Chapter 29 –An Awkward Meeting
The next morning there was a breakfast and Loki watched from the wrong end of the table as Byleist and Sigyn conversed. There was nothing particularly flirtatious about it, but it was comfortable and almost intimate. Afterwards, they were given some new devices, called smartphones. Unlimited calls, unlimited texts, unlimited 4G –whatever any of that meant. They were given a demonstration of how they worked by Tony Stark who spent most of the demonstration flirting with Sigyn and Aetril. Right up until Aetril asked whether the devices would listen to their conversations in their room and not just when the devices were in use.
"They're StarkPhones, and I don't really give a crap what you guys say to each other so long as you're not trying to take over the world," Stark replied with a cock of his eyebrow.
"Yes, but, you're just the man who made them. I wonder what the people who wanted us to have them will do?" Aetril smiled at him as Berach grinned at his mother. Before Stark could say anything, Sigyn held hers up and waved her free hand over it, casting a detection spell.
"There are four ways that this device can monitor us, vision, audio, location and information input," she said. Loki tilted his head in surprise, he did not recognise the spell she had just performed. Sigyn looked angry and held up the phone higher. "This is just a way for you to spy on us between meetings."
"It's not," said Stark, striding over to her with a cockiness Loki almost admired. "Let's be real here, are we nosy bastards who wanna know everything you guys are doing and saying? Absolutely. But don't tell me you don't have ways to block us. This mistrust is a two way street, right?"
There was a moment when Loki thought Sigyn's expression cracked but it was over before it began. Stark continued,
"What you have there is a device with the same level of security that anyone else here has, so long as they're smart enough to buy my stuff. You do whatever you need to to make sure it doesn't offend your privacy, but you're already better protected than most people."
"Is that meant to be reassuring?" asked Berach.
"No, but here's a little something you should know about Earth. Everyone loves gossip, especially from celebrities and you lot are currently the biggest celebrities on the planet –after me anyway."
"Get to the point," grumbled Byleist.
"Ok ok, Grumpy Smurf! The point is that if you want to win Earth over, you need to win the people over, not the politicians. They're already up for grabs, but the rest of us… not so sure. These-" he waved a regal hand at his own phone, "Will help you do that. I've already set you up for Twitter accounts, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook –that way you don't get stuck with QueenSigyn1 because someone else already got QueenSigyn."
Stark went on to explain how the platforms worked. Sverrir looked very excited and demanded he get his own Twitter to compliment Loki's, quickly taking a picture –'selfie' –and announcing his presence to Earth.
"It reeks of popularism," said Berach, though his tone was amused. "Mother I think you and Sigyn will be quite good at this."
Byleist and Sina were having problems. Byleist's touch was not recognised by the device and Sina's screen melted under his touch. Stark looked offended that his technology had failed so fast.
"I'll sort you two out by tomorrow!" he said stubbornly. "You'll want to build up a presence, let everyone see that you're human."
"But we're not," said Sina slowly as if Stark was a bit dim.
"He means show them we're not distant, that we are people like they are," muttered Byleist.
"Exactly. Now, considering who you all are, you'll get a lot of followers very quickly, so just respond and you'll have them eating out of your hand."
"You seem to want this collaboration to happen," said Sigyn, eyeing him shrewdly, the phone turning in circles between her forefinger and thumb.
"You're aliens that can travel between planets. I wanna get in on that! Besides, you've been yapping about magic and I am so gonna prove that it's just really cool science," said Stark. Loki snorted with laughter. Stark looked at him, a challenge in his eyes already. "You don't think I can Reindeer Games?"
A giggle escaped Sigyn's mouth before she could stop herself, and she covered her mouth with her hand, blushing when Loki caught her eye.
"Watch your tone Mr Stark," said Sverrir protectively, "You're still talking to rulers of other worlds."
Loki cut in before Stark could reply,
"Do you really think no one else has tried to prove that the laws of magic are simply an extension of the laws of nature?"
"Maybe they did, but they weren't me."
"And just who are you?" asked Berach, his wings beating faintly in amusement.
"A Genius, Billionaire Philanthropist."
