Chapter 10 – Asgard
A/N: I hope two chapters in one day makes up for a year without an update, and thank you to everyone that's stuck with me! I will finish it, though it will likely still be slow going for a while. Fortunately I have most of it written in my head; unfortunately, I still have to get it out on the page!
I hope you enjoy this next installment and I'm going to try to be better about posting more frequently!
This chapter starts from Hillevi's point of view then shifts to Ilmr's after the double break.
Loki had devised a way of capturing Einherjar and bringing them back to the castle for Hillevi to spar with. Given how he had managed to secure a dead one several years ago, Hillevi supposed he was freezing them and enchanting the space in which she sparred. How, she was never sure, but she had been sure to make him promise to make her a sorceress of equal measure, when she was grown.
They practiced for half a week before Ilmr caught them.
By now, Loki was bringing two of the Einherjar back from battle. She was defeating one quickly and it was unrealistic to think she would be fighting them one at a time.
Hillevi relished it. They practiced in the largest dungeon cell to mimic the tight space on the battlefield. She heard the approach of quiet steps as she circled the remaining Einherjar but did not halt; her opponent would kill her if given the opportunity.
Ilmr said nothing. Loki inclined his head in greeting but remained silent.
Hillevi feigned right and quickly dodged left, slicing through the creatures arm above the elbow. It gave a horrifying shriek that Loki had assured her none would hear outside of their cell.
It struck back, slashing and jabbing forcefully. Hillevi was glad, not for the first time, for all of her training with Ilmr; she was quick enough on her feet to avoid all but two of the creature's attacks, earning her a gash across her forearm and another more shallow injury on her thigh.
Dodging another blow Hillevi dropped low, sweeping through the creatures legs at the knee and continuing her circular motion, swept its head off as she came around to face it again just as it dropped down.
The creature vanished in a haze of smoke.
Hillevi stood, catching her breath and turned to face her parents. Loki approached, laying his hands on her injuries to heal them.
It was after he stood that Ilmr spoke.
"Well done, Hillevi dear. You are progressing well." She looked to Loki, but spoke still to Hillevi. "How many days have you been practicing?"
Hillevi had not found reason to fear anything in her short life, but she did recognize when Ilmr used that tone it meant a battle of the wills was imminent.
"Half a week, as of yesterday."
Ilmr nodded. Hillevi watched Loki's jaw work but yet he remained silent. For all their willfulness, they were often able to read the other in a way Hillevi did not see others able to.
"When do you expect she will be prepared for battle?"
If Hillevi had ever heard a more baited question, she did not remember. Loki studied his wife carefully for several moments before replying. "Another fortnight."
Ilmr nodded and after some consideration she turned and left without another word.
"For the God of Lies, she catches you in the midst of many."
Loki cracked a smile. "One of the things I appreciate most, about your mother, is her ability to tell my truths. She does not need to be able to read my lies."
Hillevi nodded, ignoring his emphasis on the name she had given Ilmr not a week before. "You intended for her to discover us."
"Yes."
"When will your brother arrive?" Catching Loki off-balance was difficult. She had only ever seen Ilmr do it on a handful of occasions at best.
Loki clicked his tongue, motioning for her to lead the way back to their chambers. "In a handful of days. He will remain for a week to assess the situation and then return with a contingency from Asgard."
Hillevi knew little of Loki's history with his brother. With Thor. Asgard's King. Her tutors, she knew, had been instructed not to teach her of the history of the two, her parents preferring she hear the tale from them. Hillevi had resolved to ask only when necessary.
She had also resolved to visit the Realm Eternal, if ever she had the opportunity. It sounded as a dream. She had seen Midgard and heard the tales of Asgard from both Loki and Ilmr. Loki could never return there, but she knew Ilmr could.
She wasn't sure what to expect from Loki's brother. She had certainly heard many a tale of his prowess and his might. She did not expect his utter silence and stillness.
She should have, Hillevi knew, given the way Loki's lips twitched upwards at the corners at his small bit of mischief. He had not told Thor of their adopted daughter.
