The flutter of movement atop the ridge caught his eye. He had stopped plowing and was kneeling in the fresh turned earth, trying to pry a rock from Blackberry's hoof with a knife. He glanced up at the ridge to mark his brother's presence and fell to his work again. A few minutes more and he had the rock free. When he looked to the ridge again, there was no one there.

The first time he had seen him up on the ridge, watching him as he was marking out his field, he had put his hand upon his ever present dagger and prepared to run but Thor had come no closer, merely sat on his horse. Loki had returned to his work then, always on his guard but eventually losing track of time and when he'd looked again was surprised to find he'd disappeared in the interim. Now he paid him little attention. Once or twice a week he would appear on the ridge, watch him work his land with his family.

Once, Fen, at the time not yet five seasons old, who had been in the field with him, helping to sow barley, had asked him who was the man on the hill. Loki had only replied, "A neighbor I suppose." and had deigned to explain any further but Fen, now into his sixth season, was helping his mother at the cottage today and so did not see his uncle's appearance.

The sun was low on the horizon as Loki unhitched Blackberry from the plow to start for home. Eidra had indulged Brenna, letting her name the two-season old mare when they had acquired her and every time thereafter Eidra and Brenna would hear him call to the horse, they would giggle.

A short way down the rutted track between the fields and the cottage, Loki came to a small clearing and dismounted. Towards the edge of the treeline was a small cairn. He walked over to it and stood silent for a bit.

A little less than two months after she had returned to Asgard, Eidra had become pregnant again. But this pregnancy had been different, difficult, much more so than Brenna's. She had been plagued with morning sickness for months, her back would ache with the least bit of effort, and she could not sleep well. And then one night while they sat before the hearth, Eidra knitting, Helgi rocking Brenna, she had bent forward and cried out as her water soaked the chair and her skirt. It was much too early and Ren and Helgi had tried everything they knew to stop her labor while Sally sat beside Eidra on the bed and held her hand but in the wee hours of the morning, she had been delivered of a tiny baby boy whom she'd straight away named Silas. She had held him while he struggled valiantly for each breath but in the end, it was too much. He had not lived quite three hours.

She and Loki had built the cairn, laying baby Silas beneath the stones. Eidra had been inconsolable, her happy demeanor wiped away. She would sit in the rocking chair, quiet, withdrawn, some evenings not uttering so much as one word. Helgi could not draw her out, nor could Sally, even Brenna would tug at her sleeve without result finally crawling into Helgi's lap to stare at Eidra as she sat and rocked.

As the days turned into weeks, Loki could no longer accept that Eidra would not recover and he had insisted she come for a ride with him one day. They had returned to their waterfall, for that was how he now looked at it, where he had knelt before her and formally asked for her hand in marriage. Her forlorn demeanor had cracked then, she had sobbed "Yes, Oh yes!"into his shoulder and they had made love on the bank beside the cataract for the first time since Silas's passing. Nine months later, a few days before Brenna's eighth birthday, another son had been born to them and they had named him Fenris.

Loki touched the topmost stone of the cairn then returned to where Blackberry stood, munching on the tall grass of the clearing. The sun had dipped below the horizon when at last he closed the barn door and headed inside the cottage where he found Eidra, Helgi and Brenna setting the evening meal on the long table before the hearth. Fen was playing at the opposite end of the table with the small wooden animals Chris had whittled for him but when he heard the door shut behind Loki, he had jumped up and ran to him, wrapping his arms about his waist. "Papa, Sally brought another animal for me today."

Loki had put his hand atop Fen's head and ruffled his hair. "Show me."

Soon after they'd returned to Asgard, Loki had seen that Eidra was safe and settled and then he had gone back to Tir Na Nog for Sally and Chris, managing to affect the same transformation for Sally that he'd been able to do with Eidra, discovering, with Fin's help that the repository for the other half of her own soul lie with her in her wedding ring. They had been made to fetch it first, though they'd had to find her remains by the light of a lantern in an old cemetery in Tralee under cover of night, and were very nearly caught and arrested but luck had been with them. When they had made a safe getaway, he had then begged them to come to Asgard and start their own farm which they had agreed would suit them though Chris had pondered starting another bakery. "Not here, my boy but in Asgard. The world has gone mad since I left it."

