"Hilda always had a connection with Atreus even before they truly met," Fraya said, shocked, picking up the arrow.

"Those cannibals messed her up, though; it took her forever to trust us to be in the same room with her alone. We aren't going to tell her about this, right?" Brok asked.

"Why wouldn't we tell her what?" Mimir asked as one of Freyr's friends put him on the table and left.

"Hilda saved Atreus before they ever truly met. He is why Hilda ended up in a den full of cannibals," Fraya informed.

"Well, that complicates their relationship some," Mimir informed.

"She made her choice, and for that, I am grateful. I must return to my son soon. Is there anything else we need to do here?" Kratos informed, changing the subject.

"No, there isn't. We can leave now," Fraya informed as Brok's drinking buddy Lúnda went to them.

"I do have a request before you guys leave. I left something irreplaceable up the river when the Aser came. You wouldn't mind helping me out, would you?" She asked as Fraya sighed weakly.

"What did you leave behind that was irreplaceable?" Kratos asked.

"If you find it, I will whip you some armor pieces for you and your boy. How old is he?" Lúnda asked.

"Sixteen," he answered, slightly disappointed, but at least she still had his dad here.

To her, he was the hottest thing around,d and she was hoping that maybe she could catch his eye since he was single.

"Oh, the same age as Hilda. All the Dwarf boys are like dogs around her; you better be careful around her because she tends to break bones," she warned.

"Lúnda, I told you she warmed up to him rather quickly. He doesn't treat her like shit like those other boys did; he is rather sweet and gives her space," Brok informed.

"Well, then, you better get me that orb so I can make you that armor. It's not every day Hilda gets a nice guy around her, especially because of what she went threw," she said with a hint of sadness.

"What is the orb?" Kratos asked.

"Just bring it back, and you will make me happier than a sunbeam!" She said as they left her alone and started to head out.

"What orb do you suppose we are looking for, brother?" Mimir asked.

"I do not know," he said, knowing it could be anything.

"Fraya, shall we go?" Kratos asked.

"Might as well; I have nothing else better to do at the moment; I know a way to a gateway. Gateway. Kratos, you may not be able to stop Ragnarok, but you are smart enough to know Odin is a threat. The only way we might survive this is by working together. We share a common enemy," she informed.

"Well, you two seem to be getting along after your quest," Mimir butted in.

"I agree," Kratos informed.

"We have a base if you can stand under the same roof as two former enemies," Mimir informed.

"I can; I may still be angry but not at you, neither of you," she explained.

"That's good; this is different from other gateways I have seen," Mimir informed, a little confused by it.

They came across a wall made of stone. There was a small circle he had to put a letter in, but the chisel he had wasn't going to cut it since it wasn't strong enough. It needed a spell, and since he didn't know it, they were stuck there. Maybe it was a good thing they couldn't get the orb; it could be dangerous. Lúnda never told him what it was exactly.

"Here, I will need to put a new spell on it so you can carve the letter, " she informed.

"What letter do I need to put on it?" Kratos asked.

"If I remember correctly, it would be an L, " she informed as she put a spell on it to make it work better.

They opened it up, and they continued on their journey.

"The elves at camp mentioned a camp that opened up like this made by the elves in Alfheim," Mimir informed.

"A trip there sounds like an order," Fraya said with a small smile.

"Atreus, Hilda, and I went there with Mimir and freed a creature trapped underneath the ground. We were going to free the other one, but Hilda was too ill to travel further. I do wish to finish it with them. We can clear a path and head back if that is what you wish to do," Kratos informed.

"You are very fond of the girl, I don't blame you there, but you have to remember she is a part of Odin. Like it or not, she does have some of his qualities that I dislike. Her stubbornness is one of them. She will die protecting Atreus; her unwillingness to put herself first is something I admire but also dislike. He will use it against her as well as all of you," she said as she pushed the boat into the water, and they made a path for the ship to go threw.

"She is stronger than she looks; you are comparing her too much to him. She is a lot kinder than he is, and just because she came from Odin doesn't mean she will be like him. She had different people raising her," Mimir informed.

"Just because she had different people raising her doesn't mean she won't fall for his lies," she explained. Then there was a bit of silence.

"Changing the subject, you did say you were friends with Týr. We saved him; he's not ship-shape, but he is there. He sleeps in a broom closet now but is adjusting," Mimir informed.

"So it's true then he is alive; I felt he killed him and put him somewhere to keep him out of reach. How did you find him?" she asked curiously.

"Largely due to Atreus beiNg able to access prophecies reserved for their kind. We only found out when Thor and Odin came knocking," Mimir explained.

"To your home? Is it still standing?" She questioned.

