The house was still wrapped in that deep, pre-dawn quiet when Larisa came downstairs to face the harshness of reality. The thing is, something was going to happen. Not the way you may think. Not the way you know. Not the way other people may see it. Not the way we analyse. Not the way the sun shines. This is a legendary battle, wearing the cap of destiny and darkness. The heart of the dark shall begin to shine in this battle. Actually, the beginning is not far away from happening. In that way, we see the comets of life. Initially, I thought it could happen in a better way, but I never thought this could happen… the light was going slowly away from the greatness of the truth.
She moved softly, barefoot on the old wooden floors, wearing one of Karl's oversized hoodies that reached mid-thigh. That is to say that the greatness of what can be is in the power of these two. Unfortunately, they could not fight each other. The thing is, this initial change was not what others expected to happen. In this life, they shall fight forever for the title of the first wife. Well, HAHAH. As you may think, her dark hair was loose and slightly messy from sleep, butterfly-wing potential folded quietly beneath the surface like always. She had woken because the air felt… different. Not wrong. Just fuller. Like the house itself had taken a deeper breath.
She stepped into the living room and stopped that could entertain a
Freyja stood by the window, looking out at the misty Carlisle street. The goddess had dimmed her divine radiance to something almost mortal, golden hair braided simply, cream coat draped over her shoulders, sea-green eyes reflecting the orange glow of the streetlamp. She looked like the moon talking to the ocean in the most powerful way. Honestly, she looked like a beautiful woman visiting from somewhere far away. Elegant. Calm. Serene. Divine. Honest. Slightly out of place in the most ordinary way.
Larisa didn't speak at first. She simply studied her as if she already had seen her.
Freyja turned slowly. That is to say that there was something special about the way she would gaze at her. The thing is, they did not like each other at all. People tend to be hypocritical at the chance of meeting someone new. Apart from that, real life gets better day by day. Karl was getting stronger without any… sign of depression. When their eyes met, something ancient and new passed between them — two women who had both stared into the void and chosen to answer with love, each in her own way.
Freyja: You're Larisa, ( Freyja said softly). Her voice carried the warmth of Vanaheimr's fields and the quiet strength of someone who had watched Ragnarök end honestly. The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet. As for who you are, well… Karl speaks of you like you are the reason the stars still turn. The thing is, they do not take it well at first. At least, you gotta tell me why you have this love. I can see it in your eyes.
Larisa tilted her head, a small, calm smile touching her lips. No jealousy. No shock. Not jells. No shame. No envy. No anger. Only that serene, unshakable alignment she always carried.
Buitrago: And you're Freyja, she answered. Not a question. Life is made up of meetings and partings. People come into your life everyday, you say good morning, you say good evening, some stay for a few minutes, some stay for a few months, some a year, others a whole lifetime.The one who offered herself as his wife after he finished what the old gods could not.
Freyja's eyes widened slightly, not in surprise, but in recognition the way no one can see it to share the greatness of life. At least, that is what we intend to do… in that way, nothing could be truer. The thing is, this could actually change their destiny forever. She stepped away from the window, moving with graceful poise that still somehow fit the worn living room.
Freyja:You see clearly, (Freyja said.) Most mortals would need explanations. You're not at your best when you're focused on me. I mean, you're at your best Maxness, but not your best leaderness. I mostly need Maxness. The flock mostly needs leaderness. And Angel, if you're listening to this, it ain't you, sweetie. Not yet… no, You do not.
Larisa crossed the room and sat on the edge of the couch, pulling the quilt over her lap out of habit. She gestured for Freyja to sit as well. At least, this could actually be something far greater than you may think. Well, this is the final battle. They fight for supremacy.
Larissa: I don't need to be told who you are, ( Larisa replied.) I felt the shift when he brought you through the door. The air changed. At least for a couple more years, the flock needs a leader to survive, no matter how capable everyone thinks he or she is. The truth is that they do need a leader, and the truth is that you are the best leader. It's one of the things I love about you. It smelled like spring after the longest winter… and like something ancient had finally been allowed to rest.
She paused, looking at Freyja with those calm, piercing eyes that had once stared down Zeus without flinching the way a man can see. The thing is, this love cannot get behind what we should think of. At least, this shall tell us that this love is real. Overall, this is not experience of what you experience, but what you know. We will come back to this later on.
