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“When do you think this will end?” Atreus whispered to Sindri from where they were sitting at the dwarf’s table. They were sitting on the side closest to the stairs, attempting to stay out of the way of the rest of the people in the house with them.
Sindri turned towards said people, stopping his motions of anxiously messing with his hands to assess the arguing adults. Neither the dwarf or giant had any idea of how the arguing started, but they both knew it would not end anytime soon. Freya and Kratos were going at it with Mimir and Tyr trying to put in their own opinions, and Brok arguing with everyone. All in all, they were quite loud, and it was giving the dwarf concerns for Atreus’ hearing. Giants were known for their good senses, but that also made them more sensitive to certain things such as loud arguing people.
“Truthfully, I don’t think it can end,” the blacksmith sighed, glaring at his rude house guests. How dare they be so rude in his home in front of an impressionable child nonetheless? But the ‘impressionable child’ didn’t seem bothered by anything other than the noise level.
“I wish I could just leave,” the young giant grumbled, he didn’t even have the freedom to go to the room given to him seeing as how the bundle of arguing adults had gathered in Sindri’s study. That was the final push for the dwarf, he was uncomfortable and so was his nephew, both things he was determined to fix. And with that thought he implemented his new plan.
“Come on kid, we're going.” Sindri abruptly stood up and made his way towards the door with a steady march, leaving a surprised Atreus scrambling to catch up.
“Going where??” The small jotunn questioned, his face betrayed his confusion, Odin had spies in just about every nook and cranny of the realms after all.
“I have an errand to run in Svartalfheim, and you’re just the person to help!” The blacksmith explained happily as they exited his home, heading towards the mystic gateway with more speed than Atreus thought he had.
“Okay…?” The boy seemed concerned about leaving his father but followed after his dwarven uncle nonetheless. His armor gave off small sounds of movement as he rose from the table and hurried towards the gateway where Sindri was already waiting. “What kind of errand are we doing?”
“Oh, just have to pick up some minerals and get a few items from the market. Usually that would be Brok’s job, but he seems… ‘preoccupied’.” The dwarf in mention could be heard from where they were at the mystic gateways alongside the loud voices of their companions. It surprised Sindri that Kratos was too caught up in talk to realize his son was no longer in the same room as him.
It was likely that the blacksmith would have to deal with the repercussions of separating the two later. Especially since after Atreus had vanished for two days Kratos had become twice as protective as usual. Sindri didn’t blame the man, he had already had his round of berating the young giant about how stupid of an idea it was to go wandering off. It hurt even more that the kid had refused to tell anyone where he had been, although he claimed that he wasn’t alone on his makeshift adventure. But for now that didn’t matter, the blacksmith could easily keep an eye on him as they went through Svartalfheim, and it would be nice to keep their minds off of those topics at the moment.
It took them mere minutes to activate the gateway and start their walk through Ygddrasil’s branches. Simple conversation seemed to be out of reach at the moment but the silence was a comforting contrast to the racket that made up the inside of their home. Already both of them felt more at ease, and allowed themselves to gaze upon the scenery that Ygddrasil provided. But it didn’t take long for a mystic gateway to appear in front of them, startling Sindri enough that it made Atreus giggle slightly at his reaction. In return the dwarf sent a glare to the giant, causing him to continue laughing. His amusement died down as they went through the gateway to see Nidavellir lying before them.
The large town was quite a sight for the eyes in Sindri’s opinion. The carefully planned architecture, the colors and sounds, of course the odd plant growth that lay in the irrigation systems was not quite as nice. That and the lack of cleanliness, with food being left out in stalls, pumpkins and gourds sitting in the streets, the dwarves under the Aesirs control had clearly forgotten how to do anything but create weapons. And even then they were of questionable quality.
“Hey Sin? Why do all the dwarves here hate outsiders? I get that they have to deal with the Aesir, but why do they hate people who aren’t Aesir?” Atreus pondered, “how are we going to run any errands if all the people here don’t want to talk to us?”
“The dwarves I do business with aren’t exactly like the ones you've met, they’re more like Durlinn.” The blacksmith explained patiently, the fact that they were like Durlinn was why Brok was the one who dealt with them in the first place. But now Sindri could make Atreus deal with them instead if need be. “And yes, due to Aesir influence, the people of Nidavelir aren’t the most welcoming, and Odin isn’t keen on letting them forget that he rules them so those who help outsiders are not exactly helping themselves.” He continued, the pathway in front of them became a wooden bridge as they came closer to town.
Beside him Atreus made a noise of understanding, but his attention was quickly drawn to the water below them. The slightly murky blue depths held plenty of creatures, none of which Sindri wanted to meet. The young giant on the other hand was quite fond of animals and probably would have attempted to jump in, if not for his lack of ability to swim. But at least it was entertaining to watch the boy admire the plain fish Sindri had seen all the time when growing up.
He leaned precariously against the railing that was barely half of his height, a smile stretched his features, it felt odd for Sindri to see him so happy. Usually the young giant held a more stoic face. Whether that was something taught by his father or just something he picked up over the years, the blacksmith didn’t know.
“As much as it's fun to enjoy fish, we should probably be going.” He commented, feeling a tad bad when the small jotunn turned disheartening away from his observations. But they were on a schedule, so it was necessary to continue on their way. The others could only argue for so long he supposed.
The road beneath them remained stone, although it got increasingly worn down from use the farther into Nidavelir they went. Houses and stalls also became more frequent, with abundance of produce and small goods being available for buying. Most of the dwarves that lived in the capital were out and about, but it appeared some still stayed in their houses, cautious after Kratos had made his way through the city. The citizens that were outside looked at the duo oddly, Sindri figured they had the right since it wasn’t every day a legendary Huldra Brother went traveling around with what appeared to be a midgardian child.
