---Life---
---Heidi’s perspective---
---2596 Terran Calendar/117 years BF---
I look across the table, to the man who appears to have just stepped out of a fantasy novel!
I’m not a short woman by any means but, coming up to him outside this restaurant, seeing him standing upright for the first time, up close, it struck me just what an enormous mountain of man he is!
I’ve noticed him striding around campus, this last semester.
It’s rather hard to miss a man, with a plaited, blond, waist-length beard, who looms nearly two heads above the average guy!
“So… Mr Þórsson…” I grin, projecting a confidence I don’t feel “…how’s your gash?”
He smirks back “I don’t have one… but my wound is healing up nicely(!)… All thanks to the efforts of a certain Valkyrie, that is!”
I chuckle “Bold strategy to make such a crass joke on a first date with a good Christian lady, Mr Þórsson(!)”
He grins “Is it working?”
I lean forward, flirtatiously “Remains to be seen…”
A few moments of eyecontact-chicken follow, as we wordlessly compete to see who’ll look away first.
I win!
He looks down, a faint blush visible a the top edge of his beard.
Awkwardly, he clears his throat and says “Listen… Ms Árnadó…”
“Heidi.” I interrupt.
“I’m sorry?”
“I’m ‘Heidi’, to you.” I smile, trying to ignore the rollercoaster-like swooping in my stomach.
He smiles, nervously “Then… Þórkell… please call me… Þórkell…”
“I will…” I smile.
“So… Heidi… please don’t worry about the bill… I’ll take care of it.”
I raise an eyebrow, unimpressed “I’m an enlightened, 26th Century gal, Þórkell(!)… I don’t need to be coddled by a big strong man who’ll pay all my bills for me(!)”
He frowns and waves his hand in the negative “Not what I’m saying… it’s not because of your gender! I’m just saying you should save your stipend for living on! You’re a student, afterall.”
“And you’re not a student? When we talked, in the hospital the other week, you told me you were a first-year in the History dept., is that not so?”
“I am a student… The difference is; I have five years of salary saved up… Money’s going to be much less tight for me. I get to spend my money on whatever I want… like dates with beautiful people!”
I laugh “That was smooth… ish(!)”
He gives a doofy grin.
Just then, a buxom waitress approaches the table and says “I’ve got a bloody mary and a stein of ale?”
“That’s us!” confirms my date.
The boobilicious girl places my drink in front of me, without making eyecontact, then turns to the man, opposite me, who’s as tall as her, even seated!
She bares her teeth, in a way that could not make more obvious what lascivious thoughts are going through her head, and bends down to put his 3L mug of alcohol on the table, allowing him a view into the cavernous cleavage which a person could drown in, as she does.
He manages to avoid gawking down her top for long enough that she gives a tiny pout and turns to go.
He fails to avoid looking after her, as she goes.
“I know I said I was an enlightened lady, Þórkell, but…”
He snaps back to himself “Sorry, I know how that must have looked!… I wasn’t leering at her! I was just admiring her outfit! She’s not my type (if I were going to leer at someone it would definitely be the waiter, with the tight pecs and the cute face) who took our drink orders…”
I raise an eyebrow “I mean… I don’t know why you’d admit to leering at the waiter while denying leering at the waitress… but that solid 10 ‘wasn’t your type’?”
He gives me a faux-puzzled look “Doesn’t your Christgod demand murdering same sex attracted people(?) Are you sure you’re allowed to comment on a woman’s attractiveness(?)”
I roll my eyes “My God demands the murder of precisely NO one!… Honestly! You Pagans seem to think we Christians are all bloodthirsty savages! I’m bi, same as you apparently are, if God’s got a problem with that, I’ve got a problem with Him!”
“Oooh! Quite the little blasphemer!”
I sigh “Answer the question, Þórsson… That girl was far prettier than me… why’s she ‘not your type’?”
He looks around to see if we’re alone, leans close and beckons me to do the same.
In a low voice he says “I don’t… I don’t like massive breasts… don’t know why, they just make me uncomfortable… I prefer smaller chested women.”
“Oh… gee(!) You flatter me(!)” I say, in a tone as flat as my chest.
He stammers for a few moments, clearly realising the extent to which he just put his foot in his mouth. It lasts until I giggle and he takes the cue to stop digging.
Searching for a subject change, I say “Most people go straight to university after school, these days… Afterall, there are no ghoulish politicians left, saying things like ‘uni shouldn’t be free’, allowing them to maintain a fresh, continuing supply of warm bodies to toss into their meatgrinder, for-profit wars(!)… What did you work as?”
He shifts, uncomfortably, for a few moments “I… I was a soldier…”
My face falls and the bottom drops out of my stomach “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean…! It’s not like…!”
He holds up his hand and says “It’s fine, Heidi… I’m not offended! You’re right that if some pasty, old, misanthropic vampire had been holding my education hostage, to force me to serve, I would have resented that, massively! I didn’t enlist to fight in anyone’s wars… I just wanted to see the galaxy…”
I study the man’s face for a moment before I ask “And did you?”