Walking in with Ilmr from their practice, it was easy to discern his thoughts at the sight of them.
"You did not tell me that you and the Lady Ilmr had had a child, Brother."
"I am adopted."
Thor startled at her voice.
She could not help the small smile that crossed her face. "They are my parents, to be sure, but I am not of them."
Thor looked back to Loki, whose self-satisfied smile had widened.
"You are lucky then, to have had such parents that you can say so." He was treading carefully, this new-crowned King. He looked to Ilmr then. "And how do you fare, Lady Ilmr?"
She nodded once as she shed her training gear, sparing only a glance for such a mighty guest. "Well, considering a decade of war with beings there seem to be an endless supply of."
"Would that you had contacted me sooner, I would have come. I will battle alongside you for several days before returning to Asgard to amass a contingency."
"I will join you. I would pick my generals myself." Ilmr turned to give Hillevi a small smile. "You will assist me."
Hillevi nodded. Before she could speak, Loki did.
"Fenrir's presence is requisite."
Thor eyed the hound that was likely considerably smaller when last he saw him. "I do not know that he will be necessary. They are members of the House of Odin and my guests besides. No harm will come to either of them."
"I have little faith in a people whose contempt was thinly-veiled before my fall into the abyss. Fenrir will make the journey, or you will return to Asgard alone."
Thor exhaled hard through his nose, thunder rolling in the distance.
Loki laughed. "I remain unmoved, even by so mighty a thing as Mjolnir."
With a curt nod, Thor acquiesced.
She was lounging curled up to Fenrir with a book when Loki wordlessly sat beside her. Ilmr and Thor had gone not half an hour previous to take a meal together and discuss the coming trip to Asgard.
He waited several minutes before speaking. "You have heard some of my tale. It is time you heard the rest."
Setting her book aside, Hillevi sat up straighter.
And so he told her, in a low, quite voice, of growing up in Asgard. The magic his mother fostered, the inadequacy Odin reinforced that drove a wedge between he and Thor as they aged. He told her of a plan gone wrong, gone too far, and the brutal consequences. Of discovering his heritage and the anguish it brought him. How he struggled to accept it as his lot. He glossed over his fall into the abyss, merely mentioning that it happened and what found him there was truly a horror unmatched. He told her of Ilmr's capture, his search for her, and her death. Again, he made brief his mention of her state upon her return to the living.
When he was finished nearly an hour later, Hillevi was silent for a stretch and it seemed he expected as much.
"You think they will poison me against you."
"I think they will try."
"They would not succeed."
At that, Loki smiled and smoothed her hair before speaking again. "You must promise me you will not be without Fenrir."
She nodded.
"They will know you as my kin, and given your age would rightly assume that you are my daughter. There is no love for me there and I will not risk their prejudice falling to you. You must not be without him."
"I will not be."
He nodded.
Loki had not been pleased that Ilmr would travel with Thor to Asgard to hand-pick the generals that would lead Asgard's contingency. Or that she would be bringing Hillevi. Ilmr nonetheless won out and Loki had seen them off with his jaw clenched and the briefest of nods.
Ilmr had given Hillevi one simple directive before the Bifrost hurtled them through the cosmos: observe everything.
Ilmr not only taught her the finer points of battle, but also how to be the Commander Ilmr was.
To best your enemy, she had said, you must know him as completely as possible.
Hillevi had merely nodded. She had heard the stories, though they never named Ilmr. The Wrath of Egil had made a name for herself, though it wasn't her own. Ilmr did not simply best an enemy. She broke them if they came with weapons, and bent them to her will if they came with words.
By now, Hillevi had learned from Ilmr and her siblings that Ilmr did not have the elf-gift. Hillevi did not believe it. Loki might have been the Silvertongue, but Ilmr had a persuasive way that was decidedly uncommon.
Hillevi felt the ground solidify underfoot. Asgard. Three realms now, she had seen. Loki had told her of the Gatekeeper. Of his penetrating gaze and voice that seemed to envelop.
