Frigga loved the role of mother. She loved the pleasure of watching them grow into adults, into people she knew would do amazing and wonderful things. But sometimes, she wanted it all to stop, for her children to stay children so that she could hold them close and protect them from the world.
As soon as Frigga's fingers were done brushing back his hair, Thor ducked around his mother and ran off, eager and screaming. Today was the first day of physical training. For the last year, Thor had been a bundle of excitement. It had taken all of Frigga's patience to sit him down and make him pay attention to his lessons. And now, she had to release her eldest out into the world. Hopefully the world was ready.
A pull on the skirt of her dress brought her attention to her youngest. Loki looked up at her with those big green eyes, clutching her legs in anticipation. Frigga smiled down at him. When Odin had brought him home she had not thought twice about taking him in. Loki was a child and he needed her. When Odin told her he wanted to raise Loki as their son, she agreed without a moment's hesitation, for she had loved Loki the second Odin placed him in her arms.
"We will have to forge ahead without your brother from now on," she told Loki as she led him into her sitting room. "I'm sure we can manage." She smiled at him again as she picked up a book from the table.
Loki's face split in a wide grin when instead of sitting at the table, Frigga settled herself on the floor, allowing her skirts to pool around her. He hurried over to her, crawling under her arm and settling himself within the safety between Frigga's arms. Thor would always get too hyper and begin acting out the stories, either ruining the book or Frigga's dress, so this had become something she did only with Loki.
Frigga opened the book to one of Loki's favorite stories, one Thor never liked to sit through because there was not an epic battle taking place in every paragraph. Loki's finger traced the lines, reading ahead, always eager to know the end before everyone else. Of course, if Frigga stopped reading to him, Loki would turn pouting green eyes up to her, as if she had personally wounded him. Frigga loved both of her children, but she treasured these moments with Loki. He eagerly took in the knowledge she gave. Thor would be running off after his father, but Loki stayed beside her. He was her baby, and she dreaded the day he grew up and she could no longer hold him like this. But never would she allow him to forget that he was her son.
Frigga's voice trailed off when she reached the end of the story, and sure enough, Loki looked up to her with those bright eyes. "Another?" he asked, waiting with baited breath.
Frigga smiled and smoothed out Loki's hair. "I was thinking today we could do something new." Loki was hers, through and through. Thor, the very model of an Aesir warrior, would not appreciate it, not in the same way Loki, with his eagerness to absorb every bit of information he could get his hands on, would. "Would you like to learn my magic, Loki?"
Loki's eyes widened. He looked like Frigga had just offered to share all the secrets of the universe with him. "Yes!" His voice squeaked in excitement. He shuffled around, rearranging himself so he could bring his arms around her neck in a hug. "Yes!"
Frigga chuckled softly and hugged him back. Loki may not have been of her body, but he most certainly was of her heart.