But fate has a way of being cruel. When they left Tir Na Nog, their bodies began to age again naturally and of late, Chris had been having a hard time getting around. He would stay in his chair by the fire and whittle animals. He said he was building Fen a toy Noah's ark and when Loki had asked who Noah was, Chris had waved at him saying he was certainly no Asgardian. Loki kept the fields for both households with the help of the rest of the family though Helgi too was starting to slow down.

Loki sat at the end of the table beside Fen who climbed up on his lap and held up to him what looked like a long-necked horse with brown spots. "Chris said it is called a giraffe."

"I shall take his word for it. Have you been helping your mother today."

Fen nodded but Loki heard a snort from the other end of the table. He looked up to see Brenna shaking her head. "Have you something to say, Bren?"

"He has set there half the day playing with those animals. I had to ask him three times to fetch more wood for the fire and then you would think we beat him, so pitifully did he moan and groan about it."

"Is this true?" Loki leaned forward and looked up at Fen's face as he heard whispered mutterings between Eidra and Brenna. Fen's eyes slid to Loki's then to where Brenna stood. "Sort of, papa."

"Sort of, hmmm. I expect you to do as you are told the first time, especially when asked by a lady of the house."

"Yes, papa."

"Now go gather your toys and put them in their box, it is time to eat."

His face forlorn, he jumped down from Loki's lap and went back to the pile of animals as he heard the voices at the other end of the table reach a fever pitch and he stood up.

As soon as she saw him stand, Brenna crossed her arms and sat down in her chair at the table, a cross look on her face and he sighed. In the months that followed her move to Rialo, Brenna had immediately taken to Eidra, following her around, helping her, eager to please. But with Loki, she had shied away, hiding behind the skirts of whoever was available at the time when he would approach her.

He had tried everything in his power to turn her head, bringing her to the field to work with him so that he could talk to her, paying careful attention when she would favor him enough to talk to him, even showing her some spells, helping her to practice them until she could do one or two on her own but instead of the affection between a father and daughter he felt more like an instructor and his student.

He well remembered the day when she turned ten seasons that Helgi felt she was ready to know that Eidra and Loki were her parents. She had looked at them both. Knowing the story of Tir Na Nog already, she had embraced Eidra wholeheartedly but she had looked at Loki with anger, shouting at him, asking where he had been while she lived in the palace with Helgi. He had been forced to confess that he had been there, locked up in the cells below. "For my entire life at the palace?" She had cried. When he had said no, that she had known him when she was a baby, she had refused to believe him, later confessing to Eidra that she recalled a man but faintly who had given her a small leather ball that she still possessed. When Eidra said that they were one and the same, Brenna had denied it.

Now at close to fourteen seasons, she was further withdrawn if that was possible though Loki suspected it had something to do with the fact that Eidra was now showing with her fourth pregnancy.

Loki walked up to Eidra and kissed her forehead, putting his hands across her belly and purring into her ear, "Hello, little minx. You look lovely today."

Her troubled countenance smoothed at once as she looked up at him and smiled, reaching a hand to his temple to stroke the few silver strands there that had started to show in the last couple of seasons. The whisper of crows feet at the corners of his eyes had served only to make him more handsome. She stretched upward and kissed him then, whispering something in his ear that made him smile and close his eyes, subsequently causing Brenna to roll hers.

As they sat down to the meal, Fen began his normal chatter, ignoring the glare from his sister.

"Papa, did the man come to the fields today?"

Loki glanced at Eidra and nodded, "He did, why?"

He could sense Brenna was about to kick Fen under the table and he put his leg out between them in anticipation.

"Well the other day when we took Blackberry out to the field, he helped us."

The kick caught Loki in the calf, he turned his head to stare at Brenna whose eyes had gone wide as her face flushed crimson and her eyes flitted to his in apology, though he was aware that what was about to come to light was going to reflect on her, seeing as she had been entrusted with Fen's care on the day in question.

"We were on our way home down the path when we stopped at the clearing but we forgot to tie Blackberry off on a tree and Brenna got mad at me and yelled and the horse got scared and ran and we ran after her and tried to catch her. The man must have been in the forest because he came running from the treeline waving his cape and yelling at Blackberry to stop her. Then he took the reins and gave them to Bren and asked us our names."

Loki had been listening to Fen but watching Brenna who tried with every fiber in her being, not to look up at Loki until she had no choice. He answered Fen then but kept his eyes on her, "And did you tell him your names?"

