Astyr stood in her bedroom waiting for her mother to give her the okay to go downstairs. There was a gentle buzz coming from the patio area made up of the murmured conversations of all the guests who had come for her sixteenth birthday. The number of attendees far exceeded the number of people that Astyr actually knew but recent events and the reappearance of Arianna had brought visitors to the Falkor’s mansion in droves.

The first order of business was Menha. Tyr was adamant about having her tried and brought to justice quickly; he was concerned about possible rescue attempts by Isis. It should have been fairly straightforward but, like most things that involved high-ranking people of power, it wasn’t.

Queen Elianna insisted that as the crime committed was against an Alfar Royal only the Alfar judicial council had jurisdiction in the case. It was a sound argument but Tyr refused to agree to any plan that involved Menha, and especially Arianna, traveling. He argued that Menha was Aesir and could not therefore be tried by any judicial board that didn’t include some members of the Aesir Council of Elders.

The final compromise agreed to by both sides involved the case being heard by both the Alfar judicial council and the Aesir Council of Elders, minus Tyr because of his personal ties to the victim, at the suddenly popular Falkor home. In order to avoid suspicions over the large gathering, the trial had been scheduled for the day before Astyr’s birthday so that her party would be the cover story for the large crowd.

Of course, that meant that the large crowd was waiting downstairs for Astyr to come down and go through the ceremony that marked the beginning of her body’s regeneration process. Astyr was feeling so nervous that she could barely hear anything around her over the rush of blood pounding through her veins.

The last couple of weeks had been bad enough.

It was normal for their species to experience difficulties with managing their energy levels in the short period just before the regeneration process started, but for Astyr it had been a truly harrowing experience. Her energy levels had been completely out of her control. If she stood too close to a window, her body would absorb so much radiation from the sunlight that she would soon be giving off sparks. Even taking a hot shower caused her problems. The energy from the heat would go straight through her skin. She had no control over the process so her only recourse was to avoid sources of power as much as possible.

The only time she had actively sought to absorb energy was when she was being given lessons. Missing school had given her plenty of time to spend with her parents and they had taken over the job of teaching her about her abilities from Laure and Grima. Tyr and Arianna were having a great time teaching their daughter as much as they could; it was impossible to make up for all the time they had lost, but they were doing their best to create a vast well of new family memories to draw from.

Tyr showed Astyr a few things that he had learned over the years, like how to use energy to push off from the ground so that he could make impossibly high jumps and how to add energy to a punch so that it dramatically increased the power of his hit. Arianna, meanwhile, taught Astyr a few of tricks that had nothing to do with fighting. The things that Astyr learned from her mother fell into two main categories; healing, at which Arianna was highly skilled, and a group of tricks that Astyr liked to think of as ‘the feminine arts’. Those included making her eyelashes grow suddenly to impossible lengths so that she could flutter them prettily and suffusing the air around her with a subtle glow.

Both Tyr and Hakon voiced objections to that line of instruction but it was Elianna, surprisingly, who insisted that Astyr should learn those things. Her reasons had nothing to do with matters of the heart, however; but diplomacy. Elianna felt that a female royal should be able to use any weapon in her arsenal to rule, and that Astyr would be much better served to begin learning that right away. That reasoning made Astyr very uneasy; she simply couldn’t wrap her mind around the fact that she was second in line for a throne.

In fact, she had a hard time keeping in mind the fact that both of her parents were high-ranking members of their society. To Astyr, spending time with them at home, they were just normal parents. Although Astyr was willing to concede that normal parents didn’t drink blood and kill people by ripping their heads off or by draining them of life. It was more in how they just all fit together. Astyr no longer felt the loneliness and isolation that had been so much a part of her early life. They were all living together under one roof and their lives had settled into a comfortable routine.

The arrival of the judicial council and the Aesir Council of Elders had completely scrapped that routine.

Astyr’s parents had been forced to return to their roles in full pomp and importance. With Tyr, it wasn’t so difficult an adjustment since Astyr had seen him in front of the council before. However, it was disconcerting for her to reconcile her mother, who had been half-starved and ragged when she first met her and lovingly down-to-earth with Astyr once she recovered, with the stunning princess who entered the dining room with Queen Elianna and was bowed to by all the Alfar present. Astyr was proud to be her mother’s daughter, but it wrapped her heart in ice to hear Arianna give witness against in Menha in a voice that was so crisp and businesslike that it was completely devoid of all emotion. Astyr wasn’t sure if Arianna spoke that way to keep the pain of her ordeal private or if it was something that was expected of her mother’s position.

The lack of sentimentality on Arianna’s part didn’t help Menha’s case, however. She was sentenced to life imprisonment and had been shipped off under guard to the only prison that the Aesir had ever built to become its second ever resident. Astyr felt true relief the moment that Menha left the house. Having Menha around made Astyr feel like she was living with a giant target over them all. Even though the forest where Arianna had been held captive was thoroughly searched, there was no sign of Isis and no way to fathom her plans.

