A/N: This is the fifth part of a series of stories. The reading order is as follows: I Throwing Stones, II Blood From Stone, III He Without Sin, IV Sticks and Stones, V Gathering Moss.

Odin was silent as he watched the uproar unfolding in front of his throne. The guards were bringing in the prisoner, silent and unresisting, but her appearance caused a stifled sound to come from Sif. A sound that he was content to ignore, but the woman didn't often keep herself silent.

"Is this a wise idea, All-father?" Sif stared at the woman distrustfully, even as she moved into a deferential position at the base of his throne.

Odin chose to ignore her, speaking directly to the prisoner herself. "I fear my sons have gone astray," he said to her. "Loki has lost his way and I fear he has taken Thor off with him. They are with your sister on Midgard, doing what, I can only imagine." At this she began to pay more attention, gaze sharpening as she watched him. "I need to have Loki brought back to my side. Do this for me and you earn your freedom. Fail me and I'm sure the Lady Sif will have no qualms about coming to retrieve you."

He waited as she considered his offer. He could see her thoughts running over the possibilities briefly before she nodded. In turn, he nodded to the guards who reluctantly released her and removed the blocking device from her neck.

"What has the prince done, All-father, that you need me to bring him back to you?"

"Never you mind," he told her. "Focus on your own wrong doings and why it benefits you not to repeat those mistakes."

"Yes, All-father." She answered demurely.

"I expect that you will not be long."

"No, it should not take long, All-father."

"Then you are dismissed, Lorelei. Bring Loki home to me. Thor will follow in his own time."

The woman nodded, bowing before she left and Sif took the opportunity to speak freely. "All-father, she cannot be trusted! She has worked with Loki before. They will only conspire against you."

"Loki is also the one that was able to put her away," Odin replied. "She holds grudges against both Loki and Amora, and she has had nothing but time to plan better strategies against them. I believe her freedom is worth more to her than the tatters of whatever understanding they once shared."

"Loki is too clever to fall for her tricks," Sif admitted with obvious reluctance. "She will not be enough."

"And what do you plan to do about it, Lady Sif?" He asked her with sudden harshness. "Disobey your king as you did when Loki sat in my place?"

The woman paled and shrank back, having thought that her treason went unnoticed. The All-father let his glare linger before speaking again.

"I am aware how you and The Warriors Three view my son. It is not your place to question his place at my side or the methods I use to return him to that place. If I have need of you, I will make use of you, but that is on my word, not your own."

"Forgive me, All-father. I meant no disrespect," Sif replied quietly. The anger still simmered underneath her words, but he was willing not to comment upon it for the moment. A willful woman would make a good queen, after all. She needed to know her place, but not have her spirit crushed.

"Just know that if you are sent after my sons, you have no say in how they are dealt with and if I find out that you have over stepped yourself..." He let the threat hang unsaid and she visibly winced.

"Understood."

Odin nodded. "Good. Now go."

Odin waited until Sif was gone before issuing his next order. "Bring me Sigyn."

The fog of the dreamscape was too thick to be seen through, even over the familiar landscape of the Queen's garden. Amora was no dream walker, but Loki had taught her to recognize the difference in natural dreams and influenced ones. (Just as she had taught him how to recognize and fight off enchantments.) To know that someone else was in her mind was... alarming at best. Soon the shadow of the figure appeared before her and she dropped down to one knee as recognition hit.

"My queen," Amora addressed respectfully, trying to swallow down her worry.

"Amora," the woman's voice echoed. Intimidating, but not threatening. The Queen of Asgard had always been good at that. "I trust that my son has been well with you?"

"Yes, my queen."

Frigga had made it clear when she first approached Amora that she was not fully trusted. Not anymore. Once, she had been as liked as and trusted as Sif. That was before her banishment, however. She had no one but herself to blame for the queen's distrust. It was not what had led to her banishment that caused the queen to distance from her (though if Loki told her the truth, she was banished under false pretenses anyway), but all that she had done afterwards. 'Breaking Loki's heart', as Frigga had put it.

"Tell me of him and do not deign to lie," Frigga commanded.

"Would you not rather ask Loki?" Amora questioned.

"I am asking you," Frigga answered, voice hardening.

Amora swallowed nervously before answering. "He is well. He is... happy, I think. He has an apprentice and worshipers and... a mortal lover."

