A/N: Introducing Ollerus Lokison, aka Ullr/Ull in Norse lore. Ollerus is the Latin version of the name and I had to go with it because "Ollie" was too cute not to use.
Creative liberties taken with Asgardian geography. I needed to create a place where the Valkyries lived outside of Valhalla. In myth, it says there's a large tree just outside the gates called Glasir so I took that and ran with it, creating the Glasir Mountains, Valley and Forest.
The journey to Glasir Valley had been endless no matter how quickly Sif urged her Pegasus to fly. A dread unlike any she had known drove her, a dozen horrendous scenarios playing out in her mind, including all the ways her blade could take vengeance on Loki if any harm had been done to her son. That silver tongue alone could do lasting damage. The only shred of comfort she had found over the half-day journey was knowing Loki could not come and go in the Valkyrie lands as he pleased. And had he been there, Eir would have surely known and would have informed her immediately.
The Pegasus alighted atop the hill which Eir's temple stood. Sif dismounted and headed straight in before her equilibrium had even registered she touched ground, stirring the attention of several apprentice healers as she went rushing by. They stared and whispered to each other.
"Eir!" Sif called out once reaching the central chamber. "Where is he, Elder? I need to see him."
Eir turned from her window, her brow furrowing with concern as she greeted Sif with open arms.
Sif embraced her with cold and limp arms. "Please. Where is Ollerus? When did you last see him?"
"Just moments ago." Eir motioned to her window. "He's here, playing in the mountains."
Sif dashed to the window and frantically searched the expansive view, squinting at the distant mountains. "Eir please, I need to see him."
"Okay, Sif, okay." Eir made a placating gesture. "Just calm down." She cast a magnification spell on the view which pulled the mountains in as if they were right outside the window. Sif immediately locked on to a form, not that of a boy's but too small to be a man. He was sliding down a snowy slope, using a shield as a single ski. He laughed and cheered as the snow sloshed around him, and Sif nearly collapsed at the sound of his voice. "Oh thank Yggdrasil."
"Sif, what in the nine realms is going on?" Eir asked.
"Can we go to him?" Sif grasped Eir's arms. "Please."
"If you insist." Eir knew better than to argue with a mother's desperation.
A moment later they were standing at the base of a hill in the Glasir Mountains, ankle deep in snow. Just up the slope from them was a surprised adolescent, quickly closing the distance between them. Even while distracted, his balance on the makeshift ski was impeccable. He was beautiful, and by all mercies unharmed.
As Ollerus came whizzing by, Sif snatched him off the shield with an urgent embrace. They tumbled into the snow where she continued to hold him tight and hammer kisses all over his icy face.
"Mother, what the Hel!?" the boy cried, trying to free himself.
Sif needed a couple more squeezes and several more kisses before she found herself at ease again. She released the squirming body and cupped her hands over his long cheeks, which grew more and more defined with each of her visits.
"Oh, my Ollie." She gazed upon him, his pale blue skin radiant in the winter setting. "I love you so much."
Ollerus huffed. "Um, I love you too? But what are you doing here?" He dusted off the snow clinging to her bare arms, wondering why she wasn't bothered by it. Sif normally complained about the cold when they were in the mountains together. "I thought you were supposed to be helping to rebuild Asgard."
"I was," Sif said, smiling sweetly as her lanky son removed his cloak and wrapped it around her shoulders. Ornery as he could be at times, he was still the gentleman she had raised him to be. "I just, wanted to see you again."
Sif could see the oddness of her behavior was twisting both Ollerus's and Eir's faces, so she found her composure. As scared as she had been for her son, she saw no need to cry wolf at the moment and worry him for nothing.
"All of Asgard is grieving for its heavy losses," Sif explained, "and I have been grieving with it, doing everything in my ability to help these past few days. It has been so exhausting and the king insisted I take a break. He granted me a holiday, recompense for my service."
Eir was clearly not buying Sif's story but she remained silent.
"Holiday?" Ollerus flashed a look of uncertainty before he found his smile. "I second the King's notion." He nodded and gestured toward his sled. "I can finally teach you how to ski. It'll be fun!"
"Ski?" Sif laughed as she and Ollerus pulled each other up from their indent on the snowy ground. "More like I'll teach you how to properly use a shield."
"Boring." The boy rolled his auburn eyes.
Sif gave him a playful shove. "Yeah, well you'll be wishing for boring if you find yourself in the shadow of a rock golem."
