God's Garden Altar

Something in the air reminded her of the long night. With the moon hanging fat in the sky, she had made her way to the swamplands and unearthed the ragged rabbit skin she had put her second youngest daughter to rest on. Really, she shouldn't have even gone this far. If her family gods deemed this little one unworthy... But had they? Or had it been her own foolish arrogance in even daring to dream up a name for her before the ordained time? Jet. That's what she would have called her. Next to Scald, she was the only one that even came close to resembling their carrier, and now there was nothing left but a bundle of small, mud-stained bones.

Tears fell as she reverently worked under the light of the full moon to remove the worst of the mud, and she anointed the bones with sacred oils before transferring them into a soft, clean lambskin. If her own gods had been so cruel to take a child from her, well... maybe her little girl would be better off with whatever these new ones were.

The journey across the Bifrost took her time, and the unseasonable shift in the weather was obvious even before she approached the statue. Her jackalope hopped along beside her, and her saddlebags were laden with an offering to assist in the growth of a small, healthy garden. Some dried seaweed, a jar of worms, and ash from the edges of Hell's River. Wherever her daughter ended up after Modesty left this place, she hoped would flourish.

Modesty made a point of placing her offerings together as she regarded the alabaster stone. Yes, this was the one. She pressed her nose to the top of the lambskin one last time and smiled a small sad smile. "The horizon isn't the end of the ocean little one." I'll see you again. There wasn't much she hated more than crying, but here she was. For just a moment longer.