Editing Story:ROAD TRIP! (Warhammer High)/Part Four (section)

==The Local Customs==
===Starry Nights===


Evening arrived.  The five Terran expatriates ascended to the higher levels of the Fang, above the atmospheric glimmer, to where the stars could be seen all day and night.  Since the Space Wolf home was built on the planet’s magnetic north pole, seasons lasted a long time here.  By the time the group arrived on the destination floor, the hour was late.

The deck was an oddity.  On a proper space station, it wouldn’t have even been considered.  That said, nobody doubted its effects.  The majority of the deck was taken up with the same machinery that kept the rest of the Fang stable: power conduits, atmospheric venting systems, void shield generators, anticoncussive field projectors, an inertial dampener and antigrav system so the people inside weren’t thrown against the walls with every step.

The rest of the deck, however, was a single, massive, open space, with two-meter thick polarized armorcrys windows stretching from deck to ceiling, and completely undarkened.  The polarizer kept the sun as a simple white/yellow disk in the distance, with no glare, but the rest of the sky was unfiltered.  Trillions of stars, galaxies, nebulae, planets, and more were visible from the room.

Freya led the group across the open floor.  Aside from a few colossal iron chairs, bolted to the deck in places, the floor was bare.  No carpets or tiling covered the metal deckplates.

“This is the Observation deck,” Freya said.  “I used to nap up here when I was a tiny kid.  When the sun was up, I’d lower the polarizer by a fraction and read by the sunlight, or tan if I wanted.  The Rout comes up here to look down on the world and see their homelands from the skies.”  She sank into one huge chair – clearly meant for Power Armor.  “Amazing, isn’t it?”

“People pay private pilots hundreds of thousands of credits to fly them up high enough to see this back home,” Remilia said.  She walked up to one edge, peering down.  “…Good thing I don’t get vertigo.”

“It’s magnificent, Freya,” Jake said.  He gingerly peered down too, and immediately backed up.  “Okay, that’s a long way down.”

“I’m going to guess that the Wolves justified this to themselves by saying they could spot hostiles or something from here, right?” Alex quipped.

Freya laughed.  “Got it in one.”

“Well, it’s an awesome view,” Alex said.

As the other four were talking, Venus slowly walked right up to the window surface.  The heat from her drew a wisp of vapor from the thin condensate on the inside of the window as she traced one obsidian finger over its surface.

“Like it, Venus?” Freya called.

She didn’t answer.  She slowly spread both hands out on the surface, staring blankly at the galaxy beyond.

“Venus?” Jake asked.

“I’m okay,” she said under her breath.

Jake walked up behind her.  “You okay?”  He hadn’t heard her.

“I’m fine, Jake,” Venus said.  “It’s…unforgettable, isn’t it?” she whispered.

Jake looked at her curiously.  “It is.”  He glanced out to follow her vision, and saw only the mass of stars beyond the sun.  “Looking for Nocturne?”

“It’s…over there,” she said, pointing indistinctly to one side.  Her eyes wandered across the ocean of multicolored dots.  “I should be recording this,” she said, pawing at her pockets for a vox or camera.

“I am pleased to see you taken by the view of our world, Lady Venus,” a deep, growling voice said from behind them.  Alex turned to see a Wolf in light grey robes moving up behind them.  The Marine had a single mass of tangled blonde hair down the middle of his back, but the tattoos on his face covered nearly all his visible skin.  “I am Konnar, Priest of the Runes.  An honor,” he said, bowing slightly.

“Likewise, sir,” Venus said, returning the gesture as the others bowed.

Freya scrambled up from her chair.  “Konnar, good to see you, Brother,” she said.

“You as well, little sister,” he said in Juvjk.  Turning back to the others, his brilliant blue eyes settled on Venus, still watching the stars out of one eye.  “It is captivating, is it not?”

“It’s magnificent.”  Venus glanced back at their host.  “What are the major constellations?”

Konnar walked up beside her.  “There, directly ahead…that large red star.  That is the highest of the Falling Stones.  Below it there, and below there…those are the others.  Our ancient kin took them to be rocks, falling down the side of the walls of the stars.”

“I see them now,” she said.  Her eyes narrowed a bit.  “And…that circle of blue stars, beside them?”

“The Waters of the Moon.  Long before man tamed the wilds, the spirits of the ancient wolves traveled to the moon to slake their thirst for water.  Finding an abundance, they sent some to Fenris, and some to the sky.”

Venus nodded in silence.  The Marine looked down at her with an odd look in his eyes.  “Your people have a story like it?” he asked.
“We do.”  She shifted her shoulders.  “When the world was colder, and the forests still grew, Kesare and Kessarghoth, the Eldest Drakes, crawled through the tunnels of the Mountain of Death.  When they went to the surface for prey, they saw a great dragon, larger than either of them, terrorizing everything in its path.  Kesare attacked the dragon in anger, for the drakes and dragons are ancient foes, but was thrown back upon the rocks.  Kessarghoth struck next, but could not bring the dragon down either.  Finally, both slid back amongst the crags, where the dragon’s fire breath could not reach them, and lured the beast forward.  When it drew too close to the top of the mountain, Kesare struck again, and held it still, while Kessarghoth lit the mountain’s heart on fire.  The molten heart of the mountain burst forth, and propelled the dragon out into the endless night, where it rests now…” she trailed off, searching the sky.  “Right…about…there,” she said, pointing at a brilliant red star.

“After that, the world was wreathed in fire from the bleeding heart of the world, and the waters turned to acid, and the forests to stone.  Kesare and Kessarghoth were hated by the stars for causing such damage to their home, and throwing the great beast into the heavens, and all the good water was taken away by the stars, never to be returned…and there it is,” she said, pointing at a dim blue star near the shining red one.

===A Story===


Konnar smiled slightly in the darkness.  “Both of our people found ways to turn the beasts of the land into a force of nature,” he said.

“They did.”  She looked up at him from somewhere around his waist.  “Is that what you wanted to show us?”

“No, Lady Venus,” the psyker said.  He gestured to the chairs behind them.  “Sister Freya asked me to tell you a little about us.”

The group founds seats as the Marine leaned back against the window, rubbing his chin.  “Did you have something in mind specifically, Sister?”

“Well…I wanted my friends to have a chance to hear a bit about Fenris itself.  The tribes, the people, the planet.”  She leaned forward.  “What can you tell them that isn’t in the history books?”

Konnar narrowed his eyes a bit.  “Interesting.”  He laced his fingers together and thought, head bowed.  “Fenris…she is a harsh mistress, indeed,” he said.  “Our world is a land of tumult.  Where some colony worlds banded together to overcome their homeworld’s geography, ours turned life into a competition.”  He tilted his gaze up a few degrees, staring into the interminable distance.  “Not one with rules, either.”  He gestured at the planet below.  “There’s more than forty eight tribes down there, each claiming all the territory they can.  Land is more important than anything else, to the tribesmen.  Land means crops, trees, and most importantly, game.”

He half-turned to stare down at the massive oceans visible on the surface below.  “Our people believe that the sky above them is a massive vault.  Above the clouds, there is a great gallery, leading into many halls.  Within them live the greatest warriors who have ever lived.  The worlds upon which we kill in the Emperor’s name are halls, to which we send our warriors, some of whom do not return.”
Konnar turned back to his audience.  “Even here, on Fenris’ brutal surface, the great fallen are given a chance to live again, in song, in legend, in namesakes.”

Freya drew her legs up to her chin again and listened, green eyes wide.  Konnar smiled despite himself.  She looked no older than the ten years she had been when he had seen her last, at that moment.  “Naturally, there is some truth to their myths.  For the stars ARE halls, of a sort, and contain many worlds, many battlefields.  And most of the Vlka Fenryka who have ever lived rest on those alien shores and lands.”

He sat in one of the iron chairs and faced the five.  “The tribes share little beyond their language.  We erase tribal loyalties from our Blood Claws, for once you join the Rout, there is no-one beyond your pack and your Wolf Lord, and Father Russ above all.  What little they know of us…is shrouded in myth and reverence.  And, of course, some fear.  Many times have we descended on great wars and conflicts to break them up, or even encourage them.  They do not know their Imperium, you see.  Only their Emperor, the All-Father, He Who is Above the King.”

Jake tilted his head a bit in silent question.  Konnar, of course, noticed.  He didn’t need his immense psychic powers to do so.  “Though the Fenrisians hold the Emperor above all other authorities, most do not worship him as a true god.  They hold him to be the pinnacle, the epitome of all that is human.  Which, by contrast, makes their worship of us all the more fervent.  To them, we are the sentries of the Emperor’s army, who carry fallen warriors away to eternal glory.  To a degree, we are.”

“Is that how you recruit?” Alex asked.

Konnar went silent for a moment.  “I will say that that is part of it.  More than that…forgive me, but that is not my part of the story to tell.  You understand.”

“Sure,” Alex said, nodding assent.

Venus looked over to the expanse of stars, watching a tiny comet blaze by.  “How many Fenrisians are there down there?” she asked.

