Chapter 8

Dario stared blankly through the window from the leather upholstered back seat of the luxury car in which he was being chauffeured to his destination, having exchanged his designer suit for clothing more suited to cool weather hiking. However, it wasn't the vast valley's breathtaking scenery that his eyes saw passing by but events he had witnessed just over a decade previously. The sound of gunfire echoed in his head as he watched the bullet riddled bodies of his family fall in his mind's eye.

"Are you sure this is the place?" The dark suited driver asked in English with a Norwegian accent as the car slowed to a stop near a large ancient stone sticking out of the earth a few yards from the road carved with a crude depiction of a man battling a giant serpent.

"What?" Dario said, the driver's voice jolting him back to the present moment, his eyes now spying the stone, "Oh…yes."

Dario took hold of the case resting on the seat beside him, reaching for the door handle.

"What time would you like me to return?" the driver asked, turning his head, perplexed as to why his passenger would be taking a briefcase on a hike.

"That won't be necessary. I've made other arrangements," Dario answered, opening the car door and stepping out, closing it behind him, looking over the landscape before walking away from the vehicle in the direction of the stone.

The vehicle started forward again, travelling down the road as Dario reached the rock, passing it by as he continued traversing the valley.

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Loki awoke, the last vestiges of a dream fading, unable to remember the details, only recalling that he had been bitterly cold. Staring at the ceiling of his chambers for a few moments as his groggy mind came to full consciousness, he turned his head to note that he was alone in the bed, wondering why that set alarm bells ringing in his brain before he realized. Throwing off the covers and rising quickly, he exited his bedchambers.

Vanar sat on a chaise in the center of the great room of Loki's chambers, Wolfie next to him, morning light streaming into the room from the balcony, the magazine Loki had purloined from the museum held open in his small hands. Loki strode swiftly into the room, spying Vanar on the chaise, the tension in his shoulders relaxing as he exhaled in relief.

"Vanar-" Loki said as he rounded the chaise before realizing what Vanar was studying so intently, quickly reaching out and snatching the magazine away, "I'm afraid you're not quite ready for that yet," said Loki, carrying the magazine to a bookcase and slipping it in between two books on the top shelf, "Note to self, obtain age appropriate reading material."

Loki returned to the chaise, sitting down beside Vanar who now held Wolfie in his lap.

"You don't have a TV. I always watch cartoons when I get up in the morning. There's no toys. I'm hungry," Vanar complained.

"We'll join your grandparents and your Uncle Thor for the morning meal soon."

"Is there cereal?"

"No."

"Pop tarts?"

"Do they feed children nothing but sugar in Midgard? It's little wonder mortals are so dull," Loki commented, pausing before changing the subject, "The shadow man you spoke of last night…"

"I don't want to talk about him," Vanar said, clutching Wolfie tight.

"I know. I also don't enjoy speaking of things that frighten me."

"But you're a grown up," Vanar said, perplexed.

"Grown ups get scared too sometimes," Loki replied.

"What are you scared of?" Vanar asked.

"You wouldn't understand," Loki said, "or maybe you would. I'll make a bargain with you. If you answer my questions about the Shadow Man, I'll tell you. Do we have a deal?"

"Ok," Vanar agreed, though with trepidation.

"You said that Dario…the Bull Man…took you to see him. Where did he take you? Do you know?"

"In the elevator to a cave."

"The elevator to a cave? It was under the building where you were being held? What did he do? Did he say anything?"

"He came out of the wall. I was wearing my wolf shirt. He asked me if I liked wolves. He asked me other things but I don't remember. Then he touched me and I went to sleep. When I woke up I was in the elevator with the Bull Man, except he was a man-man again...so what are you scared of?"

"When I was your age it was Jotuns…frost giants…but then most everyone, children and adults alike, fear them. Once every few years a delegation arrives in Asgard from Jotunheim to meet with my father to renew the treaty. The first time I remember them coming here I locked myself in my room and hid under my bed until my mother told me they had gone. Each time they came after that I was always afraid that perhaps one of them had stayed behind and was hiding in the palace, waiting until we were asleep to-… anyway, unlike my brother, I wasn't particularly fond of serpents either, which of course he took full advantage of. I repaid him for that, however," Loki said with a sly grin.

"What about now?" asked Vanar, dashing Loki's hopes of distracting Vanar into forgetting that the deal he'd made involved confessing his current fears.

