He hadn't meant to appear during court. There were simply too many people to contend with. He hadn't meant to appear in the throne room at all. When he' stepped up into Yggdrasil's branches he'd meant to follow a trail to a rather more secluded spot. Not one that would have put him at the center of hundreds of onlookers and with the King and Queen enthroned above him. Odin was on his feet before he had probably even registered who exactly it was that had appeared in the center of his court. Frigga merely gripped the armrests of her chair, but Loki knew her comprehension had been instantaneous.

"Hold if you wish to see your next heartbeat," growled Odin, Gungnir leveled at Loki.

A ring of weapons suddenly encircled him. Oh, Sif, how kind of you to greet your former king with such zealous attention, Loki thought as he noted the eagerness in Sif's stance as she joined the ring of Einherjar about him. He couldn't stop himself from giving her the smile she most despised. I hate to disappoint, dear lady, but I shan't be giving you an excuse to use that. He proceeded to ignore the very sharp blade aimed at his neck that she so clearly wanted to use.

The shouting guards and yells of the crowd were exactly the kind of spectacle he'd been hoping to avoid. Thank you ever so much, Skuld. Invisible though she may have been, Loki felt the Norn's presence in the crowd. He imagined she rather enjoyed the pandemonium. If he was honest he rather appreciated how his simple presence could cause such an uproar. Still…Odin didn't seem to be in the mood to let him so much as speak without separating his head from his neck.

"What mischief is this, Loki?" The Allfather's single eye regarded his once son shrewdly.

The urge to taunt Odin was strong—but that would hardly help him in his current situation. "Well, one does so grow to miss the hospitality afforded by your dungeons." He practically felt the Allmother wince at that. Sometimes Loki just couldn't help himself.

"Then to the dungeons you shall go," said Odin, giving a brief gesture of command.

Loki's hands raised before him in submission. "A word first, Allfather, and then you may place me in the darkest hole you can conjure and be rid of me."

The barest narrowing of Odin's eye betrayed his distrust of the apparently honest declaration. Even now, Loki imagined the King of Asgard sifting through every possible reason for the prisoner's appearance. Odin may have been a fool, but he wasn't stupid. Loki's talent for lying was too well known, and an honest Loki was nearly unheard of.

Search all you like Allfather, you'll never in your wildest imaginings divine my purpose. There was a certain satisfaction in knowing that what was about to happen next would come as a shock to all concerned.

"Your words have too often meant poison to this court," said Odin. "I will not hear more of them."

Guards descended, catching Loki around the arms and wrenching them behind his back. He strained against their grasp. Even as he fought, he kept his eyes on Odin, the buzz of the crowd in his ears. Loki wondered if he was too proud to beg—even if it wasn't for himself. It wasn't that he'd never begged before, but it had never been more than an act. He swallowed the vindictive words that he wanted to shout across the chambers.

A sudden hush descended over the crowd. Loki pulled his gaze from Odin to see that Frigga had risen from her place and started to descend the dais. A ripple of voices whispered through the crowd, "The Queen rises." Allmother and queen she may have been, but it was a rare day when Frigga asserted her authority before the people. Her words and actions were confined to her own affairs or to the private conversations with her husband and other advisors. The sun of the throne room was Odin's realm, while Frigga moved beyond the sight of the people. But she was an Aesir queen and had every right to power.

A half shadow of confusion flitted across Odin's face—invisible to all but those who knew him well. Frigga did not meet his gaze. She looked only on Loki. It was not the motherly concern he had expected—and half hoped to find. This was not his gentle mother. This was the Queen of Asgard, Far-seer, and Unraveler of Mysteries. Her gaze held only regal contemplation, cold and aloof as she stared at the one she had once called son.

"My lord," she said, smoothly, "I find it impossible that you should be both king and father in one instant."

Grim understanding settled into the corners of Odin's mouth.

"Too often has the mantle of kingship necessarily obscured the native duty of kinship." As she spoke, Frigga descended the stairs, her gown trailing behind her. Shafts of sunlight caught in her jeweled hair.