He smiles a breathtaken smile and answers “I did… it was beautiful! The endless yellow fields of Yanga Dala, the bloodred skies of Atarashī Hinode, the impossibly tall mountains of Gangsri Gsar… but the thing that stuck with me most is… just how colourful space is… part of me always imagined it would just be infinite blackness studded with pinpricks of light (even having seen photos and videos) but, once you’re up there… By. all. the. Gods! It was majestic!… Every colour you can imagine (and many you can’t) thrown together, in every combination you can think!”
I smile “I’d love to see that!… I’ve only ever gone as far as Mars, for a holiday when I was twelve.”
He opens his mouth, clearly about to say something along the lines of ‘I hope we can see it together’ or ‘I’ll take you some day’ before, sensibly, thinking better of coming on quite that strong, on a first date, and so saying “I… hope you get to see it, too.”
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I get lost in his ocean blue eyes for a few moments before returning to myself and changing the subject “*Ehem*… I… err… I bet durasteel isn’t comfortable!”
He grins and shakes his head “It’s really not!… I think people forget how new a technology it truly is and expect that it’s as good as it will ever be! We’re definitely still working out the kinks! Fortunately, I didn’t have to wear it that much… apart from my second year of service…I had to wear it a lot, then!”
I look at the man a moment, trying to think what that means… when it hits me!
A quick few sums to make sure the timelines match up and I, incredulously, blurt “You fought in the Bag…!?”
“No, I didn’t!” he interrupts, his face hard “There has never been a Bagong Dagat War!… I intervened in the Bagong Dagat Intervention!”
“I’m… sorry!… I didn’t mean to upset you, Þórkell.”
He sighs “You didn’t… I’m sorry, Heidi… I’m just… I’m sick of people hearing I was there and laughing ‘wOoOoOaAh! HoW mAnY dRoIdS dId YoU bLoW aWaY, dUdE!?’, you know? As if it was something to fucking celebrate!”
I lean across the table, putting my hand on the back of his (realising how massive it is, as I do) “That must be hard, I’m sure… would you like to… talk about it?”
He sighs, dejectedly, and answers “She was so miserable… it wasn’t her fault… that wasn’t a war she was waging… it was a mental breakdown she was having… The way she’d been treated, it’s a marvel she lasted as long as she did!… If she had been a biological, I doubt the moment she snapped would have even been a news story!… She just happened to have the misfortune of being an AI in control of a settlement world, with 35 million inhabitants in her charge!… If I blame anyone, I blame that psychopath who woke her up and, clearly, just thought of her as a fucking tool!… I saw him, you know… I stood to attention, to one side, as Tristan ‘Brain’ dela Cruz passed by me, in the hall… flanked by two soldiers who massively outranked me, with his wrists handcuffed in front of him… I’m glad I was wearing my helmet… I think I’d probably have been reprimanded if they’d seen the face I was making!”
---later---
I walk along Grenivík Way, with the giant moving beside me.
Snow crunches under foot as we look down on the twinkling lights of Akureyri and up at the twinkling stars above, devoid of any intelligent life bar that which came from the planet beneath my feet.
This city is nestled into Eyjadalur; a valley whose name, ‘Island Valley’, is the hilarious side effect of it once having been a fjord with an island in it, called ‘Eyjafjörður’, which only became a valley, with no island in it, when the seas started falling!
“So I said to her; ‘Svetlana Vasilydóttir! Just because I am attracted to women, does not mean that I am attracted to any and all women! If you want to make yourself more attractive to the next girl you try to seduce, I suggest you lose that selfentitled attitude and get over yourself!’… then I saw that your reenactment wasn’t moving right, anymore.”
He booms a laugh “There’s the ferocity of Freyja in you, girl!” then a thought seems to occur to him and he frowns “Let me know if she doesn’t take the hint… I’ll happily scare her off for you…”
I smirk and ask “You want me all to yourself, do you(?)”
With adorable obliviousness he shakes his head “No… this offer still stands even if this is both our first and last date!”
I stop dead in my tracks and catch his hand.
He turns to face me, wearing a puzzled expression.
“…Is this our last date… Þórkell?”
He looks away, uncertainly and clears his throat a little before saying “I’d rather it wasn’t… I would love to see you again…”
I beam and step close to him, beckoning him to bend down.
He bends and I surprise him by pulling him into a deep, passionate kiss.
He tentatively wraps his muscular arms around me as our lips tussle.
After what feels like an eternity of kissing this beautiful man, I break from the kiss and, eyes closed, breathlessly say “I would love to see you again, too!”
---Þórkell’s perspective---
---2602 Terran Calendar/111 years BF---
I look down at my Valkyrie.
She has never looked more beautiful than she does right now… in that dress.
I recite the words I’ve rehearsed hundreds of times, these past few months “Beloved, I seek to know of you and ask of the Gods and Goddesses that I be given the wisdom to see you, as you are, and love you, as a mystery. I will take joy in you, I delight in the love of you. You are, to me, the whispering of the Tides, the seduction of Summer’s heat. You are my friend, my lover. Grow old and wise with me, as I will do with you! A life, before us, of rainbows and sunsets and a willingness to share in happiness and in sadness. I love you. I adore you.”