He, too, looked uneasily at Hillevi, as though much like Skuld, he could not see her. It would explain much.
Though they had just set foot in Asgard, Hillevi struggled to remain unimpressed. She felt she was failing spectacularly.
The Observatory was it's own wonder of gold and gears, but the Rainbow Bridge was something else entirely. Thor took the lead in front of she and Ilmr behind their escort. Not a one of their armed guards seemed to notice anything out of the ordinary, though in fairness they seemed distracted by Fenrir's sheer size.
The bridge lit up underfoot with each step. Each step that the guards, Thor, and Ilmr took. They did not notice that Hillevi's steps elicited no light. On the contrary, each step she took dimmed the bright stone underfoot momentarily.
By the time they reached the road to the palace, Hillevi felt abuzz with energy.
"I thought you might have been too excited to sleep well." Ilmr whispered low enough that only elven ears would hear.
Hillevi smiled briefly.
"Come. My father would greet you."
"Happily?" Ilmr gave Thor a wry smile.
"I may be King, Sister, but he is still the Allfather. Only upon his death will such a title belong to me and my tutelage completed."
Ilmr nodded. "It seems you are learning well the art of redirection. Lead the way."
With a brief nod, Thor turned and led them to the throne room, though it seemed as though Ilmr did not need directions.
Once standing at the foot of the dais, Thor stepped off to one side.
"Strange to see you here without a punishment on the horizon, is it not?" Odin gave her a smug smile.
"Oh I'm sure we can procure a transgression or two, Allfather, for old times sake."
Odin gave a bark of laughter at that.
"My son tells me Vanaheim is under siege and requires our aid."
Ilmr nodded. "For quite some time, yes, we have been at war."
"You are here to request aid."
"I am here to hand-pick my generals before leaving with a contingency and your King."
Odin turned his eye for the first time, to Hillevi. "And are you her apprentice?"
"Her daughter."
His singular eye widened. "Her -you" he cleared his throat, glaring at Ilmr. "And when, Lady Laufeyson, were you planning to tell me I had a grandchild?"
Hillevi knew Loki's history from both he and Ilmr. She used utmost effort to conceal her smile at Ilmr's response.
"We adopted her several years ago, when we first returned to Vanaheim. I suspect you would have learned of her eventually."
"I see." He looked a bit uneasy.
"It would seem adoption suited us."
An expression Hillevi could only call restrained fury settled upon the Allfather's face.
"And yet you expect me to grant you access to a contingency of Asgardian warriors?"
"No. I expect your son will. I am here because you requested my presence. I am still wondering what for."
An exasperated sigh escaped Odin and Hillevi wondered at how used to this banter they were.
"He cannot return, I am told."
"No."
"Because of you."
"He cannot return because between myself and Asgard, he chose me." Ilmr paused momentarily. "You do not understand why?"
"I do."
"Again, I wonder at why I am here."
"I was informed of a third member of your party and I desired to see her."
"Strange, you have spent much of the time since we arrived avoiding her." Ilmr took half a step back and towards Hillevi so that she stood behind her.
Hillevi waited, patient, under the Allfather's gaze.
"What is your name?"
"Hillevi."
He stared silently for a stretch. "I am not under any illusion that you know much of me, or that what you know of me is flattering. I would instead enjoy the opportunity, while you are here, to know you better."
It was a pretty trap, Hillevi would grant him that much, and waited an appropriate amount of time before responding to seem as though she were considering it.
"Thank you, Allfather, and if I have the opportunity, I will take it. As it stands, I am here as part of my studies."
Odin's eye flicked briefly to Ilmr before falling again on Hillevi.
"I see. If you have spare time, please seek me out."
Hillevi nodded.
"I would imagine our old chambers are still available for our use."
Thor, apparently the recipient of Ilmr's statement, nodded. "Indeed, Sister! You are no stranger to our halls, please make yourself at home again."
Ilmr gave a brief bow to Thor and Hillevi followed suit. Without affording Odin the same courtesy of genuflecting, Ilmr nodded for Hillevi to follow her, and strode from the hall.
