Hi, everybody. Thank you for your patience. I appreciate your support, and I hope you enjoy this last chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it (in fact, it took me so long to publish, because I was afraid of another story finished; it's always a little bit like saying good-bye to friends.)

Disclaimer: I do not own Thor, Loki, Odin or any other characters in this story. This fanfic is done for the love of trickster deities, and I do not make money from it.


+++Chapter 9: Birds of a Feather+++

A harpy was not built for flight shows. It could flutter. It could sail. It could stay airborne.

That was about all.

Loki clung with both hands to the feathery body.

'Listen to me!' he screamed.

' – doomed,' screeched the harpy. 'I always said we were! That's what comes from boys making eyes at girls they should not - '

'Shut up and listen! I want you to - '

'Aaargh! Don't shift your weight! You're too heavy!'

' - want you to fly low over that monster and – '

'Aaargh! Stop kicking me!'

Loki gave up trying to communicate with the hysteric creature. He had spotted Thor racing on a horse in the street below them and called, 'Thor! Up here!'

'Loki,' screamed Thor, 'Get the lady, while I'll - ' He pointed the Mjolnir forward, and the gesture comprised any lengthy explanation of what was to follow.

Loki closed his legs around his mount, urging it to accelerate.

'Aar- '

'If you say "Aargh" one more time, I'll crush your ribs! Go faster!' Desperate, Loki leaned forward, grabbed the stubby wings and held them steady. The harpy screamed as they went into a nosedive. Loki told himself that he knew what he was doing. He had a gift for piloting. A natural feel for aerodynamics and how to use them. It was something the harpy, although an air-bound creature by birth, seemed to lack utterly.

Loki steered the panicky creature in a descent that would make them sweep past the fairyphant at minimum distance.

The harpy's incessant screech had alerted the fairies to their pursuer. They chattered in their own language and got their weapons ready. Angrboda, who was seated among them with her feet tied and arms bound to her body, watched with interest: Going at breakneck speed, the harpy proved a difficult aim even for the skills of the fairy. The few arrows that got close enough to cause trouble, Loki snatched cleanly out of the air. He was quick, Angrboda had to grant him that. But she had a few tricks of her own to add to this mission...

Morphing ever so slightly the shape of her arms and feet, she started to wriggle out of her ties.

Loki shouted her name and held out his hand.

Angrboda got to her feet. As the fairies turned to her, she grew a blade of ice and hit the nearest fairy so hard her weapon shattered. The next moment, Loki was right above her. Angrboda grabbed his outstretched hand and was lifted off the beast's back.

Instantly, the harpy started to spin. Loki gave the wing he still clutched a final tug, jerking them hard to the left, away from the edge of the bridge.

'Jump,' he shouted, and they did, just before the harpy crashed. Angrboda rolled over several times, clutching her wounded stomach. She had started to heal it, of course, but she'd rather taken a pass on physical exercise for a couple of hours...

Loki pulled her up by her elbow, 'Run!'

She could see, why: The fairyphant was heading for them, its massive hooves pounding menacingly on the iridescent bridge.

'A fairyphant won't crush people,' Angrboda said.

'No. But the Mjolnir will.' Loki started to pull her along. He had timed their crash well and went straight for a metal hook stuck in the rainbow bridge and a length of rope coiled beside it.

'What in the nine realms - ?' Angrboda began.

'I, too, am surprised that Heimdall hasn't removed this evidence of my brother's latest stunt.' Loki picked up the rope and looped it tightly around his arm. 'Delighted, even.'

Angrboda shook her head, 'I'm not jumping into that abyss.'

'My brother considers it fun.' Loki grabbed her around the waist and pulled her close. 'And speaking of Thor -'

Angrboda caught a glimpse of a rider emerging from the city of Asgard and entering the bridge. Loki jumped and pulled her along, over the edge of the Bifrost. There was the sickening experience of falling, the dark maelstroms of the river rushing up – then they jerked to a halt.

