Wolfsted, Sodull, and Skalfi questioned Vandri and Blader about their meeting with the High King. Blader only said that everything was classified right now and he couldn't speak about it. Vandri just said that she was asked about Munin. "What about Munin?" Wolfsted pressed.

Vandri was quiet for a moment. "About why I chose to kill him. Instead of assuming Skalfi was at fault."

Skalfi narrowed her eyes. "What?"

"He wanted to know why I chose the allegiances I did," Vandri explained. "Why I chose to trust Skalfi over Munin."

"What did you say?" Sodull asked.

"I told him what my mother had told me, once. She said that if you are ever in a situation like that, not knowing who to trust but you need to make a decision quickly, you trust the person who's watching your back and kill the other one. That way, even if you're not right, they now owe you their life and perhaps they'll remember that later if push ever comes to shove." Vandri shrugged. "She used to say that although someone may be a part of a horrible plot or army that thinks all the wrong things are right, in the end, you mostly deal with individuals, not the army itself. When dealing with individuals, there's lots of wiggle room for perspectives to change."

"No matter how you look at it, I'm just glad you picked me over him," Skalfi said seriously.

[----]

Within a couple of days, the announcement went out that the einherjar within the hospital were scheduled for release. Formal uniforms were issued to everyone and the Valkyries were seen more frequently in the reception area, speaking with their recruits and making sure everyone understood what was going on. The day before the release, which would coincide with their official welcome into the einherjar, the patients were split into their original units and the drill masters arrived to speak with them.

Blader stood in a new plain grey tunic and trousers, matching everyone else in the hospital. The patient tunics had been done away with. Master Sigmund Utan walked through the door into Unit 232's designated room. He stood in the doorway for a long moment, just looking at them, and then he spoke.

"I heard I trained quite a few courageous soldiers this time around."

Wolfsted smirked.

Utan fell silent again. Blader exchanged a quick glance with Sodull next to him and saw the brief pain in his eyes. Erik had had courage, but he wasn't there with them today.

"We lost some great ones," Utan eventually continued, in a lower voice. "This year was hard, more difficult than it's ever been before. If you made it, you've proven yourself as an exceptional einherjar and I am proud to have worked with each and every single one of you." He cleared his throat. "Tomorrow, on Soldagr, we celebrate you, the ones who survived, but we will always remember the ones we lost in the Reenactment, for some of them were damn good soldiers, too. Just unfortunate enough to enlist in the wrong year, is all.

"You will have your revenge, however. Wars are coming at us and we will need every able-bodied warrior we got on the field holding back the advance. On Manidagr you shall all depart home on a week's leave, accompanied by your Valkyries. Afterward you shall report back to Vigrid to go through some more drills, just to ensure everyone's back on their toes, and then you'll be shipped out to your assigned destinations. Your weapons will be returned before you ship out. Everyone got that?"

"Yes, sir!" resounded throughout the room.

Utan nodded. "You are dismissed then. I'll see you tomorrow." As the recruits broke for the door, Blader trailed after Sodull and so he caught what Utan said to his friend. "Keep asking questions, Trautt. Perhaps next time someone will listen harder."

Sodull only nodded and continued out.

[----]

The following day, Blader dressed in his formal uniform, rubbing his tags between his fingers as he finished. He would receive his skera tag today, the one marking his official acceptance as a full-fledged einherjar. As he stared at the wall, feeling the runes on the cool metal beneath his fingers, he thought of how strange this all was, how strange everything felt. He was einherjar, actually einherjar, but all he felt was a pit in his stomach.

At least he got to go home and see his family again. That was also strange, thinking on how that might be the last trip he took home. Anything he did from here on out could be the last thing he did.

Blader shook his head, trying to dispel the cloud of gloom, and adjusted his cap on his head. Sjon glanced over at him from by the window, where he was staring out into the garden. "I can't wait to leave," his roommate confessed. "I feel like I've been stuck in this quiet hellhole for far too long."

