"As the third prince, you're not really expected to do much. Sorry if that disappoints, but you and I are both still going to be highly valued members of Byleister's court once he takes over." Helblindi said with a shrug.

"Gjalp's lessons didn't really cover politics... why has he started assembling his own court instead of just using Laufey's?" Loki asked, taking longer strides to keep up with his brother. While Helblindi had shortened his pace to make it easier, he was still much faster due to his size.

At the meeting, Loki had decided to stay on Jotunheim, partially because it shut all the morons behind Thor up. The expressions on their faces had been rather priceless, but Loki was glad that he was being allowed to visit Asgard every once in a while. If he decided to change his mind, perhaps he could flee there and seek sanctuary.

His Asgardian skin had been removed. He now wore the blue-gray of a frost giant.

Agreements of trade and the like had been made while they were there. It was almost... satisfying, knowing that things had been done because of him instead of Thor, for once. Loki allowed himself that little piece of triumph.

"Eeh, really, Asgardians do that?" Helblindi remarked, looking surprised. "Well, a court should be composed of people you trust, who are loyal to you. People you work well with. Yeah, Laufey's court is familiar and trustworthy, but they're his court, tailored to fit him. Byleister might not do as well with them, or might disregard their voices on certain matters. So it makes more sense to find people he will listen to, or will smack him around some when he ignores them."

Well, that did make sense...

"Y'know the witch who brought Gjalp back, Gunnlod? She did a stint for our grandsire, Farbauti, at one point. She was his chief advisor, like how Hraesvelgr is for Laufey, and Vafthruthnir has been elected to do for Byleister. But being a witch, she grew tired with politics and left. Some say that if she had stayed, she could've talked him out of giving our father the casket and helped him find a different solution for the population-problem."

"Then why did she leave?! Why was she allowed to leave?!" Loki all but yelled.

"I left because I got bored, and if anyone had tried to stop me, I would've beaten the drift-brains. Politics are no place for a witch."

Both of them startled a bit, looking up. The witch regarded them with slit pupils, head tilted. She looked almost predatory, but then relaxed, shivering. Loki remembered how Gjalp would do similar— after getting riled up, she would take a deep breath and shiver, which seemed to prompt all tension to leave her body.

"You certainly look more the part with your skin fixed, princeling. Take more after Nal than that stone-foot, don't you?" she remarked. Without waiting for a response, the witch turned away, calling, "Speaking of him, tell the stone-foot I'll be hanging around for a while. That black-moon Skadi needs a talking to, and my moss-minded pupil could do with a light beating herself."

Helblindi cringed at the term used to describe Skadi. Loki reasoned that it was similar to the one Skadi had called Gjalp.

After Gunnlod had vanished, Loki quietly asked, "Do all witches define talking as violence?"

"... Most of them. Skadi certainly does... I just hope Gunnlod leaves her in one piece... both of them."

"Frost magic. Advanced ice magic. Water manipulation. Fog magic. The natural qualities of frostbite magic. Frostbite magic and how to use it. Beginner's guide to frost magic. The many aspects of ice magics... Dammit! No, no, no! Fuck it all!"

"Research not coming along well?" Vafthruthnir chuckled, closing up his own scroll.

"Study Aurboda's magic, she says! Learn to use it, she says! Study what?! No one knows jack 'bout it!" Gjalp snarled, losing her temper enough to actually throw one of the books across the room. It hit one of the shelves, making it shake. "... Oops..."

Before she could leap forward to stop anything from falling— too late, anyway— a this golden sheen surrounded both the shelf and it's dislodged contents.

"Careful. Not only could you hurt someone, you could damage these."

"Hello, Prince Loki. Did the meeting go well?" Vafthruthnir asked politely.

"I suppose so." the older dag sighed, flicking his wrist to return the shelf and items to normal. He picked up Gjalp's book, frowning at it. "The Special Complexities of Ice Sorcery? Why're you reading this?"

"Reasons! Give it!"

Gjalp pounced, snatching the tome from his hands, and used her claws to scale the wall behind him. Once she reached a spot on the ceiling she deemed fine, she froze her feet in place and summoned the other things she'd been reading to hover around her.

"Miss Gjalp, you'll make yourself sick like that. Your shoulder still isn't better, either." Vafthruthnir sighed, tilting his head back to look up at her. She bared her teeth, rifling through the book again.

"Norns, what's her problem?" Loki muttered.

"Apparently while you were all at Asgard, Miss Gunnlod spoke to her at the healer's. I'm not sure what exactly went down, but she's now in a funk about Aurboda's magic."

"Aurboda?" Loki looked up to her as well, moving so he was almost directly under her. "That's that ancestor of yours, right? The one who killed trolls?"

"Uh-huh." she grumbled, snapping the book shut.

"What's so special about her magic?"

Gjalp unfroze her feet, dropping to the floor somewhat clumsily. The books and scrolls came down after her, settling themselves messily on one of the tables. Standing up, she explained, "Aurboda apparently possessed unique magic. Extreme ice magic, I guess. All jotun can perform ice magic on levels far above other races, but she could surpass all known limits of it. The trolls she killed still exist today. I told you I've never seen a live one— but I've seen two frozen solid in a huge glacier, the same way they were when Aurboda was fighting them."

Black moon, the insult Gunnlod used to describe Skadi, is similar to white moon (prepubescent girl). It suggests a female who cannot have sex due to an illness in the genitals— unlike a white moon, which is clean and pure, though, it's black and sullied.