Loki gave a sharp gasp that sounded almost surprised. Angrboda realized that she had wrapped her arms around his neck. His strained, ragged breathing wheezed beside her ear. The next moment, all sounds were drowned out by an ear-deafening thunderclap. The velvet darkness of the starry void turned into the blinding flare of a sunlit desert. The black waters below were radiant with the reflection of the great bolt of lightning that had struck the rainbow bridge above.

'There,' said Loki, his teeth clenched, 'No "happy-ever-after" for those traitors.'

'Let's make sure there's one for us,' Angrboda said sensibly. 'Look out. Cold.' Not waiting for his response, she froze Loki's hand to the rope, their only lifeline back to the safety of the bridge. Then, she froze her own hands behind his neck so that she, too, could not let go when her strength gave out.

Loki shuddered as the thick blue ice encased his arm and the cold penetrated his neck. Angrboda watched him closely, expecting him to faint again. But when she was done, he still returned her gaze.

'You're doing better this time,' she observed, feeling oddly satisfied.

'It's not that bad when it comes with a warning.' He tried to shrug, but the nonchalant gesture turned into a painful wince.

'Breaking your fall with an inelastic rope must snap something,' Angrboda said reasonably. 'What was it?'

'I appreciate your unemotional approach.' Loki grimaced. 'I think, I dislodged my shoulder when I took our combined weight.'

'That's it? Well, just for the record: I got myself a sword-sized hole in my stomach, running errands for you.'

'How did you survive, anyway?' Loki asked coolly. 'Did you shape-shift your heart an inch to the left?'

'To the right, and up. The fairy was kind enough to point his sword where he would strike. - But I threw you against the Destroyer's metal grate and that didn't dislodge anything,' Angrboda pointed out.

'You cracked my cheekbone,' Loki said, annoyed.

'Great. So you're holding that against me now?' Angrboda was irritated. 'Next, you'll be making a scene because I keesed that fairy in Thor's room - '

'Wait a second! What do you mean you kissed that fairy?'

'You didn't know?'

'Well, you told me only now, didn't you?'

'Putting your lips to a victim's mouth is a common way to break a fairy's spell on them. I thought you knew.'

'She kissed him,' Loki mused, 'Just like that.'

'What's problem? You're the one who taught me there's no danger in keesing around here. Didn't you?'

'But you thought he was Thor, didn't you?'

'Well, yes? So?'

'So you would've kissed my brother.' Loki drew a deep breath, 'You wily jade, no doubt you enjoyed your paltry cabals - '

'Oh dear, my sweet.' Angrboda rolled her eyes, as if to say "I don't believe this". 'I didn't know you'd be jealous. We've got a deal.'

'Our deal certainly doesn't include your walking around and kissing my brother first thing that happens,' Loki snapped. 'And I'm not jealous. I – I merely condemn the infamy of your ways, cold-blooded siren -' He couldn't go on, too many curses were coming to him too fast and choking him.

A short silence ensued, fraught with anger and a growing sense of... something else.

'Correct me, if I'm wrong,' Angrboda said into the quiet. 'But it seems we're dangling from the rainbow bridge over a deadly water and, ultimately, even deadlier void. We are both wounded, and frozen to each other, and fighting over whether or not I was allowed to touch you brother's lips with mine when we both agreed that this is nothing personal and all we have is a stupid deal.' She craned her neck to see the horizon. 'I mean, seriously, can it get any more bizarre?'

A shadow fell on them: plump body, long neck, small head. It drew a deep, audible breath.

'A harpy could sit on the edge of the rainbow bridge above and give us a piece of its mind,' said Loki.


Thor reached the sad, smoking remains of the fairyphant and looked about in search of his brother. There was no trace of Loki or the lady. Only a harpy sitting on the very edge of the bridge, shouting flowery abuse at the river below.

Thor stepped up to it and a happy gleam came into his blue eyes. 'There you are, brother. I was worried where you might have disappeared. Lady Angrboda, I hope you are well?'

He did not wait for an answer but grabbed at the rope and effortlessly pulled them both up. As soon as Loki felt the solid bridge under him, he wriggled to get all the way back to safety.

