Author's Note: This one-shot is loosely connected to my Thor/47 Ronin one-shot Normal at the end.
Blood
Heimdall was either Heimdall Sojoboson or Sojobo Heimdall both were correct. The last form was from his father the monk and Tengu Lord Sojobo of Midgard's Japan. He was half-Midgardian by his father and by his mother half-Nornir and a quarter Vanir. In all, he was quite lucky that Odin had granted him Asgardian citizenship because his appearance - mostly his golden-eyes, which he'd inherited from Father - disconcerted many.
It did not help that he was not sensorily limited like all others were, because of his tengu blood he could hear all the noises and, coherent, thoughts of those in Yggdrasil and beyond. As he could hear thoughts and Father had mind-speech it was simple to communicate with Sojobo. In fact, he had never met his father once in all his long life. Well, until now as Odin had ordered him to have a day of rest. So, this was the day that son and Father would meet for the first time.
After so much time it was odd to be on the receiving end of the Bifrost. Unusually unnerved by the foreboding, smothering feeling, he took a deep breath as he stared into the mist-filled Tengu Forest or Sea of Trees. Many evils dwelled within both petty and not along with many trapped spirits for just or ill. When he walked into the, in some places, very thick and incredibly tall, dark-brown trees the spirits swarmed around him in the dimly sunlit mist. For the first time in many millennia he forced himself to block out all voices, thoughts and sounds besides his own.
Guided by Father's remembered words, he made his way to the monastery. Cut into the side of a giant stone head was a set of steps and walls that transformed from grey to beige as he descended. He walked into the large, smooth beige floored and walled meditation room, the sound of a waterfall echoed from farther in past the statue.
Rows of golden-robed, bald, praying monks knelt on wooden boards before an altered statue of Fuduo Myo-o with four arms, fangs and wings which was back-lit by an unnaturally bright-red fire. In Asgardian the statue would've been the Immovable Protector. It was not much of a protector in his eyes as he'd heard many Japanese warriors, samurai, and bandits die over the years when trying to obtain those swords because they'd failed the test.
Luckily for him, he was not here for a sword as he walked down the column between rows. The monks did not look up, if they had he would've seen that they too had golden-eyes, but none of their eyes possessed the same level of coldness as Sojobo's would. Coincidence and an unusual moment of compassion alone had resulted in Sojobo's helping his mother save herself from a greatly angered deity called the Water Dragon which had normally been very gentle. Asgardian weapons were not made to penetrate the magic that surrounded Japanese dragons bodies. It was his mother who had persuaded Sojobo to turn from evil and trickery to monk-hood and, normally, minimal violence.
He walked past the Fuduo Myo-o and into the enormous, grey-stone cavern. It had a crack in the roof, through which a piece of blue sky showed, and part of the floor dropped sharply into an abyss into which itself fell an enormous waterfall. His father stood staring into the abyss and a hawk perched on his orange-sashed shoulder. The hawk, Jinsoku, was, according to Odin, good friends of the ravens Huginn and Muninn. Slowly, the Tengu Lord turned and looked up. The movement revealed a long, sharply hooked, hawk-like nose and slitted, golden-eyes.
Sojobo greeted, "Sojobo Heimdall. So, my son has come to visit me at long last. Your mother fares well still ?"
In accordance with Japanese tradition he bowed with his arms at his sides. Heimdall responded, "Yes, and Mother fares very well indeed. How fares the young Kai ?"
Sojobo was dismissive, "He ran away the other day and will not return for many years. When he does he will want my sword for himself and the others for his friends. Whether he and his friend will succeed in passing their tests is not yet known to me."
"Ah, well, he will in some ways have better care among the Midgardians than he would have here."
"I found him abandoned on the forest's edge one night. I wanted to see what it was like to actually raise a child. Mind that surely my methods were much different than your own raising by your mother. Even were he not found, he knows enough to protect, heal and feed himself. However, Kai will be fine until he comes upon the party of Lord Asano of Ako who will pass the Sea of Trees shortly. Right, Jinsoku ?"
Jinsoku gave a sharp cry in response and half-spread his wings as Father stroked the hawk's brown head feathers gently. Just for a moment, he turned his sight onto Kai. To see the bald, scarred boy of seven years stumbling into a stream as the runes on top of his head, carved years ago with a white-hot knife, gleamed in the dim sunlight.
Pity filled him, but there was not a thing that he could do for the boy, expect watch from afar. Watch and hope that perhaps one day Loki the by blood jotun, but stolen and raised as an Asgardian or someone else from the other Realms would stumble upon Ako and Kai. With that hope in mind, he turned his attention back to Father.
Years later, it would be heart-breaking to watch Loki leave Kai and not know if he'd return in time. After all, at least, his own mother was nearly immortal and as a tengu so was Sojobo, but Kai was just a mortal. Even farther into the future, looking back, he would wonder if perhaps that had contributed to Loki's hatred of Midgardians. That because they died so quickly the jotun had lost a love that he'd never fully known. The Midgardians of Puente Antiguo and New York did not receive Fuduo Myo-o's protection either.