"Yes papa, but you told us not to talk to strangers so we said we had to go."

"And Brenna, have I not told you to tie off the horse countless times? And to have a care for your brother?"

"Yes, father."

The term "father" had always troubled him, no matter what had gone past, she would never use any other term than father, not papa not daddy, simply father and it reminded him of Odin. "And you never told me of your encounter. Do you not think this is something I would have wanted to know?"

Loki waited for Brenna to elaborate on her adventure further. Having lived in the palace for the first half of her life, she knew full well who Thor was, Fen however, had never met him and Brenna had been warned early on that any discussing the royal family or Loki's connection with such had been forbidden in the household. Even when, a month after Fen's birth, a black gelding had arrived led by a royal courier and been announced as a birth present for the new baby, Loki had instructed Brenna to tell no one though such happenings in a small village hardly went unnoticed.

"What else did he say to you Brenna?"

She stared hard at the stew in her wooden bowl and mumbled, "He asked after you."

He could feel Fen's eyes boring into him. "And what said you in return?"

Brenna laced her hands beneath the table, "I said you were well."

Loki put down the spoonful of stew he'd held hovering before him. "And did I not tell you that you were not to engage him in conversation?"

Brenna's mouth dropped open and Loki was struck by how much she resembled her mother.

"You would have me be rude to him when he went out of his way to help us with the horse?"

Loki clenched his hands into fists, felt Eidra's own hand on his thigh, "I would have you say thank you and have done with it. My welfare is of no concern to him."

She threw her hands in the air, "Then maybe you should cast one of your spells to remove my manners."

Loki sat forward, "I believe that spell has already been cast. Perhaps a spell to improve your obedience is in order."

Brenna pushed her chair away from the table and stood up. "Then might I suggest you begin casting?"

At once she turned from the table and stormed out the front door of the cottage. Loki leaped up from the table, "Brenna!" and was about to follow her outside when Eidra grabbed his arm,

"Let her go, Loki."

He turned on her, "And let her believe she may answer me in such a manner whenever she pleases?"

Eidra pulled him closer, "Let me talk to her this evening, she is at that rebellious age. We all experienced it."

He turned, saw Helgi watching them, nodding. "It would seem that you have forgotten what is was like to be young and feel no one kens you."

He looked towards the door, "There are some, it seems, that never believe I shall."

Fen had gotten up from the table and was slowly creeping towards the door, hoping that they would keep talking so that he could slip away and find his sister.

Next to Papa, Brenna was his best friend, though sometimes, she seemed his worst enemy. There were days it seemed he could do nothing right and she would chide him for the least offense. Then there were the times she would sit with him by the hearth and make a small village with her box of stones for him to parade his wooden menagerie through, make up stories to tell him, carry the firewood he'd been told to haul in to replenish the fire rack. He wanted to find her and tell her to come back home but as his hand touched the door latch, he heard his Papa's voice. "Fenris, return to the table this instant."

He scrambled back to the table and sat down with an innocent look on his face that brought a sad smile to Loki's. "She will return when she is ready." Eidra stroked Fen's raven hair as she held Loki's gaze. He heaved a loud sigh and returned to his chair. It saddened her to see him act so defeated so when she sat back down beside him, she slipped her hand over his and gave a gentle squeeze which he returned as he cast a glance at Helgi. "Was I this much trouble?"

She smiled, "And more."

Brenna kept up her quick pace until she reached Chris and Sally's dooryard and stood there panting. When she finally was able to catch her breath, she knocked on the door and heard Sally call, "The door is unlatched."

She opened the door a crack and stuck her head in, "Am I intruding?"

Sally was sitting with Chris at the small round table before the fire and they looked to have just finished their evening meal. "My goodness," Sally exclaimed, "Brenna dearest, what are ye doing out at this late hour?" Brenna had stepped inside and shut the cottage door, now her face fell, "May I stay here with you tonight?"

Sally rose from her chair and led Brenna to the table, sitting her down and rubbing her shoulders. "Have you eaten?" Chris asked, reaching over and patting her hand. She shook her head, "Well we can't have that. Sally, my love, fix a plate will you?"