"Tell me about them."

Amora hesitated only a moment more before telling the queen of the life that Loki had created for himself. The life that they had created. A life brighter than the isolation she had fallen into on Vaniheim, easier to love than even what she'd had on Asgard. The line between talking about Loki's feelings and her own was hard to maintain.

Amora almost didn't notice when the scene began to clear around her, fog lifting to reveal Frigga standing before her. The woman stepped closer until she could place her hand on Amora's shoulder. "Rise, Enchantress." Frigga smiled at her when she did so. "You look well. Have you made peace with my son?"

Amora could tell that she did not mean Loki. She averted her eyes as she replied. "I am... attempting."

"And your champion, is he well?"

"He still serves me faithfully." Amora answered this confidently.

"And how fairs your own lover?" Frigga questioned.

"I..." Amora blinked in confusion. "I do not... keep lovers..." She replied hesitantly. It was no secret that Amora, goddess that she was, never remained in one bed for long. That did not mean that Frigga could not still make her feel hesitancy in speaking so. Loki had often said that the queen of Asgard could bring shame to the shameless, guilt to blackhearts, and contrition to even the most convicted. It could only be so, to wrangle a family that consisted of Loki, Thor, and Odin All-father himself. Still, Amora was out of practice with experiencing the woman's matronly ways.

"Is that so?" Frigga replied. "No mortal GodSlayers to brag about?"

Amora's eyes widened as she exclaimed, "You have spoken to Loki!"

Frigga actually laughed at this. "Of course I have! He is my son. I would not speak to another about him without speaking to him myself, as well. He has told me much, but I wanted to see how you felt for myself." Frigga placed her hand on Amora's cheek. "You have done well for yourself. I worried that you would not find your way. That you were lost to your own vices for good."

"Then why... if you thought that you could not trust me, why risk me with your son?" She questioned.

Frigga shook her head amiably at the younger woman. "Oh, Amora, Loki is not the only one that can have more than one web weaving at once. There are a million reasons for me to rather have you on Midgard with him, than a ready weapon against him. To hope that you could reconcile rather than move further apart. Not only for his sake, my dear, but yours as well."

"I have been away so long I forget that you are the cleverest person in all of Asgard," Amora replied.

"I could not have stayed ahead of Loki all these years if I were not," Frigga told her. "I did not come here only for this, of course. I bring a warning. Odin has released Lorelei to bring Loki back."

"What?"

"I... do not know how you wish to handle the situation, but I thought it unfair to surprise you with such a thing."

Amora was silent for a moment. "It shall be dependent on Lorelei what we... what I do."

Frigga brushed the woman's hair away from her face and placed a kiss on her forehead. She smiled at her before sighing slightly. "I'd always hoped that you and Loki would suit one another, you know."

"Truly?"

"Yes. I thought that you would have suited one another well. I never supposed that mortals..." She cut herself off and shook her head. "This... Anthony... is he truly a match for my Loki?"

"As if the Trickster created the man himself," Amora answered.

"And your 'Man of Victory'?"

"Your teasing is entirely misplaced!" Amora exclaimed. "I do not know what Loki has told you, but-"

"Loki told me the tale of a Champion," Frigga interrupted. "An apprentice and worshiper, Champion to the Gods, GodSlayer, Conquer of Lands and Ruler on High." She smiled as she met Amora's gaze. "Some phrasing he may have given me verbatim as your own."

"I cannot be blamed for truth telling!"

"Of course not, dear." Frigga pat Amora's shoulder comfortingly. "But we both agreed that the shape changer would not suit you and he tells me that you refused to bed Champion of Mortal Heroes."

"I... "

"I always knew you had an eye for warriors, dear, but my! A Captain and a King!"

"You are mistaken in my intentions!" Amora insisted.

Frigga watched her with a bright, smiling expression. "Perhaps you are mistaken about your own intentions, dear, but Loki and I are never wrong together."

The expression Amora wore then was nearly a pout and Frigga couldn't help but laugh.

"Take care of him for me," Frigga told her softly. "And take good care of yourself. With three champions on your side, I do not want to hear that you have gotten yourself hurt again."

"Only one of them is mine," She said softly.

Frigga only smiled, offering no reply as she let the dream fade away.