"Pff, whatever." Ollerus strutted to his half-buried shield. "That rock golem wouldn't know what hit him."
Eir shook her head at the pair's usual antics. She then held an arm out to each of them. "Shall we?"
"Gladly." Sif said. She and Ollerus grasped Eir's arms and were teleported back to the healer's hall.
The Elder Eir was a precious mystery. The Aesir argued about whether she was one of them or a Valkyrie as she was both Odin's top physician and the Valkyrie's magic teacher. No one ever argued over the extent of her skill however, especially the soldiers who depended on her to patch their battle wounds. Sif lost count of all the times she was laid out in the healing chamber, feeling more discomfort from Eir's disapproving looks than whatever weapon was stuck into her body.
Eir lived at the edge of the vast Glasir Mountains, which separated Asgard from Valhalla. Her hall was strategically built atop a hill overlooking all of Asgard, the forest, and the mountains. On a clear day one could even catch a gleam from the gates of Valhalla itself. Sif knew first hand how the Valkyries' territory was a truly enchanted place for a child to grow up. She was eternally grateful to Eir and to the Valkyrie Queen, Brunhild, for taking pity on an orphaned child so many eons ago, and again on a confused and pregnant soldier.
The Elder Eir had been the natural choice in aiding Sif to raise her child.
Sif cherished any time she could spend with Ollerus. Her greatest joy that rivaled even the thrill of battle had been each time her Pegasus' hooves touched down in Glasir Forest and her mud-crusted child would come running, demanding to hear every gory detail of the frontline. She would embrace him and he would search her armor for the souvenir weapon from whichever realm she had just come from, and upon discovery of the new toy, he would immediately want to duel her so he could try out the latest techniques the Valkyries had taught him. Sif never refused his challenges, no matter how beaten her body was from the battlefield. She did her best not to refuse him of anything, the exception being the real truth of his father.
Ollerus had grown into a fine young adventurer. Despite not having a father or any masculine influence beyond what Sif could bring second hand via Thor and the Warriors Three, she had every confidence he could face the world as adult. He was clever, confident, and so ambitious. He accepted his frost giant heritage as a promise for even greater strengths and size as he got older. Fortunately, he never had to encounter Asgard's bigotry toward beings unlike them. Sif knew that day would come eventually though and she was doing all she could to prepare him for it. If she had her way, he would never set foot in Asgard, but she knew once he was cut loose of the Valkyries, he would go wherever he pleased.
The one thing Sif had never prepared her son for was the inevitable day he would meet his father. All Sif had ever told him about Loki was that he was a shape-shifting frost giant that roamed the nine realms, taking the form of an Aesir when she seduced him. "There was only the one night we spent together. I never even learned his name."
Sif hated lying to the boy. She had hated lying to everyone, claiming her nine month absence from duty was to receive specialized weapons training from the Valkyries. "What more could you possible learn from those women that I cannot teach you here in the arena?" had been Thor's reaction, yet he still pulled all the necessary strings to get Odin's approval of her leave. Sweet, trusting Thor. Loki was clearly not as easy to fool. She should have known the Prince of Lies would see right through her attempts.
That had happened only thirteen years ago but it felt like a millennia of tricks and betrayals stood between her son and his father. How could she ever tell Ollerus the truth? After the heights he had built in his mind of who this mysterious sorcerer was, how would the sight of Loki rotting in a cell affect him?
Part of her had wished the story of Loki's sacrifice was true. That would have ultimately been the easiest truth to tell, the path of least resistance, even with the heartache it would bring. It would be better for a boy to mourn the loss of a hero than despise the life of a criminal.
Another part of her was relieved that she no longer had to imagine that body she once held close to hers left to rot on the plains of Svartalfheim. But those were not thoughts she cared to entertain right now.
"Greetings, Heimdall." Sif's Pegasus touched down onto the opalescent surface of the Bifrost and she dismounted with urgency. She had only been able to mask her unease from Ollerus for a couple of sleepless nights before he started giving her funny looks. She had grown desperate for answers. Eir had reached her limit of council and had suggested Sif go to Heimdall before her nervousness permeated all of the healer's hall. "I seek insight only you can offer."
"I have been expecting you." Heimdall stood, hands crossed over his mystical sword.
"Then you know Loki is alive?"