Brenna held her hands up and shook her head. "Please do not trouble yourself." but when the haunch of rabbit and roasted potatoes was set before her, she immediately fell to, missing the looks exchanged over her head. They let her eat her fill as they made small talk, letting her finish before Chris templed his hands beneath his chin and cleared his throat. "So Bren, perhaps you will now tell your Uncle Chris what troubled you so that you walked all the way here in the pitch dark?"

"Alone," Sally added.

Chris watched a dark cloud fall over her features as she sat back and crossed her arms, "I hate him."

Chris nodded, Brenna being so young, it would take a dolt to figure out who "him" was but still he ventured, "Fen?"

Her frown deepened and he was surprised when she answered, "Loki."

"Brenna!" Sally cried, "Do not disrespect your father in this house, address him correctly!"

An angry tear formed in the corner of her eye, "Begging your pardon, my father."

Sally pulled her chair closer to Brenna's and draped her arm across her shoulders, feeling her slump against the back of the chair. "My little dove, whatever could he do to make ye say such things?"

"He tells me to do one thing and when I obey, he tells me I was wrong to do so. He charges me with Fen's care when we are together and then when Fen misbehaves, I am blamed for it. I ask him to show me how to hunt and he says that it is not a woman's place to do so. Then he takes Fen instead. He gets frustrated with me when he tries to show me spells and I cannot do them correctly. I hate him!"

Chris raised his eyebrows, "This is no random happenstance, I feel. What initiated this tirade?"

Brenna sniffed, wiping her nose on her sleeve before Sally could reach for a linen kerchief, shaking her head as Chris smiled, "Come child, tell me."

"We went to the fields for...father and on our way home, we stopped at Silas's grave for a moment and Fen began to run around. I yelled at him and he just kept laughing and running and it spooked Blackberry so she started to run too. I thought she was going to run right over Fen and I screamed at him to get out of the way."

Chris nodded, "You didn't tie up the horse like your father tells you to?"

"No, I did not think we would be long, the horse was heading for the woods and I thought we would lose her when the King burst through the brush waving his cloak, stopping Blackberry in her tracks. When he had her quieted, he brought her to us."

Chris bit his lip, he could almost imagine what had ensued at Loki's house upon his discovery of such an event. His household had been one of the few in the whole of the kingdom that had refused to attend the coronation of Thor as King of Asgard when Odin declared he was finally stepping down from the throne. Loki had told Chris that Thor often came to watch him, not daring to approach him and now he had met with the children.

"And then what happened?" Chris prodded her.

"He asked us our names and we told him. Then he asked after Lo...father."

Sally rubbed her back, "He wasn't rude was he?"

Brenna shook her head, "He was very polite, he laughed when I curtsied but then he bid us farewell and walked back into the forest."

Chris tapped his chin with a finger, "Ah and you told your father about this little encounter."

"Yes, I would not have, had it not been for Fen. He had to tell father all about it, the little snitch."

"But ye shouldn't keep secrets from your father, especially where it concerns his brother." Sally glanced at Chris who nodded.

"If they are brothers, why do they not speak. Father refuses to discuss it with me, or anyone else but Mama."

"It's a long story, sweetheart, one I am not at liberty to discuss with you. Your father went through some very painful experiences with his brother. He would prefer not to relive them. Perhaps, given time, he will talk about them, but don't expect miracles." Chris took her hand and kissed it, "Now why don't you let us take you home? It isn't safe to be out at such an hour all alone. Your parents will be worried sick."

Chris started to rise from the table but Sally pushed him down, "I will bring her home, ye stay here. I can handle meself."

Chris began to protest but Sally would have none of it. "Ye don't need to be out either. The night air agrees not with ye."

"Jesu' woman, then take my musket with you and don't tarry along the way." Chris pointed towards the musket which hung on the wall over the front door. Sally waved him off but took down the musket just the same while Brenna gave Chris a hug and followed Sally out the door to the stables.

Sally let Brenna down from the horse just as the door to the cottage swung open and Eidra appeared with a lantern, her green cloak over her shoulders. "Sally, oh dear. We knew she would go to your house. I was readying myself to come and get her. I am so sorry."

"Think nothing of it, Eidra. 'Twas no trouble. We gave her what for. She'll not be coming out alone at night anymore, right?" Sally looked at Brenna who nodded.

"Well thank you for returning her. Will you come in for tea?"

"No, Chris will be here in a panic should I be longer than he thinks I should. He'll have had me eaten by wolves or robbed blind by the time I return home. I will come for a visit on the morrow."

