We met Echo in the hall, Odin was there as was Ash and Nicky. Echo’s bride was nowhere in sight. We sat, I have to admit, I was bit tired. Do not forget I was newly with child at the time as well. Odin started his never ending ranting as soon as we were all served some very delicious mead.

“Well, girl, I warned you of this, all those open doors, something must be done, I know, I know, you have been busy, well you are past the point of getting situated as you called it and now look, just look!” he yelled. “Father” Raven warned. Honestly, I didn’t really know what I was going to do. I had pushed the thoughts of doors and the dying land, and of my past into the deepest lost parts of my mind. It was true, I had been busy. It was also true that things were now looking a bit out of control.

I asked Echo to have some food brought to the table but Odin insisted we speak urgently in private. So Raven had the food taken to our chambers and he would await me there. I walked out into the courtyard and beyond, Odin walking next to me silently. He headed over to a small group of willow trees and sat, so I followed.

“Do you know how to close the doors?” he asked…”Of course not” I replied… “This has been weighing heavily on me daughter. I have tried to find a way and no none” he said…I was shocked, Father always knew everything, right… “Why, Dreya must I know how to close doors which I did not create or open?” he demanded of me…”Odin, what say you, you did not create or open those doors, who then?” I asked…”Your Mother and she would never tell me how or how to close them for fear you would be lost forever, and now she is gone” he said quietly…

My Mother, his greatest love, how it must have pained him that she did not trust him. I did  not have time to wonder about old wounds. We sat still, thinking until he spoke again. “In truth, I did not worry much about the doors. Only getting you home. I too have put them from my mind. Still I was not over concerned. The dying lands, do you know why it is named that, of course not. That is because it is dying. The monsters that inhabit the land are killing each other and killing it. I fear their coming, bringing their death with them. Their technology, their disbeliefs and manic ways.”

“Father, Mora said something, before I remembered, she said that there are those who know, those who have some slight memory, or family tale, those who are powerful enough to come through and those who come through by accident. How many have come before?” I asked

“Only a few here and there, all sent back as quickly as they came, none really knowing what had happened, if it was truth or nightmare.” he replied

“What should I do?” I asked…”Why do all think I have every answer, every cure?” he asked me solemnly…”Because you are the first, you are Odin, you are  Zues, you are Wodan, you are Dag Dia, you are Othinn, you are Borr , you are Ymir, you are Lug, you are Cronus. You shall be all names, you are Eochaid Ollathair…. and shall walk among the living and the dead. You shall float along the river Sildr and dance upon grounds of Alfhelm. You are all things, the creator of man, knower of all things” I answered….”Yes, I am these things as I have told you since you were just a bairn. But knower of all things I am not. Knower of most things I am. Was I the first daughter or am I what is left of what was before me? Who was it who woke me into this world? I was a young man, not a babe when I woke. I know not of these things.” he boomed

That gave me pause. I had never thought beyond the stories father told. Mayhap he was exiled here as I was in the dying lands. I do not know, these things may I never know. I did know he was right in the fear of those coming from the dying lands. But I also had a strong sense that there were those who were meant to be here. With that he agreed. It would be our next step to find those and bring them home if possible. In the meantime we must find away to close the doors. One thing Odin said gave me thought, if Mother was the only one who knew how to close them, it is possible that Hiila may carry the answer within her. Again Father agreed and seemed much more relaxed.

As for the guest in the tower we waited until we returned to the keep to decide their fate…