Urd was shocked. In all her planning, this was one outcome she did not envision. Her goal was to cheer Raijin up after his brother Fujin's death. To accomplish this, she even made a list of what she would do. The list simply said, 'find him,' 'get him drunk,' and 'party with him.'
The first part was easy. All she had to do was find the quietest spot, and that where she found him. The second part was even easier, he was already starting on his fifth bottle of something he called 'sake,' a wine made from rice, of all things. But it was not that bad she thought. After the third bottle, she began to like the stuff. The third item on her list was the hard part.
But Urd loved a challenge. It took awhile but come the morning dawn, she was laying in Raijin's embrace like she planned. In fact, leaving Raijin was one of the hardest things she had ever done. But Odin-sama had a job for her to do.
Three months after laying with Raijin, Urd had to face the fact that she was pregnant. Despite the assurances of the others, she did not know what type of mother she would be to her child. She was paralyzed with indecision....
After all, considering the child's parents, what would the child be like? Would her unborn child take after its father or mother? Would her unborn child bring about destruction or do good in the world? Would her unborn child be even accepted by the Heavens?
Since she did not know what to do about her unborn child, Urd hid it from her younger sister Belldandy and the other gods. Of course, Odin-sama already knew... but He remained silent. Unfortunately, Raijin was still in a 'funk' and had shut out the world, including herself, so he was not that much help either.
After the child was born, it became obvious to Urd that she was not up to the task of child rising. It was simpler to debug Yggdrasil than trying to debug her child. So when an opening for the Goddess Relief Office opened up, she took it with the hope that while on Earth she could pick up some pointers to being a parent from the mortals.
She was told it was an interesting job working for the Goddess Relief Office but no one had told her how to do it. This being her first time on assignment, Urd tried to proceed carefully. She just sat down beside her vict... er... the wish recipient. And watched the sunset with her for a moment. She went over in her head what she knew of the wish recipient... she was Japanese, young, a traditionalist, married for two years, and childless.
Trying to start a conversion, Urd talked about the sunset, "Lovely, is it?"
While it was obvious the woman thought, for some reason, Urd was being rude, she still replied nicely, "Yes, it is."
Seeing that she was not going to get much a response from the woman, Urd began, "It's more beautiful knowing that the sun will rise tomorrow. It can make one feel as if anything is possible, don't you think?"
Urd was hoping the woman would take the bait. Still the woman answered, "I do not know..."
The woman sounded sad to Urd. So she want straight to the point, if in a round about way, "If you could wish for anything... anything at all... what would it be?"
The woman was outraged that Urd would ask such a personal question of her, but Urd had come prepared and placed a truth spell on the woman. The woman's answer was, "I have been married for two years now, and I have yet to present a child to my husband. If I was to wish for anything... I wish for a child to give to my husband. To love, to raise, to grow...."
The woman was interrupted by a bolt of lightning that came out of Urd and reached into the sky. With the flash of light, the world around Urd become as still as a picture.
No one said this would happen, Urd thought to herself.
"Do you really wish to do this?" a voice asked from behind her. It was voice Urd knew all her life, it was the voice of her father, Odin-sama.
There was no need for further explanation, so Urd simply said, "She will be a better mother to my child than I could be... besides it will fulfill the contract."
With gentle patience, Odin-sama sighed and said, "Not necessary..."
With that Odin-sama gave Urd a vision of the future to which Urd replied, "Is this definitely going to happen?"
There was a touch of pain in Urd's voice to which Odin-sama answered, "Who's to say what path mortals will take? But... Are you willing to risk your child?"
"My son will need to understand honor, loyalty, justice, and mercy, if he is not to repeat the 'mistakes' of his parents' youth," Urd said seriously. "By being with mortals, even these mortals, he will learn... and hopefully won't be counted among the Fallen."
With a neutral expression, Odin-sama said "Contract approved." With those words, Time resumed...
Nodoka hurried home with the groceries in hand. She didn't want to spend too much time away from her son. For such a small child, he sure did have a lot of energy... It seemed that white-haired stranger was right in naming her son. He was living up to his name... he ate and ran around the house like a wild horse.
Urd watched the Saotomes and felt a void in her heart. While she knew that he was better off, while he grew up with these mortals, she still felt his absence from her life. It was harder than she thought it would be. It was beginning to affect her job... and her life.
"It's not too late to change your mind, my daughter," Odin-sama said from behind her.
"No," Urd responded stubbornly. "It's best that he thinks himself as a human mortal than what he truly is..."
She couldn't bring herself to say it out loud, as if doing so would curse her child.
Odin-sama looked sad at Urd and said, "I hope one day you will forgive me..."
With these words, Odin-sama reached out to Urd with his finger, touched Urd's mind, and erased all the memories about her child and where he was. Urd collapsed from the shock but Odin-sama caught her. In a flash Odin-sama and Urd were gone.