“Perhaps eight million total, but for each major tribe, there are ten small ones, some less than a thousand strong.  Others are much larger, and their nomadic camps can stretch over entire valleys.”

Jake looked out the window too.  “Are all the tribes connected to the oceans in some way?  Or just the ones we heard about today?”

“Which ones did you discuss today?” Konnar asked.

“The Walking Waves and Krennir,” Jake supplied.

“I see.”  Konnar rolled one robe sleeve up to the elbow.  “I was once of the Krennir, myself.”  The tattoos to which he gestured were indistinguishable to the group from the others.

“How much do you remember?” Alex asked.

“Not a thing,” Konnar said.  The Rune Priest let his sleeve fall.  “The lives we leave behind are important as a lens, through which we examine our history, but they are not who we are now.”  He leaned forward a hair in his seat, a lopsided smile on his scarred face.  “The tribes of the shores…I would say most of them have at least some presence in the waters.  Only a few dwell in the hills and fields alone, and they are the specialists.  They are the cavalry archers, they are the beast-tamers, they are the traders.  The tribes of the seas and those who travel between land and water freely are the raiders, the explorers, the fishers.”

He settled back against the iron chair, looking over the group.  Freya hadn’t budged, and Alex and Jake seemed enrapt by the lesson.  Remilia was listening with her hand on her chin, and Venus had gone back to staring out the window at the planet below.

“What catches your eye, Princess?” Konnar asked her.

“Nothing specifically.  It’s just…really incredible.  Can you see any of the SDF or Legionary ships from here?” she asked.

“Not with the naked eye.  Not now that so many have taken to the front,” Konnar said.  He turned back to the others.  “Now…I am sure you’ve gathered, or even been told, that many of the brothers do not feel entirely comfortable with those outside the Legion learning so much about us.  There is, however, one story they would be proud to have me tell you,” he said.

“Which one?” Freya asked.

“An older tale.  The tale of our victory over the Fallen Souls,” he said.  “Despite the name, they were neither daemons nor renegade human warriors.”

“What were they?” Jake asked.

“Warp Emanations.  Not daemons, but aliens that live within that dark realm.”  Konnar tilted his head back and began.

“Three thousand years ago, the Crusade had entered its second phase.  The Primarchs had been found, STC relics and blueprints were pouring into the arms of the Machine God’s worshippers again…the Imperium was young and strong.  Around this time, we began to lose contact with individual planets at the very outermost edge of our progress along the star lanes to the Astronomican’s edge.  This happened, from time to time, you see, as Warp storms we had used as focusing points for Astropathy ebbed, or as worlds decided they really didn’t like that far-off Emperor fellow, and ‘forget him, we’re on our own.’  Nonetheless, the worlds with which we began losing contact were physically very close to each other.  Some were less than three light-years apart.  We began to suspect an alien invasion.”  Konnar leaned forward, splaying his hands over his knees.

“As you can imagine, we were loath to part with our hard-earned territory.  The Rout was dispatched, with Lord Gunar Wolfsmane at the head of the pack, nearly five thousand strong.  The first world we reached was embroiled in anarchy.  The Astropaths were dead, which was how we lost contact.  The Mechanicum stations around the system were under siege from psychotic SDF crews, fighting for their lives.  The surface was embroiled in a conventional arms battle that had laid waste to a city before we even got there.”

“Why did they turn on themselves?” Remilia asked.

Konnar nodded.  “We quickly realized that most of the visible victims were authorities.  Psychics, Astropaths, judges, techpriests, officers, a Navigator.  We thought it was an uprising, or that perhaps that an Imperial officer had abused his authority one too many times and the people were attempting a regime change.”

He shook his head.  “How wrong we were.  Sporadic distress calls from bunkers across the planet began reaching us.  We heard pleas for aid and backup, desperate inquiries into ‘when will the Sisters arrive?’”

“The Sisters…of Silence?” Jake asked.

“Indeed.  We had heard no requests for assistance from the Sisters, so we simply retook the void platforms and ships of the system before landing in force.  We fell from the skies in pods and ships, and cut our way to the embattled Governor’s mansion.  No sooner had we arrived than we were fired upon.  The Governor’s own personal guard had turned, and tried to cut our warriors down.  After dispatching them, the Governor himself arrived, and begged for the Sisters of Silence to come as fast as they could.  We demanded to know why they were needed, and he said that every single psychic in the system – and everyone who had been in contact with them for nearly a day before – had turned on the Imperium, and were using their abilities to control people and turn them into a slave army.”

Konnar took in their looks of disgust.  “We felt much the same you do, my friends.  We immediately split up, fanning out over the system and isolating every psychic we could find.  As we did, though, we found an oddity.  Many of them were already dead when we arrived.  They had been parasitized, you see, by Warp beings.  The beasts had taken over their minds and used them as hosts.  So you see, the psychics themselves were not at fault.  They were beyond rescue, however, and we granted them the Emperor’s Peace as often as we could.  The ones who had already released their parasites to attack more people were burned.”

“Were you there in person for this?” Freya asked, spellbound.

“No, Sister, this was two thousand years before I was even born.”

He leaned forward again.  “I’m sure you’re wondering why I told you this gruesome tale.  The fact of the matter is, we remember such things, and pass along such things, specifically because they are hard to hear.  We have peace, now.  A grand peace, that envelops the Imperium, and honors the fallen.  Some of the fallen, however, were not warriors.  It is just as important to remember those who fell simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time as it is to remember those warriors of the Imperium who fall in the course of their duties.”

Remilia and the boys nodded solemnly.  “So it is,” Remilia observed.

Freya rose and inclined her head.  “Thank you for sharing that, Rune-brother,” she said respectfully.

Venus watched as the old Priest rose from his seat.  “My honor, Sister.”  He made for the door.  “I will see you soon, when the time comes,” he said, departing through the lifts.

Jake turned to Freya.  “Will we be having a session like this tomorrow too?” he asked.

“No, but we will be dining with the rest of the Fang soon,” she said.  “He’ll be there.”

“Oh.”  Jake nervously rolled his shoulders.  She grinned at his obvious discomfort.

“Fear not, you guys will be able to leave whenever you want.”

“Good.”  Jake glanced over to where his girlfriend was still sitting in her chair, looking around the expansive room.  “You’re really taken by this room, aren’t you?” he asked.

“I am.  Sorry,” she said, standing up.

“For what?  It’s a cool room,” Jake said.

She shook her head with a rueful grin.  “It just feels really familiar, for some reason.  I dunno why, Prometheus doesn’t have anything like this.”

“Well, you can come back whenever,” Jake pointed out.

“True.”  She shrugged, sending black hair across her back.  “I think I will.”


===Freya's Gifts===


One quick trip in the lifts later, the group bedded down.  As Alex struggled out of his vest, Freya closed the door to their suite and pondered the day.  “What do you think of my home so far?” she asked.  Her reflection in the mirror on the back of the door showed her in her Fenrisian cloak, and she paused to adjust the drawstrings, idly closing the hood over her face.

“I had a blast,” Alex said, his voice muffled by the shirt he was removing.  “The ocean was amazing.  I can see why you wanted to come back, it’s a hell of a planet.”

“All you’ve seen so far are the military and some water,” she pointed out, playing with the hem on her cape.  “The parts that will stick…we haven’t seen them yet.  Thanks, though,” she added.

“Rock-climbing tomorrow, then?” Alex asked.

“Yep.  Ever gone?” she asked.  She slid her hands behind her and unclasped her skort, letting it fall away.

“Nope.  Should be fun.”  He sprawled back on the bed, fumbling for his slate.

Freya walked up beside the bed, sliding the cloak’s clasps loose and draping it over a chair.  She settled down beside Alex and watched over his shoulder as he checked his messages.  “Hmm.  Nothing.  Want to write home?” he asked.

“No, I’m fine,” she said.  She tugged her shirt loose and snuggled against him as he turned the slate off.  “You’re not writing?” she asked.

“I sent a message while you were already here on the Fang,” he said.  He peered up at her.  “So…why did you ask Konnar to tell his story to us?”

“I thought it would be interesting for you guys to hear a real Fenrisian storyteller,” she said.  “Wasn’t it?”

“It was.  I just thought he was going to go on a rant about pyskers or something, from the way he was building it up,” Alex truthfully said.

“Mmm.”  She rolled away from him to lift her own slate from its slot on the charger.  “He’s a psyker, you know.”

“I thought as much, but I couldn’t have been sure,” Alex said.  “What time should we get up tomorrow?” he asked.  “And is there a gym for serfs?”

“Sunrise.  And we’re going mountain climbing, you won’t need a workout, trust me.”  Freya sank back onto the bed, reading over her own messages.  “Fuck.”

“What?”

“I have over seven HUNDRED messages,” she said.

“What?  How is that possible?” Alex asked.

“They’re not Astropathic.  They’re from the Brothers, welcoming me home.”  She smiled wistfully.  “I missed you guys too,” she said, running a fingertip across the slate’s screen.  Freya started paging through the messages, reading and deleting them as fast as her eyes would allow.  “Awww, that’s cute,” she said.

