Sif gathers the Warriors Three and demands to know everything they know about Vithar. She tells them what she has learned. Hogun speaks of the slow building dissatisfaction growing over the years as the bloodlust for Jotunheim has been patiently stoked. Vithar has been chief among those stirring the fire. Volstagg knows the taverns they most regularly frequent. After all this is said, it is Fandral who has the most useful suggestion.

"Has anyone spoken to Heimdall? Surely he has news. Thor must be speaking to him, yet we do not know what has been said."

"We should meet with our king," Volstagg adds, "and assure him we can quell whatever rabble Vithar rouses."

"We must be ready when Thor denies his request," Sif adds. "I would rather strike him dead on our own ground, but Thor seems to think this unwise."

"It would make him a martyr. We cannot afford that. To give the uprising greater reason to rally and to strike? That would be foolish."

"Ah, Fandral, ever our leader in strategy. Far better than I- my strategy would be to feed everyone and see what happens! We feast, we fight, problems solved."

Sif twirls her quarterstaff, "I have no problem poisoning someone's drink..."

"Remind me to always have Hogun test my wine when you are angry with me, dear Lady," Fandral jibes.

Hogun shakes his head, "We should make a plan. Thor does not want us to know. But that will do no good if we are attacked."

"By who?" Thor asks from the door.

"By Vithar and his rebellion, my king," Fandral answers.

"Sif told you."

"Yes, she did. Have you decided what you are doing about Loki?"

"No. I have just spoken to him. He is...different. It would not be so simple to kill him or send him away."

"But have you decided not to do these things?" Sif asks.

"No."

Volstagg is passionate in his response, "You cannot let them push you around, Thor! By gods, you are king! And she is queen! And this is Asgard!" He pounds the table, "We have might, we can crush them in a moment."

"If we do, we risk war in the streets. Our own people caught in the crossfire. There would be blood running down the city walls. We cannot do that, Volstagg, no matter how just it would be," Thor answers.

"You speak of justice while proposing death to your brother? What madness is this, Thor? Are we to allow Vithar to tell you what to do? To buy peace in exchange for a seat beside you, a seat that, if any brother deserves it, it is the one to whom it was long promised? That tells everyone that the throne can be pushed to do anyone's will. It would destroy this very nation."

"Do not think I do not know this, Fandral. But I know you plan treason if I choose to execute Loki or send him to the outerlands. So do not tell me what will undermine the power of Asgard."

Fandral rises and crosses the room to leave, but Sif grabs his arm as he passes, "Please. Stay. Loki needs his friends to stand for him together."

"I cannot listen to this, Sif. It is wrong in so many ways."

"And what of me? Do I not need my friends to stand together? Were we not brothers and sisters in arms for many years?" Thor asks.

"The man who was my brother would not suggest to execute his own," Fandral snaps.

A voice from behind Thor stops the argument, "Perhaps I should find out about armed insurrections from my son on the throne instead of from the Watchman."

Thor steps aside and Odin enters; he finds a soft chair and settles in, resting against the arm as he often did against the arm of the throne. Fandral reluctantly sits. Sif leans on the back of his chair, her hand on his shoulder, a guard to make sure he stays in one place.

"So tell me, All-Father- how did you quell threats to the realm?" she asks.

"There were few that I did not simply stop with reason. Many of the early ones demanded things central to life- we had not long ago fought the frost giants, there were many dead, many families without men. My first mob demanded bread. The second wanted the children left without fathers in the war to live in better conditions. The third hated me and asked why Bor left the throne to me. This one we had to send out the guards, but also to remind them that I had found ways to meet their needs and would continue to do this, even if was not the way my father would have handled things. Long-lived people resist change- things that are habit after a few thousand years are hard to break."

"What have you heard, Father?"

"Everything Heimdall knows. It is Vithar who threatens. He is as stubborn as his father, but was raised by an arrogant fool with a vicious nature. I should not have left him with his mother. But I did, and now we must deal with him."

"How?"

"Challenge him in the open fields beyond the city. Fight until one of you is dead. The victor takes the throne."

"But there is risk in that."

"There is risk in everything when you are king of Asgard, protector of the Nine. But he has challenged you and words have failed. If you cannot beat him, he will continue to turn up."

"And what of Loki?"

"Grant my younger son mercy. You have given him no explanation for this sudden change in plans. He is miserable and frightened, as is Jane. And they are spending this time apart when they should be together."

"He is a prisoner, Father, not a guest. You insisted on this. You told me that I would have to harden myself against those in the family who committed crimes so that they could be punished as anyone else would."

"And yet for Loki you have gone beyond this. I let her visit him whenever she wished."

"No, Father. That I will not do- it is not granted to other prisoners. His crimes should have brought execution. I will do what I must to keep him at bay. He is a traitor and does not deserve better."

Sif rolls her eyes, "And what are you, Thor Odinson, who went against his father's orders to court war in Jotunheim? Who broke Loki from imprisonment for vengeance and to stop eternal darkness? Were those both not also acts of treason? Ought I refer to you as the same? If you continue this insistence that but a few years define a man's entire life- your brother's entire life, I will find far less flattering things to call you. Imprisonment is one thing. But tormenting him this way is cruel."

"Point taken, Sif. But I do not want Loki used against us and I fear Vithar will seek to do that. He is a symbol of mercy undeserved."

