Queen of Asgard (NaNoWriMo2018, Completed!)

13: Inside The Vault

Despite my genuine desire to see the weapons that Asgard traded dwarves on Svartalfheim (a word which I knew I would never be able to say correctly) I was very apprehensive when Sif told me that the only way to get there was through teleportation.

"Come on," she coaxed, holding out her hand to me. "You'll be fine."

I wasn't that optimistic but my desire to learn about the weaponry overruled my one memory of teleportation. "Alright."

Sif grabbed hold of my fingers and instantly, I was weightless but it changed in an instant and then the incredible pressure slammed around me, my ears popped and bright lights flashed before my eyes just as my feet hit the ground.I lurched forward, stomach roiling and before I could open my eyes and sprint towards the nearest trash can, I retched. SIf, thankfully was on the ball and I heard the patter of vomit falling into a hard container.

"Ugh," I groaned, wiping my mouth with the back my hand.

"I will never take you teleporting again," she said, shaking her head as I pulled myself slowly upright. I feared any sudden movement would make the sickness come back again. "Unless it's a life or death situation."

"Why didn't you teleport us away the night the Jotun came?" I asked sharply, distracted from the nausea by that comment. I felt stupid for not asking that question before when we had I had left the city and taken a ride on the Bifrost.

"Teleportation isn't just blinking and winding up wherever you want," Sif said, sadness evident in her voice. "The farther you teleport and the more people you have, the more likely you're going to tear yourself or your passengers apart. Because I had the raidho orb with me, I didn't want to take that risk."

The image of limbs being ripped apart from torsos filled my mind. "I'm sorry," I said softly. "I didn't mean you accuse of anything, I know that you did the best you could."

"I understand that you're grieving," she said kindly and I felt it was more than I deserved. I was a cop myself and knew that in situations like that, sometimes every choice you had open to you ended with varying degrees of catastrophe.

"It's not an excuse," I said firmly, shaking my head as I thought of my mother. Grief had made her a manipulative control freak and I'd be damned if I let mine make me into something I wasn't. "I shouldn't have talked to you like that."

"I'm not mad," she assured me, misreading my insistence for guilt rather than worry. Her eyes flashed once between me and the trash can. "You going to get sick again or do you think you're okay now?"

"I think that was everything." I said wearily. "So much for breakfast huh?"

"Does that happen to you often?"

"When I was little it happened a lot," I admitted. Car rides had been hell. "I grew out of it for the most part as I got older, but taking off and landing on a plane was absolute hell for me."

"And apparently so is teleporting."

I laughed weakly. "You're telling me."

"So, just through here then," Sif said, gold light pulsing between her hands and she pressed her palms flat against the blank stretch of cream-colored wall before us. The magic flowed along invisible lines in the walls, creating the shape of a door and when she stepped back, there was a loud thunk as a large, heavy golden door stood on what had previously been empty space.

"Cool huh?" Sif said with a grin as he gripped the lion-shaped handle. "This is my weapons vault."

"Your weapons vault?" I repeated, still awed by what I had seen. It wasn't unlike Thor showing me the gym, save the color of their respective magic.