"One may outwit another, but not all the others." 
― François de La Rochefoucauld

– K Á R A –

When sunlight cut through the stables and the horses started whinnying for their oats, we took our leave. Vayleron gold was as good as any. No matter how high a man's morals seemed set they were always set to change with a glinting coin or ten.

Tayah's mind had been distant to me all night. Though she was present, she wasn't all here. I feared another part of her was somewhere in Valhalla trying to come to terms with words a god had filled her mind with. It made me so angry. So damned frustrated that I could do nothing to fix whatever was breaking in her now–but I had to be patient.

John was not as nimble as he often was and relied on Kaden's support to keep to the shadows between weathered houses.

The snow shone bright in the morning light.

Tayah held up a fist ahead and we came to a stop beside her.

"There must be someone in this city more concerned with filling their pocket than hunting intruders in the city." She muttered, watching a guard pass with heavy pikes and brown furs.

"It doesn't help they think we were the ones after the damn kid." Kaden grumbled, hefting his arm under John's shoulder more prominently.

"I'm fine man–set me down–"

"If you were fine you wouldn't be wobbling down the cobbles like a wench after–"

"Enough." Tayah said, devoid of her usual irritation.

I scanned her eyes. But they had already turned back to focus across the street. Where a baker was setting her best loaves behind glass panes in her shop. Only a few patrons had gone in since in these early hours.

"Spare me some gold." She whispered.

I silently placed the entire sack into her waiting palm. I craved to meet her gaze. Sense how much turmoil was beneath the surface but she gave nothing away. She broke from the group and paced across the cobbles with her hood drawn low.

"Should we–"

"No, mortal. Wait." I said calmly, feeling anything but.

Whatever Odin had said to her that night was too damn important to be wasting time getting caught in a foreign city or ending countless more lives at the edge of a blade. I had to trust that she would tell me this in her own time. But I would not wait forever. I would not stand to see her bare it alone–

She reemerged from the baker's with her hands in her pockets and a loaf of bread in her arms conspicuously.

She threw the bread at John who struggled to catch it in time with a glare but also a hungry look. "We have lodging for now." 

John stuffed a chunk into his mouth and groaned.

"It's still warm."

I ignored the men as they tore at the morsels. "Then let's get inside quickly." I stated, levelling her with a knowing look. She finally met my eyes and something flickered in them that was closer to fear than I had ever seen her wear.

I clenched my fist and fought the urge to use the relic on my back to travel to Valhalla myself and demand answers from the god.

"John and Kaden should go first. Please keep to incognito for once." She added in a tired voice.

"Consider it done." Kaden said around a mouthful, tucking the rest of the loaf into his waistband. John gagged and glanced at the remaining bread protruding.

"You can finish that, man."

Kaden shoved him forward and they crossed the road together.

We watched them for a moment from the shadows of the houses. I turned to her then and pinned my hand by her head forcing those silver eyes to meet my own.

"No more distractions. Tell me, immortal." I said in a low voice.

Her eyes flickered between my own and she opened her mouth only to close it again. She sighed and pressed her head back against the stone behind us.

"Why is it so hard, Tayah. Do you not trust me?" I asked, fighting to keep the hurt out of my tone.

"Of course I do!" She blurted loudly. We both glanced down the alley, then returned. "I don't even know what to do with this information. It's too... much."

"I'm not letting this go." I returned calmly.

She stared at me. Then placed her palms carefully on my neck and let them slide down. 

"He told me... I am an... original." She muttered, staring at her hands and not my eyes.

I waited a beat.

"Tayah, this isn't a joke–"

"I'm not joking, immortal." She grit out.

"Do you understand what an original–"

She shoved me back with new found fire burning in her hands suddenly.

"Yes! I gods damned know what an original is, Kára!" She growled, as more power sang in the air between us. A power much more potent. "–I definitely didn't sign up to be Ares reincarnated one either!" She hissed, turning from me and pacing down the dark alley.

I was frozen in place watching the space she had been at. Reincarnated. Reborn. A power manifesting itself again–through her.

"That isn't possible."

"Everything is possible according to Odin!" She snarled, turning to the nearest wall and preparing to throw an immortally fused punch. I stepped between her rapidly and caught her hand before she could alert the entire city.

"Stop."

"I do not need another lecture." She returned, with a lethal look.

"Nor will you get one." I told her calmly, "–but you are about to let every Vargos dweller know we are here. Or is that your intention?" I murmured, watching the fire die in her fist.

The rage inside her calmed. Then it died out like a light. She glanced at our hands. Mine stopping her power–her rage from making final decisions. Her fist loosened in my hand and she linked our fingers before dropping them.

"I'm the essence of a power mad god, Kára. If that god were to return to the physical realm, just how much of me do you think would be left if he willed it?" She asked in an empty voice.

It cracked at my resolve. I pulled her against me and held her head against my shoulder. She didn't shake or break before me. She stood in silence letting the warmth of our bodies and the fur on my shoulders hold her together. He fingers gripped me tightly and she shook her head against me.

"I am Odin's original, Tayah. If he manipulated my actions, do you really think we would still be together?" I asked.

She became still again and considered this.

She truly thought all of her would be lost from this. An old scar from Anselle's hideous actions with a god's relic. But that was not the same. The gods themselves were an entirely different matter. One that could not steal the mind. But the power itself was a heavy thing. Existing as an original was a weight to carry.

"You are stronger. I've never seen any immortal like you–" She began, muffled by my shoulder.

"I'm not invincible. You know that."

She breathed me in deeply. Then drew back to look at me. Her hands went to the back of my neck and her eyes followed the line of my jaw.

"Promise me–" She dragged in another breath, "–promise I won't become that. I won't lose myself to that power. I would sooner die than see your death again."

"Tayah I will never–"

"Please." She pulled my face close and pressed her forehead to mine. "If you see me lost. I would rather it was you–that ended–"

"No." I cut though the air with my own anger burning beneath the surface.

Her expression was desperate as she clung to me. But what she was asking was impossible for me. And it never would be possible.

"I need to know I won't hurt you again." She got out.

"The answer will still be no, Tayah. I told you a long time ago that I could never hurt you. It is as true now as it was then. That will never change."

"If I was used against you–"

"You are acting like you have learned nothing since then. Everything is different, Tayah. Nothing is the same. Your power is greater and so is your control. I watched you fuse a portal and step through it last night like you had done so for a hundred years."

"It means nothing compared to a god!" She laughed humourless.

I shook my head. "The gods have no power on mortals and immortals. You must know this by now. That is their curse. What you see, hear and feel can be shaped but they cannot take your mind." I finished with a heavy breath.

She leaned back into the wall again and stared down the alley. If my words got through to her I didn't know. If any of it was less of an all consuming thing to her I still did not know. 

"We should join the others." She murmured finally.

I caught her elbow before she could walk away. There seemed to be something very close to the edge of breaking. My touch only brought it closer. But this was not something for debate. She and I were inevitable. One could not exist without the other. She knew this yet she still asked me to end it if it came to it. Perhaps I would ask it of her if I ever threatened her life.

"I will always be with you, Tayah. If the gods were to rise from their destruction and appear before us now, I would stand beside you in any outcome."

She turned back and met my eyes. A weak smile touched her lips.

"That's what I'm afraid of, immortal."