"He is your brother. Do not forget this. If your other brother cannot see how that mercy would be granted, he is unfit to rule even the most dank and dismal of taverns. And someone has to talk to Loki and Jane," she replies.

"Only after I have made my decision."

"Then make it. Right now. Or let your queen make it."

"No, Sif. This is not your decision. Loki's life is forfeit to the king alone. You all think of how we can defeat Vithar and end this. I have business." Thor leaves. What he does not tell them is that his business is in the Reflection Room. He gives the warden explicit instructions as to how long he wants to be in the room and asks him for reminders of why Loki deserves mercy. He sits, unchained, in the middle of the room, his legs crossed, his eyes closed.

The memories flood in quickly, overlapping. Most moments are those when he realised how dear to him Loki was. Moments when he was injured as a child, times when he cried, and then, once Loki was older, times when the roles were reversed and it was Thor bleeding and Loki gently stitching him back together with whispered spells and soothing hands. Moments of intense quiet when the brothers curled up together after war, Loki nearly always needing reassurance that so much death was necessary. He had always been an emotional young man and while these moments had largely petered out by the time of Thor's coronation, he still wonders if there will be times when Jane holds him close, assuring him that he is not damned for the death he has caused.

And then there are the more recent memories. The look on Loki's face on the Bifrost when he thought Thor might kill him. The moment of both terror and desperation as he hung over the edge, begging for Odin's approval. A flicker, a change in his eyes, on the balcony of Stark Tower. A few brief moments returning to Asgard when, still muzzled, Loki's eyes showed fear and sadness far greater than he had ever seen from his little brother. His cell a jumbled mess after Frigga's death. Loki's expression as he was sucked into Kursed's vortex. And lastly, his death. Thor chastises himself for still believing that Loki meant every word he said as he trembled and convulsed on the desolate rock. He sees the moment they told Loki of Sigyn's death.

There is something in Loki that loves and there is his anger at how everyone has been used, the intense righteous rage that drives his sense of justice. Even their final conversation appears, his recitation of the poem their mother so loved, and the delicate expression on his upturned face. But then there are also the moments with others, times when his friends have shown that they, too, see Loki as their younger brother, some of them even still.

The room lightens. Thor sits, still, thinking.

The warden enters, "Anything else you'd like to see, your Highness?"

"What Loki saw last."

The warden hesitates, "Are you sure?"

"Yes. When I had him reflect on all the times his words caused him pain."

"Your highness, we chained him to the wall for good reason. We ought to do the same for you."

"No. It cannot be that bad."

The warden shrugs, "Suit yourself," and leaves the room. Within moments, the room drags forth Loki's memories, things imprinted in its walls once they are there remembered. When he comes to lips being stitched shut with rough thread, he cannot help but cry out. His hands brush his lips and, finding no thread, linger as they burn. He has forgotten this. And he has forgotten how they taunted Loki after. Feeling Loki's memories, the little jibes cut more deeply than he ever suspected. Removing the stitches horrifies him and he pinches his palms to keep his hands from digging at his lips. He sighs in relief when the memory is over.

The battlefield blows are more easily to endured, but Loki's fear is not. It is something he had never considered- just how much his brother pushed aside in those early years when he would later crawl into his arms for comfort. Fear, though, is an emotion Thor can handle and he quashes it so that he can observe the memory without its clutter. But the progression of memories so rapidly flowing over him brings emotions he did not expect to be so deep. Loki's identity, his discovery in Jotunheim, and his confusion as he confronted Odin- these are things Thor has never contemplated. He has never asked himself what it would have felt like to stand in Loki's place. He does not have long to think on this, though, for the fall comes quickly, engulfing him in despair, and after, the creatures are strange and new, things he has never seen. And then there is Thanos. Thor has never felt pain like what Thanos delivers. He roars tearing at his hair, thrashing to try to stop it. But it does not end, and even when it pauses, it is only so another memory can begin, more pain, more screams.

The warden interrupts the session. The lights come up. Thor gasps for breath, his elbows resting on the floor, the cool of the stone against his forehead.

"There's a reason we chain him. The first time the All-Father had him relive that, he threw himself against the walls. We had to stop it so he didn't kill himself. We tried to scrub the blood off, but...well, the stain's still there. I don't think the room wanted it gone. So after, he asked us to chain him and muzzle he'd survive it and so he couldn't hear his own screams."

"How...how much longer did that last?"

"The intense bit? At least another twenty minutes. Then there were other things. I don't know what. I can't see what anyone in here sees. I only hear them."

"Loki had other memories after this?"

"Yes."

Thor stands, but he is dizzy and wobbly; the warden grabs his arm and steadies him, "Watch it, there, your Highness. We don't need you to pass out on the floor."

"How long does it take him to recover?"

"Recover? You never really recover from this place. After the last session, he fell asleep on the cell floor and stayed there for ten hours. He was stiff when he woke, but alive."

Thor takes a deep breath, "Thank you, Warden, for your services. I have much to think about."

The warden bows as the king passes. There's a troubled look in Thor's eyes that tells him something far bigger is at work, something he should probably brace himself for. But he does not know what, so instead, he makes his rounds in the prison. If he cannot control what is coming, he ought to at least do a good job controlling what is right in front of him.