The coming of Ullr into Asgard, part 3/3
chapter 3 title: "Out of the wilderness"
summary: Sif and Loki enjoy a nice, quiet dinner.
And Ullr takes power.
note: An error resulted in the loss of the entire 3rd chapter, so I had to re-write the entire scenes (one of them and two pieces) from half-recalled memory; the rest of part 3 grows around them. While not as good as it was, I hope it is still enjoyable.
part 1 is here
part 2 is here
part 3 is here
Dinner fares well, and is eaten mostly in silence between them. Silence is better than absence, each knows, each for their own reasons.
"Thor relented his grip and relaxed when we reached the battlefield," Loki tells her; "he let my feet touch the ground," which draws a smile from her - the aim of that truth. "He then explained who we were facing and what he needed of me, why my skills were relevant to the battlefield he had brought me to. So I fought alongside him."
(...)
"Thor was full of praise for a youth by the name of Ullr," Loki said. "And he insisted I make the lad's acquaintance."
"You would like him, I think."
"I have no doubt. You know him?"
Sif looked Loki right in the eyes as she said, "I am his mother. We are his parents." A bit bold(faced), and rather abrupt, but after as much as he had been coming and going, little stopping in their lives, she was tired of awaiting.
"I..." Loki said, and it is all Sif can do to not smile at the sight of the Wordsmith himself, rendered mute, caught unable to find what to say. "I am a father."
"Yes."
"You could have told me..." and to his credit, he does not finish the statement, and keeps accusation far from even the part he said.
"I could have. But when?" Sif asks him. "When you were hunting Thor to ground? When you were imprisoned? The times you were not here?"
You could have continued to hold it back from me, and you would have been in the right. That you spoke of this to me now...Means very much. He dips his head in acknowledgement that she is right, a gesture just shy of hanging his head fully.
And he knows what he must do. The only thing there is to do. The only thing I can do - that which I am good at. And he looks back up at Sif, seeing her grace, savoring what he beholds, storing it up. "Know, Sif, that I always care. Always for you. Now for Ullr as well."
"Long suspected, now knowing," Sif said as Loki rises and walks around the table, and bends toward her.
Loki kisses her.
It is warmth and languidity and tender, caring and attentive. It is all the things she remembers and things which are new where he is concerned - mortality? (?)? - and all wrapped in the pressure of Loki's lips. But it is a drink too short for one who has been through the arid places.
Sif looks into his face as he pulls himself slowly away not wanting to go. And sees him vanish.
She does not rush or hurry. She wipes her face and returns to Ullr.
~~~
...
...
~~~
When Loki next returns, it is to such a sight that he nearly trips over himself. Asgard is blanketed with snows while polar winds drift across everything not already buried.
"We are invaded?" Loki asked, having caught himself.
"Not in the sense you mean," Heimdall said. "This is Ullr's doing." A pause. "In hindsight, your rule was preferable."
Rather than thank the Gatekeeper, knowing how the admission itself already rankled Heimdall, Loki did not make things worse. Shouldering his bag, Loki said "I will deal with it."
"How?"
Loki just smiled and walked down the Bridge.
~~~
...
"What is in the bag?" Sif asked.
"A gift," Loki said, "gestures from me to my son and king," and upended the bag, letting its contents spill out: the heads of the Other and his master, of Doom and like-minded mortals, and some heads who had not yet turned their attentions to this corner of the universe.
...
"I may be a poor parent," Loki said. "But what trickster does not seek to destroy the deepest darkest things of the cosmos?"
"That makes you a good parent," Sif said. "On that, you and the Einherjar are very much in agreement."
(?)"However shall I get by?"
"I can think of a few things," Sif said, a smile on her lips.
THE END.
summary: Sif and Loki enjoy a nice, quiet dinner.
And Ullr takes power.
note: An error resulted in the loss of the entire 3rd chapter, so I had to re-write the entire scenes (one of them and two pieces) from half-recalled memory; the rest of part 3 grows around them. While not as good as it was, I hope it is still enjoyable.
part 1 is here
part 2 is here
part 3 is here
Dinner fares well, and is eaten mostly in silence between them. Silence is better than absence, each knows, each for their own reasons.
"Thor relented his grip and relaxed when we reached the battlefield," Loki tells her; "he let my feet touch the ground," which draws a smile from her - the aim of that truth. "He then explained who we were facing and what he needed of me, why my skills were relevant to the battlefield he had brought me to. So I fought alongside him."
(...)
"Thor was full of praise for a youth by the name of Ullr," Loki said. "And he insisted I make the lad's acquaintance."
"You would like him, I think."
"I have no doubt. You know him?"
Sif looked Loki right in the eyes as she said, "I am his mother. We are his parents." A bit bold(faced), and rather abrupt, but after as much as he had been coming and going, little stopping in their lives, she was tired of awaiting.
"I..." Loki said, and it is all Sif can do to not smile at the sight of the Wordsmith himself, rendered mute, caught unable to find what to say. "I am a father."
"Yes."
"You could have told me..." and to his credit, he does not finish the statement, and keeps accusation far from even the part he said.
"I could have. But when?" Sif asks him. "When you were hunting Thor to ground? When you were imprisoned? The times you were not here?"
You could have continued to hold it back from me, and you would have been in the right. That you spoke of this to me now...Means very much. He dips his head in acknowledgement that she is right, a gesture just shy of hanging his head fully.
And he knows what he must do. The only thing there is to do. The only thing I can do - that which I am good at. And he looks back up at Sif, seeing her grace, savoring what he beholds, storing it up. "Know, Sif, that I always care. Always for you. Now for Ullr as well."
"Long suspected, now knowing," Sif said as Loki rises and walks around the table, and bends toward her.
Loki kisses her.
It is warmth and languidity and tender, caring and attentive. It is all the things she remembers and things which are new where he is concerned - mortality? (?)? - and all wrapped in the pressure of Loki's lips. But it is a drink too short for one who has been through the arid places.
Sif looks into his face as he pulls himself slowly away not wanting to go. And sees him vanish.
She does not rush or hurry. She wipes her face and returns to Ullr.
~~~
...
...
~~~
When Loki next returns, it is to such a sight that he nearly trips over himself. Asgard is blanketed with snows while polar winds drift across everything not already buried.
"We are invaded?" Loki asked, having caught himself.
"Not in the sense you mean," Heimdall said. "This is Ullr's doing." A pause. "In hindsight, your rule was preferable."
Rather than thank the Gatekeeper, knowing how the admission itself already rankled Heimdall, Loki did not make things worse. Shouldering his bag, Loki said "I will deal with it."
"How?"
Loki just smiled and walked down the Bridge.
~~~
...
"What is in the bag?" Sif asked.
"A gift," Loki said, "gestures from me to my son and king," and upended the bag, letting its contents spill out: the heads of the Other and his master, of Doom and like-minded mortals, and some heads who had not yet turned their attentions to this corner of the universe.
...
"I may be a poor parent," Loki said. "But what trickster does not seek to destroy the deepest darkest things of the cosmos?"
"That makes you a good parent," Sif said. "On that, you and the Einherjar are very much in agreement."
(?)"However shall I get by?"
"I can think of a few things," Sif said, a smile on her lips.
THE END.