Fylgja oh fylgja where art thou fylgja

Skadi was on the prowl. Her mamma had been telling her stories about fylgjur, animals that some vikings had a connection with. For example, the Finnvi for the last three generations or so had noticed a strong connection to the bear. Her great grandfather, grandfather and mother all had had numerous encounters with the beast and in some way or another those encounters had ended in something good. Even the savage mauling her grandfather had taken as a young man had ended up a gift as while fleeing he had stumbled upon a long forgotten hoard. All three drew something from the beast. Laufey, the great grand, drew cunning. Taufr, the grandfather, strength, and mamma? Mamma embodied the ferocity of the bear when she wore its skin. With such a strong connection Skadi was convinced that someday she too would find a link.

But there were other kinds of fylgjur and those were the ones Skadi was thinking about now. The actual, literal kind of companion with a connection of some kind to the ancestors. She strongly suspected that the skunk who followed her grandpa around was his fylgja. As much as the stinky thing seemed to annoy him, it looked out for him too. Her pabbi had owls who certainly seemed devoted to him. Technically her mother had a primate, but the beast was more of a servant than anything else. In Skadi's opinion she didn't count. Maybe it was silly, but Skadi wanted a companion too - and not the kind her mother kept. She liked the idea of earning the favor of an ancestor to the point that one decided to look out for her in some way. Skadi had told her mother of that desire and been told in return that if she wanted to discover the truth of the matter she needed to keep an eye out. If she had a guardian she'd notice a pattern.

For that reason she paused occasionally to look around in search of animals she'd seen before. The sheep, goats and bison didn't count since they were stuck here, but she noted every squirrel, songbird and groundhog who dared cross her path twice. There was this one squirrel in particular who was starting to raise some suspicions. All squirrels looked the same to her, but this one stood apart from the rest on account of its stumpy tail. And she almost needed two paws now to count the times she'd seen him. Feeling bold Skadi strode over to him. Her eyes followed him as he darted up the nearest tree. He paused on one of the lower branches and the pair exchanged a long look.

The look was interrupted by the sudden appearance of an all black shape. In one fell swoop it nabbed the squirrel out of the tree and landed on the ground below with outstretched wings. Skadi squeaked once in alarm and then glanced around to a) make sure she wasn't about to fall over dead and b) make sure no one heard her squeal in fear. When she didn't immediately die Skadi was forced to admit the squirrel wasn't a companion spirit.  "Oh, Skuggi!" she breathed in relief once she recognized the murderer's shape as one of Sgili's brood. "You scared me. I thought you killed my spirit animal and I was gonna die."
"And here I was thinking I was salvaging the world's worst hunt," the owl said as it picked at the mangled squirrel.
Skadi shrugged. "I guess it didn't mean anything after all, which is good, I'd hate to be dead." It clicked that she had just been insulted. "Heyyy I'm a better hunter than that and you know it!"
The owl fixed black eyes on her and tipped its head to the side. "Do I know that?"
Skadi's mouth crinkled up into a pout. This bird was always so mean! "I bet I'm better than you! I bet..." She glanced around. "I bet I can get that squirrel without someone distracting it like yours was distracted."

With a harrumph Skadi flounced away. The squirrel in question was off doing as squirrels did this time of year. In its mouth was a nut of some kind. From this distance Skadi couldn't tell what and it didn't matter. What she did know was that the moment it found a place to bury its treasure was the moment she was going to need to strike. She was gonna have to be fast. Having an audience was a little worrisome, but it helped to know in a second the mean bird would be proven wrong and she would have a tasty little snack.

After guessing at the squirrel's next move Skadi scuttled behind a nearby shrub to wait. The squirrel didn't come her way immediately. The first nut it carried it buried elsewhere. The second and third ones were buried closer, but not close enough. And Skadi, to her credit, managed to wait patiently. If not for the smug audience watching it was entirely possible she wouldn't have had the nerve for it, but there was something about the owl that made her want to wait out of sheer contrariness. The little tree rat frisked closer and Skadi hunkered down even lower. Okay, this was it. She wiggled from foot to foot as the squirrel closer with painstaking slowness. Finally she couldn't take it any longer. She burst from the bushes at a flat out run. What ensued was a pell-mell, zig-zagging chase through the trees. Somewhere behind her Skadi could hear the owl cackling but this was it, this was happening and she was going to get that squirrel!

A final leap and she had it. The pair went rolling and then Skadi was up on her feet and shaking the life from it. She flung it aside with a victorious howl. "Ha! See? HA! I told you! See? Mine's bigger and better and nobody distracted it for me! Hahahaha!" Skadi snatched up the squirrel and ran back over to the owl. She flung it down at the bird's feet. "Look? See? Told you!"

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