Dahlia had been with her sister on Niflheim for longer than she thought. She had been there three weeks, it was now the 22nd of July. She hadn't anticipated being there that long but as each second, hour, and day went by, she didn't want to leave. She loved the people, spending time with her sister, learning more about her magic, and she even enjoyed the training although it didn't seem like it. Akio had her training for six hours every day since the day she arrived. She would wake up at 5am every morning, with a little encouragement from Akio who would always rip the covers from her but eventually, she woke up a few minutes before he even arrived and beat him to open the door. The same training course was every day, but Dahlia had never gotten past the second part, she had gotten to the last hurdle though which was an improvement. She had been studying Aesir magic with her sister but Akio recommended books on battle strategies and training which she had also been reading. She was still hesitant about bringing up what the two lessons were that she was supposed to learn. It took her a while, but she finally figured them out.

She woke up at 4am to get changed and made her way to the 'gym' as she called their training room and began to work on the assault course, without Akio. He entered the room at 5:10am, quite surprised that she was there and attempting the course without him. She fell, of course, like always but when she saw he was in the room, she walked over to the white line and stood on it.

"Morning," Akio said.

"Morning, sir," she said standing firm like a soldier. "Permission to speak, sir?"

"Granted".

"I finally figured out the two lessons, sir".

"At ease," she relaxed, "what are the lessons?"

She hesitated, not knowing completely if she was right but it was her only guess after a moment of time trying to figure it out. She thought it was many things such as strength, stealth, silence and how to take orders but it didn't fit into how he commanded the lessons. She finally figured it out a few days prior. She said, "the first lesson is vigilance. The course changes, never the same pattern twice so you want me to be vigilant, to notice when the changes occur. The second is patience, which is why you have me staring at a wall for hours. For a war or battle to be a success, a person must be patient to get the result they want. You want me to be vigilant and patient".

Akio stepped closer and gave her a single nod, "correct. You discovered the truth quickly".

She shrugged and answered, "I'm on a time limit being here. I want to learn as much as possible".

He pointed to be beginning of the course and said, "again".

"Sir, I cannot beat it. No matter how patient or vigilant I am, I can't beat it. I think it was designed so that I couldn't".

"Wrong," he almost barked, "the course can be beaten by you. It was designed for you the moment you entered the room. You have the power to defeat it".

She thought over his words and said, "power? I can use my magic?" He didn't answer. "I thought I couldn't, I thought this was just physical".

"I never said that. The course was designed for every aspect of yourself. Go again, but this time patience, vigilance and use everything you have".

She nodded and went to the beginning, and with the signal from Akio she went. She paused at the beginning, taking deep breaths as she closed her eyes and imagined her magic in her mind. She took in her lessons with her sister and father and when she opened her eyes, everything was slower to her. The slight wave in the water could clearly be recognised and the slight vibration of the stones that would sink stood out to her. She ran across memorising the pattern. She did the same with the rubble, going over and under the five walls, noticing the vibrations and which way they were going. She couldn't help but stop and lose her focus after she had gotten past the rubble, knowing it was her accomplishment that she had never done before. Approaching the third part, she saw that it was a climbing wall. She didn't know how it would trick her, so she slowly summoned a small fire ball in her hand and threw it towards the wall. Instantly, multiple spikes appeared through the wall and while they were out, she froze them so they wouldn't return. She climbed the wall with ease avoiding the spikes as she did before reaching the top.

When at the top, the next was a balancing bridge. She looked down to see that she was 30ft in the air thanks to the climbing wall. She took her first step on the bridge and immediately, a large axe began swinging blocking her path. She tried to freeze it, but it didn't work, and she saw no other way of getting across. Akio's word then hit her, "you have the power to defeat it". She took a slow breath and focused on the end of the path, ignoring the four axes that swung and slowly walked forward. Her magic sprouting from her hands but her only focus was on the end. She reached the end of the 20ft path and sighed in relief.

