Hi, everybody. This story is sort of a mystery to me. I have fun writing it. People seem to have fun reading. And still - one review? This is "all-time low", if ever I saw one :-) Never thought it could happen, not to me or anyone on this site. Well, I'm still writing, having fun - and hope you enjoy. :-) Since the last chapter was a little shorter than average, this one is longer.

Disclaimer: I do not own Thor, Loki, Odin or any other characters in this story. I do not make money from it.

+++Chapter 4: Go water your own landscape! +++

'Brother? Do you want another ale?'

'No, he doesn't Thor.'

'Let him speak for himself, Fandral.' Thor shook Loki by the shoulder.

Loki mumbled under his breath.

'What did he say?' Thor looked at the other men.

'That he's had enough,' Fandral said. 'You can usually tell when a guy's head hits the table like that.'

Thor grabbed hold of one of the curved horns on his brother's gala. Loki groaned softly as the helmet was pulled up and his head along with it. Thor tried to make contact with his brother's half-closed eyes. 'Brother? I cannot have everyone witness you sliding under the table. Not at this hour.'

'Jotuns... watching?' mumbled Loki.

'No, they have retired to their quarters.'

Loki's head sunk again. He would have rested his brow on the back of his hands, but the horns were in the way. So, he continued to sit miserably, with his elbows propped on the table. He rubbed with both thumbs the bridge of his nose, trying to see straight. Suddenly, he began to chuckle.

'What's so funny, brother?' Thor smiled. HIs brother's hilarity was contagious.

Loki giggled too hard to speak. But he tried, and finally, he managed to explain, 'I really - care for them, don't I? I mean, I just asked - I asked whether they - whether she - ?' Trying to sit up to give this speech in a dignified way, he swerved. Only a quick, reflexive snatch for the edge of the seat saved him from falling off the rather steadfast chair altogether. Surprised, he looked at the chair and rattled the backrest.

Thor heaved a sigh, 'Fandral, Volstagg, get him to his room.'

'Just try to keep your head up like a true prince,' Volstagg mumbled as he pulled Loki's left arm over his own shoulder. 'Fandral and I will handle the rest.'

Together, they hoisted Loki to his feet and started to walk him toward the exit.

'The king is looking over,' smiled Fandral. 'Everyone – greet him.'

Lowering his head was not a problem for Loki. Getting it back up was. Volstagg sneaked two fingers under the rim of Loki's heavy helmet and tugged. Loki straightened up like a hand puppet. Odin probably noticed the charade, but he kept a straight face. With his left hand he signaled them permission to leave.

Volstagg and Fandral headed for the exit.

They had expected Loki to revive some, once they exposed him to the cool night air. But he stayed as he was, a near-dead weight they shared between them. They crossed the courtyard and re-entered the opposite building.

Volstagg said, 'Do you think we should, I dunno, take one of the less frequented corridors?'

'This is Asgard,' Fandral said reasonably. 'People get hauled out of the great hall dead drunk all of the time.'

'Yes, but he's Odinson.'

'Shhh,' said Fandral. 'Do you hear that?'

There were voices in the corridor ahead of them, engaged in a low and agitated debate. Volstagg and Fandral turned the corner. There were Jotuns and Fairy folk, and they were facing each other as if preparing for battle. Three frost giants and five Fairies, to be correct. It had seemed more, at first sight. But it certainly was enough for causing trouble.

'A good evening to you, gentlefolks,' Fandral said cheerfully. 'Methought I heard the merry voices of honored guests on their way to the feast.'

'We left the entertainment,' growled a Jotun. 'The company was not to our liking.'

'Isolation has become a prominent trait in King Laufey's interworldly relations,' said a Fairy, sadly shaking his head.

'Handing out unwonted advice has always been a trademark of Fairy's,' said another Jotun.

'You consider us invasive, Jotun? Is that what you are saying?'

'Stick to what is yours, and stay away from what's ours.'

'Gentlefolks,' said Fandral, imitating the Fairy's regretful tone of voice. 'Gentlefolks, please. No fighting tonight.'

Only now did the adversaries fully turn to the three Asgardians. 'By whose authority do you take command?' asked the Fairy haughtily. He recognized the horned helmet and his pale blue eyes widened. 'Oh!'

