Frigga sits the two boys in front of her, smiling slightly at the difference between them. Thor squirms and fidgets, wanting to be outside, running, always running, her beautiful golden boy, while Loki sits, smiling slightly at his brother's antics, but mostly focused on her and the lessons he loves. His wide green eyes twinkle with some mischief, no doubt he has plans for the afternoon that will cause mayhem for his carers and delight for his brother and Sif, but for now, for now she has her boys to herself and can attempt to cram some wisdom into their heads.
Her visions have been more disturbing lately. There are things her children need to know, and she is not certain that they will ever learn them.
"Beginnings are very difficult, boys," she says.
Thor shoves Loki and Loki slaps his hand away. They giggle.
"Thor started that!" Loki says.
Frigga smiles. People are too ready to believe Loki the brighter of her two sons, but she knows, she knows, they are simply different.
"He did indeed, and if he does it again he will have no cake after supper tonight. But that was a simple beginning. Loki, where did the realms begin?"
"In fire and ice," he says promptly. "When the warm air of Muspelheim hit the cold ice of Niflheim, the jötunn Ymir and the icy cow Audhumla were created. Ymir's foot bred a son and a man and a woman emerged from his armpits, making Ymir the progenitor of the Jötnar. Whilst Ymir slept, the intense heat from Muspelheim made him sweat, and he…"
Thor shoved him again.
"Very good, Loki," Frigga smiles. "And that is true, in the way of these things. You are old enough now to know, however, that it is a story, a way of explaining things even your father does not understand."
"Father knows everything!" Thor says.
"No he doesn't!" Loki snaps back. "If he knew everything he would be able to do magic like mother can…"
Frigga holds up her hands. "Peace, children. Your father knows a great deal, but even our heads are not large enough to hold all the knowledge of all the worlds."
"Someday I will know everything."
"Someday I will break your nose."
Loki giggles, which stops Frigga from giving Thor the stern look he deserves. The two know each other in a way she will never know either of them, and it aches to see it. A pleasant ache, but one that also makes tears well at the corners of her eyes when she knows Odin cannot see.
Frigga spreads her hands, and between them an illusion of Yggdrasil forms, made of light, sparkling and beautiful. "Our world is a cycle, children. We are caught in it, like fish in a net. It repeats and repeats and repeats. The gift of prophecy that I hold is true because I can see echoes of what has come before."
The boys are silent now, blue eyes and green, wide and fixed on her. This is not lore that is taught to Asgardian children. Sif is not with them for this lesson, and Odin does not know that she is giving it. She looks at both children, but hopes with all her heart that Loki, who always listens, always learns more than she teaches, takes what she is saying to heart.
"Again and again our world is born, and dies. Ragnarok — the end of all things — is also a beginning." The illusion changes, red seeps through the roots of Yggdrasil and its boughs wither and droop. The boys watch, mouths open in fear.
"Mother it will die!"
She nods. "It will, Thor. But remember that in death comes new life." As the illusion of the tree withers and rots, a new sapling takes its place, brighter, younger, stronger. She sets the illusion free so it floats above the boys' heads, Yggdrasil again, more beautiful than before, stronger limbed. "Each cycle learns from its last. We are striving towards something, my loves, something that is too beautiful to submit itself to prophecy." She fixes them with a harsh stare as the tree fades to nothing. "Just because it has happened before, does not mean it has to happen again. Remember this. You are princes. You will be kings." Her gaze softens and she puts one finger under Thor's chin, another under Loki's, and lifts them both. "You can change things."
The boys leave the lesson uncharacteristically sober. No mischief is reported from them for the rest of the day, and Frigga is content.
She has delivered her warning.
Now she must simply hope.