"That is correct," Heimdall said. He was the only other Asgardian who knew about Ollerus and his lineage, and not by Sif's choice. It was just impossible to hide anything from Heimdall. "I saw his arrival several days ago but I know not how he traveled into Asgard. It was not by the Bifrost, that much I am certain."
Okay, it was impossible to hide anything from Heimdall, unless you were Loki. "Does anyone else know he is alive?" Sif asked.
"Only the two of us, and that is how it should remain. For now."
Sif was not satisfied with this. "Why?"
"Asgard does not need anymore upsets while it rebuilds."
"But the people have a right to know if harm has come to their king."
"They do indeed," said Heimdall. "But no harm has come to the All-Father. He has returned to the Odinsleep to complete its natural cycle."
"You mean Loki didn't..." Sif struggled to piece it together.
"I am uncertain what event was the final catalyst in triggering the Odinsleep. All I know is it happened around the time of Loki's return, and that Odin is unharmed."
Sif shook her head. "This can't be right, Heimdall. It's just too...convenient for Loki. Has he done something to you? This better not be another trick!"
Heimdall's only movement was to make eye contact with Sif, something he rarely did with anyone so as not interrupt his steadfast watch. His look told her everything. If he were a mortal, 'bitch, please' would be the appropriate words. Sif felt a little sheepish.
"It is not ideal that Loki wear the All-Father's guise," Heimdall shifted his gaze back to the celestial expanse, "however he has brought no harm to Asgard in doing so. He has, in truth, spared the people the news of another Odinsleep, which I am of a mind to think they're not ready for."
"You can't believe Loki has Asgard's best interest at heart."
"I believe Loki will do whatever it takes to stay out of his prison cell, even fake his own sacrifice. What his intentions for Asgard are, I do not know as of yet."
Sif hoped that Heimdall wasn't buying into Loki's alleged redemption the way most of Asgard was. "Do you believe Thor's story, about what happened in Svartalfheim?"
"I have not heard Thor's account directly. Fortunately, I am not at the mercy of his exaggerations to learn of the events."
"You saw it." Sif's eyes widened in wonder. "Tell me, please."
"You need only subtract a few dozen dark elf warriors from Thor's retelling, then watch the fallen prince rise to have seen it as I have."
The imagery brought another wash of relief over Sif. She quickly dismissed it before the emotion could take hold. "Does it not bother you that Loki has tricked his brother out of the throne again?"
"Thor is being denied nothing that he desires." Sif did not like the implication of that, especially since Thor was on Midgard with his mortal. Heimdall continued. "He was offered the throne before his departure to Midgard. He turned it down."
Thor had told Sif about this meeting with his father before he had left. Only now she realized it was Loki Thor had talked to, which meant Loki had been the one to offer up the throne.
"I do not understand any of this." Sif rubbed her forehead.
"Nor do I, but we will in time. Loki's plots are always short-lived."
"This one shall be no different." Sif attempted to simplify the matter. "He is a very unconvincing king. I immediately saw through his veil."
"I am of mind to believe he purposely raised your suspicion," Heimdall made eye contact again. "He is not so careless with other Aesir."
Sif blinked, her confusion robbing her of words.
"Your son is part of his plan," Heimdall continued."That much I think we can be certain."
"No way." Sif spoke in threatening tone. "I will not let him lay a finger on Ollerus."
"Then you need to be more careful. Your attempts to hide the child from his father were futile from the start."
"What are you saying?" Sif grew fearful. "Does Loki know where he is?"
"He has always known. Fortunately he has never dared tread in the territory of the Valkyries beyond the forest's shadows and while not cloaked in magic."
Sif couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Heimdall, why did you let him get that close?"
The guardian's eye twitched. He was clearly growing impatient. "It is not in my duty to interfere in family matters." Sif protested but Heimdall continued. "Loki never intended to do the boy harm. He seemed merely curious. And as much as I wish him punished for each and every crime he has committed, I do not reserve that grudge in the case of a father's right to his child."
Sif felt almost injured by this, a knot forming in her gut that couldn't decide if it was born of insult or guilt. She did not want to succumb to guilt. She wanted to argue with Heimdall, wanted to bombard him with more questions about Loki and The Collector, but she knew, by the shift of his tone and the glint in his eyes that their conversation was over.
Unsatisfied, she forced a gesture of gratitude and mounted her Pegasus. She then left the observatory and returned to Glasir Forest, still convinced she had always done what was best for Ollerus.
***
Accompanying music: Mother and Child Reunion by Paul Simon