The next part of the course was the ditch. She would have to leap from gaps by landing on slopes. She had to jump three times. Each path was covered in water and so she remembered the first lesson that her father taught her: levitating the water. She focused as she held out her hand like he taught her and as each droplet rose, covered in her magic, she threw the water against the wall. With the path now cleared, she jumped each gap and almost fell on the final landing slope. The next was an apex ladder and from what she could sense, there didn't seem to be anything wrong with it in the sense that it would change. The steps, however, that she had to step on, were not even a centimetre thick. She knew her balance would be put to the test. There were seven steps to the top and seven back down. With caution, she did each step and quickly learned that running quickly helped as the force of each step pushed her to go faster so her balance wasn't put to the test sooner.

The seventh stage was a terrace, jumping and landing from a height. She walked to the edge to see that there were blocks attached to the wall that she was expected to jump to, but as soon as she looked down her vision became blurred, the blocks moving. She felt the magic used to distort her vision. She attempted to jump to the first but fell and only didn't fail the course because she managed to grip the block as she fell, pulling herself back up in the process. Standing with her back against the terrace, she closed her eyes and held her hand over the blocks, sensing where they were, staying as close to the terrace as possible. She knew her vision would trick her mind, so she'd use her magic for her sight. As she jumped the second step, she landed but faltered and pushed herself against the wall to calm her heartbeat. The next two steps were taken similar until she reached the end where she finally opened her eyes, her vision restored to normal.

Rings were next. She had to swing on each one, below her was water. She reached for the first one and nothing happened but when she reached for the second, it set on fire and burned her hand. She quickly retracted her hand and hissed, seeing the burn clearly. Her left arm on the ring began to shake so she raised the water to drench each of the rings so they'd have trouble setting on fire. None of the rings after that reacted like the second. She then had to face a 20ft wall run. She ignored the rope that dangled in the centre as she could sense a slight vibration coming from it, knowing it would react if she touched it. Running as fast as she could up the hill wall, she jumped as she got closer to the top and her fingertips gripped on, her fingers turning white in the process. She pulled herself up with the strength she had and lied on the top for a moment before standing to her feet. She walked to the edge of the wall and saw that there was no way down; no rope, no ladder, no blocks, just a straight flat wall and at the bottom a simple mat.

Dahlia didn't know what to do, she sensed no magic at work that was supposed to help her and looked to Akio for advice. He just stood there, admiring how far she had finally gotten in such a short amount of time. Words rang in Dahlia's mind, something that her sister and father had always told her, "trust your magic". So, she did. She turned around and prayed to her father that it would work, that her magic would truly protect her from what she was about to do if she was wrong. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and fell down the 30ft drop.

She wasn't expecting to land on a soft landing, opening her eyes to see that she now was on a large inflatable. Sighing in relief, she slid down the side where Akio was as he said, "a matter of faith. A warrior takes risks, even when they do not know the outcome. The fall was a matter of faith, not only in your magic but in yourself. That object was always going to catch you, it was just disguised so you would not see it".

Finally calming down from the thrill of the course, she smiled and jumped slightly as she said, "I did it. I finally beat it".

"Yes, you did, now the real training begins". He walked towards the wall filled with blades of different sizes and shapes before pulling out a large silver blade with a leather handle and a Norse symbol on that Dahlia recognised as strength. He handed it to her and said, "the Queen mentioned that she has taught you the basics during your time in your dream world, as she calls it".

"Yes, sir".

"Good," he gestured for her to stand further back and she took her stance. He pulled his sword out from his waist and said, "let's begin" he sprang into action, impressed that she managed to block his first attack.

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After training, Dahlia bathed and got dressed before going to her sister's office. She entered the room, her sister sat at her desk, not realising that she entered till she closed the door. Hela looked up from her work and said surprised, "is it that time already?" Looking at the clock.

Dahlia giggled as she walked to her and said, "what're you doing?"

"Paperwork".

