Hazel had gone to the long house to get food and ale, everything a growing, non-aging teenager needed. Enid was standing in front only place in the village she did not want to enter. She knew the door well, and every stone of the building. She knew the tricks to get the most out of the firepit. She knew every nick and chunk out of the table and the dresser. She knew these things because this was the round house she lived in for seventy-five years with her wife and husband. Where they raised their kids, where she said good-bye to each of her spouses for the last time. Inside she knew was Rolf, his wife and his daughter. Both sick with whatever ailment plagued this village. If she saved them her and Rolf would never be married, Hazel would never be born…if she did not, she would be the reason Rolf was almost destroyed and she would breaking her modified oath as a medical professional, she had to make allowances for doing harm, but she never let a patient die that shouldn’t have even if she thought they should die. If this worked like it usually did, there would be nothing she could do and she would have to tell Rolf his family was going to die. Veld was looking down at the woman he knew as Sarah clutching her pack tightly.

“Rolf’s wife and daughter are the sickest in the village, they got sick first and are not able to get out of bed now.”

Veld touched Enid’s shoulder.

“Why do you hesitate, are you frightened of catching it?”

Enid shook her head.

“You, tell me there is a sick child in there and I see only death in her future. I have seen enough dead children to last several lifetimes. I’ve held my own daughter’s broken body in my arms. I am just preparing myself.”

Veld nodded.

“You had a daughter.”

Enid nodded.

“She was two and a half and she was so special.”

“You said broken body…did she die by violence?”

Enid nodded.

“Terrible thing to see a child dying before their parent. It happens so often, but it is never easy to see. Did your father punish the people who did it?”

Enid shook her head, her eyes still staring at that door that held so many memories.

“What kind of man lets that go unpunished?”

“He didn’t need to; He made sure I was trained well. I hunted down and killed every single one of the people that had anything to do with it and I killed them with my bare hands. But maybe I can spare Rolf the same pain, there is no one to punish for sickness.”

Enid took a deep breath and knocked on the door. Her heart melted when she saw Rolf’s kind eyes and his thick beard. She opened her mouth to say something, anything, but what could say. Veld stepped up behind her he couldn’t see her face and seemed to assume she meant for him to do the introductions.

“Rolf, this is Sarah of Rome, a renowned healer that is travelling to her ancestral home to bury her mother. She heard there was a sickness here and has offered to see if she can do anything. To help.”

Rolf looked down at Enid who snapped out the spell being near her very alive dead husband had cast on her and he nodded. He had bags under his eyes and had a look of a man that was lost in despair. Me motioned the pair inside. Enid touched Veld’s shoulder.

“I may be some time, go rest, I will find you when I need you again.

Veld nodded. Enid walked inside and while things were different, it was another woman’s touch that organized it, it was the same in many respects. The small bed so many of her children had shared was still there, but another child she did not recognize but knew lay there sweating. In their marriage bed lay another woman. Pale, and coated in sweat. Her skin had a yellow tinge, which was never a good sign. Enid looked up to Rolf.

“Which one got sick first?”

“My wife.”

“May I?”

“If you can do anything for them, I will beg the gods to make your name legend.”

“Rolf, I do not want to get your hopes up, some things are beyond my power. Now I will need to consult the Gods, and it should not be witnessed. Could you give us some privacy? If anything changes I will summon you right away.”

Rolf hesitated but nodded and left the house in peace. Enid pulled out the 29th century scanner and synced to her holo-phone. She disliked this one because it wasn’t as good as her Atlantean tablet that she has scanned many diseases with as well as linked cures. She did a full scan of the wife and the daughter. And kneeled beside the wife’s bed head down waiting for the results to show up on her holo-display. She frowned, there would be no saving them without access to a 29th century hospital, even a 21st century one would have been hard pressed to do much. It was strep and it was a particularly virulent one. She could give them all the antibiotics she had left but it would not save them from the poison. In the 29th century she would have needed to completely recycle their blood, and replace several organs with cybernetic or organic clones. She opened the door and walked out. The daughter was going in and out of consciousness her fever was just too high. Enid could use something to reduce it and possibly let her be wakeful in these last hours.

Rolf was pacing by the oak tree that had a trunk barely the width of Enid’s thigh one day it would be as thick as her waist. She approached her future, and late husband. He looked hopeful to see her.

