Thor’s not sure, exactly, what the curse is, or how it’s come upon him, but he does know that it’s a curse. It begins when Thor comes home after a tour through Vanaheim, meeting and greeting the people through their sharply hidden smiles and curled hands. It begins when the animosity brewing between Asgard and Vanaheim is still not bottled, still not quite controlled. Their bloodshed has ended, but the battle still continues.
It was just a little skirmish. A tiny fight, breaking out on the edge of the sea. Sand and ocean varnished with the red of blood, ships creaking toward sinkage, the Vanir’s calls a chant that refused to end. A hollow in his ears. A woman, her eyes grief-stricken with madness, her hand-palms raised toward the copper sky.
“Think about us,” Thor remembers her mouth, forming the words, cracking in two. “Think about the lives you have ruined for the golden glory of your realm! Think, child of Odin, child of sky, think and regret!”
Thor had laughed at her, laughed at all of their useless attempts to hurt him, laughed at them all in the midst of battle and blood.
The light had taken him by surprise, a warm tether of seidr aimed right at his chest, knocking him back a few feet. Thor did not wake after that.
The next thing he remembers, he is back home, resting on his bed. Getting up, he holds a palm to his head and groans. “What has happened?”
“You were taken down in battle,” says the gilded voice of his mother, whose fingers still on his forehead as if he’s once more a child in her grasp. “Rest, child. Twas a difficult battle, and certainly unexpected. You were unprepared.”
Twas a foolish battle, fought by fools, ended by fools, the voice of the head healer - whom he has come to know well, unfortunately - says, sounding quite bitter. Thor closes his eyes and sighs through his nose, for his chest still aches in phantom pain. “I did not mean for such skirmishes, you must not accuse me for being a fool where I had just sought to protect myself.”
There is dead silence.
Thor opens his eyes a crack, toward his mother’s confused visage and toward the head healer’s - Eir’s - pallid face.
“What are you talking about, Thor?” his mother reaches forward and frowns harshly. “Is there a haze on your mind? Eir, Eir, what do you think of this?”
Eir’s lips press together. Her eyes are dark and displeased. “Forgive me, my queen,” she starts stiffly, “For I believe that the prince was replying to me. There is no such haze across his mind, but something far worse.”
“Worse?”
Thor’s eyes raise, alerted. “What do you mean, Eir?”
“Your Highness,” Eir says, carefully blank, “What you had replied to was the machinations of my own thoughts, unspoken.”
Thor blinks.
“Oh dear,” his mother breaths, before settling a hand on her collar. Then, a small voice, like something echoing in the hollows of his own mind; oh, dear. This could mean trouble.
“I do believe it is troubling already,” Thor’s voice cracks, and his mother flinches.
“Seems as though the curse we believed had no repercussions had one in the end, m’lady,” says Eir. She grimaces. “It seems as though our prince can hear the thoughts of others.”
Once more, with a baffled Thor and a distressed Eir, does his mother faintly say, “Oh, dear.”
Thor does not understand why this is such a bad thing. He says as much to the women who are tending to him, their hands weaving magic over his chest and shoulders to get rid of the brunt of pain. Eir simply snorts in an unladylike manner and leaves the room, while his mother simply smiles at him, a little strained.
“Knowing the thoughts of other is dangerous, my child,” she says softly. “They are a person’s most deepest desires, their own musings, something that belongs to one and one only. Would you be willing to take that away from someone else?”
“But think of all the things this could help with!” Thor argues, his eyes lighting at the thought. “There would be no traitors in the Council, our enemies’ plans would be laid out bare for us.” There were also the secretive thoughts that he did not say; the inner workings of a woman’s mind that he has never understood, the things that his father thought about during dull meetings, Hogun’s thoughts at any time, really.
His mother seems to know where his attention is fading to, and she makes a disapproving noise. “It would do you well to remember that this is a curse, and not a gift, for a reason, my son.” she sighs, standing. “When you are well, I will have food sent to your rooms. Do not leave under any circumstances, am I to be understood?”
“But why?”
His mother shakes her head. “I refuse to have you leave this room when you are pertinent to others’ closest thoughts. I simply won’t allow it, my son. Trust me.” She lays a soft hand on the pocket of his tunic, smoothing it down. “Stay here.”
With a last warning look, his mother leaves the rooms and locks the door. Thor sulks for a while, scowling at where she’s left, but he doesn’t dare try to open that door - no doubt, his mother’s magic has now curled around it and settled. None can defy Frigga’s seidr, for it is too powerful, except for -
Loki.
Thor sits up straight at the thought of his brother, and he wonders - wonders about the things his brother thinks about, of what keeps him up at night and what catches his eye and of what makes him stare absently at the horizon.
Perhaps he can finally know.
And despite the fact that he knows somewhere inside of him - just knows - that what he’s doing may err on the side of morality, a part of Thor falls into a belief that he’ll be able to get closer to his brother like they were in childhood. They had grown apart, and by the time Loki had come of age, the chasm between them seemed endless, even when they stood so close.
Thor yearns for his brother by his side once more.
Besides - that door isn’t the only way out. Thor looks around for the decorative wall filled with weapons that he has kept for a while, shifting aside the tapestry on the wall to reveal a door. He and Loki had made this when they were younger and Loki was just starting out on his seidr, hidden from most of the world except for his mother and his brother. One of the secrets that Loki had still kept with him.