It would have been understandable if Tyr had decided to take them into hiding, but Tyr had vowed to never again let his life be hijacked by someone else’s plots for revenge. The tragedy with Loki made Tyr feel strongly that it was pointless to waste one’s time and to deny oneself the joys and experiences of life just because there was danger in the world. Isis would come, of that, he was sure, but she wasn’t here now; his wife and daughter were, and Tyr did not intend to lose even one more moment of his time with them.

Maybe life wasn’t going to be completely normal, or always easy, but they were together and that was all that Astyr could ask for at the moment. She knew that there were decisions to make, and soon, about where they would live and how they were going to get Astyr out of the foster system, but those things could wait one more night. This night was too important and it was all about Astyr.

Tonight, Astyr would either become immortal or die in the attempt. She knew that she was surrounded by people who loved her and would do everything they could to help her through the process safely, but she also knew that it did sometimes go wrong.

The thought of going through this in front of every senior Aesir, every Alfar high judge, every member of the Alfar Royal family, and Hakon’s entire extended family made her feel extremely anxious. She already knew, with no uncertainty, that she was very different from other immortals; growing up being different from everyone around her had inured her to the feeling, but having to put those differences on display for the assembly outside was causing her to feel a sense of overwhelming fear.

She was trembling all over as she waited for her mother to finish looking her over. Arianna had been desperate to help Astyr get ready but it wasn’t possible. Astyr hadn’t been able to let anyone touch her for the past two weeks. The last attempt, by Hakon, had led to him sustaining third degree burns on his hand. The burns healed quickly, but Hakon had assured her that it was intensely painful. Being able to throw her arms around him was one of the first things that Astyr was looking forward to when, if, the regeneration process was finished successfully.

Astyr waited as Arianna used a small stream of energy to readjust the long folds of her gown. The gown was heavy because it was made of pure gold. Astyr had already lost a few articles of clothing recently due to them being singed or catching on fire from the heat of the energy that was coming off of her body, so it was decided that a gown that couldn’t burn was the only way to ensure that Astyr wasn’t left standing in the altogether in front of the most important members of society. The gold was woven into a very fine mesh that looked like golden silk. The strapless gown clung tightly to Astyr’s body, emphasizing her curves, before falling to the floor where the hem of the full skirt pooled. Astyr was completely enchanted by the dress; she had never before worn anything so luxurious, and she felt like a fairy-tale princess as she waited to go downstairs.

Gerda opened the door to Astyr’s bedroom with a small knock and stuck her head in to tell them it was time. This made Astyr’s heart give a nervous flutter and she turned to her mother for one last moment of reassurance.

Arianna smiled at her and told her not to worry. “We’re all going to be right there with you, Astyr,” she said kindly, “You don’t think I’d let anything happen to you when I’ve barely gotten to spend any time with you, yet, do you?”

Astyr smiled back at her mother and then followed her out of the room to the head of the stairs. Astyr was supposed to wait for Arianna to get to the bottom before making her own descent, alone. Astyr focused on her mother as she glided down the steps; watching Arianna to see one last time how she was supposed to do it and also to keep from thinking about what was about to happen.

Arianna made the long journey downstairs look effortless. Her long white gown trailed behind her as she floated from one step to the next. Her head stayed level and her hand was extended toward the banister, almost but not quite touching it. Arianna’s long white hair had quickly returned to its normal, thick and lustrous state, and it bounced behind her as she descended the stairs. When her elegant foot finally alit on the floor, Astyr’s stomach contracted painfully; it was now her turn.

Astyr waited until her mother had reached her father’s side and turned to look up at her before she took one last deep breath and stepped down. Astyr let her mind go blank as she kept her eyes firmly on her mother. She didn’t think of anything other than the one step in front of her as she slowly made her way down. She didn’t hear the excited murmurs of any of the people in the rotunda; to her, there was no one there but Arianna who was waiting for her at the bottom. Astyr just had to step down to get there.

When she reached the bottom, there was a small smattering of applause and she gave a small, nervous smile and quickly went to her parents’ side. Her entire body was thrumming with excitement, nervousness, and pent up energy. She was shaking so badly she could barely feel her feet as she made her way out to the patio with her parents on either side of her.

The energy from all the lights that were illuminating the house and the patio were making her tingle all over and her chest felt tight. Every step she took towards the platform that was waiting on the opposite side of the pool was bringing closer to the moment when she would become immortal. That thought kept her moving.

Guests were craning their necks to get a glimpse of her but she didn’t look around at them. Her vision was focused on only one person, Hakon. He was standing beside the platform in his tuxedo with a smoldering look on his face. His deep green eyes were boring into Astyr as if he could make that one expression into a physical connection between them. Astyr smiled at him to let him know that she shared the sentiment. She felt some of her nervousness dissipate in her eagerness to get the ceremony done with so she could make that connection with him a reality.

Astyr had to concentrate on getting up the steps to the platform. Getting up without any assistance while trying to keep from tripping on the hem of her gown was a small feat. She took her time and managed to retain her dignity in front of the assembly of high-ranking Aesir and Alfar. Queen Elianna even managed to give her a small nod of acknowledgment as Astyr took her place at the center of the small stage.