“Are they healed?”

Enid shook her head.

“I am so sorry Rolf, there is nothing I can do. The illness has poisoned them and even their blood tries to strangle the life out of them. Your wife will pass very soon, your daughter, has more time but she will not see dawn.”

Rolf feel to the ground on his knees tears filling his eyes. Enid kneeled down and put her hand on his shoulder.

“I am sorry. I can…make your daughter’s passing easier, I can give her something so that she might wake up and you may be able to spend some time with her. She should not be alone, so I will send my sister to watch her.”

“Will you get sick? Will your sister?”

“No, we have, curatives that prevent it, I will give you one, but I am afraid they will do nothing for your family they only work if you have them beforehand. You are free of the illness.”

“Why them and not me?”

“I could tell you the Gods are fickle, but some people just get sick and don’t realize it and it goes away on its own. Some, especially children, and especially with this illness just never get better. Your wife, must… she has very sweet blood, and sweet urine, it made her more susceptible to sickness. I will give your daughter something to cool her down. But we will need cool cloths if she is to enjoy here last hours with us. I must tend to the others, perhaps if they got sick later I can still save them.”

Rolf turned his grief filled eyes to the earth at their feet. He nodded.

*****

Hazel had been shocked when her mother pulled her out of the long house. Even more shocked when she asked her to go keep a dying little girl company. Hazel didn’t question her mother and did as she asked. When she arrived at the round house, she realized that this was her mother’s home, or would be, the one she shared with Hazel’s father. When she knocked on the door and the man answered. Their eye colors were different, but the eyes looking up at her were her eyes.

“Hi, sir, my ahh, my sister sent me to keep someone company?”

Rolf looked at her face and must have recognized something of himself in it because his next words were: “Do I know you?”

“No, but you know my sister… Sarah?”

“Oh okay.”

“I heard there was a little girl tearing up the round house and that I should come and keep her in bed.”

She heard a giggle from inside. Rolf motioned Hazel inside. And again was met with eyes that were hers. She knew instantly this was her sister. The girl was pale, had a red rash all over her visible skin and had some yellow around the eyes. She sensed sadness in the home, and realized it was the spirits already mourning the girls passing. Her mother had sent her to make her sister’s last hours of life better. She would not let her sister down even if she had never known she existed. She quickly sat cross-legged beside the bed and was still tall enough to see the girl easily.

“I’m Greta, what’s your name?”

“I’m Kiri. Are you really from Rome?”

“I’m actually from lots of different places, but I was last in Rome.”

Thunder shook the round house suddenly and Kiri jumped. She clutched onto Hazel. Hazel wrapped her arms around the child.

“It’s just thunder Kiri, it can’t hurt you.”

“How do you know?”

“Because thunder is just the noise lightning makes.”

“Really?”

Hazel nodded. Kiri narrowed her eyes at Hazel.

“Why do they happen at different times then?”

“Ah, because light is faster than sound.”

“What?”

“It’s like a tortoise and a hare. The thunder is the tortoise, the lightning is the hare. Even if they start at the same spot, the hare will always beat the tortoise. But if you’re closer to the lightning you won’t notice because they’ll have just started…do you understand?”

Kiri nodded. Another crash of thunder shook the building but instead of jumping she smiled at the teenage girl before her.

“Ever finger wrestle?”

“No what is that?”

Hazel held out her hand and showed Kiri how to play and the pair played several matches before Kiri was too tired to sit up. Hazel changed out the cloth on her head as her mother had showed when she was a child.

“Are you a shield maiden?”

Hazel nodded.

“I am, in fact, a shield maiden.”

“Have you fought in battles?”

“Several.”

“Tell me about them?”

“Don’t you want to know how a handsome prince rescued me from my eternal slumber?”

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“No, I’d much rather hear about the battles!”

“Well, not long ago my…mother and I were escorting a bunch of people home. We were being chased by Formorai. An ocean blocked our path and mother reached out her hands and the waters parted. While she led the people I turned to face the Formorai horde. I cut many down with my mother’s sword. The sea floor was thick with their black blood.”

Hazel glanced at Rolf who was completely lost while he tended to the remains of his wife. She reached on to her back and pulled something invisible off and waved her hand over it and Lucius appeared.

“This sword in fact.”

Kiri gasped.

“Is that… is that the Blade of Light.”

