Chapter 6 - Yule with Loki

Loki was having the time of his life, whilst Thor was trapped dealing with his princely duties, Kal was with their mother and both of his parents occupied, Loki was free.

Now officially he was supposed to be the royal host of the Alfheim delegations, which consisted of the Light Elves of that realm, but in reality, was spending most of his time planning his usual Yuletide fun. Which this year he was aided in by said guests, well namely the younger generation that had the same mischievous side as him.

Sneaking out of the party was the easy part he just suggested to the Light Elves a tour around the royal gardens and being the nature lovers that they were had readily agreed. And once outside he had cast a fairly impressive illusion of himself, to lead the elder Alfheim guests on a long-winded tour.

The only thing to decide now was where to start, he had three primary targets every year that he always had to go after namely, his brother Thor, the Palace Staff, and then his parent's Guests.

Thinking for a few moments he decided that his first target would be Thor, quickly gesturing to his mischievous new acquaintances to follow him, they quietly slipped back inside the feasting hall Sessrúmnir.

He cast a minor illusion spell on himself, and his acolytes then proceeded to weave his way through the hall to the Sovereign delegation.

'Simple enough to have a bit of fun just get him to make a fool of himself or accidentally insult one of the pompous golden idiots' Loki thought to himself with a sly grin.

However, his grin quickly turned to a frown when he noticed that Thor was not with his intended guests, he swiftly checked the area to make sure he had not missed his brother, but sure enough, there was no Thor to be found.

'Huh, okay maybe I don't need to do anything Thor is already on his way to being in trouble, the foolish oaf abandoning his guests.' He was about to scurry off to find some other fun when he heard the High Priestess speak.

"Well, I have no idea what, The Gathering of the Cups Ceremony is, but if the crown Prince has to attend it must be important." The High Priestess spoke haughtily, her nose raised into the air.

Loki's sly grin returned, 'The Gathering of the Cups Ceremony brother really? My oh my, I really should teach you to lie better.'

Casting a small illusion spell, he created the voice of a Shi'ar talking just loud enough for the High Priestess to hear.

"OH yes it will be wonderful to attend The Gathering of the Cups Ceremony it is one of their most important ceremonies. AND they only invite the true elites of cosmos to witness it."

Loki smiled as he watched the High Priestess his eyes widened and her head snap to where she believed she heard the voice. Quickly enough Loki knew his ploy had worked.

"HOW DARE THEY" The High Priestess hissed. "Someone find Queen Frigga and demand that we be allowed attend. NO one screws with the Sovereign." She commanded causing several servants to bow their heads and hurriedly rush off.

Watching the servants hurry off gave Loki another idea and quickly turned to his Light Elves followers that were grinning at his mischief. He gathered them together and quickly gave them instructions on what to do.

He stood back and watched in his pride as one of his greatest pranks started to come into existence. His new friends quickly created over 2 dozen illusions around the room all discussing one thing, The Gathering of the Cups Ceremony. And sure, enough he watched as each delegation heard about the fake ceremony, then quickly sent off a servant to find his mother to demand to be allowed to observe it.

'Ah life is good' Loki thought to himself and was about to again move on from his brother when he suddenly spotted Thor.

His brother was being dragged off by the hand by a very pretty young maiden around their age with straight black hair and a crimson dress with silver highlights. It took him a moment, but he recognised her as the girl Thor had fought at that stupid fighting field.

Oh, he couldn't resist this, he franticly made his way over to where the two was standing, just off to the side of the main groups that were occupying the hall.

Now he couldn't hear what they were saying but the girl made a clear glance over towards a group of Asgardian nobles, which Loki could tell she didn't want to overhear the conversation.

'A father, or older brother perhaps. Oh yes, I could use that maybe spread a rumour or whisper behind them that Thor has made off with a girl and when they notice she's gone, the fun can start' Loki began to scheme in his head.

Whilst he was figuring what exactly he was going to say or whisper, the Light Elves youth that was helping him returned and quickly asked what was happening.

Loki briefly explained the situation and quickly felt he had been born into the wrong people as no sooner had he explained than a dozen ideas were being floated around about to have fun at Thor's expense. Even Loki was impressed by their scheming and the deviousness of their mind.

