Seidh, Od, and Other Hnossir

"What?"

I don't have to be born again tomorrow.

"Next Thursday."

Whatever. I can take permanent form in an adult, but it has to be consensual. I have done it before. Several times. I think you would like it. I could teach youseidh.

"I think I would hate myself. Plus, I don't trust you." Nonetheless, she was tempted.

I can't blame you for that.Gullveig was getting singsongy again, and Ada knew that was why she was weakening.

"Cut that out."

Why, pet? Your decision has to be free-willed, I assure you. The ancient codes are clear: you cannot be coerced into saying, "Gullveig, I invite you inside me." It must be what you want. Humming, now, while the witch-spirit paused.You told me you're interested in the world's history.

"It's my major, yeah. What's your point?"

Would not a person who has lived for thousands of years prove an insightful resource for a first-hand account of that history? I have seen many lands beyond this one.

Wow. Now that was an offer that had teeth. Fascinating teeth. (Or did it just haveseidh?) "How do I know you won't just take me over once you're inside?"

Do you think the Aesir would have allowed such a thing, darling?

"You taught Woden everything he knew about magic. Who knows what he would have allowed?"

More silence. Ada trudged onward, the air growing less palatable and more dangerous.

I will let you subject me to Od.

Ada stopped walking. "What?"

You can use Od on me. Right now. I will teach you how.

"But you... can that work? On someone who's not even alive?"

It can. That way you will be sure of my allegiance.

"What do you get out of it? Slavery for the next umpteen years?"

Until you die, pet, yes. But then I will have Od forevermore, and I would pay the price of a thousand years' slavery for that.

Fucking ghoul. But... this was now something to consider. Enslave the witch, learn all she could teach... and then the fame, fortune, and fucking imagery to come true? Oh, and the history stuff. That was important, too.

Did she really care what would happen to the world after her death? Well, ofcourseshe did, but...

"I can't decide right now. This air's getting me nauseous."

Ada, precious, you don't have to decide now. Just sometime in the next week. But you can't do that if Od is destroyed.

And there was the capper. If she went back to Reykjavik now with Od intact, would she have the will-power left to make this trek to the volcano again? She thought not. But was it even probable she would make it there today, anyhow? She could barely breathe the foul air, and if this was how hot it was two hundred yards away from the pit, what would it be like standing throwing-distance from the lava? What if she missed by a couple feet-- could she get closer for another throw? Suddenly, this bright idea didn't seem quite so clever...

"I'll need to think about it, Heidi."

That is all that I ask.

"Okay. You win. For now. There will be no melting, today."

Good, pet, good. I'll be in earshot any time you wish to talk. Just don't waittoolong, all right?

"All right. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a long hike to go. And possibly a patrolman to service." She was only joking. Wasn't she?

Farewell, pet. I just know you'll make the smart decision.

Or the wet decision. Ada found her hat and coat where she'd left them on the way out, noticing as she put them on that, while her sweat was freezing to ice on her shoulders, her panties were far from cold and dry.

***

The war I remember, the first in the world,
When the gods with spears had smitten Gullveig,
And in the hall of Hár had burned her,
Three times burned, and three times born,
Oft and again, yet ever she lives.

Heid they named her when she came to the house,
The wide-seeing witch, in magic wise;
She performed seidh where she could, worked seidh in a trance,
To evil women she was always a joy.

-- The Prophecy of the Seeress, from the Elder Edda, c.800-1000 A.D.