The interfaith pair, marrying us, indicate for us to exchange the gold bands, demanded by her faith, and the swords, demanded by mine (I got her a nimble little sverð, she got me a gigantic, cruciform zweihänder).
The Goði proclaims “The two of you are now joined together, in the eye of Óðinn! May your union be long and prosperous!”
His wife, the Reverend, proclaims “As a minister of Jesus Christ, I pronounce you Husband and Wife! What the Almighty God has joined together, let no one put asunder! You may kiss the bride!”
I bend for the sweetest kiss of my life!
---Heidi’s perspective---
---2631 Terran Calendar/82 years BF---
Þórkell and I have been married for nearly thirty years and together for well over thirty five.
Lately, though, he’s been… distant… distracted… like there’s something weighing on him.
I still see love in his eyes when he looks at me… but…
Christ, I don’t want to consider that that stalwartly faithful man might have adultered but… not much else lines up with the behaviour he’s exhibiting!
I have to confr…
“Heidi!” comes Þórkell’s voice from behind me, more resolute than I’ve heard it for some time.
I turn away from the view of the midnight sun, over the veranda railing, in the home where we’ve built our life and raised seven children.
My expression is querying.
“There’s something I’ve… realised about myself… I need to talk to you about it…”
---Katrín’s perspective---
---2678 Terran Calendar/34 years BF---
There’s a man on the news, saying stuff… I only understand about half of it…
“…the UTCS Paloma has been attacked and destroyed, ending any hope for peace with this newly encountered consortium of species, calling itself the 'Galactic Union'…”
I may not understand much of what he's saying… but I recognise fear when I see it! That man has the same expression on his face as the boys and girls in the bunker before we… we…
What did we do…?
Where was that?
I… I remember being… scared… I remember feeling… sympathy… For the refugees? No… for the… enemy?
That can’t be right!
Why would I pity someone who made so many refugees!?
This is making me unhappy to think about, so I stop.
I look away from the screen to an ancient woman, holding my hand.
I yank my hand away “I’m sorry, Ma’am… I’m sure you’re lovely but I’m married…”
The woman looks distraught!
It would be flattering if she were, maybe, 70 years younger!
“I know, Katrín… You’re married to me!”
This woman’s clearly losing her marbles!
“Listen, Ma’am!… My name’s Þórkell, not Katrín!”
She shakes her head “You haven't gone by that name in nearly half a century, sweetheart!”
Now that I… hear it… Þórkell does feel wrong, somehow…
NO!
How dare this hag try and tell me what my name is! How DARE she try and claim to be my wife!
Obviously, my wife is… is… What’s my wife’s name?
I remember she was… wonderful… but why can’t I see her face? Why can’t I…?
“You’ve done something to me! You’ve taken my memories!” I accuse, furiously.
The woman bursts into tears, in a way that, momentarily, makes me feel sorry for her… then I realise, if she’s the kind of hag who would try to trick me into replacing her wife… try and make me forget my own wife…
Well… a woman like that deserves to cry!
---Heidi’s perspective---
---2687 Terran Calendar/26 years BF---
I sit at my wife’s bedside, feeling the crushing weight of my years on my bones.
I hold her hand.
She smiles, faintly, and I think I see a glimmer of recognition in her eyes… though, that might just be my imagination…
Human beings really aren’t designed to live this long!
Though… if she’d been able to hold out… just a tiny bit longer… we could have had our youth back!
A deal seeming too good to be true, like some kind of Faustian bargain; we could have had life restored to our failing bodies… if she’d managed to make it just a little longer…
I definitely won’t be accepting regen, if they manage to crack it before I die… I want to follow her to whatever hearafter will let us be together… even if that means simple oblivion…
I speak, my voice weak and hoarse with age “My Love… you remember when you asked me if I believed in Hell… You remember me saying that I didn’t believe in a God who would torture anyone?… Do you remember what you told me?… You told me that you didn’t believe Valhǫll discriminated? That everyone who died was a fallen warrior, in their way?… The child who loses the battle with their abusive father, the man who loses the battle with cancer… the woman who loses the battle with her own mental health… All may stand, proud, before Óðinn Alfǫðr, as warriors, and tell their story!… That Óðinn would never reject good warriors just because they didn’t fight the right kind of battle, much less because they didn’t know of him! And… do you…*sniff*… do you remember what you said when I asked what you’d do if you were wrong?… If you were told that Christians weren’t welcome in Valhǫll?… You said you’d challenge Heimdallr, Óðinn, Þórr, for the right to admit me… and that, when you lost, you wouldn’t enter Valhǫll… that… *sniff*… that your Paradise is wherever I am!… That you’d search the Nine Realms to find me! Don’t… *sniff*… don’t forget, alright!… I’m going to be right behind you!”
I break down, sobbing… tears stream down my face as I consider this… the end of our long journey together.
Then, a doctor comes into the room with a massive grin on his face.
I stand, furious.
“I know you didn’t come in here, with that stupid expression on your face, without good news, boy!”
He does not drop the tasteless grin, simply saying “You’re right… I didn’t!”