Thor Fic: "We Are Our Own Folklore" (R, Loki/Darcy, Thor/Jane), 1a/7
Title: We Are Our Own Folklore (Part 1: The Golden Bird)
Characters: Loki, Thor, Darcy, Jane, Frigga, Odin, Amora, Balder, Agent Coulson, Erik Selvig, Freya, Nanna, original characters; eventual appearances of others
Pairings: Loki/Darcy, Thor/Jane, mention of past Loki/Amora and Thor/Amora
Rating: R for grimness, dark themes, gender weirdness, mild gore and semi-explicit sexuality
Length: 15,815 words
Summary: After what might seem to some like the world's longest courtship, Loki and Darcy are finally dating, and Thor and Jane are set to be married. But during the engagement party several intervening parties are out to throw a wrench into both relationships in a big way. Some of them are outsiders, but some come from much closer, and through uncomfortable ties to the past.
Notes: Part of my ongoing series. A warning for all you Norse Mythology aficionados out there, I've rearranged the gods of Asgard's family tree so much it might give you an aneurysm. In my defense, the movie and comics basically started it anyway when they made Thor and Loki brothers.
Alternate link to story at AO3; please comment either here or there.
Part 1: The Golden Bird
Outside the isolated location that housed one of SHIELD’s major research facilities, the weather had been acting strangely all day. It was gray, and cold, the clouds heavy and overcast. But though the sky never lightened and it’d been like that for hours and hours - the day never really dawning when the sun had yet to show its head - it refused to rain.
Phil Coulson made his way along one of the ground-level halls, walking at a brisk but simultaneously unhurried pace. He turned his neck, head tilting as he glanced through the windows to his right, taking in the sky and surrounding expanse of rolling empty fields. Beneath the clouds the grass looked wet and almost gray.
Something about the weather in such a state could lead to feelings of lethargy, even depression, and the agent knew he’d be dealing all afternoon with procrastination from subordinates moved to melancholy and idleness. But he himself went on, unaffected.
He reached his destination at the end of the long and empty white corridor, sliding his access key to open the elevator before stepping inside.
“Voiceprint identification, please,” a mechanical voice prompted.
“Phillip Coulson, Special Supervisory Agent.”
“Confirmed. Destination?”
“Laboratory level two,” he stated in a clear tone.
“Destination confirmed and authorized. Have a nice day.” The voice cut out and he was treated to about two minutes of calming muzak before the swiftly descending elevator brought him to his floor.
Another walk down a shorter and less sterilely-lit hall delivered Coulson to a red door emblazoned with the words “WARNING: POTENTIAL ATMOSPHERIC DISTURBANCE INSIDE. DO NOT PROCEED IF LIGHT IS LIT”.
Coulson glanced at the caution light positioned just beside the door, but it was dark. He opened the door and slipped through.
The inside was a massive workspace, with two large desks and several white tables covered in open notebooks and piles of paper printouts dominating the periphery. Among them hovered several vertical computer tablets provided by Stark Industries that displayed flashing images of diagrams and streams of data.
But at the very center of the room was an open area filled with equipment and elegantly spooled wires and humming generators, the combination of which all meant nothing to Coulson, but he was aware it looked impressive.
This was what was known as the Bifrost generator; the working gateway between dimensions and the only one of its kind on Earth. So far its only direct link was to the portal on Asgard, Dr. Foster having used the knowledge gained through her research to help the Asgardians fix their version of the device. But it was hoped that one day the manmade contraption would be just as varied and powerful as its inspiration, and able to extend its reach to other worlds, maybe even ones not yet discovered.
The process was proving slow-going however - not least, Coulson suspected, because Dr. Foster’s busy social life kept getting in the way.
The agent stepped over a marked panel on the floor and ducked his head to avoid the overreaching arm of a piece of equipment, making his way towards the center. “Dr. Selvig?” he called out. “Are you in here?”
“Over here, Agent.”
Coulson turned his head toward the voice and beheld the other man standing on top of a ladder several feet above him, the side of whatever machinery he was standing next to open and his hands buried in wires as he adjusted something with a wrench.
“Hard at work, I see.”
“Well now, where else would I be?” the scientist remarked.
Coulson worked his way a few steps closer. “Some might assume on Asgard, along with your coworkers.”
Selvig gave a chuckle at that. “Ah, maybe so. But the ladies are young yet, and welcome to have their adventures. I might as well stay behind; see if I can uncover anything useful.” He grunted as he leaned forward, looking more closely at whatever he was working on. “Though it’s certainly more quiet here without them around - especially Darcy.”
Coulson’s mouth twitched in a way that on another man might have turned into a smile. He had to concur: it was different without Dr. Foster and her assistant. But both women had gone to Asgard, and neither of them was expected back for quite some time.
Coulson had to point out, “You’ll probably have to get used to them not being here. Someday.”
After all, the reason they - and Thor - were not on Earth at the moment was because of what they were celebrating on Asgard: the culmination of Jane and Thor’s relationship with an official engagement.
A year from now, the two would be married. And who knew, maybe in their lifetimes Odin would step down and retire, crowning his son as king.
And then Jane Foster would be queen of Asgard. Knowing what he did of the woman, Coulson suspected it would take more than wild horses to drag her away from her scientific research. But it was to be thought that her new duties as royalty would keep her rather busy.
Selvig could’ve reacted to this reminder with distaste. But instead he snorted, lightly, showing that for the moment he was far from concerned. “Probably, someday,” he repeated the words, agreeing. “But not any time soon. So I’ll worry about that when it happens. Until then, there’s not really anything I can do.”
Finishing up he shut the panel with a satisfied sound. He paused, looking upward.
Though they were underground the device’s reliance on weather and natural energy patterns made access to the sky necessary, and over the ceiling of the lab was a large enforced glass dome at the bottom of an open concrete tunnel, shooting straight up.
Selvig took in the stubbornly gray skyline and gave an odd laugh.
“You know, it’s funny.” Wiping his hands with a rag he climbed carefully down from the ladder. “When I was growing up, the old men where I lived would probably talk on a day that looked like this. They’d say things like, ‘Thor is riding in his chariot across the heavens’, or ‘Loki must be up to some mischief’.”
Coulson gave him a quietly considering look. “Do you think there’s anything to it?” he asked, distantly curious.
Selvig shook his head, making a face in quick dismissal of the thought as ridiculous. “Oh, no. I doubt it. They don’t control our very world, especially with actions that to them would be inconsequential.” He spread his hands, briefly. “The Asgardians are capable of amazing, otherworldly things, but in the end they’re men, not gods - no more than any of the other extraordinarily gifted people I’ve met working here.”
Coulson nodded. “Still, considering both your connection to the mythological material, and your personal history with Dr. Foster and her family, it might be unexpected, you not attending the engagement party.”
“I’m too old for this ‘journeying to other worlds’ business,” Selvig said, frank. “I’m a scientist and excited by discovery, but at the end of the day I like to keep my firsthand experiences limited to equations and data-points: where the most they can do to hurt me is cause a gear or two to explode in my face.”
He walked past Coulson towards his desk, addressing him over his shoulder.
“I’ve been to Asgard once, and that was enough for me. I saw things that surpassed the stories of my childhood. It more than satisfied any curiosity I’ve culturally inherited. Now I prefer to stick to the world where things mostly work the way I’ve always expected them to.” Selvig focused on the computer at his desk, squinting intently at something he brought up while his fingers tapped away at the keyboard. “If Jane decides to have the actual wedding on Asgard, whenever that is, I’ll be back - though frankly I hope she doesn’t.”
“Me too,” Coulson said evenly. “I’ve had enough difficulties funneling requests to attend this celebration.”
Apparently tradition dictated that such a momentous and noteworthy occasion should last for weeks, even months - and Thor, as the guest of honor, would be gone that entire time. On top of that, all his teammates with the exceptions of Dr. Banner and Agent Romanov wanted, at some point, to be allowed to leave and join him.
Coulson strongly hoped there were no large-scale threatening catastrophes during that time.
Selvig paused in his typing, shaking his head. “I have to admit, part of me never seemed to really think this would happen,” he admitted. “Dating a ‘superhero’ seems to be full of its ups and downs. Don’t get me wrong - I might have mistrusted Thor at first but I love him now, and he and Jane have been dating for over a year; that’s more than enough for anyone. But, I think, part of me always thought, that there would be some kind of…”
“Incident,” Coulson offered, helpfully, after Selvig had trailed off. The scientist screwed up his face but nodded.
“Right. An ‘incident’ would come up, between then and now.”
“Well it didn’t,” the agent stated the obvious. “And now, here we are.”
Selvig chuckled again. “Right: here we are,” he emphasized meaningfully. “Where I doubt either of us could have ever expected.”
Coulson let that pass for a beat before smoothly folding his hands behind his back. “I try not to ‘expect’ things,” he informed. “I just wait, observe, see what happens. Makes it easier to react that way.”
“Well not all of us can be programmed,” Selvig retorted, a bit sardonic. He had gone back to mostly observing his computer. “Anyway, Agent, was there something you wanted from me?”
“Just an official update on your status,” Coulson told him.
“I’ll spare you the long and drawn-out details that you probably wouldn’t understand.” Selvig glanced up briefly and waved on hand in the direction of another table. “There’s a report there - it’s fully up to date. Should have everything you need.”
“Thank you.”
The agent headed over to where Selvig had indicated, and despite the disorganized stacks of paper and other odds and ends strewn about the report he needed was right there on top and stapled.
Coulson picked it up and hesitated when in doing so he revealed what he could only assume was an old post-it note in Ms. Lewis’ handwriting, requesting that someone give her gas money so that she could fill up the van. It was punctuated by a little face with x’s for eyes and its tongue sticking out.
Coulson cocked his head, an unreadable expression on his face, and turned on one heel to look back at Selvig.
“How do you think Ms. Lewis will be dealing with such an extended stay?” he questioned.
Selvig lifted his head away from his work with an expression of surprise. “Why, Agent Coulson,” he demanded, clearly joking, “are you worried about Darcy’s welfare?”
“It’s not worry. More like simple curiosity,” was Coulson’s reply, terse and honest. “I know while they’re there Dr. Foster will probably have plenty to keep her engaged from one day to another, pun not intended.” He took a step back towards the scientist’s direction. “But it isn’t Ms. Lewis’ party, and it’s doubtful she’ll always even be able to see Thor or Jane. Given her somewhat flighty nature, it’s not hard to imagine her growing bored.”
“This isn’t Darcy’s first trip to Asgard,” Selvig reminded him knowingly. “She’s got friends there, and much more than that besides. She knows her way around. Trust me: she’ll be able to keep herself plenty occupied.”