Blader nodded, understanding the feeling. As far as he knew, he and Vandri had been the only einherjar to leave the hospital and they had gotten many questions after their return, from others outside their friend group. Where are we? Did anyone say anything? Are we already at war? What's going on?

Vandri and Blader had answered to the best of their ability, which meant saying very little.

"Skera Thrym?"

Blader and Sjon both turned toward the healing apprentice standing in their doorway, looking at Blader. "Yes?" he answered.

"You need to come with me. Now."

Glancing back at Sjon, Blader just shrugged and followed the apprentice out the door, down the corridors, and to the receptionist's desk. Vandri was already there, and within moments Wolfsted, Sodull, and Skalfi all appeared as well.

"What's going on?" Skalfi asked. Vandri and Blader glanced at each other, puzzled, but didn't say anything.

"Your Valkyries are waiting," the receptionist said, gesturing for them to step through the glass doors into the reception area. With a dubious glance at each other, the five did so, the four Valkyries standing near the exit.

Loqé and Deila stood beside Vandri's older Valkyrie and another one Blader didn't know. Hard eyes, thin mouth, and ramrod straight spine, Wolfsted's Valkyrie looked like she was quite strict and didn't take nonsense from anyone. Her thick hair had been braided into a stiff braid that hung down her back like a stick, unlike Loqé's which bent and moved as she did.

"You five have been summoned to meet with the High King before the welcoming commences," Vandri's Valkyrie said, her voice soft. "Come, let us go."

Why does the High King want to meet with us again?

Blader, Sodull, Vandri, Skalfi, and Wolfsted followed the four Valkyries out of the hospital and through the streets of Asgard, heading for the palace. Blader felt better with all of his friends at his side, even with the Aesir turning to watch them curiously as they went by.

When they reached the palace, Deila spoke to the rekkr servant who received them and he immediately gestured for all five of the einherjar to follow him. Vandri and Blader glanced at each other in confusion. "This isn't what happened last time," Vandri murmured.

"No?" Wolfsted asked. "Why did he call us here?"

"I suppose we'll find out," Skalfi muttered.

The einherjar were ushered into the same receiving room as before, the rekkr leaving them to their meeting. Baldor stood in front of his throne, hands clasped behind his back, head tilted slightly.

"So you're the five who saved us all," he said simply.

"I suppose so," Wolfsted replied with a nod.

"I must thank you," Baldor said. "Because of your actions, the Reenactment wasn't an utter disaster as our enemy wished it to be."

"What did I do?" Skalfi asked of Blader in an undertone. "Besides nearly die?"

"I summoned you here to inform you that your friend, Erik Kjoll, was never meant to die."

"I know that," Sodull said, an edge to his voice.

Baldor's face grew sad. "I apologize greatly for his death. Erik was strong and brave and honorable, everything an einherjar is meant to be. If it wasn't for the hijackers stealing control of the Reenactment away from us, Erik would be alive right now." After a brief pause where the five friends looked down, the High King continued. "You see, in the Reenactment, you are hard-pressed to stay alive. But, if you demonstrate the proper honor, such as Erik Kjoll did, your life is spared from whatever danger you were facing. We do not tell recruits this, before or after the event, but it is true. Erik should never have been bit. He should never have died from that serpent's venom. He should have lived."

Tears began to trickle down Sodull's face and he made no effort to erase them. Blader felt prickling in the corners of his eyes and blinked, seeing Vandri swipe at the tears running down her face from beside Wolfsted. Skalfi sniffed but her eyes seemed dry, her expression sorrowful, and Wolfsted looked down.

"In honor of his bravery," Baldor continued. "Erik Kjoll is being posthumously raised to the rank of skera. He shall receive his skera tag, and his family will receive his einherjar benefits. He shall not be forgotten, and neither shall the other einherjar who would have lived, had not the Reenactment been hijacked." He sighed. "We've been going over them on a case by case basis, but Erik stood out as one extraordinary einherjar. I regret not being able to have him serve in my army." The High King looked to Skalfi and Sodull. "Since you, Skera Vekja and Skera Trautt, will be returning to Drottning on your week's leave, you shall escort Skera Kjoll's body back to his family, where he will be honored with an einherjar funeral."

