thenearshore | -Overflow- for 24

...That was insufficient?

[Here she lacks utterly the mortal perspective. What else did mortals require to understand? They were told, and so ought to have such faith...]

Faith isn't good enough for most people. Having no beliefs like that isn't uncommon, but I especially turned my back on it in the last few years. I saw too many people beg and pray for help and die unanswered.

[Shun may be a rather pessimistic version of the mortal perspective, but it's also not an uncommon one, and so one Lenneth should probably be made aware of.]

...Ironic, then, that the answers only come after death.

[What an empty life that must have been.]

I wonder what I would have made of you, had I been called upon to deliver your fate.

I suppose it depends on whether you consider faith or a worthy death more important. [Because chances are if he'd died, it would have been in battle. He's not all that well-versed in other pantheons despite his research, but he does know that's the role of a valkyrie.]

Both matter little compared to a worthy life.

[That is the goddess of fate speaking, with a slight shake of her head.]

Everyone has a different opinion of what that is.

[So neither of them could judge unless that situation actually happened, which makes him think the tangent is a little pointless in the end.]

That may be true. But in the end, mine matters most.

[Goddess of fate, Chooser of the Slain -- she isn't bragging or being arrogant. Her words are quite literally true. She has the power to Choose where she would.]

It only matters most to the system you're part of. [Regardless of how true it might be, it does still sound arrogant to him to try and apply it to everyone here. No judge of anything is going to be completely impartial, as far as he's concerned.]

[She makes a mild gesture with one hand.] I am part of this system here, and I continue to Choose the Slain. That will not end wheresoever I go, so long as I am the Valkyrie.

You're not going to "choose" among us, though. So your opinion on the worthiness of our lives isn't that relevant in the end.

[Shun just isn't really interested in having others judge how worthy or not his life is, regardless of what position they're supposed to hold.]

Am I not?

[Shinki are already dead, so perhaps not there. But as for the gods... well, she has not had the chance or opportunity to determine that the statement is true.]

Plenty of gods have died, and shinki died a second time. I haven't seen any of them "chosen" yet.

[And there have definitely been some who he'd imagine would have been worthy of it. Most people here don't seem to have clean slates, but most of them also seem to have some sort of heroic bent regardless.]

Shinki are already dead, and may not be eligible. As for gods...

On one hand, I do not know of any gods who perished in situations where I was both present here and capable of reaching their souls. I have not detected any, but it may be that none were worthy. On the other, it may be that souls of the gods who perish return to their proper worlds, in which case you would be correct.

That's what it's been sounding like so far. [Nobody's found anything conclusive yet, but what information Add's come up with in his previous studies and posted seems to point to that being the case, at least for people who disappear. If nothing else, they might return to whatever afterlife their own world has.]

If you only detect "worthy" souls, it sounds like the decision is already made for you anyway.

To be precise... I detects souls that resonate with my own, as they grow closer to death. [Which is an impartial explanation, but nonetheless is meant as a counter to his statement. She has more options than he might suspect.]

[...Perhaps to her dismay. If Odin were to order her to Choose souls in particular, then she could. Her own estimations aside.]

That just makes it sound like it's based on who's most like you. [Which sounds like it's more likely to catch those who follow a doctrine and go by their world's rules than anyone who might fall outside that but still live an honourable life.]

But considering what we know so far, you shouldn't have to do it for gods.

There are many here who I believe would be worthy.

[The Valkyrie looks away, slightly.]

[She is not meant to live among others; she is a goddess of fate, one whose interactions with mortals are meant to come only at their moments of death.]

I would not wish to make that choice.

[That gets Shun's attention more than most of the rest of this conversation has. He imagines that in her world, "choosing" was limited to people she didn't know in life, in a position like hers. But in this place, it could very well mean people she'd become allies or even friends with.

He watches her closely for a few silent moments before commenting, tone straightforward.] I don't think anyone would, in your position.

[He does not imagine wrong, but he fails to capture the true nature of her situation. A Valkyrie who is not active sleeps. As such, she can be said to truly know no one -- even her fellow gods are estranged.]

[The implication of making such a choice is profoundly disturbing, such that even she looks taken aback.]

I have come to believe that it would be best were I not called to Choose any of you.

[It's about the first time Shun has seen Lenneth look that disturbed by something - or disturbed at all by something, really - and though his sympathy is somewhat limited, he can certainly understand the reaction.]

You're probably right. Even if it was possible, it'd hurt you and others more than it would help anyone.

[Any god here who was Chosen would have more than just a single friend, and an existence like that probably wouldn't sit well with some of those friends.]

[The Valkyrie doesn't precisely 'grow quiet'. But her next words lose much of her imperious tone, leaving her voice gentler than most any other time.]

It would. Yet it is tempting to grant some people here an eternity in Asgard.

Is that what choosing them means in your world? [From what Shun's heard from her before, her world seems to align in vague points with Norse mythology, but he might as well ask for the confirmation since there's enough differences that he can't be sure.]

Those I choose become Einherjar, and once I have trained them adequately, I send them to Vahalla to become gods. [True and literal gods, in all senses of the word, if perhaps weaker ones than the natural Aesir.]

[That gets a faint snort out of Shun, though there's no humour in it.] So basically what's going on here, but with more steps.

[He can't imagine everyone here would want to be gods in death any more than they do right now. Some people just don't really consider themselves fitting for the role, chosen or not.]

There are certain parallels. If shinki became gods as a matter of established course, it would be remarkably similar.

[Why would anyone not wish to be a god? Besides, whether or not they consider themselves fitting is irrelevant: it is the gods' purview, manifested in the Valkyrie, to decide worth.]

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