The Golem (getting all sorts of creative with titles here)
Title: The Golem
Written for this prompt http://norsekink.livejournal.com/11219.html?thread=25518035#t25518035
Warnings: Vague allusions to assassination attempts and kidnapping, and Frigga.
Summary: Frigga is a mother. The goddess of motherhood. So, naturally, she is protective of her child. But even she realizes that she can't keep him alone forever.
Note: The is starting to Verse on me, so expect some more installments.
***
She won’t let anyone near him.
In the first few years after his birth, there had been five overt, violent attempts at her son’s life and three more that were made during the visits of dignitaries with small children. After the nursemaid brought in by the Svartálfaheimr embassy managed to escape with and hide Thor from them for several days (despite the gate keeper’s watchful eye), Frigga denied any access to her child that was not her and his father. Thor was always in her company, and it took time for her to even allow their most loyal servants and guards to circulate back into his presence.
This is the manner of things for quite some time, and she is content. Her son is safe.
It is not a problem until the Allfather says it is.
-
They watch their son play in the corner of their quarters by himself.
“He’s fine,” She insists. “Look at him, he’s happy.”
“He’ll notice eventually.”
“I don’t care!” She bursts out. Her breath catches and Odin’s eyes open marginally wider. They watch each other in silence, the moment longer than it should be after all their years together. Frigga has to inhale deeply and close her eyes, nails scrape the skin on her palm. She sighs after a moment and raises her head. “What should we do?”
-
The dwarves listen to their request with blank faces.
A golem. Something that will move and talk with Thor, that will give him the companionship he will inevitably crave when he notices its absence.
It must be sturdy, they say, for he will grow to be strong. It must be tied to their son and the commands of only the royal family.
Eitri draws up plans of a creature that will care for and watch over the boy as he ages. A solid stone sentinel that is unbreakable and intimidating. It is strong. It is a thing of beauty.
It is not what they want.
“No,” They tell him. “It needs to have the illusion of being of a peer. We want him to have some semblance of normalcy. It must grow with him.”
The dwarves grumble and show them out.
Then the wars begin.
-
When the dwarves return with new plans and an initial cast, Odin has lost his eye in battle and Thor is old enough to understand what is happening around him.
The form is set in the receiving room of the royal family’s wing. The transaction is personal; they do not need the eyes of the court over their shoulders. There is nothing here they need to know.
It is a pale thing, small. She holds Thor close while the Allfather speaks to its crafter.
It is constructed of white birch, he explains, living so that the growth would continue over time, and stilted by a layer of spells so that it would never grown taller than their son. It is woven with onyx, with shards of chrome diopside for eyes. It was made to complement their son as he grows. There is a spell tied to the core that will allow it to evolve, adapting to best support the prince’s developing personality.
Frigga is unsure of this last detail, but Thor escapes her arms and rushes over to his father, wrapping his small arms around the king’s leg. He looks upon the form for the first time, then reaches out to poke it.
“Mine?” he asks, turning back to her with bright, hopeful eyes. And she relents.
"Yes darling,” she smiles, “All yours.”
-
Its vibrant green eyes open.
Thor calls it “hey” until that night when Odin tells him a story about a friend he had used to have and, in a child’s logic, the young prince decides that should be the golem’s name too.
And so it is called Loki.
Times goes by and Thor is inseparable from the golem. He confides in it, drags it around with him at all times like an old blanket. It talks sometimes, but is usually quiet. A sounding board for the prince’s prattle. For a time, Frigga honestly forgets that it’s there.
She forgets until the day she passes through the library and sees it, away from Thor for once, reaching up for a book that is levitating down to its small hand.
They call in Eitri.
An unexpected by-product, the dwarf calls it, from the spells cast into it during production. They are so tightly wound in that it does not surprise him that there were side effects.
Frigga calls it a defect.
It could hurt her son.
Her demands for them to alter the spells come to naught. It is inherently resilient against any attempts to correct the oddity; they were placed for protection after all. It would have to be wiped clean, only the form would stay the same. She does not care.
While the dwarf leaves to prepare for the alterations and rebuilding there is another attempt to assassinate Thor. The golem is holding onto his sleeve and when the threat draws near they are gone in a flash of green light. The king and queen find Thor in his room, unharmed, unbothered and playing loudly. The golem blinks its wide eyes up at her. If it were a real child she might say they were filled with hope.
The Allfather declares that it will be allowed to stay as it is (a proclamation that the dwarves greet with much satisfaction), because it had saved his son’s life.
-
The first time it calls Frigga mother she ignores it, the second time it happens in public and the air around them is suddenly filled with whispers. She grabs it by the shoulder and pushes it in the direction of a servant, telling her to take it back to the wing and keep it there.
There is no damage control she can do, rumor spreads. Before long the whole of the court has decided that during the war with the Jotun, the Allfather had left his wife with child and, due to her protective nature, the boy had been hidden away.
Frigga is livid.
They ultimately end up accepting the accident as fate (a hidden prince, the rumor spreads, reaches the far realms), thinking that it might take some of the heat off of the crown prince. They explain it to Thor when they tell him why he must now call it brother.
He is reluctant, only because he doesn’t want anything to happen to his toy.