'Light's eye,' sighed Loki, who seemed to come to his senses on cue, 'Will you already silence those thugs and continue on our way, Volstagg?'

The Jotuns grinned as if the show outweighed the insult.

'If there is something we can do – ' the Fairy said quickly.

'You can. Float back, let us through,' said Fandral.

The Fairy did more than that: They vanished into thin air.

The Jotuns looked about with glowing red eyes. 'Damned magic users.'

'They have left,' said Fandral. 'Whatever your fight was about, it will be postponed to another day and location – hopefully not Asgard.'

'Will you find your way to your quarters or do we have to summon the guards?' asked Volstagg. 'Don't get me wrong; I'd love to see you home, but – ' He shrugged his shoulder under Loki's arm to show that he was needed otherwise.

The Jotuns' grins grew even more wicked. 'Don't worry,' they said. 'We'll stick to our path, so you can stay on yours.'

Volstagg and Fandral had no reason to doubt their sincerity. Still, they sent the two guards in front of Loki's door to check on their guests, before they kicked open the door and dragged their burden to his bedstead.

Loki collapsed on his bed. He hit the pillow face-down, giving a muffled groan and clutching at the pillow as if it might try to escape from under him.

Volstagg lifted Loki's legs on to the bed.

'He's still wearing his boots,' Fandral pointed out. 'He would absolutely protest against your putting his booted feet on the blanket, Volstagg.'

Holding Loki's feet by the ankles, Volstagg pulled off Loki's boots. Fandral carefully took off the horned helmet. Once he was rid of the weight and discomfort, Loki gave a sigh and turned his face to the side.

'Now this is something to remember.' Fandral brushed the dark hair away and ran a damp strand through his fingers, 'I've never seen Loki's hair get matted from wearing that helmet. Any helmet, that is.'

Volstagg was busy spreading a comforter over the sleeping form and tucked in the seams, 'You expected him to keep up his vanity spells? When he's like that?'

'Give me ten minutes,' Loki mumbled.

Fandral cast Volstagg a surprised glance which the tall warrior returned. Loki lay with his eyes closed. He could've been talking in his sleep.

'Good to hear your voice,' Fandral said, leaning closer. 'How do you feel?'

'Go to the Jotuns's quarters,' Loki said in that same subdued voice. He was hardly moving his lips. 'Wait there for me.'

'We already sent the guards there,' Fandral said. 'We'll get another man to stand outside your door. No one's going to come in and disturb you. You can sleep in - '

'No talking,' hissed Loki. 'Get moving.'

'Fandral,' said Volstagg, starting to leave and pulling his comrade along. 'I think he means it.'

The Jotun delegation had been assigned rooms in the Tower of Sunset, quite some distance from the royal wing of Asgard's palace. The corridors were abandoned save for the occasional guard; the night was young and people were out, celebrating. Volstagg and Fandral felt a little silly, standing guard in front of the frost giants' door. If quantities meant anything, Loki would most likely sleep well into the next morning, if not mid-day. They could stand here all night... but still, they dared not speak.

Exactly seven minutes later, Loki joined them. He walked easy, his booted feet moving nearly soundless on the marble floor. His eyes were clear, his gaze sharp, and his dark hair immaculately slicked back.

'I could swear there was someone following me,' he said instead of a greeting. He looked behind him, then shook his head.

'You could, couldn't you?' said Fandral. 'Well, if you would deign to tell us what royal plot you have up and running here, I might hazard a guess who would be interested in tailing you.'

'My guess is that it's a harpy, of course,' Loki said offhanded. 'They have a secret sense for escapades like this.'

'Escapades?'

'In time, good Fandral.' Loki eyed the closed door. Agitated voices sounded through the solid door. One female voice stood out.

'Isn't that a bit tricky, coming here yourself?' Volstagg asked. 'Heimdall will surely - '

'Heimdall,' said Loki, 'has turned his eyes away from me. - How long have they been fighting behind that door?'

'How do you know?' asked Volstagg.

'Why, I can hear them screaming, of course.' Actually, Angrboda was ranting about a traitor's need to appear harmless. Or was it "to behave themselves and not to act like troublemakers and number one foes of the state"?