*
On Asgard, the day’s weather couldn’t have looked any more different than it’d been at the SHIELD compound. The heavens above the Realm Eternal were bright and cloudless, a clear and resilient shade of purest blue. The sun had shone without falter over the gleaming domes and spires of her capital city; over the golden roads and rich parks and gardens, the towering compounds filled with their many varying occupants.
And at the palace, they had enjoyed a long day that’d been perfectly warm and cheery, full of pleasures; a kind of day that was a small paradise into itself that seemed to stretch on forever.
But the day had ended, and now it was night. Early evening, to be specific.
The time when most retreated from common areas to behind private doors, to indulge in different kinds of pleasure. It was the better hours for the wicked and playful to have their fun.
In the palace quarters of the second prince, the bedchamber was lit entirely by the embers of freshly burning coals in every hanging brazier, and the floor was strewn all over with discarded clothes.
And Darcy Lewis fell on her back to the bed with a satisfied sound, head dropping back as she panted in the throes of recently achieved ecstasy.
“Oh. Oof.” She breathed in and out for a few minutes before she could speak, the only sound in the meantime the air rushing into her throat. “That was great,” she declared enthusiastically, a big smile making its way onto her face.
Clad only in a rumpled sheet of forest green that half-covered her naked body, Darcy opened her eyes again and pushed herself to a sitting position using her elbows. Her hair was a wild mess that cascaded around her shoulders.
“Think you could go again?” She smirked, reaching for her partner. Then she leaned back, making herself comfortable on the pillows. “Or do you need like half an hour maybe to recover?”
From his position near her lower body Loki lifted his head up enough that all that was visible at first was his flashing green eyes.
“A full half an hour,” he murmured, as one hand moved to curl long fingers around her knee, the other briefly rubbing the inside of her ankle before stroking palm his way up her thigh. “I wonder, just what it is that you take me for?”
Darcy gave a breathy giggle. “Gotta love that godly stamina,” she remarked with a note of experience.
Loki raised his head to give her a look full of silent laughter at that, and shifted his posture upwards to press a soft but thorough kiss to the underside of her knee. “Indeed.”
Darcy spread her arms out and more thoroughly melted into the mattress, reveling in it, as all over she gave little wriggles of pleasure under his caress.
For all that they had worked together every single freaking day in the lab and understandably grown quite close, Jane, that cheat, had never been very good at disclosing details about her personal life, tending to fall into stutters and blushes whenever they got even close to talking about the really intimate parts.
Which was a darn shame. Because if Thor had been nailing Jane as hard and as expertly from day one as Loki had been nailing her the past couple of months, Darcy figured she sure would’ve liked hearing about it.
Oh well. So she had missed out on the vicarious thrill of hearing all the juicy details; she had still picked up a bit here and there through observation (and the occasional things she overhead the times she had stayed near Thor and Jane in a place where the walls were too thin). Not gossiping about it was hardly a loss, now that she was getting her own world rocked on a fairly regular basis in real time.
And though they’d certainly both had their reasons, all that time she and Loki had spent dancing around the obvious before getting right down to it seemed so regrettable in hindsight.
As Loki slunk over beside her on his knees, gently pulling her up so he could slip his arms around her, the line of her back tight up against his chest, not for the first time Darcy thought about how awesome Asgard was. They were kind of old-fashioned in that fun medieval fair sort of way, but totally down with the sexual liberation movement. Not to mention almost every guy she’d seen so far looked uh-maz-ing without a shirt.
Her current boyfriend definitely not being an exception in that, either.
Darcy gave a little sound that was almost a purr as Loki slipped her hair aside, kissing the back of her neck, hands roaming along her breasts and stomach. She shifted her weight, sitting back on top his folded knees, leaning into his muscled body.
Closing her eyes again Darcy turned her head, tilting her neck so as to offer Loki the side of her throat to continue his ministrations on.
“Next time I visit I need to bring this issue of Cosmo,” she said offhand, remembering. The subscription had been a gift from a relative, and she mostly read it to laugh at. “There’s a position in there that looks…interesting.”
Loki stopped and pulled away a bit, legs slipping out from under her, and Darcy opened her eyes to look at him.
“Interesting? Oh, but my fairest, if you want to do something more ‘interesting’ you know you need only ask. And I can think of much more sensational things we can try than would be found lying betwixt the pages of any mortal magazine.”
The expression on Loki’s face wasn’t insulted; it was canny, scheming. A look Darcy had come to view with a certain amount of wariness when it involved both of them and they were naked.
He reached out, two fingers twining and curling a strand of her hair. He smiled at her, thin and merry, eyes half-lidded.
“What do you say? Is that what you want, this night?”
“Um,” she said, because she’d already learned her immortal sorcerer lover had a very different definition of ‘experimental’. She sat up on her heels and resisted the sudden weird urge to shield her chest with her arms. “I don’t know. What exactly did you have in mind?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” And apparently he was in the mood to wig her out tonight, because without warning he changed right before her eyes. “I can think of a few things…”
Darcy found herself looking at a perfect carbon copy of her. She stared.
Unabashed, Loki made himself comfortable on his stomach, legs bent at the knee to kick feet carelessly in the air. He rested chin atop folded arms, smiling in a sultry and coquettish way that Darcy was pretty sure she couldn’t pull off with her own version of those lips.
“Okay, first of all, I feel like you should have to ask for my permission before you turn into me,” she objected, indignant. “Second, what is it you’re trying to say to me here? Do you think I’m some kind of narcissist?”
“I wasn’t trying to imply that at all,” Loki told her, mildly, and it was really weird hearing him talk with her voice. “I was only thinking of things we could do to make our experience a bit…different.”
As he finished that sentence he reached out, fingertips brushing her, and Darcy gave a yelp out of reflex as she felt magic washing over her. The tingle that started in her skin and sank through to her flesh told her it was the shape-changing kind.
“What have I told you about doing that to me without asking first?” she demanded.
But she stopped speaking, eyes widening as she heard her voice change mid-sentence, and she looked down and realized who he had changed her into.
Darcy went rigidly still, disoriented by the different sense of balance in her body, now that she was taller and broader-shouldered and her legs and arms were so long. Her mouth gaped momentarily as she struggled for something to say, snapping it shut when she came up with nothing.
Slowly she looked down, lifting up one hand for examination, spreading thin fingers apart with bemusement and consternation. As well as she knew the shape of this body, it was a hell of a lot different being on the other side.
“It’s very odd, seeing that look on my face,” Loki commented.
“It’s very odd having your face,” Darcy retorted, voice flat. Her hands itched to reach and press against her changed features, to feel where he’d given her his cheekbones and nose, but she didn’t. It was all too surreal.
“Hm,” was all Loki said, a sound of non-commitment. He rolled over to his side, leaning chin against the curled fingers of one hand, the other resting on the opposite hip, legs stretched out beside him.
If Darcy didn’t know better she’d swear he was purposefully showing off her body.
“Well, what do you think, then? Shall we give it a try or not?”
“What, you mean like…role reversal?” Darcy blinked as she finally caught up with what he was suggesting. “The same thing only…” she spread her arms apart, both hands upraised now, as she looked down at herself in an identical version of Loki’s body “…different?”
“Something like that,” Loki agreed. There was something catlike about the smile her face was wearing. “The same union, but experienced now from opposite ends of the pole.”
“I…I don’t know. It could be fun, but-”
There was something intriguing about the idea, sure. But it was hard to get past the part where she still felt markedly weirded out. Loki was used to changing his shape; he was used to being a girl too, Darcy had seen him do that enough times. He already knew what it was like on ‘the other side’.
Her? Not so much. The thought of getting physically intimate in a body not her own was daunting and unsettling enough - and then there were the details. Even the arousal was somehow ‘off’.
She stole a glance down at the very male genitalia this body came equipped with and decided that it was too big a step.
“No, I don’t think so.” Darcy shook her head. “Put it on the list for a thing to maybe try, someday, but not now. Not tonight.”
“If you say so.” Loki pushed up his hands and walked over on knees to her. He changed her back first, cupping her face in his hands, and Darcy couldn’t help giving a quick sigh of relief. “It’s all right. I didn’t frighten you, did I?”
He had turned back as well, and Darcy gazed up into his eyes, bright and watching her intently in a face casual but marked by faint traces of concern.
“No,” she reassured him, hands on top of his where they still held her face. “No, it’s nothing like that. It’s just, you don’t have to go straight to the magic all the time, you know? I’m sure you’ve got other tricks in your repertoire before that.”
He offered her a faint smile. “I don’t want you to grow bored.”
Darcy pulled back a bit as she blinked in reflexive surprise. Then she snorted.
“Believe me, I am not about to get ‘bored’ while I’m dating you, any time soon,” she replied incredulously, laughing with a shake of her head.
Loki didn’t say anything, but his smile grew a touch more relaxed. He pulled her closer in his embrace and for a minute or so they just cuddled one another. Darcy rested her head on his shoulder.
Then suddenly she broke the closeness, slipping back to give him a startled look.
“Hey. What time is it? You know, back home.”
She had long ago learned that the clock on her phone, her iPod, even her watch couldn’t be trusted on Asgard. Something to do with the different planets or cosmic interference or - whatever. Jane had tried explaining it once with algorithms and Darcy had promptly zoned out.
The point was, if for some reason she wanted to know what time it was on Earth, she had to run and ask Loki.
She wasn’t sure why exactly he was so good at keeping track of it in his head. Chalk it up to yet another part of his strange skillset.
Loki cocked his head slightly, clearly wondering why the sudden question, but he didn’t ask. “Which time zone?”
“Central.”
He was quiet for a moment - from his half-focused expression, it looked like he might be doing mental math. “It should be almost nine o’clock in the evening.”
“Oh, crap.” Darcy spun away from him, jumping out of bed with both feet on the floor, taking one of the sheets along to drape it around herself. “I have to make a phone call.” She twisted her head back, explaining, “My mom. I promised I’d call her tonight to let her know I landed safely.”
Loki’s eyebrows rose. “’Landed’?’ he repeated with palpable amusement.
Darcy rolled her eyes. “You know. Arrived. Whatever you’d call it.” Despite the fact she’d been hopping back and forth between planets for almost a year now and she’d told her almost everything, her mom still didn’t seem to quite have grasped what was going on.
Of course, she was also taking the whole “only daughter dating an alien sorcerer reformed supervillain space prince” thing pretty well, so Darcy didn’t have much room to complain.
“Look, the point is, she wanted to hear that I got here safely, all right?” Darcy hitched up the bedsheet a little. “I need to step out for a minute. Raincheck, okay?”
Loki’s brow was still lifted, but after a moment he gave a peaceable smile. “I’m certain we’ll find plenty of time to make up for it,” he pointed out. He held his hand out, palm upraised. “Give me your phone.”