“It is, what’s more, my mother crafted this very blade in the smithy of this village in a time no one remembers.”

Hazel waved her hand over the holo-web and the blade vanished from sight. She strapped him to her back again.

“Did you beat the army?”

“Oh we thought we did, when the people were safe mother let the water crash into them to drown them all. But then they started crawling up on shore. They were all bloated and black eyes!”

Hazel heard someone clearing their throat and it was her mother with her arms crossed.

“Is this really a story for sick seven-year old’s, Greta.”

Both girls nodded at her and Enid sighed and sat on one of the benches that flanked the dinner table. She leaned back on her elbows.

“Please tell me how it ended! Did you win?”

“We did. They were foolish Formorai and they crawled out of the sea one at a time and I cut them down, while my mother hurled magic stones at them.”

*****

Enid finished with tending the sick children of the village. She hit them all with a slow-release antibiotic from the 29th century and T-cell enhancer. She recognized all of their names. She’d watched many grow old and die in this village. She felt comfortable saving their lives. It gave her small comfort as she walked towards Rolf’s home, her home. She knew inside his wife would very likely be dead. She also knew Hazel would be there entertaining her dying sister. Rolf’s sad tearstained eyes would also be there. Seeing him in pain was too much to bear but she would not let the child die in pain. Her does of children’s antipyretic would be wearing off. She heard Hazel talking and frowned because she was telling the girl about bloated walking corpses. Neither of the girls seemed concerned about it and Rolf was so busy mourning his wife he hadn’t noticed. Enid waited for the story to end then gave more of the antipyretic to Kiri.

The wind had started to pick up outside. Though the thunder was still distant the storm would be on top of them soon. Enid could feel it. This was going to be one of those once in a century storms. She’d been through a few; They were never easy. Veld opened the door he looked at Enid with wide eyes. Enid nodded to him. When he spoke though it wasn’t Enid who he addressed.

“Rolf, I know you have lost much today, but the village stands to lose more, we need your help to prep for the storm.”

Rolf turned his hunched form to Veld and nodded. Hazel stood up and spoke, she’d helped prepare the village for storms many times.

“I’ll help.”

“We’ll be thankful for it.”

Kiri released Hazel’s hand reluctantly. Hazel looked down at her.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be back.”

Kiri smiled at her. Enid took Hazel’s place. Rolf and Hazel left the round house with Veld. Leaving Enid and Kiri alone with the sound of the wind battering the door and the distant thunder. Kiri looked at Enid.

“I remember you, you gave me the medicine to make me feel better and told father to keep a cool cloth on my head.”

Enid nodded.

“Are you an angel? You look like an angel the Christians spoke of.”

Enid smiled at the young girl.

“Some people say I am. If I am I do not know it, but I need no wings to fly.”

“Are you Greta’s mother.”

“It is secret but yes, I am. Her name is not Greta and my name is not Sarah. I am Enid and she is Hazel.”

“I’m going to die like momma aren’t I? When I asked Hazel she didn’t say yes or no but father looks so sad when he turns towards me.”

Enid pondered for a few seconds, then she nodded.

“I am sorry Kiri, I cannot save you. In another time or place I could, but I do not have the tools or medicine I need.”

“Will father be alright.”

“Oh, child your father will be better then alright. In a few years, he will meet woman he calls the red goddess. She will resist him at first, but eventually he will win her heart. She will need to leave for a bit but then she returns they will marry. He will share stories of you and how you’d spin and spin until you fell over giggling. The house will be filled with laughter and love. Much like it was before you and your mom got sick, and he will pass peacefully in his sleep. Holding his red goddess in his arms, and because he is a good man, a just man he will be reunited with you after he falls into that final sleep. Then shortly after he passes, his last child will be born. She will be mighty, brave and headstrong and her name will be Hazel.”

Kiri’s eyes looked to the door and then up to Enid her tiny hand reaching for Enid’s.

“Greta?”

Enid nodded.

“You are the red goddess? Why do you not tell him? He suffers so.”

Enid nodded.

“I hide my real face so he will not know me when he sees me. I love your father very much. More then life itself but if we meet to soon, my Hazel will never be born and we will never fall in love. Do you understand?”

Kiri nodded.

“Would you like to see your other sisters?”

Kiri looked at Enid with wide eyes and nodded.