"I didn't imagine he would attempt such a thing at our first meeting." Hillevi sat on the edge of the bed, surveying the chambers Loki and Ilmr had once called home.
"Odin wastes little time. You handled it with aplomb, however." Ilmr stowed her rucksack and lowered herself to one of the settees.
"Do you think I will have to meet with him?"
"No. He may be the Allfather, but I am your mother. I will refuse him the audience."
Hillevi nodded.
"Now, What did you see?"
"Two guards stand watch at the inner gates, four at the outer. Those that patrol the halls of the palace do so at regular intervals: every half hour, from the sound of their footfall. I would estimate two hundred patrol the palace in total, given how many we've seen since we arrived and how large the palace looks."
Ilmr nodded. "Two hundred and fifty. And outside the palace?"
"Outside, there are many in roads and ways out of the city into greener lands, but the Rainbow Bridge is the only way in or out of Asgard. Heimdall sees everything, here or elsewhere. But he doesn't see me. He gave me the same uneasy look Skuld does. And the Bridge, as you know, I absorbed some of its energy." She paused, trying her best not to fidget at the reminder of the buzz under her skin. "May we spar?"
"In here." At Hillevi's look, she continued. "The Gatekeeper cannot see you. I do not know what other beings that can see all cannot see you. The fewer minds that think on you, the more likely you are to be a surprise to our enemy when she finally meets you."
Hillevi nodded, satisfied, and rose to help move furniture out of the way.
After breaking their fast on their first day in Asgard, Thor requested an audience with Hillevi. Ilmr merely nodded, and dismissed them from her sight as she poured over military records of Asgard's standing army.
Hillevi followed Thor's hulking form, down hallways and around corners and past beautiful, intricate stained-glass windows.
He showed her the library first. For all his bumbling and volume, he was perceptive. He was right to think she would have loved the place.
"There are more books here than I have ever seen."
He laughed, quietly somehow. "Lady I- your mother had the same reaction when she first saw our collection and I had a feeling you too would enjoy it. Between she and my brother you must have quite the appetite for knowledge."
Hillevi merely hummed in agreement, too taken with the staggering number of books.
He gave her several minutes to look around before he spoke again.
"Hillevi, what do you know of Loki's life?"
She regarded him for several moments. "Much."
Thor loosed a rather unexpected laugh. "The wit of my brother with the temperance of his wife. You are already a force to reckon with, I am sure."
She nodded, but offered nothing else.
He eased himself onto one of the oversized chairs, motioning with a hand to the empty one beside his. Once she had settled, he spoke again.
"We were not always so distant, he and I. As we grew our interests differed but we were always close."
"What happened?" She knew already, from Loki's account, but she had an interest in what Thor would say for himself.
"I was not always supportive. He was not always willing to compromise. The gap grew. I believe Ilmr was the first person he felt comfortable around in some time. He was less reticent and was becoming more affectionate. Then he fell." Thor looked troubled.
This part Hillevi was especially interested in. Loki had told her of it, but only some.
"The abyss."
"Even so, little sister. We thought him dead. When he returned, he was not himself, not even a shade of the man he was on even his darkest days."
Thor did not seem to have noticed the nickname, and he was too poor a liar for Hillevi to have missed it if it were a tactic of some kind. It endeared him, even marginally, to her in a way she hadn't anticipated.
"He sounds to be much more the man he was before his fall."
"I suspect that was much the doing of Ilmr and yourself."
"You believe it is an act."
Thor glanced at her too quickly to seem anything but caught unawares.
"Why?"
"He has twice deceived me to think him dead. He had brought war and death to a realm I love. There was a time I would have believed him earnest. Now I can only doubt and have patience while I wait for his plot to reveal itself." He sighed, giving her a sad smile. "When it happens, you have a place here, should you wish it."
"What do you imagine he plots?" A slight widening of the eyes was too subtle too be noticed, but enough to add an air of naiveté.
"He yearns for the throne of Asgard. He wishes to prove his worth."