Looked like they really had a language issue here. But it wasn't Loki's fault. He had asked to be taught the Jotun language, when he was a boy. He thought it useful to be able to communicate with Asgard's most fierce enemy in their own tongue. Odin had not thought it a good idea at all. He had screamed at his son as only Odin could scream at you...

'No, Heimdall,' Volstagg persisted. 'How do you know Heimdall is not watching right now?'

Loki smiled ironically. 'He's in the habit of keeping an eye on Asgard's royal family. But as he saw me pass out on mead and watched you tuck me in so nicely, he's probably returned to stalking my brother.'

Fandral sighed, 'You did it again, didn't you?'

'Did I what?'

'Make it so that we saw you drink mead and ale. But Thor took the effects upon himself.' Fandral turned to Volstagg. 'Loki does that kind of thing. He's done it before. Thor told me about it.'

'My brother has a very big mouth,' said Loki, peeved. Then, the smile returned to his face, albeit a little sour, 'And an even greater capacity for mead.'

'But - ' said Volstagg.

'Enough of this,' Loki cut across him and nodded at Fandral, 'Will you knock and alert our honored guests to the fact that we are in front of their door, good Fandral?'

Fandral did as he was asked and rapped the hilt of his sword against the wood. The door was answered by the princess's maid. She peered out suspiciously, almost hostile, 'What do you want?'

'The Prince of Asgard wishes to talk to the ambassador,' said Fandral. 'Although the moment may not be opportune...'

'Are you the Prince of Asgard,' the maid asked, calmly.

'Me?' Fandral gestured at Loki. 'Er, no – he is.'

'Swea,' called the Lady Angrboda from the adjacent room, and then some words in the Jotun language that Loki interpreted roughly as the refusal to receive any more people wanting to talk politics tonight.

Quickly, he said, 'Tell your mistress that I came to resume our conversation. The part concerning... concerning the specifics of Jotunheim geography.'

'Yes, we got glaciers.' Swea sized him up shamelessly. 'Lots and lots of 'em.'

'So... '

'So we don't need an Asgardian's help to maintain them. Go water your own landscape. Good night.'

She closed the door in his face. Volstagg and Fandral inhaled, making anxious faces at each other. It was a critical situation. Loki had been known to fly off the handle for less. He just hated being interrupted and left looking stupid.

'That didn't go very well,' Volstagg observed, when the prince would not move a finger.

'I wouldn't have noticed,' Loki snapped. But the seething anger subsided with the airing of the words. It always did. The trick was to get Loki breathing again. Volstagg, comfortable and cheerful by nature, usually knew how.

'All right,' said Fandral, driving his fist into the other hand. 'Plan B.'

' "B" as in "birds and bees"?' asked Volstagg, when Loki would not immediately respond.

'No. Balcony.'

'I cannot do this, Volstagg,' mumbled Loki, for the umpteenth time. 'I'm a prince of Asgard.'

He stood with a doubtful expression and with his arms firmly crossed as if he needed to stop himself from running off.

'Yes, but Fandral is so eagerly engaged,' said Volstagg comfortably. 'Do him the favor.'

Fandral had led his comrades to the stables, where he had chatted amiable with the boy on duty. They seemed to know each other well. Loki was not sure, but he thought a bribe had passed between them. Fandral had neither looked at the coins he produced from his pocket, nor did the boy check them. Common business; they had trust in each other. The boy had then disappeared quickly, and Fandral chose a long ladder, which they carried (sneaking in the shadows, always the shadows) to the back side of the Jotuns's tower.

Fandral was testing the ladder now, to ensure it was safely positioned under the lady's window. He looked up and checked the distance with an expert eye. He moved the ladder a bit to the left. When everything was prepared to his satisfaction, he stepped aside and made an inviting gesture with his hand.

Loki did not move.

Fandral repeated the gesture with emphasis and a frown.

Reluctantly, Loki stepped on the first rung. He cast Volstagg a desperate look: The big warrior gave him an encouraging nod.

Loki climbed quickly until he stood on the rung just under the one that would actually bring him eye-to-eye with the person opening the window. Fandral said that holding the higher ground made the ladies more comfortable. 'Imagine yourself waking at a sound from outside and finding someone's face – even someone you knew - staring fully at you. Would you greet them with a smile of love?'