Angrboda, however, seemed to faint on the spot. But since her arms were caught in a thick layer of ice around Loki's neck, she could not sink to the ground. Surprised, Loki sat back down and supported her head to peer in her face.

'How bad is she?' asked Thor.

Loki gazed at the thin line of blue showing under the eyelids: Angrboda's eyes had not rolled up in her head.

Bad, my brother? She's clever, the little minx, so clever.

Loki continued to support the lady with one hand and pulled the other that was still frozen to the rope closer to his body. 'I need to work a spell to remove the ice. But it will take time; I am weakened.'

'The king is on his way.' Unnoticed, Heimdall had stepped beside Thor. The guardian looked untypically strained. His eyes were bloodshot, and his dark skin had an almost ashen hue. He looked as if a knave's shove could send him stumbling over the edge. Loki had already given the matter some thought and suspected that the fairies's sleeping spell must have had a devastating effect on someone whose nature it was to be ever-alert. Probably the reason why Heimdall had not come to their rescue earlier.

'This is good news, brother,' said Thor. 'Father will help you break that Jotun magic.'

Loki nodded and cradled Angrboda against his body, pretending to hold her carefully.

'We're running out of time,' she hissed into his ear. 'I've done my part of our bargain. Now, do yours.'

'Listen closely.' Loki's mouth brushed against her hair so that the others could not see his lips moving. 'As we sat under that willow, you saw the mountain range to the south? The twin peaks that looked like the horns of a giant bull? There's a secret passage, no much more than a crack, about halfway down from the top of the left peak...' Loki whispered quickly, purposefully, and Angrboda listened, lying in his arm like a lifeless doll.

She was still busy memorizing the last of Loki's instructions, when she felt the strong magical presence of King Odin, who did not hesitate to tamper with her ice spell. Seconds later, Loki's grip on her was loosened, as someone – the golden-eyed spy, by the feel of it – gently removed her arms from his neck.

Thor told his brother (not without sympathy) that it was enough, that Loki had to let go of her now, literally and metaphorically speaking. This episode had to come to an end, it was over.

Loki replied that it was an interesting experience, Thor had been absolutely right. (He seemed to get up and brush down his clothes.) But he agreed: Now it was time to rid Asgard of traitors and monsters alike.

'What do you suggest that we do with ambassador?' asked Odin. It was a test, of course, and one which Loki passed with smug ease.

'Enough harm has been done to her in Asgard as it is,' he said, looking down at her by the sound of his voice. 'King Laufey cannot take friendly to his emissary being stabbed in the House of Odin, and neither will the other realms approve. I suggest therefore that the Jotuns be released from arrest with immediate effect and return to Jotunheim. Keeping them would only serve as fuel for Asgard's critics. It grieves me to say it, but recent events have surely provided them with more than enough material to sharpen their quills and whet their tongues on.'

'Wisely spoken, my son. It shall be done as you advise,' said Odin. And if he doubted his younger son's sincerity, his suspicion was even more dispelled when Loki turned his attention to the charred fairyphant, praising Thor for his masterful strike and instructing the guards on how to efficiently push the mess into the river.

Angrboda was lifted on to something that felt like a stretcher and carried away.

She did not see Loki again.

She was taken to her comrades who did a good job expressing their shock and concern over a wound that was already half-closed and that they pretended bravely they could deal with without the assistance of Asgardian healers. They were told to get their things and prepare to leave for Jotunheim on the same evening. But they had no reason for delaying and departed within the hour.

Reyk and the other warriors would return a few days later, through the secret passages in the mountains that Loki had described to Angrboda as her payment for assisting him when Asgard was in danger.

But the mission ended in disaster; none of the party returned.

It was Thor who came to Jotunheim to challenge King Laufey for the assault. Loki, of course, was with him. Angrboda's palace was a structure of giant ice needles near King Laufey's court, hollowed out by magic and fire to create living space. From her window in the highest spire of her home, she caught a glimpse of the little band of Asgardians running from a giant ice monster.

