Four months passed before Brynja escorted Frigga again to Loki's cell for another visit. Frigga stood back from the cell so it was easier to look up at Loki. He stood formally in front of her, his hands behind him.
"Hello, Loki, are you well today?" Frigga asked.
Loki nodded, "Yes, thank you. Yourself?"
Frigga replied, "Fine, Loki. I am getting used to all the business of being Queen once again. The days seem longer now and I believe I appreciate them a bit more."
Loki sighed, "I wish I could say the same. The days seem longer, but they seem to drag on endlessly without reason. I often wish for the release of death over this drudgery."
Frigga pursed her lips, "Your decisions led you here; you could have made them differently."
"Life in a cell was not my decision, as I would rather a quick execution to waiting for death, nor was the loneliness that preceded my actions. Perhaps I would have been a different person had I not felt so alone for so much of my life- the only man in Asgard who was not a proper warrior, only a cheap illusionist with no one my own age to share my discoveries with. Why did no one tell me that Brynja was alive? Even after I was grown?" Loki asked.
Frigga glanced to the side where Brynja stood with her head bowed, her hood over her eyes, still as a statue, "I doubt knowing she was living would have changed your choices, Loki. Odin thought telling you would only create more questions. Given who I now know you to be, I think his decision wise. You would have only turned against him earlier, seeing her confinement only as unfair without understanding why he did what he did."
Loki sighed, "Perhaps, and yet I still cannot see reason in his decision. If it is because she was coming of age, it seems a better course of action to teach the men of this land to respect her heart rather than to compete for it, thus leading to her confinement."
Frigga raised an eyebrow, "I did not expect such a noble suggestion from you, Loki. It seems you must have spoken to her on the matter?"
Loki nodded, hoping he was not going to make Brynja more likely to flee to Midgard by having the conversation, "I have. A gilded cage is still a cage. My confinement may be justified. Hers does not seem to be. She is a strong willed woman, much like her queen."
Frigga smiled, "Then I can understand her frustration at her situation and why she would seek your company. There are few in this realm who would, but my daughter has a defiant streak that frustrates her father to no end...given that I, too, have been strongly dissuaded from visiting and yet here I still am, I see she has learned this lesson from me quite well. Do not worry for Brynja, Loki. While she has not been free here, her father has never sought to restrict her movements to other realms. She has freedom in other places and seeks her happiness there. She has often found it, and there were journeys I was surprised she returned from at all." There was a clattering on the stairs and Frigga heard her name called by one of the guards, "Excuse me, Loki. I am needed in my queenly duties." She turned to go and Brynja followed in silence. Frigga turned to her, "Brynja, why don't you stay here for a while? If you have been visiting, it seems only reasonable that you spend a little time with your companion while you are already here. I do not need your attendance this afternoon."
Brynja bowed, "Thank you." Frigga left. Brynja sat down on her stool, her face still covered.
Loki knelt down beside her, "I hope I did not overstep my bounds."
"Were that Father instead of Mother, I would say that you did. Mother, however, has not always been comfortable with Father's decision, so I think you did well to speak to her. Perhaps she will see that you're thinking of others and take that as a sign you are growing," Brynja answered.
Loki bent down, trying to see her eyes, "Then why are you still hiding under your hood, Brynja?"
She sighed and pulled it back, "Sorry, habit, I suppose. I'm not used to having anyone stand up for me like you just did. It's a little uncomfortable, but I'm very grateful. Thank you."
He smiled, "Well if we are to be friends, it only seems right that I speak out for you."
She smiled back, "I've asked Father once or twice about you, but he's very set that you will die in this cell. I don't like his answers, but I fear that if I push very hard, I'm going to end up having to run away again. I'm tired of running, Loki. I want to be free here."
Loki sighed, "Brynja, can I ask you something?"
"Anything, Loki. The worst I can do is tell you I can't answer," she replied.
He continued, "I've been thinking about Mother...and with her visit today, I think the question even more prudent..." his voice trailed off as though he did not want to ask his question.
She prodded, "What do you need to ask?"
"Did she suffer?" he asked, his voice breaking as he spoke.
Brynja placed a hand on the barrier at his shoulder, "No one told you that, either?"
"No, no one told me what happened. I've heard bits and pieces, but the only thing that the guard said was that she was dead. I was told nothing else. I asked Thor the same question and he told me he was not here to share sorrow, but to offer revenge. I have been told nothing of her death."
Brynja sighed, "No, she didn't. It was quick."
"You are certain?" he asked.
"I watched, Loki. I was hidden, as I had promised I would be, and I saw the entire thing. Mother defended Jane, she hid her and she fought to keep her hidden, casting an illusion of Jane that Malekith thought was real to keep him away from the real girl. Mother even had the upper hand until Malekith's...creature entered the fight and dragged her from his master, picking her up by the neck from behind. When Mother said she would never tell where the girl was, he said he believed her and the...whatever he was...slid the knife into her back. She was dead before she hit the floor. Thor tried to chase them down and failed. As if that wasn't heart-wrenching enough, watching Father drop to the floor and cradle her lifeless body made it all the worse."
"And you could do nothing?" Loki asked.
Brynja shook her head, "No. Mother made me promise long ago that should the city come under siege, I wouldn't do anything to reveal that there were people hiding in the walls. It's not just me at stake- most of the city's women know how to get into the walls and since many are not trained to fight, they retreat there with their children. I swore to protect them however I could, and Malekith would have known that someone was hiding had I done anything."
"And her funeral?" he asked, "Was it as regal as I imagine?"
"Yes...she was sent off first, a warrior queen, her pyre enchanted to sail beyond the edge of the sea," she answered.
Loki leaned on the barrier, "Thank you, Brynja. I have spent years hoping she felt little pain. That she was not tortured to death or left to writhe in agony."
She brushed her fingers on the barrier where his cheek rested, wishing she could touch him and comfort him, "No, it was quick. She felt little, if anything at all."
He leaned forward and rested his head on his knees in his arms. His body shuddered once before he went still and looked up, staring ahead at nothing. Brynja knew it was an illusion.
She let him have it for a moment, but then said, "Loki, drop the glamour."
"The what?" he asked.
"The glamour- the illusion. I can see it- Witchery and all that. I know you're hiding behind it," she replied.
Loki let the illusion fall, tears in his eyes, and replied bitterly, "Do you like this better?"
Brynja shook her head, "It isn't about like, Loki. It's about that if I am to get to know you, I want to get to know you- the truth of you, every inch, whether easy to see or not."
He sighed, "Then you will. And you will probably not like what you see and you will flee."
She shrugged, "Or maybe I will understand you all the better and be able to embrace you more fully. I'd rather see you in the raw than find out later you were hiding things from me."
"You are an odd one, Brynja," he replied, "and I like you more for it."
She smiled and slipped her hood back up as someone came down the stairs, "Good, Loki, because I quite enjoy our time together." She stood up and disappeared into the walls as Loki put his glamour back in place so the guards would not bother him while he sorted out his thoughts about Frigga's death and his blossoming friendship with Brynja.