Eidra watched Sally ride off into the darkness and turned to Brenna. "Come inside, I wish to talk with you."

"Where is father?" Brenna peered through the open door.

"I sent him and your brother both to bed. It was not a hard thing to convince your father, he must be up early in the morning."

Brenna walked inside and took the rocking chair before the hearth which had already been banked for the evening. Eidra set the lantern on the mantle and eased herself into the chair opposite Brenna, feeling the baby kick as she made the seat.

"Your father was so upset tonight." Eidra picked up the piece of knitting she'd been working on, "He feels you do not listen to him. That you do not ken why he chastises you when you fail to take a care when you are out with Fen. You are old enough now to take responsibility for your actions."

She started to speak but Eidra held up a finger, "As is Fen. Father spoke to him tonight as well. If you had not walked out, you would have seen him do so."

"But, mama, he blames me for everything Fen does."

"He does not blame you, he only expects you to act responsibly. I told him he should not have chided you for being polite. After all, the King was simply coming to your rescue."

"That is what I said!" She cried.

"Hush, you shall wake the house." Eidra put a finger to her lips. "Now on the morrow, I would ask that you please apologize to your father."

"Only if he will apologize to me." She crossed her arms and sunk into the chair.

"Brenna, your father loves you and he worries about you. Would you have him deny that and ignore everything you do?"

"He already does, all I am is a girl to him. He does not bother with me except to tell me I have done something wrong, or to do something which he then tells me I did wrong. He dotes on Fen."

Eidra rocked gently, the baby was starting to kick more, this was the active time of night and she fervently hoped it would not be so when the baby was born. "You are a girl, men do not always know how to handle daughters. I will talk to him but do not judge him too harshly. He tries, truly he does. If you only knew how much he loved you."

Brenna snorted derisively, "If he could only show me."

Eidra put her hands to her temples and rubbed them, "Brenna, it is time for bed. We shall talk more of this on the morrow."

Eidra pushed herself up from the chair, Brenna standing up in anticipation to aid her but she waved a hand and was finally on her feet. She kissed Brenna on the forehead as she held her face with her hands, "My beautiful child, every day I wish things had not happened as they did, perhaps you would feel differently towards him."

Brenna grumbled, "I do not see how."

Eidra sighed then, "Get to bed now."

She slid beneath the coverlet beside him. She felt cold though the night was warm and she curled up behind him, draping her arm around his stomach, splaying her hand outward. She felt his arm move to hers and gently push her hand down until she giggled and shoved at his back. Still she encircled him though he was soft, and gave him a few slow strokes, thrilling to the way it pulsed beneath her fingers and he began to harden.

"Go to sleep, you dog." She whispered to him, felt him chuckle and close his hand over hers to help her rhythm, heard him whimper when she withdrew her hand.

"It is too much of a stretch now, the baby comes between us."

He rolled to his back and smiled though his eyes were still closed. "I am happy to accommodate you."

She laughed, shook her head, and replaced her hand, "Oh you are most kind, milord."

He nodded, "To a fault...Eidra you have the softest touch." He bucked his hips into her strokes.

"Until my arm tires." She stopped. "Brenna is home."

"I know, I heard you talking to her."

"She thinks you ignore her because she is a girl."

He opened his eyes and she looked up at him in the dim light of the lantern hanging at the wall beside the bedroom door. "I do not mean to do so. I expect her to learn woman's work. She asks me to teach her to hunt, I do not know what to do."

She squeezed him tight, lifting his hips from the bed again, "Gods, my little minx, I am yours to command."

"Good then you shall hear my decree, take her out and show her how to shoot the crossbow."

She felt his head come up from the pillow though she was watching her good work at his waist.

"You taught me, I think it is only fair." She dipped her head down until she was inches from him and flicked her tongue at the tip of his manhood, feeling his hand at the back of her head, pressing gently until she slid further down the bed and took him in her mouth, his groan serving to excite her but she had a job to do. She pulled him back out and looked up at him, "You will try then? To teach her?"

"For you, yes." he stroked her hair.

"No, Loki. For her, and for you."

He nodded, his head dropping back to the pillow as she hovered above him, "You are a good father, do not let anybody tell you different, and now I shall be a good wife." She smiled as she felt him twitch beneath her hand and he purred, "Oh yes you shall."