Thor followed Jane and the others into the great marble building while Wren and Loki began to walk along the grass. "Wait," he said and Wren looked down at herself as she seemed to shimmer and change. Her leather armour and swords disappeared, and in their pace she was wearing a simple heavy purple dress and soft leather boots. Slightly strange fashion, but better by far than swords. When she looked at Loki, he was wearing black dress pants with polished shoes, a crisp white shirt, black jacket and green tie. "The humans have a tendency to ignore strange things, and then panic at the most inopportune times."

"You look nice." She smiled and half raised a hand to play with his tie, then dropped it.

"Best not to try to touch things that aren't there... making the illusion match your touch is challenging." He offered her his arm and she shyly slipped her hand into the crook of his elbow.

"It's so beautiful here." Wren said as they walked. Her eyes were drawn to the canal, and they play of sunlight on the water. "I didn't really get the chance to look last time..." She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, trusting him to guide her steps.

"It is." At his serious tone, her eyes popped open and she blushed when she saw he was looking at her face. "We're coming up on the end now... one way or another." He said.

"I know..." She looked away, again her eyes were drawn to the water. "Thor already knows I wont be going back with him." She shook her head. "Even now, he'll return. Jane will beg him not to, but he'll go. Plead his case with the Allfather... Who knows, perhaps they will come to a peace, but I want none of it. Whatever concessions I could wring from him in the name of his love for his foster daughter, they would be abandoned the moment they were no longer expedient. All in the name of peace. No. I'll stay here, watch over the children... perhaps when Thor is King..." she stopped, unable to articulate what she was trying to say.

Loki reached out and gently took her chin in his hand and turned her to face him. "I don't want to go back without you... Confine me. Bury me in rock, pull the mountain down over me, I care not, only don't send me back there while you remain."

"Loki..." She bit her lip and swallowed hand. "How can any of us trust you, when you ask for that...? In the best of cases I would be the worlds worst jailer, for you... well you may as well have none. I cannot take you under the mountain, my people wont accept you, not now. Not after what you've done, and there is nowhere in this world you can be safely contained." A tear escaped her eye and her lip trembled. "Short of taking you to Avalon, and binding you to me there,"

"Then do that." He interrupted.

She stared at him. "Loki... Avalon isn't a prison, it's not, not a real place in any sense that you'd understand. It's the between place. It's real only so long as a Dannan is there, and I'm the only Dannan left. You'd never be able to leave without me... if I, if I died, then Avalon would return to the mist, and so would anyone left there."

"I have been further into the secret places of the universe than any Asgardian, and Jotan... anyone at all." He gathered her hands in his and held them tight. "Thus far there has been no hole deep enough, no world or realm distant enough..." He pressed his forehead against hers. "I have never truly escaped you... and in all honesty, I have lost any will to continue to attempt it. I will do whatever you ask of me, go where ever you lead... Not a single decision I have ever made for myself has brought me half so much peace, as those that I have deferred to you..." He pulled back enough to look at her face, and she tilted it up slowly, her stomach tying itself in knots waiting for him to kiss her. His mouth opened again and he drew a shallow breath, preparing finally to say the words which had been hiding behind his eyes for years...

Water erupted from the channel and sprayed them down. When gasped and blinked the water from her eyes are Maleketh's ship seemed to materialise out of nothing. It pressed forward, hit the shore and kept going, cutting a massive gouge in the lawns as it moved. For some reason this sight enraged Wren, and she broke away from Loki.

"Run!" She called to the people who were screaming in fear and milling around, unsure of what to do. As always happened, the humans obeyed her commands without question and scattered. In a smooth motion, she reached over her shoulders and as she gripped the hits of her sword, the illusion melted away leaving her back in her armour.

Loki too was armoured and he moved forward to her side. When Wren glanced at him, she realised that he still had only his knives, she reversed her grip on the left sword and handed it to him. "I'll be very angry with you if you die today..." She said flatly. He opened his mouth to protest and she gave him a stern look. "Have you already forgotten your pretty little speech? Take the damn sword. Kill Dark Elves."

"Yes, my Queen." He said with a cheeky grin and Wren could help the short laugh that escaped her.

"Wren!" Thor came running from the building to their left. "Things are going to get interesting, the convergence," he pointed up and for the first time, the others saw what he was talking about.

Above them, through great rifts in the sky, Wren and Loki could see other realms, spread out as though projected there... Jotenheim, in icy blues and blacks, the dark world in dull sandy brown, and beyond them Asgard with it's clearly visible shining city.

"I think it's fair to say Heimdall can now see us." Loki said. "I can't shield us that well."

"Then the Allfather will either help, or do nothing. He has no other choices, not any more." Wren nodded towards the grass. "We have to keep them away from Jane and Erik, they're the only hope we have of keeping the convergence from tearing this part of the Earth to bits."

Loki nodded, then his eyes met Thor's and the men both indulged in broad smiles. "Just like old times brother," Loki said lightly.

"More or less," Thor agreed as the three lined up on the grass, waiting for Maleketh's ship to open. "Except that this time, I don't have to be jealous of you."

"Excuse me?" Loki half choked.

Thor grinned at him and then glanced at Wren. "You've always had a beautiful girl waiting for you..." his smile broadened and he looked back at the building behind them. "Now, so do I."

"Was everyone always so smugly certain of my fate?" Loki asked plaintively.

"Fate...?" Wren asked in a cold, tone, her eyes like stone as she looked at him.

"Poor choice of words, little bird, you know what I mean." Loki said quickly.

Thor laughed as the ship finally opened. "I always knew... as did mother, but you were obstinate the pair of you."

"If you two are quite finished." Wren said as a contingent of dark elves advanced on them across the grass.

"You can go first if you'd like." Thor said lightly.

Wren said nothing, but she flashed him a wicked little grin, flourished his sword once and charged. Loki almost swallowed his own tongue and took an involuntary step forward, but Thor stopped him. "Just give her a minute... she can do this."

"I can't breathe." Loki admitted, his eyes glued to her.

"I know, brother. But you love a brave woman from a warrior people... if you don't let her fight her own battles, it's you who'll end up with a sword in your tripes." Thor pointed out.

On the grass, Wren looked more like she was dancing than fighting. She ducked and weaved, launched into acrobatic rolls across the wet grass, and let the four dark elves who had broken off to engage her running after her in confusion. Her sword swung log and hamstrung two in a single swipe.

Loki winced and Thor chuckled. "If I'm the God of Thunder, and you're the God of Mischief... what do you think they'll call her?" Thor asked as he began to swing his hammer.

"Honestly?" Loki ducked low and neatly sliced a dark elf across the belly. "I think inevitably they'll call her mother..."

It looked like Thor was going to make another joke, but his expression cooled and he nodded towards the ship. Maleketh had emerged. "Keep an eye on Wren, this is where she might do something stupid." Thor warned.

"Might? I think you can count on it." He hurried towards her and caught the attention of the rest of Maleketh's soldiers as he went, clearing the way for Thor. "Now, don't be angry, but I've brought some friends." He said as he skidded around and stood back to back with her.

"You and your damn parties." She half laughed. "Honestly, I can't take you anywhere."

"Actually, you can take me absolutely anywhere," He said suggestively as he ducked another blow. "I'm rather looking forward to it."