Darcy beamed. “Thanks! You’re the best.” Ducking down she fumbled among her scattered articles of clothing, groping on the floor, until finally she located her pants and produced her cell phone.
“Here we go.” She handed it over to him.
It went without saying that usually, phones didn’t get reception on Asgard. Even the Avengers’ communicators couldn’t function across the long-range distance from one dimension to the next. But Loki had perfected a spell that for a short amount of time allowed calls to be placed out, as long as he knew some specifics.
Cupping his hand around the device he brought her phone closer to his face, and never breaking eye contact with her he blew on it what looked briefly like a puff of dancing green sparks.
He handed it back. “And there you are.”
Darcy took it with one hand, the other still holding her makeshift sheet outfit closed. She dropped to the bed on one knee, scooting closer so she could kiss him.
“Thanks,” she said again, warm and happy. “I love you.”
“I know,” Loki responded, offhand, as she was already getting up again, moving away from the bed as she looked down at her cell, pressing buttons with one thumb.
Darcy was walking off towards the other end of the very big room so as to give her conversation some space when she got picked up on the third ring. “Mom? Hi! It’s me, Darcy. Yeah! I know it’s kind of late, but there was a ton of stuff to take care of when we got here…”
As she kept walking, her back in the direction of the bed, Loki laid back among the pillows, chin rested on one hand as he watched her with fondness.
*
The next morning on Asgard started out cooler than it had the day previous, but the sun still shone brightly, casting everything in a warm buttery color in the early hours.
Jane and Thor sat at a table on an open-air terrace overlooking part of the palace gardens. Through wide white arches the space was illuminated with natural light and the air was scented by fruits and flowers that grew outside. In front of them was spread a modest but sumptuous breakfast.
The privacy and quiet was a welcome respite. After many visits over the time they were seeing each other Jane had gotten used to the way things worked: just about every night there was a banquet, in which a palace overflowing with nobles and soldiers was expected to all sit down together. It was a raucous and often overwhelming affair, especially when repeated one evening after the next. Morning and afternoon meals were slightly less formal, where as much food was laid out but people didn’t arrive all at once, coming and going over the space of several hours and stopping to chat with friends when they saw them. Under these circumstances the hall reminded Jane more like cafeterias she’d eaten in at college, or even in high school.
But while they served as social gatherings it wasn’t odd for people to skip the earlier public meals. The king rarely went to breakfast and the queen never did. Instead she presided over this terrace, where she dined peacefully and in the company of whatever friends or family she chose to invite. Often that was her sons and, whenever they were present, both their significant others.
That morning while Frigga had things to oversee that kept her too busy, she’d nonetheless asked them to enjoy the usual without her.
It seemed there was no corner of the palace the turmoil created by this engagement didn’t reach.
Jane had only just begun to see the full extent of the festivities, which would be lasting for some time. Every night so far there’d been a feast, complete with rounds of heavy toasting and performances from minstrels and bards. In a few days tournaments and open-air festivals would begin, and there’d be plays and other forms of entertainment, in part put on simply to occupy all the guests.
The repaired Bifrost was already being well-used as more travelers arrived by the day. In addition to nobles from the furthest reaches of Asgard there were others from all over; worlds mentioned in Norse mythology and some Jane had never heard of.
There were elves with thin-boned faces and high, reedy voices. There were dwarves, bearded and squat and surly. Though they had not been invited as attendants there’d even been a contingent of goblins and dark elves that appeared a few days before, clad in polished red and black armor and grey dresses with high necklines and flowing trains, to leave gifts and pay their respects.
And this, Jane had to keep reminding herself, was only to celebrate the engagement. She shuddered to think what the wedding would be like further down the line.
Some women would squeal over the thought of marrying their way into becoming a princess, a future queen. They’d be head over heels for all the wealth and power it would bring.
Jane was not one of those women. There were times she asked herself if it was worth it.
She sat there in a thin cardigan, quiet in her thoughts as she put some fruit on her plate and nibbled a piece of toast. Her hair was pinned up and she was wearing an expensive pair of ceramic earrings, but other than that she was her very same self. Modest. Ordinary. A woman who daydreamed about getting to other worlds through numbers and equations, not on the back of a knight’s white horse.
So why, oh why, was she doing this?
She turned her head and looked off to the right at where Thor was seated, wearing clothes that she knew he considered casual but would make him overdressed and out of place anywhere other than Asgard. He ate with gusto, his platter loaded with meat and eggs, though he was restraining himself slightly in an effort to keep his manners.
As Jane watched Thor paused in his chewing, reaching for a mug full of coffee (the beverage had become a big hit after he’d introduced it to Asgard). He took a sip and glanced up, noticing Jane was looking at him.
Instantly as his blue eyes met hers they warmed, coming even further alive with extra sparkle. He set his mug down and beamed as he sat up to look at her, his smile splitting to the furthest corners of his face.
Jane felt her heart flutter as she saw that expression, as they sat there gazing into each other’s eyes.
He was so handsome, so perfect, so full of life and energy. He was so happy just being near her, and he cared for her so much. And she loved him.
And that was the reason why she was doing this, because what better reason could there be?
Without speaking, still smiling, Thor put his hand on the table, his big palm reaching for hers. Jane placed her hand out, feeling his fingers envelop hers easily with their warmth, giving them a gentle squeeze.
“Jane.” He always said her name like he was never going to get tired of saying it. His thumb stroked her knuckles. There was no ring there yet: Asgardians didn’t do engagement rings, but they did do wedding bands. One day they would both have matching rings of gold. “How are you faring this day?”
“Okay. Good,” she told him. She laughed faintly. “Still a little overwhelmed.”
Thor gave a grin that had a slight air of the sheepish. “From what I have seen of Earth, I believe I can understand how some of our ways may seem overmuch at times.” He moved his hand to her shoulder, stroking her. “But you should take it as a compliment. All the Nine Realms want to share in the joy of our impending union.”
“You mean they want to share in the spectacle of a powerful prince getting married. And maybe curry some favor,” Jane corrected him, good-natured but forceful. “This is all about you. It has nothing to do with me.”
She could’ve been anyone. She was the fair maid of a distant land the Mighty Thor courted and chose for his bride. From the narrative as most knew it she was the prize, not the protagonist, in the fairy tale. And for the most part, she was okay with that.
After all, none of these otherworldly strangers were her friends, her relatives, her colleagues. So what did she care what they think?
Thor’s mouth pressed into a thin line, not quite a frown. He seemed to be silently acknowledging there was some truth to what she said.
But after a moment he insisted, gentle, “But that isn’t so. You forget among my people you’re already renowned as the Bringer of the Bifrost.” He grinned again as he said this, clearly proud.
Jane gave a dizzy sort of laugh as he reminded her of this, like always not sure how she should feel. Of course she was proud of her accomplishment. But if it hadn’t been for the Asgardians’ technology she wouldn’t have had such a great starting-off point. And it was disorienting, being revered by people that’d been worshipped as ancient gods.
For right now she decided just to concede the point and not argue. “Fine.” With an indulgent smile she patted Thor’s hand, saying sweetly, “It is our engagement. We’ll say that it’s about the both of us.”
“But of course.” Thor briefly took both her hands in his, before leaning towards her in the best kind of an embrace he could with the amount of distance between them. “As it’s only fitting it should be!”
Jane smiled, but as he released her and returned to his meal, a thought occurred that immediately began bothering her.
Much as she was enjoying this chance to be alone together, she realized it was odd that it’d lasted this long. Darcy she knew could sleep well past noon if they’d let her, especially if she’d been up late partying, but Loki was habitually an early riser.
Her gaze shifted askance to the two empty plates. “Where do you think the others are? I’d have expected them by now.”
When she looked at her fiancé she was surprised to see him pause mid-chew, a mildly conflicted look on his face. Catching her watching he tried to banish it, but Jane wasn’t fooled.
“I know not about Darcy, but there is a chance my brother may not be joining us this morning,” he admitted.
“Why not?”
Thor was quiet in that way she knew meant he was reluctant to answer. “It’s nothing important.”
“Thor…”
“Loki and I quarreled, the other day.” The words escaped him in a rush.
At first was Jane was speechless simply because she was startled. Then the possible gravity of what he was saying set in, and she sucked in a breath, worry and fear quickly rising.
“We had a disagreement,” Thor clarified, probably reading her face. Given his history with Loki ‘quarreled’ could’ve meant a lot of things; he was backpedaling over that now. “An argument. Nothing more.”
“What was it about?” Jane asked softly, feeling reassured but only by a degree.
But Thor had the hard look of stubbornness that she knew even her pushing wouldn’t get through. “It wasn’t important,” he repeated. “It’s nothing that need concern you.”
When she frowned, preparing to speak, Thor interrupted her with a sigh.
“Once this was not so uncommon. Loki and I are brothers: as brothers often do we disagreed over something and fought, yelling, throwing words. We’d storm off, and for days after might not speak or even look at one another.”
“And then, what?” Jane questioned. “Eventually it would die down and you’d stop being angry at one another?”
“Sometimes. Or one of our friends, or Mother, might have to interfere and bring us together.” Thor rolled his shoulders in a shrug. “It could be petty, often foolish. Spiteful. But no worse than that.”
When she didn’t say anything in response he gave her a beseeching look.
“Please, Jane. I don’t want your mind clouded by needless worries during this happy time. I promise you, it’s nothing.”
She couldn’t help noticing that it sounded like he was trying to convince himself as much as her.
But she tried to be reasonable. Thor was probably only concerned because this reminded him of the much less minor or ‘brotherly’ fights he’d had with Loki, which was understandable.
If Thor swore there was nothing else to it, they had no other reason to worry…she was supposed to be able to trust him.
She did her best to banish anxiety from her thoughts and smiled for his benefit. “Okay. If you don’t want to talk about it, I won’t make you. Far as I’m concerned the subject never even came up.”
Not entirely true; but Thor smiled back and seemed to believe her, so it worked. Jane returned to her breakfast in comfortable if pensive quiet.
Jane’s feelings about Loki were complicated. She’d first been introduced to him as a faceless - and then not-so-faceless - threat, and there’d been times when he’d been directly hostile to her in words and implications, if never quite actions.
She felt sorry for some of what he’d been through and knew he was trying to be a better man now.
And Thor…Thor loved his brother. There’d never been any denying that. It was unthinkable she could be in a relationship with Thor and ignore someone who was such a close part of his life.
Loki would be her family too, through marriage. He seemed as aware of that as she was. Jane tried to be civil and kind to him, and was given the same amount of civility and kindness in return. They never really seemed to know what to do with one another.
No one said they had to be friends. And Jane didn’t see how they could be, with her unable to either trust or mistrust the trickster. But it seemed a dismal future, to look ahead to a life with this polite chill of uncertainty forever between her and her brother-in-law.