"We had a bargain, didn't we?" Loki said, pausing a moment before continuing, "I fear not having a purpose…but more than that, I fear being alone."

"But there's lots of people here," Vanar commented, confused.

"I have learned that one can feel alone even in a palace full of people."

"Mommy wouldn't let you feel alone. Why did you leave?" Vanar asked.

"I didn't leave you. Your mother didn't tell me about you. A few years before you were born, when she lived here in Asgard, she broke a rule. My father is the king and he doesn't like it when people break rules. He sent her to live in Midgard as punishment. She knew if my father or I learned about you, we would bring you here so you could be with other Asgardians. She was afraid of being alone as well. When people are afraid, sometimes they make the wrong choices. Sometimes they do bad things but that doesn't mean they're bad."

"Maybe the Bull Man is afraid too. He told me that bad people killed his family. They tried to kill him too but the Shadow Man saved him. Now he has to do what he says," Vanar explained.

"Would you tell my father about him? He may know who he is,"

"I don't want to talk to him. He's mean. He put mommy in jail."

"I broke rules too when I visited your mother and brought her here. That's why he was angry. I'll be with you," Loki said reassuringly.

"Can Amma be there too?" asked Vanar.

"I'm certain that can be arranged. Did you know she taught me how to do magic? I'll show you the first trick she taught me. Hold out your hand."

Vanar sat Wolfie in his lap, doing as Loki instructed. Loki took hold of Vanar's other hand.

"Now, close it. I want you to think of something small, something that will fit in your hand," Loki directed Vanar, a green glow travelling from Vanar's hand that Loki gripped up his arm and across his shoulders and down his other arm to his closed fist, "Open it."

Vanar slowly opened his hand to reveal a small toad sitting in his palm, looking back at him.

"Did I do that?" Vanar asked in awe.

"With a little help," Loki said with a grin, "Someday you'll be able to do it all on your own."

The toad sprang from Vanar's hand onto the stone floor, Vanar giggling as it began to hop away before disappearing in a small green flash of light.

"We should dress. We have a full day ahead of us," Loki said, still gripping Vanar's hand as he rose, Vanar grabbing Wolfie from his lap with his other hand and rising with him, "Why don't we leave Wolfie here?" Loki asked, Vanar appearing uncertain for a moment before leaving Wolfie on the chaise.

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Loki stood at the entrance of the small stone cottage set back from the sea, the mountains of Asgard towering in the distance behind it as the skiff piloted by an einherjar, another seated beside a shackled Boda, lowered slowly from the sky, coming to rest in the water near the shore.

Boda and the einherjar beside her rose, the einherjar exiting the skiff, lifting Boda from it and depositing her on the sand as Loki approached.

"Remove those," Loki said, indicating the shackles, the einherjar following Loki's directive.

"Thank you," Boda said quietly to the einherjar as he turned and entered the skiff, the pilot lifting off from the shore as Loki led Boda to the cottage, "Vanar isn't with you?" she asked.

"My mother's taken him to spend some time getting acquainted with his classmates."

"His first day of school…" Boda said, her voice tinged with sadness.

"He won't officially begin his lessons for a few days yet."

Loki opened the door to the cottage, stepping aside, allowing Boda to enter. Boda examined the front room, furnished with a chaise and matching chairs along with a small table arranged in front of a wall of bookshelves.

"There's a dining area off the kitchen in the back...bedchambers of course," Loki informed her.

Boda entered the bedroom that held a simple double bed, a chest of drawers and a standing wardrobe. Crossing to the wardrobe, Boda opened it to see multiple identical simple grey gowns like the one she was currently wearing hanging within.

"They're all the same…" Boda observed.

"I'm afraid I didn't choose the wardrobe," Loki said, turning and exiting the room, Boda following.

After showing Boda the bath, Loki led her through the small dining room into the equally small but functional kitchen area. Cooking vessels hung from the ceiling, others tucked away in cabinets. A stove somewhat resembling an old iron wood burning stove and oven of earth sat along the wall. Boda opened a drawer to find utensils within, including a large knife along with smaller blades. Boda lifted the larger knife from the drawer, staring at it.

"There should be enough food for some time–" Loki said, opening then closing a cabinet before turning and breaking off as he observed Boda, she returning the knife to the drawer and closing it, "There's more…" Loki said, exiting the kitchen, leading Boda back through the dining room to the last room of the cottage, "After you," Loki said as he stepped aside, gesturing for Boda to open the door.