Alex sat up to look over her shoulder.  “What is it?”

“Not a specific letter, the others are just really pleased to see me.”  She paused her perusal to glance back at him with a watery grin.  “I missed my pack, baby.”

He sat back on his haunches.  “What does it feel like?  That’s not really an instinct I have,” he said.  Her statement had been an acute reminder of her non-human side, on a day that had been full of them.

“How can I answer that?  I’ve always had it.”  She thought it over, putting the slate down.  “Hmm.”  She reached over and lifted her cloak from its seat back.  “All right…you remember the way it felt when your rugby team won the championship last year?  After the official party, and everyone went to the afterparty at Carlos’ house?”

“Yeah, it was rad as hell,” Alex said proudly.

“You spent the whole night with the team, just rejoicing.”  She rolled the cloak over her hands.  “Same feeling.  Not just pride and accomplishment, but confidence.  You felt like you belonged.”

“Yeah, I did,” Alex said.  “Is that what it feels like for you?”

“No.”  She sat back down at his side, running her fingers over the pelts on the hem of the cloak.  “I felt that way when the wrestling and track teams won, too.  It wasn’t like this.  It was like…that, plus…”  She sighed.  “You ever been to one of Uncle Vulkan’s house parties?”

“Uh…yeah, with you, a few times,” Alex said.

“You know how after a while, it just feels like nobody there is out of place, even if you know they would be in any other context with the same people?  Like, I remember the first one Jake went to.  He spent most of the night on the rooftop gardens with Venus, because he was so nervous around all the Space Marines and nobles.  Hell, the EMPEROR dropped by later.  But by the third or fourth party, Jake was chatting, shaking hands, telling stories.  You were too, after a while.”

“Yeah.”  Alex felt the pelt too.  The fur was surprisingly thick and heavy.  “So…it’s like the two feelings together?”

“Sort of.  It’s like them, only even more.  You know?  It’s…”  She screwed up her face.  “I’m sorry, I don’t think I can describe it to a human, even you.  I don’t think humans can feel this.”

He shrugged, disappointed.  “All right.”

“It’s as much smell as sight,” she said.  “It’s as much ambient noise as speech.”  Freya slid her fingers over the back of his hand on her cloak.  “It’s just…belonging.  Not feeling the need to belong, but being exactly where you want to be.  Terra’s home, I said that on the way here and I meant it.  But this is where my pack is.”

She looked up at him, smiling shyly.  “You being here…contributes something, too.”

He smiled back.  “Thanks, Freya.  Does that mean that you think of me as a pack member, or whatever?”

“I guess so.  It’s…”  She thought it over, then puffed out a breath in irritation.  “It’s so hard to describe.  It’d feel the same if we were on a completely different planet, as long as the rest of the Vlka were there too.”

“Can you identify how many Wolves there are around just by listening really hard, and smelling the air?” he asked.

“Not in a building with closed ventilation, no,” she said.  “It’s easier if I’ve met them more than once.  Like…like you.  When you see me out of the corner of your eye or whatever, you don’t stop to remember my name every time, do you?”

“Well, no.  I know who you are.”

“Right.”  She nodded emphatically.  “I do the same, only for every sense.  It really confused me when I was very small, that I was the only one besides Cora who could do it.  After Miranda and Angela manifested their powers, they could do it with psychic imprints, too, but for the longest time it was just the two of us,” she said.  She leaned in next to him, inaudibly inhaling the air.  “Like…when I smell you, I don’t even think about it anymore.  It’s just… ‘this is Alex.’  Automatic.”

“Hmm.  But when you meet someone for the first time, you identify them with other things?” Alex asked.

“Yeah.  Like that General Mustafa guy from downstairs.  I could tell the second I walked in the door that he’s a problem smoker.  The guy next to him, Bletcher, he used to use Onslaught, but it was a very long time ago, and he’s had at least one juvenat since.”

“Wow.  That must be overwhelming,” Alex said.

“Nah, it’s been like that since I was a kid, so I don’t even notice.”  She leaned back on the bed a bit, staring at him from a prone position.  “I thought we’d talked about this before,” she said.

“Well, in passing, yeah, but it’s never really been…you know, relevant to something we were both doing,” Alex said.  “What do I smell like?” he asked.

“Alex.”

“I mean when we first met,” he said.

“Oh.”  She thought back.  “Just… ‘athlete, lives with both parents, sexually active, hangs out with smokers, mild allergies, loves pancakes,’” Freya listed.

“You can tell all that from just the way I smelled?” Alex asked, flabbergasted.

“Yep.  Or other things.  The way you talked, the way you moved, the way your internals sound.”  Freya looked over at him, coy.  “Did I get any wrong?”

“No, it was all right.”  He shook his head.  “Man…that’s crazy.  How did you know I still lived with both parents?” he asked.

She waved a hand.  “You had pheromones from an adult man and an adult woman on your clothes.  It was an instinctive guess.”  She sat up a bit, letting her complex braids pool behind her.  “It helps that we were in a room that had just been cleaned.  Smell is actually the easiest sense to remember, for humans and for me.”

Alex shook his head.  “Well, it’s amazing, baby.  Your senses blow my mind,” he said with a chuckle.

She laughed too.  “It only really strikes home for me just now much different mine are from normal people’s when I’m talking to someone like this.  Even a Thunderwolf doesn’t have senses as sharp as mine.  They’re something the Emperor designed specifically for the Legion, to make sure we would be impossible to evade in the field.”  She settled back against the pillow with a satisfied smirk.  “It’s just my luck that it makes everything else easier too.”

He lay down next to her, one eyebrow raised.  “How could you tell I wasn’t a virgin?”

She snorted.  “Because the night before I saw Kathy Halsey walking a little funny in gym class, I saw her vanish into a bedroom at a party, with you.”

He blushed a bit.  “You, uh…you saw that, did you?”

“And heard.  And smelled.”  She flashed a smile at his awkwardness.  “Welcome to my life.”

“Uh huh.”  He looked away for a sec.  “Sorry.”

“Psssh, you think you’re the first dude to get laid within a hundred feet of me?  If I held it against you, trust me, you’d never have had a chance,” she scoffed.  She smiled up at him again, a bit more seductive this time.  She traced a finger across his bare chest.  “If anything, it was a point in your favor.  Kathy was having a grand old time.  I wanted to see what all the fuss was about,” she said softly.

He grinned broadly, puffing up a bit in machismo.  “Well, thanks kindly,” he said.

“Which is the only reason I didn’t smack your ears upside down when you tried to smooth-talk me out of my tights after that wrestling meet,” she continued.

He deflated again.  “Oh.”  He peered back down at her through narrowed eyelids.  “I don’t remember you taking it poorly, though,” he pointed out.

“Mmm, well, a nice butt and strong hands are all well and good, but if all you wanted was some Bro Points with your friends for getting off in a Primarch’s daughter, that would have ended VERY poorly for you,” she assured him.  “Luckily for us both, you can cook too.”  She smiled happily at his hurt expression.

“Oh, Freya, that’s just mean,” he complained.

She leaned up and pecked him on the lips.  “I’m changing my college plans to stay with you a little longer, Alex baby, you’ve got nothing to worry about,” she whispered in his ear.

He smiled regretfully at that, and slid a hand behind her neck to hold her to his lips a little longer.  “Sorry to put you out, cutie.”

She pulled away, her eyes sleepy and content.  “No trouble.”  She tossed the cloak over its chair back and rose from her position to begin her bathroom routines.  “Now you rest up.  Mountain climbing works your arms like nothing else in the world.”


Across the hall, Remilia flipped her own slate on in bed to find that she had two new messages.  She opened one to find it to be a routine check-in from Mechanicus station in the outer system, greeting Her Highness Princess Dorn to Fenris, and the other was a message from home.  Responding to the first with a simple ‘Thanks, it’s good to be here,’ she opened the second.

‘Remilia, I hope this message reaches you before you arrive on Fenris.  If not, then you should know, I’ve taken to the field once more,’ the message from her father read.  ‘The Phalanx is plying the stars around the resurgent greenskins, and I will be taking a thousand Astartes from the home guard to join them, with a few dozen Joint Task companies joining me.  We will be gone when you return.’  Remilia closed her eyes in silent frustration for a long moment.

She opened them and resumed reading when her irritation faded.  ‘I know I said I would be there when you returned, if I could.  Sadly, I can not.  The rising tides demand my attention, Remilia, and I am sorry.’

“Sure, Dad,” she said tiredly.  “Of course.”

‘I do hope you have found this trip of yours fulfilling.’

She giggled.  “In more ways than one, Dad, but let’s keep that to ourselves.”

‘I know the worlds you’ve selected are hardly hospitable ones, and I was saddened to hear of your friend’s injury on Nocturne.  I hope he’s well again.  When you return, please stop by to see your mother before Orientation, she’s worried sick over your choices of destinations.’

“Can’t blame her,” Remilia said.