“It’s alright dear.” Frigga pets his hair in reassurance. “If someone breaks it we’ll get you a new one”
Story 2: Liesmith
Written for this prompt http://norsekink.livejournal.com/11219.html?thread=25518035#t25518035
Warnings: Vague allusions to assassination attempts and kidnapping, and Frigga.
Summary: Frigga is a mother. The goddess of motherhood. So, naturally, she is protective of her child. But even she realizes that she can't keep him alone forever.
Note: The is starting to Verse on me, so expect some more installments.
***
She won’t let anyone near him.
In the first few years after his birth, there had been five overt, violent attempts at her son’s life and three more that were made during the visits of dignitaries with small children. After the nursemaid brought in by the Svartálfaheimr embassy managed to escape with and hide Thor from them for several days (despite the gate keeper’s watchful eye), Frigga denied any access to her child that was not her and his father. Thor was always in her company, and it took time for her to even allow their most loyal servants and guards to circulate back into his presence.
This is the manner of things for quite some time, and she is content. Her son is safe.
It is not a problem until the Allfather says it is.
-
They watch their son play in the corner of their quarters by himself.
“He’s fine,” She insists. “Look at him, he’s happy.”
“He’ll notice eventually.”
“I don’t care!” She bursts out. Her breath catches and Odin’s eyes open marginally wider. They watch each other in silence, the moment longer than it should be after all their years together. Frigga has to inhale deeply and close her eyes, nails scrape the skin on her palm. She sighs after a moment and raises her head. “What should we do?”
-
The dwarves listen to their request with blank faces.
A golem. Something that will move and talk with Thor, that will give him the companionship he will inevitably crave when he notices its absence.
It must be sturdy, they say, for he will grow to be strong. It must be tied to their son and the commands of only the royal family.
Eitri draws up plans of a creature that will care for and watch over the boy as he ages. A solid stone sentinel that is unbreakable and intimidating. It is strong. It is a thing of beauty.
It is not what they want.
“No,” They tell him. “It needs to have the illusion of being of a peer. We want him to have some semblance of normalcy. It must grow with him.”
The dwarves grumble and show them out.
Then the wars begin.
-
When the dwarves return with new plans and an initial cast, Odin has lost his eye in battle and Thor is old enough to understand what is happening around him.
The form is set in the receiving room of the royal family’s wing. The transaction is personal; they do not need the eyes of the court over their shoulders. There is nothing here they need to know.
It is a pale thing, small. She holds Thor close while the Allfather speaks to its crafter.
It is constructed of white birch, he explains, living so that the growth would continue over time, and stilted by a layer of spells so that it would never grown taller than their son. It is woven with onyx, with shards of chrome diopside for eyes. It was made to complement their son as he grows. There is a spell tied to the core that will allow it to evolve, adapting to best support the prince’s developing personality.
Frigga is unsure of this last detail, but Thor escapes her arms and rushes over to his father, wrapping his small arms around the king’s leg. He looks upon the form for the first time, then reaches out to poke it.
“Mine?” he asks, turning back to her with bright, hopeful eyes. And she relents.
"Yes darling,” she smiles, “All yours.”
-
Its vibrant green eyes open.
Thor calls it “hey” until that night when Odin tells him a story about a friend he had used to have and, in a child’s logic, the young prince decides that should be the golem’s name too.
And so it is called Loki.
Times goes by and Thor is inseparable from the golem. He confides in it, drags it around with him at all times like an old blanket. It talks sometimes, but is usually quiet. A sounding board for the prince’s prattle. For a time, Frigga honestly forgets that it’s there.
She forgets until the day she passes through the library and sees it, away from Thor for once, reaching up for a book that is levitating down to its small hand.
They call in Eitri.
An unexpected by-product, the dwarf calls it, from the spells cast into it during production. They are so tightly wound in that it does not surprise him that there were side effects.
Frigga calls it a defect.
It could hurt her son.
Her demands for them to alter the spells come to naught. It is inherently resilient against any attempts to correct the oddity; they were placed for protection after all. It would have to be wiped clean, only the form would stay the same. She does not care.
While the dwarf leaves to prepare for the alterations and rebuilding there is another attempt to assassinate Thor. The golem is holding onto his sleeve and when the threat draws near they are gone in a flash of green light. The king and queen find Thor in his room, unharmed, unbothered and playing loudly. The golem blinks its wide eyes up at her. If it were a real child she might say they were filled with hope.
The Allfather declares that it will be allowed to stay as it is (a proclamation that the dwarves greet with much satisfaction), because it had saved his son’s life.
-
The first time it calls Frigga mother she ignores it, the second time it happens in public and the air around them is suddenly filled with whispers. She grabs it by the shoulder and pushes it in the direction of a servant, telling her to take it back to the wing and keep it there.
There is no damage control she can do, rumor spreads. Before long the whole of the court has decided that during the war with the Jotun, the Allfather had left his wife with child and, due to her protective nature, the boy had been hidden away.
Frigga is livid.
They ultimately end up accepting the accident as fate (a hidden prince, the rumor spreads, reaches the far realms), thinking that it might take some of the heat off of the crown prince. They explain it to Thor when they tell him why he must now call it brother.
He is reluctant, only because he doesn’t want anything to happen to his toy.
“It’s alright dear.” Frigga pets his hair in reassurance. “If someone breaks it we’ll get you a new one”
Story 2: Liesmith