Suddenly one tapped his shoulder and pointed to a spot just at the back of the Asgardians Nobles that were occupied by the lower nobles of Asgard. Loki quickly spotted what his new friend was pointing at, it was a stunning blonde girl, in a strapless emerald, green dress.

At first, he was transfixed by her, thinking that his friend was just pointing her out because of her looks but quickly overcame that as he realised that the girl had a deep frown on her face.

She kept glancing around the room and every time she spotted an Asgardian maiden speaking to a boy she sneered.

Loki recognised that sneer immediately for what it was, blatant jealousy mixed with resentment.

Examining the girl closer, Loki saw her dress was in fact cheap and the little jewellery she wore was second-hand. The lowest rung of the aristocracy Loki guessed, either a merchant's daughter whose father purchased a noble title or some very minor lord no one had heard of or cared about.

Unlike the girl Thor was talking to, the black-haired girl's whose dress was immaculate, brand new, tailored and although the girl clearly didn't like them her jewellery too was very expensive and new. Loki would have guessed that whoever she was the girl's family was somebody important.

Loki immediately knew what he was going to do gesturing to his new friends to watch, he cast another illusion spell this time on himself and made himself look like a minor noble's son. He quietly walked up to the girl and whilst doing so noticed that she had a small red-haired girl almost clinging to her.

"Excuse me miss?" Loki asked, causing the girl to face her.

"It's LADY. Lady Amora and who are you?" Amora's voice was a little harsh and filled with pride.

"Oh, nobody important but my friend over there asked if you could join them for a talk." Loki pointed to where Thor was currently standing talking to the black-haired girl.

Amora's eyes narrowed almost like a tiger readying itself to stalk and hunt its prey.

"You mean the tall blonde boy speaking with Sif" She spat out.

"Oh, is that her name. She seems a little plain in all honesty and my friend needs someone to go over and get rid of her he doesn't want to be rude." Loki smiled as he could see his plan working.

"Well, you have a good eye, Sif is the blandest girl alive, you know she goes around swinging swords," Amora whispered almost conspiratorially to Loki.

"NO really, a noble girl," Loki said in fake disbelief causing Amora to nod her head fanatically almost in pure exultation that someone was also disliking this Sif girl.

"Oh yeah, but nobody believes me or thinks less of her. NO, the Lady Sif Daughter of Ullr from the Plains of Ida can do no wrong." Amora spoke mockingly.

'Clearly, the two have history' Loki thought, and before he could do anything else to encourage her, the girl was already off with the little red-haired girl trailing behind her.

Loki saw that Sif was smiling broadly at something Thor had just said which he believed must have been the last push Amora needed to go over. Loki quickly dropped his illusion and scampered over to his new friends to watch the results.

It did not take long, whilst he could not hear the group converse Loki was having pure joy from the stupid look that was plastered on his brother's face. Frist being enamoured with Amora, causing Sif to frown, to Thor then becoming flustered and looking helpless whilst he was clearly stuck between the two girls.

Loki was just deciding whether he should now get Sif's male relative involved to put the icing on the cake but had no need to when he saw Kal almost appear at their elder brother's side and began talking to the fathered group.

Whatever Kal was saying Loki wished he could hear, as first Sif went red, then Thor both blushing and then Thor went pale as he began to scramble toward the Sovereign delegation, he had abandoned to go flirt.

Thor then turned back before he left the group fully and asked Kal something, whose response caused Thor to make a face that Loki was very aware of, and without missing a beat, he cast a quick spell to amplify Thor's voice.

" ….. ah Skitr!" rang clear across the whole of Sessrúmnir.

Causing every single eye in the hall to turn towards the source of the Asgardian curse and resulting in Thor going deathly pale, whilst muttering something Loki knew had to be along the lines of, Dammit LOKI.

The hall was silent for a moment before Frigga quickly moved forward and let out a very loud, very diplomatic chuckle. Which was promptly taken up by the nearby Asgardian nobles who followed their Queens lead to cover for their prince.

"My son, as silvered tongued as my husband sometimes." She joked offering a polite laugh.

Whilst, not the best recovery, it did the trick and caused the gathered guests to start laughing some out of genuine humour but most out of diplomatic niceties.