Hillevi furrowed her brow. Thor had to know of Loki's choice. The account she had been told of how he traveled to Midgard from Helheim ensured Heimdall knew of the events in Hel.
"He cannot gain the throne here. You know as much."
"He will find a way."
She twisted her lips to one side. "He might think to risk himself, but not her. He has given too much to do such a thing."
Thor regarded her quietly for a stretch, giving a small nod after a time. "I hope you are right, for Ilmr's sake and his."
Hillevi nodded. Thor may have claimed his loyalty and trust in his brother were no more, but he spoke more from a place of suspicion and hope than utter distrust and despair.
It was enough. If need be, it could be exploited, she knew. Loki would never request Thor's aid, but that was not to say she or Ilmr would not. Thor had a great love for Ilmr, and apparently, some amount of affection for Hillevi.
It was enough.
...
"I have not seen Jane, is she here?" the woman who set so much in motion was one Ilmr wished she had had a chance to speak with; the only words they had exchanged were mere pleasantries and then orders when the Dark Elves arrived nearly a decade previous.
Thor shook his head. "No. She is in Midgard." He beamed, then. "She has accepted my proposal and prepares to make Asgard her new home."
It was after dinner on their third day in Asgard and she and Hillevi had retired to Thor's antechamber.
Ilmr raised her eyebrows. "I am surprised Odin has agreed to it."
Thor gave a wily smile that reminded Ilmr so much of Loki's mischief that she felt a stab of grief at Frigga's loss. She had surely been the one to foster their play.
"He had not necessarily given his blessing. He was inclined to agree because I gave him no other option. Either we would be wed with his approval and remain in Asgard, or he would refuse and I would return to Midgard."
Ilmr nodded. It seemed Thor's patience for Odin's demands was wearing thin.
"We will return to Vanaheim in three days' time. I assume you have alerted Asgard's forces to report tomorrow morning to the arena for selection."
Thor nodded. "Indeed. I assume you have already chosen your generals."
Ilmr smiled. "I have several in mind. One whom I will be seeing shortly." She looked to Hillevi, then. "If you wish it, you may remain with Thor while I am on this errand."
She nodded, and Ilmr rose.
"Then I will see you in our chambers in a short time." She was glad once again that she had brought Fenrir. Vidar might have been a more serious creature, but Fenrir was more protective of Hillevi.
Taking her leave of them, Ilmr made her way down into the market square and into a quiet tavern. She had forgotten how long the trip from the palace could take on foot and was nearly late.
She slid into the seat across from her companion.
"My apologies, I've nearly forgotten how long it can take to shoulder through the crowds." She was not sure how she would be received and for the first time in many years, Ilmr waited with anticipation for a reply.
"You have been away for quite some time. I wondered if you'd remember this place at all." Sif gave a wary smile.
"We didn't come often, only after visiting the smith, usually."
"You said you wanted to speak to me. I admit, I was as curious as I was wary."
"I would ask you to fight alongside me again. War has come to Vanaheim, brought by Mistress Death herself, and if I may choose my generals myself, I would have no one before you."
"Flattery will not help."
Ilmr gave a small smile. "Fortunately, I have not felt the need for such a thing."
"Why would I help you?" She was hurt, more than anything, Ilmr could hear as much.
"Because I am your friend."
"My friend? A friend does not do what you have done. When last I saw you, you had nearly died thanks to that snake, and yet you chose him over us. You still remain at his side."
"If I thought you a lesser friend to Thor, I would think you did not know the story. I know you do. I know he told you of what happened to me."
"And the fault of it is not yours. It is his. And yet you still call him husband. I thought you wiser. I will not follow a fool making play she is Commander."
"I call him husband because of what he gave up to bring me back from death and from madness. Your pride is in your loyalty, Sif. My pride too is a bedfellow of loyalty."
Sif hesitated several moments. "I still will not follow a fool."
"Then I will not further waste your time."
"You will not see reason?" Sif's question halted Ilmr's slide from the bench.
"It is me she's after, Sif."
She left her then, weaving back through the throngs of people in the marketplace and back up towards the palace.