She skimmed the rest of the brief message and turned on the transcriptor to compose her reply.  As soon as she was done, she sent it and switched off the slate.  She settled back against the rough sheets.  “Wonder what Fenrisian rock climbing is like.”

===Challenging the Aggro Crag===


The next morning, Jake craned his head back and stared at the near-vertical pillars of craggy basalt jutting from the snowy ground.

“Nope.”

“Pansy,” Alex scoffed.

“Nope.”  Jake pointed up at the rocks.  “Not happening.  I’m just going to go enjoy all the snow while you genii scale giant boulders.”

“Okay,” Freya said, slinging a few extra spikes into her packs.  She had forgone the cloak and Fenrisian adornments for a more practical winter jumpsuit, complete with sealed polyfiber boots.  “If you must wimp out, then far be it from me to OW!” she said as a snowball broke over her face.

Jake rubbed the snow off of his gloves.  “Hmm, I could learn to like this stuff.”

Freya wiped snowmelt from her balaclava.  “You will suffer for that,” she promised darkly.

“Doubtful.”  Jake turned to observe the massive fields of snow all around them.  The pillars jutted from their surfaces like antennae, and aside from shallow slopes around their bases, the field was largely flat.  “You go fight gravity, if you wish, I’m going to enjoy this here nice, safe, frozen water.”

“Bah, this is a light dusting,” Remilia scoffed, slapping her hands together.  The sun was beating down on them, and there wasn’t a puff of wind on the air.  The conditions were perfect.  The fact that the temperature was approaching negative twenty Celsius was the only mild problem.

Even then, ‘problem’ was subjective.  Venus, both to spite their climate and to show off, was wearing a tee shirt.  The brilliant glare of the sun off the snow drowned out color from their surroundings, making her green shirt, waterproofed climbing pants, and skintight exercise gloves glow like beacons against her obsidian skin.

She rolled a ball of snow in her hands, letting it melt against her fiery flesh.  “Hmm.  Hey, Alex, catch,” she said, whipping the ball of slurry at him just as he stooped to pick up his climbing gear.

The ball splattered against his arm, and he yelped.  “Gah!  Hey, come on, we’re about to ascend here!”

“You can wait,” she said, rolling another.  She cocked her arm back to throw.

'''*splat*'''

She staggered and lost her ammunition as Freya avenged her fallen boyfriend.  “Ever had a snow fight with an iceworlder?” she growled, scooping up another round.

Remilia knelt in the thigh-deep snow, driving her leg in an arc to kick an impromptu pit in the ground.  She leaned in and packed a ball, chucking it at Venus with all her might.

“Ow!  What is this, two-versus-one?” Venus said, ducking against the barrage.

“Three-versus-two,” Alex shouted, dumping an armful of snow on Remilia’s head.

She squealed and fumbled out of her firing pit, as Alex tore off, laughing hysterically.  She took aim at his retreating backside when another one whiffed past her head.  Remilia turned to spot her attacker and took another one right in the chest.

“Yes!  Ah ha ha ha, yes!  The timing was the best part!” Venus crowed.  Seconds later, she had to duck as a furious missile from Remilia’s firing pit tore past her.

“You’re all just mad because I have the best camo!” Jake said, tossing another ball at Freya, who dodged it with ease.

“Sun-starved skin does not count as camo, that’s clearly just a paint scheme!” Freya retorted, catching him square in the stomach.  He pitched backwards in the snow, sending up a flurry of fresh flakes where he landed.

Alex lunged at her from behind, caked in snow from his ‘stealthy’ approach.  She neatly sidestepped, sending him face-first into the white.  He coughed, then went still as her shadow loomed over him.  “Oh no.”

“Just remember this, Alex, you’re the one who made this full-contact,” she giggled, popping her knuckles with simmering faux-menace.

A black and green ball and streamer slammed into her.  She barked in surprise and shock as she fell into the snow.  She blew some out of her mouth as Venus doubled over, laughing her head off.

Freya snarled and clawed her way up, but Venus was already backing up, rolling a snowball with both hands.  Freya dropped into a crouch and leaped, propelling herself at her cousin.  Venus threw herself forwards, under her cousin’s jump, and rolled away as Freya thudded into the snow, looking for purchase.  Alex scrambled back up and rolled another ball, seeking a target.

Remilia wiped snow off of her ski goggles from a lucky shot from Jake as the solitary Grey Hunter who had volunteered to watch over them shook his head.  “Nice to see you all taking to the climate,” he said.

“You kiddin’?  This is home, for me,” Remilia said, packing a massive snowball.  Jake spotted her assembling her missile and took off running, his breath coming in misty bursts as he ran away.  She raised her frosty weapon and tossed it, not hard enough to hurt him, but hard enough to send him face-first into the snowbanks.

Jake popped up, glaring.  Then he shielded his eyes from the sudden burst of white light that assaulted him.  “Hang on, guys, time out,” he called, waving his hands around at snow-level.

“What’s wrong?” Freya called, halfway through pelting her boyfriend.

“My sunglasses fell off,” Jake called.

“There, Lord Seager,” the Wolf called out, pointing into the glare.  Jake felt his way over and gingerly groped around in the snow until his fingers touched plastic.

“Thanks, Lord Hasskald,” Jake called, sliding his sunglasses back on with a sigh.  “They were a parting gift from my parents, I’d feel terrible if I left them out here,” he added.

“Perhaps you should leave them here and wear goggles in the future,” the Wolf said as Jake walked closer.

“I think I should,” Jake said.  The others had all dropped on the snow, panting.  Jake himself was feeling a bit giddy from the exertion.  “This snow stuff is fucking awesome.”

Hasskald laughed aloud.  “So glad you approve, Lord,” he said.  His voice had the rich and hearty tones of a man in his element.  “They didn’t have snow on Terra?”

“They had the kind of lethargic, uninterested snow one expects from a weather machine several hundred kilometers away,” Jake said, loosening the collar of his white thermo jacket.  “Never more than a few inches deep, since they didn’t want to make the roads un-drivable.”

“A few inches?  Un-drivable?  What kind of weak drivers do they have on Terra?” Hasskald asked, amused.

“Terran ones, Lord,” Jake chuckled.

“Probably.”  Hasskald crouched in the snow, watching Remilia and Freya limber up for their climb.  “At least those two seem to know how to use safety clamps on a climbing surface.”  He glanced over at Venus, who was wiping the steaming snow off of her bare arms.  “Princess Venus isn’t as experienced, I can see.”

“I haven’t asked.”

“She’s going to break her legs if she climbs with the clamps like that,” Hasskald sighed, standing up and walking over.  His power armor ate up the distance in seconds, leaving Jake struggling in his footsteps.

He halted beside Venus.  “My Lady, please refasten your clamps a bit,” he said, pointing at where Venus had arranged her carabiners and climbing clamps.  “If you lose footing up there, your legs could break with the clamps arranged as they are,” he said.

She glanced down.  “Oh.”  She adjusted her equipment.  “Like this?”

“No.”  Hasskald knelt and gently moved the fastener on the rope feed.  “Like so.  Spread the weight out.”

“Ah, I get it,” Venus said.  “Thanks.”  She fixed the misfed rope clamp and hefted a hammer.  “Thanks, Brother.”

“Are you certain you don’t need more…robust clothing, my Lady?” Hasskald asked.

Venus shook her head.  “No, thanks, this is fine.”  She lifted a handful of snow and held it on her bare fingertips.  In moments, it was melting down between her fingers.  “If we’re not approaching a blizzard at midnight, I won’t even feel it,” she said.  She flicked the moisture away and started hammering a spike into the rocks.

Hasskald backed up, nodding.  “As you wish.”  He took a step to the side to see how Freya was doing.  “A day for it, eh, Sister?” he called.

“Couldn’t have prayed for better weather,” Freya yelled back.  Hasskald smiled.

“It’s a joy to see her taking to her world like this,” he said.

“I bet,” Jake said.  He sat down at the base of the pillar Venus had started up.  “Do you climb?” he asked his towering host.

“In my youth, for sport.  Time took the appeal away for me,” Hasskald said.

He glanced over to where signs of the impromptu snow fight had disrupted the flat snow fields.  “Tell me, Lord, what are your own plans for after this sojourn?”

Jake struggled to his feet, brushing snow off his pants.  “Well, I’m headed off to college.  Kouthry Technical, on Terra.  Venus and two of her cousins are going to be there too.”

“I see.  Do you have any aspirations towards the military?” Hasskald asked, leaning against the pillar.  He dwarfed Jake in his Power Armor, but was clearly trying to project a casual air.

“I don’t, really.  I don’t think I would fit in.”  Jake shrugged.  “I understand that that’s not a choice Fenrisians get to make, but it’s not the life I want to live.  I had a few friends in high school who have enlisted, though.  Praetor Field Artillery and some of the more esoteric Terran Army units.”

“Good on them, then.”  Hasskald grinned broadly, showing his enlarged fangs.  They were easily twice the size of Freya’s.  Then, Hasskald was probably three hundred years old.  “Don’t think we all resent those whose lifestyles are more peaceful, lad.”