Frigga quickly wrapped an arm around Thor with an almost vice-like grip that even caused Loki to flinch, as she began pushing him back towards the Sovereign Delegation. Evidently, going to smooth out relations with the Sovereign and make sure Thor did his duty.

As she came nearer but not close enough to spot him, he heard her harshly whisper to Thor "Where is your brother?"

Loki was about to slip out when he spotted Kal who was trailing behind Frigga stop a moment directly look at him and wave.

He also had a panic attack there and then but a quick glance at their mother showed she was too busy dealing with Thor to notice Kal had spotted him. Breathing a sigh of relief he gave his brother a quick wink and wave, then bolted off.

'Thor down, two to go.' He smirked as he gathered his Light Elven acolytes.

Who next?

Next would be the Staff of the Royal Palace.

Loki didn't really have anything against the staff, they were just mere servants so mostly beneath his notice, but they were just fun to play tricks on.

It was just a question of which group this year or more accurately which group did he want to start with or focus on to make up for lack of effort for most of the year.

'Decisions, decisions' Loki hummed to himself, 'Ah yes, let's start with the guards this year.'

Having decided on his next target Loki was quick to begin his plan there was a number of ways he could have fun with the guards, he just had to settle on which one would be the most appropriate for the current setting.

He quickly decided that a bit of illusionary play would work best and started informing his new friends as to his plan and the people they should impersonate.

In all, it was quite a simple bit of fun, that he had done numerous times throughout his life.

Step one, merely impersonate a few guard captains, his mother or General Tyr, Step Two, issue conflicting and amusing orders, and Step Three, sit back and watch the chaos unfold.

Stretching his arms out before him, he began to get himself in the mindset of his first impersonation, that of General Tyr. A shimmering of green light flittered over Loki removing the pre-adolescent child with a towering battle-scarred one-handed General in immaculate golden armour.

The now concealed Loki began to walk forward with confidence doing his best to get his stride just right and hold his severed arm just as Tyr always did slightly up, close to his chest almost as if it was in an invisible sling.

As he walked a few guards noticed him and immediately tried to straighten themselves up having been lax in their duties due to it being Yule and the majority of their number being off with Odin for the wild hunt.

"STRAIGHTEN UP THERE!" Loki growled doing his best to imitate the way Tyr always growled at Loki and his brothers when they did something wrong.

He had to resist the grin that threatened to appear on his face as a number of the guards that heard him almost fell over trying to correct themselves. One in particular who had been so relaxed he had removed his helmet, and at Loki's command had tried to place the thing back on only for it to be back to front.

The now blinded guard quickly stumbled where he was and fell over causing him to crash into the guard standing next to him. Loki swiftly approached the collapsed pair and as both looked up at him he did his best to glare as Tyr always did.

"Um happy Yule sir?" spoke the guard that had just removed his incorrectly donned helmet.

"Get up and I want you to give me 1000 LAPS AROUND THE PALACE NOW!" Loki commanded.

The result was instantaneous the two collapsed guards sprang up with the skill of trained acrobats and sprinted off faster than Loki could think. However, his fun was not done yet he quickly rounded on the other nearby guards.

"WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT GO GET THE CUPS FOR THE CEREMONY!" Loki's command was instantly heeded.

Whilst he knew no one understood the order, none were brave enough to challenge their General and ask him to explain what he wanted. They did what any well-trained guard or soldier does, they obeyed rushing off in all directions to gather cups.

Many raced off towards the kitchens and he smirked wishing he could observe Andhrímnir the head servant of the kitchen when a dozen guards started raiding his kitchens for any cups they could get their hands on.

He decided his next location had to be the Palace barracks as any remaining Einherjar on Asgard not on duty would be spending their first night of Yule within its walls to celebrate with their comrades before heading home to their families.

As he rounded the corridor his blood almost froze as fast approaching was the actual General Tyr himself in his splendid armour. However, fortunately for Loki, the general had not yet noticed him his head was buried in a report as he walked.

Without missing a beat, Loki quickly changed his illusion gone was armour and battle scars instead there was high cheekbones, an elegant gown and blonde braided hair, as the Queen of Asgard marched down the hall.

"General Tyr" Loki addressed the general in the same manner his mother always did respectful, friendly yet still formally.

"My queen, forgive I did not see you there" Tyr stumbled into a quick bow stunned by his monarch's sudden appearance.

