For Whom the Belle Tolls

For a few days, Sharkie sleeps while Lily worries over Bel. As she cleans her house, she feels haunted by the family photograph in her house. She tries to remove it, but all her efforts fail. While cooking, she reflects on the toxicity of repressing emotions, and she realizes that deeming herself unimportant made her feel safe after the Evangelical community she’d been raised in disowned her. She concludes that she has spent much of her life afraid of other people’s opinions.

Sharkie wakes up, and they bake bread together. They discuss what Sharkie would like to do in the Afterlife, and how she would prefer to stay with Lily. Over the following days, they explore the Afterlife together. Sharkie emotionally withdraws at times as she adjusts to her new surroundings. When they visit Valhalla, Vikings and Valkyries teach Sharkie how to fight, while Lily speaks with Odin. He comments on her reputation and invites her to stay in his hall should she ever wish it. Lily, however, does not believe she died honorably in battle (the usual condition to enter Valhalla), but Odin contradicts her.