The time passed at a rapid pace. Loki, pacing a hole into the floor of the waiting area, barely registered it. He had oscillated from panic and despair to doubt and hesitation in a matter of hours. Well, 3 hours and 34 minutes, to be precise. Not that he was counting or anything.
Now that Avalon was being given the best care available throughout the 9 Realms, he had time to consider his actions and realize the sheer audacity of them. One brief encounter he barely remembered from his childhood had pushed him to the brink of action. After all, who was he to swoop in at the last second and come to the rescue of a fellow immortal? If he didn't know better, he'd consider his actions nearly heroic. But that was impossible. Loki Laufeyson, a hero?
Thor, sensing his brother's confused emotions from across the diminutive space, sighed. "You did the right thing, brother," he claimed. "I would have done the same..."
"Exactly," Loki spat out, spinning around as he cut his brother's sentence short. "But that's what you are supposed to do, Thor. Protect people from certain death and come crashing in to save the day. It is not my place or my job. I cause chaos, not stop it."
Thor stood up. "Yet you defied the standards and did so regardless. She must be something wonderful, for you to risk your reputation in such a manner."
"I know not what she is!" Loki yelled. "It's been centuries since we crossed paths. If she knew me, truly knew the horrors I had committed and what I really was, she would..."
Thor stepped forward, pulling his brother into a hug for the second time that day. Loki, his deep fears voiced out loud, trembled slightly.
"She will come to see you as the sum of your parts as I have, brother," Thor comforted Loki. "And if she cannot, than perhaps she is not nearly as wonderful as you believe her to be."
Loki bit back a bitter laugh, struggling to understand his brother's strong and seemingly unshakeable faith in him. Suddenly, the doors at the far end of the room opened with a gentle swish. The brothers separated as the head healer stepped forward.
"My princes, I have news of the Midgardian," he explained, looking between the brothers. Loki, his heart rushing into his throat, nodded for the man to continue. "She will make a full recovery, but it will take a significant amount of time," he explained. "The blade of the Frost Giant pierced deep. If we had found her any later..."
The ominous ambiguity hung in the air, and Loki swallowed, banishing the image from his mind rapidly. "Thank you, Healer. May I see her?"
The healer nodded quietly. "She still slumbers, I fear, but you may see her." He gently bowed, indicating the direction. Loki entered the double doors, hesitant of what he would discover. Thor watched his brother go, and considered his options. Clearly, there was more to this story than the pieces Loki had released in his emotional distress. Perhaps the All-Father would have the answers he so desperately craved...
#######
"You know what I love about Ancient Greece?"
Avalon looked across the table, cocking her head to the side. "No, Doc. What do you love about Ancient Greece? Other than the food, of course."
The Doctor's face turned up excitedly at her. "I love the conversations, Lonni. I mean, Socrates wandered around the marketplace arguing with people and starting debates about the meaning of various virtues. Doesn't that sound wonderful?"
"Before or after the hemlock?" Avalon asked sarcastically. "The authorities weren't exactly big fans of the guy."
"Right, but history remembers him for just that!" The Doctor exclaimed, sending his fork flying across the room with a unconscious flick of his wrist. "I mean, who wouldn't want to be immortalized as a rabble rouser and a free thinker?"
Avalon considered his statement. "You'll go down as a free thinker, Doc; I have no doubt about that. I almost wish that more people did it, just so we didn't get in trouble every place we went."
"Not all those who wander are lost, Lonni," he replied, a smile dancing on his lips. "Just because these humans don't understand my thought processes or logic..."
"When you bother to have logic at all," she cut in, remembering more than one 'it's all just timey-wimey wibbly wobbly stuff' lecture.
"What I meant was, it's far more fun to not be understood than to be upheld as a hero. Sure, people remember the heroes in history, and that's great for them. But people also remember, and sometimes relish even more, the troublemakers and tricksters of history. Asking questions and causing chaos is almost fun...in moderation, of course."
"Of course. All things are acceptable in moderation."
"Yes," he said, ignoring her sarcasm. "Like...like the Eiffel Tower! Lonni, I have the most fantastic idea for our next adventure!"