"It is quite alright; you have much on your mind given the season and that my husband is off on the annual hunt." Frigga gave an appreciative smile to the general, whose chest puffed up at the compliment.

"Indeed, I do your Majesty." Tyr let out a sigh and gave 'Frigga' an appreciative smile, but his burrow quickly furrowed, "Um your Majesty what are you doing here should you not be with our guests?"

"I have managed to slip out for a moment, and I was in fact looking for you?" Loki give a quick glance around pretending as if he was worried about being overheard. "It is about Loki."

Tyr visibly repressed a groan "What has the boy down now?"

Most people would have had to suppress discontentment at being the source of such a response, but Loki was not most people, he was suppressing a full-on grin and laugh of jubilation. Taking a quick moment to recompose himself he continued on pretending to be his concerned mother.

"Well, it appears he and some of the Alfheim children have managed to slip out of the Palace. I believe they are heading into Medina; I would have you personally bring him back." Loki commanded with the concern he knew his mother have.

This time Tyr actually groaned he knew Medina, the lower city on Asgard well, it was a place all soldiers knew well and all commanders had problems with. It was filled with pubs, taverns and other business of ill repute, a place a General often had reports about and definitely a place Loki would run off to.

"I'll bring the boy back before he causes trouble, my Queen. Though, I swear the boy is only just turned 10, fates preserve us when he gets older if this keeps up. He'll cause Ragnarök I just know it." Tyr offered as he quickly departed to gather a few men and attempt to drag Loki back.

"Be careful General and good luck," Loki called out and once the general was out of sight swiftly retook Tyr's form.

The real Loki continued onto his original destination a wide grin forming on his face that he let freely show as there was not a soul yet to observe him. He was sure that Tyr would quickly figure out that he had been duped, but by that time Loki would have had his fun and come up with an alibi as he always does.

It took him a while, but he finally reached the Palace barracks and turned his smile into a grimace and fixed the best glare he could. Mentally preparing himself for his next role which if played right would help cumulate all his actions together as well as the actions of his newfound eleven friends.

He pushed up the door and had to use a slight bit of magic to them fly open hard enough to bang as he knew Tyr would do, but he was physically unable to perform. "RIGHT, YOU BOWLEGGED SISSY'S WHY ARE YOU NOT UP THERE RIGHT NOW!"

Loki's actions had the desired effect again it caused an avalanche of motion to occur more than Loki had truly been expecting. He suspected it was a result that some of the guards present were down here shirking off their duties, inside of being outside in the freezing cold.

He watched as the Palace warriors who had been left behind on Asgard sprung into action, whilst they consisted of men either too young or too old for the Wild Hunt they still moved like a well-oiled machine. Complex ornate armour slipped on like with the ease of a slipper, weapons flew off racks and landed expertly into waiting hands, and the men so were soon in formation ready to march off at a moment's notice.

"Uh, sir, what exactly are your orders?" Loki turned to look at the soldier who had asked the question.

The soldier in question was in reality an officer, a very junior and very young one Loki guessed judging by the hesitation in the man's voice, his youthful appearance and the fact he had been left on Asgard.

"Oh, by Odin's beard. YOU are all supposed to be upstairs in the feasting hall to observe the Gathering of the Cups Ceremony!" Loki let out a very convincing grunt of frustration, exactly as Tyr always did.

"Of course sir … Um, sir what is The Gathering of the Cups Ceremony?" The young officer asked again with hesitation.

However, Loki gave his best impression of Tyr's glare he could in response and again had to refrain from smirking as the officer went pale and promptly turned around.

"RIGHT MEN! YOU HEARD HIM UP TO THE HALL NOW!" The young officer bellowed with impressive authority, causing every man present to move out in lockstep.

Loki observed each of them passing and once the barracks were empty, he dropped his illusion and let out a boyish laugh at his success. He was exhausted sweat glistened on his forehead, he had never held an illusion for that long but was proud of his success.

Now all he had to do was slip back into the hall, pretend he had been there all along and blame any of the following events on Thor for creating a fake ceremony just so that he could talk to some girl.

His trip back to the hall took longer than he liked but couldn't be helped as he was too exhausted to cast another illusion spell and so had to resort to his general abilities to sneak around to go undetected. Eventually, however, he managed to slip back into the hall just in time to watch the epoch of his machinations take place.