The guards' grips tightened on his shoulders as they forced him to his knees before the queen. Just as quickly the weight lifted away at a dismissive flick of her fingers from Frigga. They continued to hover just behind him, clearly ill at ease with having their queen so near the prisoner. The Allmother had no such hesitation. There was steel in her step as she advanced on Loki.

He tried to meet her eyes, but instead focused on his knotted hands.

"Look at me," Frigga commanded. A cool finger under his chin raised his gaze to meet his mother's. Briefly, her thumb ghosted across his lower lip, hesitant over the twisted scars.

He had forgotten the glamour. In a flickering, the scars vanished from sight.

There was a flash of motherly concern, but it was quickly filed away for later consideration. "Look at me, Loki Silvertongue. What games do you play with this court?"

He swallowed. "None. I come to suffer for what can never be set right."

For a long moment Frigga contemplated her son. "You are not yet so noble. Suffer you may, but not in search of justice or motivated by shame." There was a hardness to her mouth as she continued. "You come to bargain."

A slight widening of his eyes was all that showed Loki's surprise.

"Do not think me blind. I have had a great many veils ripped from my sight in recent years," she said. She folded her hands before her, agile fingers pressed together. "Desperation guides you." A tremor shot through Frigga's voice, though her posture remained stiff and calm. "Your feet would not have led you home unless you had nowhere else to turn."

He remained silent, dropping his head. The Allmother was right of course. There were few places he would rather be less than his one-time home. Every nerve sparked with the urge to run. His magic trilled enticingly, inviting him to let it free, to slide away from the judgmental stares, the murmuring voices, and the all too heavy sense of hostility.

A small hand on his shoulder snapped his attention away from the call to run pounding through his skull. Warning narrowed his mother's eyes. She had guessed the turn of his thoughts and likely felt his magic rising.

"Loki, what have you done now?" she asked, her voice tinged with weary resignation.

He must choose his next words carefully. They must ring with truth, but not art. These could not be the words of the Silvertongue manipulating to get his way. He raised up onto his knees and looked his mother full in the face. He willed every barrier, every wall, and lock and bar to drop away, to let her see the truth unmarred by guile or artifice. He licked his lips.

"I have saved a life." He drew in a shuddering breath, "But in so doing, I have stolen it as well." He paused, if she thought he was manipulating her, all was lost, but he couldn't stop the words from spilling forward. "I can't fix this, Mother."

Frigga stiffened and Loki cursed himself. Why had he said that? He hadn't meant to, but the words were gone before he had even realized what he'd said. A clouded look of pain rolled across Frigga's eyes as she turned away. But Loki saw something else he didn't recognize beneath it all. The Queen's calm was outward only.

With firm steps she strode away from him, pausing at the steps that led up to Odin's throne. For a long moment she stood in silence. Suddenly, a new set came into her shoulders as she rolled them back and raised her head, every line of her body screaming defiance.

"My lord, before you stands a citizen of Asgard, guilty of crimes against his king and his people. None can raise a voice in his defense," said Frigga, her voice ringing across the crowded hall. "He stands alone—even his own father must sit in judgment." At this, Frigga turned over her shoulder and looked at Loki, her face softened with sadness. "It is not right."

Still holding Loki's gaze, Frigga's voice echoed, "I claim right of kinship. The inherent right of a mother to plead for her son."

Loki sat back on his heels. He had not expected this. It was an old Asgardian custom that family had the right to petition the king for mercy for the accused. Typically they were the mothers, down on their knees at the base of the stairs, begging for their children. Mothers of noble birth dared to ascend a few stairs toward the throne before dropping to their knees.

Frigga took the stairs with measured tread, rising all the way to Odin's throne. There she sunk to her knees. A gasp and then whispers fluttering through the crowd.

"My lady!" one of her maid servants moved as if to pull her up, but a wave of Odin's hand stopped her. His gaze remained locked on his wife.

Loki was on his feet, his steps halted by blades crossing before him. She couldn't be doing this, humiliating herself. His mother was a queen, she could not stoop to this. Something clenched within him as Frigga bowed her head to the ground, her jeweled hair brushing the edge of Odin's robes. The throne room was in a clamor now. Their queen, in all her finery, lay prostrate and begging like the lowest among them. Never had such a thing happened.

