody and torn dress piece on the ground, Maya felt terrible about how Val had to go without it.
"I wonder how she would look if it wasn’t torn? Although, she didn’t look bad in beat-up clothes either.” Maya shook away the thought.
“Problem. No.” Val spoke in her usual heavy northern accent and in broken sentences. Maya had noticed that for a while now, but apparently, Val had a lot of trouble speaking. “Clothes. Fit. Good. Like. It.”
“Y-you do? I’m g-glad,” Maya stammered. “Let’s sit down, so I can get to know you, no?”
Gesturing to the edge of the bed, Maya sat down first, followed by Val, who kept her proximity to her.
The springs of the mattress squeaked slightly from their weight.
“So, to reminiscent… you don’t remember your name, do you?”
“No. Name. Not. Remember,” replied Val, tugging back a blond lock and braiding it subconsciously. “Like. Name. Val.”
“Good, very good,” nodded Maya and caught herself staring again. “Are you a Valkyrie? A real Valkyrie?”
“Yes.”
“Really?”
“Maybe,” said Val, furrowing her brow in thought. “Not. Remember.”
“You don’t remember? Anything? Not where you were born or what you were doing?”
Val shook her head. “No. Nothing.”
“What is the last thing you do remember? How did you end up hurt?”
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Val closed her eyes and let her mind wander. She searched and searched, but all Val could find was darkness.
She had hit a wall, her brows furrowing further in concern.
There was nothing to remember, or at least nothing pleasant.
Maybe yells. Maybe loud groans with yells so heavy that they tore her hearing apart. Val found nothing of it pleasant except for something that blanketed all the terrible sounds and brought light.
“You,” Val said and put her hand on the bed, leaning closer. “Remember. You.”
“I-” Maya leaned back, her face reddening. She put up a hand before them. “How about we return to where I found you? We might find some of your belongings.”
Without letting Val answer, Maya stood up and went toward the door. “Let’s go.”
Val obediently—though begrudgingly—followed Maya.
—✵—
Dawn was coming, pushing away the dark colours for the refreshing hues of orange and blue.
Birds were twittering loudly. There weren’t many people up yet, making their walk around the lake a refreshing change.
At most, they would find an elderly couple, morning joggers or someone walking their dog, which Maya was glad about. Val was too much of an early morning surprise, one which Maya still wasn’t used to.
“So early; I hate mornings,” grumbled Maya, downing her cup of instant coffee and dumping it into a nearby trash can.
She barely got a wink of sleep from working on her paper and talking with Val.
The Valkyrie, however, was wide awake, barely affected by her previous wounds or fatigue. She walked close behind Maya like an off-duty guard in leggings and sneakers, enjoying her morning after a run.
Still, her presence was undeniably potent, and even if Maya didn’t look behind her or hear her, she knew Val was there.
She carried herself with an aura of grace and confidence.
“This is the place.” Maya pointed to the familiar bushes. “I’ve found you crash-landing here.”
Leaves still held pieces of cloth hanging from their thorns or splatters of blood on the foliage, which would soon be washed away by the rain.
“Thank goodness we are still in the rainy season—and that it’s keeping the heat at bay still.”
Maya had found Val injured, with barely anything on her. She didn’t have her hopes up to find anything or much at all.
Valkyries were warrior women; close to demigods. While Val certainly had the physique for it, there wasn’t anything else on her, like a weapon or armour.
Bending down, Val scanned the scene by touching the wet ground, the plants, trees, or just standing there.
“If there are no clues here, what should we do then?”
Maya didn’t have much of an idea what to do except wait for Val to remember something or maybe look around until they found something that stuck out—like trash cans, littered week-old newspapers, or random items like old running shoes.
“I bet she didn’t lose one of these, huh?” Maya snickered and glanced over to Val, who was watching her laugh. Maya quickly stopped and coughed. “Ahem, did you find something?”
Val pointed to the sky, and Maya squinted to find where she was pointing at.
“Crashed. 543 Meters. North-East,” explained Val in her usual broken sentences. “Bend. Treetops. Might. Find. Something.”
Maya gave a thumbs up. “Good work, detective. Let’s go and look.”
A grumble suddenly befell Maya, and she turned red, clutching her stomach. “How about breakfast first? There’s a small market nearby with sandwiches.”
Val nodded. “Yes. Hungry. Me. Too.”
Armed with sandwiches and a bag filled with more—because Maya was too lazy to cook later—they ventured into the nearby forest and back on the trail to find Valkyrie gear.
Val led the way, scanning the surroundings left and right with a vigilant posture and the focus of an eagle. The clothes she was wearing made her stand out so much, the cashier and other customers were staring at her.
Maya couldn’t help but grumble and think how much they started to fit her.
In a fashion sense, that was. Making Maya slightly jealous.
“Place. Strange. Sensing. Something.” Val furrowed her brow with a stern gaze.
“Maybe it’s the weather? It’s supposed to rain later, and summer’s coming.” Maya waved her hand before her face and sat down on a tree trunk.
She unwrapped another sandwich and took a bite.
“Here. Yet. Not. Here. Strange.” Val wracked her head, ruffling up her hair as she massaged her temples with the back of her hands. “Something. Here. Where?”
Maya snickered and suggested, "Maybe your Valkyrie senses aren’t fully charged yet? Care for another snack?" Val spun her head in her direction.
Maya gulped down her food and apologised, “Sorry.”
Val shook her head. “No. Need. Love. Your. Laugh.”
“You do?” smirked Maya, getting a slight blush. “I am full of terrible jokes, you know?”
“Really?” Val put a hand on her hip. “Tell. One.”
“Fine, ok, ehm, lemme think.” Maya put a hand on her chin. Suddenly, she was out of ideas. Then she noticed a silver rim from a car lying next to the trunk she sat on. She picked it up and turned it before her. “Question: What do you call an animal you keep in your car? A Carpet!”
Maya chortled at her own joke and clapped her hand against her thigh. Val wasn’t laughing, though.
“Come on, that one was Holden, eh? Eh?” Still no reaction. “Poor audience today. No one appreciates a good pun nowadays—”
“Maya. In. Hand. What?”
“Hm? This?” Maya flipped the car rim. “It’s just a— HOLY!”
Right in front of her eyes, the car rim transformed and expanded into a round silver shield, rimmed with runes and battle marks on the surface.
Maya instantly shot up to her feet, startled by the revelation.
“Shield. Mine.”
“I CAN SEE THAT!” Maya exclaimed, examining the piece of weaponry. “Why was it—”
Maya felt a cold and muddy grip on her ankle. Looking down, she was faced with the grey and decaying face of a zombified man crawling out of the ground.
Maya shrieked.