Chapter 14

"I was told there'd been no progress," Loki, confused, said to Frigga as Boda took the vial from her hand.

"You will sleep for a time. The king wishes to speak with you in the morning after you've rested. He will send einherjar to escort you," Frigga informed Boda.

"I will see her there. I wish to speak with him myself," Loki told his mother.

"Is everything alright?" Frigga asked, seeming to take notice for the first time that Loki and Boda were outside in their nightclothes.

"We were having a bit of a–" Loki began before Boda interrupted him.

"After what transpired this evening Loki was unable to sleep. I suggested we take a stroll."

"Yes, of course," Frigga said sympathetically, "Arvid has been taken to the palace and will be treated with honor," Frigga said to Loki before embracing him, "I must return."

"Thank you," said Boda to Frigga.

"Rest well," said Frigga before turning, rejoining her escorts and departing.

Loki and Boda stood in silence as Boda stared at the vial in her hand. Without warning she turned to face the water, preparing to pitch the vial into the sea, Loki swiftly grabbing hold of her arm.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Loki exclaimed, shocked and confused.

"You said yourself there'd been no progress! He wants me dead! How do I know this isn't something even worse?"

"My father may be many things, but a murderer is not among them. At least allow me to safeguard it until you've spoken to him," Loki said, Boda hesitating before handing him the vial which he magically stowed away.

"How many has he sent to die in battle over the millennia?" asked Boda.

"He has shed his own blood as well. He carries the scars. He lost his eye at the Battle of Jotunheim not long after my birth. My brother and I fight at his command. He risks no less than they," Loki said, "I never told you..."

"It seems there's much you've neglected to tell me," Boda responded, Loki placing his hands on his hips, tilting his head.

"Honestly? You neglected to tell me I have a son."

"Touché," Bodi replied.

"At Harokin, victory was within our grasp. I became blinded by overconfidence. I...I made a mistake. If not for your father, I would have taken my place in Valhalla that day. He gave his life to preserve mine. That's why I came to you myself to tell you of his fate instead of allowing those whose duty it is to deliver such tidings," Loki confessed, Boda once again stunned into silence.

"Is that why you began calling on me, you felt guilty?" Boda finally asked.

"It had been some time since we had spoken at any length, not since our formal education came to an end. I still thought of you as the young girl I'd known, Angry Boda. We had always had much in common but I didn't realize until that day…Is it that you don't trust my father... or is it to punish me?"

"I have no need to punish you. You punish yourself. You betray yourself more than you ever have anyone else," Boda said, Loki remaining silent, appearing thoughtful as he pondered what she had said, "You may have been certain you could convince Thor to pardon me, but you had no guarantee I would pardon you."

"That's true," Loki acknowledged, "I suppose I-"

"Simply assumed that I'd forgive you as I always had," Boda finished.

"You lost your mother as a child. You don't wish Vanar to share the same fate."

"He will lose me regardless. Once I'm cured your father will return me to the dungeon."

"To live is preferable to the alternative!"

"Is it? My mother suffered for centuries locked up like an animal before death finally released her. If I can't be with him, be a mother to him, I don't want to 'be' at all."

"If my father does plan to return you to the dungeon…if Dario is able to control it, Vanar can learn as well. I know the locations of portals to other realms…Vanaheim…Alfheim…"

"Even if you're not to be king, this is your home. Vanar's too. It was wrong to have kept him from you. If I'd not been selfish none of this would have happened."

"You were a mother cast off into an alien world afraid of losing her child. I wasn't ready to pledge myself to you, yet I couldn't abide the possibility of another doing so. If either of us was to be coronated the king of selfishness, I would be the one to mount that throne," Loki responded.

"Had I broken with you as I should have when I couldn't accept your attention to others…" Boda countered.

"Had I broken with you when it became clear to me that you were unable to accept it…"

"Wait...are we really arguing about this? Is there anything we won't argue about?" Boda asked.

"Nothing seems to have been off limits thus far. As I recall we had quite a row one evening as you were positively insistent that my eyes were gray and not blue…they're still blue, by the way."

"You enjoy it. You've always been quite the drama queen…or prince. The plays you used to write were so melodramatic," Boda said with a chuckle.

"You said you liked them, that I would someday surpass Gandar as the most celebrated playwright in Asgard."