'I would have my dagger ready and strike them dead,' Loki had said truthfully. 'Are you sure this is safe?'

'Alright,' Fandral said. 'Alright. - We all know that surviving next to our beloved prince demands full attention and readiness for battle, twenty-four-seven. But you're trying to meet a lady. From another, far away realm. Not someone who grew up with Thor like you or us.'

Still, Loki wondered if he might be stretching his luck here. He was, after all, trying to meet not any lady, but a Jotun. And they were said to grow their blades right from their hands.

He sent another glance to the friends at the bottom of the ladder. Volstagg nodded. Fandral gave him a "thumbs up".

Loki drew a deep breath and knocked against the yellow-and-green stained window. He turned to his companions, 'She's not going to open. Let's take back that ladder and hope no-one took notice...'

'Look,' said Fandral.

Alerted, Loki turned and saw a light moving inside the room: Someone approached the window. A hand reached for the bolt and unlatched it. For a moment, it was Swea's face retreating into the dark room. Angrboda appeared in the dark square. Her face was lit by a single candle in a stick. Loki was not sure whether it was just the shock of actually seeing her that made his heart jump in his chest – or whether it was the cold look she gave him.

If Jotuns could kill with a glare he'd certainly be dead.

'Are you out of your mind to come here?' she hissed.

He said the first thing his frozen mind came up with, 'Possibly.'

Someone giggled inside, betraying the the maid hovered nearby.

Angrboda was baffled, 'Possibly? Is that all? Sweet Innocence! If that all-seeing, golden-eyed creep spies us, he'll have me sent back to Jotunheim before the rime of morning has collected.'

'Why would Heimdall do that?'

'For the same reason that the Queen would make it a point that she was glad to have Jotun ambassadors in Asgard. But that it was still her husband, the king, I needed to talk with. Not her sons.'

'So she did disapprove of the two of us talking in the hall,' Loki said, surprised.

'Not just in the hall. She pretty much commanded that you and I not exchange another word, whats- and wheresoever.'

But for what reason?

'There has to be a misunderstanding,' Loki said. 'The queen would not easily forbid us talking.'

Angrboda started to close the window.

'Wait,' called Loki, suddenly feeling an inexplicable panic that she might actually leave for good. 'Whatever it is, I'll talk to mother. And – and Heimdall is father's servant. I'll order him to leave you alone – '

'You still don't get it, do you?' Looking down on him, a curious gleam came into Angrboda's eyes. There was anger, of course. But also the cunning of a tiger that the deer has offered they run a little race. 'You can't order Heimdall to do anything. You are not the king of this realm. You'll never be. Have you noticed that this week of splendid receptions and feasts isn't about you? Your brother is about to be crowned. Thor Odinson is the ruler, you, I - we all shall kneel before.'

Her words cut into an old hurt that Loki had carefully avoided to acknowledge, even to himself. When he and Thor were boys together, he had, with a child's persistence, been able to assume that their father would work a miracle. Somehow, two thrones would be available to serve two princes' great expectations.

Before long, however, he had come to understand what "second-born" meant: It meant standing in gala armor on the steps to the single throne of Asgard, condemned to look on as your boisterous brother was handed over the king's scepter. It meant you were the first to bend your knee and to pledge your loyalty and obedience to the new ruler.

To someone, let's face it, who had made tossing his friends headlong into an abyss into an art and favorite past-time...

'Say no more,' Loki demanded harshly.

'Oh, but someone must tell you, you need to be shaken awake.' Jotuns knew how to cut with words just as they did with ice. Angrboda felt frustrated by everything she found in this place, so she was ready to verbally dissect him alive. 'Sweet Innocence, you have lived your life in such a cozy bed of cotton wool and brotherly care. Has it ever occurred to you that from next Thorsday, you shall do everything to prove your unconditional devotion to your sibling? So he'll continue to feel that care for you. Because the norns have mercy on you, Loki Odinson, if he doesn't; if King Thor should find reason to cast you out - '

'Shut up,' Loki screamed, 'Shut the Hel up.'

'Pipe down, Loki, will you?' whisper-called Fandral from below.

'Or what?' shouted Angrboda. 'You run to your brother, squealing? To beg the proud owner of the Mjolnir to protect his poor little brother from the truth he would not hear?'