The hall was now packed, there was enough Einherjar warriors present Loki guessed to occupy Midgard, amongst them was his parent's guests a sea of displaced people trying to reform into groups. An in the middle of the chaos was Thor who was quickly becoming overwhelmed by dozens if not hundreds of cups that had been placed before him, in preparation for his fake ceremony.

His mother Frigga was off to one side, quietly but furiously yelling at the young officer that had led the Einherjar into the hall, whilst also trying to prevent more guards from adding cups in front of Thor.

All of which was made worse by the fact that dozens of guests had formed a semicircle near Thor to observe what they believed to be an Asgardian tradition they had never seen before led by the crown prince of Asgard.

Loki quickly abandoned trying to re-join the Alfheim delegation as mainly there was no group to join, as like many of the guests they were now disrupted all over the hall. So he opted to frankly push his way towards mother pretending to be just as confused as everyone else.

As he approached, he quickly saw Kal standing next to the girls that he had seen Thor talking to earlier who was close to his mother, evidently looking after Kal whilst Frigga tried to sort out the mess that was occurring.

He came almost stumbling over to Kal as he pushed his way between several Asgardian nobles and a few guards. "KAL! There you are what is going on?"

Kal for his part just shrugged clueless as to what was occurring, "I don't know, Thor said a bad word and then this all happened."

"AND where have you been?" Frigga's ice cold motherly voice cut through the air, almost causing Loki to flinch as it struck his ears.

"Just with the Alfheim children playing in the gardens and giving a tour you can ask them" Loki gave his best innocent smile, which his mother narrowed his eyes at.

"Right? Well, we'll see about that. I swear if you are behind this Loki, you are not coming out of your room until the Convergence" Frigga threatened before she turned to help Thor get out of the mess he was in.

"Who are the Alfheim?" Kal asked, causing his brother to chuckle and try to ruffle his brother's hair that didn't budge, due to their mother's magic.

"There the Light Elves" Loki answered, causing his brother just to respond with 'Ah' as children often do.

"Why are they called light elves?" that question took Kal and Loki by surprise as it came from the small red-haired girl who was standing next to Amora.

Amora just rolled her eyes at her little sister's question.

"Because they are related to dark elves but are strengthened by light instead of darkness and are also known for their joyful or light nature, obviously" Amora answered with a sigh of frustration at her little sister.

"And the fires" Kal casually stated whilst he was looking at one of the tree people nearby in wonder.

"What?" Loki asked looking at Kal in confusion.

"Oh, Light Elves, besides being you know all about light and mischief, they like setting things on fire. It's a cultural thing, I think?" Kal stated with a slight confusion on his face likely as he had no idea what 'cultural' actually meant being a boy of 6.

"How do you know that?" Loki asked in alarm, hoping his brother was joking or misremembering, causing Sif, Lorelei, and Amora to look at him.

"I learnt about it in a book and asked mother about it. She says it why the young ones can't go off by themselves, or else they start fires" Kal grinned, proud of himself for remembering.

Just as Loki was about to respond a huge bright light erupted from outside one of the hall's windows causing everyone's heads to turn. Before anyone else could act Loki ran quickly to the window to see what was happening, barrelling through a dozen guests whilst he did do.

Outside a dozen of the light elf children, he had 'befriended' had set fire to his father's stables that were lucky empty because of the wild hunt, and to make matters worse they emblazoned his name on the earth before the stables.

"Oh, and they mark the fires with the name of a person as a gift. To them, it's an honour" Kal added as he too walked up to the window to stand next to Loki, staring at the burning building.

Loki went quiet for a moment trying to think of a plan but soon felt the looming shadow of his mother behind him.

"…... Ah Skitr." Was all the prince could manage before he was hauled away by his mother.

Odin returned once again in triumph from the Wild Hunt.

10 glorious days of defending the Nine Realms from all manage of foul beasts that appeared annually as the Yggdrasil went through its cycles. Causing the barrier between worlds and even dimensions to become thin.

Usually, upon his return, his wife along with select members of the court would greet him at the steps of the Palace, he would then bathe greet his family and then have the final feast of Yule with his guests and family. Recounting his and his entourage's tale of that years hunt for all to hear.

