All Our Paths - CH 1 (Loki/Thor, omegaverse)
Chapter One
Thor did not run, because princes about to reach their maturity did not chase down their little brothers like they were both still children. He did not run, but it was a very fast walk.
"Loki!" Thor threw open the doors to his brother's chambers. Loki looked up from his desk, one eyebrow raised in wry surprise, still and neat in his dark robes. Thor breathed hard like a war horse, sweating under his leathers, already dusty from his warm up in the ring. "Brother, what madness has seized you now?"
"Thor, you have barged into my rooms uninvited and conduct yourself like a madman. Surely, it would be more appropriate to ask the same of you."
"My behavior is fully justified. Imagine my surprise upon being approached this morning by our instructors and informed that you refuse to return to the Glíma." The news was still impossible to comprehend. Both boys had been eager since their first blade to reach maturity and become war-leaders with their own hirð. No man would follow Loki into battle unless he trained with them every day and showed his physical prowess.
"Well, since you already have the measure of the situation, I fail to see what you need of me."
"Explain yourself!" Thor roared. "Why, brother?" And why did you not tell me?
Loki stared at Thor for a long moment, eyes dark and uncertain. One long finger scratched down the edges of his book. Then, Loki stilled, a small smile curling across his face, wiping everything from his eyes but a shallow, cruel amusement.
"Simply put, I no longer desire to spend my days rolling around in the dirt with those louts and simple braggarts. Not when my magic is finally reaching maturity, and I find myself capable of practicing the more advanced texts."
"Sorcery!?" Thor wanted to wring his neck. "You will give up the company of your age-mates and comrades to play with the women and old men?"
Loki snapped his book closed, a snarl forming on his lips.
"Father never should have given you permission to study seiðr! It has clearly poisoned your mind!"
"And who should give me permission on how to live my life? You?" Loki rose from his seat. The sunlight through the window flared bright, and Thor flinched and squinted against the glare. "I am fully proficient at lausa tök, as you well know. With a few more years of sorcerous study, I will bet my wit against any blade." Loki stalked across the room to better sneer in Thor's face. "And if any man ever speaks the way you have today, I will have my revenge."
"But you will have no lendir menn," Thor tried to appeal. To go through life without that small band of loyal fighters and friends at your back was unthinkable to Thor. "You'll be alone."
"Oh?" Loki's smile was all teeth, and his eyes were dark and deep. "Even my own brother would not invite me to join his hirð? Be gone then. I have no more time for you."
"You're an Odinson," Thor sputtered. The idea was preposterous. "We are equals."
Loki's smile kept getting wider and worse. He laughed without amusement. "Dear brother, you have no idea how much that isn't true." He dismissed Thor with his back, returning to his desk.
"Loki," Thor tried again, "what is wrong? Truly." Thor could not fight Loki's battles for him without damaging his brother's honor, but if his brother needed his aid, Thor's arms and shield would have his back.
"Dismiss all thoughts of combat from your head, brother." Loki's smile lost its frost, becoming more fond and, strangely, rueful. "This is not something you can fight against."
"You still will not tell me the truth?"
Loki laughed again. "I have told you the truth, Thor. I am not to blame if you will not hear it."
The second morning bell rang out from the training field, calling the first round of sparring to a close. Thor would be in trouble soon if he did not return.
"Is there nothing that can change your mind?"
Thor wished in that moment that he was wiser like his father or cleverer like his brother or more insightful like his mother, because Loki's eyes were wide open and his mouth was a thinly-pressed, frank smile, and Thor had no idea what it all meant.
"No."
Thor could recognize when his brother had dug his heels in and would not be moved. When Loki made his mind up, it took a more skillful tongue than Thor's to convince him of his fault.
"Then I will concede the argument--for now. Father and mother will surely take it up in my place, and hopefully they will possess some wisdom you will listen to."
"Running to our parents so they'll take your side won't work this time. Father and mother already know and agree with my choices."
Thor's jaw dropped. Their father approved of Loki's impossibly mad decision? Odin, who had been given the great and terrible kennings of Battle-Glad and Spear-Shaker?
"Then...then I suppose there is nothing for me to say."
