He let go of her as soon as they arrived, as if he couldn't stand touching her, a change from mere minutes ago.
Reagan couldn't stop her head turning so she could look in every direction as she took in the portal's structure and its guardian, amber eyes aware of everything and everyone, forever watching. She was vaguely aware of the conversation going on around her between Loki and…Heimdall, that was his name, the Guardian of the Bifrost.
"You return, son of Laufey. With your mortal companion."
"A brief respite. What of the enemy we face?"
"I have seen his face but know not where he resides. He is biding his time, stuck between letting you accomplish the task for him and the doubt that New York created in your abilities to do such. It is rare an enemy escapes my gaze."
She felt a hand on her elbow, bringing her out of her awe enough to stand straight and regain her senses. Her tongue felt as loose as it was that night in her kitchen, when she first saw Loki in his armor, the pauldron bearing the wolf Fenrir, but she held it fast, for fear of spilling her guts instead of words.
"Welcome to Asgard, Reagan Caldwell." She snapped out of her awe upon the realization Heimdall was addressing her. "Although it is not your first time here."
She settled for a bow from the waist with a hand on her heart, a gesture she had seen Loki do a few times, before thanking the gatekeeper for his kindness and the safe passage into Asgard. He did know of their trip to Sigyn's, then. Of course he did. He isn't a Gatekeeper for nothing, she mused.
Loki said nothing to Heimdall but waited patiently at the edge of the Bifrost for her to catch her bearings again. They walked side by side in silence, save for the rushing of the waterfall into the abyss and their footsteps clicking on the Bifrost.
"So…this is…the rest of Asgard?"
Everything beyond the portal was radiant, gold and glimmering and opulent. If any human back in the first encounter with Asgardians had ever seen their homeworld, she had little doubt they would consider it a heavenly space.
She paused and turned to look into the vast space beyond the portal, stars glistening and flickering in volumes she had never seen back on Earth. One of those stars was Midgard, turning on without her.
Reagan managed to pull herself out of her awe long enough to notice two guards approach on horseback, a shimmering metallic sound resonated every time the beasts' hooves touched the Bifrost. Behind them, a small squad of foot soldiers followed. The ones on horseback pulled to a harsh halt in front of her and Loki, who bore a smile as thin as his patience for the royal guards' appearances.
"Oh, good, a royal escort." He remarked, raising his chin as he spoke, the silent question for a reason hanging in the air.
"Loki Laufeyson, by order of the Allfather, we place you under arrest." One of the guards on horseback motioned towards the four foot soldiers to bind Lok's wrists.
Reagan glanced at Loki as he passively allowed himself to be restrained with his arms in front of him, the manacles attached by a very short, solid rod, preventing the choking of a guard or hostage. She frowned as she realized he wasn't fighting with them, rather letting them do they needed. Wasn't he free and serving his penance in the search for the sword? Why would the Allfather want him restrained?
"Under what charge?" She asked incredulously.
"Removing the great wolf Fenrir from his prison and causing danger to the mortals on Midgard." The other cavalier said, as if the answer was clear as day. He gestured and the foot soldiers created a formation around Loki, his face still impassive as stone as they began their journey to the palace.
Damn him. Of course this would happen.
One of the riders offered an arm to Reagan, clearly offering her an option of riding rather than walking. Eying the guard warily, she politely declined and gave preference to walking, instead choosing to keep pace with the squad.
She had trekked through multiple realms twice now; she highly doubted a few more miles would kill her.
Walking gave her time to admire the architecture as they made their way to the palace, catching the eye of many of the onlookers they passed by, words flying off hidden lips to interested ears. Part of her was uneasy with this much attention, yet she also wondered how long it had been since the people of Asgard had seen their fallen Prince.
Although the way the light was bouncing off the golden walls and floor of the throne room was starting to mess with her eyes, making it hard to look at anything too long. Or perhaps that was the magic she was seeing, thick shimmering mist reflecting everything it touched in distorted, wibbled images.
Did no one else notice it?
Their party halted in front of a large gold dais, upon which a large throne sat, swags of fabric moving gently with the breeze that came through windows behind the throne. A man in golden armor—what was it with Asgardians and gold, exactly? Reagan thought—held a staff in one hand, his other gripping the arm of the throne. His eye patch matched his armor, a gold plate covering the eye socket, now empty from his deal to drink from Ymir's well. To the man's left was a woman—Frigga, Reagan recalled—slightly younger than the Allfather, dressed in a delicate, detailed dress, her blonde hair braided and pinned back. She had a motherly face, her gentleness a match for Odin's aggressive appearance. Reagan met the woman's eyes and a warm smile crossed Frigga's lips.
Reagan was held back by a pair of spears crossing in front of her as Loki was brought forward and pushed onto his knees at the bottom of the stairs of the throne. In that single, ice-cold eye, she swore she saw the look of exasperation from the Allfather before it was replaced with duty.