Thor’s intuition proved to be right, though, and Loki never appeared to join them on the terrace.
They finished eating and servants quickly began clearly the table. Feeling awkward, Jane could think of nothing to do but get out of the way. She left the room, belatedly noticing that Thor had followed her.
“What are your plans for this part of the day?” he asked her with easy curiosity, offering her his arm.
In spite of herself Jane smiled as she looped her grip around his bicep, allowing him to escort her.
“Nothing much. I was planning on taking it easy until the evening got here.” In the evening, it went without saying, there would be another feast. “I’m going to hide in my room and relax with a book.”
Actually, she was planning on reviewing some notes on the laptop she’d smuggled in her suitcase, trying to see if she could resolve more proofs. But she knew better than to tell him that. This was her romantic vacation and she wasn’t supposed to be working.
Not even a teensy, eensy, little bit.
“Will you walk with me?” Thor requested sincerely. “I know we suffer no lack of each other these days, but it would still please me to while away a few of these morning hours in your company.”
Well, how was she going to say no to that? And she had to admit it wouldn’t hurt her to get an hour or two of sun. “Of course I will.” Her grasp on him tightened. “Did you have anywhere in mind?”
“If you have no objection, I wished to find my lady mother and pay my respects to her.”
The two of them took a path alongside the edge of the palace following the gardens, and as Jane rested her head against Thor she admired the rows of blossoming flowers and orchards teeming with fruit.
As they crossed inward, however, in search of the queen’s more private rooms, they were brought up short in surprise when across from them they were met with the sight of Loki and Darcy coming from the other way.
Jane felt Thor’s muscles stiffen beside her. She watched Loki’s expression: his eyes flashed, startled, and then his entire face became carefully neutral and passive.
Darcy was tugging him closer as she came to greet them, smiling and waving. Clearly Loki hadn’t mentioned his brother and he’d had a fight.
“Good morning,” the brunette said cheerfully. “Fancy meeting you here. How was your guys’ breakfast?”
“Hey.” Jane decided for the sake of both men to play dumb. “It was great. Where have you been?”
“Oh…we slept in late.” Darcy turned to steal a meaningful look at Loki, biting her lip as she smiled. “Ended up having a romantic breakfast in bed.”
Meeting her eyes, the corners of Loki’s mouth raised the slightest increment.
Jane caught on. “I see,” she said woodenly, unable to help the sardonic curve to her eyebrows. “You must’ve worked up quite the appetite.”
Darcy just laughed and, seriously, it was like she wasn’t even trying to be subtle.
“You look well today,” Thor addressed Loki. While far from hostile, his voice was too unnaturally even to read as entirely friendly.
“As do you, brother.” Loki’s reply was more smooth - but then, he was much better at covering things. “But it is to be expected of one celebrating your happy state.”
The reply was cordial, and while Jane couldn’t be fully sure she mightn’t miss one of Loki’s hidden jabs, there didn’t seem to be anything sinister or resentful at work here. If an apology wasn’t forthcoming then at least the two were acting ready to move on - or for the moment pretend nothing happened.
When Thor didn’t say anything the polite smile on Loki’s face faded. For an instant, too fast to even try and get a read on what he was thinking, his eyes flicked over to look at Jane, and then moved away again.
But in that instant, because she was paying attention, Jane felt the way the tension between the brothers ratcheted up suddenly - and then just as quickly disappeared. As if for a moment each was anticipating the other would say something.
A pensive knot twirled itself momentarily in Jane’s stomach. Interesting. Thor hadn’t told her what the fight was about because he said it wasn’t important, but a different possibility occurred to her.
Could the argument have been about her?
She shook herself back to awareness as she heard Thor’s voice say, “Well, good as it is to see the both of you, we should be off. Jane and I were just on our way to give morning audience to the queen.”
Loki gave a laugh that didn’t sound entirely pleasant. “Why what a coincidence,” he said wryly. “So were we.”
“Oh.” Thor managed some enthusiasm as he said, “Well then…we should go together!”
“Certainly.” Loki gestured, giving a tart smile. “Lead on.”
As they started walking Darcy locked eyes with Jane, her expression making it clear she had noticed something was off. Her eyebrows were raised purposefully - Jane had gotten good at reading her.
Whoa, Darcy was asking her, silently, what the heck is going on?
Jane shot a furtive look back and shook her head. Never mind. I’ll tell you later.
The four of them reached what Darcy often referred to as “the inner sanctum” - and sometimes Jane called it that in her mind, because she knew the description was mostly true. If the palace was like an apple they were at the part that came right before the core. Parlors and corridors for sitting in, reading in, conversing in, but that were officially reserved for the royal family and only the highest-ranking guests. If Frigga hadn’t actually retreated to her own private chamber she would be somewhere in here.
Sure enough, rounding a corner from one ostentatiously grand hallway to the next, the very edge of a room came into view, and there was the queen in more casual day dress, seated before a writing desk with several sheets of parchment spread out in front of her. Returning letters probably; it was a task Jane knew took up a lot of her time.
Instead of continuing forward the group came to a halt, for they realized as one Frigga wasn’t alone.
There was another woman there, standing back a respectful distance as she waited for something. The two conversed but softly, subdued, inaudible from the distance.
The second woman was tall, beautiful, which was very typical for an Asgardian. Her hair was a warm golden color, like honey, and her skin was tanned. She wasn’t wearing a dress, or clothed like a servant. Instead she had on silver armor with chainmail and interlocking plates covering her from neck to feet that hung with expert craftsmanship on her feminine form. It was different from Sif’s, and Jane had never seen another lady Asgardian in full armor before.
There was a broadsword sheathed at her belt and with one arm she carried a giant shield, taller and wider than she was and teardrop-shaped.
As Frigga finished speaking and gave a motion with one hand that was obviously a dismissal, the woman bowed, clasping her hand in a fist and bringing it close to her chest while her head lowered. She got up and left the room, walking right past the four of them, briskly and businesslike, like she’d not even noticed they were there.
Jane turned her head to gaze after the stranger, puzzling, but both Thor and Loki were already making their way closer to their mother.
Frigga remained in her chair, fingers of one hand against her forehead, the other hand holding an unrolled scroll that she looked at with a frown. She acted almost like she’d been woken from a dream when she looked up and noticed she’d a new audience.
“Oh; my sons. Lady Jane. Lady Darcy.” She greeted them with a smile and her voice was warm (Darcy bobbed in an awkward curtsey) but it wavered with how she was still troubled. “A good morning to you all.”
Loki had folded his arms, hands clasping his elbows, and nodded his head to her; his face an unreadable blank that showed for the moment he had no intention of speaking.
Jane had no clue what his trepidation was - what they’d seen seemed to have the opposite effect on Thor. He was bounding nearer his mother with all the enthusiasm of a puppy.
“Mother,” he asked, so excited he rushed right past any greeting, “was that a Shieldmaid?”
He was talking about the woman that’d just left; Frigga’s smile froze on her face.
“Indeed it was,” she confirmed for him. She moved enough to indicate the letter in her hand. “She was delivering a reply from her commander to me. A slightly late response to the formal invitation to your engagement party.”
Thor tried to exchange a glance with his brother, beaming openly, all but elbowing him. Loki however didn’t look back. Keeping his eyes on Frigga he lifted his chin as if trying to read from where he stood.
“And what was the response?” he asked curiously, manner still cautiously composed and subdued.
“It was in the affirmative.”
Thor’s both hands closed into fists as he raised them in an expression of joy. “Aunt Freya is coming?” he exclaimed, both surprised and elated. “She will be here? How splendid!”
He turned and looked back at Jane and Darcy, bright-eyed, as if having forgotten in his excitement they didn’t know who he was talking about, expecting them to share his reaction.
“We have not seen her in an era! Why, I can’t remember how long it’s been.”
Despite being completely lost, Jane smiled and laughed a bit anyway, because Thor’s happiness was often contagious. It sounded like Freya, whoever she was, must be his favorite relative.
“Of course Freya is coming.” Gradually Frigga set the paper down, and she brought her freed hand to her temple, almost covering her eyes. It was a gesture of unhappiness and apprehension. “She goes wherever the mistress of Vanaheim does, to honor her and serve as her protection.”
Thor’s excited trembling stopped abruptly. His happy face vanished, eyes widening. He stilled.
The whole time Thor had been crowing, Loki’s expression had remained blank, not sharing the same enthusiasm but not disapproving of the news. His aloofness however left as swiftly as Thor’s joy. His spine went rigid and his mouth tightened as he went pale as a ghost.
There was a pronounced pause before Thor broke the silence.
“Aunt Nanna is coming?” The question was asked much more hesitantly and unfavorably than his other query had been.
Frigga looked up at her two children. Her eyes were full of emotion; Jane couldn’t shake the sense she was somehow apologizing.
“Yes. She will be here,” the queen said. “In a matter of days.”
It was Thor’s turn to lose color, his expression souring. He swallowed grimly before facing his brother, mouth opening, hand raised as if he might reach out to him.
But whatever Thor’s intention was he never got a chance. Without any warning Loki spun on one heel, giving no goodbye or saying a single word as he fled.
In the wake of his abrupt departure Darcy looked at the rest of them, shocked.
“What was that all about?” she demanded.
Jane could certainly understand why she was mystified. “Who is Nanna, and why does Loki not want her here?”
Frigga folded her hands smoothly in her lap. “Nanna is my sister-in-law, widow of my late brother, Frey. She is the highest-ranking nobility in Vanaheim and the closest that realm has to a queen.”
“Okay,” Darcy said, still confused. “What’s the problem then?” She looked to Thor. “Was she just your guys’ least favorite aunt growing up, or what?”
Quietly Thor answered, “Nanna also lost someone else in her family, long ago, in addition to her husband: her son. Balder.”
“Oh.” Darcy spoke more softly. “That must’ve sucked. But, I still don’t get it. What does it have to do with you guys?”
“It has to do with how it was Balder lost his life,” Frigga responded evenly.
Ever since Thor had returned to Earth the second time and Jane began hearing more and more about his early adventures, she had spent a little time reading up on her mythology. She wasn’t anywhere near an expert; she just didn’t have much energy to devote to it outside her social life and her work. But it was enough that she recognized some things occasionally.
And right now, it was hitting her that Balder’s name was familiar.
“I remember reading about Balder,” she recalled out loud, the bits and pieces rushing together. “He was kind of a big deal in Norse mythology because he was the only god who had ever died. He was respected as some kind of paragon of truth and light, and he was murdered by-”
She cut off, words dying in her throat as she realized the significance.
“Yes,” Thor intoned, grim and unhappy, but unflinching. “It was Loki’s doing. It was my brother that killed Balder.”