There was a beat, during which Aetril did not bother to fight her smile, while Sigyn rolled her eyes hard behind him.
"In any case," said Fullangr, twisting the rings on her flexible, strong fingers. "The Convergence is not something you know anything about, you'll need us to help you through it."
"Bring it on," said Stark, flicking his fingernail on the screen of his phone. "Now, let me explain to you the wonderful world of trolls."
Two hours later, they were all trouping into the amphitheatre-like room, to sit at a table facing the rows that rose up before them. Sverrir was tapping away on his phone, like he had been doing since Stark left.
"Nine thousand twenty three people are already following me, and all I've done is send out a greeting and tell them who I am." Sverrir looked at Loki, his eyes bright and his smile wide, "Can we have this on Asgard?"
Loki chuckled,
"Maybe, if you can show me the benefits."
Sverrir went right back to typing. Loki watched him with a small grin as more of Earth's leaders filed in, then reached out and put his hand over the phone.
"You do remember you're here to help me in this room?"
"But from this room I can reach the whole planet and make everyone love you!" said Sverrir with too wide eyes. Loki snorted and shook his head,
"Have I lost you to these mortals already my friend?"
"I'll come back and visit you," said Sverrir seriously. Loki shook his head and looked around. Aetril and Berach were chatting, while Fullangr and Byleist conversed in serious tones. Sigyn, sitting in the middle of the table, was too fixated on her own tablet device. Probably reading all her notes so she could talk the people gathering in front of them around to their side.
Loki's shoulders ached just looking at how tense she was. If she did not relax and allow some of her real personality to come through, no one would trust her. Loki stood up, walked over to Sigyn and touched her shoulder. She started and looked up at him. Loki bent forward and murmured in her ear,
"You used to make every court we visited adore you, just by being who you really are. I know you feel those stolen days were selfish, but they still taught you how to win humans over, and it would be even more selfish not to use those lessons –then those days would have been a waste."
Sigyn trembled slightly and he drew back to look at her, seeing the grief in her eyes. He smiled reassuringly,
"You can do this, we can do this. Just trust in your own abilities. You stopped Malekith, it was painful and difficult but you made it happen. Just pretend this is one of courts we visited, and make them adore you."
Sigyn's expression flattened, he could see her trying to compartmentalise her feelings, and he knew he needed to give her space now. It was up to her whether she heeded his advice. As he returned to his seat he caught Aetril's eye and saw her smile in approval.
Uzma Abdullah called the session to start and outlined the day's plans. Most of it would be given over to expanding on the Convergence and the Reset, and if there was time they would discuss how Earth would be integrated into the current political landscape of the Nine. It fell to Berach to give the background to the Convergence, as he had said little the day before and they wanted everyone at the table to have a role.
Berach was not a passionate speaker, but that suited this need, because he was able to explain things in a calm and straightforward manner. Loki found himself somewhat envious of Sigyn having been taught some seiðr by him as a child.
Berach finished his presentation and sat down by his mother, who squeezed his hand in approval as Uzma called for questions from the world leaders.
"The chair recognises the United States of America."
A handsome black man, who Loki thought had the look of someone who had aged very quickly in a short time frame, leaned forward to speak into the microphone.
"I wanted to ask Prince Berach if he could clarify why Earth is so central to this plan."
"The Nine are connected by an unusually strong magical current, called Yggdrasil," explained Berach. "This flows between the planets and is what has enabled us to be connected for so long. Travel to worlds outside this current requires the use of space faring ships. Earth is right at the centre of this, which means our Reset is best sent outward from here."
"But why now? Why have you waited so long to contact us about it?" pressed the United States.
Berach looked to Sigyn, who answered,
"Until recently your world was under Asgard's authority, and King Odin had decreed that you be left alone. However recent discoveries have led to the realisation that the current is in an unstable condition, the cause of which is complex and varied, but will inevitably cause us all harm if left unchecked."
Another delegate made a request for a question.
"The chair recognises Russia."
"Who is Asgard to claim authority over Earth?"
Loki wanted to roll his eyes. They had discussed this yesterday.
