Iris' visits skipped a week for her wedding, but then the throne sent a messenger and she resumed her visits.
She had been married for one miserable year when Odin granted her request for a closer visit. She was practically giddy as she descended the steps, but after rounding the corner, she stopped abruptly. He was being dragged to his cell. The guards dropped him just inside the door and left.
"Excuse me. The All-Father has said I can visit him in his own space."
"Oh. Right, miss. He's not going to be much good to you, but here you go."
He was slowly crawling towards his cot when she crouched beside him and offered him a hand, "Come. The cot might not be very comfortable, but it is better than the stone."
"A single hand will not help."
"Then lean on me. I am strong."
He struggled to get to his feet, but they made it to the cot; he stretched out, groaning softly, "I hate this time of year."
"What did they do to you?"
"The same they did last year. A gift on the anniversary of my taking the throne."
"So the day is painful in more ways than one."
"Oh?"
"You cannot lie and tell me the death of your mother does not sit on your heart as well."
He tried to bring up his arm to cover his eyes, a way to hide with little movement, but even that hurt too much and he resorted to staring at the ceiling.
"For once, be honest with yourself."
"Every year I focus on the beating instead so that I might pass the day without remembering."
"Would you like a hug?"
He said nothing, so she simply waited until he could no longer stand the silence, "Damn you, Iris...yes. I would." She bent down to embrace him, "Whatever will your husband think?"
"My husband will think the worst, of course. If he knows."
"Is he jealous?"
"Incredibly. And suspicious. And crazy."
"And yet he still allows your visits?"
"He does not dare stand against the summons of the All-Father."
"Ah. He yet rules with fear."
"Yes, but no more than you did. People were happy under your reign, and he has sought to keep that."
Loki was surprised, "To keep it?"
"Yes. Hundreds protested when he tried to revoke your trade laws and those granting rights to our non Aesir citizens. They turned out in droves to speak to the king, and not only those who most benefitted. Others spoke for them as well."
"So I did something well."
"Very well." He smiled, but she decided to risk saddening him again, "She would be proud of that."
"One good deed does not undo all the wickedness I have wrought. And I do not wish to speak of her."
"You cannot hide from it forever, Loki. It will only destroy you."
"I think I have done a fine job destroying myself. And if it is not obvious, I know I cannot hide forever- do you take me for an idiot? Shall I seek out the help of a councillor from my cell, or perhaps see if one of the other prisoners could help me chart a better course for my future?"
"Please, I am spoken to that way enough at home. Not here as well."
"That is not how the Iris I knew in our youth would have responded to such a jab."
"Then perhaps she is as dead as the Loki from our youth."
He tried to sit up and managed to prop himself up on his elbows, "She can't be."
"I once said the same of you and yet you did not believe me. So why not?"
"Because I need her to...to save me."
Iris turned away from him, "You will have to seek another saviour. I cannot rescue you from yourself. Only you can do that." She rose, "I will see you next week, though, all things willing."
