Isher Notra

Chapter 11 - A Moment of Respite.

Everyone stopped on a spot right next to the Kara river, a safe distance from the Jólasveinarnir's lair. The trip out of that cave was thankfully an uneventful one, beginning with what could be an amusing journey through the colossal stairs, while riding the Knight's back, if only that damn threatening message Grýla put in her mind weren't eating her from the inside.

No sign of the big, ugly and mean giant that gave her and Lien a lot of trouble, though. And no sign of the Lads, nor the Cat, for that matter. The Human guessed that the Wolves must have spooked them away. She couldn't blame them, giant or otherwise.

And now they were resting. The Knight was talking to the captain and the two tough Wolves that he was talking to before, the tall one and the bulldog face. Stella finally mustered up the courage to go speak to Lien, who was sitting next to a rock and being watched by the twin guards. Thankfully, they did not get hostile when she went to her friend, who waved like crazy at her when she sensed her getting closer.

Stella awkwardly sat beside Lien, still a bit intimidated by the two guard Wolves and still shaken up about... well, everything involving Grýla. 

She still has not wrapped her head around the fact that the witch preferred death and the possibility of killing not only a Monoke child, but her own. Even if they were nothing but assholes to her, the Human kinda felt for them. Unless, Grýla had a way to know that her family was in a safe distance to not get caught up in the blast. She had magic, after all.

So many stuff happened in that fight that threatened to tear her head open. The stuff with the Knight's barrier, that weird substance and the energy that coursed through her body, apparently it was called Saniya, and that last message. She said that with such confidence...

She was looking at the ground this whole time while her thoughts led her somewhere far away, something that she was aware of after Lien started poking her. "Stella... Stellaaaaa.... Stella!"

"W-What's up?" The Human tried to regain her composure.

"You don't sound okay." She sniffs. "Also, you smell like fear."

"Wow, you can do that?!" Stella used this to distract her friend from asking further questions.

"There's nothing that can escape my nose!" She poked her own nose while speaking proudly about herself. "Actually, since my eyes don't work, my other senses are even better than most Wolves!"

"That's true!" One of the twins interjected, it was the one with golden fur. "She found me in ten minutes on hide-and-seek! And I went far away, like five kilometers or so, and hid myself under a huge pile of bear dung that I collected for weeks!"

Stella didn't know what a "kilometer" was. How many miles was that? Also, ew.

The other guard, with the cream fur, silently shushed her partner with a finger over her mouth. Right, Humans were not well seen by these people...

Stella just pretended that she didn't notice that, and resumed her conversation with Lien. "Hey, nice job, girl!"

Lien's tail started to wag. "So cute..."  Stella thought. She had the urge to pet the Wolf, but didn't know if it was inappropriate. Someday, though.

She started scratching her mane. "So, how about the Knight? How did you two meet?"

Perfect! Another subject that wasn't awkward to speak about. And oh boy, did she have stuff to tell!

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