Then, King Odin appeared and took his sons and their friends back to Asgard.

Intelligence related that the coronation had been suspended. Thor was not yet king.

Good for Loki, Angrboda mused as she sat before her mirror of polished ice and studied the pattern of lines on her blue face. Still, what she had said held true: It was Thor's game. If Odin ever decided to vacate his throne, it would not be Loki who...

There was a noise in the entrance hall. It was several flights of steps down at the very bottom of the ice structure, but the walls, smooth and shiny like glass, reflected sounds quite well. Angrboda listened idly as Swea called out, demanding the visitor's name and business.

'The king of Asgard,' was the reply. 'Let me in, you miserable wretch!'

It was the voice rather than the order or insult that sent a tingling wave of shock through all of Angrboda's body. All power seemed to drain from her limbs, and heat crept up into her face. Her usually blood red eyes shone almost the color of tangerine, as she hurriedly threw on Asgardian form like a lady at the Allfather's court would put on a gown to cover her nakedness.

'My lady,' Swea sounded angry, delighted, scared, all at once. 'My lady!'

Feet on the ice stairs, taking three steps at once.

Angurboda threw the door wide, 'Sweet Inno- '

'Don't call me that!' Loki – a dark, angry Loki - forced her back into the room. He grabbed her by the elbow, turned her around and pushed her forcefully against the wall. 'Never call me that again. I know everything!'

She never once doubted what he was talking about, and she would not let him see her heart jump at the news.

'Are you sure, I mean, this time? After all, you spent your entire life thinking you knew all there was to know.' With her cheek against the ice wall, Angrboda craned her neck to smirk at him. And to signal Swea who stood in the doorway that she could handle it. Close the door, that's a good maid. 'But aren't you a little careless to stroll into this place? What if Laufey learns of your visit?'

'I've talked to him.'

'You did? What if Odin learns - '

Loki did not release her from his iron grip, 'Thor is gone.'

'Gone?' Angrboda frowned.

'Exiled, on Earth. Odin has gone into Odinsleep. I am the King of Asgard.'

'And Laufey's lost son,' she muttered.

He pushed her, sending her staggering across the room. Catching hold of her again, he threw her on her desk - or rather, her desk-shaped block of ice - and pinned her wrists to the smooth surface. Gosh, he really was hopping mad, wasn't he?

Little snowbunny...

'Have you told anyone of my secret?'

'Why would I? Such information is worth kingdoms... I've heard no offer, so far.' Angrboda brought up her knee and kicked him hard in the stomach. As he doubled over, she jumped at him and kneed him again. Grabbing hold of his hair, she started to tug his head this way and that. He sacrificed a thick strand of hair to free himself and seized her wrists, 'Say I'm your king.'

She pouted, 'You're my cousin.'

'Your king! Say it! Now!'

'My little - '

'SAY IT!' he screamed, madly.

'My king.' She shrugged, wiping spittle off her face. Words came cheap. He could have as many as he wanted. She, on the other hand, was growing bored standing in the middle of the room and started to move toward her bed. They ended up struggling again, although not as violently as before. Eventually, Angrboda was on her back, with Loki pinning her down again.

'Turn into your true form,' he commanded her harshly, almost breathless. 'I want to see the monster inside.'

Angrboda gave him the blue skin and the red eyes. Not the size. She liked her mates to be taller than herself.

'And you, my king?' she challenged him. 'Won't you grant me a glimpse of your true form, too?'

'This is my true form,' he screamed, enraged.

And it was.

Angrboda realized it with surprise. She had been forced to prematurely break up their last encounter when his Asgardian mask started to slip. Now, there seemed no risk of that, even as their contact became more intense than ever.

During the next half hour, Angrboda tested him in all ways that she knew how – his magic, his conviction, his whatever it was that now bound the Asgardian looks to his Jotun body.

At first, Loki was mumbling expletives, hanging on to his initial intention to humiliate and subdue her. However, before long she had him repeating her name over and over, like a plea, a pet name, a song of praise. The Asgardian mask, the black hair and green eyes, had truly become his face.