“Here.”

Enid reached under her much less tight fighting dress’s sleeve and slid her hand over her wrist and moved the holo-display. She’d taken a candid picture of her daughters with Rolf when they returned to attend is funeral. Kiri reached out to touch the hologram, it did not flicker.

“So many?”

Enid nodded.

“Your father was… very well-tended to.”

Enid waved her hand over her wrist to turn off the display. Kiri got a far off look in her eyes.

“Will I go to heaven when I die?”

Enid quirked her head to the side.

“If that is where you want to go.”

“It is where good people go, I want to be with good people.”

“Then I am sure that is where you will be. I speak to the Christian God sometimes; I will put a good word in for you.”

“You are an angel.”

“No, Kiri, you are. Caring about how your father will get on without you. It’s very selfless.”

Kiri snuggled into her covers.

“How long stepmother?”

Enid quirked her head to the side.

“Stepmother?”

Kiri nodded.

“You will marry my father. You will be my stepmother even if I am in heaven.”

“I am proud to be such a brave and selfless girl’s stepmother.”

“How long?”

Enid closed her eyes.

“When the storm is at its height your father will be singing your favorite song, the one about the yellow flowers. You won’t be scared of the thunder because your little sister told you what it really was, you will look to her, then to your father, your eyes will be very heavy because your body has no fight left then you will fall into a deep sleep, and then you will wake up in the afterlife.”

“She’s not little stepmother.”

Enid smiled.

“Considering she was born almost seventy years after you, she’s a lot younger than you are.”

Enid tapped Kiri’s nose and the girl giggled as much as she could in her condition.

“What is Heaven like?”

“Oh, hmm, it was white. I didn’t see much of it, God told me to go home my daughter needed me.”

“Do you think he will send me back too?”

“No, I’m afraid not. Your body it is to ill to hold you in it. Mine, heals fast. So, I was only gone for a brief instant. But you should not be afraid, my little girl, she was younger than you, she died not so long ago. She told me that her grandfather would take care of her. I think since I am your stepmother, he will take care you too.”

“What is her name?”

“Her name was Miko, she had long black hair and green eyes.”

“I’ll tell her you are doing well stepmother. I’ll tell her I’m her sister too.”

“You are such a thoughtful girl. Thank you, Kiri, your father and Hazel will return soon, but remember, I’m Sarah and she is Greta. We will stay with you and your father, make sure he has someone after you fall sleep.”

“Stepmother?”

“Yes Kiri?”

“Was Miko scared?”

Enid shook her head, she could feel blood starting to form in the bottom of her eyes.

“No, she spent her last few minutes telling me everything would be fine and to never give up on… mercy.”

“She sounds very brave. I wish I was like that, but I am very scared.”

“I know Kiri, it is alright to be scared, that is why your father will be here.”

Kiri nodded and Rolf and Hazel entered again, their hair full of twigs and leaves. Enid moved back to the table. Hazel sat beside Kiri and the pair started talking again. Rolf sat beside Enid and looked at them.

“Thank you, Sarah. You and your sister have made her smile again, brought light to her eyes.”

“I am sorry I could not do more Rolf. The storm is going to hit us soon, when it is at its height she will pass, you should go sit with her. Sing songs, tell her stories, just treat it like its bedtime. My sister and I will stay, you should not be alone.”

Rolf nodded and pushed himself up. Hazel gave Kiri a high five, something she’d taught her recently and joined her mother, giving Rolf some privacy with his daughter. Hazel looked at her mother and spoke quietly.

“She looks so much like me. He is nothing like I pictured.”

Enid nodded her hands fiddling with a spoon on the table the same one she’d used to give the medicine to Kiri. She knew the spoon well it was a distinct color of wood. It was the one she would use as a microphone when she would sing along with songs for Rolf.

“Thank you, mom. I’m glad we came.”

“He didn’t abandon you, he died of old age, he was in his eighties.”

“I know mom. I can tell by the way he talks to Kiri he would never abandon a child. I see why you loved him.”

Enid nodded still fiddling with the spoon.

“Is she… soon?”

Enid nodded. The house shook when lightning stuck nearby.

“Very soon.”

“I’m sorry you have to see this mom.”

Enid nodded still tracing the edge of the spoon with her pale finger.

“You can go to the long house, I’ll stay with them.”