"Nearly two millennia ago, Earth was invaded by the people of Jötunheim, and Asgard took ownership of Earth to extend its protection to it. My father thought it best to let you develop without outside influence, so Asgard ensured you were not invaded by anyone else."
"If you're protecting Earth why did you not interfere during the Second World War? I have heard that some of the worst weapons used by the group Hydra were extra-terrestrial in origin. Of course at the time no one would have believed that, but now that we know you exist…"
"Odin wanted you to be left alone," repeated Loki, "How you decide to interact with each other, by killing and colonising or however you do it, is up to you. Asgard had no real interest in becoming your minders. All species have to grow up someday, learn from their own mistakes and do better, or in some cases, worse."
"But now you need something from us, you bend the rules, so to speak," said Russia with fake affability.
"From what I've smelt in your air you need something from us too," said Berach coolly.
"Yes, you have already mentioned this… Reset will undo the effects of Global Warming but the point remains, if you cannot perform your magic trick here, then you will get nothing from the Convergence. Yet why should we open our doors to you for the promise of something that is not necessarily something that is unnatural?"
Loki had a moment to enjoy Berach's bulging eyes as he obviously swallowed a lot of snarky retorts to this idea. Luckily Sigyn spoke first,
"If Global Warming is not caused by humans, then our ritual will do nothing. If it is caused by humans, and is therefore not a natural increase in temperature, the ritual will give visible results. Your polar ice caps will grow back to a size they were in the past, you will find there will be less volatile weather in places that before recent times never experienced it."
Russia tilted his head from side to side as if weighing her words,
"But I fail to see how we get equal recompense from this exchange. From my part, you stand to benefit far more than us, and you will be gaining access to our world when we have no means of going to yours."
"That can be a part of the deal we eke out here and now," said Sigyn, "I know that Queen Aetril and Prince Berach are willing to share more environmentally friendly technology, and Svartalfheim is going to provide you with better technology for transport, both within the bounds of Earth and out in Space-"
"And what about your world?" asked Russia shrewdly. Loki had the feeling that the other countries were happy to let him talk and ask questions that they wanted answers to. "What can Vanaheim offer Earth?"
Sigyn's mouth opened and then closed, her cheeks flushing red, but the rest of her face going pale. Loki opened his mouth to divert the conversation, when Prince Byleist spoke.
"Vanaheim is the land of abundance. They know more about fertility, in animals or plants, than any other realm present. Yet unlike this world which is growing top heavy and has wildly unequal disparity of food, Vanaheim can ensure that nowhere goes hungry. It is said that the Vanir can make anything grow anywhere. Surely that would be of some value to you? I know it is to my people."
There was a soft murmur, though that might have been because Byleist had not spoken before at the table. He looked odd to Loki being so much smaller than usual, but his skin seemed to glow under the lights of the room. It couldn't have been comfortable for him under the hot glare. Sigyn smiled again and nodded,
"There are many ways in which we can engage in fair trade between our worlds. As for freedom of movement, it is not as free as you might believe. Until a couple of years ago, Asgard was the only realm with free reign to go between the worlds with ease. That is now changing in light of recent events and we would be more than happy to involve you in that change."
"The chair recognises Saudi Arabia."
"You speak of great generosity, but you could easily just disappear as soon as you get what you want. And moreover, how can we be sure that this… seeder is true? For all we know, you could be trying to invade us and this is a way to do it?"
There's an odd moment, then Loki leans forward,
"You have no global defense system, you're technologically inferior and you can't agree on anything. To me asking you to attend these meetings only to invade you seems excessively convoluted."
A couple of the delegates tried to hide their amusement. Saudi Arabia looked insulted. Sverrir was checking his phone again.
Steve thought the whole thing was going ok. It made sense that there was a lot of suspicion, he himself was still a bit nervous about the whole thing and he knew Thor.
During the buffet lunch that was served at midday, Steve patrolled the room, his eyes sweeping for any dangers. Or at least that was what he was supposed to be doing. His eyes kept being drawn over to Queen Sigyn and King Loki. Thor had told him that Loki remembered him, and Steve was tempted to go over and greet them. Yet he did not want to do anything that would cause either of the monarchs discomfort if their marriage was rocky at the moment.