She'd developed a taste for French cheese that day after they prevented a handful of renegade Chula from using the Eiffel Tower to communicate with their home world. She also never forgot the subject of their discussion: that not all people who belong in society are worth worshipping, and that sometimes, the outcasts and the rebels are worth a second look.
##########
There was a chill in the room. Loki wasn't entirely sure if it was really drafty, or if the sensation was his mind playing tricks on his body. Surely, the heat was at a normal temperature; he always felt hot and stuffy in the palace rooms (of course, once his real heritage had been revealed inadvertently, he'd had time to consider things that made little sense outside of that context. His constant overheating, as well as his comfort in cold temperatures, was one of them). But standing in the doorway, looking inward at the still form on the bed...it chilled him to the bone.
He couldn't stop himself from staring at her. She really was striking, he realized; as a boy, he'd clung to her gentle beauty from fear of everything in the new found world of Midgard, and his dreams of her were tinted with those glasses. But now...he felt the bands around his heart tighten ever so slightly, and his breath came in short bursts. Her chestnut hair fell across her face, and Loki fought the urge to brush the excess strands aside. He sighed. Even in sleep, she struck him dumb.
Avalon slumbered on, unaware of her visitor in the doorway or even of her location. Her face, free from stress and strife for the first time in a century, was smooth. Loki wondered at the irony, that it took an attempt on her life to bring her true peace.
Footsteps and gentle voices echoed in the hallway behind the door. Loki started, recognizing the voice of his mother as she asked where her son was. He bit down on a thin smile; Freya's presence did not surprise him in the least. Of all his family members, their bond was the strongest; she knew how to cheer him up when he was sad, how to calm him when his mind suffered from nightmares, and when to just let him talk out his conflicting emotions from some happening at the palace. Knowing that she truly cared about him made the pain lessen in his chest. Perhaps he could tell her of this distant Midgardian. He could seek her judgment and appreciate her wisdom in manners of the heart. He certainly needed help; Avalon's mere presence was preventing him from any sort of logical thoughts.
The gentle sound of robes swooshing heralded his mother's entrance. Loki looked up, gently sliding his mask of calm into place. "Mother?" he asked, a hint of forced confusion in his voice.
She looked at him with her sparkling green eyes. "Loki," she responded, smiling slightly. "I am glad to find you well. We missed you and your brother at dinner this afternoon."
There was a slightly muffled groan from the bed, and Loki spun around, his focus completely shifted. She stirred slightly, clearly in pain, and her grey eyes fluttered. "Doc?" she croaked, her voice rusty-sounding and cracking from dehydration. "What the hell happened to me?"
"The Frost Giants happened, love," Loki answered, forgetting all context in his surprise. "You were hurt in a skirmish, but you are going to pull through and be fine." Behind him, forgotten for a moment, Freya raised an eyebrow.
"Whatza Frost Giant, Doc? And why do you sound weird? Did you regenerate on me?"
Loki blushed slightly, realizing that Avalon was clearly far more perceptive than he remembered. He shouldn't be surprised by this; she was rather intelligent for a Midgardian. "No, Avalon. It's a little hard to explain. Right now, the most important thing is that you get some rest to help your recovery." He took her closest hand and squeezed it gently. Green fire shot down the connection, spreading over Avalon. She slipped back into a deep sleep almost immediately, mumbling something incoherent about his inability to answer a simple question.
Loki exhaled, letting out a breath that he had been subconsciously holding. While he was glad she had woken up, he was not ready to explain things. He still needed to wrap his head around the possibility of having a real relationship with her, of having a friend who would support him because of his personality, not his identity as the second Prince of Asgard.
Freya smiled, squeezing the shoulder of her youngest son. "I'm beginning to understand why you missed dinner, Loki." She considered the now sleeping woman. "She is rather beautiful."
"I wouldn't know," Loki told her. "My understanding of beauty is rather...limited, as you are well aware." He had never been one to focus on looks, preferring personality and an appreciation of wit instead (his brother, however, was focused on women's physical characteristics, as they were on his at all the celebrations. In many ways, it was annoying how they fawned over him. He'd rather have a woman who fought back, argued, and didn't try to impress a handsome face. If Sif wasn't focused on his brother, he might have fallen for her, but he saw the folly far off and avoided it).