LINK TO CONCLUSION
Characters: Loki, Thor, Darcy, Jane, Frigga, Odin, Amora, Balder, Agent Coulson, Erik Selvig, Freya, Nanna, original characters; eventual appearances of others
Pairings: Loki/Darcy, Thor/Jane, mention of past Loki/Amora and Thor/Amora
Rating: R for grimness, dark themes, gender weirdness, mild gore and semi-explicit sexuality
Length: 15,815 words
Summary: After what might seem to some like the world's longest courtship, Loki and Darcy are finally dating, and Thor and Jane are set to be married. But during the engagement party several intervening parties are out to throw a wrench into both relationships in a big way. Some of them are outsiders, but some come from much closer, and through uncomfortable ties to the past.
Notes: Part of my ongoing series. A warning for all you Norse Mythology aficionados out there, I've rearranged the gods of Asgard's family tree so much it might give you an aneurysm. In my defense, the movie and comics basically started it anyway when they made Thor and Loki brothers.
Alternate link to story at AO3; please comment either here or there.
Part 1: The Golden Bird
Outside the isolated location that housed one of SHIELD’s major research facilities, the weather had been acting strangely all day. It was gray, and cold, the clouds heavy and overcast. But though the sky never lightened and it’d been like that for hours and hours - the day never really dawning when the sun had yet to show its head - it refused to rain.
Phil Coulson made his way along one of the ground-level halls, walking at a brisk but simultaneously unhurried pace. He turned his neck, head tilting as he glanced through the windows to his right, taking in the sky and surrounding expanse of rolling empty fields. Beneath the clouds the grass looked wet and almost gray.
Something about the weather in such a state could lead to feelings of lethargy, even depression, and the agent knew he’d be dealing all afternoon with procrastination from subordinates moved to melancholy and idleness. But he himself went on, unaffected.
He reached his destination at the end of the long and empty white corridor, sliding his access key to open the elevator before stepping inside.
“Voiceprint identification, please,” a mechanical voice prompted.
“Phillip Coulson, Special Supervisory Agent.”
“Confirmed. Destination?”
“Laboratory level two,” he stated in a clear tone.
“Destination confirmed and authorized. Have a nice day.” The voice cut out and he was treated to about two minutes of calming muzak before the swiftly descending elevator brought him to his floor.
Another walk down a shorter and less sterilely-lit hall delivered Coulson to a red door emblazoned with the words “WARNING: POTENTIAL ATMOSPHERIC DISTURBANCE INSIDE. DO NOT PROCEED IF LIGHT IS LIT”.
Coulson glanced at the caution light positioned just beside the door, but it was dark. He opened the door and slipped through.
The inside was a massive workspace, with two large desks and several white tables covered in open notebooks and piles of paper printouts dominating the periphery. Among them hovered several vertical computer tablets provided by Stark Industries that displayed flashing images of diagrams and streams of data.
But at the very center of the room was an open area filled with equipment and elegantly spooled wires and humming generators, the combination of which all meant nothing to Coulson, but he was aware it looked impressive.
This was what was known as the Bifrost generator; the working gateway between dimensions and the only one of its kind on Earth. So far its only direct link was to the portal on Asgard, Dr. Foster having used the knowledge gained through her research to help the Asgardians fix their version of the device. But it was hoped that one day the manmade contraption would be just as varied and powerful as its inspiration, and able to extend its reach to other worlds, maybe even ones not yet discovered.
The process was proving slow-going however - not least, Coulson suspected, because Dr. Foster’s busy social life kept getting in the way.
The agent stepped over a marked panel on the floor and ducked his head to avoid the overreaching arm of a piece of equipment, making his way towards the center. “Dr. Selvig?” he called out. “Are you in here?”
“Over here, Agent.”
Coulson turned his head toward the voice and beheld the other man standing on top of a ladder several feet above him, the side of whatever machinery he was standing next to open and his hands buried in wires as he adjusted something with a wrench.
“Hard at work, I see.”
“Well now, where else would I be?” the scientist remarked.
Coulson worked his way a few steps closer. “Some might assume on Asgard, along with your coworkers.”
Selvig gave a chuckle at that. “Ah, maybe so. But the ladies are young yet, and welcome to have their adventures. I might as well stay behind; see if I can uncover anything useful.” He grunted as he leaned forward, looking more closely at whatever he was working on. “Though it’s certainly more quiet here without them around - especially Darcy.”
Coulson’s mouth twitched in a way that on another man might have turned into a smile. He had to concur: it was different without Dr. Foster and her assistant. But both women had gone to Asgard, and neither of them was expected back for quite some time.
Coulson had to point out, “You’ll probably have to get used to them not being here. Someday.”
After all, the reason they - and Thor - were not on Earth at the moment was because of what they were celebrating on Asgard: the culmination of Jane and Thor’s relationship with an official engagement.
A year from now, the two would be married. And who knew, maybe in their lifetimes Odin would step down and retire, crowning his son as king.
And then Jane Foster would be queen of Asgard. Knowing what he did of the woman, Coulson suspected it would take more than wild horses to drag her away from her scientific research. But it was to be thought that her new duties as royalty would keep her rather busy.
Selvig could’ve reacted to this reminder with distaste. But instead he snorted, lightly, showing that for the moment he was far from concerned. “Probably, someday,” he repeated the words, agreeing. “But not any time soon. So I’ll worry about that when it happens. Until then, there’s not really anything I can do.”
Finishing up he shut the panel with a satisfied sound. He paused, looking upward.
Though they were underground the device’s reliance on weather and natural energy patterns made access to the sky necessary, and over the ceiling of the lab was a large enforced glass dome at the bottom of an open concrete tunnel, shooting straight up.
Selvig took in the stubbornly gray skyline and gave an odd laugh.
“You know, it’s funny.” Wiping his hands with a rag he climbed carefully down from the ladder. “When I was growing up, the old men where I lived would probably talk on a day that looked like this. They’d say things like, ‘Thor is riding in his chariot across the heavens’, or ‘Loki must be up to some mischief’.”
Coulson gave him a quietly considering look. “Do you think there’s anything to it?” he asked, distantly curious.
Selvig shook his head, making a face in quick dismissal of the thought as ridiculous. “Oh, no. I doubt it. They don’t control our very world, especially with actions that to them would be inconsequential.” He spread his hands, briefly. “The Asgardians are capable of amazing, otherworldly things, but in the end they’re men, not gods - no more than any of the other extraordinarily gifted people I’ve met working here.”
Coulson nodded. “Still, considering both your connection to the mythological material, and your personal history with Dr. Foster and her family, it might be unexpected, you not attending the engagement party.”
“I’m too old for this ‘journeying to other worlds’ business,” Selvig said, frank. “I’m a scientist and excited by discovery, but at the end of the day I like to keep my firsthand experiences limited to equations and data-points: where the most they can do to hurt me is cause a gear or two to explode in my face.”
He walked past Coulson towards his desk, addressing him over his shoulder.
“I’ve been to Asgard once, and that was enough for me. I saw things that surpassed the stories of my childhood. It more than satisfied any curiosity I’ve culturally inherited. Now I prefer to stick to the world where things mostly work the way I’ve always expected them to.” Selvig focused on the computer at his desk, squinting intently at something he brought up while his fingers tapped away at the keyboard. “If Jane decides to have the actual wedding on Asgard, whenever that is, I’ll be back - though frankly I hope she doesn’t.”
“Me too,” Coulson said evenly. “I’ve had enough difficulties funneling requests to attend this celebration.”
Apparently tradition dictated that such a momentous and noteworthy occasion should last for weeks, even months - and Thor, as the guest of honor, would be gone that entire time. On top of that, all his teammates with the exceptions of Dr. Banner and Agent Romanov wanted, at some point, to be allowed to leave and join him.
Coulson strongly hoped there were no large-scale threatening catastrophes during that time.
Selvig paused in his typing, shaking his head. “I have to admit, part of me never seemed to really think this would happen,” he admitted. “Dating a ‘superhero’ seems to be full of its ups and downs. Don’t get me wrong - I might have mistrusted Thor at first but I love him now, and he and Jane have been dating for over a year; that’s more than enough for anyone. But, I think, part of me always thought, that there would be some kind of…”
“Incident,” Coulson offered, helpfully, after Selvig had trailed off. The scientist screwed up his face but nodded.
“Right. An ‘incident’ would come up, between then and now.”
“Well it didn’t,” the agent stated the obvious. “And now, here we are.”
Selvig chuckled again. “Right: here we are,” he emphasized meaningfully. “Where I doubt either of us could have ever expected.”
Coulson let that pass for a beat before smoothly folding his hands behind his back. “I try not to ‘expect’ things,” he informed. “I just wait, observe, see what happens. Makes it easier to react that way.”
“Well not all of us can be programmed,” Selvig retorted, a bit sardonic. He had gone back to mostly observing his computer. “Anyway, Agent, was there something you wanted from me?”
“Just an official update on your status,” Coulson told him.
“I’ll spare you the long and drawn-out details that you probably wouldn’t understand.” Selvig glanced up briefly and waved on hand in the direction of another table. “There’s a report there - it’s fully up to date. Should have everything you need.”
“Thank you.”
The agent headed over to where Selvig had indicated, and despite the disorganized stacks of paper and other odds and ends strewn about the report he needed was right there on top and stapled.
Coulson picked it up and hesitated when in doing so he revealed what he could only assume was an old post-it note in Ms. Lewis’ handwriting, requesting that someone give her gas money so that she could fill up the van. It was punctuated by a little face with x’s for eyes and its tongue sticking out.
Coulson cocked his head, an unreadable expression on his face, and turned on one heel to look back at Selvig.
“How do you think Ms. Lewis will be dealing with such an extended stay?” he questioned.
Selvig lifted his head away from his work with an expression of surprise. “Why, Agent Coulson,” he demanded, clearly joking, “are you worried about Darcy’s welfare?”
“It’s not worry. More like simple curiosity,” was Coulson’s reply, terse and honest. “I know while they’re there Dr. Foster will probably have plenty to keep her engaged from one day to another, pun not intended.” He took a step back towards the scientist’s direction. “But it isn’t Ms. Lewis’ party, and it’s doubtful she’ll always even be able to see Thor or Jane. Given her somewhat flighty nature, it’s not hard to imagine her growing bored.”
“This isn’t Darcy’s first trip to Asgard,” Selvig reminded him knowingly. “She’s got friends there, and much more than that besides. She knows her way around. Trust me: she’ll be able to keep herself plenty occupied.”