Thor disappears down the passageway, already knowing where he’s going next.
Privacy concerns, in a land where they have a gatekeeper who will listen in to every conversation and watch people sitting on the loo? Thor could seek out Heimdall for a second opinion. :-)
Thor’s not sure, exactly, what the curse is, or how it’s come upon him, but he does know that it’s a curse. It begins when Thor comes home after a tour through Vanaheim, meeting and greeting the people through their sharply hidden smiles and curled hands. It begins when the animosity brewing between Asgard and Vanaheim is still not bottled, still not quite controlled. Their bloodshed has ended, but the battle still continues.
It was just a little skirmish. A tiny fight, breaking out on the edge of the sea. Sand and ocean varnished with the red of blood, ships creaking toward sinkage, the Vanir’s calls a chant that refused to end. A hollow in his ears. A woman, her eyes grief-stricken with madness, her hand-palms raised toward the copper sky.
“Think about us,” Thor remembers her mouth, forming the words, cracking in two. “Think about the lives you have ruined for the golden glory of your realm! Think, child of Odin, child of sky, think and regret!”
Thor had laughed at her, laughed at all of their useless attempts to hurt him, laughed at them all in the midst of battle and blood.
The light had taken him by surprise, a warm tether of seidr aimed right at his chest, knocking him back a few feet. Thor did not wake after that.
The next thing he remembers, he is back home, resting on his bed. Getting up, he holds a palm to his head and groans. “What has happened?”
“You were taken down in battle,” says the gilded voice of his mother, whose fingers still on his forehead as if he’s once more a child in her grasp. “Rest, child. Twas a difficult battle, and certainly unexpected. You were unprepared.”
Twas a foolish battle, fought by fools, ended by fools, the voice of the head healer - whom he has come to know well, unfortunately - says, sounding quite bitter. Thor closes his eyes and sighs through his nose, for his chest still aches in phantom pain. “I did not mean for such skirmishes, you must not accuse me for being a fool where I had just sought to protect myself.”
There is dead silence.
Thor opens his eyes a crack, toward his mother’s confused visage and toward the head healer’s - Eir’s - pallid face.
“What are you talking about, Thor?” his mother reaches forward and frowns harshly. “Is there a haze on your mind? Eir, Eir, what do you think of this?”
Eir’s lips press together. Her eyes are dark and displeased. “Forgive me, my queen,” she starts stiffly, “For I believe that the prince was replying to me. There is no such haze across his mind, but something far worse.”
“Worse?”
Thor’s eyes raise, alerted. “What do you mean, Eir?”
“Your Highness,” Eir says, carefully blank, “What you had replied to was the machinations of my own thoughts, unspoken.”
Thor blinks.
“Oh dear,” his mother breaths, before settling a hand on her collar. Then, a small voice, like something echoing in the hollows of his own mind; oh, dear. This could mean trouble.
“I do believe it is troubling already,” Thor’s voice cracks, and his mother flinches.
“Seems as though the curse we believed had no repercussions had one in the end, m’lady,” says Eir. She grimaces. “It seems as though our prince can hear the thoughts of others.”
Once more, with a baffled Thor and a distressed Eir, does his mother faintly say, “Oh, dear.”
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“Knowing the thoughts of other is dangerous, my child,” she says softly. “They are a person’s most deepest desires, their own musings, something that belongs to one and one only. Would you be willing to take that away from someone else?”
“But think of all the things this could help with!” Thor argues, his eyes lighting at the thought. “There would be no traitors in the Council, our enemies’ plans would be laid out bare for us.” There were also the secretive thoughts that he did not say; the inner workings of a woman’s mind that he has never understood, the things that his father thought about during dull meetings, Hogun’s thoughts at any time, really.
His mother seems to know where his attention is fading to, and she makes a disapproving noise. “It would do you well to remember that this is a curse, and not a gift, for a reason, my son.” she sighs, standing. “When you are well, I will have food sent to your rooms. Do not leave under any circumstances, am I to be understood?”
“But why?”
His mother shakes her head. “I refuse to have you leave this room when you are pertinent to others’ closest thoughts. I simply won’t allow it, my son. Trust me.” She lays a soft hand on the pocket of his tunic, smoothing it down. “Stay here.”
With a last warning look, his mother leaves the rooms and locks the door. Thor sulks for a while, scowling at where she’s left, but he doesn’t dare try to open that door - no doubt, his mother’s magic has now curled around it and settled. None can defy Frigga’s seidr, for it is too powerful, except for -
Loki.
Thor sits up straight at the thought of his brother, and he wonders - wonders about the things his brother thinks about, of what keeps him up at night and what catches his eye and of what makes him stare absently at the horizon.
Perhaps he can finally know.
And despite the fact that he knows somewhere inside of him - just knows - that what he’s doing may err on the side of morality, a part of Thor falls into a belief that he’ll be able to get closer to his brother like they were in childhood. They had grown apart, and by the time Loki had come of age, the chasm between them seemed endless, even when they stood so close.
Thor yearns for his brother by his side once more.
Besides - that door isn’t the only way out. Thor looks around for the decorative wall filled with weapons that he has kept for a while, shifting aside the tapestry on the wall to reveal a door. He and Loki had made this when they were younger and Loki was just starting out on his seidr, hidden from most of the world except for his mother and his brother. One of the secrets that Loki had still kept with him.
Thor disappears down the passageway, already knowing where he’s going next.
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Very nice!
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