The Asura and The Norn

"You what?" Svala asked, staring at Sympiny in confusion.

"A number of autopsies of Norn corpses were performed a while back and a lot of data was recorded. I want to look it over because I have a theory about how you survive so well in such a wild climate. Is this extreme intake of flesh a common thing among Norn?" Sympiny asked, completely lost in her curiosity.

"Well yea, I mean, what's a good day without a huge chunk of delicious meat to eat?" Svala said blatantly.

"So Norn live on a heightened amount of energy to fuel their bodies, fed by a larger consumption of energy-rich foods such as meats and potatoes." Sympiny nodded as she wrote.

"So what does fruit taste like anyway? I've always heard it's like a sweet ale. I really should go down to one of the trading posts further south and buy some." Svala said, trying to change the subject. Her attempt was akin to throwing a Moa at a castle and expecting it to crumble.

Sympiny continued to mumble and write, pouring her every idea out on the pages of her book. Svala couldn't understand a word of it, as she had never learned to read. Even if she had, the messiness and complete insanity of Sympiny's writing would make it impossible to follow.

Svala finished her breakfast with a sigh, just watching Sympiny's long ears bob up and down as she wrote on and on.

"You gonna finish that?" Svala finally said, pointing at Sympiny's plate, her meat only missing a few Asura-sized bites out of it.

Without a word, Sympiny pushed it another inch across the table. She flipped a page and continued to write out whatever knowledge her epiphany had granted her. Svala's face fell a little and she took the plate, quickly finishing it in a few large bites.

"That's it! I'm tired of this!" Svala yelled suddenly, slamming her fists into the table hard enough to make everything on it jump. Sympiny's pen skipped across the paper, making a large streak.

"What? What's wrong?" Sympiny said in surprise as if she just woke up.

"You're sitting there writing and mumbling! All we've spoken about is your book and what you wanted to learn! It's boring and dumb! If you want to learn about the Norn, you have to come experience it!" Svala yelled loudly, reaching across the table. She grabbed Sympiny's book and ripped the pen from her hand.

"Hey! Give that back!" Sympiny yelled, trying to grab for it.

"No! Today, if you want to learn about Norn, you're going to come with me!" Svala said, putting the book up on the top of her bear head, far out of Sympiny's reach.

"Alright, alright. What did you have in mind?" Sympiny groaned.

"We join a hunting party and go in search of a great beast. Following this blizzard, the greatest beasts of the Shiverpeaks will be out hunting for food. We will hunt them." Svala said passionately.

"I suppose we could do that. I have plenty of time to talk to some other Norn, might as well experience something firsthand. So what about the others shunning you? Who will want to go hunting with you?" Sympiny asked.

"They shun me as a possible mate, not as a warrior or hunter. I have fought some of the greatest beasts of the land, they cannot deny my strength and must honor my skill." Svala said proudly.

"Okay then, let's go." Sympiny said, leaping down to the floor to put on her boots. She wrapped her cloak around her shoulders and latched her magitech gauntlet back on her arm. She sheathed a dagger on her hip for good measure, although she rarely used it in combat.

Svala quickly dressed in her skimpy fur clothing, excited for Sympiny to see her out on the hunt. She felt like a little girl again, trying to catch the attention of Eir Stegalkin. She hoped to impress Sympiny with her talent and ferocity. She strung her longbow over her shoulder with her quiver and tied her knife to her belt.

"This is going to be a problem." Sympiny said when she saw the chest-high snow as Svala opened the door.

"Ohhh... I forgot. I can carry you if you want." Svala offered.

"I've got a similar, but better idea." Sympiny said, grabbing the edge of Svala's leggings. She clambered nimbly up the tall Norn, using her small clothing as hand and footholds. Asura may be small, but they had strong legs and were very nimble all around. She climbed up to Svala's broad shoulders and sat down on her left side.

"That works too." Svala shrugged, making Sympiny quickly put an arm around her neck for support.

"What a sight you must be, trudging through the snow in fur underwear with an Asura sitting on your shoulder." Sympiny snickered and Svala stopped.

"Hey, you can fight right? I mean, that magic is good for more than just starting fires and sex, isn't it?" Svala asked, glancing sideways at her passanger, "Plus I won't be alone."

She whistled and Couerlii fluttered down from his nest. He swirled out the door and landed on a fence post a short distance away. He looked expectantly back at Svala, cocking his head impatiently.

