( video )

[heelies]

[The video feed begins on a close view of a face, revealing a stern set of eyes and a curve of nose but little more. Then the picture shakes as a new perspective is gained. The man who comes into view posesses a princely bearing and wears well the mantle of importance. His voice belongs to one who is accustomed to being listened to.]

I am told that this is the way that men call others to counsel in this land, and so as strange as it seems to me to address those whom I see not, I shall follow the local custom. I am Achilles, son of Peleus — Peleus who rules the fertile plains of Phthia, and who claims for his own worthy father Aeacus, judge of the House of Hades. New as I am to this land, which is farther from my dear native land than even the windy plains of Ilios, I bear many questions, but the first in my heart is this.

What deathless gods watch over the city of Lunatia? I have seen no temples built to honor Zeus who bears the aegis, nor bright-eyed Athena, nor Phoebus Apollo. Where are the priests who aid in the rituals of sacrifice, the seers who interpret the will of the gods in bird-signs? Surely, a city so rich as this, with precious silver trimming its houses, and all manner of riches I have never before seen — surely its people have the benison of the gods. Yet I see no practices that would suggest such reverence. Tell me, therefore, the ways to honor these gods who to me are so mysterious.

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[heelies]

Lovely Sif, goddess upon whom I know not what honors to heap, I am honored that you should deign to appear to me in answer to my call. Were you to stand before me, rather than grant just this glimpse through this strange cuff, then on my knees I would bow to you in supplication.

Tell me, if you will, O goddess — are you one of the deathless gods that watches over this land, or is it another people who offer you prayers and sacrifice, another land from whence you have been torn?

[eddas]

I am Sif of the Vanir, a warrior of Asgard, City of Song, fairest of the Nine Realms. I have come here much as you have, separated from my lord and lady by a power unknown to me, in all my ageless ages. [ Even the sword that connects her to Asgard, a gift from the All-Father himself, does not work as it once did. ]

But do not regret your manners, for never have I asked a mortal to kneel. The men and women that I favor meet their fate unbowed.

[heelies]

[dayum girl, he would worship you so hard]

Then I shall remember this when next you choose to grace me with your presence, Sif, radiant of feature and strong of arm. If the deathless gods who watch over Asgard prefer to be met with shoulders straight and eyes level, then I shall do so.

Who are this lord and lady whom you serve, the equals of Zeus almighty and his queen white-armed Hera?

[eddas]

Then you will be well met.

Shifty-eyed Odin and Lady Frigga the Weaver have long ruled over Asgard, always wisely and often well. But lately we are graced with a regent, Cul Borson.

[ Her tone changes, and it's obvious she doesn't care for Cul Borson. Ah, the dilemna of being sworn to serve a coward king. ]

[heelies]

As clear as a war cry I hear the ire in your voice when you speak this name. Who is this being who has might and cunning enough to steal the throne upon which sits a king of gods?

[eddas]

He is my lord Odin's brother, banished for his treachery but now returned. Odin sleeps, gaining power for our coming trials, and has declared his own blood regent. I cannot help but wonder if I would have been summoned here if it were not so.

And what of you, son of Peleus? What court have you left?

[heelies]

It bodes ill when one such as he rules — a devious-minded king whose loyalty is reserved for himself only, and honors no alliances born of blood or guest-friendship. May your lord Odin soon wake and reclaim his rightful place.

As for me, it is my noble father's house to which I devote my highest loyalty, although some ten years have passed since I set sail from fertile Phthia in the fifty beaked ships Peleus granted me. There in the dear native land I left behind, my noble father grows frail with old age waiting for a son who shall never be allowed safe return.

[eddas]

No land can long survive the rule of cowards, who depend on the swords of others and offer none of their own steel. But my oaths must be stronger than his cowardice, else still more will be lost.

Ten years is a long time in the reckoning of Midgard, yes?

[heelies]

Indeed, a king who commands from the rear while greater men bear the brunt of enemy spears and arrows, a king who gives not in equal measure to what he receives from the warriors he leads — he is no king at all. He is a sheep who believes himself fit to direct wolves.

Maiden goddess, how easy it is for mortals to forget that to the deathless gods time is not so precious. Yet I of all men should not forget. Mine own mother, silver-footed Thetis, daughter of Nereus, has so often lamented the day she was given unto a mortal king's marriage bed and thus made to bear a son who shall one day go down to the house of death. Ten years is indeed a long time by the measure of our short lives. In this time I have not once laid eyes upon my noble father, nor upon my son, my Neoptolemus, who was scarce more than a babe when for Troy I set sail.

[eddas]

I've heard that the gods of Olympus oft take mortals for their bedfellows, but I have never beheld the product of such a union.

[ She's not dismissive, or disgusted at the prospect, as she might have been in centuries past. But it is still a curiosity to her, and it shows rather plainly on her face. Sif is not much given to deception. Shortly, though, she recalls herself. ]

Forgive me. It is my hope that you shall see your son ere long.

[ And a sorrow does pass across her brow, as she says those words. An echo of a greater sorrow she cannot understand, perhaps. She does not know how long they will remain trapped here. But what is time to a goddess? It is not something she has oft had to think about. ]

[heelies]

I do not fault you for your curiosity, fair goddess. Even among the nations of Achaea it is not so common for a man or woman to claim the parentage of one of the deathless gods. Those of us who bear this blessed privilege are indeed looked upon differently.

[Well, aside from the fact that Zeus has sired like a hundred mortal children. But that is neither here nor there.]

Moreover, I prefer an honest goddess to one who deceives with her silver tongue. I hate like the gates of Hades the man who says one thing while hiding another in his mind.

Your gentle words are a kindness, yet I fear that I shall never meet my son again, and certainly shall I never see him grow to manhood. Such is the fate bestowed upon me, that my glory should come at the price of my homecoming.

[eddas]

I am known for the glint of my blade, not my tongue. I prefer it so.

[ Here, Sif valiantly refrains from a long digression on Loki. As she is no mother goddess, nor touched as mortals are by the hands of time, she does not know how she might offer comfort to this man. Nor even if he wants it. ]

Would you prefer a kinder fate to a glorious one?

[ It is a real question. ]

I can't believe sif kidnapped bobby hill

[heelies]

[A faraway smile graces his lips, so slight that it scarce seem to be there at all.]

I would choose a glorious fate every time. It was my mother, silver-footed Thetis, who when I was a boy took me upon her lap and told me of my two-fold fate. A life lived in peace could be mine, my hair turning silver with old age but my name fading into obscurity — or else I could seize fame and thus burnish my name bright for all to see, but in trade I must die young, my hope for homecoming forever lost. It was for glory that I sailed to Troy, and there I won by dint of spear that which I sought. No other path could I choose.

[He had received a taste of languishing in obscurity when on Scyros he stayed in the care of Lycomedes, made to disguise his true self and bear a false name. Every day he felt a part of him wither as grapevines removed to barren soil.]

she is a much travelled goddess and her feet have trammelled all corners of the earth

[eddas]

Then I shall hope you find glory here as well, son of Thetis. For your sake, as well as my own, for I have no patience for an eternity without honor or striving.

[ She has little patience on the whole, as it happens. ]

The gods of Asgard are themselves fated to die glorious battle, as the sun's beams turn black, that the world may begin anew. I would not choose otherwise.