“Some of the Rout seem to,” Jake said.

“The Rout?  Hah!  I suppose Sister Freya said to call us that?” Hasskald chuckled.  “Well, ignore the naysayers.”

Jake looked at him, suddenly nervous.  “Should I not call you that?”

“No, go ahead, it’s more respectful than ‘Space Wolves,’ certainly,” Hasskald said.

“All right.  Really, it’s more of a general feeling of resentment than any single comment,” Jake said.  “When we were gearing up today, the armorer we spoke to was downright cold to all of us except Freya.”

“Armorers hate parting with their precious gear, lad, I suspect that’s as true on Fenris as it is Mundus Planus, Terra, or Prospero,” Hasskald said.  “Why do you not climb with the others?”

“Frankly, Lord, I’m distracted enough by the fact that there’s snow everywhere, I’d rather not argue with gravity too,” Jake said.  “You know, lest I lose.”



===Conversations with a Wolf===


Hasskald good-naturedly shook his maned head.  “So be it, I suppose.  You have the look of a hiver about you, unless I miss my guess.”

“I am a hiver,” Jake said.

“I see.  We have no hives here, the volcanism is too severe for it,” Hasskald said.  He leaned back against the pillar, keeping a fair eye on the climbers.  “What do you think of hive life?”

“It’s stifling, Lord.  Very much so.”  Jake shook his own head.  “People there don’t realize how much they’re missing.”

The Marine nodded.  “I know what you mean.  I never saw the appeal of hives.  I understand most hivers never breathe fresh air at all.”

“So true.”  Jake looked down for a moment.  “Good thing Kouthry is on the surface, then.”

His host sat on a pile of rock by the pillar and looked up at the climbers.  “Tell me, Lord Seager, what has our little Sister’s life been like since we saw her last?” he asked after a few silent minutes of observation.

Jake glanced up to where Freya was scaling the pillar.  “Busy.  She’s a skilled athlete.  Wrestling and track.”

Hasskald glanced back to Jake.  “And yourself?”

“I’m not an athlete, per se, but I keep in shape.  I’m more of a designer, really,” Jake said.  “Venus is the athlete of the two of us.  She’s a swimmer.  Good, too, her team swept the cup last year.”

“I imagine all of the Royal daughters are athletes,” Hasskald said.

“You’d be surprised,” Jake said, thinking of Petra and Morticia.  “Some just don’t care for it.”

“Mmm.”  Hasskald drew a flask and took a pull.  He offered it to Jake, who politely refused.

“No thank you, Lord, I’ve heard tales about Fenrisian booze,” Jake said.

“If you heard them from Sister Freya, they’re probably true, too,” Hasskald said drily.

He set the flask back into its sling and glanced up at where Venus was defying the cold and gravity alike.  “Am I to interpret that you and Lady Venus are married?”

Jake coughed on his tongue.  “Ah, no, your Lordship, we’re not,” he said quickly.  He paused.  “I…wouldn’t be adverse to it, but by Terran standards, we’re both just too young.”

Hasskald offered him a knowing little smile.  “Of course.  But I needn’t know you well, lad, to see the looks in your eyes when they meet.”

Jake blushed a bit.  The Salamanders hadn’t been so indiscreet.  “Sir, please.”

The Grey Hunter shook his head again, sighing in mock resignation.  “Terrans.”

Far above, Freya paused her climb to drive a stake home.  She glanced down at her watch as she did.  “Hell yeah, it’s not even an hour gone!” she said.  She grinned up at the peak of the near-vertical pillar.  “Child’s play,” she said with a grin at the implied challenge.  She rammed the spike home and climbed another meter up.

Down below, Alex dropped the last few centimeters to the ground, dusting himself off.  “Phew!  That’s enough for me,” he said, panting.

Jake peered over.  “You done?”

“Yeah, the wind chill up there is sucking the heat out of my hands,” Alex said, quickly flexing his gloved fingers.

“Yes, that will be how it goes,” Hasskald said.  “Wise of you to know your limits.”  Alex buried his hands in his thermo coat’s pockets and snapped the dividers on the little heat bags inside.  He sighed in relief as warmth bled back into his shaking fingers.

“Much better.”  He sat down next to Jake and Hasskald and stared up at the girls, who were still ascending.  “Climbing is fun, but I should practice on a wall in a climate-controlled room,” Alex said ruefully.  “This is just too cold for me.”

“Doesn’t seem to be slowing our self-fuelled and iceworlder compatriots,” Jake said.

“Eh.”  Alex wrapped his fingers around the heat bags and leaned back against the rocks.  “Wanna place a bet on which one reaches the peak first?”

“No, because Freya’s going to win,” Jake said.

“Aw.”  Alex wiped his sunglasses free of dust and snow.  “So, Jake, you going to write home today?  I’m thinking of bundling up a message for Mom.”

“Yeah, that…”  Jake looked awkward for a moment.  “What are you going to do?”

Alex sighed, heavy and resentful.  “I don’t know.  Freya and I both got scholarships to the same school, so…that’s taken care of.  But without Dad’s assets…”

“You’ll deal,” Jake said decisively.

Alex nodded.  “I hope so.”

Hasskald raised a brow.  “What is this?”

Alex glanced over at him.  “I…” he trailed off.  “My family is undergoing some…brutal in-fighting.”

“Ah.  That’s a shame,” Hasskald said.

“Yes,” Alex sighed.  “Yes it is, a shame on the entire Fleet.”

“What Fleet?” Hasskald asked.

“My father’s a Rogue Trader, who makes his fortune robbing pre-Imperium grave sites of their offerings and relics and selling them to people who don’t know where he gets it all,” Alex said bitterly.  “He’s made a lot of money that way.  He disinherited me in public a few weeks ago.”

“Horrible.”  Hasskald shook his head.  “That’s no way to treat family.”

“Nope.”  Alex craned his head back to stare at Freya’s white outfit and red hair on the snowy pillar.

The Marine followed his gaze.  “Does Sister Freya know this?”

“She was there.  She knows.  We’ve made arrangements to stay together for now, hopefully until I can finish school and get a job on my own merits.”  Alex closed his eyes under the tinted frames.  “After that…who knows?”

Hasskald nodded, eyeing the younger man a little more carefully.  He silently extended his flask to him.  Alex shook his head.  “No thanks.”  Hasskald drained it and stood.

“Your Lordships, I shall return shortly.”

“Where are you going, sir?” Jake asked.

Hasskald cricked his neck and flexed his elbows.  “This weather is too good not to use.  I’ll be back in half an hour, max.”  Without another word, he took off at a dead sprint, kicking up a plume of snow behind him.  He raced off towards the distant treeline, unslinging his Stalker bolter as he ran.
Jake wiped the snow off of his clothes, staring agape at the display of speed.

“Someone’s hungry,” Alex said.  He tapped the tiny radio on his collar.  “Hey, Hasskald just took off.  He said he’ll be back in thirty.”

Venus paused her ascent to reply.  “Really?  What’s up?”

“I think he’s getting lunch,” Alex said.

“Not for us, we brought,” Freya said into her own collar.  “This is awesome, Remilia, this was totally the right call,” she added.

Remilia clenched her teeth and hauled herself up another arm’s length.  “Gets the blood going, all right,” she said.  “How are you doing on yours, Venus?”

“Most of the way up,” Venus said.  “You?”

“Nearly at the peak,” Remilia said.  “It’s getting narrower up here.”

“Yeah, just keep an eye on your footing,” Freya said.

The group climbed in silence for a few more minutes, as Jake watched Hasskald disappear in the distance.  Their host reached the treeline and vanished like smoke at nightfall.  “Glad he’s on our side,” Jake muttered.

“No shit.  Even Freya’s not that fast,” Alex said.

“Did you notice how they call her ‘Sister’ here?  On Nocturne, the Salamanders called Venus ‘Princess,’” Jake observed.

“Different world, man.  The Wolves have a pack mentality.  She’s probably more like a little sister than a ruler to them,” Alex pointed out.

Jake thought that over and smiled.  “Which, on reflection, is adorable.”

Alex shoved him in the shoulder.  “Dude, shut up, she’s going to murder us both.”

“She can’t hear us from here,” Jake said dismissively.

“Can Hasskald?”  Alex asked pointedly.

Jake hesitated.  “I…don’t know.”

“''Neither do I'',” Alex growled.  “So keep that ‘adorable’ stuff to yourself, huh?”

“Sure, sure,” Jake said with a laugh.

===Back Down to Fenris===


Freya bounded up the last meter of the pillar and scrambled to the peak.  She grinned from ear to ear in the rising wind, holding her fists over her head in triumph.  “FUCK YEAH!” she crowed, panting in the freezing wind.

Her collar crackled.  “Did you make it to the top?” Remilia asked.

“Sure did!” Freya said happily, pumping her fist over her red mane.

“What took you so long?” Venus asked.  Freya turned to her cousin’s pillar to see her sitting, cross-legged and smirking.

“You…you beat me up?” Freya asked.