"Did she agree?" Hillevi looked up from her book upon hearing Ilmr's entrance.
"No, my dear, she will not." Ilmr shrugged off the riding cloak she had worn and headed for the washroom. "We can discuss more once I'm out of the bath, if you wish."
She only half listened to hear Hillevi's reply. It had been years -since she had thought Loki dead- that she felt an uncomfortable welling behind her eyes.
Sif had been her first friend in centuries, and certainly the first who had shared her interests so intensely as a woman.
It brought Ilmr a sadness she hadn't expected. She would not ask Thor to require Sif's presence, but she would nonetheless sorely miss her prowess in battle and her direct approach.
She did not linger long in the bath and once she had settled on one of the settees, Hillevi spoke.
"Why does she refuse?"
Hillevi knew of the friendship between Ilmr and Sif and had heard of their time battling together in Nidavelir.
Ilmr sighed. "Because she is hurt and she fears for me."
With brow furrowed, Hillevi persisted. "That does not follow. Would she then not want to join our cause?"
"She is hurt that it has been so long since we last spoke. She fears for me because I still remain with Loki and she distrusts him."
As Ilmr suspected, a cross look blanketed Hillevi's features briefly. "Does she not know what has happened?"
"She does. Sif is too close a friend to Thor to be ignorant of the tale. Hillevi, she -and many others- have always been wary of Loki. Outright distrustful and malicious, even. She is not alone and though I find their treatment of him abhorrent, little will be done to change it. Not after our failure in Jotunheim."
Though her expression remained blank, Ilmr could see Hillevi's slight shifting, as though she could wriggle out of her frustration.
"Then she is no friend."
At that, Ilmr smiled. "She is a true friend." Ilmr held up a hand to stop Hillevi's retort. "She acts as she does out of concern for me. And I think she may change her mind about joining us. Sif is not one to turn down a battle."
As suspected, when Ilmr and Hillevi met Thor in the arena, she saw Sif standing front and center with a dozen others being considered for general positions in Asgard's contingency.
She had not expected to see Birger or Asmund present, but they were. She had requested them, but did not expect them, given the lack of love the realm had for Loki and her intimate association with him.
She surveyed the twelve would-be generals before her. She had requested only ten. Two others had either expressed interest or Thor had hand-picked them.
Asgard's contingency would be considerable, but not so large as to need more than half of those before her.
Hillevi stood several paces behind her, Fenrir seated next to her, far more serious a presence than was his wont.
After several minutes Ilmr nodded, glancing to Thor only briefly before speaking to the warriors before her.
"Einar, Birger, Halstein, Asmund, Ragnarr."
Stepping forward they bowed slightly to Ilmr and Thor before standing aside.
She approached Sif then, standing close enough to keep their conversation from all but Hillevi.
"I thought you would not follow a fool into battle."
Sif's lips twitched slightly but her face was otherwise masked. "I have followed Thor on far more foolish errands than this."
Ilmr nodded. "And in this endeavor you would follow orders not only from myself, but from both of Frigga's sons?"
An almost imperceptible jaw clench and a stretch of several moments. "Yes."
"When we are finished here today, I would ask that you seek me out in my former chambers."
Sif nodded.
With that, Ilmr stepped back, nodding to Thor before speaking aloud for those remaining before her to hear. "And the Lady Sif."
It did not take long after for the chosen generals, with the signal from Ilmr, to choose their battalions from those in the arena.
Predictably, Sif chose Fandral and Volstagg to fight alongside her. They were only too happy to join her on their journey where no doubt Hogun would be waiting for them in Vanaheim.
"We will leave for Vanaheim tomorrow at midday, Sister. I will alert Heimdall to prepare for another Bifrost site on the battlefield." Thor fell in step beside her as they made their way back into the palace from the arena.
"No."
Thor furrowed his brow. "No?"
Ilmr lowered her voice. "They are able to teleport, as Loki does. It would be impossible to keep the site secure. After dawn each day we can send the wounded back for healing, but it would be impossible in the midst of battle."
Thor sobered, and turned towards the armory.