"Someone's got a crush," Natasha sing-songed in his ear as she came up behind him. Steve looked at her in confusion, "You've been staring at that Queen Sigyn the whole time you've been in here."
"I have not!" Steve grimaced as the words left his mouth. That might as well have been a confession.
"Why don't you go over and say hello?" asked Natasha.
"Uh, you do remember she's married to Thor's brother, who is standing near her?"
Natasha shrugged,
"Thor said they were having problems."
"So?"
"So… I really wanna watch you try to flirt with an alien queen and see if you blush as hard as you did when Amy from R n' D was hitting on you."
"I don't know what you mean," lied Steve.
"Sure. Anyway, go and talk to her, see if she remembers you." Natasha jabbed him with her finger in the back, but Steve turned away.
"Bathroom," he said, knowing it was just an excuse and he could feel Natasha's amused gaze follow him out of the hall.
Standing at the urinal, Steve dropped his head back, feeling stiff from standing around so much, and wondered what would happen if he did walk over to Queen Sigyn or King Loki. He was sure that King Loki would have told Queen Sigyn about him, so she would not be startled, and he wondered if him reminding her of her wedding day might help mend their rift. Thor had not elaborated on the situation, not even when his friends, who Steve had always found very nosy and interfering, had pestered him. He had mentioned that Vanaheim had been invaded and was now trying to rebuild, with Queen Sigyn as their new leader.
"-just in here? Thank you I just -oh!"
Steve glanced over his shoulder. It was King Loki's aide, Sverrir and he looked slightly confused as he looked around. Steve didn't speak, following the unsaid but sacred rule that no man engages in small talk with anyone while pissing. Sverrir crossed the room to stand at the next urinal, glanced around, then Steve heard him fumble with his clothes.
"Pissing against a wall that's actually built for it… interesting," Sverrir muttered. Steve kept his eyes on the wall. "So what's your job around here?"
"Uh, security," said Steve, glad he was nearly done. He had never liked using the public toilets back when he had been smaller and skinnier, and that dislike had not changed with his transformation. It was awkward to be near other men doing something so… distasteful. He had managed to suppress this anxiety during the war out of necessity, but back in civilisation, he would rather just use a private bathroom.
He gave himself a quick shake, then tucked himself away and did up his fly, going straight for the sink. Sverrir whistled tunelessly as he pissed, then called out,
"Seen anything to worry about?"
"Nothing so far sir," said Steve.
"Good. Though all things considered I doubt anything you could throw at my king could hurt him," said Sverrir in amusement.
"If you say so," said Steve neutrally, drying his hands and heading for the door.
"I do say so! I mean, he had his arm bitten off by a wolf and he regrew it with his magic," said Sverrir. That made Steve pause and he turned back,
"Seriously?"
"Mmhm!" Sverrir grinned at him over his shoulder and then started whistling again. Feeling like he had just experienced a prank that he hadn't figured out yet, Steve left the bathroom and bumped into a woman coming out of the ladies.
"Oh! Sorry ma'am!" Steve grabbed her elbow automatically, most people who bumped into him ended up on their asses these days. Tony had done it five times by now. The woman, however, barely reacted when she collided with him, but flinched violently when he touched her. Only then did Steve realise he had crashed into Queen Sigyn. "Sorry your majesty," Steve said hurriedly. Queen Sigyn said nothing, she was staring at him with huge eyes, her mouth slightly open in shock. Steve's gaze dropped to her lips for a moment, then back to her eyes.
"Are you ok, Queen Sigyn?"
Queen Sigyn gave herself a shake and dislodged Steve's hand on her arm.
"I just… you look like someone I met once… but you can't be him. He'd be an old man by now." Her voice was faint, she seemed to be reeling and Steve realised that King Loki had not told her about him. Well, shit.
"I… Actually I am the guy you think I am. I mean, I'm Steve Rogers, Captain America. We met before, back in the 40's. You and King Loki won the Jitterbug contest." Steve thought it wise not to mention the other thing right now.
