A/N: Normally I wouldn't have Smelt appear until his plans were in motion, but what good is a super-hero's archvillain nemesis if we don't even know he's alive? Anyway, back to Asgard and the tangled threads of a separate plot.

To Ride Upon Svadilfari

-Chapter Thirty-Six-

Penumbra

(Above)

They were at yet another feast and Harry found himself well and truly confused and wishing that Hermione, with her unparalleled memory for stray facts.

"Something troubling you?" Loki asked glibly.

"Nothing except the fact that I can't keep track of who belongs with who," Harry rumbled, still surveying the æsir further down the table. Both he and Loki were near the head, to Frigga's right, while Thor, Jane, and his usual companions were seated further down the table where the popular warrior seemed to be holding court, raucous laughter emerging from the group at intervals. He though Jane's smile looked slightly strained, but the only danger she faced at the moment was being regaled with endless tales of battles long past. "I was told Freya was married to this Odr, then today I'm introduced to Ottar and I'd swear I didn't misrember her husband's name."

"You didn't," Loki informed him, smiling wryly. "Concubines are common enough, as you might have noticed," he said, gesturing to the women who far outnumbered the men at the table. "The einherjar look to it as part of their reward and the æsir think of women as their right. And, generally, the women are pleased enough about it. They were hardly chosen for their prudishness, after all, and they aren't passed around as camp favors, which might have been the case in the cultures they were drawn from. They generally settle into relationships not unlike marriage, but dissolvable on a whim, usually the woman's, as the einherjar accrues glory to his name or loses it. But that is the einherjar."

"And the æsir?" Harry asked patiently, recognizing in Loki the same impulse that guided Hermione to give him an exposition on the relationships among Asgardians when he'd only meant for Loki to point out whether or not he was confusing names. Perhaps when Hermione returned, he'd ask for a sketch of the complicated Asgardian family tree with an annotated list of husbands and the like.

" The æsir either sample and discard," Loki said without any particular tonal change to indicate he thought it wrong, "or they collect what they come to enjoy. Freya's husband is Odr, while the one with her tonight is her lover Ottar, who was once mortal but no longer."

"So she, what, hides him from her husband? I'd heard he was away most of the time," Harry said, though he doubted that any relationship that extended so long as to require the extended lifespan of an Asgardian could be hidden.

Loki only glanced at him. "Of course not. She keeps them both openly and others as well, when the mood suits her. Freya is not only a goddess who houses half of the einherjar in her hall, but made herself known as the goddess of sexuality. And she is the one in the position of power in her relationships. Odr and Ottar are faithful to her, but have no such expectations from her. That is their understanding."

"But isn't that adultery?" Harry asked, brows drawing together as he felt slightly out of his depth. There were so many familiar social structures to Asgardian society he was always bemused to encounter deviations from the norm. And with the clearly defined gender roles at work in shining Asgard, he'd thought that the double sexual standard would be as true here as in almost any culture he'd ever encountered.

"That's harmless, if, besides a husband, a woman has a lover or someone else," Njord, who'd been seated on Loki's other side, volunteered.

"Not precisely 'harmless'," Loki countered, "but there are a few female æsir who make it their right to do so and any man who wants her must enter into the relationship with the understanding that he will never have her all to himself. An exception to this would be the Allfather and Mo-Frigga." Harry raised his brows quizzically in encouragement and Loki proceeded with his explanation, glancing only briefly toward the empty chair that his mother had absented scant minutes ago. "Odin, of course, has always done as he pleased, but it is said that during his early Odinsleep, when his brothers were still in Asgard, that Frigga lived with both of them as her husbands and that they drew their sovereignty through her. They no longer speak of it, but she was never called to account for adultery, so Odin, who would have had full knowledge of it, must have approved."

Harry considered that for a moment. "Better a queen than a white horse," he said with private humor, recalling the only sovereignty myth familiar to him, though both Njord and Loki regarded him blankly. "So, if this is...common, what's that mean for Jane?" he asked quietly.

Loki rolled his eyes. "No need to fear. Thor has taken many women in his time, but they were conquests, not this-whatever this turns out to be. Providing she isn't offered a taste of the Golden Apples, his attentions should remain focused on her for much of her lifetime, if his other obsessions were anything to judge by."

Njord regarded Jane with those odd eyes of his, lighter here at the feasting table than he recalled them in the hall, like sea foam. He made a thoughtful noise and turned to look at Loki, whose brows arched sardonically. Njord leaned toward Harry slightly. "Loki is still somewhat upset I once predicted his woman's body would give him the softness of a woman's heart and that one day he would add 'fidelity' to his otherwise appalling provinces of power. I don't see the issue."

"I don't need the advice of a god of fish," Loki retorted archly. "You also told me, very clearly, that the woman I would marry would lay in the bed of a king."

"True. But you took from that only what you wanted to hear. I never said that king would be you, after all."

Loki scowled, but the edges of Harry's lips inched upward. "And that," he said, "is why no one needs to know the future."

Njord shrugged. "He'll find what he needs, even if it isn't what he wants," he said. "Now, remind me what year it is so I know what Frigga has in her cellars."

Harry ignored Loki's sigh, his eyes lingering on the figures at the table and beyond. The Asgardians had grown progressively less alarmed with his presence to the point where only a few of the women stared with fear in their eyes. Curiosity still accrued him a few glances, but he no longer felt that there was an expectation that at any minute he might take to the air and attempt to make them the main course of his own dinner. Movement from Thor's group drew his gaze and he watched Thor stand and cross the into the pillars beyond, Jane being immediately drawn back into conversation with the golden-haired manwhore.