"Of course. This gauntlet helps me focus my magic and gives me enough power to kill almost anything that stands before me." Sympiny said with a nod, "You think muscle and metal make good strength, but pit me against any of your kind and I would burn you alive."

Svala laughed loudly and continued walking, quite amused at Sympiny's ferocity. Something about the thought of her facing off against a Norn in combat was extremely entertaining.

*******

CHAPTER 3 - FIELD STUDIES

"You're bringing an Asura with our hunting party?" Gjolf said flatly, "You've got to be joking."

Gjolf was the leader of their hunting party, a large burly Norn covered in scars and wielding a longbow and a heavy hammer. He wore a heavy fur kilt held up by a single strip of fur that wrapped over a shoulder.

"Make a short joke, I dare you. I will stop your heart before you can even touch me." Sympiny said loudly, fed up with the Norn looking down on her both physically and in manner of skill.

"She has fire in her spirit!" Vialda, another Norn woman laughed. She wore heavy leather and fur armor that covered more of her skin than any Norn Sympiny had seen so far. She wielded a seven foot great sword of shining steel.

"I agree with Gjolf, this cannot stand. She will not be able to take care of her self, the first bear we slay will frighten her away. I don't intend to carry back my kill and your corpse." The fourth Norn of their hunting party, Olaf, said coldly. He wore a large axe on each hip and only wore heavy fur pants. Tattoos covered his chest and face, giving him a menacing look.

"Well then make them one in the same if you think you can, otherwise shut your mouth you pathetic waste of muscle. I'm here to learn about your kind and I intend to do so." Sympiny said sharply, glaring at him from Svala's shoulder.

The three Norns were apparently a group that Svala had been hunting with many, many times before and it was almost a daily ritual for them. They knew of Svala's interests and they obviously had reservations about the fact that she was actually bringing a female Asura along that were beyond just the idea of bringing someone who wasn't a Norn.

They were standing in front of one of the others' home, but Sympiny hadn't paid attention to who's it was. Couerlii was circling overhead, waiting for the fresh meal that awaited him from this hunt.

"You pathetic little whelp, how dare you insult me!" Olaf yelled, his face turning red.

Sympiny was getting fed up with this meat head and she decided to just take this situation in what she perceived to be Norn fashion. She leapt from Svala's shoulder with a yell, magic rising in her body. The purple crystal on her magitech gauntlet shone brightly and her entire arm crackled with electricity. She slammed him with the force of a lightning bolt, knocking him to the ground and landing on his chest. In a flash, she had her dagger in her left hand and held it to his throat. She raised her other hand and lightning crackled ominously between her fingers.

"Go on, try and do something. I will make it so no one will ever speak of you with anything but disgust. You will be only be rememered as the one who was bested by a woman a fifth his size." Sympiny said angrily, letting the edge of the dagger bite into his neck and draw a touch of blood.

Olaf's eyes burned with anger, but he couldn't do anything. The other Norn were still and silent with shock. After a moment, they all burst out laughing and Sympiny pulled the dagger back. She sheathed it and jumped off his chest, sinking down past her waist in the snow.

"Do not judge a foe by their size. The largest come toppling down with the greatest crash and the smallest can kill you before you know what has happened." Sympiny said to him as he slowly pushed himself up.

"Truer words have never been said. I say she has earned her place in our party today." Vialda said with a nod.

"Agreed." Gjolf smiled, "She had you on the ground and beneath her blade in just a moment. That's impressive if I've ever seen it."

"Fine. I admit it. You are strong." Olaf grumbled as he stood up.

"That's what I thought." Sympiny said, "Now let us go."

She quickly clambered back up Svala, using her hand and arm as handholds. Gjolf laughed openly when she sat down on Svala's shoulder, immensely entertained by the sight of an Asura climbing a Norn.

"Like a Skrit climbing a tree!" Gjolf chuckled, adjusting the hammer across his back.

"Let's just go." Svala tried not to smile.

As they walked through the thick snow and headed for the edge of the village, Svala turned her head and whispered to Sympiny.

"I haven't seen anyone best Olaf like that in years." Svala snickered quietly, "You took him down like it was nothing."

"I decided to test a little of what I've learned from you about the Norn. Your kind seems to brawl and fight as a test of yours trength, honoring those with the greatest. I figured if I took him down, not only would I gain the others' respect, I would force him to relent his statements about me." Sympiny whispered back to her.

"Well it worked." Svala said.

