You left Loki to the task of getting the realm back in order from the chaos of Hela's visit and Odin being stripped of his title. You had other work to do. Hogun and Thor carried the two valkyrie to the healing wing, following you there. In Frigga's absence, you were ruler of the healing wing. You would take over for her when she was ready to step down. You had a feeling that now that Odin had been stripped of his titles, that day would come sooner than anticipated.
Everything had a price.
At the moment, the price was coming due for your return to the land of the living. Everything was moving so fast. You'd prepared for this, but it never felt like enough. You'd thought that you would have more time. Instead, you had to put on your big girl panties and deal with the new responsibilities that had fallen into your lap.
And worry about being queen later.
Right now, you had valkyrie to heal.
You led the boys to one of the rooms in the healing wing. This particular room had two beds already set up and you thanked the Norns for having competent assistants sometimes. Thor and Hogun laid the valkyrie carefully in the beds while you called for your assistants. You kicked Thor and Hogun out and quickly got to work assessing Hugin and Munin and healing them. They were severely malnourished and weak from their service to Odin. He'd kept them trapped in raven form for far too long. It left them weak, left them trapped at the ages that they'd been when he'd ordered them in one form.
It wasn't hard to get them stabilized, your magic was strong, stronger here than on Midgard, but it would be awhile before they were back up to full strength.
The valkyrie looked to be teenagers, younger than you, closer to Wanda's age. Though you knew they were centuries and centuries older than you and Loki. They both had raven black hair. That was about where the similarities ended. You knew that at one point, they'd been fierce warriors. Now they were frail, emaciated, haunted. One of them looked older than the other, stern, like a young Professor McGonagall. That one, you learned, was Hugin. Munin seemed kinder and more innocent.
You worked for hours healing them, bringing them back to health. They would have to work to regain lost muscle and strength, but you would give them as much magical help as you could.
"Hela sent you back to help us," Hugin said, hours later when both women were sitting up eating a hearty stew and bread. It wasn't a comment. She somehow knew of your bargain with Hela.
You nodded and your wings shifted behind you. "Hela agreed to send me back if I would help her and help the valkyrie,"
Hugin considered that while she continued working on her meal. From what you could gather, it was one of the first proper meals she'd had in ages. Both valkyrie were savoring it. "Our sisters were killed when Odin forced them to fight their Queen. We're bound to the throne of Asgard, but Hela is our patron goddess. Our loyalties span between those two places," she explained to you. "There was no way the valkyrie would win a war against Hela. He sent them to die. All of our sisters, besides us,"
"How could he do such a thing?" You asked, horrified. Hugin had spoken the words matter of factly, but you could see the pain in her eyes at the memory of watching the other valkyrie go off to die.
"It was the only way to weaken Hela enough for him to banish her. The cost was too high and our queen did not deserve such treatment. Not when her only crime was being what Odin made her. He has a habit of banishing and hiding problems instead of dealing with them. He banished Hela, banished Thor, hid the truth about Loki's heritage. All of his problems could have been avoided so easily," Hugin said, clearly displeased with Odin. You didn't blame her. Odin had deserved what he'd gotten.
You nodded and sighed. "Hela wishes for the valkyrie to be welcome and return to Asgard. Of course, they are welcome, but... I don't know how to do the rest," you admitted. You and Loki would gladly welcome the valkyrie back to Asgard, if they would come.
Hugin smirked up at you and you saw fight and determination in her eyes. She would rebuild everything with you to how it should be and fight by your side. "First, Munin and I will heal. We will teach you what it means to be a valkyrie, reopen the training grounds here,"
Munin perked up, eager, innocent, so very young looking. "And then we will welcome our sisters home," she said softly, her voice ethereal and dream-like. Her mind needed to heal from being in raven form for so long as her body did.
As both of them did.
You gave them both grateful looks, relieved and awed by them. "Thank you, both. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it-"
Hugin held up her hand. "Don't thank us yet, fledgling. There is a lot for you to learn before you're ready to call yourself a valkyrie,"
You saw the sternness in her eyes that reminded you again of Professor McGonagall and knew unequivocally that you were very, very fucked.