Freya laughed, a tinkling laugh that always made Loki think of bells when he heard it. "My apologies." She looked over her son, noting the clear signs of stress and exhaustion. "However, I suggest that you get some food and sleep now. Your visitor will be here in the morning for you to converse with."
Loki nodded, agreeing to the wisdom in his mother's suggestion. "I will, Mother. I just..." He paused, looking again at Avalon as she lay sleeping. "I am still trying to wrap my head around the fact that she's alive, and here. I was never sure I would see her again."
"I know the feeling," Freya told him. "But come, my son." She gently gripped his elbow. Acquiescing to her request, Loki left the healer's room, his ever-inquisitive eyes following Avalon's breathing the entire time.
########
Thor entered the throne room loudly, throwing the doors open with far more force than was necessary. Odin barely glanced up, clearly expecting him eventually. "My son, be careful with the doors," he requested.
Thor sighed, trying to bring his temper back under his control. "My apologies, Father. I'm just a little out of sync by the past few hours."
Odin looked at his son for a moment. "You are worried about your brother's reaction," he stated, smiling quietly.
"I am," Thor answered, not questioning how his father knew what was troubling his mind. "It was so unlike Loki, to actively seek out a confrontation with anyone. He much prefers to get his revenge from a distance." He sighed. "Who is this woman, father? Why does Loki care for her so much? I've never seen her before in my life, yet he acts so unnaturally to protect her."
Odin considered the questions posed by his son. "I will tell you what I know, my son, but it is no doubt incomplete. A veil of mystery shrouds Avalon Kimeldottir, more so than normal Midgardians. She has more in common with us than with them, after all."
Thor tried to hide his surprise. "How?" he asked, honestly curious.
"Her father was a Time Lord, a species long respected and feared in all the Nine Realms," was Odin's response. "She inherited the genetic traits of her father and the mission that all Time Lords must bear: to protect the passage of Time and the species who cross it from all threats. It is said that Time Lords travel throughout time and space with little respite, always wandering, sworn to aid the innocent and stand up against the aggressors of the Nine Realms and the universe. There are few of them left now, but their legend lives on. That is her heritage."
Thor was momentarily taken aback. "So how does Loki know her and I am a stranger?" he demanded finally. "Surely one so great would have met with all of the family if she visited us here."
"She did not visit us, my son," Odin explained. "Loki met her in Midgard. That is a long story, and it is not mine to tell."
Thor was about to object to being denied what must be an exciting story a second time when the throne room doors opened once again with a bang. Father and son looked up as Heimdall strode into the room.
"All-Father, there is a problem brewing," he said, his voice booming with clear intensity.
"What is it, Heimdall?" Thor asked.
"The Frost Giants are making motions for war, Prince Thor," was the response from the all-seeing Gate Keeper. "I fear, after what was witnessed by Loki and his visitor today, that their target is Midgard and that they fully intend to harm the humans that stand in their path."
Odin stood up suddenly. "This is a dangerous charge, Gate Keeper. Are you absolutely certain of what you saw? I fear starting another war betwixt our realms, especially if the humans are placed in harm's way."
Heimdall nodded slowly. "I saw them practicing in the courtyard and gathering their weapons. I shudder at the potential consequences."
Odin sighed. "Then I must go to Jötunheim and try to intercede. There will not be another war if I can help it." He rushed out of the Courtroom, clearly bent on preparing himself for such a sudden mission. Thor went to follow his father, but Heimdall stopped him.
"Go to your brother Loki in the dining hall and inform him of the developments," he told the Prince. "See if the Midgardian's condition has improved. There is a chance that she is involved in the rapid pace of the Frost Giants movements and might be able to help us understand their motivation."
Thor nodded. "I will do so, but then I shall prepare to accompany my father. He must not go on this mission of peace unprepared. There is a chance that Jötunheim holds a trap in expectation of his actions." He turned on his heel, and left the throne room through a back door that connected to the kitchen. This simple news had completely changed his focus. Mentally, he was steeling himself for a battle he had a horrific feeling was inevitable and rapidly approaching...