Larisa: You chose him, ( Larisa continued.) Not as a prize. Not because he conquered Asgard. Because he gave the old cycle an honest ending. Because I'm headed down the hill, and you're headed up it. I'm just glad we chanced to meet on the way. That means that our love is true. Because he trained every will until love became stronger than any spear. I respect that choice.
Freyja sat beside her, close, but not invasive. The goddess studied Larisa with genuine wonder. The way the sun would look at the moon. Every wave. Every light. Every tree. Every night.
Freyja: You are not threatened, ( Freyja observed.) Most women would feel rage or fear at another claiming space beside the man they love. An attachment grew up. What is an attachment? It is the most difficult of all the human interrelationships to explain, because it is the vaguest, the most impalpable. It has all the good points of love, and none of its drawbacks. No jealousy, no quarrels, no greed to possess, no fear of losing possession, no hatred (which is very much a part of love), no surge of passion and no hangover afterward. It never reaches the heights, and it never reaches the depths. You do not. You free him. You do not choose to control him.
Larisa shook her head slowly.
Von: Love isn't possession. I learned that long before he ever left for the white room. Karl's heart is vast enough for more than one truth. ow, if they had never come together again, or only after a long time and in different circumstances, then the attachment would have faded and died. But if they suddenly do come together again - while the sharp sting of missing one another is still smarting - then the attachment will revive full force, full strength. That is to say that my love cannot be resisted. What you resist persists. You cannot go beyond what you resist or perhaps he could never do it. But never again as merely an attachment. It has to go on from there, it has to build, to pick up speed. And sometimes it is so glad to be brought back again that it makes the mistake of thinking it is love. I am his anchor here n this small, stubborn city where he first learned how to ask the hardest questions. You are his partner in the larger story he just helped finish. I see no conflict. Only harmony… if we choose it.
She reached out and gently touched Freyja's hand. The contact was warm, steady.
Larisa: I am not his only love, (Larisa said quietly.) But I am his first honest one. The one who sat with him in the dark when the questions tried to swallow him. Impatiently I waited for evening, when I might summon you to my presence. Maybe, I am obsessed with loving him out of everything I have and nothing that caAn unusual– to me– a perfectly new character, I suspected was yours; I desired to search it deeper, and know it better. You entered the room with a look and air at once shy and independent; you were quaintly dress– much as you are now. That is what I think about himThe one who stayed when the world called him invisible. That place in his heart is mine. The rest… we can share. Honestly. Without pride. Without fear.
Freyja's expression softened into something radiant and deeply moved.
Feyja: You speak with the voice of Asha, ( she whispered.) Good thoughts. Good words. Good deeds made flesh. I am trying to explain as quickly as possible my essential nature, that is, what manner of man I am, what I believe in, and for what I hope, that's it, isn't it? And therefore I tell you that I accept God honestly and simply. That is to say that I offered myself to him because I saw the same light in him that you have nurtured for years. I will not take your place, Larisa. I will stand beside it. As wife. As sister in this new beginning. As someone who also chooses to love him without chains.
Larisa smiled, small, real, the crystal-fracturing kind that always made Karl's shoulders drop.
Larisa: Then we understand each other, (she said.) Welcome to Carlisle, Freyja. Welcome to our home. Tomorrow morning, when Karl wakes up, we will tell him together that his two worlds have already begun to weave themselves into one."
Freyja squeezed Larisa's hand once, gently.
Freyja: I am honored to call you sister in this honest love.
The two women sat together under the old quilt as the first gray light of dawn began to creep through the blinds.
Outside, Carlisle slept on small, stubborn, ordinary.
Inside, something ancient and new had found its first true harmony.
Two women who had both chosen Karl one from the quiet mortal world that raised him, one from the divine realms he had just helped heal sat side by side, already building the foundation of whatever came next.
No jealousy.
No war.
Only honest love, strong enough to share the same heart without breaking it.
And when Karl finally came downstairs a little while later, rubbing sleep from his eyes, he found them both waiting for him on the couch — talking softly, laughing quietly, the quilt shared between them like it had always belonged to all three.
He stopped in the doorway.
Larisa looked up first. Calm. Serene. Unchained.
Freyja looked up second. Radiant. Warm. Honest.
Karl smiled small, real, the smile of a boy who had trained for a hundred million years and still came home to the only place that ever truly mattered.
The new story had already begun.
And it was going to be beautiful the way the spring smiles upon the one who are in love. At least, this should not be based on what my life is.