'Pass the word on to your sweetheart,' hissed Fandral. 'Quie – et!'

'You malevolent wench!' shouted Loki. 'You shall not drive a wedge between me and my brother.'

'Don't worry!' shouted Angrboda. 'That wedge, ultimately, has been prepared by others.'

'That's right, you know,' a crackling voice said beside Fandral's knee. Preoccupied with tilting his head back, looking up to lofty height, he realized only now that something was moving down there. He looked into an old woman's wrinkled face.

'Huh?' said Fandral. 'How did you get here?'

'Followed the scent of stealthiness, from the hall to the royal chambers, to the tower, and out here.' The harpy grinned, 'Lots of treason and subversive plots going on in Odin's court. But those fueled by romantic folly are not the most reprehensible, let me tell you -'

Like one person, Angrboda in the window and Loki on his ladder turned sharply to the creature, yelling, 'Shut it!' – 'Hold your slanderous mouth'

A gust of wind swept through the harpy's feathers, freezing them stiff and coating them in ice.

'Waarck!' the creature said, sounding much like a duck while looking like an odd hedgehog with frozen feathers like quills sticking out in all directions..

Fandral grimaced, 'Oh, my lady. How appalling, such misfortune! Please, accept my apology which I - '

'Waargh,' the harpy repeated, too angry and too cold to articulate. 'Aaargh! Freezing!'

'There is the warmth of fires to be found in the hall over there...if you would?' Volstagg said, pointing. Good advice was more welcome than a gallant's pretty words. The harpy shot mean looks at everyone involved, including the ladder, and waddled off as fast as its plump legs would allow.

Angrboda leaned forward, resting her hands on the windowsill.

'Oooh, nice going,' she stated dryly.

Loki turned at her again, 'So this is how you would treat the honored guests of Odin?'

She shook her head lightly, 'Sorry. Wasn't me.'

'Prevaricating again, are you, deceitful nag? At least grant me to know my trade. That was clearly Jotun magic at work!'

'And look what a bungled, amateurish job you did. Sweet Innocence!'

Loki's patience snapped, 'Mendacious shrew! I will have your vile tongue cut out and this false skin peeled off your face until the enormity of the illusion is laid bare – '

Starting from Angrboda's fingers on the windowsill, veins of blue ice raced across the stone. They grew, they twined, connected and reached out for the ladder. Within moments, the wood under Loki's hands had coated with ice. The cold bit into his hands, evoking the terrifying image of his body turning into a statue of ice that shattered on the ground below. Giving an involuntary cry of distress at this prospect, Loki jumped to escape the Jotun's curse. He landed on Volstagg, knocking the big warrior over. Together, they tumbled on Fandral, and for the second time in one day, the three of them went down in a tangle of limbs.

'Scared by a little frost? Oh please.' Angrboda rolled her eyes. Swea giggled, and stepped beside her mistress, thus showing that she had listened to every word. Angurboda reached sideways and tousled her maid's hair. 'That's not funny. That's a tragedy.'

The Jotuns disappeared from sight and closed the window.

The Asgardians finished sorting themselves out and sat on the ground.

'What the Hel happened up there?' asked Fandral. 'Loki? We couldn't hear a thing until you two started shouting.'

Loki gave a disgruntled sound, 'It was the shouting that was thoughtless and misplaced, good Fandral. Not the words spoken in silence.'

'That's a poetic way to say it's none of my business, eh?'

Loki said nothing, which was a good as an answer.

'I don't know about you guys,' said Volstagg breaking the uncomfortable silence. 'But I could do with something to drink.'

'Me too.' Fandral nodded. 'Loki?'

'I'm going to bed, Volstagg. Seriously this time.' Loki was alternately rubbing his hands and breathing some life back into them. His skin, he could warm up. But the cold that was truly to fear went far deeper. 'I'm fed up with today's festivities.'

Fandral eyed him closely, 'Are you sure you're alright? Do you want us to get Thor?'

Thor's the ruler you shall kneel before...the norns have mercy on you, if you don't...

The wedge has been prepared by others.

'Leave the future king of Asgard to his duties on this day of glory.' Loki resisted giving the window above one last farewell look, 'And me to my rest.'

+++ End of Chapter 4+++