"Paperwork? Since when did you do paperwork?"

Hela twirled her quill around guiltily as she leaned back into her chair and said, "since I may have been neglecting it for the past few weeks".

"Hela," Dahlia scolded as she crossed her arms over her chest. "You shouldn't have fallen behind because of me".

"It's nothing," Hela shrugged it off. "Just a couple of files".

"Oh yeah," Dahlia said doubtfully, "what have you got to do?"

Hela swiftly looked at a couple of papers and said, "err, the usual. Transfers from across the realm such as food, supplies, money. People from other worlds, contacting me about wanting to meet etc, no doubt a ploy to try to get me to marry so they can have my power," both girls laughed, "records of people that need to be sentenced who have been taken to Mareritt but I'm not too far behind on them, I've been doing them and attempting to give them sentences when you've been at training. Also, release forms of people who've served their sentences and what the guards say if they've changed and deserve to leave Mareritt...oh and request forms to leave Mareritt".

"Request forms?" Dahlia said with her eyebrows lifted in disbelief. "You can request to be taken out of Mareritt?"

"Yes, but it doesn't happen often. Even most people who've served their sentence don't leave when the time is up. It all depends on their attitude, if they've suffered enough and if they've felt guilty for what they did wrong. Takes weeks of information gathering from different people before a decision is made. Even the council get involved. Their cultural understanding of people from different worlds helps me decide. People in Mareritt can request to leave, even early, but that's an ever-rarer occurrence. Also, people from Lykke can request people from Mareritt, if they're a relative of some sort, for release. It's a very long and draining process".

"Well while you do that," she said walking to one of the bookcases to choose a book. She found one quickly and walked to her leather seat by the fire, "I'll be sat reading".

"What about lunch, and you haven't had breakfast?"

"It's okay...how about this, you finish the one you were working on and then we'll go, deal?"

Hela smiled and said, "I'm the older sister, I'm supposed to influence you to do good and do the right thing, not the other way around".

Dahlia shrugged teasingly, "well when you're a Queen and you have a lot on your plate, your little sister can turn into your main motivator. Now work," she said sternly as she looked down to her book and couldn't help but smile when she saw her sister do just that.

A further ten minutes later is when Hela put her quill down and said, "finished with that document. I was thinking, how about we go for a picnic for lunch?"

"We've never done that," Dahlia said closing her book and standing.

"I know. I wanted to do something different. I have had the kitchen prepare us one already, if you wanted to go but if not, we can eat in the dining room as always".

"No," Dahlia shook her head smiling, "I think a picnic is a great idea".

"Let's go," Hela stood and the sisters linked arms immediately.

Hela gave two servants their orders. One was to go get the stablehands to get their horses ready and the other was to go get the picnic baskets while Hela and Dahlia got their cloaks. It was the first time Dahlia would be going out of the city and it was for a picnic with her sister, so it made it all the more interesting and exciting. Getting to the courtyard, Akio was already suited up with his sword as he would accompany them for their safety. Dahlia froze at the top of the steps and said, "they're not horses".

Hela laughed and said, "I know but I told the servants that because I wanted you to see them first when I told you what we'd be riding. These are Thestrals".

Dahlia walked down the steps slowly, until she stood in front of a Thestral. It has a big, bony figure with their dragon-like face which bore white glittering eyes that lacked expression and pupils. Fleshless, lustrous bodies covered with a translucent and glossy coat which makes it smooth and dark but slightly slippery, and so thin that the bones are clearly defined. Their large wings sprouting from their backs didn't possess any feathers at all, unlike usual winged creatures. Their wings were black and leathery, more similar to that of a bat. They also had sharp fangs that could easily be used to seize and slash their pray.

Dahlia reached out and began to stroke the snout of the one that stepped forward to her and smiled. Hela said, coming closer, "in this realm, anyone can see them as they were born here. They're one of the few creatures that are naturally born here. Most run in herds but there are a few trained ones that we use to travel, as they allow it. A Thestral is a very smart creature, smart enough that they can understand their rider's word when asked to travel to a specific location. Very loyal and will attack if they sense a threat. They have them on Midgard".

