The Valkyries were setting up another camp when she returned.

It was another night as usual, and they had their lookouts on alert for any possible assassins. With the Horde bolstering their numbers, the coming of the newest Accession was already making waves within the Lore.

It would be the first time the Valkyries would take to the field as a force all their own. Phenїx had already worked out an alliance with the furies, and their female brethren had been quick to accept.

Phenїx made her way past Hypolita with a nod. One of the original Hundred that had been raised by Wóden and Freya directly, Hypolita was as fierce as a hurricane. She rarely ever discussed why she had joined them here away from heaven.

Now, Phenїx knew. Hypolita was lonely. Just as she was.

It wasn't difficult to find her other sisters. The flaming wings on their backs were easy enough to discern. While they could choose to keep them folded and expunged, Furie and Cara enjoyed showing them off when around the camp.

Few could gaze upon the wings of a fury without knowing doom was coming to them. Carafina noticed Phenїx and gave her sister a nudge, pointing.

Furie turned to her. "Nїx?"

"Furie, come. There is a matter I must discuss with you in private."

Her younger sister didn't bother arguing. As Queen of the Valkyries, Phenїx's summons were never challenged.

But when they reached the outskirts of the camp, Phenїx's next phrase left Furie dumbfounded.

"What!?" she shouted.

"I am hereby ceding my authority as Queen to you, Furie Fair Wings."

Her sister blinked and then seemed to shake herself, as if she were dreaming. "Sister, are you ill!? Why would you do this?"

Phenїx shook her tresses gently. "No, sister. I will be going on a vacation."

Furie quirked her head, "What is this?"

"Tis a mortal matter. However, it will become a rather regular pastime for us, too," she smiled. "You may liken it to a sabbatical, of a sort."

"Sabbatical?" Furie asked.

She considered what Phenïx had told her of this word, and its meaning. Of all her many sisters, Phenїx shared perhaps the most with Furie. Where Nїx kept her focus in the guidance and soothsaying in plans of love and war in immortals, Furie was always curious of the mortals and their plans, their futures.

Furie lacked the gift of foresight, but with Nїx's knowledge, she could employ her wisdom and intelligence to enact plans of combat and contingencies. In that way, Furie could help organize the Valkyries against evil Loreans attempting to subjugate too many of the mortals.

There was that, and Furie also admired the mortals, somewhat. Even if she found them primitive, their constant striving spurred admiration within her.

Furie mentioned, "Sister, you spoke of these before, they are to come in the future. They are tied to mortals who follow a prophet of some sort? One named Yeshua. A messiah sacrificed on a cross?"

Nїx's gaze caught a fated path tied to these mortals named Christians. Her heart stuttered. Villages were burning, mortal females and children were screaming, crying.

Men fighting with banners pronouncing new gods, deities she herself knew nothing about. Worse still, Wóden's followers were dying. Swords and strange armor clashed. Entire cities filled with wonders were crashing apart.

She shuddered. Furie dared compare her to these? Her emotional thunder rumbled a warning.

"Do not liken me to those barbarians, sister," she hissed angrily. "Not if you value your undergarments to be left unsoiled by dragon dung."

Furie shouted, "Phenїx!" Her sister punched hard at her.

Nїx ducked by instinct alone. She let her fangs show. "You will take it back, Furie! Or the pretty blue undergarment goes first!"

Furie gasped. Her lightning cracked. "You would dare!?"

Her sister barreled into her. Phenїx twisted and rolled in the wild grass, avoiding the jabbing blows and twisted haymakers her sister flung at her. Furie loved those undergarments. They were rare silk.

Peering ahead a moment, Phenїx smiled. Oh, but Furie would love to see the future...

The mortal seamstresses and tailors of Gaia would certainly have their work cut out for them. But such wickedly delicious imaginations!

She let her tongue run along her fang in delight. For a moment, her thoughts tumbled to her mate. If she could change the fates, she would have much to enjoy in that time with him.

Her sister slashed another blow at her. Phenїx flipped her in a technique that would come to be called judo. She hissed, giggling, "Now, the fate of your undergarment grows precarious at best, sister!"

"Phenїx, no, please!" Furie sounded desperate from where she lay on the ground.

Whenever Nїx invoked fate, it was no longer a game, but almost a surety.

Phenїx lofted her brows. Then she remembered her sister could not see under the cowl. She tilted her head, "What is it to be after the blue one, beloved Furie? Which do you choose for the dungheap? Perhaps the red one?"

Furie held up both her hands in supplication, "I take it back, Nїx! I misspoke! Please spare them, you know they cost a fortune!"

