Of Gods and Wolves by Amy Sumida

of warmth creep into Odin's face before it was replaced by ice once more.
    “ It's good to see you, Thor,” Odin sighed. “I wish you would visit more often.”
    “ You know why I don't.”
    “ We all have our roles to play,” he looked out at his guests. “And now I have to play mine. If you would excuse me?” He smiled wanly at me again and I nodded. “I have to greet my guests. The Froekn are arriving, perhaps you should play your role too, Rouva. Fenrir will want his Queen at his side.” For a second, the peacock eye twinkled but then it was doused by pain once again.
    “ I'm here with Thor tonight,” I lifted my chin. “But I'll see to my family as well. I know my role too, Odin.”
    The one-eyed god smirked and turned away, descending the steps and melding into the throng.
    “Well, he's a delight,” I took my bag of gifts from Thor. “You wanna come with me to see the Froekn?”
    “ Like I'd let you face the wolves alone?” Thor smiled but his smile was lacking, an imitation of his father's.
    “ Don't carry his pain,” I laid a hand on his lapel and he looked down at me. “It's bad enough that he must bear it. There's no reason for you to join him.”
    “ I would carry it for him if I could,” Thor frowned. “It's funny that you say that. I've always had this strange feeling that it would be mine one day. I think it's part of the reason I don't come around much.”
    “ Heartache isn't catching, and it's not meant to be carried,” I reached up and rubbed at his frown lines. “It's meant to be tossed about like a hot roll until its cooled enough to eat. Then you consume it and use its nourishment to make you stronger. You don't sit with it in your hands, staring at it till it turns moldy and gross.”
    “ A hot roll, eh?” Thor's lips were quirking up. “Are you perhaps getting hungry, darling?”
    “ Oh, holy hand-grenades, yes!” I laughed and knew sweet success when he laughed back.
    “ Maybe we should feed you before we go greet the Froekn,” he looked over his shoulder at the long table the wolves were settling into.
    “ No, I can wait,” I saw Trevor look over at us expectantly. “Besides, there's only appetizers out now.” I reached over and grabbed a stuffed mushroom before heading down the dais.
    I surreptitiously admired the grandeur of the hall as I munched on my snack. It was huge. The hall not the snack. The myths I’d read had described it as being wide enough for eight-hundred warriors to walk through it abreast. I tried to imagine it and I was pretty sure it was possible. Wooden trestle tables ran down the center of the room, three rows to either side before the high table. Open space stretched between the tables and the walls, filled with islands of lush carpets, on which comfortable but apparently ancient seating waited in an assortment of styles.
    Gods milled around, holding cocktails served by the largest, meanest looking waiters I’d ever seen. I took a glass from one warily, eying his missing ear, as we passed through the crowd. The guests wore an interesting mix of varied ethnic dress and modern wear. They were beautiful and fascinating but it was the walls of Valhalla that held the greatest fascination for me.
    They were solid gold, with curving Viking designs carved into them, and hung with gold shields. They glowed intensely in the bright lights, I could even make out a glimmer of the walls to either side in the far distance. God technology, not electricity, lit the hall with no discernible source and made the shields glow even brighter. In fact, it almost looked as if the light came from the gold.
    I wasn't so fascinated by my surroundings that I missed all the attention I was getting though. By the time we reached the Froekn, I was a little irritated by the stares and heated whispers that followed us. Most of these gods were my enemies. They tolerated my presence merely because it was a holy day and I was accompanied by Thor. Otherwise, I got the