Skalfi and Sodull both nodded.

"Thank you," Sodull said. "Erik...he would have liked this."

Baldor looked at Sodull sorrowfully. "I am sorry it had to come to this. Erik Kjoll did not deserve to die."

[----]

When Blader, Wolfsted, Sodull, Skalfi, and Vandri left the High King's receiving room and walked back to their Valkyries, everyone was silent, wiping away the tears on their faces before they reached the foyer. Even so, the Valkyries all gave them curious glances but they didn't ask any questions as they walked back to the hospital.

All the units were assembling inside, the Valkyries gathered on the steps, and Deila volunteered to make sure the einherjar reached Unit 232. Loqé gave Blader a supportive smile as she turned to join her sisters and Blader continued up the steps into the hospital reception room.

The units were all much smaller than they had been at the beginning of the Reenactment. Blader hadn't known how many recruits had gone into the trials, but now, on seeing those who had survived, he was surprised at how few had made it out. So many had died and the units seemed pathetic compared to the grand show the day before the Reenactment.

Master Utan stood before Unit 232 and Blader, Skalfi, Sodull, Vandri, and Wolfsted all got into line. Out of the forty-eight recruits who had entered the Reenactment, only nineteen now stood in the unit, including Blader and his friends. The other units had suffered similar reductions and the scars and stitches that were visible pointed to the horrible events in the Reenactment.

Blader saw the scar in Sodull's hairline, the cut along the back of Vandri's left hand, the scar on Wolfsted's cheek, and although his scars and Skalfi's were hidden by their uniforms, they were still there. Everyone bore a mark from the Reenactment on their person somewhere, and would carry it forever.

Modi and Magni, the two Thorsons, appeared on the steps of the hospital, striding past the Valkyries and up to the doors. They opened before the gods and the brothers stepped inside, surveying the einherjar with grave eyes.

"Today you are einherjar," Magni said, his voice booming across the space. "Today you accept the commitment to defend the Nine Worlds of the Reborn Cosmos against its enemies. Today you are welcomed into our ranks." He bowed his head. "And we mourn for our fallen, who should be standing with us now."

Erik, Blader thought. Maybe Brunna, too. Sigurd Nibel.

But there were many more, whose names he didn't know or couldn't call to mind at that moment.

Magni and Modi turned, striding out the doors, and the units began after them. Blader's was the second to follow the gods out of the hospital into the light, the Valkyries watching solemnly as the einherjar paraded past them.

So many, dead and gone.

The units marched down the streets of Asgard, past the watching Aesir, but unlike their first march down these streets, Blader didn't find awe in the structures of the city of the gods. He simply marched, remembering that he got to go home tomorrow.

I'll be home on Tyrsdagr.

The thought of seeing his parents, Ivan, Hilda, and Freyja made Blader smile slightly, enough to lift his face to the sun and enjoy the warmness of its rays. Today is a new day. The best way to remember those who died is to serve well, make them proud.

I can make Grandfather proud, too.

The units took the path through the gardens of the High King's palace, Lifdagar Hall, like they had before, the flowers bringing Freyja to mind, and Blader recalled the promise he had made her, to see the wildflowers in the meadow. Now I can do so. But then he saw a wilted flower, its petals weary, its stalk lowering its head toward the ground, and bit his lip.

Too many died.

Whether he meant soldiers or flowers, he didn't know. The sentiment applied to both, as he remembered the fire in the peaceful meadow and Ragnarok.

The units entered the large hall and Master Utan directed them toward the front of the chamber, halting before the dais. All the other units assembled likewise, with the Valkyries stretched across behind all the einherjar.