*
On Asgard, the day’s weather couldn’t have looked any more different than it’d been at the SHIELD compound. The heavens above the Realm Eternal were bright and cloudless, a clear and resilient shade of purest blue. The sun had shone without falter over the gleaming domes and spires of her capital city; over the golden roads and rich parks and gardens, the towering compounds filled with their many varying occupants.
And at the palace, they had enjoyed a long day that’d been perfectly warm and cheery, full of pleasures; a kind of day that was a small paradise into itself that seemed to stretch on forever.
But the day had ended, and now it was night. Early evening, to be specific.
The time when most retreated from common areas to behind private doors, to indulge in different kinds of pleasure. It was the better hours for the wicked and playful to have their fun.
In the palace quarters of the second prince, the bedchamber was lit entirely by the embers of freshly burning coals in every hanging brazier, and the floor was strewn all over with discarded clothes.
And Darcy Lewis fell on her back to the bed with a satisfied sound, head dropping back as she panted in the throes of recently achieved ecstasy.
“Oh. Oof.” She breathed in and out for a few minutes before she could speak, the only sound in the meantime the air rushing into her throat. “That was great,” she declared enthusiastically, a big smile making its way onto her face.
Clad only in a rumpled sheet of forest green that half-covered her naked body, Darcy opened her eyes again and pushed herself to a sitting position using her elbows. Her hair was a wild mess that cascaded around her shoulders.
“Think you could go again?” She smirked, reaching for her partner. Then she leaned back, making herself comfortable on the pillows. “Or do you need like half an hour maybe to recover?”
From his position near her lower body Loki lifted his head up enough that all that was visible at first was his flashing green eyes.
“A full half an hour,” he murmured, as one hand moved to curl long fingers around her knee, the other briefly rubbing the inside of her ankle before stroking palm his way up her thigh. “I wonder, just what it is that you take me for?”
Darcy gave a breathy giggle. “Gotta love that godly stamina,” she remarked with a note of experience.
Loki raised his head to give her a look full of silent laughter at that, and shifted his posture upwards to press a soft but thorough kiss to the underside of her knee. “Indeed.”
Darcy spread her arms out and more thoroughly melted into the mattress, reveling in it, as all over she gave little wriggles of pleasure under his caress.
For all that they had worked together every single freaking day in the lab and understandably grown quite close, Jane, that cheat, had never been very good at disclosing details about her personal life, tending to fall into stutters and blushes whenever they got even close to talking about the really intimate parts.
Which was a darn shame. Because if Thor had been nailing Jane as hard and as expertly from day one as Loki had been nailing her the past couple of months, Darcy figured she sure would’ve liked hearing about it.
Oh well. So she had missed out on the vicarious thrill of hearing all the juicy details; she had still picked up a bit here and there through observation (and the occasional things she overhead the times she had stayed near Thor and Jane in a place where the walls were too thin). Not gossiping about it was hardly a loss, now that she was getting her own world rocked on a fairly regular basis in real time.
And though they’d certainly both had their reasons, all that time she and Loki had spent dancing around the obvious before getting right down to it seemed so regrettable in hindsight.
As Loki slunk over beside her on his knees, gently pulling her up so he could slip his arms around her, the line of her back tight up against his chest, not for the first time Darcy thought about how awesome Asgard was. They were kind of old-fashioned in that fun medieval fair sort of way, but totally down with the sexual liberation movement. Not to mention almost every guy she’d seen so far looked uh-maz-ing without a shirt.
Her current boyfriend definitely not being an exception in that, either.
Darcy gave a little sound that was almost a purr as Loki slipped her hair aside, kissing the back of her neck, hands roaming along her breasts and stomach. She shifted her weight, sitting back on top his folded knees, leaning into his muscled body.
Closing her eyes again Darcy turned her head, tilting her neck so as to offer Loki the side of her throat to continue his ministrations on.
“Next time I visit I need to bring this issue of Cosmo,” she said offhand, remembering. The subscription had been a gift from a relative, and she mostly read it to laugh at. “There’s a position in there that looks…interesting.”
Loki stopped and pulled away a bit, legs slipping out from under her, and Darcy opened her eyes to look at him.
“Interesting? Oh, but my fairest, if you want to do something more ‘interesting’ you know you need only ask. And I can think of much more sensational things we can try than would be found lying betwixt the pages of any mortal magazine.”
The expression on Loki’s face wasn’t insulted; it was canny, scheming. A look Darcy had come to view with a certain amount of wariness when it involved both of them and they were naked.
He reached out, two fingers twining and curling a strand of her hair. He smiled at her, thin and merry, eyes half-lidded.
“What do you say? Is that what you want, this night?”
“Um,” she said, because she’d already learned her immortal sorcerer lover had a very different definition of ‘experimental’. She sat up on her heels and resisted the sudden weird urge to shield her chest with her arms. “I don’t know. What exactly did you have in mind?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” And apparently he was in the mood to wig her out tonight, because without warning he changed right before her eyes. “I can think of a few things…”
Darcy found herself looking at a perfect carbon copy of her. She stared.
Unabashed, Loki made himself comfortable on his stomach, legs bent at the knee to kick feet carelessly in the air. He rested chin atop folded arms, smiling in a sultry and coquettish way that Darcy was pretty sure she couldn’t pull off with her own version of those lips.
“Okay, first of all, I feel like you should have to ask for my permission before you turn into me,” she objected, indignant. “Second, what is it you’re trying to say to me here? Do you think I’m some kind of narcissist?”
“I wasn’t trying to imply that at all,” Loki told her, mildly, and it was really weird hearing him talk with her voice. “I was only thinking of things we could do to make our experience a bit…different.”
As he finished that sentence he reached out, fingertips brushing her, and Darcy gave a yelp out of reflex as she felt magic washing over her. The tingle that started in her skin and sank through to her flesh told her it was the shape-changing kind.
“What have I told you about doing that to me without asking first?” she demanded.
But she stopped speaking, eyes widening as she heard her voice change mid-sentence, and she looked down and realized who he had changed her into.
Darcy went rigidly still, disoriented by the different sense of balance in her body, now that she was taller and broader-shouldered and her legs and arms were so long. Her mouth gaped momentarily as she struggled for something to say, snapping it shut when she came up with nothing.
Slowly she looked down, lifting up one hand for examination, spreading thin fingers apart with bemusement and consternation. As well as she knew the shape of this body, it was a hell of a lot different being on the other side.
“It’s very odd, seeing that look on my face,” Loki commented.
“It’s very odd having your face,” Darcy retorted, voice flat. Her hands itched to reach and press against her changed features, to feel where he’d given her his cheekbones and nose, but she didn’t. It was all too surreal.
“Hm,” was all Loki said, a sound of non-commitment. He rolled over to his side, leaning chin against the curled fingers of one hand, the other resting on the opposite hip, legs stretched out beside him.
If Darcy didn’t know better she’d swear he was purposefully showing off her body.
“Well, what do you think, then? Shall we give it a try or not?”
“What, you mean like…role reversal?” Darcy blinked as she finally caught up with what he was suggesting. “The same thing only…” she spread her arms apart, both hands upraised now, as she looked down at herself in an identical version of Loki’s body “…different?”
“Something like that,” Loki agreed. There was something catlike about the smile her face was wearing. “The same union, but experienced now from opposite ends of the pole.”
“I…I don’t know. It could be fun, but-”
There was something intriguing about the idea, sure. But it was hard to get past the part where she still felt markedly weirded out. Loki was used to changing his shape; he was used to being a girl too, Darcy had seen him do that enough times. He already knew what it was like on ‘the other side’.
Her? Not so much. The thought of getting physically intimate in a body not her own was daunting and unsettling enough - and then there were the details. Even the arousal was somehow ‘off’.
She stole a glance down at the very male genitalia this body came equipped with and decided that it was too big a step.
“No, I don’t think so.” Darcy shook her head. “Put it on the list for a thing to maybe try, someday, but not now. Not tonight.”
“If you say so.” Loki pushed up his hands and walked over on knees to her. He changed her back first, cupping her face in his hands, and Darcy couldn’t help giving a quick sigh of relief. “It’s all right. I didn’t frighten you, did I?”
He had turned back as well, and Darcy gazed up into his eyes, bright and watching her intently in a face casual but marked by faint traces of concern.
“No,” she reassured him, hands on top of his where they still held her face. “No, it’s nothing like that. It’s just, you don’t have to go straight to the magic all the time, you know? I’m sure you’ve got other tricks in your repertoire before that.”
He offered her a faint smile. “I don’t want you to grow bored.”
Darcy pulled back a bit as she blinked in reflexive surprise. Then she snorted.
“Believe me, I am not about to get ‘bored’ while I’m dating you, any time soon,” she replied incredulously, laughing with a shake of her head.
Loki didn’t say anything, but his smile grew a touch more relaxed. He pulled her closer in his embrace and for a minute or so they just cuddled one another. Darcy rested her head on his shoulder.
Then suddenly she broke the closeness, slipping back to give him a startled look.
“Hey. What time is it? You know, back home.”
She had long ago learned that the clock on her phone, her iPod, even her watch couldn’t be trusted on Asgard. Something to do with the different planets or cosmic interference or - whatever. Jane had tried explaining it once with algorithms and Darcy had promptly zoned out.
The point was, if for some reason she wanted to know what time it was on Earth, she had to run and ask Loki.
She wasn’t sure why exactly he was so good at keeping track of it in his head. Chalk it up to yet another part of his strange skillset.
Loki cocked his head slightly, clearly wondering why the sudden question, but he didn’t ask. “Which time zone?”
“Central.”
He was quiet for a moment - from his half-focused expression, it looked like he might be doing mental math. “It should be almost nine o’clock in the evening.”
“Oh, crap.” Darcy spun away from him, jumping out of bed with both feet on the floor, taking one of the sheets along to drape it around herself. “I have to make a phone call.” She twisted her head back, explaining, “My mom. I promised I’d call her tonight to let her know I landed safely.”
Loki’s eyebrows rose. “’Landed’?’ he repeated with palpable amusement.
Darcy rolled her eyes. “You know. Arrived. Whatever you’d call it.” Despite the fact she’d been hopping back and forth between planets for almost a year now and she’d told her almost everything, her mom still didn’t seem to quite have grasped what was going on.
Of course, she was also taking the whole “only daughter dating an alien sorcerer reformed supervillain space prince” thing pretty well, so Darcy didn’t have much room to complain.
“Look, the point is, she wanted to hear that I got here safely, all right?” Darcy hitched up the bedsheet a little. “I need to step out for a minute. Raincheck, okay?”
Loki’s brow was still lifted, but after a moment he gave a peaceable smile. “I’m certain we’ll find plenty of time to make up for it,” he pointed out. He held his hand out, palm upraised. “Give me your phone.”
