“Are you going to eat that, or are you just going to keep staring at it?” Grie rose his head in response to the question coming from beside him, snapped out of the thoughts he had been contemplating whilst staring toward his sandwich. Looking up, he saw a grinning young woman with blue and orange hair holding a tray standing next to his table. His first impression was how remarkable it was that the two contrasting colors blended so smoothly without clashing. The various shades of each color just seemed to fade toward each other, accenting the opposite in a way that could not be seen as anything but flattering. “Well, at least I already know that you just stare at things with no reason,” she said. Blushing, Grie realized he had just been gazing blankly at the girl.
“Why do you care if I finish my food or not, anyway?” Grie managed out these almost stammered words with great difficulty, probably a bit louder than necessary. Still not putting down his sandwich, he looked into the girl’s eyes. It was probably at this point, looking into her shining green eyes, that Grie first realized she was a Valkyrie. “Shouldn’t you be on Thor? I’ve never seen a Valkyrie on Osgord before.” That was true enough. Valkyrie headquarters were on Thor, and Osgord was a core planet, far from the violent rebellions.
In response to his questions, the Valkyrie set her tray on the table and sat daintily in the chair opposite Grie. “Well, for one, it doesn’t look like you’ve eaten anything at all yet, and I’m hungry enough to eat more than the food they gave me.” She lifted her fruit to him as if to show just how small the portions were. Grie had heard about Valkyrie appetites. As far as he knew, it made sense when one took into account the fact that a Valkyrie needed about twenty times the caloric intake of a normal Thorlinthian. “And as for why I’m here, that none of your business, nosey.” She stuck out her tongue at this, and Grie took the moment to realize how much of a tomboy this girl was. Her hair was up in a wyrm tail, and she was wearing black boots, a running kilt, and a tight, checkered summer shirt with a cloth hat resting atop her head.
“Hey, you’re the one who talked to me,” Grie protested. “Plus, you sat at my favorite table without my permission. That means you have to tell me one secret.” Neither of the last two were actually true, but he was making no attempt to hide that fact.
Smirking but playing along, the Valkyrie said, “You really want to know a secret?” She leaned forward, taking a bite out of the hard fruit she was holding. Grie nodded, keeping his eyes trained on hers. “Ok,” she said, “if you really want me to tell you a secret, I will.” She sat back in her chair, crossing her legs and taking another bite. It was at this time that Grie realized he had started eating his sandwich at some point. “I know who you are, and I know all about your grandfather.”
Grie choked slightly on his sandwich at this. She couldn’t know that he was Ginnung, surely. After taking a swig of water to help himself swallow, Grie gasped for air a few times before saying, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He couldn’t have sounded less convincing, but it was worth a shot.
“Right,” the Valkyrie said. “Well, anyway, you don’t have to worry. Your grandfather’s really friendly with us Valkyries, so you don’t need to concern yourself with that. I just owed you a secret, so there it is.” She reached her hand across the table, her other hand bringing the fruit up for another bite. She chewed for a little less than a milliday before swallowing. “I’m Priha’Di, by the way. I’m a flight instructor at the Valkyrie academy. Friends call me Pri or Priha. It’s up to you.” She smiled broadly as she waited for his response, taking another bite of the fruit.
With a wary glance, Grie took the hand and grasped it firmly but gently. “I’m Grie. Well, I mean, you already knew that, but introductions are weird when they only go one way.” He smiled back at her as the two pulled back their hands. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“Same here,” Priha’Di said. “So what do you do, Grie? You’re an Armadian, aren’t you?” Grie was startled for a moment at the question, but he quickly remembered that he was wearing the shirt he had gotten on Valhal during his training.
“Yeah, I am. I’m a Timids engineering technician. I keep the drives from tearing the ships around them apart.” He chuckled at the awkward fact of it all. “What’s it like being a Valkyrie?”
“I don’t know,” Priha’Di said. “I mean, that’s like asking a flirid what it’s like to be a flirid. For me, it’s just normal. I guess if I had to describe it, though,” she looked upward, scrunching her face in thought, “I’d have to say it’s fun. Sure, it can be stressful and exhausting, but when you hit the sky, and it’s just you and your copilot… It’s freeing. It’s like there’s nothing standing in your way anymore. Plus, as an instructor, I get to bring that feeling to people who’ve never experienced it before. It’s fun.” She smiled at Grie, who had finished the first half of his sandwich while she was talking and hadn’t bothered to pick up the other half. She finished off her own food and grabbed the second half of the sandwich before he could think to protest. “What’s it like being an engineering technician?”
Grie gawked for a few moments at Priha’Di’s tenacity but shook it off. “It’s pretty much none of the good things you just said, though it is usually stressful and exhausting.” He chuckled at his own commentary. “To tell the truth, I don’t want to
be a technician. I wanted to be in the Armadian Special Task Unit, but I chickened out when I was signing up and just picked the best-paying job. Turns out it pays so well because no one wants to be an Armadian Timids technician when it’s so much safer and easier to be a private Timids tech carrying freight or passengers. It’s boring, but it’s my job, and I can’t change it anymore.”
Priha’Di nodded, chomping down on the sandwich, which had been about twice as long when Grie had started talking. She took a gulp of his water after swallowing because hers was all gone. “So basically, your only way out is waiting for your service to be up or going into a higher program?” Grie nodded. “I’m sorry. That’s gotta be– Hang on.” She dropped the sandwich silently, reaching into her boot and pulling out a large knife. “I’ll be right back. The reason I’m here just passed by a few blocks down.” She jumped up and onto the railing beside their table and crouch-walked past Grie, who couldn’t help but turn his head to follow her motion. Doing so brought his face right up against hers as she leaned over to give him a quick kiss. “Don’t go anywhere, ok?”
Grie nodded, and she smiled before jumping off the railing down to the road several floors down and running off. Grie grinned inwardly and caught the waiter’s attention to buy another sandwich and get the drinks refilled. He leaned back in his chair as he waited, letting himself drift off into a light doze, despite the noisy bustle of the city around him.