A thunderous rap from Gungnir echoed across the chamber, silencing the crowd. "We will hear the traitor's request." He gently raised Frigga to her feet. "Your mother makes a powerful argument, Loki. May you be worthy of her love. Speak, what would you have of us?"

The spears vanished as Odin gestured the guards to retreat and Loki straightened his hoodie. It was time. "I ask Asgard's aid—not for myself," he added hurriedly. "But for another. Do not be alarmed, he looks fierce, but all will be explained."

He hoped Book remembered to look as non-threatening as possible. Asgardians weren't likely to be overly frightened of him—as long as he wasn't in "battle-mode" as Clint had put it—but it was generally better not to startle highly trained warriors who carried large, pointy sticks. He'd explained all this to Book as he tried to convince him to be a willing participant in his plan. An unwilling-Book would have made matters more difficult. As it was, it had taken a fair amount of convincing to get the boy to trust him enough to agree. Not surprisingly he had still balked at being "stuffed into magic hammer-space and teleporting to another world for the worst family reunion ever." Strictly speaking, that wasn't a particularly accurate description of what Loki had done, but ultimately Book had agreed. He really wanted to be human again.

Odin stepped defensively in front of Frigga as he felt the swell of Loki's magic. The crowds drew back as his shadow lengthened and solidified into the form of a large wolf. Guards lowered their weapons, shouting to one another as they closed ranks between Loki and the rest of the court.

"Monster!"

"It's a trick!"

"Wait!" Loki's hands were raised in a pleading gesture as Book shook off the last shreds of shadow. "He means you no harm."

"Hold," rumbled Odin. "What is this!"

Loki stopped next to the wolf and wrapped an arm protectively around his neck—a gesture the beast grudgingly allowed. "This is Book," here Loki paused, "and he is human."

Frigga's hand went to her mouth. "Oh, Loki."

He wasn't surprised she had figured it out first.

"Speak quickly," growled Odin. He wasn't as versed with shape shifting as his wife, but he was beginning to guess at exactly what had happened.

"It is for Book that I come. He is…my friend, and I have wronged him." He straightened but kept a protective hand on the wolf's back. "There is a long tale to be told, but there was a battle that Book should never have been in. He was injured because of me—killed." Loki's jaw worked as he hunted for the right words to convey exactly what he had done. It had been easy enough talking of primordial rituals with the Avengers. Not even Thor would have understood the gravity of what he had done, the danger in such arcana. But he wasn't on Earth anymore. Here there be sorcerers, Loki thought. Every Aesir with more than a smattering of magecraft would know exactly what kind of rash deed he had attempted. "I had no magic and did the only thing I could think of."

"Blood rites," whispered Frigga. A tremor shot through her straight-backed frame. "You could have been killed!"

Loki blinked at the rage that flushed across his mother's face. He shook off his surprise. "Yes. Thankfully Book is very small." The wolf cocked his head to the side and raised a questioning brow. "Normally. The rite was successful. My blood had," he gestured vaguely, "unfortunate side effects."

The wolf snorted.

"And that is why you come to us," said Odin. "You give yourself to our judgment and we mend your mistake."

Loki could not ignore the unspoken words in that statement, another of your mistakes. "That is my bargain," he said through clenched teeth. "Help the boy and I will serve my punishment—willingly."

Silence descended over the hall as mild surprise settled across Odin's features. It had been many an age since Loki had willingly accepted a punishment. And in his madness he had thought only of himself. Yet here he stood, pleading for a frail human child. He had returned freely to imprisonment and worse.

A flash of red and gust of wind announced Thor's presence. "Father!" He shouted as his booted feet hit the floor, Mjolnir still clenched in his fist. "Loki is…"

"Far ahead of you, as always," said Loki.

"What do you know of this, Thor?" asked Odin. His one eye watched his eldest carefully. It did not seem to surprise him that Thor knew exactly where his brother was, even after he had been missing for well over a year. His damaged sight did not mean that he missed the quick look that passed between the two—so similar to the ones they shared as boys when brought before him for fighting with Freyr, or attempting to break into the vaults, or any number of other youthful misadventures. It was a scheme to decide exactly what to tell him, and how exactly to phrase it. Naturally these strategies had largely been controlled by Loki—whether Thor was aware of it or not. After a time Loki could get Thor to speak or take responsibility even while Thor believed he was going against Loki's wishes by doing so. And yet—it was Loki who would often make the blame fall on himself, even when both were clearly at fault.