Baldor and Nanna stood on the dais, Magni and Modi genuflecting and then ascending to join them. Behind them stood Hod, Vali, Vidar, and Honir, all looked gravely at the einherjar before them.

"You have all demonstrated the greatest honor," Baldor began. "By surviving the Reenactment, you have shown your ability to be great einherjar. As you all know, this year's Reenactment was hijacked, by our enemies, to destroy this class of einherjar recruits. As a result, many died who should not have. No amount of words can compensate for that unnecessary loss of life. But they shall be honored, and remembered forever. We will all hold their memories in our hearts, and they shall live like the legends do.

"Today you all will receive your skera tags. You are officially einherjar, and will join us in the fight against these enemies, to make them pay for their bloodshed. I cannot speak much of them to you now, but once you return from your leave, matters will be explained to you, and we will begin to hunt them down.

"Welcome to the einherjar. Welcome. You are sorely needed."

"Einherjar!" Modi exclaimed, lifting Mjolnir into the air. "Your Valkyries will give you your skera tags now!"

The first unit was called to receive their tags, their Valkyries stepping forward, taking the chain with their probation and Ragnarok tags and slipping the skera tag on, congratulating their former recruits as they placed the chains back over their heads.

When Unit 232 was called forward, Blader stepped toward Loqé, who was grinning broadly as she took his chain from him, his tags clinking together and making a soft noise in the loud chamber. Unclasping the end, the Valkyrie took his skera tag from her belt and held it up for him to see. "Like it?" she asked.

Blader grinned at her, her enthusiasm infectious. He didn't think he'd ever seen Loqé this excited over something before. I'm her first recruit, he remembered. As well as Njordesden's first recruit since Thor's Bridge. And I made it. Carefully, he took the tag from her and ran his thumb over the metal. The skera rune stared out prominently at him, his name and number right above it. B. Thrym. 97118.

I'm real einherjar.

Loqé took the tag back and slipped it onto Blader's chain. Still with a grin on her lips, she placed it around his neck and secured the clasp. "Congratulations, skera!" she told him.

"Thank you, Loqé," Blader said. "Thank you for all of your help."

"I'm so proud of you," Loqé told him.

As Blader stepped away from Loqé, turning to rejoin his unit, he saw Sodull standing with Deila, the Valkyrie saying something to him in a low tone. The sparkle of a tear was in Sodull's eye as he nodded, gaze downcast.

The rest of the units received their skera tags, stepping back into line when they were finished. Blader glanced at Wolfsted and Skalfi to his right, then Sodull and Vandri to his left and felt grateful for their presence there. The Reenactment could have been worse to him; he could have lost all of his friends, or his own life, and yet here he was, alive and mostly well with his friends in the same boat.

I am grateful for my life and for theirs.

And I will serve in the einherjar in such a way as to make Erik and Brunna and all the others proud.

"Einherjar!" Magni bellowed. "Stand strong like the warriors you are against the darkness! Retain your honor, and always remember what you fight for!"

A cheer rose from the einherjar's ranks at the god's words, and he grinned proudly down at them. "Now, we fight like warriors, but we also feast like warriors! Fall to your tables and enjoy the food! This is, after all, your celebration!"

The "Move outs!" yelled by the drill masters weren't needed to spur the movement of the skera to their designated tables, taking their seats on the benches and staring down at the plates of food. Thick pieces of venison cooked with potatoes and carrots, warm thick bread soaked with butter and gravy, and bright yellow bits of corn adorned the plates, the cups of carbonated mead sitting above them.

"Now this is a feast," Wolfsted said with a grin. "Don't worry, Vandri, I won't ruin it by comparing the mead to blood."

"Thank you," Vandri sighed with an exaggerated eye roll.

"But aren't we grateful the mead isn't made of saliva?"

"Wolfsted!" Vandri, Sodull, Skalfi, and Blader all exclaimed, to which he grinned sheepishly.

"All right, all right, I will keep my mouth shut."

"Good," Sodull declared. "That way I get your food."

