"I refuse to marry him! I refuse! I will not do it!" Freyja shouted. Freyr patted her hand, probably trying to reassure her. It was not working.

"You're not the only one who gets a bad deal," Thor said. "What about the other things we promised the guy?" Loki groaned inwardly. He had an idea of where this was going, and he did not like it.

"I want to know how he's getting the job done so quickly," Heimdall said. Loki didn't have to open his eyes to know that they were starting to look at him.

"I know who to blame," Freyja said. "Loki."

"Of course. He's to blame for most of our trouble," Bragi agreed.

"So he'll get us out of it," Frigg said. "He got us into this trouble, he can get us out." Loki heard various others agree to this idea, and he didn't move.

"So he gets us out of this mess or he'll get a terrible death?" Why, oh why, did Heimdall have to sound happy when he suggested that?

"I like that idea," Njord said. Of course he did; it was his daughter that was going to be lost.

"I second that idea!" Freyr said. Loki cursed silenty. He opened his eyes and took his feet off the table. Every single god was looking at him expectantly.

"Well, Loki?" Loki looked at the All-Father. "Do you have a plan? You only have three days."

"I'll come up with a plan," Loki grumbled. "I always come up with one, don't I?" Nobody said anything as he stood up and walked out of the hall.

"Why can't any of them come up with a plan for once?" he asked nobody in particular. He looked towards the wall. It was nearing completion. He'd have to act tonight if he wanted to keep his life.

He walked towards the wall to see the builder. The man was using his horse, a great chestnut stallion, to pull stones to where he was working. The stones were huge, bigger than Loki himself. He started to think, something dangerous to others. Soon enough he knew what to do.

That night as the man was taking his horse to get more stones to build with Loki followed them. As the man was fetching blocks Loki transformed into a horse.

I feel so stupid. Loki trotted out in front of the stallion. He could feel the stallions eyes on him, somewhat disconcerting. The horse whinnied loudly and started galloping towards Loki. I did something stupid, didn't I? Loki galloped away, leading the stallion from his owner. The man would have to catch the horse before he could get any work done now, and that could take several hours depending on how far Loki got. Then he thought of something. He'd turned into a mare, so what if that stallion caught up to him?

I will not think about that. I will not think about that. I will not think about that.

It was morning in Asgard, and the builder was nowhere to be seen. That was good. Odin had no real desire to see Loki killed. Loki still had roles to play, and the final one was the most important.

"Is Loki back yet?" Odin turned to look at his son.

"Not yet, but neither is the builder."

"Should I tell the others that Loki's off the hook?"

"Wait until the afternoon. By then we'll know for certain." Thor nodded and walked back inside the hall. "We'll also know where Loki is too, hopefully," he added to himself.

Loki was not happy. He was far from happy. He couldn't go back like this. He'd get laughed right out of Asgard.

I did something stupider than anything Thor's done!

It had been a quiet year. Only a few fights between Thor and giants and Thor trying to catch the World Serpent. It was probably the quietest year the gods had had since Loki had come to live among them.

Odin was a little worried. He'd expected Loki to return within three days, but the trickster hadn't been seen since the meeting. Odin was about to send his ravens, Hugin and Munin, out to search for news of him when the door to the throne room was kicked open.

"He's back!" Heimdall shouted from outside. The All-Father could see that. Loki was leading an eight-legged foal behind him.

"Loki, where have-"

"You owe me." Loki handed the lead to Odin. "You owe me big." Odin wasn't sure what to say. All he could do was watch in silence as Loki stormed out. A few minutes after that Odin finally looked at the foal. It was a nice brown color, but something else caught Odin's eye. The foal had bright green eyes, just like Loki. Odin stared at the foal, somewhat dumb founded.

"I suppose I do owe him something," he said after a long while.