Odin repeated the question. "Your king awaits an answer!"

"Some weeks ago we found Loki on Earth—Midgard—living in poverty and stripped of his gifts. The boy had been a boon to him during his entrapment there and when he was injured in a battle, Loki attempted to heal him."

"With blood magic," said Frigga stiffly. She folded her hands before her, fingers locked together. Thor nodded.

"Yet only now you come to us," said Odin, leveling his spear at his eldest. "While a traitor and murderer walked free in your care."

Raising his chin, Thor looked at his father with a steady strength—not obstinate, not defiant, simply a quiet resolve. "Book mended slowly, and without Loki none of us had the knowledge to deal with the unintended consequences of the ritual."

Frigga took a step forward, "You speak of stolen power. Who could do such a thing?"

"Oh, I've been waiting for this." Loki's broad grin surprised everyone. "Do, show yourself."

A ripple of awed voices filtered through the crowd as they dipped their heads, Skuld striding out of their midst. "The Norns were at work in this, Allmother." She gave Frigga a small smile. "For the betterment of all." She turned her attention to the throne. "You should take his bargain, young one—it is given in sincerity."

Thor and Loki both had to stifle amusement at the graying Allfather being called "young."

"This would not be the first time he has come with words full of seeming truth. And in the end they are all lies," said Odin. A rasping growl laced his words, "what has changed?"

Skuld crossed the room and placed a long hand on Loki's shoulder. "He has."

"Father," said Thor, "for Book's sake if none other's."

For a long moment Odin considered the scene before him, stonefaced and scowling. His eye roved over them, hardly acknowledging Book as anything more than a nuisance and lingering unsettlingly on Loki. A hand brushed Odin's elbow as Frigga subtly caught his eye. Neither spoke, but understanding passed between them. A subtle upward twitch of Frigga's eyebrow sent Odin's attention back to those before him, ultimately coming to rest on the Norn.

Loki could see the cunning in that bright eye as Odin Allfather appraised each of the pieces on the board before him. Thor and Loki were known quantities, Book an oddity but worth little appraisal. It was the Norn that stayed Odin's hand. She was not a being whose will could be circumvented, even by the swift winged thoughts of the Raven-god himself.

Abruptly Odin rapped Gungnir against the ground, a decision reached. He spoke now in judgment. "So it shall be. I accept your bargain, Loki Silvertongue." He nodded to his guards. "Escort them both to the lesser throne room that the Queen may aid this unfortunate soul."

Just as the guards made to move forward, a voice cracked through the hall. "Willful child!" A tangle of misty threads formed out of the air, weaving into a lean, towering figure. "What have you done?"

The weight of eons crouched in the words, driving Asgard to its knees before this skeletal thing. Four arms tipped with long nailed fingers folded neatly behind her back as she swiveled her head to fix the royal family with a hard, glittering eye. In its depths lurked the span of each life and between those sharpened talons all lives ended.

Where Skuld played at being mortal, her sister didn't even try.

A/N: When you're in the zone, Asgardian speech can be a lot of fun to write because it allows you to be a bit archaic and poetic. If you're not…it's a pain in the tuchus and can turn into a hot mess. But we finally get to see Frigga! Such a criminally underused character, because she's kind of amazing and all directors that thought they should trim out her scenes from the movies were morons (okay, not really, but that was not a good call, we needed more of the mother/son relationship to balance things out, particularly between Frigga and Loki).

Next Week: Skuld is but one of three, and the other Norns do not share her vision for Loki.

RedHood001: Oh, so close! Odin may be good with magic, but Frigga is the one with the shapeshifting skills (and if Merat is anything to judge by, a skill in helping others who get themselves into shifting mishaps).

It is nice to see Loki starting to realize how skewed his perspective can become and any kind of brother bonding is always a win in my book.