Wolfsted picked up his knife defensively. "You try that and I will show you how dangerous kitchen utensils can be." When Sodull raised an eyebrow, he added, "Don't forget, I'm Aldrian. I can do quite a lot with a little tiny utensil." He cocked his head in what would be a threatening manner if he hadn't been grinning, shaking the knife.

The hall was noisy as everyone ate and chattered, the unease and tension from the days in the hospital seeming to fall away. "Erik wouldn't want us to mourn," Sodull said at one point. "He'd want us to feast and be happy, as long as we remembered to toast him. Otherwise he'd probably haunt us or something."

So the five recruits lifted their goblets and held them up, yelling, "To Erik!" before taking big sips. Wolfsted actually drained his glass.

When the meal was finished, the skera all shifted the tables back against the walls and the music started up, filling the hall with jaunty, vibrant sounds. Wolfsted grabbed Vandri's hands and whisked her out onto the dance floor with the other einherjar, and Blader turned to glance at Skalfi.

"Would you like to dance?" he asked her.

Skalfi grinned at him. "Yes, I would. I did miss it last time," she added.

"Your father is proud of you," Blader told her, remembering their conversation before the Reenactment began. "And I know your mother and Dom are, as well."

Skalfi's eyes took on a distant look. "Yes, I guess they are." Her smile broadened. "I'm einherjar now, and I can restore my father's legacy."

"You are your father's legacy," Blader said with a smile, extending his hand to her. Skalfi took it and they joined the crowd in the center of the hall.

With his arm loosely around Skalfi's waist, his other hand clasping hers lightly, they swung across the dance floor, trying to avoid the worst jostling by the ground. There were spins and jumps and all manner of footwork used to modify the basic deck dance, with much swaying and weaving to mimic the motion of a ship beneath their feet. The hall rang with the sounds of the music and boots stomping on the wooden floorboards, mingling with the shouts of laughter from the dancers.

Partners changed hands occasionally, in time to the music, and Blader ended up dancing with Vandri at one point while Sodull and Skalfi danced. Wolfsted, left on his own, moved to the music in the middle of the crowd, swaying and rocking as he stepped around in circles, singing some Aldrian song under his breath.

Then the music changed tune, becoming a traditional deck dance song. Blader, dancing with Skalfi once more, listened for the commands as the einherjar all mimicked the motions of dancing on board a gently rocking ship.

"Swing around the mast, do ye now. Scare away the serpents with your sound! Now gather your girl in your arms, coax out a kiss with all your charms. If she won't dare to try and kiss ye, swing her out over the sea. Thus persuaded by your strong safety, bring her in, get your kiss from she."

The dancers whirled around in circles around the imaginary masts, their boots loud on the wood, the stomping exaggerated to chase away the dangers in the sea. Blader gathered Skalfi to him in his left arm as they finished the circle, his right hand clutching hers tightly, and then he propelled her away from him, as if he was swinging her out over the deck railing of a ship, her head flying over what would be the ocean below.

Skalfi swung out low, her body bending easily with the motion. Vandri, on the other hand, had trouble getting the swing right and ended up almost slipping; Wolfsted had to catch her before she fell. "Thanks," she said breathlessly. "I don't know how you're supposed to do that."

Skalfi finished the swing and ended up in Blader's arms again as he pulled her up, she managing the slight hop that finished off the move. Blader held her to him, her boots off the ground slightly, and she smiled down at him before leaning in and kissing him on the cheek, really quickly. When she pulled back, her lips teasing into a sheepish smile, she told him, "That's a thank you, for saving my life," she whispered.

Blader met her eyes, a soft smile playing about his mouth. "Anytime, Skalfi," he returned.

"You know, Skalfi, the whole 'kiss' in the song is not meant to be taken literally," Sodull said as Blader released her from his arms, the traditional dance over. The musicians were regrouping and the couples around them were talking about the various levels of expertise seen on the floor. Skalfi's swing had been the best anyone had seen.