"How is this possible?" she asked sharply. Her face was pale and she looked very alarmed.
"It-It's a long story, the short version of which is that I was frozen for nearly 80 years. I'd only been unfrozen a little while after Thor first arrived on Earth."
"You know Thor?" she demanded.
"Yes ma'am, we work together." Steve was starting to get nervous. Sigyn was clearly not happy to see him, her eyes darting everywhere as if assessing his threat level. "Thor told me you and King Loki wanted to keep your marriage a secret, none of the delegates know about that, and I certainly won't mention it."
This only seemed to make Sigyn even more alarmed.
"You… how does Thor know?"
King Loki hadn't told her that either? Shit, shit, shit. Steve glanced around, looking for an out, a way to end this conversation, but Queen Sigyn had curled her fingers into his bicep and gripped hard enough to actually hurt.
"Answer me," she hissed.
"Thor saw the picture from the night I met the two of you, it was in a newspaper article, and it mentioned you'd gotten married. I think Thor was just surprised that you two were together at all."
"Because he assumed I belonged to him," Queen Sigyn spat. Her eyes searched his face as if judging him, and Steve stared back, unsure how to verbally reassure this woman he was not about to blab about her relationship history.
"Uh…"
Sverrir had emerged from the bathroom and was observing them nervously.
"Queen Sigyn, is something wrong?"
Sigyn looked at him and Steve saw Sverrir straighten his back a little more.
"I need a word with your king, now."
"Yes your majesty," said Sverrir, ducking around them and hurrying back to the food hall. Sigyn slowly uncurled her fingers from around Steve's bicep and stared at him again. Steve cleared his throat,
"Your majesty, I won't tell anyone what I know. As far as I'm concerned it's no one's business but yours and King Loki's." He debated mentioning that thanks to Thor all of SHIELD knew about them, but considering how angry she looked, he decided not to risk it. It was not his responsibility, nor his business. King Loki ought to have kept Queen Sigyn informed.
"Sigyn?"
King Loki had emerged with Sverrir, and he quickly looked alarmed as he took in the two of them. Queen Sigyn turned to King Loki, her expression almost vicious.
"I think you and I need to have a conversation, Loki."
King Loki flinched at the way she spat his name, then strode across the hall and inclined his head to Steve, showing no flicker of surprise,
"I'm glad to see you survived your war Captain."
"Uh, yeah," said Steve, not wanting to get into a debate about it not being 'his' war. Not when he could feel the anger rolling off the queen like the charge in the air that promised a thunderstorm. "I think there's a room down there you can have your conversation in."
The two monarchs swept away without a backwards look, and Sverrir smiled at Steve.
"Don't feel bad, they're always on edge these days."
Steve gave him a curious look, and Sverrir lean in,
"We both know what they are to each other, or were, right?"
Steve nodded. Sverrir grinned,
"Good!"
"Thor said they were in trouble," said Steve.
"I suppose that's what watching more than half your global population bombed and slaughtered by invading soldiers will do," said Sverrir casually. Steve's stomach gave a horrified lurch,
"H-how many is half?"
"Five billion people," said Sverrir, still in that casual voice, but Steve could hear the anger underneath. "From what I understand the leader wanted to enslave them and turn them into mindless soldiers, and turn the queen into his sex slave." He gave a vicious grin, "Happily she hacked his head off."
"A-and are they represented here?"
"The Svartalfr, the ones with the blue tattoos. Queen Sigyn has them cowed, but she's been clever about it. If she had crushed them, they would have been able to justify rebellion against her, but instead she has allowed them to function as a respectable realm, and only demanded the barest of retribution, which has included forcing them to recognise what they have done. This makes it so much harder for them to be angry about it, and so Sigyn uses their shame to keep them from trying to do any more harm."
"Smart," said Steve unable to come up with a better reply. He thought back to how Germany had been humiliated and crushed after the First World War, and that had led to the Second. After that, from what Steve had learned, the Germans had been shamed, rather than heavily humiliated, and that had been a much more effective way to prevent the same thing from happening again. Instead Germany had risen beautifully to the challenge and was now a country that Steve personally thought America could learn a fair bit from.