Darcy beamed. “Thanks! You’re the best.” Ducking down she fumbled among her scattered articles of clothing, groping on the floor, until finally she located her pants and produced her cell phone.
“Here we go.” She handed it over to him.
It went without saying that usually, phones didn’t get reception on Asgard. Even the Avengers’ communicators couldn’t function across the long-range distance from one dimension to the next. But Loki had perfected a spell that for a short amount of time allowed calls to be placed out, as long as he knew some specifics.
Cupping his hand around the device he brought her phone closer to his face, and never breaking eye contact with her he blew on it what looked briefly like a puff of dancing green sparks.
He handed it back. “And there you are.”
Darcy took it with one hand, the other still holding her makeshift sheet outfit closed. She dropped to the bed on one knee, scooting closer so she could kiss him.
“Thanks,” she said again, warm and happy. “I love you.”
“I know,” Loki responded, offhand, as she was already getting up again, moving away from the bed as she looked down at her cell, pressing buttons with one thumb.
Darcy was walking off towards the other end of the very big room so as to give her conversation some space when she got picked up on the third ring. “Mom? Hi! It’s me, Darcy. Yeah! I know it’s kind of late, but there was a ton of stuff to take care of when we got here…”
As she kept walking, her back in the direction of the bed, Loki laid back among the pillows, chin rested on one hand as he watched her with fondness.
*
The next morning on Asgard started out cooler than it had the day previous, but the sun still shone brightly, casting everything in a warm buttery color in the early hours.
Jane and Thor sat at a table on an open-air terrace overlooking part of the palace gardens. Through wide white arches the space was illuminated with natural light and the air was scented by fruits and flowers that grew outside. In front of them was spread a modest but sumptuous breakfast.
The privacy and quiet was a welcome respite. After many visits over the time they were seeing each other Jane had gotten used to the way things worked: just about every night there was a banquet, in which a palace overflowing with nobles and soldiers was expected to all sit down together. It was a raucous and often overwhelming affair, especially when repeated one evening after the next. Morning and afternoon meals were slightly less formal, where as much food was laid out but people didn’t arrive all at once, coming and going over the space of several hours and stopping to chat with friends when they saw them. Under these circumstances the hall reminded Jane more like cafeterias she’d eaten in at college, or even in high school.
But while they served as social gatherings it wasn’t odd for people to skip the earlier public meals. The king rarely went to breakfast and the queen never did. Instead she presided over this terrace, where she dined peacefully and in the company of whatever friends or family she chose to invite. Often that was her sons and, whenever they were present, both their significant others.
That morning while Frigga had things to oversee that kept her too busy, she’d nonetheless asked them to enjoy the usual without her.
It seemed there was no corner of the palace the turmoil created by this engagement didn’t reach.
Jane had only just begun to see the full extent of the festivities, which would be lasting for some time. Every night so far there’d been a feast, complete with rounds of heavy toasting and performances from minstrels and bards. In a few days tournaments and open-air festivals would begin, and there’d be plays and other forms of entertainment, in part put on simply to occupy all the guests.
The repaired Bifrost was already being well-used as more travelers arrived by the day. In addition to nobles from the furthest reaches of Asgard there were others from all over; worlds mentioned in Norse mythology and some Jane had never heard of.
There were elves with thin-boned faces and high, reedy voices. There were dwarves, bearded and squat and surly. Though they had not been invited as attendants there’d even been a contingent of goblins and dark elves that appeared a few days before, clad in polished red and black armor and grey dresses with high necklines and flowing trains, to leave gifts and pay their respects.
And this, Jane had to keep reminding herself, was only to celebrate the engagement. She shuddered to think what the wedding would be like further down the line.
Some women would squeal over the thought of marrying their way into becoming a princess, a future queen. They’d be head over heels for all the wealth and power it would bring.
Jane was not one of those women. There were times she asked herself if it was worth it.
She sat there in a thin cardigan, quiet in her thoughts as she put some fruit on her plate and nibbled a piece of toast. Her hair was pinned up and she was wearing an expensive pair of ceramic earrings, but other than that she was her very same self. Modest. Ordinary. A woman who daydreamed about getting to other worlds through numbers and equations, not on the back of a knight’s white horse.
So why, oh why, was she doing this?
She turned her head and looked off to the right at where Thor was seated, wearing clothes that she knew he considered casual but would make him overdressed and out of place anywhere other than Asgard. He ate with gusto, his platter loaded with meat and eggs, though he was restraining himself slightly in an effort to keep his manners.
As Jane watched Thor paused in his chewing, reaching for a mug full of coffee (the beverage had become a big hit after he’d introduced it to Asgard). He took a sip and glanced up, noticing Jane was looking at him.
Instantly as his blue eyes met hers they warmed, coming even further alive with extra sparkle. He set his mug down and beamed as he sat up to look at her, his smile splitting to the furthest corners of his face.
Jane felt her heart flutter as she saw that expression, as they sat there gazing into each other’s eyes.
He was so handsome, so perfect, so full of life and energy. He was so happy just being near her, and he cared for her so much. And she loved him.
And that was the reason why she was doing this, because what better reason could there be?
Without speaking, still smiling, Thor put his hand on the table, his big palm reaching for hers. Jane placed her hand out, feeling his fingers envelop hers easily with their warmth, giving them a gentle squeeze.
“Jane.” He always said her name like he was never going to get tired of saying it. His thumb stroked her knuckles. There was no ring there yet: Asgardians didn’t do engagement rings, but they did do wedding bands. One day they would both have matching rings of gold. “How are you faring this day?”
“Okay. Good,” she told him. She laughed faintly. “Still a little overwhelmed.”
Thor gave a grin that had a slight air of the sheepish. “From what I have seen of Earth, I believe I can understand how some of our ways may seem overmuch at times.” He moved his hand to her shoulder, stroking her. “But you should take it as a compliment. All the Nine Realms want to share in the joy of our impending union.”
“You mean they want to share in the spectacle of a powerful prince getting married. And maybe curry some favor,” Jane corrected him, good-natured but forceful. “This is all about you. It has nothing to do with me.”
She could’ve been anyone. She was the fair maid of a distant land the Mighty Thor courted and chose for his bride. From the narrative as most knew it she was the prize, not the protagonist, in the fairy tale. And for the most part, she was okay with that.
After all, none of these otherworldly strangers were her friends, her relatives, her colleagues. So what did she care what they think?
Thor’s mouth pressed into a thin line, not quite a frown. He seemed to be silently acknowledging there was some truth to what she said.
But after a moment he insisted, gentle, “But that isn’t so. You forget among my people you’re already renowned as the Bringer of the Bifrost.” He grinned again as he said this, clearly proud.
Jane gave a dizzy sort of laugh as he reminded her of this, like always not sure how she should feel. Of course she was proud of her accomplishment. But if it hadn’t been for the Asgardians’ technology she wouldn’t have had such a great starting-off point. And it was disorienting, being revered by people that’d been worshipped as ancient gods.
For right now she decided just to concede the point and not argue. “Fine.” With an indulgent smile she patted Thor’s hand, saying sweetly, “It is our engagement. We’ll say that it’s about the both of us.”
“But of course.” Thor briefly took both her hands in his, before leaning towards her in the best kind of an embrace he could with the amount of distance between them. “As it’s only fitting it should be!”
Jane smiled, but as he released her and returned to his meal, a thought occurred that immediately began bothering her.
Much as she was enjoying this chance to be alone together, she realized it was odd that it’d lasted this long. Darcy she knew could sleep well past noon if they’d let her, especially if she’d been up late partying, but Loki was habitually an early riser.
Her gaze shifted askance to the two empty plates. “Where do you think the others are? I’d have expected them by now.”
When she looked at her fiancé she was surprised to see him pause mid-chew, a mildly conflicted look on his face. Catching her watching he tried to banish it, but Jane wasn’t fooled.
“I know not about Darcy, but there is a chance my brother may not be joining us this morning,” he admitted.
“Why not?”
Thor was quiet in that way she knew meant he was reluctant to answer. “It’s nothing important.”
“Thor…”
“Loki and I quarreled, the other day.” The words escaped him in a rush.
At first was Jane was speechless simply because she was startled. Then the possible gravity of what he was saying set in, and she sucked in a breath, worry and fear quickly rising.
“We had a disagreement,” Thor clarified, probably reading her face. Given his history with Loki ‘quarreled’ could’ve meant a lot of things; he was backpedaling over that now. “An argument. Nothing more.”
“What was it about?” Jane asked softly, feeling reassured but only by a degree.
But Thor had the hard look of stubbornness that she knew even her pushing wouldn’t get through. “It wasn’t important,” he repeated. “It’s nothing that need concern you.”
When she frowned, preparing to speak, Thor interrupted her with a sigh.
“Once this was not so uncommon. Loki and I are brothers: as brothers often do we disagreed over something and fought, yelling, throwing words. We’d storm off, and for days after might not speak or even look at one another.”
“And then, what?” Jane questioned. “Eventually it would die down and you’d stop being angry at one another?”
“Sometimes. Or one of our friends, or Mother, might have to interfere and bring us together.” Thor rolled his shoulders in a shrug. “It could be petty, often foolish. Spiteful. But no worse than that.”
When she didn’t say anything in response he gave her a beseeching look.
“Please, Jane. I don’t want your mind clouded by needless worries during this happy time. I promise you, it’s nothing.”
She couldn’t help noticing that it sounded like he was trying to convince himself as much as her.
But she tried to be reasonable. Thor was probably only concerned because this reminded him of the much less minor or ‘brotherly’ fights he’d had with Loki, which was understandable.
If Thor swore there was nothing else to it, they had no other reason to worry…she was supposed to be able to trust him.
She did her best to banish anxiety from her thoughts and smiled for his benefit. “Okay. If you don’t want to talk about it, I won’t make you. Far as I’m concerned the subject never even came up.”
Not entirely true; but Thor smiled back and seemed to believe her, so it worked. Jane returned to her breakfast in comfortable if pensive quiet.
Jane’s feelings about Loki were complicated. She’d first been introduced to him as a faceless - and then not-so-faceless - threat, and there’d been times when he’d been directly hostile to her in words and implications, if never quite actions.
She felt sorry for some of what he’d been through and knew he was trying to be a better man now.
And Thor…Thor loved his brother. There’d never been any denying that. It was unthinkable she could be in a relationship with Thor and ignore someone who was such a close part of his life.
Loki would be her family too, through marriage. He seemed as aware of that as she was. Jane tried to be civil and kind to him, and was given the same amount of civility and kindness in return. They never really seemed to know what to do with one another.
No one said they had to be friends. And Jane didn’t see how they could be, with her unable to either trust or mistrust the trickster. But it seemed a dismal future, to look ahead to a life with this polite chill of uncertainty forever between her and her brother-in-law.