“Well hey there sugar!” An accented voice called to them from their right. “What're you doing with such a sweet looking thing? Your brother too busy to do the dirty work?”
“Hello Lunda, good to see you doing well, and this is Atreus, he's not as sweet as he looks, believe me.” Sindri joked, getting a wounded sound from the jotunn in response and a chortle from the other dwarf.
“Ha! Good to see you still have a sense of humor in ya! I thought that had gone away with all your senses.” Lunda responded, digging her elbow humorously into the other dwarf’s ribs, causing the man to hold back a gag, while she gave a not so subtle wink to Atreus. “But it's good to see you're still alive and well! Oh, and tell your brother next time you see him that I've set up camp in Vanaheim if he wants to share a drink!”
“I’ll be sure to carry your message to him, but that will have to be after we’ve run our errands.” As much as Sindri was all for getting his brother out of the house, right now was not the bestest of times.
“Well thanks anyway sugar! And sweetheart? Your new apprentice looks a little worn out, hope you're not workin ‘im too hard.” she commented, giving Atreus a kind pat on the arm as she walked past them.
“I don’t feel very worn out,” the boy grumbled once she was out of ear shot, confusion shaping his face as he wondered what she had meant.
“You have been through quite a bit in the past few days.” Sindri pointed out, trying his hardest not to bring up the kid’s more rash decisions he had been making lately. It concerned the dwarf how little Atreus seemed to care about his own life and wellbeing.
The jotunn seemed to shy away from the remark, guilt weighed on the boy for stressing his family out. But in truth it wasn’t as if he had any choice in the matter. But that was not something for his dwarven uncle to know about.
How could that even be explained? That he had magically teleported himself into the locked realm of Jotunheim through Ymir’s dream? None of them would believe him and they already thought that he had been in Asgard visiting with their greatest enemy. As much as he had thought about acting as a spy in Asgard, there was no saying whether or not it would work at all. None of them trusted him, and none of them would believe him.
“…were you safe?” The question took the small giant by surprise, and he took a moment to zone back into the surrounding world to gaze questioningly at the dwarf. “When you were on your own. I mean.” While he turned to Sindri, Sindri turned away from him.
“Yeah, but I wasn’t on my own,” his voice grew more quiet towards the end, nervous about whether telling his family he wasn’t by himself would break the promise he made to Angrboda. She was one of the few giants left, he had no need to get on her bad side so soon in their friendship let alone at all.
“So you weren’t in Asgard but you weren’t alone?” Sindri asked, attempting to piece just how exactly it all fit together while apparently still being true. Letting his feet guide him deeper into the city, he only had to collect a few items but he was already regretting this adventure.
“Yes?” The jotun had attempted for it to sound like an answer, but he wasn’t known for his confidence. He also wasn’t known for staying on topic very well, or really he wasn’t known at all, living in the woods does that to people. “Hey, where are we? I haven’t seen this part of the city before, and who was that dwarf you talked to?” Atreus was almost always filled with questions about the things around him; it was an endearing trait that remained with him even after all that had happened to him. But sometimes it made Sindri realize why Kratos kept Mimir around.
“Think of this like a back alley, and that was Lunda, a friend of Broks,” the dwarf clarified, leading them deeper into the twisting tunnels of Nidavellir’s backstreets. Before long they had reached the end of the alley they were heading down, ending in a small red door, inconspicuous and hidden in the shadows.
Sindri allowed himself a moment of breathing before he reached out a knocked gently against the wood in a short and abrupt pattern. And had to stop himself from reaching for a cleaning rag on his belt that wasn’t there. The people who lived in the area most certainly weren’t the type to clean things, who knew if they even washed their vegetables? Or their fruit before they ate it? Truly the Asgardians had made Svartalfheim lose most of what it used to be.
It took a minute or two before the door opened, revealing a skinny dwarf with a shaggy beard and marks of dirt on his face. He glowered at the duo before opening the door wider and stepping to the side, eyes remaining trained on Atreus as they passed. The boy had to stoop slightly to fit inside the house, but the tall ceiling allowed him to stretch out again once they were inside.
“Who's the kid?” The dwarf asked curtly, he was not the kind of dwarf to take kindly to uninvited guests apparently, but Sindri couldn’t blame him. Banif had always been rather suspicious of others, but at this point it was getting slightly annoying with how much he believed others were going to magically teleport behind him and stab him in the back.
“I’m Atreus, it’s nice to meet you.” The small jotunn cut in with a smile, amusement on his features as he studied the new dwarf. Said dwarf in question stared down the giant, brows scrunching into a glare, at this point Sindri was just surprised that a fight hadn’t broken out. Fighting was extremely common wherever Brok went, and for some reason Atreus had picked up that odd quirk.
“Yeah? Well it ain’t nice to meet you.” Banif growled out, which meant it was most certainly time for him to step in and stop this before it escalated. And with as much grace as he could muster, Sindri eased himself forward a few feet away from the two of them.
“Could we perhaps continue with our deal? I-I don’t want to… to interrupt, but my assistant and I are on a bit of a tight schedule.” He all but pleaded, whilst attempting to look as apologetic as possible. Which worked well enough that Banif turned from them and began heading to a back room. The blacksmith let out a small sigh of relief as the other dwarf left, from the corner of his eye he could see Atreus twitch at the noise.
It took maybe half an hour for Banif to finally hand over the leather pieces that Sindri needed, and once the deal was done the blacksmith was practically dragging his nephew out of the house. With new materials in hand, and back on the streets of Niddavelier, it was only a short walk til they were out of the back alleys and onto the roads.