“No, I am okay. I would rather be near him then not, even if he doesn’t know who I am.”

Enid closed her eyes and blood started to fall down her cheeks when she heard Rolf singing the yellow flower song as she often called it. Hazel had turned enraptured. Her mother had sung it many times but to hear her father sing it so warmly, in his deep voice, it was something she would never experience again. Enid’s fingers clutched the spoon tightly as she waited for the song to end. Soon he would try shaking her, then he would call her name. And then he would wail and sob at his loss. She knew exactly what he would be feeling, and something snapped inside of her when she heard his first pleading cry of ‘Kiri’. She stood up. Walked in the fury of the storm and she stared up at the sky the hail, rain and wind ripping at her. She reached out her arm and extended her middle finger and screamed into the storm. She spoke in English because the language of the angels just wasn’t colorful enough.

“Fuck you! Fuck you for putting me in this village in this time! Fuck you for sending a glorified will-o-wisp to try and convince me you’re on my side! She better end up in Heaven or I will come up there and I will kill you sadistic son of a bitch! You forced me to watch another child die, watch the man I love lose everything! Why not just send me to Hell? You know what, I will say it again: I know why Chronos wanted to burn it all fucking down! You wanted me there? I’m there! Go fuck yourself!”

Her rant had been loud enough that even with the storm many villagers were staring at this angry teenage girl yelling at the Heavens as if she was trying to provoke the Gods. Even Rolf had turned to see what was happening when he realized the quiet young woman had vanished from his home. He stood beside Enid water rain spraying them as the wind smashed it against the round house.

“Why is she trying to provoke the Gods?”

“She’s yelling at them for taking your daughter.”

“Is she mad?”

“No, but she is angrier than I’ve ever seen her.”

“What does she say?”

“That she wants to burn everything down, destroy everything they’ve built….”

Rolf moved to go out into the storm. Hazel’s firm arm held him back. He was larger than her but she was the stronger of the two.

“Do not get between her and the Gods. She’ll survive it, you won’t. Go look to…my…your daughter.”

Rolf did not turn to his daughter who was dead, but to the blonde woman who dared curse the Gods openly and angrily.

Enid paced a few steps then looked to the sky.

“No answer? Figures if you don’t want something from me then it is all silence. I think you don’t have the balls to face me. You know what! Fuck this, I’m going to tell them everything, I’m going to show them the future! That should sort really fuck things up!”

Lighting flashed and struck the ground several feet from her. The ground shook from the clap of thunder that followed. People covered their ears as they witnessed it. Enid laughed.

“You missed asshole!”

The sky flashed again, and lightning streaked towards her, and she chanted in Atlantean and redirected back at the sky. Hazel started out towards her mother now, this was getting too dangerous and careless even for her mother.

“Mom stop! Those were warning shots!”

Enid held out her palm to her daughter.

“No, I’m done being manipulated from the shadows. I’m done with his grand plan bull shit. Do you hear me Father: I am done with you!”

Rolf grabbed Hazel when her hair started to stand on end and yanked her back into his round house. Hazel was soaking wet and on her butt. She was powerless as another flash lit up the night. Knocking her mother down. Enid was undeterred the burns were already healing as she stood up. Out of the flash a figure started to form. Time had slowed to a stand still for everyone but Enid and whatever was coming at her. She saw the silhouette starting to form then it started form a coherent image. She saw silver plate armor a massive sword and wings made of some form of pure energy. Enid drew Lucius.

“This should be fun.”

The angel seemed to get stuck. Enid realized it did not have its blade drawn and was trying to speak but she could only make out screeches like a dial up modem. The noise stung her ears. When its face formed it seemed to be held back by some form of stretchy barrier. She could see his eyes also showing only white light but his face, it was angry, it was terrified. Lucius’s tip stuck the ground as Enid went from furious to terrified in seconds. Something felt terribly wrong, like spears striking her sides and like her skin was on wrong. For a brief moment she felt like everything in the universe she knew was broken. The angel seemed to lose its struggle screeched its mouth wide in terror and agony then vanished leaving behind a flickering light that glitched like a scrambled digital signal. Enid stumbled backwards and feel into the mud. Rain had soaked her through. Rolf ran to her and dragged her back into his home. Enid sat there on the floor covered in mud and soaked to the bone, staring at where the angel had been.