"Loki!"
The God of Mischief huffed out a breath and straightened his spine before he turned to face his father. Odin marched towards him with a face of thunder, his staff clutched painfully tightly in his hand. Odin moved with the speed of a God as he pressed the point of his staff into Loki's throat, pinning him to the balcony's rail and glowering at him.
"What were you thinking, you foolish boy?!" He bellowed, the very birds in the sky ceasing to sing at the sound of his anger.
"Why Father, I don't know what you're talking about. What is it you think I have done?" Loki fought to keep the smirk from his lips.
"Do not be facetious with me, idiot boy." Odin growled, pressing the tip harder to Loki's throat. "I have forgiven you much in your life but you have gone too far this time!"
"Odin!" Frigga's voice rang out across the vast hall as she hurried towards the pair on the balcony. "Do not hurt him!"
"I should do more than hurt him! I should castrate the lecherous fool for what he has done!"
"Loki?" Frigga asked quietly, the disappointed look upon her face enough to make him feel a pang of guilt. "Odin, remove your staff. I want to hear what he has to say."
Odin growled lowly but removed the point from Loki's throat. "You can tell your mother what it is you have done. I will not be the one to break her heart. This is your doing, not mine."
"Loki, what have you done?" His mother asked, her eyes wide and sparkling with unshed tears. He has been the source of most of her tears in recent times.
"I am assuming father is referring to my relationship with one of Elven envoys."
"Ha!" Odin's face became manic for a split second before he reigned himself in once more. "She is not simply an envoy, as well you know! She is one of the Elven Royals! She is the youngest female child! Do you understand the significance of that?"
"From what I can gather she was a bargaining chip with the Svartalfheim. You'll have to excuse my ignorance, Father, we did not do much talking."
"Loki!" his mother gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. "You did not…"
"Yes, he did." Odin finished, his hand coming to rest on Frigga's shoulder.
"I thought of all things you would be happy." Loki replied, a frown creasing his forehead. He had not entered into their tryst to please anyone but himself, that aside, he thought perhaps his mother would be glad that he was taking an interest in a female, even if she wasn't Asguardian. "She was willing."
"She may well have been but you do not understand what it is you have done!" Odin roared taking a step towards his youngest son. "She is important to them! She was to become the link that bound their races! I do not know if I can repair the damage you have done."
"What would you have me do?" Loki asked, half expecting to feel the back of Odin's hand strike him.
"I do not know." Odin replied, the anger leaving his body in a rush. "You have insulted their royal family by deflowering their youngest daughter. This is something I would have expected of Thor, not you. There are thousands of Asgurdian women who would welcome you as their bedfellow. Why would you pursue the daughter of our honoured guests?"
"I did not pursue her." Loki replied flatly, indignation clear in his tone. "She sought me out."
"Then you should have acted like the thousand year old man that you are and sent her back to her family without preamble." Frigga interjected. "She is barely four hundred years old, Loki. To us she is but a child!"
"She is anything but a child!" Loki ground out between his teeth. "She sought me out to make mischief. She got exactly what she asked for and more. If anyone can be held accountable for their actions then she can. She knew what she was, she knew the significance of her virtue and she still choose to hand it over to me without ceremony-"
His scathing words were cut off by his mothers hand colliding with his cheek in a sharp slap. He looked down at her in shock.
"Do not ever disregard the gift she offered to you!" Frigga hissed. "I raised you to be a better than that. I know what is to be done but you must hold your tongue and allow me to restore our relationship with the Ljósálfar and further more between them and the Svartalfheim."
Odin held himself stiffly for a moment before nodding his head in assentation. Frigga threw a cautioning look to Loki and gestured for him to follow her as she swept back into the hall.
"What will you do?" Loki asked, keeping pace with his mother with a little difficulty.
"I will speak with their Queen, as a fellow mother, see if we can arrange some sort of penance for both of you whilst keeping the relationship between our worlds as peaceful as it has always been."
"It strikes me as odd that I find myself more fearful of your form of penance than fathers."
"That's because a mother knows how to truly punish her own son." She smiled at him as they approached the ornate door leading to the rooms in which the Ljósálfar were staying while here.
"I beg an audience with your Queen." She said to the guard at the door, inclining her head. After a moment of silent, internal consultation the guard stepped aside to allow them passed.
The door opened and Loki gazed around the room in which he found himself. It was filled with men and women, all glowing in their own ways. Light elves were an odd race of people, the polar opposite of the dark elves who absorbed light. His eyes found her in a moment but he quickly looked away, following behind his mother as they approached the Queen who was blissfully alone.
"Your highness." The Queen offered, standing to offer Frigga her cheek to kiss.
Frigga placed a gentle kiss upon her cheek and accepted the returned gesture. "I need to speak with you Lady Aditi. I seek a private counsel with you and your daughter."
"As you wish," Lady Aditi replied softly, a gesture of her hand sent her court scurrying for their own rooms leaving but one woman standing alone at the other side of the room. "Esmerée, approach."
Esme glanced at Loki for a second before she approached her mother, kneeling before her in supplication. "Yes, Lady Mother."
"Oh do get up child." Lady Aditi said, patting Esme's shoulder with her fan. "I am to assume it was Esmerée you wished to speak with?"
"Yes," Frigga replied, taking the seat offered to her and drawing her son to stand behind her. "It would appear that our son has been most forward with you, my dear."
Esme blushed furiously, her pale cheeks glowing red against her blonde hair. She dared a look at Loki but found she couldn't hold his gaze for long.