Finally, Angboda looked up at him and realized that she was done testing and scheming - but still not finished wanting more of the man, be he Jotun, or Asgardian, or any other species of the nine worlds and beyond.

'Nice try.' Loki wanted to mock her, but he looked tousled, and a little dazed, and he spoke with difficulty. 'But your plan's bound to fail. You can't kill me like this.'

She tackled him with renewed vigor.

'Shut up, and die!'


Later, they lay on Angrboda's bed that was a real wooden frame and had the comfort of a couple of blankets and furs. Angrboda rested on her stomach. Loki traced with his forefinger the skin patterns on her naked back. Feeling pleasantly exhausted, he could not have moved, if his plans for Asgard had depended on it.

Angrboda was just telling him, 'When I first met you, I thought you were a Jotun spy who had somehow managed to take the prince's place. My approach nearly blew the whole thing. After all, I more or less strolled up to you telling you, "Hello, fellow Jotun, did you ever notice you're living a lie?" No wonder, the queen was mad at me.'

'I cannot explain to myself why I did not grow suspicious earlier. Much earlier.' Loki moved his hand over his brow, as if he could catch the thoughts that filled his head like fluttering dark bats. 'So many events of my life, little episodes, many of them almost forgotten... they just fell into place.'

'What was the final clue? What made you go to the vault and touch the casket?'

'A Jotun warrior grabbed my arm, trying to freeze it. It didn't work.'

Angrboda smiled smugly. 'Of course not.'

'Things began to make sense then. Things you had said. And done, without seeming to think twice about what it would do to an Asgardian. So I figured that I should go and try what you told me by your life not to do. I thought that something was bound to happen, if I touched the casket. And it did.'

'I'm a recognized monster.' She rested her cheek on her hand and blinked up at him, 'Maybe I didn't think twice before I froze or struck you, and you're just lucky to be still alive. Ever thought of that?'

'I do not rely on fortune. Not anymore. That's why I have come to inform you: Jotunheim may become a dangerous place to be. You may wish to move even before the sinking sun has touched the mountains in the west.'

'I'll be gone by afternoon,' she promised, giving him a sly look. 'And I won't ask.'

'No, of course not. I'd not have bothered to warn you, if I had expected to be questioned.' He stretched languidly, 'Now, go over and open that curtain, if you please.'

'Arrrgh,' said the leather curtain before the window and fell silent, scared by its own boldness.

Angrboda padded over and flicked back the heavy leather, 'How did you get in?'

'The door. It slipped in while we were busy.' Loki was visibly pleased that he had beaten her to sensing the harpy sneaking up on them. 'I consider it high treason, spying on the King of Asgard. You may kill it. Slowly and creatively. Show me how you use that ice of yours. I want to learn everything about Jotun powers and what you can do.'

Smiling evilly, Angrboda grew a long, thin icicle from her hand.

'Wait, wait, wait a minute,' squeaked the harpy. 'I've just arrived, more or less. There is certainly no reason to jump the crossbow - '

'Birds of a feather stick together.' Angrboda moved forward, forcing the harpy to scurry backward. 'Have you ever watched a cat training its young in the art of hunting?'

Loki pulled a white fur around his shoulders, making a point of making himself comfortable. He was aware that he did it for the show, not for the warmth. Because he was a monster in the same way that Angrboda was a monster, and the fire in their hearts burned blue with frost, and their minds were capricious things, and neither the comfort of fur, nor the consuming passion of their love-making or nagging whispers of royal upbringing could change that.

Or save the harpy, who was eyeing the window with a nervous tick on its withered crone's face. It would escape. But unless it mustered the courage to jump off the high spire, it would certainly shed feathers.

Angrboda locked eyes with him, awaiting his signal.

Birds of a feather, Loki thought, feeling for one brief instant out of his depths, almost scared.

In choosing to become her lover, he had acknowledged his heritage.

If he accepted the truth of his nature now, his world would never be the same again.

'I'm watching,' he said, stretching his legs out comfortably. 'Begin.'

+++ The End+++