"Barely, but it seemed the violence was a distraction to get a private word with Atreus. I do have a feeling now that Hilda is helping us that he is going to focus his efforts on getting both children. He had been looking for Hilda, and no matter what seemed to slip through his fingers every time he had a chance to kill her. Atreus, I have no idea what is in store for him, but he did say he didn't want to start a war. Killing Hilda now will start one for sure," Mimir said.

"He had talked to your son? Did Atreus tell you what they spoke of?" Fraya asked.

"Yes, he invited him to his home to look for the answers he seeks," Kratos informed.

"The answers that are rushing him to fate and Ragnarök that's troubling," Fraya informed.

"Not as troubling as Hilda going with him. She will; she almost died for him and was willing to die to protect him. She reasons that without Kratos being alive, he would fall into darkness as she did until she found the dwarfs," Mimir informed.

"She knows the costs of war, the cost of what it means to go against Odin. I have no doubt she will do what she can to keep him safe. But talking him out of doing things he shouldn't is a difficult task. He may respect her opinions, but that doesn't mean he will not listen to him, especially since he has gone behind your back already. You didn't say Atreus told you about Týr," Fraya explained.

"He didn't tell us anything about it; he just went off. I feel Hilda is also not telling us everything; she is protective of Atreus, but why? It took her no time to warm up to Atreus, while it took months for the Dwarfs to be in the same room with her," Mimir informed.

"You don't think Hilda has feelings for your son, do you?" Fraya asked.

"If she does, she does not know showI, Atreus's feelings for her are causing issues. I have to keep them separated," Kratos informed.

"Oh... Atreus is a man now. Hilda is rather beautiful; Lúnda did say Hilda was not the type to let boys get too close to her. Maybe she is bonding with him because of what happened to your wife. She wants to ensure he doesn't end up as she did before Sindri. I had never seen Sindri cry, only when he took Hilda to me for the first time. He had no idea she was alive, he searched every realm except Asgard to try to find her, and she ended up saving him, almost dying doing it," Fraya informed as they went down the river and came to a stop where land was.

"Looks like we went the wrong way; sorry, it's been a long time since I have been here. My memory of this place is not how it used to be. If it is too much trouble to the site where I got married, I would like to go there to finish breaking the bonds I have with Odin and Asgard," she informed.

"I thought you broke those bonds a long time ago," Mimir informed.

"I did, but not enough," Fraya explained.

"My son can wait; the more time I am away, the more time he has to think about his actions. Hilda may go looking for us; she put a spell on me to protect Níðhögg from me. I do not know what other spells she has put on my armor," he informed.

"Hopefully, just the one. Will you confront about the spells?" Fraya asked.

"I do not need her protection, and she almost died protecting my son. She almost died doing what my son asked her to do and still fallowed us even though she was too weak to fight. I will not let a child die for me," he informed as they walked to a place that had been abandoned for some time.

It looked like a worshipping sight which meant they must have gone the wrong way, or they went the right way, but she couldn't recognize it in this state of disrepair. It must have been hard for her to see this place and every place they had visited so far destroyed. If they could just stop Ragnarok, maybe they could fix this place up.

"Astrid made a garden, and it was so beautiful. I hope her spirit is not tied to this place if she died," Fraya informed as gold-colored smoke filled some areas and there were some monsters.

"We need to be careful; that gold fog is poison," she said as the monsters seemed aware of their presence.

"So much for the element of surprise," Mimir informed as they started fighting the monsters.

There were two big ones he had never seen before, but they would die just the same. It took a while to kill them because they also had to avoid the gold fog and the animals were stronger than they looked. Kratos wondered if Hilda or Atreus would have tried to convince them just to leave, but he highly doubted that would have happened. They seemed very aggressive and would have killed Atreus if he had gotten too close to them.

"No...," Fraya said softly as she saw a ghost by a tree.

"A fitting end, all of this distraction," the ghost said softly.

"Astrid?" Fraya asked.

"Fraya, you have returned!" She said happily.

"What happened to you, your garden?" Fraya asked.

"The Aser came, the monument I built for you ruined. I promised to keep these flowers in bloom until you returned. I promised to live in this garden forever to take care of it. I'm sorry I failed, my queen," she apologized.

"You do not need to apologize to me, Astrid, Kratos. We purge this garden of position. Then hopefully, we can set her soul free of this place," Fraya said sadly.

"Why?" Kratos asked.

"The earth is a reflection of the person who tended; as long as the land remains tormented, so will she," Fraya explained.

He didn't sign up for this at all. He just wanted to get the orb and leave, maybe go to Alfheim with Fraya to clear the way so Atreus and Hilda could go with him to free the creature. They started it together he wanted to finish it together. Now he just had to figure out how clearer the totems n without getting poisoned. There had to be a spell on them so an ax throw wouldn't cut it, maybe. This was going to take ages.