"Loki Laufeyson, you are accused of unfettering the wolf Fenrir, the creature known to be a danger to the Aesir, and unleashing him on Midgard. You put mortals in danger and further damaged the secrecy between our Realm and theirs," Odin's voice was loud for his age, the sound echoing throughout the empty chamber. "What say you?"
"Fenrir was a necessity to determine if my lead was correct. It was. I put him back. No one was harmed." Reagan couldn't see his face, but she had a feeling he wore a smirk across his scarred lips.
"There were other ways."
"It was for the greater good. I spent too long looking for the mortal as it was, Fenrir's nose is the greatest in all the Realms to sniff out magical energy. Was I supposed to wait until a crisis to figure out who was meant to take the sword, wait until the enemy had it before stepping in?" She watched Loki rise, his chains clattering as he stood. "I saved more people in the long run."
"And what of the mortals who saw him?"
Loki shrugged. "So they add the incident to the conspiracy surrounding superheroes and other worlds. It's not as though those ideas weren't there prior to this."
Reagan's eyes darted between Loki's back and the Allfather, whose face was calm but hand wrung the staff handle, processing the logic. He had told her one night of Thor's banishment, how the Allfather had a temper to be reckoned with when they were younger, how he had flinched at the shouting before Thor was thrown to Midgard. Back when Loki was still an Odinson.
Odin pointed towards her and the guards moved their spears. "This is she?"
"Yes, Allfather." Loki glanced over his shoulder at her, giving a small jerk of his head for her to step forward.
Reagan walked towards the throne and stood beside Loki, aware of how dirty and tired both of them appeared-grey was not a good color to hide dirt and sweat, her hair a tangled, matted mess tied back. She went down on her left knee, as Loki had been forced to do, but stayed there, acutely aware of her position and ability to disrespect those who were once gods.
"What is your name, child?
Child. No one had called her a child since she was eight.
"Reagan Caldwell…Your Majesty," she struggled to find a proper term to use to address him, trying to remember what little she had from pop culture to refer to royalty.
"You may stand, mortal. You were the one chased by the abominable creature, yes?"
"Yes, sir." She stood, adjusting her tunic and standing with her hands clasped in front of her.
She felt the air shift around her and heard something call out to her magic, which pooled towards her hands and made them glow in a golden shimmer.
"Gróa did a fine job on her blessings. And the nature of this magic…I can understand the hesitation. It's diluted, tainted by time." The Allfather paused, his brow furrowing in thought. "Few would recognize it, but Fenrir is old enough to know the smell of old magic."
Reagan glanced up at Loki, who was holding back a satisfied expression as best he could, before turning her attention back to the throne. Odin sighed and leaned back into the throne before speaking.
"I will have Fenrir's restraints strengthened and the wards fortified. You will not be allowed near the beast alone for the rest of your life or his." He stood and gained his bearings before descending the steps before him, gesturing to the guards to remove Loki's bindings. "Now, to other business."
Loki rubbed his wrists as the guards removed the manacles from his ankles, muttering a thanks when he was finished. Frigga has followed her husband down the stairs and embraced the trickster warmly, clearly happy to see him. She was the only mother Loki had, after all, and she was glad to see the Aesir treat him as favorably now as she did before his downward spiral. The Queen turned to Reagan and introduced herself and asked about their journey before Odin interrupted with a soft murmur of his wife's name. She excused herself to see to having rooms prepared before meeting with community leaders later that afternoon.
Odin turned to the pair. "I understand you have the sickle, if Heimdall's visions were correct."
Reagan slid her backpack onto shoulder and unzipped a pocket to reveal the clay bird and the handle of the sickle, buried underneath a spare blanket. She presented the statue to Odin, who shifted his staff into the crook of his elbow and took it gently, turning it to admire the crude handiwork.
"The blade has built up power over the millennia it's been hidden; to pull it out would be to alert anyone looking for large magical disturbances to your location and actions." His words were meant for the two in front of him but his eyes were locked on the clay bird, an object he hadn't seen since the forging of the sword. "Vidofnir will be thrilled to have it back after all these years."
In the distance, Reagan could have sworn she heard a soft crow from a rooster, different than the ones they had passed in the marketplace on the way to the palace; it was almost melodious.
Odin looked up from the statue, his eye glancing from Reagan and then to Loki. Collecting his staff and cradling the clay bird in his elbow, he turned and began walking down a corridor leading deeper into the palace. "Come, we have much to discuss."
A/N: First, I'd like to apologize for taking over a year to update this. Real life happened (it kind of smacked me in the face with the GRE, job hunting, grad school, and other personal stuff), and this chapter has been sitting in my head for a long time. My current situation just leaves little to no time for working on personal projects and I won't have time away from school again except for a week in May and most of August.
Only recently (back during winter break) did I figure out how I wanted to handle the visit to the palace-the first draft was way different but too drawn out-because I realized I didn't ever address what became of the matter of taking Fenrir out of Asgard.
As always, thank you for keeping with this story, for your faves, reviews, and bookmarks. They mean the world to me!