They continued through the snow, trudging out into the wilderness. The trees and forests of the Shiverpeaks were thick and deep in snow. The Norns were completely immune to the cold and they walked through it without care. Sympiny on the other hand sat on Svala's shoulder with her cloak wrapped tighly around herself. It took them over an hour of treking through the wilderness before anything happened.

"Gryphon!" Gjolf called out, holding up his longbow.

Above them there was a woosh of air as a gryphon swooped ahead. Gjolf let an arrow loose and missed.

"I need my other arm." Svala said to Sympiny and she slipped off her shoulder quickly. She sank up past her waist in the snow and shivered in the immense cold. Svala knotched an arrow and watched the gryphon circle around above. She fired the arrow and hit the gryphon in a wing. It swirled down and landed in the snow a distance away.

"Yaaaaah!" Olaf screamed, pulling his axes as he bombed through the snow at the gryphon.

"Great shot." Vialda said, nodding to Svala.

There was a loud squak from the gryphon as Olaf swung his axe at it. He struck true, his axe biting deep into the gyphon's neck. Blood spewed over the snow and the gryphon fell sideways into the snow.

"Good! Good, first kill of the day!" Olaf said proudly as he cleaned his axe off.

"Svala killed it, the gryphon just didn't know until it met your axe!" Gjolf laughed loudly.

"You missed the first time!" Olaf retorted sharply.

"As barbaric as I thought." Sympiny nodded, shoving through the snow as she followed Svala.

"Well you made the kill, you get the first." Gjolf said, waving at the gryphon's corpse.

Sounds good! You all carry on and I'll hack this apart here. I'll meet you back at camp." Svala said, walking over to the gryphon, "Hunt well!"

"That we will!" Olaf said, trudging off down the hill with the other two in tow.

"Well that didn't take long. We've only been gone for what... an hour and a half?" Sympiny said, stomping and pushing down a circle of the snow so she could stand more comfortably.

"Hunts don't always go that well. We got lucky this time." Svala said, kneeling down next to the dead gryphon. Couerlii swooped down out of the sky and landed on the corpse. He bent down and dug a chunk of raw, red flesh from the open gash in the gryphon's neck.

"Lovely. Don't mind me, I'm just going to warm up a bit." Sympiny said, rubbing her hands together. She breathed in and blew a cone of flame in front of her. It melted the snow and she burned a large cirlce out of the snow around her, giving her a spot of wet grass to stand on. She wrapped her cloak tightly around herself and watched Svala start to hack at the Gryphon.

*******

It took them twice as long to get back to Hoelbrak because Svala packed up a few hundred pounds of meat in a large leather sack and carry it back. The leather was good and treated so that it didn't leak blood or anything, letting them get the gryphon meat back to her home with little issue.

"So what happens if it warms up too much?" Sympiny asked as Svala began to hang the large hunks of meat on hooks behind her house.

"There has been snow on the ground here for centuries. Meat doesn't spoil easily in this cold and you just have to cook it well." Svala said as she hooked the last chunk of gryphon meat, "Come on, let's go wash up."

"Some how I think this is gonna be cold..." Sympiny grumbled, rubbing her arms.

"No, there's a nice cave near here that has hot springs in it. They're wonderful for relaxing in." Svala said, cleaning her bloody hands in the snow beneath the dripping meat.

"Hot springs? Really? That does sound delightful." Sympiny nodded, "In this harsh climate, a dip in a hot spring sounds great."

"Oh good~!" Svala said eagerly, walking around and into the hut. She put her bow on the wall and pulled her boots off. She took her stockings off and left them on the bed. "Ready?"

"Barefoot? Your feet are going to freeze!" Sympiny said as Svala strode out into the snow.

"Nahh. It's only on the other side of Hoelbrak. Not like we need to trek half-way across the world." Svala said, holding a hand out to Sympiny. She took it and clambered nimbly up her body.

"Okay then." Sympiny shrugged.

They tredged across Hoelbrak in just a short time, reaching a large cliff on the far side. There was a tunnel opening in it and Svala headed inside. Almost immediately Sympiny could feel the warm moist air touch her skin. Torches lit the cave and they headed down into the depths. It got warmer and warmer until it felt like Sympiny was back home in tropical Rata Sum. Around another bend and they found a large cavern before them. Large pools of hot water were spread everywhere, stair-stepping down the sides of the cavern. Water bubbled up in the higher pools and more than a dozen naked Norn were lounging in the hot baths.