"There never was." Loki watched him like the great predator cats on Vanaheimr, tracking his every twitch and reflex with full absorption. "I believe it's time for you to leave. For your training."
Thor scowled and marched across the room to slam his palm down on that damned book of magic. "I will not stand for you to shut me out. You are my brother whom I love dearly, so I will always be concerned with your welfare. I concede that you and farther are far more far-seeing than I, but I see like other men, and there is value in that too that I will not have you dismiss. If the path you have set yourself upon is baffling and strange to me, so it will be to the rest of Asgard."
He fought the urge to sneeze. The air smelled strongly like pomegranates and cloves that tickled his nose, but he would not forfeit the the dignity of his words.
Loki opened his mouth, and Thor cut him off. "If you are determined on this course, I know I cannot move you from it, so let us be done with this argument. I only hope you will be prepared for how the rest of the court reacts."
Loki's smile slipped into a grimace. "No threats can disabuse me from my decision." Thor tried to protest, and Loki waved a hand between them to cut him off. "Even ones only indirectly made. Brother, I assure you that I have carefully weighed all options before taking action. This is what I want. Magic is so much more than I first thought. It has been tied so closely to the womanly sphere for so long that entire reaches of it have gone unexplored." He laughed shortly, lips quirking up. "Who knows, it might even be a blessing in disguise."
"I do not see how that could be true," Thor grumbled. "I must return to the Glíma, or I will be in trouble. I will leave you to your studies." Alone, in his room, while Thor returned to the comradeship of a score of warriors in training, whom he would fight besides on the battlefield and carouse with in the dining hall and stand by in hardship. Thor did not see how this could ever be a path to happiness.
He could not help throwing a baleful glare at the thrice-cursed book before heading to the door. He paused on the threshold, turning. "And you will, of course, always have a place in my hirð if you wish it."
Surpise stole across Loki's features before he could bridle it. "Thank you, brother."
Thor nodded and marched out, pace as fast as he'd come. If Loki could not command his own hirð and no other would accept him, that meant that Thor needed to become a man in his father's eyes as soon as possible. He was still a good decade away from when he would traditionally be given the chance to swear his oaths, but he knew he could cut that time in half. He was Thor Odinson.
Thor did not run, because princes about to reach their maturity did not chase down their little brothers like they were both still children. He did not run, but it was a very fast walk.
"Loki!" Thor threw open the doors to his brother's chambers. Loki looked up from his desk, one eyebrow raised in wry surprise, still and neat in his dark robes. Thor breathed hard like a war horse, sweating under his leathers, already dusty from his warm up in the ring. "Brother, what madness has seized you now?"
"Thor, you have barged into my rooms uninvited and conduct yourself like a madman. Surely, it would be more appropriate to ask the same of you."
"My behavior is fully justified. Imagine my surprise upon being approached this morning by our instructors and informed that you refuse to return to the Glíma." The news was still impossible to comprehend. Both boys had been eager since their first blade to reach maturity and become war-leaders with their own hirð. No man would follow Loki into battle unless he trained with them every day and showed his physical prowess.
"Well, since you already have the measure of the situation, I fail to see what you need of me."
"Explain yourself!" Thor roared. "Why, brother?" And why did you not tell me?
Loki stared at Thor for a long moment, eyes dark and uncertain. One long finger scratched down the edges of his book. Then, Loki stilled, a small smile curling across his face, wiping everything from his eyes but a shallow, cruel amusement.
"Simply put, I no longer desire to spend my days rolling around in the dirt with those louts and simple braggarts. Not when my magic is finally reaching maturity, and I find myself capable of practicing the more advanced texts."
"Sorcery!?" Thor wanted to wring his neck. "You will give up the company of your age-mates and comrades to play with the women and old men?"
Loki snapped his book closed, a snarl forming on his lips.
"Father never should have given you permission to study seiðr! It has clearly poisoned your mind!"
"And who should give me permission on how to live my life? You?" Loki rose from his seat. The sunlight through the window flared bright, and Thor flinched and squinted against the glare. "I am fully proficient at lausa tök, as you well know. With a few more years of sorcerous study, I will bet my wit against any blade." Loki stalked across the room to better sneer in Thor's face. "And if any man ever speaks the way you have today, I will have my revenge."