"It is unfortunate that he chose Esmerée as the object of his affections. We had such high hopes for her."
"She was to marry the prince of Svartalfheim?" Frigga asked.
"Yes," Lady Aditi sighed, "We hoped her marriage would bring an ever lasting peace. They will no longer accept her of course, she is no longer a pure being."
Loki could not supress the smirk that graced his features at the memory of exactly how impure the girl knelt at her mother's feet was. As if sensing his expression Frigga pinched the inside of his wrist with her fingers making him jump.
"I wish I had had the opportunity to properly introduce our families before the celebrations last night. If he had known her significance I am certain my son would have restrained himself. Loki is usually the sensible child but it would appear even he has a weakness."
Frigga reached out her hand and brushed the curls away from Esme's face, taking in the innocent beauty of her features. Her face was oval, her cheek bones were high, she had light blue eyes that danced and a little rosebud mouth.
"You are a most beautiful child," Frigga smiled at her. "I can understand why you bring out such weakness in my son."
She sat back in her chair once more, looking upon Lady Aditi with a warm smile. "I know what occurred could be taken as an insult to your family but that was not Loki's intention."
"And what of his intentions?" Lady Aditi looked at Loki with cool eyes. "How did you intend your actions to be taken?"
"I did not realise her significance to you. She presented herself as being in a position similar to mine, second daughter of no significance and in receipt of no attention, I accepted her as such."
Esme's eyes flashed with anger, he was lying. He knew full well who she was and what his actions would mean. She had gone to him with a purpose, explaining her actions. He knew full well what he was doing. "That is a lie." She hissed.
"Pardon?" Frigga asked, her eyes drawn back to Esme's up turned face.
"I did not present myself as anything but what I am. I told you why I sought you out." She replied, addressing Loki directly.
"Am I to assume you have advised your mother of those details?" Loki asked, arching an eyebrow at her.
The colour drained from Esme's face as she realised she had shown her hand.
"Ah, I see." Lady Aditi mused, tapping her fan on the arm of her chair. "You really were willing to do anything to avoid this marriage weren't you? I should have seen this coming."
She saw the look of puzzlement on Frigga's face, choosing to enlighten her. "Esmerée did not wish to marry the prince of Svartalfheim. We hoped that giving her a further century of freedom would soften her to the idea. It would appear that was a mistake on our part. She has taken matters into her own hands and effectively destroyed any chance she had of aiding our relations with them." She glanced down at her daughter, "You really are a foolish girl."
Frigga chuckled, "All Father referred to Loki as a foolish boy not ten minutes past."
"It would appear we are both mothers to fools." Lady Aditi smiled in return.
"An idea has come to me, a means with which to impart some wisdom into our little fools." Frigga mused, sitting forward to talk in a conspiratorial manner to Lady Aditi. Even with his immaculate hearing Loki did not catch a word of what one woman said to the other while they spoke together. His eyes strayed to Esme who was glaring at him, clearly unhappy at this turn of events. He smirked back, daring a wink at her.
Her eyes widened and she began to glow outwardly with anger, her skin gleaming like the sun.
"Enough." Lady Aditi commanded, flicking her wrist and extinguishing her daughter budding energies. "We have come to a decision."
Both Esme and Loki looked expectantly at them, Frigga elaborated further. "You too are to be sent to Húsgørð-Sumar, the summer house, and you'll stay there with only each other for company for one year. You will soon learn that rash decisions lead to harsh consequences."
"Mother, please!" Esme gasped, climbing to her feet with one hand pressed to her mouth.
Loki rolled his eyes at her desperation; this would only exacerbate the situation. As though confirming his assumption her mother added, "Fight this and it will become five years."
Esme pressed her lips into a firm line, searching her mothers expression for any inclination to give mercy and found none. She visibly sagged, her eyes finally meeting his. He was puzzled by the sudden look of fear blooming on her features. She had not feared him last night and yet she did now. It was a puzzling change.
"As you wish, mother." Esme whispered, lowering her eyes to the ground and clasping her hands before her.
"Very good," Lady Aditi nodded. "Go begin your preparations; you will both depart in the morning."
Esme never raised her eyes as she left, her once sensuous walk now a tired gait.
"You had better prepare as well, my son." Frigga said, dismissing Loki with a flick of her wrist. The trickster gave a theatrical sigh and departed the room quickly, not wishing to remain in the icy presence of Lady Aditi any longer than needed.
"Do you think we have made the right choice?" Lady Aditi asked, her eyes staring after her daughter.
Frigga glanced at her, a confident smile upon her lips. "Oh yes, we have made a very wise choice. They will soon understand what it is to use another as a means to change destiny or manipulate others. I do not doubt that Loki chose to acquiesce to your daughters request in order to show his father that he is his own man, capable of selfish acts, like his brother. He needs to learn that you cannot use someone for that purpose. I think your daughter will also learn an important lesson."
"And what lesson would that be?" Lady Aditi asked with a quirk of her eyebrow.
"That you cannot use a man such as Loki without consequences."
"He will not harm her?" Lady Aditi gasped.
"No, no." Frigga reassured her with a smile. "The consequences will not be for her, they will be for him. Loki is not a man who feels anything simply, he is deep and complicated. She may find that she has stirred something within him that neither she nor he can fully understand."
"What?" Lady Aditi asked, noting the far away look on Frigga's face. She was looking beyond the hall, beyond the palace, even beyond the present, to some intangible thread of the future.
"Love, my dear Lady." Frigga sighed, returning to herself once more. "Love."