The tingling sensation that had begun earlier was now a full-blown reverberation. The sounds of the crowd that had been drowned out before by her pounding heartbeat were now swallowed up by the noise of wind that only she could hear rushing past her head. The ends of her hair were flying around her head and whipping in front of her face as she turned to her father. Tyr was trying to cover his concern with a brave smile but he wasn’t succeeding. Grima stepped up to his side and handed him the large, ornate, golden goblet that Astyr had seen at Gunnar’s birthday ceremony. The blood in the goblet would give her the last jolt of energy that her body needed to begin regenerating.

Tyr tried to hand it carefully over to her but had to back away as bright blue sparks shot out at him. Arianna took it from him and gave it to her daughter, ignoring the painful burns to her hands. The red marks were gone before Astyr even lifted the heavy cup to her lips.

Astyr gave her mother one more smile before she closed her eyes and began to drink the thick, coppery tasting liquid. She put everything else out of her mind as she slowly swallowed mouthful after mouthful of human blood. It became easier to shut out the world around her as she drank; the noise of the wind got louder, making it impossible for her to hear anything around her.

She couldn’t feel anything other than the powerful vibration that was coursing through her body.

Even time itself seemed to be beyond her notice.

Astyr’s world had contracted to the space around her, the goblet in her hands, and the blood that she was drinking. The words that her father was saying were beyond her. The gasps and whispers from the guests were too far removed from her sphere to be noticed. The urgent questions that her mother asked of her own mother couldn’t get through the gale that was enclosing her. Astyr was an island of calm in an ocean that had given itself over to a raging storm. Anyone on the other side of that ocean was as inaccessible to Astyr as being on another planet.

When the goblet was finally empty, Astyr lowered it from her lips and slowly opened her eyes.

The goblet fell to the ground forgotten as Astyr registered the looks of fear and concern on the faces of the people around her. Something was wrong. The air that surrounded her was glowing brightly and bolts of lightning were shooting out at the people standing too close. Astyr turned to her mother for reassurance but Tyr and Elianna were pulling her mother back. Astyr tried to take a step towards her but her legs wouldn’t move. Astyr panicked as she tried harder to get her foot to lift up off the ground with no success. She looked down and that was when she saw her hands.

Her hands were invisible.

She stopped trying to move and simply raised her hand in front of her face. She could see her mother’s tear-streaked face straight through her palm. It was the most disconcerting thing she had ever felt before. Astyr knew her hand was there, right in front of her face, but it was vibrating so fast that she could see right through her own flesh and bone.

Arianna was trying to get her hand up, possibly in an attempt to help Astyr by drawing off some of the energy, but Tyr and Elianna were physically holding her back and restraining her. Astyr tried to tell her that it was okay, that she was fine, but she couldn’t make herself heard over the screaming storm of power that surrounded her.

The light around her was getting brighter, it was changing from a bright glow to a solid wall of energy and people started to run for the shelter of the house as lightning began to strike faster around her.

Astyr tried harder to scream but she could no longer feel her own chest. She couldn’t feel herself drawing in breath. Panic set in as the world around her got farther and farther away.

She saw Hakon fighting against Frey, Glin and Gunnar as they tried to pull him back towards the house and she raised her transparent hand in a wave of farewell that he couldn’t see as she collapsed onto the platform.

As Astyr fell, a powerful blast radiated out from her prone body. It was so strong that it knocked down everyone who had not retreated to the safety of the house and shattered the glass of the French doors, showering those who had made it inside with stinging shards of glass. The entire area was silent and stunned. The people who had fallen to the ground were still.

Several moments passed like a bated breath before the people around the pool began to stir.

Most were too stunned and confused to do anything other than pick themselves up and look around anxiously. Not Tyr and Hakon. They both rushed towards the charred remains of the platform and worked together to turn Astyr over so that she was lying on her back.

She looked perfectly composed. She might have been simply sleeping if it weren’t for the fact that her chest was completely still. She wasn’t breathing.

Hakon wasted no time in checking the side of her neck for a pulse. He briefly informed Tyr that her heart was beating before leaning down to administer mouth-to-mouth. He put his hand under her neck and made sure that her head was tilted back before leaning over and putting his mouth over her lips. He was just about to reach up and pinch her nose shut when he felt her lips move. He jerked back in surprise and looked down to see Astyr staring up at him with a smile.

“I would have been happy with just a hug,” Astyr said to him softly, “but I like your idea better.”

Before Hakon could react, Tyr pulled her up and wrapped his own strong arms around her.

“You’re alive,” Tyr said repeatedly as he rocked her like a baby.

Astyr couldn’t say anything to him because he had her face pressed tightly against his chest. She just put her arms around him and let her father hold her. She understood that he needed the reassurance just as much as she did at the moment.

They were soon pulled apart by Arianna who joined the group, desperate to touch Astyr to be sure that she was fine.

Astyr was fine. Indeed, huddling with her parents, with her boyfriend and his family, with Grima and Elianna, she felt better than she ever had before. She was now immortal and she had a long life, filled with family and friends, ahead of her.

Astyr Tyr knew all about being the new girl, but now she was beginning to learn about being the girl who belonged.

Born Immortal Copyright 2011 Molly Rogers

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