"I knew I was the second shield," Wolfsted said smugly. "I told you, back in the mountains, and you denied it."

"It wasn't meant to be part of the dance," Skalfi said, giving Wolfsted a roll of her eyes. "It was just inspired by it." Then the music began again and Blader was left to ponder her words as he was pulled into dancing with her again.

From what he remembered about the traditional deck dance commands, they were supposed to illustrate a story. Swinging your partner, the follow, out over the sea, keeping a grip on her hand, was supposed to demonstrate the strength of the lead, keeping his girl from danger no matter how close she came to it, leading to the suggested kiss at the end of the swing. Those who had ended up falling into the sea due to a bad grasp – or, in Vandri's case, just not being used to it – had been jokingly showered with claims of bad luck, but mostly it just meant they got wet and found another partner for the next dance.

Is that what Skalfi was referring to? The kiss at the end of the danger? We made it through the Reenactment and so I get a kiss for saving her?

Then Blader gave up pondering it to throw himself wholeheartedly into the dance again.

The last dance of the evening was the ember step, a slow, close form of the deck dance. Sodull was dancing with Vandri again, Wolfsted dancing with another skera Blader didn't know. Blader encircled Skalfi's waist with his right arm, his left gripping her hand loosely. Her own right arm was draped over his shoulder and there was little space between them. Blader looked down into her eyes, feeling uncertain, and saw the same uncertainness in her eyes.

"I'm glad you're my partner," he said.

Skalfi nodded. "Just don't hold that kiss against me; I'm still the same old Skalfi that you knew before tonight." There was a bit of tension in her stance, as if she thought she was being judged for giving him that kiss.

The lyrics of the song drifted toward them, seeming soft in the dim lighting of the hall.

And as the sun flees us forever, let us remember this dance.

The one thing we don't have is never, come on, baby, give me a chance.

Keep me close to you, like the heat of the embers.

Get too far from them and you'll freeze like the hunters...do.

"We don't freeze," Blader heard Wolfsted say in an irritated voice. His partner shushed him.

When the music halted, Blader bowed to Skalfi. "Thank you for the dances," he said. He gave her a slight grin, almost unsure how to act. "And...and for the kiss."

Skalfi smiled shyly. "Thank you for dancing with me. I know you missed most of it last time because of me."

Blader shook his head. "I don't regret that."

"And I don't regret kissing you." Then she glanced down, her cheeks flaring with red.

Magni's voice was heard above the noise of the einherjar, calling for them to form up into their units, and Skalfi turned away from Blader to fall into line beside Vandri.

[----]

The skera all marched out of Lifdagar Hall, heading toward Vigrid. As they walked through the gardens, Blader snagged a vibrant light blue flower from one of the bushes they passed, wrapping it up in his handkerchief. For Freyja.

When they reached their old barracks, Master Utan called them into the assembly room, where he handed out assignments. "All of you have been assigned to the First Company, the Thunder Unit. After your leave is up, you shall all return to Vigrid for some additional training before we ship you out to join your unit. Your Valkyries will give you more specific instructions." He nodded to them. "Your weapons are in your rooms, hanging beside your customary bunks. Tomorrow, your Valkyries will come collect you and you will leave with them to head home."

The males and females split, the boys trooping into their room and the girls into theirs. Blader stopped at Bunk 3, smiling at the sight of both his shield and sword hanging on the wall beside Wolfsted's, and then he turned, kneeling down by his half-trunk and tucking the flower underneath his trunk, hoping the weight would help flatten and preserve it until he could bring it home to Freyja.

I'll see them in two days. Only two days.

I'm going home.

/**/

Sorry it's a day late, but there's only one more chapter left to go (which will either be out tomorrow or Thursday, depending on how long it takes)! What did you think? Of the celebration, the traditional dances, of Baldor's elevation of Erik to official einherjar, of Skalfi kissing Blader on the cheek?

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed; please vote and comment!

Skylar Wittenborn