Thor’s intuition proved to be right, though, and Loki never appeared to join them on the terrace.
They finished eating and servants quickly began clearly the table. Feeling awkward, Jane could think of nothing to do but get out of the way. She left the room, belatedly noticing that Thor had followed her.
“What are your plans for this part of the day?” he asked her with easy curiosity, offering her his arm.
In spite of herself Jane smiled as she looped her grip around his bicep, allowing him to escort her.
“Nothing much. I was planning on taking it easy until the evening got here.” In the evening, it went without saying, there would be another feast. “I’m going to hide in my room and relax with a book.”
Actually, she was planning on reviewing some notes on the laptop she’d smuggled in her suitcase, trying to see if she could resolve more proofs. But she knew better than to tell him that. This was her romantic vacation and she wasn’t supposed to be working.
Not even a teensy, eensy, little bit.
“Will you walk with me?” Thor requested sincerely. “I know we suffer no lack of each other these days, but it would still please me to while away a few of these morning hours in your company.”
Well, how was she going to say no to that? And she had to admit it wouldn’t hurt her to get an hour or two of sun. “Of course I will.” Her grasp on him tightened. “Did you have anywhere in mind?”
“If you have no objection, I wished to find my lady mother and pay my respects to her.”
The two of them took a path alongside the edge of the palace following the gardens, and as Jane rested her head against Thor she admired the rows of blossoming flowers and orchards teeming with fruit.
As they crossed inward, however, in search of the queen’s more private rooms, they were brought up short in surprise when across from them they were met with the sight of Loki and Darcy coming from the other way.
Jane felt Thor’s muscles stiffen beside her. She watched Loki’s expression: his eyes flashed, startled, and then his entire face became carefully neutral and passive.
Darcy was tugging him closer as she came to greet them, smiling and waving. Clearly Loki hadn’t mentioned his brother and he’d had a fight.
“Good morning,” the brunette said cheerfully. “Fancy meeting you here. How was your guys’ breakfast?”
“Hey.” Jane decided for the sake of both men to play dumb. “It was great. Where have you been?”
“Oh…we slept in late.” Darcy turned to steal a meaningful look at Loki, biting her lip as she smiled. “Ended up having a romantic breakfast in bed.”
Meeting her eyes, the corners of Loki’s mouth raised the slightest increment.
Jane caught on. “I see,” she said woodenly, unable to help the sardonic curve to her eyebrows. “You must’ve worked up quite the appetite.”
Darcy just laughed and, seriously, it was like she wasn’t even trying to be subtle.
“You look well today,” Thor addressed Loki. While far from hostile, his voice was too unnaturally even to read as entirely friendly.
“As do you, brother.” Loki’s reply was more smooth - but then, he was much better at covering things. “But it is to be expected of one celebrating your happy state.”
The reply was cordial, and while Jane couldn’t be fully sure she mightn’t miss one of Loki’s hidden jabs, there didn’t seem to be anything sinister or resentful at work here. If an apology wasn’t forthcoming then at least the two were acting ready to move on - or for the moment pretend nothing happened.
When Thor didn’t say anything the polite smile on Loki’s face faded. For an instant, too fast to even try and get a read on what he was thinking, his eyes flicked over to look at Jane, and then moved away again.
But in that instant, because she was paying attention, Jane felt the way the tension between the brothers ratcheted up suddenly - and then just as quickly disappeared. As if for a moment each was anticipating the other would say something.
A pensive knot twirled itself momentarily in Jane’s stomach. Interesting. Thor hadn’t told her what the fight was about because he said it wasn’t important, but a different possibility occurred to her.
Could the argument have been about her?
She shook herself back to awareness as she heard Thor’s voice say, “Well, good as it is to see the both of you, we should be off. Jane and I were just on our way to give morning audience to the queen.”
Loki gave a laugh that didn’t sound entirely pleasant. “Why what a coincidence,” he said wryly. “So were we.”
“Oh.” Thor managed some enthusiasm as he said, “Well then…we should go together!”
“Certainly.” Loki gestured, giving a tart smile. “Lead on.”
As they started walking Darcy locked eyes with Jane, her expression making it clear she had noticed something was off. Her eyebrows were raised purposefully - Jane had gotten good at reading her.
Whoa, Darcy was asking her, silently, what the heck is going on?
Jane shot a furtive look back and shook her head. Never mind. I’ll tell you later.
The four of them reached what Darcy often referred to as “the inner sanctum” - and sometimes Jane called it that in her mind, because she knew the description was mostly true. If the palace was like an apple they were at the part that came right before the core. Parlors and corridors for sitting in, reading in, conversing in, but that were officially reserved for the royal family and only the highest-ranking guests. If Frigga hadn’t actually retreated to her own private chamber she would be somewhere in here.
Sure enough, rounding a corner from one ostentatiously grand hallway to the next, the very edge of a room came into view, and there was the queen in more casual day dress, seated before a writing desk with several sheets of parchment spread out in front of her. Returning letters probably; it was a task Jane knew took up a lot of her time.
Instead of continuing forward the group came to a halt, for they realized as one Frigga wasn’t alone.
There was another woman there, standing back a respectful distance as she waited for something. The two conversed but softly, subdued, inaudible from the distance.
The second woman was tall, beautiful, which was very typical for an Asgardian. Her hair was a warm golden color, like honey, and her skin was tanned. She wasn’t wearing a dress, or clothed like a servant. Instead she had on silver armor with chainmail and interlocking plates covering her from neck to feet that hung with expert craftsmanship on her feminine form. It was different from Sif’s, and Jane had never seen another lady Asgardian in full armor before.
There was a broadsword sheathed at her belt and with one arm she carried a giant shield, taller and wider than she was and teardrop-shaped.
As Frigga finished speaking and gave a motion with one hand that was obviously a dismissal, the woman bowed, clasping her hand in a fist and bringing it close to her chest while her head lowered. She got up and left the room, walking right past the four of them, briskly and businesslike, like she’d not even noticed they were there.
Jane turned her head to gaze after the stranger, puzzling, but both Thor and Loki were already making their way closer to their mother.
Frigga remained in her chair, fingers of one hand against her forehead, the other hand holding an unrolled scroll that she looked at with a frown. She acted almost like she’d been woken from a dream when she looked up and noticed she’d a new audience.
“Oh; my sons. Lady Jane. Lady Darcy.” She greeted them with a smile and her voice was warm (Darcy bobbed in an awkward curtsey) but it wavered with how she was still troubled. “A good morning to you all.”
Loki had folded his arms, hands clasping his elbows, and nodded his head to her; his face an unreadable blank that showed for the moment he had no intention of speaking.
Jane had no clue what his trepidation was - what they’d seen seemed to have the opposite effect on Thor. He was bounding nearer his mother with all the enthusiasm of a puppy.
“Mother,” he asked, so excited he rushed right past any greeting, “was that a Shieldmaid?”
He was talking about the woman that’d just left; Frigga’s smile froze on her face.
“Indeed it was,” she confirmed for him. She moved enough to indicate the letter in her hand. “She was delivering a reply from her commander to me. A slightly late response to the formal invitation to your engagement party.”
Thor tried to exchange a glance with his brother, beaming openly, all but elbowing him. Loki however didn’t look back. Keeping his eyes on Frigga he lifted his chin as if trying to read from where he stood.
“And what was the response?” he asked curiously, manner still cautiously composed and subdued.
“It was in the affirmative.”
Thor’s both hands closed into fists as he raised them in an expression of joy. “Aunt Freya is coming?” he exclaimed, both surprised and elated. “She will be here? How splendid!”
He turned and looked back at Jane and Darcy, bright-eyed, as if having forgotten in his excitement they didn’t know who he was talking about, expecting them to share his reaction.
“We have not seen her in an era! Why, I can’t remember how long it’s been.”
Despite being completely lost, Jane smiled and laughed a bit anyway, because Thor’s happiness was often contagious. It sounded like Freya, whoever she was, must be his favorite relative.
“Of course Freya is coming.” Gradually Frigga set the paper down, and she brought her freed hand to her temple, almost covering her eyes. It was a gesture of unhappiness and apprehension. “She goes wherever the mistress of Vanaheim does, to honor her and serve as her protection.”
Thor’s excited trembling stopped abruptly. His happy face vanished, eyes widening. He stilled.
The whole time Thor had been crowing, Loki’s expression had remained blank, not sharing the same enthusiasm but not disapproving of the news. His aloofness however left as swiftly as Thor’s joy. His spine went rigid and his mouth tightened as he went pale as a ghost.
There was a pronounced pause before Thor broke the silence.
“Aunt Nanna is coming?” The question was asked much more hesitantly and unfavorably than his other query had been.
Frigga looked up at her two children. Her eyes were full of emotion; Jane couldn’t shake the sense she was somehow apologizing.
“Yes. She will be here,” the queen said. “In a matter of days.”
It was Thor’s turn to lose color, his expression souring. He swallowed grimly before facing his brother, mouth opening, hand raised as if he might reach out to him.
But whatever Thor’s intention was he never got a chance. Without any warning Loki spun on one heel, giving no goodbye or saying a single word as he fled.
In the wake of his abrupt departure Darcy looked at the rest of them, shocked.
“What was that all about?” she demanded.
Jane could certainly understand why she was mystified. “Who is Nanna, and why does Loki not want her here?”
Frigga folded her hands smoothly in her lap. “Nanna is my sister-in-law, widow of my late brother, Frey. She is the highest-ranking nobility in Vanaheim and the closest that realm has to a queen.”
“Okay,” Darcy said, still confused. “What’s the problem then?” She looked to Thor. “Was she just your guys’ least favorite aunt growing up, or what?”
Quietly Thor answered, “Nanna also lost someone else in her family, long ago, in addition to her husband: her son. Balder.”
“Oh.” Darcy spoke more softly. “That must’ve sucked. But, I still don’t get it. What does it have to do with you guys?”
“It has to do with how it was Balder lost his life,” Frigga responded evenly.
Ever since Thor had returned to Earth the second time and Jane began hearing more and more about his early adventures, she had spent a little time reading up on her mythology. She wasn’t anywhere near an expert; she just didn’t have much energy to devote to it outside her social life and her work. But it was enough that she recognized some things occasionally.
And right now, it was hitting her that Balder’s name was familiar.
“I remember reading about Balder,” she recalled out loud, the bits and pieces rushing together. “He was kind of a big deal in Norse mythology because he was the only god who had ever died. He was respected as some kind of paragon of truth and light, and he was murdered by-”
She cut off, words dying in her throat as she realized the significance.
“Yes,” Thor intoned, grim and unhappy, but unflinching. “It was Loki’s doing. It was my brother that killed Balder.”
LINK TO CONCLUSION