Actually, at the moment there were a lot of countries America could stand to learn from these days.
"Do you know why I'm telling you this?" asked Sverrir. Steve shook his head. "It's because I've been doing research on you Captain America. I think you could have some popular influence on this situation. But from my research, you're more interested in right than might."
"How exactly have you done this research?" asked Steve, folding his arms across his chest.
"Well, before we came here Loki told me you had significance, and we were able to access your internet to gather information on your world, so we could prepare for these meetings. So I looked into you, and… quite frankly I liked what I saw."
"I can't make this meeting go your way," said Steve with a shake of his head.
"No, but you can give your public support. I think you'll be surprised how much that would help."
Steve frowned at him, waiting for the man to say more. Sverrir sighed and tilted his head back,
"Look. There's no downside for Midgard with this alliance, especially in regards to the Convergence. More importantly, Vanaheim needs this. They need help recovering from the devastation Malekith rained down on them, or they will start to starve, and even with all the help of Asgard, Alfheim and the other realms, it won't be enough. The Reset could save billions of people."
"And what does Asgard get out of this?" asked Steve curiously. He knew politics always meant you had to look out for your own team.
"Asgard gets very little out of it," said Sverrir, now speaking in a low voice, "Loki might not even get a wife out of it, that's between him and Sigyn. This isn't about Asgard for me."
"So what is it about?"
Sverrir eyed Steve carefully, then said in a low voice,
"Loki doesn't know what I know about what Vanaheim did for so many Asgardians, and how many of them have suffered without it. Without Vanaheim, I would not have my wife, and without her I wouldn't have my children. Vanaheim gave me a purpose, before I had my family I was drifting aimlessly. I can tell you that even though Asgard is not nearly as populated as the rest of the realms, it still has enough people that Vanaheim used to help, and when it was gone, there were people suffering."
"Are you saying King Loki doesn't take care of his people?" asked Steve.
"No, Loki takes care of the people he knows about, and I hope that in the future he will be able to help the people I'm talking about. But his changes in laws have already pushed Asgard to the edge, if he tries to bring these people into the light he will only put them in danger. They're safer in the shadows for now, but Vanaheim could help them if they were able to recover. In fact, Vanaheim could help the same sort of people here on Midgard."
"And what sort of people are they?" asked Steve. Sverrir squinted at him, then shook his head,
"Sorry but I'm not ready to say that. I haven't even told Loki about them, and he's my best friend. Just know that my research has shown me that there are many, many people in your world who could be helped by Vanaheim, if Vanaheim were to recover quickly."
"And this Reset will, what, make everything go back to how it was?"
"No. Nothing can undo the devastation, but it can be healed. There's a difference."
Steve wanted to believe that this man had nothing but altruistic intentions, but there was an inner voice that sounded like Natasha telling him to be cleverer than that.
"I'll think about it," he said finally. Sverrir shrugged,
"Fair enough." He pulled out the phone and swiped the screen, then beamed, "Twenty thousand followers! Yippee!" He practically bounced his way back into the hall. Steve watched him go with a reluctant grin.
I have no real idea how the UN works, so apologies if it's in accurate to the usual method of practise, but I could probably spend a lot of time researching for something that really isn't massively crucial to the story, which would just make it take even longer to write. I will still do my best to make the politics realistic as I can –hence why I decided to use real politicians for the discussion, even if I didn't name them.
Will Sverrir start a Twitter War with a certain presidential candidate? Maybe. I just loved the idea that Sverrir would gel with Social Media instantly. I'm sure it's pretty obvious what kind of people Sverrir is looking out for, but I wanted to keep it unsaid for a while.
Getting the Avengers to naturally cross paths with our monarchs is very tricky, but I thought it was high time that they start. I'm excited to start this next phase of Loki and Sigyn's development that will come from their interactions with the Avengers, especially Steve.
Also, a question for you all, are there any creatures (or other things) you'd like to see Loki or Sigyn turn into? I've got a shapeshifting sequence planned for a future chapter, and I'd like to be as creative as possible with it. They can be imaginary or extinct, just leave a comment and I'll see if I can work it in.
