Epilogue
Once the heart had been burned the demon's body was dragged to the fire and slowly all the earthly evidence of it's existence was burned away. Both genies looked at each other and smiled as they felt their powers returning, they also looked at their immensely oversized master and smiled in awe of what had happened, what he'd done.
They watched as he slowly returned to his original size, he and the rest of his party watched the fire burn away the demon's corpse, the Valkyrie were burying their dead, retrieving everything they could that may be usable, Gabrielle had found a horse whose rider had been killed, they were getting ready to leave.
But one of them wasn't, one was having thoughts, thoughts she'd never before imagined she'd ever have to contend with. Frieda felt a yearning, she felt indebted to John and she felt in awe of his ability to remain calm, to remain stalwart and to keep grounded in the aftermath of the battle, more than that he was just impressive, physically and mentally he was a specimen to behold.
John, Rose, Hazel, Sara and Heather all stood around the fire, John for the first time paying attention to his nudity, he smirked a little and the genies could read his thoughts, they started giggling too, soon the whole group was making comments and jokes and laughing like family, even Heather who'd only been introduced to them a very short time ago.
Frieda sat some way away, she still had an injured leg, she watched the happy group and kept contemplating her thoughts.
"Thinking about something?"
Frieda turned to see Heela and Gabrielle approaching on foot.
Her sister smiled at her, they came to stand either side of the tree stump upon which Frieda was sitting, Gabrielle followed her eye-line and got an inkling of what Frieda was contemplating, Heela knew exactly.
"I'm sure Arnvir will understand," Heela told her sister, "and they seem like good people, certainly there aren't that many good men in the world how long do you think it'll be until another John crosses your path?"
"Do you think they'll have me? They seem like such a happy family, do you think they'll take in another?" Frieda was well aware of exactly what had gone on, she knew that John had fallen fairly instantly for both Rose and Hazel, he'd taken Sara in without a second thought and he seemed to be opening up the same invitation to Heather, would he be willing to take in yet another strange woman?
"You won't know if you never ask?"
Gabrielle watched the exchange, in her 200 years of service she'd never seen a Valkyrie contemplate leaving, especially for a human.
Frieda sighed, she didn't know what to do here, she had to be humble, she had been humbled by John's actions, this was all new to her, she could handle battle, she was confident as a rider, but asking a human if she could be a part of his life, that wasn't something she'd ever been trained for, it wasn't something she ever expected to be doing. She got up and started to limp towards the group by the fire.
John had wished for his clothes to be restored, he figured being naked in the middle of the woods wasn't exactly a brilliant way to stay hidden, the women had all looked a bit disappointed, even Heather, but he was enjoying the fire, the light was starting to fade, were it not for the smell of death in the air it would almost be romantic.
The group by the fire looked up as Frieda approached, John saw how she was still limping but less so than before, "how's the leg?" he inquired.
"Better, we heal quicker than humans."
He nodded, they stood in silence for a while, before Frieda looked at them and breathed a heavy breath, her large chest rising and falling heavily, John was stood with his arms crossed, without looking away from the fire he could feel what was coming.
"I think I owe you," Frieda started, "I owe you my life."
"Don't worry about it," John waved his hand, "it seemed like the natural thing to do."
Hazel and Rose exchanged an exasperated look, his "natural thing to do" had nearly cost him his life and they weren't best pleased, they'd promised John some silent treatment, seriously silent treatment from genies but he wasn't sure they were terribly committed they'd talked to him quite a bit since promising silent treatment.
John could sense Frieda had more to say, he looked at her and watched as her magnificent bosom rose and fell with her deep breaths, the fitted breastplate conforming to her curves and giving way to a graceful, long skirt, it looked delicate however it was flexible and functional, it allowed grace and beauty to be combined with power.
"I've been in the Valkyrie a long time," Frieda began, "I've devoted 600 years of service and never once wavered," she breathed deeply and continued, "I've never been tempted to leave, I've never felt a desire for anything outside of my order, but then I've never been saved by someone I'm meant to be protecting and I've also never seen a normal human, even a djinn-master be granted the power of the einherjar, and I've certainly never seen someone take responsibility the way you did today."
John smiled, Rose and Hazel smiled as well, if they weren't mistaken (and when it came to this sort of thing they rarely were), Frieda was impressed with John, in fact it seemed like she was a little more than impressed, she looked positively ecstatic just to be in John's presence, she was definitely more than smitten, and they realized that having never had any real sexual desire before her attempts now to explain how she felt were something akin to a nervous schoolgirl.
"I don't really know how to say this, I was wondering if I could join you, at least until I save your life then we'll be even."
John smirked at this, "you don't have to come up with any excuses you could've just asked."
"OK, well now I know that..." she pondered.
John was thinking about what he had ahead of him, he'd spent a few day trying to give his genies lives, he now had a submissive blonde who wanted in and had nothing to do after 500 years of being in control of her own djinn and apparently he was gaining a Valkyrie who had no life experience either this would be interesting.
"By join us what do you mean?" He decided to press a little.