However, this year he was greeted by the sight of his prized stables as a burnt out ruin with his middle son's name scorched into the soil before him.

It took Odin all of about 5 seconds to realise that Loki had obviously tried to pull one of his grand schemes, but due to his age had not worked out all of the angles resulting in something slipping his notice or getting away from him. Resulting in the calamity before him.

He simply sighed and got off his trusted stead Sleipnir, patting the horse's great main gently as he did so. A servant quickly approached his King and took Sleipnir's reins, gently leading the horse to one of the Palace's lesser stables.

Odin was quick to march up the Palace steps and once he crested the few final steps to the Palace's great doors was greeted by the vision of his wife in all her radiant elegance with a slightly relieved look upon her face.

"Are you happy to see me uninjured my love? Did you worry for me?" Odin spoke as he always did to his wife with clear love, affection and respect.

His question was met by a small snort from his beloved queen, how gave him a playful smirk. "My worry for you is the only thing keeping you alive and I am happy to see that I don't have to keep this place together all by myself. The little help you do is appreciated."

Odin let out a heartfelt chuckle at his wife's playful barbs, quickly giving her a warm hug and a deep kiss. As she unwrapped herself from her husband she kept her arms linked in his whilst she guided him inside.

"So, I saw the stables," Odin commented as they made their way towards their bedroom.

"Yes, our son decided that Light Elves of Alfheim would be the best partners in his schemes" she stated keeping her face neutral.

Odin repressed a chuckle. "AH, I take it he did not realise that they have an affinity for fire especially the young ones?"

"He did not." At his wife's simple statement Odin let out a satisfying chuckle.

"So what punishment have you concocted for him?" Odin asked.

"Well firstly he is too clean all the guard's armour BY hand, then he is writing apology addresses to the guests and he will be helping rebuild the stables next year," Frigga informed him.

"I take it he did something with the guards and the guests as well in between causing the stables to be burnt down?" Odin's humour was now gone as he rubbed his eye with his free hand in frustration.

"OH yes, I will explain all of that later." She started releasing a long-held back sigh, "Also we are annually hosting a new ceremony each year now at Yule."

Odin looked at Frigga with confusion at her last statement but simply received a look that told him all he needed to know.

'Loki what am I going to do with that boy?' He thought to himself as they reached their bedroom.

Frigga aided her husband in removing his armour and replacing it with his palace clothes, as she did so she checked for any new wound or injury for husband tried to conceal from her.

"So, Loki is under lock and key polishing armour. Where are my other sons? What have Kal and Thor been up to?" Odin asked eager to hopefully hear some positive news about his time away.

Frigga gave a wide smile that reached her eyes that piqued Odin's curiosity.

"What is it, my love?" Odin asked a smile forming on his face.

"Well, Thor has made a few friends and wanted to invite them to the Palace," She asked holding back a smirk that threaten to form on her face.

"Well, that is good is it not?" Odin asked carefully sensing there was more to come.

"Oh yes, it's very nice to see Thor starting to form real friendships with such lovely young girls. There were three in total from what I saw," Frigga smiled as Odin's eyes widen at her statements.

He released a small series of chuckles and a heavy sigh at the information.

"So, Loki is burning builds and Thor is inviting girls to the Palace now. Anything else happen whilst I was gone? Has Kal started growing scales, flying or shooting fire from his eyes?" Odin asked in exasperation.

Frigga chuckled at her husband's statement and gave him a quick warm embrace to elevate his frustrations.

"No, my love Kal is still the same sweet boy that you left, and fire from his eyes really?" She chuckled at the absurdity of such a power.

"That is good," Odin responded but quickly was concerned when he was seeing his wife bite her lip.

"Well, I almost forget there is one thing about Kal that happened whilst you were gone." Frigga seemed reluctant to talk about the topic.

"What is it my dearest?" Odin asked with concern.

"You see Kal got involved in a little contest with Princess Maxima of Almerac, which he easily won, but now the girls mother is quite driven to have Kal as her daughters future…." Frigga trailed off not wanting to finish the conversation.

Odin could only blink a few times in the shock at the news.

"Ah, well obviously that's not going to happen. Dam, another thing to juggle with them." He released a deep sigh, his burrow creasing in thought. "Anything else?"

