to them still. Maybe that was enough.
“Where are you going?” Cai asked her as Astra stood up.
“I need to speak to the forest alone.” Astra kissed him on the cheek and then walked off into the woods to think and commune with Yggdrasil.
“I thought she was the forest,” Tannin said as he looked at Cai in confusion.
“She is,” Cai answered. “But it’s a rather unusual arrangement. She’s a part of the forest, and it’s a part of her, but they have also have this sort of autonomous symbiotic relationship.”
Tannin didn’t even try to figure out what that meant; he just returned his focus to the markings he was making. He had written out all nine of the immortals in his bloodline, ending with him.
“No pressure,” he whispered to himself under his breath.
Tara heard him and reached for his hand. “You can do this; we can do this together, whatever this ends up being.”
“Agreed,” he said, smiling at her. “As long as we’re together, nothing else matters to me.” He leaned across the lineage scratched into the dirt and kissed her. The taste of her lips was intoxicating and made him forget about everything else as the rest of the world melted away around them.
Cai pretended to cough to get their attention back before they got too carried away. Lopt snickered.
“So,” Lopt said after he studied his map more. “I think I can match each one of the nine of us to each one of the nine realms. For example, Helia is obviously connected to Hel, Brenna to Earth, Tannin to Valhalla, and so on and so forth. Yggdrasil is the most powerful of them all since it was responsible for holding all of the worlds together. Unfortunately, Freya is the immortal from the bloodline connected to Yggdrasil; without her, we will not be successful.”
“Can’t Astra stand in her place?” Tannin asked. “She’s a forest girl, too, right? She seems to be more connected to Yggdrasil than anyone.”
“But she is not part of our bloodline,” Lopt reminded him. “It won’t work.”
“It will if I become the conduit,” Astra said as she returned from her walk through the woods.
“I thought you said that couldn’t be done,” Cai said.
“The forest will help me, and Yggdrasil is capable of channeling that much magic. Even though the realms are split, Yggdrasil still has roots in each world. If it can reach the other realms, and I serve as the conduit to draw the power from each of you, it might just work.”
“But what about Freya?” Lopt asked. “How would we be able to do it without her magic?”
“We don’t. Freya’s magic resides on Vanaheim.”
“How is it possible that her magic would remain on Vanaheim without her?” Lopt asked.
“It is not without her. A version of Freya exists on Vanaheim with her father, Njord.”
“What do you mean a version?” Lopt asked.
“I can’t really explain that right now, but all that is important to know is that this plan has the possibility to work.”
“No, that is not all that is important to know,” Lopt said. “I want to know what you meant by a version of Freya. I deserve to know.”
Tannin raised his eyes as Lopt’s voice became louder and more stressed.
Astra was sympathetic. “All I can tell you is that even in the finality of absolute death, there are remnants, which, like whispers, can still linger.”
Cai changed the subject to get back to the matter at hand. “How will this work, Astra?”
“We will send word to all of the nine of you, coordinate a time, and at that same moment, all of you will tap into your magic, place your hand on the land of the realm to ground yourself to the root of Yggdrasil. I will channel the power of your bloodline and weave the tendrils of magic together in order to pull the realms back into formation so that they may once again rest gently in the astral branches of Yggdrasil.”
“And doing this will not harm you in any way?” Cai wanted to be sure that Astra was not putting herself a risk.
“No. The forest will be carrying most of the load. I will merely be helping to channel Freya’s energy to it.”
Lopt still wanted answers about Freya, but he was also anxious to repair the connection between the realms and get back to Celeste. “I will send word to everyone right now.”
They set the time at nightfall of the following night. The web of power that they would make would be slightly displaced