His sight was clearer than most, even in the dim light of the pillars and the fine line of shoulder and hair were instantly recognizable to him. "Loki," he spoke in a low voice, "the woman with Thor-who is she?"

Without seeming to look, Loki raised his cup to his lips. "Amora."

"Amora," Harry repeated, testing the name.

"If you are interested, I could stage a coincidence for you," Loki offered, eyes glittering at the prospect of a challenge and an opportunity to make use of his cunning.

"No," Harry said offhandedly. "There's something..." he trailed off, trying to distinguish from the morass of information fed to him by his senses what troubled him about the Veela-beautiful woman. As the thought formed, it caught it and examined it closely. That was what it was. Amora wasn't simply attractive-she was approaching the state of sublime, entrancing enchantment that he only associated with the dangerous magical creatures and Sirens. A beauty that men died to glimpse, surrendered their souls to touch. And she well knew it, Harry thought as he watched a slender hand trace the line of Thor's jaw and then beckon him onward, disappearing through a doorway.

He expected Thor to deny her, but the warrior only followed and there was little to be gleaned from the set of his shoulders.

Harry didn't realize the low grumble of displeasure was originating from him until he caught Loki's expression. "Is that a reaction to the thought that Amora would prefer Thor to you, that you prefer Jane and that you think Thor is slighting her by following another woman outside, or...? It's possible that Thor was called out for a perfectly innocent reason."

"Possible, yes. Probable, less likely. This is the second time. She wasn't in any hurry-it wasn't to deliver a message that she's here. She was simply testing him, to see if he would come to her," Harry murmured. "This is a more public place than last time. More risk of discovery. She's becoming more certain of him." Only vaguely aware of Loki's expression, Harry stood and took another door out of the room, aware that the halls would meet. Silently he cast a Notice-Me-Not charm, ignoring the feeling of it taking hold as he stalked his targets.

He was surprised when a hand grasped his wrist and he followed the hand up an arm clad with worn golden bracers that gave way to black leather and green fabric.

"Thor's mistakes are his to make," Loki told Harry seriously.

"And if his mistakes aren't made because of some sorcery, then he will be free to make them," Harry retorted. "Can't you sense-" his eyes narrowed. "Is this some trick of yours, Loki?" he asked, twisting his arm free and shoving the other man again the wall in a sudden movement, his charm breaking in his rage.

Loki raised both hands, palms up. "Must I always suffer accusations?"

"With your history? Be glad accusations are all I'm prepared to make instead of leaving you bleeding on the floor. There's something off about Amora."

"Are you sure you're not just feeling guilty about being attracted to her? Looking for excuses?" Loki taunted.

Harry tightened his grip. "I know what desire tastes like. And I know the lengths that some will go to achieve that desire, no matter that their feelings are unwanted." His eyes searched Loki's odd celadon green-blue gaze, which refused to reveal any secrets. "Merlin help me, if you're lying, if this is your plan-"

"You'll do something terrible to me? I believe," Loki said with a faint smile, "we've had this conversation."

"Not this particular one. This one will be a repayment in kind," Harry snarled. "Where I come from, there is a potion called Amortentia, which creates an obsession so powerful that food, drink, everything becomes secondary to pleasing the object of that obsession. We call it a 'love' potion, but in truth it's a rape of the mind, of your thoughts, of your being. And you would be helpless against it. Is that what you want?" He kept his voice low, both to not draw attention and because he knew that a quiet voice was often the most threatening. "Because I can make it happen."

And he could. There wasn't a practical use for Amortentia that wasn't illegal, but like many compulsion potions, Hit Wizards and Aurors used the same methods used to accustom the body to poisons, taking minute quantities of the substance. The resistance was not permanent and one had to continue to imbibe the substance to retain it. His bottle of Amortentia was still half-full, untouched for years now as The Dragon had gifted him with the beast's near-invulnerability to common poisons and potions.

"And how would that make you better than me, if I was indeed behind this plot?" Loki asked, almost a whisper.

"It wouldn't. But it would be a Pyrrhic victory for you, regardless. So tell me the truth, Loki-is Amora carrying out some plot of yours?"

Loki became as serious as Loki ever became when he wasn't raging. "Not of mine. The plot is wholly Amora's."

"But there is a plot?"

"Yes?"

"And you were just going to stand by and let it happen?" Harry demanded.

"Actually, I rather intended to laugh, but I suppose that isn't the answer you wanted to hear."

A/N: Bonus points to anyone who recognized where Njord's line came from. I'll give you a hint-it's from the same text that records Frigga's relationship with Vili and Ve, though it's more an insult rather than the brief note of it mentioned in the Ynglinga Saga. So, no, I'm not inventing relationships to give me an opportunity to muck about with traditional roles and expectations in relationships. But I gleefully admit to an intention to exploit it. And, yes, I did take care of the Sigyn issue by the Roman method-too many gods? Mash them all together and create a composite. And while 'fidelity' might seem at odds with Loki's surface character, by definition it is ' faithfulness to a person, cause, or belief, demonstrated by continuing loyalty and support.' And he did keep faith with his family for over a millennia and the violence with which he broke that faith suggests very deep feelings. Loki's a very different kind of male character for me to write, because he's an interesting blend of traditionally 'female' virtues in the eyes of the æsir and, well, anyone who's seen the movies will know the rest of what I'm talking about on the male side of things.