Stepping inside, Boda noticed a small bed against the wall in the corner along with a chest of drawers. In the middle of the room sat an easel, upon which rested a blank canvas, and a stool. A palette, brushes, and jars of paints sat on a small table beside it. A few more blank canvases leaned against the wall. Boda stood speechless, her back to Loki who stood grinning, before turning to face him.

"I thought you might need something other than books to occupy your time. I'm commissioning a portrait," Loki said.

"I can try to recreate the one I–" Boda began as Loki approached her, placing his hands on her shoulders as he interrupted her.

"Of our son…as an infant. My mother commissioned portraits of my brother and myself. If you have a photograph in Midgard, I can attempt to retrieve it," Loki offered.

"He likely still has people watching in the event we were to return. I wouldn't want you to risk it. I don't need one."

"I doubted you did."

"I knew you would bring him here but that wasn't the only reason I kept him from you. I thought you would have little interest, you'd see him as a hindrance. You wouldn't want to be tied down. He'd be raised by nannies, your mother…"

"He has spent more time with her than myself thus far. She's serving as a navigator of sorts as I'm flying blind," Loki admitted.

"My father tried but he never expected to be raising a child alone. Perhaps it would have been easier for him had I been a boy. After his death...I was old enough to care for myself, but I had no one."

"That's not true."

"I never knew from one day to the next…you were like trying to hold onto a fish…"

"I've been compared to many things, but I don't believe a fish is among them. The closest may be a slime eel. They've been mentioned more than once," Loki said with a slight grin.

"It's not theater…for show?"

"Perhaps a king is not the most important thing a man can be. I'll return this evening with Vanar."

"For dinner?" asked Boda hopefully.

"If you'd like, though if it's not ice cream, pizza, or cereal Vanar may not be pleased," Loki said with a smirk as Boda chuckled.

"It'll be nice to actually have the time to cook a decent meal," Boda said, turning to the table and picking up a paint brush, "I suppose I should get started."

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Dario crawled on his belly, squeezing himself out of the small opening of the cave at the foot of the mountains of Asgard as if it were giving birth to him, the ties of a drawstring canvas bag clutched in one hand. Rising to his feet, he brushed the dirt from the front of his clothing before looking out over Asgard's blue sea, the palace and the buildings it dwarfed in the distance. Spying a trail, Dario headed in its direction.

Dario reached an open field, small white and yellow flowers sprinkling the green landscape with dots of color. He spied an older man, his hair just beginning to become streaked with gray, wearing Asgardian clothing standing with his back to him, herding a flock of what appeared to be sheep, or an animal very similar, across the valley. After quickly scanning the valley for any additional Asgardians, Dario followed.

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As Loki crossed the plaza in front of the palace as other Asgardians milled about he caught sight of a familiar figure striding towards him. Loki slowed his pace, coming to a halt as Arvid did the same, standing in front of Loki, blocking his path.

"Arvid, it's good to–" Loki began before Arvid closed his fist, swinging his arm, punching Loki in the jaw, "...see you. I was just thinking we should arrange a time for that drink," Loki finished.

"You sent me back to spend the night with her, that criminal, that traitor!" Arvid exclaimed angrily, "And that's not all! Of course it's not all–"

"I didn't know. I hadn't spoken to her for six years when she asked for my help. It's a rather long story. Perhaps the sort that should be told over a few tankards of ale," said Loki.

"When? A year from now?" asked Arvid sarcastically.

"Actually I was thinking this evening. Should I invite a healer to accompany me?" Loki asked.

"I suppose that depends on the story…and how much ale I'm able to drink before you reach the end of it," Arvid replied before walking past Loki, Loki turning his head to watch him go before heaving a sigh, starting towards the palace again.

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Loki entered his new chambers, the great room nearly identical to his previous abode, to find Frigga seated on the chaise, holding Wolfie in her lap, looking down at Vanar's favorite toy.

"Where's Vanar?" Loki asked, puzzled, Frigga looking up from the stuffed wolf with a grave expression.

"I sent him to his room upon our return," Frigga replied.

"Did he get himself into mischief on his first day? I suppose the apple doesn't fall far from the tree–" Loki said with an air of pride.

"Sit. We must speak."