“No, I actually got up here while you were dancing around on your pillar,” Venus admitted.  “Now.  How the hell do you get back down?” she asked, glancing around.

“Oh.  Uh, just head back down the line, and remove the spikes as you go,” Freya said.  “Use the claw.”

“Right.”

“But, you know, take a holo or something!  We just climbed a basalt pillar, celebrate a bit!” Freya said.

Venus tapped her waist.  “I’m recording this, trust me.”

“Oh.”  Freya squinted and spotted the tiny holocam Venus had snugged in her bag.  Freya sank back down onto the edge of the pillar to wait for Remilia to finish.  “Have you climbed before?” Freya asked.

“All the time, in the Public Center in Startseite, just not as part of a school thing,” Venus said.  “This is my first outdoor climb.”  She grinned across the gap between pillars as Remilia’s blond hair emerged from behind one of them.  “Remilia, this was a great idea.”

“Thanks,” Remilia huffed, clambering up the last few steps.  “Where’s Alex?”

“He bailed, his hands were freezing,” Freya said.

Their radios crackled.  “You all made it?” Jake asked.

“Was there ever a doubt in your mind?” Freya asked cheerfully.

“No,” Jake admitted.

Venus paused to snap another holo before grabbing a sturdy piece of rock at the top of her line of spikes.  “I’m coming back down,” she said.

“All right, we’re not going anywhere,” Jake said.  “I could start reciting lines from the movie we watched last night, to speed your descent,” he suggested.

“Sure, that’d be great,” Venus deadpanned.

Jake hesitated.  “You’re kidding, right?” he asked over the radio.

“Of course.”  She gripped the top handhold and eased herself down.  “Hasskald still MIA?”

“Yeah, he’s off in the woods,” Alex said, shielding his eyes against the glare.

Freya started back down as Remilia paused to drink from her insulated water bottle.  “Let him, he’s probably just off hunting.”

“Ah, here he comes,” Alex said, spotting a flash of blue armor in the treeline.

“And…he’s bringing lunch, I see,” Jake added for the girls.  Indeed, the Grey Hunter had a deer carcass draped over his shoulder.

“Oh my god, seriously?” Freya groaned.

“Yyyep.  Big fucking deer.”  Jake stared.  “This will be an educational meal.”

“Not if I can help it,” Freya muttered.  “Unless…unless you guys actually WANT to watch a Space Wolf disembowel and devour a fucking deer what the FUCK am I saying, I need to get down there,” Freya said, descending her pillar as fast as she dared.

“Hang on, he’s stopping,” Alex said.  “He’s just putting it down.”

“Wait, is he looking around for something on the ground?” Freya asked.

“Uh, yeah,” Jake reported.

Freya sighed in relief.  “Oh, thank goodness.  Never mind, we’re clear.”

“What is he doing?” Alex asked.

“He’s just looking around for wood to start a fire,” Freya said.  She gripped a spike and ripped it from the rocks.  “Be right down.”


By the time all three girls reached the bottom, Hasskald had lit his fire, and was roasting the deer over it, still a decent distance from the vacationers.  Freya opened the pack they had brought, pulling some food out.  “All right, who’s hungry?”

As the teens grabbed their food, Hasskald tore into his own.  The wind was picking up considerably, and soon the barren snowfields were covered in tiny flurries as gusts of wind kicked up flakes from the surface.  Jake huddled against the cold, munching on his bread.  “So what’s the verdict on Fenrisian rock climbing?”

“Fun as hell.  Awesome idea, Remilia,” Venus said.

“Thanks.  I’m glad we went with this,” Remilia said, downing a little water.  “There any other places we could go?” she asked.

“Well, yes, but not around here, we’d have to fly a good ways south,” Freya said.  She bit a chunk off of a fruit none of the others could recognize.  “Actually, we sort of have tomorrow off.  I was wondering if you guys would be okay with me heading out to see the people a little,” Freya said.  She glanced at the others, taking in their expressions.  “Would you mind?”

Nobody objected.  Freya nodded in relief.  “Cool.”

“How are you going to do it?” Jake asked.  “Just pick a tribe and fly out there?”

“No, that won’t work.”  Freya’s red hair swung over her thermo shirt as she shook her head.  “We’ll land a bit outside the settlement, and I’ll just sneak in.”

Alex looked a bit worried.  “Will you be safe?”

“Not if I were going alone,” Freya admitted.  “Two Hunters and a few snipers will be in the area anyway, so they’ll keep an eye on me.”

“But you won’t be going as Freya Russ,” Alex pressed.

She half-smiled.  “Nope, just Freya.  It’s a fairly common name.  I might wear a falsehood or a mask that covers my teeth, though,” she said, tapping her lips.  “Just to keep them hidden.”

Jake looked confused.  “What’s a falsehood?”

“It’s a kind of holographic projector that makes your face look like a mannequin,” Freya said.  “It’s obviously not a real person’s face.  There’s other kinds that just shift your real appearance a tiny bit, though.  So if I set it to cover just my mouth, it would look like I didn’t have these guys,” she said, tapping her mouth again.

“Do you even have one?” Jake asked.

“Well, I think we have a few in the armory, but…oh, crap, I’d need to personalize it,” Freya realized.  She snapped her fingers.  “Well, so much for that.”

Alex awkwardly shrugged.  “Will people notice if you just don’t talk much?”

She grimaced.  “I guess not.  They’re not too visible when I speak, are they?”

“No, not unless you’re looking for them,” Venus said.

“All right.”  Freya sighed away sudden nerves.  “Tomorrow, then.”

Hasskald finished his meal and dropped an armful of snow on the fire.  He turned to see the group finishing up their own food.  He walked over, shielding his eyes against the rising winds.

“My young friends, I think it would be best that we depart,” he said.  “The weather is turning.”

Alex rose to his feet, wiping his hands on the snow.  “Sure.  Back to the Fang, Freya?”

“Yep, we’re done here,” Freya pronounced, springing to her feet.  “Thank you very much for giving us some help, Brother,” she said as Hasskald turned to activate his Thunderhawk beacon.

“It was a privilege, Sister,” the Grey Hunter said.  He clicked the runes on his wrist-mount auspex and glanced over the display.  “The gunship will be here in four minutes.”


===The Next Day's Activities===


As the group returned to the massive fortress, they dispersed back to their rooms to clean up after their exercise.  Freya, however, headed down into the residential portion of the building, looking for someone specific.  As she wove through the throngs of serfs and Wolves, she acknowledged their greetings with a hasty ‘hello’ or ‘good to be back,’ until she arrived at her destination.  She pushed the door to the room open, stepping across the threshold with a nervous grin.

“Freya, little pup.  What can I do for you?” Bjorn asked, pausing his conversation with the messenger skjald beside him.

“I don’t wish to intrude,” Freya said in Juvjk.

“We were done.”  Bjorn turned back to the messenger.  “Thanks, Earjac.”

“Your Lordship,” the skjald said, before walking out and closing the door.

Freya crossed her hands over her camo belt in respect.  “Eldest Bjorn, may I impose upon you for a moment?” she asked nervously.

Bjorn silently bade her continue.

“I wish to see my people, Lord.  I wish to go amongst the Fenrisians and see them,” Freya said.

Bjorn slowly leaned back in his seat, a crafty gleam in his eye.  “I understand.”

“And…I wish your help,” Freya continued.  “How should I do this?”

The ancient Marine slowly rose, hands on his desk.  “Little pup, give me some credit, hmm?” he asked drily.

Freya cocked her head.  “What?”

“We knew you would ask.  The clothes you wore yesterday will be sufficient, for the most part,” Bjorn said.

“And what else?” Freya asked.

“Nothing, save this,” Bjorn said.  He reached into his desk and drew a lumpy plastic bag forth.

Curious, Freya opened it.  She lifted the contents out and arrayed them on Bjorn’s table, a smile appearing on her face.  “Oh, Bjorn…you shouldn’t have,” she whispered.

The bag contained a pair of clearly hand-sewn doeskin leather gloves, a scabbarded dagger, a few small, rough pouches that were empty at that moment, and a bag of coins.  She looked up at Bjorn, delighted.

“Just keep your hood on except when indoors, keep the dagger slung at your right side to fit in, and don’t spend it all in one place,” Bjorn said with a smile.

“Thanks, Bjorn, this is…this is perfect,” Freya said.  She clipped the scabbard to her right thigh, low on her hip, then rested her hand on the pommel.  She relaxed her shoulder, then whipped the dagger out with blinding speed.

Bjorn nodded with approval.  “Good.  Now, lass, go clean up and get ready for the meet.  More appropriately, get your friends ready,” he said.  “I suspect this will be a new experience,” he said slyly.


Jake and Venus re-entered their room, dropping their bags on the bed.  Venus leaned over and unzipped her bag, pulling her un-worn arctic camo shirt out and tossing it in the open drawer in the dresser.  “Shouldn’t have even brought it,” she said.

Her boyfriend walked up behind her and promptly slid his arms around her waist.  “You are so lucky,” he muttered into her hair.  She slid her own hands over his.

