Thor told no one about his encounter with the sisters, or of his encounter with the strange Vendich, and when Odin had asked where he went, Thor had lied.
He had been lying a lot recently, as if the spirit of Loki had seeped into his veins and stained his tongue silver. Heimdall might not have fallen for his tricks, but everyone else did, and that was fine by Thor. Let them believe his lies, it's not like they could do anything if they knew the truth anyway.
Thor sat in his chambers, a place he had spent most of his time these past months, and thought about how his days were all the same. Repeats of previous days, but with a different level of pain. It was strange. The more days that went by, the more the memory of Loki seemed to flicker and fade. It had almost seemed like Loki was never there in the first place. But Thor knew he had been, and he hated to think that his brother wasn't as important or wasn't as memorable as he once thought.
But Thor felt like he had become accustom to not having Loki around, and he had spent many nights telling himself that Loki wasn't that important to him, and that Loki was just another God.
The voice was always in his ear correcting him; making sure he couldn't hide from the truth.
"You may fool everyone else, God of Thunder, but you cannot fool yourself."
The voice rang clear in his mind, almost like it had been spoken out loud.
He didn't know what to do. He had tried telling himself things would change, and that they would get better, but he knew they wouldn't. His life as it was now would be how it was destine to be. Sure, the pain may get thrown back and he might not experience it as much, but it would always hurt, and it would always be there. And Loki ... Loki will never be there again, and Thor would have to live with that for eternity.
"Can you do that, Thor?"
"Yes."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
Thor meant that, too. He knew he could stay alive without Loki because that is what happens. You lose someone, but you move on. But there is a difference between staying alive and living, and Thor didn't know if he could live without Loki by his side.