"My favorite one is over here." Svala said, walking along the thin edges of the hot spring pools. They crossed to the back of the cavern, stopping near a deep looking pool about six feet across.

"It feels great in here." Sympiny sighed as she slipped down to the edge of the pool.

"That's why it's a great place to relax." Svala said as she stripped her fur underwear off. She stepped down into the pool, sinking up to her knees in the steaming water. "Ohhh yea..."

Sympiny watched as Svala sat down in the water, the water barely reaching her enormous breasts. Water dribbled down into their pool from a higher one and Svala's entrance into it sent a small flood heading down through the lower pools. Stripping her clothes off, Sympiny stood on the side of the pool. With a little bit of reluctance, she slipped her panties off and left them with her clothes. She knew Svala's eyes were on her as she slid down into the water, sinking all the way to her shoulders.

"Good, isn't it?" Svala asked, putting her arms behind her head.

"It does feal very nice." Sympiny sighed.

"Hey, why do Asura only have four fingers and three toes?" Svala said, pulling one of her feet above the water, "We have five fingers and toes on each."

"We don't. We have three fingers and a thumb on each hand. I assume it is just evolution or simply the way we were created. As far as I can tell, having an extra finger or toe wouldn't really help me. I dunno... maybe if we reworked our computers or something to give us room for another finger, we might be able to speed things up... Nah, not worth it." Sympiny said, waving off the ideas.

There was an exceptionally loud moan that made Sympiny jerk in surprise. On the other side of the room, two Norn were embraced tightly, sitting on the edge of their hot spring. The man had his arms tightly around the woman and his large cock could be seen sinking deep inside her. She moaned as he pulled up and down on her. His erection was easily as big as Sympiny's forearm.

"Jeez." Sympiny mumbled, looking at the dark ceiling above them.

"Oh that happens all the time. The hot springs are a common place for fucking. The water is very relaxing and it makes everything more pleasurable." Svala said, closing her eyes as she relaxed in the water, "Just don't pay attention to it if you're bothered."

"It doesn't really bother me... I mean, it's not like I haven't done it." Sympiny scratched her head, "I just find the publicity... disturbing."

"Oh really. Why not share your adventures?" Svala said, scooting closer to her.

"There's an Asura from back home... Maybe you've heard of her, she's kind of a big thing in Rata Sum. Zojja?" Sympiny asked her.

"Oh yea, she was with Eir in Destiny's Edge when they fought one of the elder dragons. They may have lost, but such a legendary fight is still spoken of during the moots." Svala said proudly, "She was said to have been a very powerful Asura who fought valiantly alongside the other members of the group."

"She is a genius beyond measure, her intellect only matched by her deceased mentor Snaff. We're good friends and we've spent a few nights together." Sympiny said with a blush crossing her face.

"I thought you said you didn't like sex." Svala grinned.

"Yes, well, there's nothing wrong with a little friendly interaction on the rare occasion. How could anyone turn down that genius though..." Sympiny said a little shyly.

"Do you Asura get hot over someone's brains?" Svala asked bluntly, raising an eyebrow.

"You could say that. In the way you revere strength and legends, we revere knowledge and invention." Sympiny said, crossing her arms in the water.

"How so? What excites an Asura?" Svala said, shimmying just a little bit closer.

"I... I suppose... the same thing as any other race..." Sympiny's eyes were flitting around, trying not to stare at the large breasts only inches from her head, "Bodies... and minds... personalities... that sort of stuff."

She stared off at a blank part of the ceiling and drummed her fingers on her arms.

"But perhaps a Norn wouldn't." Svala said worryingly.

"N... No! That's not it! I find all races fascinating! It's just most aren't as... busty." Sympiny mumbled, her face burning in embarrassment.

"Trust me, you're not the only one to notice. I love my breasts, but they sometimes get in the way when I'm hunting. Would you like to feel them?" Svala asked, lifting her huge bosoms.

"Here?! Now?" Sympiny squeaked in surprise, her hands starting to shake, "No, no. I think it'd be best if we didn't do things like that here. I'll just enjoy this bath a little longer before we head back."

"Well okay." Svala shrugged, scooting deeper into the hot spring.

Apparently the sex was contagious because other Norn in the room began to do the same, fucking in and out of the hot springs. Sympiny quickly climbed out of the water. With a small bit of fire magic, she made the water on her skin boil away in a cloud of steam. She dressed in a hurry as Svala relaxed with her eyes closed.