“You’re always cold, Jake, but this feels different,” she said with concern.  “Are you gonna be all right?”

“Absolutely, just let me shower, and then you sit on my hands for a few minutes,” Jake said.  “If this is what weather is like around here, Freya can keep it.”

Venus snorted, pulling his hands away.  “Right.”  She tugged her exercise gloves free and popped her knuckles.  “There we go.  You want the first shower?”

“Sure,” Jake said.  He unzipped his arctic camo shirt and hung it over the back of the chair.  Before he could enter the bathroom, his slate beeped.  He swiveled it around on his desk and skimmed the message.  “Hey, letter from home.”

“Cool.”  Venus slid the slate over to her side and started reading as Jake undressed.  “Really short.  Your parents say hi, hope you’re feeling better…mine say have fun, don’t get eaten, et cetera.  That’s about it.  Couple pictures.”

“I’ll see them when I’m done,” Jake promised, closing the bathroom door.

Venus opened the pictures and glanced through them.  Angela was sitting on the wide bench-like couch in her house, carrying a copy of her new pamphlet and beaming.  The cover said ‘The Loudest Thoughts: Education Programs for Psychic Children.’

“Good for you, Angela,” Venus said with quiet pride.  “I knew you could do it.”

She paged to the next one.  George and Sandra were standing outside their apartment in front of a new aircar.  George was dangling keys from his finger.  The caption said ‘Behold, our new flying chariot.’

“Classy.”  Venus opened the last picture to see Misja sitting cross-legged, with a box in her lap.  Inside…

“EEEEEE!  Jake get out here!” Venus squealed.

A few rattling noises later, Jake burst from the bathroom, shirt bunched in his hands.  “What?  What?”

“Look at this!” Venus giggled, ramming the slate into his arms.

Jake stared.  “…Taxi’s been busy.”

“My dog had puppies while I was gone!  ARRGH, I wanted to name them!” Venus groaned.  The box was full to the brim with no fewer than four little baby dogs.  The fourth and final photo was Taxi, lying down, as the other dogs crawled all over her.

“I thought Taxi was a male dog,” Jake said.

“No, she’s a bitch, in every sense of the word.”  Venus sighed contentedly at the slate.  “The male was one of the neighbor’s dogs.  We don’t put a fence up, so he can come visit whenever.”

“That’s pretty cute.”  Jake shuffled his feet.  “Can I finish my shower now?”

Venus opened the caption of the final picture.  “Hmm…their names are, left to right: Avery, Ormont, Kale, and Neeia.  Mom must have named them, Dad wouldn’t have used Terran names.”  Venus smiled maternally.  “So adorable.”

Jake climbed back into the shower while Venus was still enraptured by the pictures.  “I’ll be right out,” he called.

Freya jogged into her room with the bag dangling from her arms.  “Alex, check this out!” she said.

Alex glanced over his book.  “What is it?”

“Bjorn got me a present!” Freya emptied the bag onto the bed.

“Is that a knife?” Alex asked.  He lifted the scabbarded blade.  “What, uh…what’s the occasion?  For the knife-giving?”

“He wants me to be safe tomorrow,” Freya said.  “And look!  Filthy lucre!”  She dumped the bag of coins onto the bedspread.  “I could buy a house with this much gold.”

Alex gaped.  “Holy shit,” he said.  “A house?  On a planet of nomads?”

“Look at this!”  Freya ran her fingers over the pile of money.  “Man, Bjorn really went overboard here.”

Alex picked up a few coins.  Each was embossed with a little symbol and the number fifteen on one side, and a man’s head on the other.  He didn’t recognize the symbol or the head.  “Who’s this dude?”

“Dunno.  The symbol is for the Krennir clan, though.”  Freya slid the gloves on.  “How cool are these?  One of the skjalds of the Second Great Company made them.”

Alex ran his fingers over the fabric.  “Wow, that’s soft.”

“It’s doe leather.”  Freya sniffed the fabric and ran her fingers together.  “This is so awesome.  I’m gonna be all set tomorrow.”

“What should we do tomorrow, while you’re out?” Alex asked.

Freya paused.  “Well…I was hoping you guys would just be okay on your own…”  She suddenly looked a little anxious.  “I mean, you couldn’t come with me.  You don’t speak the language.”

Alex grimaced.  “Well, hey, you go have fun.  We can just laze about for a while.”

She smiled ruefully.  “Are you sure?”

He shrugged.  “Sure.  Knock yourself out.”

Freya leaned across the pile of goods and gently kissed him on the lips.  “Thanks, baby.”


After a quick dinner in their rooms, the group reassembled for cards, and to plan out the next few days.  Jake took the opportunity to ask a careful question of Freya.

He tapped his finger on the table, trying not to sound accusatory.  “Freya…how do you pick which members of the Legion accompany us?”

She glanced at him, curious.  “What do you mean?”

“I’ve met a few on Terra at your place…they seemed a bit more…rowdy,” Jake said cautiously.

She snorted.  “Wait until we have dinner in the Great Hall in two days.  You’ll change your definition of ‘rowdy.’  But to answer your question, I just pick.  Guys I know from last time I was here.”

“Are you picking Marines that won’t object to outsiders being here?” Remilia pointedly asked.

“Yes,” Freya said simply.  “Some of the Brothers will not like you being here.  I don’t blame them, they’re not used to outsiders, but I’ve been cherry-picking guys I knew would be alright with us.”

“So when we’re dining in the main hall, will we have to put up with people wanting us to go?” Jake asked.

Freya shook her head.  “No,” she said adamantly.  “The rules of hospitality are sacred to the Rout.  Believe me, you guys are going to be fine.”

When they were done, they retired, though it took Freya a while to sleep.  When rest came, her dreams were full of the things she hoped she would see the next morning.


===A Beautiful View===


Venus sat down on one of the iron chairs on the observation deck, staring out into space.

An arc of comets soared by the planet on distant tails.  The whorls of the Eye spun ominously in the vast distance, like tainted blood circling a drain.  Fenris’ moon was a brilliant white disc in the sky, pouring empty light on the snowfields below.  Above, the polarizers blotted out the sun’s deadly radiation, leaving it a blue-white spot in the dark of space.  Undimmed by the sun’s fury, the stars burned, beaming their multicolored light into the Fang.

Venus was entranced.

A faint noise from behind caught her ear.  The footsteps and breaths…Jake.

“Hey, Venus,” he said softly.  They were alone.  “What’re you doing up here, all by yourself?”

“Just thinking.”  She glanced back at him.  He blinked as he realized that she was wearing her mirrored sunglasses, but not the usual pair.  These were just two-way mirrors, they didn’t block light from outside.  Was she not wearing contacts?

“Well…I won’t interrupt, if you want to be alone,” Jake said.  He turned to leave.

“You don’t…have to,” she said faintly.  He looked back.  She had extended a hand, and was sitting still, smiling faintly.  “Come.  Sit with me a while.”

He smiled back, settling into the massive iron chair alongside her.  “What are you watching out there?”

Venus looked back out the window.  “Everything.”

“It’s pretty big,” Jake chuckled.  “Wonder why the Salamanders didn’t have a gallery like this on Prometheus Station when we were there.”

“They’re pragmatists.  This isn’t very safe to build.”  Venus sat still, staring out into the void.  “…They should have done it anyway.”

“It’s gorgeous, all right.”  Jake looked out into the darkness.  Space was supposed to be dark, wasn’t it?  He had stood on the top of the Palace once, at midnight, and stared upwards.  The sky had been a dull, blank grey.  Here, the light from below, above, and all around was so bright.  Between the points, dots, and swirls, though, there was nothing.  Empty blackness.  So much of it…all the way out to infinity.  The ugly purple bruise of the Eye blotted out one corner of his sight, but the rest was a mosaic of glorious color.

“Mind if I stay here a while?” Venus asked.

“Of course not, we’re just watching holos and looking at the puppy pictures downstairs.”  Jake slid his arm across the back of Venus’ seat, expecting her to settle back against it.

She stayed still.  He glanced at her.  Her eyes were fixed on the spectacle.  He looked back, trying to see what had enraptured her so.  Nothing was changing.  When he glanced at her once more, he noticed her lips were moving.  Very little, but they were moving.

“I can’t hear you.”

She blinked behind her frames.  “Uh…was I talking?”

Jake nodded.  “You were.  Or your mouth was moving, anyway.”

“Sorry.”  She pulled her glasses down the bridge of her nose, folding them in her hands.  “…Can I ask you something personal?  Please don’t answer if you don’t want to.”

Jake sat up.  “Sure.”

She turned her glowing eyes on him.  “Jake…I’ve never asked you this.  Why did your father refuse to enter the Mechanicus?”

Jake cocked his head in surprise at her totally unexpected question.  “Well...shit, I think…I think he just found their obsession with augmentation to be maniacal.”

“What do you think about that?  The idea of spirituality?” she asked.  “Machine or flesh.”