"But you will have no lendir menn," Thor tried to appeal. To go through life without that small band of loyal fighters and friends at your back was unthinkable to Thor. "You'll be alone."
"Oh?" Loki's smile was all teeth, and his eyes were dark and deep. "Even my own brother would not invite me to join his hirð? Be gone then. I have no more time for you."
"You're an Odinson," Thor sputtered. The idea was preposterous. "We are equals."
Loki's smile kept getting wider and worse. He laughed without amusement. "Dear brother, you have no idea how much that isn't true." He dismissed Thor with his back, returning to his desk.
"Loki," Thor tried again, "what is wrong? Truly." Thor could not fight Loki's battles for him without damaging his brother's honor, but if his brother needed his aid, Thor's arms and shield would have his back.
"Dismiss all thoughts of combat from your head, brother." Loki's smile lost its frost, becoming more fond and, strangely, rueful. "This is not something you can fight against."
"You still will not tell me the truth?"
Loki laughed again. "I have told you the truth, Thor. I am not to blame if you will not hear it."
The second morning bell rang out from the training field, calling the first round of sparring to a close. Thor would be in trouble soon if he did not return.
"Is there nothing that can change your mind?"
Thor wished in that moment that he was wiser like his father or cleverer like his brother or more insightful like his mother, because Loki's eyes were wide open and his mouth was a thinly-pressed, frank smile, and Thor had no idea what it all meant.
"No."
Thor could recognize when his brother had dug his heels in and would not be moved. When Loki made his mind up, it took a more skillful tongue than Thor's to convince him of his fault.
"Then I will concede the argument--for now. Father and mother will surely take it up in my place, and hopefully they will possess some wisdom you will listen to."
"Running to our parents so they'll take your side won't work this time. Father and mother already know and agree with my choices."
Thor's jaw dropped. Their father approved of Loki's impossibly mad decision? Odin, who had been given the great and terrible kennings of Battle-Glad and Spear-Shaker?
"Then...then I suppose there is nothing for me to say."
"There never was." Loki watched him like the great predator cats on Vanaheimr, tracking his every twitch and reflex with full absorption. "I believe it's time for you to leave. For your training."
Thor scowled and marched across the room to slam his palm down on that damned book of magic. "I will not stand for you to shut me out. You are my brother whom I love dearly, so I will always be concerned with your welfare. I concede that you and farther are far more far-seeing than I, but I see like other men, and there is value in that too that I will not have you dismiss. If the path you have set yourself upon is baffling and strange to me, so it will be to the rest of Asgard."
He fought the urge to sneeze. The air smelled strongly like pomegranates and cloves that tickled his nose, but he would not forfeit the the dignity of his words.
Loki opened his mouth, and Thor cut him off. "If you are determined on this course, I know I cannot move you from it, so let us be done with this argument. I only hope you will be prepared for how the rest of the court reacts."
Loki's smile slipped into a grimace. "No threats can disabuse me from my decision." Thor tried to protest, and Loki waved a hand between them to cut him off. "Even ones only indirectly made. Brother, I assure you that I have carefully weighed all options before taking action. This is what I want. Magic is so much more than I first thought. It has been tied so closely to the womanly sphere for so long that entire reaches of it have gone unexplored." He laughed shortly, lips quirking up. "Who knows, it might even be a blessing in disguise."
"I do not see how that could be true," Thor grumbled. "I must return to the Glíma, or I will be in trouble. I will leave you to your studies." Alone, in his room, while Thor returned to the comradeship of a score of warriors in training, whom he would fight besides on the battlefield and carouse with in the dining hall and stand by in hardship. Thor did not see how this could ever be a path to happiness.
He could not help throwing a baleful glare at the thrice-cursed book before heading to the door. He paused on the threshold, turning. "And you will, of course, always have a place in my hirð if you wish it."
Surpise stole across Loki's features before he could bridle it. "Thank you, brother."
Thor nodded and marched out, pace as fast as he'd come. If Loki could not command his own hirð and no other would accept him, that meant that Thor needed to become a man in his father's eyes as soon as possible. He was still a good decade away from when he would traditionally be given the chance to swear his oaths, but he knew he could cut that time in half. He was Thor Odinson.