Wanda Tamberly arrives in a divergent timeline although it will take her a while to understand what has happened. She sees and feels:
blue overhead;
fog dazzling white in morning light;
cool breeze from unseen ocean;
leaves rustling on toyon;
dark green glowing cypress;
two ravens that croak and flap from a solitary oak.
Odin's ravens? Why not? Of course, the integrity of the Time Patrol series as historical sf will never be compromised by the intrusion of literal gods. However, Poul Anderson's readers are free to imagine that Huginn and Muninn fly between universes and that Odin is kept informed of temporal upheavals in the Danellian timeline.
Onward.
2 comments:
Ravens often operate in pairs; I think that's the source of Odin's "Thought" and "Memory".
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
And the great Eagles were the scouts, messengers, or symbols of Manwe, King of the Valar in Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. \
Ad astra! Sean
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