He thought in silence as she watched him, inscrutable.  “I think…it’s…it’s old.  It’s part of our lives because it’s always been there.  But I hold trust in the Truth.”  He tilted his head.  “I don’t…I don’t see any harm in wanting to be a part of something larger than yourself.  I just don’t like proselytizers.”

Venus’ shoulders slumped a bit.  She nodded again, sliding her glasses on as she did.  “Okay.”  She turned back to look at the stars.  “Thanks.”

“Why do you ask?” Jake inquired.

She shook her head.  “No reason.”

“You do nothing for ‘no reason.’”  Jake gently traced his fingers along the back of her hand.  She flinched a bit.  “Venus…I was okay with you asking me.  Are you not okay with me asking why?”

She sighed.  “That’s fair.”  She turned to regard him through the mirrors.  “I’m…I’m an atheist, like you, Jake.  But…there’s an aspect of the Salamanders…really, the entire Nocturnean world…that’s deeply spiritual.  Not in the sense of gods and thinking forces of nature, or any rot like that, but the idea that the lives we live are meaningful.  To each other, to ourselves, and to Nocturne as a world.”

He didn’t say a word.  He just listened.  “Jake…I’m not springing a religion on you.  I’m not religious.  But meditation and contemplation of the universe is a part of life for Nocturneans who live long enough to do them.  Salamanders spend…well, days sometimes, just sitting in the saunas in the Sanctuary Castles and meditating.”  She crossed her hands in her lap.  “That’s what I was doing.  I’m not looking for God out there, I know he doesn’t exist.  I’m just thinking about…well, everything.”

Jake glanced out the window too.  “Oh.”

“The Promethean Creed says that life is a circle.  Birth, death, accomplishment or failure, learning.  All in a circle, that ends in the lava that fuels our world, under the watching eyes of the beasts that ruled our world long ago.  If that sounds like religion…”  She hesitated.  “It used to be, I guess.  But…for me, it’s more a frame of reference.  You see?”

“No,” Jake admitted.

“It’s…look out there.  There’s a universe out there.  There are worlds, and monsters, and beautiful people, and beautiful monsters.  Life and death and discovery and ignorance, and hatred and love.”  She rose to her feet and slowly walked up to the panes of glass.  “It’s humbling, isn’t it?”

“It does feel that way,” Jake said from the bench.

“Yeah.  It makes you feel small.  Overawed, right?” she pressed.

“Yes.”

“For me…I don’t just see swirling orbs of hydrogen and photon beams and energy cascades and a Warp rift.”  She turned back to him, bathing him in her light.  Her clothes were a dark grey that day; with her unbound black hair and skin, she nearly vanished against the skyline.

Her brilliant eyes burned in the darkness of her silhouette.  Jake stared at the two little red ovals for a moment in silence.  “What do you see?” he asked quietly.

“I see…I see beginnings and endings.  When I look down there…I see people living the Circle of Fire.  They don’t call it that, of course, but it’s there.  Birth.  Struggle.  Accomplishment or ignominy.  Death or apotheosis into Astartes, then death in the far future.  The worlds out there…”

She cupped her hand and lifted it, until from his seat, it looked like she was cradling Fenris’ moon in the palm of her hand.  “They’re the same, Jake.  There may not be drakes and ske-run on those worlds, but they’re the same.  Worlds full of life, worlds all but dead…humans and xenos.”  She lowered her hand.  “I see…I see a beautiful, frightening wheel of life and death, fire and glory, darkness and loss.  Not visible, but it’s there.”

Venus slowly walked up to him, blotting out the darkness until all he could see was a halo of stars around her dark outline, and two little suns burning in her face.  He stared up at her, something momentous building inside him.  He had no idea what it was.

“When I lay in bed at home, I watch my homeworld spin over my head.  Dad and even Mom would tell me stories, of the Nocturnean people, of their beliefs, and the things they had to teach us and others.  We learn, Jake, we learn fast.  We take the most ancient and powerful technologies of the Mechanicus and we turn them against our world, or in harmony with it, and we build homes.”

She slowly knelt, until her eyes were level with his.  The lights in the room were off, all he could see was the light of Fenris’ moon behind her, and the endless, swirling pools of red in her eyes.  “Jake…I think machine spirits are as real as the next girl who builds machines for fun.  That is, I don’t think they’re real.  And who knows.  Maybe all the spirituality in the world is nothing more than our instincts.”

Venus stared into his eyes, as if she was trying to speak to his soul directly.  “Maybe…all the spirituality in the entire universe is nothing more than people anthropomorphizing something to make it easier to understand.  Maybe the Circle of Fire itself is nothing but pretty words to comfort mothers who outlive their children.  But…Jacob…my love, when I look out at those stars…those worlds…those people…I see the Circle turning.  I see the wheel aflame and spinning, driving time and the world forward.”

She sat next to him again, watching his eyes as he sat in silence.  “I’m sure to someone who doesn’t think spirits are real…in the literal definition, anyway…that sounded like hogwash.  But I look out at those worlds, and I feel my heart beat faster.  I feel like I’m…back in the Hall of Deathfire.  I can hear the fires of the world burn beneath my feet.  I whisper thanks to the metal as I shape it, even if I know it’s an inert mass of gold that can’t love me back,” she said, finally cracking a grin.

“I want to think that maybe, just perhaps…the world can be seen through a secular lens and still be spiritual, to some tiny extent.  Maybe we anthropomorphize life, death, and the stars because we want to, not just because we’re driven to by instincts we don’t need any more.  It helps us feel a little less humble…but not un-humbled.  It makes you feel a little less small…but not that big.  It lets you feel awe…without being overwhelmed.”

Jake sat in silence as he looked back at her, meeting her eyes as best he could from inches away.  Finally, she slid the glasses back on, and looked back out to the stars.  “That’s what I see, Jake.  I see a galaxy that…for all my Family’s glory…has been burning and spinning for a very, very long time.  When the human race is ash, it’ll be burning still, turning still.  I’m here…I’m looking out there…because I’m okay with that.”

Jake didn’t answer right away.  The two teens stared out the window into the depths of time and space for a while.

“We’re…insignificant, Venus.  I know what you mean…when you say that we’re trying to put a face on the faceless.”  Jake slid his hand over hers again, and this time she didn’t flinch.  He sat in the quiet a moment longer, letting the reassuring heat of her flesh bleed into his cold skin.  “I feel the same way about you.”

Venus turned to him in silent question.

“When we met…started dating, you scared me a bit.  Not the eyes and skin, at least not primarily, but what you meant.  You were something vast.  Something amazing, and a little frightening.  A fraction of the Emperor’s power.  When I went to that party with you, I was putting a human face on the side of the Emperor’s family most people never see.”

He coughed.  “Now…obviously, I don’t think of your family as spirits, or anything.  But to stand in the same room as the Emperor for the first time…that was humbling.  Then I saw him eating nachos and wishing your cousin a happy birthday.”

Venus chuckled under her breath.  He continued, a smile appearing on his own face.  “If your entire lifestyle tells you that life can be seen as a circle…then so be it.  You’re a brilliant girl, and I’ve known about the Astartes’ spiritual side for a long time.  You have Chaplains when they’re outlawed for the rest of the galaxy, after all.  You’ve never tried to hide it.”

Jake slid his hands around hers.  “So…yeah.  I don’t see a circle of fire out there.  Literal or figurative.”  He paused.  “Okay, the sun, I’ll grant you,” he corrected.  Her shoulders shook in silent mirth.  “But I don’t see what you see.  That’s okay.  Right?  I see an empty space, populated occasionally by orbs of hydrogen and helium and lithium undergoing pressure-derived self-sustaining fusion reactions.”

“I see that.”  She glanced out the window again.  “I would be downright hypocritical to say I don’t.  I just see a little more, too.”

“That’s all right with me.  Circles of fire and Promethean Ways…I don’t know them.  I’m not really wired to see the things we don’t understand as mystical, even in a completely non-theistic way.  I can spend the rest of my life wondering about it without a spiritual filter over it, even do it with you.  But if it comforts you…what right do I have to complain?” he asked.  He pointed out at the stars.  “That’s our Imperium out there, and people live and die out there every day.”

The two of them sat in the depthless quiet of space for a few minutes more.  Venus slowly slid closer to him on the bench.  At last she rested her hands in his lap and lay her head down on the impromptu pillow.  She kicked her sandals off and curled up on the seat, pushing her glasses up her nose until the only light in the room came from the sky outside.

Jake draped one arm over the back of the seat, gently running the other through her silky hair.  They rested together, watching the stars burn.

“Did you mean it when you said you’d spend the rest of your life with me?” Venus asked quietly, nearly an hour later.

Jake smiled down at her.  “I’d…”  He trailed off.  “Yes.”

“…What were you starting to say?”

“Venus…baby, I’d have proposed by now if we weren’t legally too young on Terra,” he admitted quietly.  “I’m looking forward to Kouthry like nothing else I’ve ever felt.”

Venus shifted a bit.  “Oh.”  Jake felt a tiny wet spot appear on his leg below her eyes, but didn’t feel the need to dry it.  One was appearing on his cheek, too.