Dahlia's head immediately whipped round to her sister and said, "they're not on Midgard. I would have seen them if they were".

Hela nodded, "Alec sent a heard to Midgard at the beginning of his reign because whenever he visited with them, they seemed to like it. They've been there for a very long time. On Midgard, it is a different matter of sight. You can only see them if you have seen death and if you truly understand death. They are rare though there and many believe they are omen of misfortune and bad luck but that's just because they don't understand. Lily told me that there was, in fact, a loyal Hogwarts herd that pulled the carriages. It's also taught in your fifth-year Care of Magical Creatures class. When you go back to Hogwarts, it's likely you'll..."

"I'll see them, because of Cedric's death and finally knowing and accepting death".

Hela nodded then said, "the one you are stroking is yours. It's a she and it's a gift to you. She doesn't have a name, she's just finished her training so it's up to you".

Dahlia smiled at her Thestral as she licked her hand and Dahlia said, "hey girl, what do you wanna be called...how about Eclipse?"

The newly named Eclipse nodded slightly before bending down and sprouting her wing to the side. Hela said, "she wants you to mount her. She accepts you as her owner and rider now".

Akio held out his hand to assist her and Dahlia climbed onto the wing before mounting Eclipse's back. Eclipse then stood up straight as Akio directed Dahlia to hold onto her mane to ensure balance and to place her legs behind the wing joints for safety. He assured her that Eclipse wouldn't cause her harm and would keep her as safe as possible because of her loyalty.

Akio then jumped on his Thestral, Abrafo, the name meaning warrior which Dahlia just smiled and shook her head at when she heard it. Her sister's Thestral was also male and she named hers Zelda, originally meaning dark battle. Once everyone was on their Thestral and had the picnic basket, they set off running across the courtyard but then took to the air. Dahlia wrapped her arms around Eclipse's neck in panic but the Thestral turned her head to check on her rider and Dahlia smiled as she slowly began to pull away her tight grip. Her sister flew to the right of her while Akio flew on the other side.

Hela laughed and smiled while going through the air and shouted, "I thought you enjoyed flying".

"I've never been this fast before," she shouted back.

They flew through the air at an incredible rate for a few minutes, going around the city, and when they got to the castle of the old Kings, the Thestrals turned left towards the forest. They began their decent not too far away from the forest but not too close that the shade hit them. They could see the whole city from the hill they were sat on; the castle of the old Kings, the palace, the people, but Dahlia could also see a hint of the red sky in the distance and it made her think of the people of Mareritt and how different it was over there. She had kept her promise to her sister and did not to go into the south wing towards Mareritt, but her curiosity still got to her sometimes.

They set up the large blanket and placed the food out and even gave the Thestrals some raw meat before Eclipse and Zelda began to run and fly around. Akio stood not too far away but out of hearing, scanning the area for any threats while Abrafo, his Thestral, did the same but in the sky. It seemed almost natural for both soldier and Thestral to be doing this, so Dahlia asked Hela just as she put a blueberry in her mouth, "okay. I've been here almost a month and I don't think I've ever seen him eat or sleep. Does he?"

Hela giggled and answered, "a person who's dead doesn't have to eat or sleep. I do know he eats at celebrations and stuff like that, but I never see him. If he does, it's up to him. Besides that, I know he meditates at night, but I don't know if he sleeps".

"Let me guess," Dahlia said glancing to Abrafo, "his Thestral is similar to him".

Hela nodded, "Abrafo was a very quick learner, the trainers said. Took orders and guided the younger Thestrals to do good and succeed. However, when it came to finding him a master, he didn't like anyone we chose; he would show his dislike instantly".

"How did he end up with Akio then?" Dahlia asked biting into a strawberry.