"No, I believe that covers it." Frigga let out a chuckle, at the difficulties of the crown.

Odin spent a few more minutes getting dressed and then once ready headed out with Frigga to attend to his duties. Despite, how much he wished he could simply rest after the Wild Hunt the duties of a King waited for no man.

The rest of their day was largely spent dealing with various petitioners that had waited for Odin's return to make their appeal or else there were dealing with their various guests that would soon be departing now that Yule was soon ending.

Odin hated the final day of Yule, mainly because it involved him being swarmed by hundreds of diplomats across the known cosmos each wanting to talk to him about some alliance or something, and with the Queen of Almerac desiring his son he was having no ends of headaches this day.

He was mostly spending the day travelling across his own Palace to meet with the various delegates before they departed in the morning, making sure to see every one of them in person. Keeping old allies reassured, and old enemies on their toes, all in an effort to keep the peace.

However, despite the complexities of the day it passed swiftly and no sooner had he had time to settle back into his routine was the Grand Feast of Yule before them.

Odin sat at the high table with his family and watched with pride as the peace he had fought for was clear before him. He also found joy in watching his children, despite some of their recent lapses in judgement, each of them was starting to find their own path in life.

Thor was busy chatting away to a high noble maiden with black hair. The two conversed like old friends and had been joined by a number of other children including a tall blonde girl who was watching his son intensely. Whilst Odin knew many just wanted to be friends with a Prince he hoped it was the start of at least some true friendships his son needed and wanted.

Close by Loki had been let out from his punishment for the occasion as not to show disunity to their guests. He was busy conversing with a number of children as well, a smaller group than his brother, but still, it did Odin's old heart well to see Loki finding his place.

He guessed many were the more rebellious children of nobles or those who just wanted to be friends with the rebel Prince that had burnt down his own father's stables. Odin almost grinned, being the villain sometimes makes one popular.

All of Loki's actions however were under the close watch of his mother of course, who was discreetly nearby to keep an eye on the boy, and Odin also saw that General Tyr was also almost on top of his son. The general too was keeping a close eye on the boy.

And not two far way on the other side of the hall was Kal who was busy talking to a number of children. However, where Loki's and Thor's groups consisted of Asgardian children Kal had a variety of species around him, all clearly fascinated by each other as each was as exotic and strange to each other as the others were to them.

Kal was grinning as he tried and failed to converse with a young sapling of the Flora colossi, he was also conversing with a young Asgardian about his age that was standing next to him. All three were laughing as the two boys failed to under the sapling and the sapling in return had no idea what they were saying.

He passed the time seated at the high table, however soon found his youngest running up to him and almost jumping on him with excitement. Odin was quick to catch the boy and pull him to sit on his lap but slightly struggled, as Kal was starting to get heavy and larger and soon would be beyond his ability to lift with ease.

"Father, father look what I was given?" Kal held up a flower that the young sapling most have given him.

"That is nice, I will make sure that we give them something in return." Odin smiled at his youngest enthusiasm.

"Thank you, father, Haldor also got one," Kal said whilst smiling up at his father.

"Who is Haldor, a new friend?" Odin asked pleased his son seemed to be making friends with people his own age.

"Yes," Kal said enthusiastically and pointed to a boy seated on one of the tables reserved for nobles of about middle ranks. "Me and him have been talking to each other all Yule, he's really great."

"Well then, we best organise for him to come to the Palace at some point" Odin offered, causing Kal's eyes to beam with happiness and hug his father in thanks.

'Just need to check to make sure the boy's father is not some ambitious noble using his son to worm his way into power' Odin thought as he glanced at the boy whilst hugging his son back.

Odin was pleased his sons were making friends, he and Frigga had actually arranged for the nobles and delegates to bring more children this year, in hopes of giving their children more companions their own age. Hopefully, it would avoid them sneaking off again like they had done earlier in the year.

Odin sat watching the hall sighing in relief that all was right with the world for a few moments until he heard a loud roar of laughter as he turned to see Thor's hair had turned bright pink.

"LOKI!" Frigga's voice snapped as she quickly rushed in to deal with the situation, causing Kal to chuckle on his knee.

'Well, that lasted all of five seconds.' Odin sighed as he rose to aid his wife.

'Fates help me make it to the next Yule'