"What was I supposed to say? That I'd rather put my lips to your father's bare ass than to sit through such a travesty?" Boda laughed.

"I assume you thought the same of my poetry," Loki said, sounding hurt.

"No, actually. Much of it was rather good. There's one I still remember…Love is the sound of your sweet voice singing a song to my restless and doleful soul–" Boda began to recite.

"Amid the cacophony and clamor of chaos," Loki joined in as Boda finished, gently placing his hands on her shoulders, "We should return before Thor comes in search of my corpse. Is there nothing I can say that will change your mind?" asked Loki.

"Perhaps you could attempt to persuade me another way. I'm certain you brought more than one bottle of wine."

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"How are we to locate him if even Heimdall can't see him?" Volstagg pondered as he, Fandral, Hogun, and Sif patrolled the stone paved path along which sat dark and empty shops.

"I've said for centuries Loki left to his wiles would lead to our ruin," Sif said irritably.

"Had Loki not been there and Boda had given the relic over to him, the situation would be far worse," said Fandral.

"You mean had he not been off in Midgard carousing with a criminal and a traitor who sought to usurp the throne from his own father," Sif continued.

"Love often makes men fools," Hogun replied.

"Love has nothing to do with it. He has no idea what it means. I've long suspected that tiring of her he put her up to it to betray her so he could be rid of her," Sif responded.

"Why then would he have continued to visit her in Midgard and risk his father's wrath?" Fandral asked.

"Who knows? I don't think he knows why he does what he does," answered Sif.

The four warriors came to a halt as they caught sight of a lone armored figure stumbling towards them in the darkness.

"Halt! Identify yourself!" Volstagg called out as all four readied their weapons.

The figure continued towards them, failing to answer. The four warriors started cautiously forward. Upon reaching him, the figure, an einherjar, one of the two that had entered the tavern, collapsed to one knee, breathing heavily.

"What's happened?" Hogun asked.

"We…we found him in the tavern…he changed…a beast…" the einherjar managed to say between labored breaths as Hogun and Volstagg assisted him to his feet, supporting him.

"Return him to the palace to the healing room," said Fandral, he and Sif starting in the direction of the tavern.

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Sif and Fandral entered the tavern, swords drawn though they were reasonably sure Dario would have long since fled. They quickly spotted the body of an einherjar, his armor and clothing stripped from him, lying on the floor, only his top half visible, the rest obscured by the counter holding the cask.

Taking a quick glance around the room both warriors rushed to the man who stared up at them with blank, unblinking eyes. Sif knelt beside him, examining him for any sign of life.

"He's gone," Sif said, standing, "He's taken his form."

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Boda and Loki sat up in bed, each with a goblet in their hand, a bottle of wine open on the bedside table nearest Loki. Loki reached over, grabbing it, holding the bottle out towards Boda.

"More?" Loki asked, Boda looking down into her almost empty goblet as a wave of dizziness overtook her.

"No…thank you...I think…I think I've...had enough..." Boda said, trailing off, Loki grinning as he set the bottle on the table as her shoulders slumped, her head lolling to the side as her eyes fluttered closed.

Loki reached out, taking the goblet from Boda's hand before it tipped and spilled what little remained within it, setting it and his own goblet on the table.

Loki gently moved Boda to lay flat in the bed, the pillow under her head, gazing down at her for a few moments before placing his lips on her forehead.

"Sleep well," Loki said, turning towards the table and magically producing the empty vial in his hand, placing it within one of the goblets.

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Fandral and Sif hurried along the street after locating two einherjar on patrol to retrieve their compatriot's corpse and take it to the palace. Suddenly Sif slowed, Fandral turning his head to look at her, noting her expression of alarm as he slowed his own pace.

"What is it?" Fandral asked.

"We're fools...they're at the palace by now!" Sif exclaimed, sprinting away, Fandral following suit.

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Volstagg and Hogun assisted the einherjar along, nearing the tall golden double doors of the entrance to the palace, two guards standing on either side. The einherjar straightened somewhat, gently shaking off the two warriors and stepping forward.

"I can make my own way from here. Thank you. You should rejoin the others and continue the search," the einherjar said, walking forward, one of the guards stationed at the doors opening one of them, the einherjar stepping through it, the guard closing it behind him.

Volstagg and Hogun turned, walking away from the palace entrance in the direction from which they'd come.