"Haaaa, very well." Nїx began flinging dirt and grass off her cloak. She hadn't truly meant it... or perhaps she did. Hmm.

"But, Nїx, why do you hate these future mortals so much? They are scarcely an issue."

"They will become an issue."

"What issue?"

Furie's body straightened with a snap. Her tone had turned from fearful curiosity to one of impending doom. Thunder sounded.

Nїx chastised herself, Idiot, Nїxie, do not tell her!

Furie and her sister Cara were righteous wrath incarnate. Their blood of the Erinyes, also known as the Furiae, made them so. If Furie learned that Mother and Father's followers were to go through devastation and such lean times ahead, she and Cara would stop at nothing to halt the fates.

An image of mortal bounty hunters overpowering her sisters flashed through her mind. The next instant, both were in a firepit after being turned over to the Horde vampires. These erstwhile humans wished for a chance at immortality. They would kill both her sisters for it.

Nїx cut the vision off with a small hiss. Never!

"No, no issue, my sister, I misread the fates." She reached over and patted Furie on the shoulder. "Tis not our concern. Still, best that you watch your undergarments carefully." She whispered conspiratorially, "Especially the red one, since you desire that Lykae so."

"Low blow, Nїx!"

Furie shrieked her frustration. Then she paused, holding a hand over her mouth and giggling, "And can you tell me you wouldn't want that godsblessed wolf on you, too?"

She shook her head, chuckling when she caught a glimpse, "Ohhh, sister, I will refrain from telling you what comes of that night and the week to follow."

Furie pouted. "Oooo... Dragon dung indeed..."

Nїx suddenly walked up, hugging and squeezing Furie to her mightily. "Here's a hint-hint. Wear a red cape to catch his attention. They shall make a story of you later. And they shall call you Little Red Riding Hood."

Furie giggled fiercely, clapping her hands and bouncing like she was a youth again. "Yay!"

They loved being able to play little tricks like this into the realms. Just innocent little tales that might later twist another way. Nїx kissed her sister, "You are my sister. I love you."

Furie squeezed her back, her face baffled. Real concern sparked to life within her. "And I love you, sister. But be truthful with me! Where are you going? What is wrong? You're shaking. How can we find you if you are on this..." She licked her lips and formulated the word slowly. "Vay-cay-shun?"

Nїx patted her shoulder. Furie was swift to comprehend new languages, even more than many of the rest.

"Very good, Furie. Tis called Anglish, later English. Though it shall not arrive for many more centuries to come. And beloved sister, have you forgotten who I am? I am the Ever-Knowing. Should you need me, I will be there."

Phenїx looked down a moment, brushing more of the dirt off her amazing backside and legs. Then she lifted off the cowl. When she looked up, Furie glanced at her and did a doubletake, witnessing Nїx's eyes opened.

"Nїx! Your eyes!"

Nїx had already begun meandering through the fates' paths ahead. The first steps to be taken were where and when? Then she saw a clear path and began following it. The Well of Souls. A catalyst point. A demon named Rydstrom. And a Sorceri. Not yet born. A shame. It would take time to ascertain where these two mighty ones were, how to arrange the fates...

"Phenїx?!"

Her eyes did not matter anymore. "Worry not, Furie. I am fine."

Distantly, Nїx could hear her sister's tone turn insistent, imploring. "You know what Mother said of this! Please, sister?!"

She inhaled slowly, taking in the forest scent. Juniper floated through her nostrils. Twas a refreshing odor over what had been in her mind the last few hours.

"I do, Furie. But Mother also knew then what I know now. A new era is soon to arrive. And we are to be the vanguard of it."

Her sister came close, staring in her eyes. What she saw there wasn't the sister she'd known for over four centuries.

"When?" she pressed.

Nїx's eyes drifted further off in the distance. There. Another catalyst point, far away. A Lykae chained in a dungeon, unable to fully regenerate. A female vampire... a halfling babe!

She gasped. They and the Lykae were to have relations with those bloodsuckers? Her ears twitched a moment while she considered it. Twould be... humorous, she thought with a vacant smile.

"Nїx?! Please! Snap out of it, my sister."

The images of the fates flashed over her sight. Nїx tensed for only a moment, inhaling hard. Her smile never left her lips. "It will not happen."

"What will not happen? Sister? When is this new era to arrive?"

"Not soon enough, Furie," Nїx whispered. "Never soon enough."

She shoved the thricedamned and wretched images and scents back. Then she continued down the paths of the fates, her feet walking forward into the woods of their own volition.