It has been four Vanaheim years since the Lokison twins, Narvi and Vali, were born. The snow has piled outside the door of the small hut they call home, and the boys are staring out the window at its enticing sparkle with wonder.
Sigyn is in the kitchen, preparing the fire for an expected catch from her husband. He left early this morning to hunt, and she spent the day singing songs and decorating one of the strange Vanaheim trees with ornaments and tokens of a happy harvest in the coming year. While the boys will never know a true Jul celebration as Vanaheim's sun does not alter the days so much as on Midgard, Sigyn remembers the parties echoed in the Great Hall of Asgard. She places a small branch of a plant above the entryway; it is one that resembles a berry meant to symbolize Queen Frigga.
"Mother, when will father be home?" Narvi asks her, his face brightly smiling up at her. His hands are behind his back.
"He should be home soon, my love. What are you and Vali up to?"
"Nothing..." he says, averting her gaze. Vali has disappeared from the room, but Sigyn can hear him giggling from the hallway.
"Now, Narvi, you know your father won't like it if you spend the evening with a secret. What have you got?"
He still does not meet her eyes, but he releases his arms to relax in front of him. In his hands are two small shoes.
"Father told me we have to put these out for the night, and fill them with sugar and hay. But Vali says he won't use his shoes because they smell funny." Vali can be heard giggling again from the hall.
"Oh, does he now?" Sigyn chases Narvi back into the hallway with Vali and they collapse on the floor in laughter and tickles. She grabs at their feet and mimes being disgusted with a nonexistent smell. Just at the boys are getting a little too loud with their cries for cessation, a loud knock at the door stops them all.
"That must be father!" Vali cries, running to open the door.
Before them all stands Loki, covered from head to toe in furs and carrying the carcass of a huge wild boar on his shoulders. He enters the home with heavy steps and shakes the newly fallen snow off of his furs. Loki lifts the hood that covers his face and reveals a very proud expression, his long hair tied behind his neck with twine, and smiles widely.
"We shall eat like kings this night, my sons!" He lowers himself to one knee after dropping the boar and embraces his sons. They run to his arms as if they haven't seen him for days instead of mere hours. Sigyn is still sitting on the floor, smiling at her joyful little family.
"Come now, get that beast to the kitchen so we may eat sometime today!" Sigyn orders, standing. This forces Loki to stand and look her in the eye. He holds his arms open to her as well, but she does not move forward. "Don't take me for a fool, my Lord; I know how wet you must be from all that snow!"
"Oh, do you?" he replies, with a sinister note in his words. Loki lowers his head in a way that makes him look as if he is stalking prey. While Sigyn is entranced with his face, he grabs her quickly, purposely wrapping her in the wet furs as she objects with a smile. It only lures the boys to join in, running around the two and yelling. The Lokison family, blessed with only a meager house and each other, are happy.
...
Sigyn finishes cooking the boar while Loki takes the boys outside in the snow. They are not yet old enough to learn spells, so Loki does the best he can to not use magic with them. She beams to watch them together: Narvi and Vali are almost fully buried in the drifts, throwing snowballs at one another. Loki is behind them, building a fortress of sorts in the snow. He is covered in snow himself, but never looks more at home than in the deep cold. Loki never shivers; a fact that Sigyn knows puts her at risk for another cold attack when they come in.
"Boys, it is time to come in, you'll catch cold in this weather!" She is an overprotective mother, but does what she can to be reasonable. After an hour in the snow, she knows it's time to bring in her sons and prepare for dinner. Narvi and Vali groan in disapproval.
"Listen to your mother, go inside," says Loki. He trudges through the high banks of snow in his tall fur boots, only stopping at the door to pull off his sons' coats and his own winter attire. The three of them are quite a team: all dressed in brown canvas, one son a spitting image of Loki and the other of Sigyn.
Sigyn takes their wet clothes away from the front door and they all sit at their meager table, which is now covered in various dishes that she has slaved the day over. Loki shows the boys how to sit up in their chairs, and shushes them with a single finger before his lips. He smiles when Sigyn sits and takes one of them in each hand, connecting all of the family around the table.
Loki instructs the boys to bow their heads and he says a blessing for the upcoming year's harvest, thanks the spirit of Frigga, and squeezes his sons' hands while saying the dedication to encourage them to chime in. Considering their excitement, they are very well behaved.
"I am thankful for our little family, Loki," Sigyn says when the invocation is over. Loki stands to carve the boar, and smiles at her.
"And I am thankful for you, my love. To the Jul!"