Chapter 50: The Real Problem and Drifa's Offer

In a matter of five seconds, Loki had determined what he would say to the warrior, how he would say it, and exactly what the next few steps to take would be. He grasped the handle on the front door, as determined as ever, and pulled it back towards him firmly. His firm expression faded almost instantly at the sight that met him. With Volstagg still detained at the palace, unknown to the trickster, of course, another relative stood on the doorstep looking oddly injured in some emotional way. Drifa's features, pale and platinum, contrasted the dark night sky well. She looked up at him and returned the frown that had turned instantly into a scowl on the sorcerer's face.

"The sheer irony of this being my home loses any humor with you being the one to open the door. Why aren't you at the palace after that dream? Why aren't you retrieving Darcy?" she demanded as she moved past him, slipping by with the greatest of ease thanks to her size and slight shape.

"I knew you had a hand in the dreadful nightmare it practically flashed your gruesome signature with each passing moment," he retorted. The indignation in him fizzled away as it occurred to him that she had mentioned retrieving his beloved. "You know where Darcy went?"

"Of course I do, I sent her to speak to Odin after she settled emotionally from your last assault," Drifa replied, climbing onto a chair and resting her head against the back with a sigh. "I'm exhausted, you know, I haven't hopped from place to place and tried to use my own gifts in the mind of another sorcerer in ages."

"You sent her to the All-Father?" Loki exclaimed. Fear gripped him partially out of a concern for his own safety and freedom and then more out of concern for Darcy's; if the old man discovered the mark on her hand, its origin, and that she was with child by one of his household, he could only imagine the hostility that would ensue. Loki grasped his head and began breathing sharply. This was more complicated and risky than he had anticipated. But where was she at the moment? What had transpired between the two, and most importantly, what had been the outcome if any? Drifa shook her head and sighed as Loki turned back to her furiously. "Where is she? What has he done with her?"

Drifa scoffed. "You're awfully quick to judge the man that risked his own life to bring you back to Asgard and raise you as his own. He lied to you and treated you a little harshly, but he's not a monster, you know," she snorted. He growled and took a few steps towards her. She groaned and sat more upright. "He's sealed her in the vault with the rest of the Norn relics. Pity, she's nowhere near the shards of the casket and no one has bothered to tell the king that it's been returned in such a shameful state."

"You great bilgesnake! She'll die there!" Loki exclaimed. The vault was not meant to kill any creature, but it was also far beneath the palace in a place that was both terribly cold and usually thick-aired. Humans would've found it at the very least unbearable and the trickster couldn't understand what his adopted father had been thinking sealing a young woman within its walls. A young woman with child at that; didn't he remember what cold and solitude had done to . . . "My mother," Loki realized aloud. His heart burst into flames, seething with anger and hatred and roaring with despondency at the thought of losing Darcy in quite nearly the same way he had lost his rightful mother. He turned furiously to Drifa who sank back in the chair a little, looking up at him in surprise and a measure of fear. "When I return, should I find Darcy in any condition other than when last I saw her you will suffer a century for every moment she was otherwise."

"That's a little unfair given that what you truly want is to find her safe and well when the last you saw her she was overwhelmed with grief because of you," Drifa observed. The trickster's eyes narrowed at her angrily and she sighed, turning away. "She isn't going to die, you dolt. Like Brenhin, she is nearest enough to creatures with compassionate hearts and sound minds; no thanks to you, I might add, in either situation."

"This is unacceptable and absurd!" he ranted. "Confining a young woman in such an austere prison is no better . . ."

"Than abducting a mortal with the intent to do whatever evils are necessary to use their suffering to create the suffering of another?" Drifa added sharply. He turned and glowered at her as she folded her arms and returned a harsh gaze. "Odin would not do her any real harm. He anticipates you returning to retrieve her and you know it."

"She is mortal. Threats and imprisonment are more cruel and devastating than they are for any of his subjects," he corrected.

"And you think he's unaware of that? The worlds are full, Loki, full of creatures that have the very same knowledge and understanding that you do with other wisdoms besides. You are not the single parapet of the learned and you would do well to remember that," she said sternly. "I would, however, wait a few moments if I were you in retrieving her."

"That's imbecilic, she's in danger I cannot delay," he replied turning back to the door. Without anyone grasping the handle or touching its facings, the door suddenly slammed shut in front of him. The sound of the slam reverberated menacingly throughout the dwelling and Loki took a step backwards in surprise. Drifa rose and slunk back to the floor, moving to stand in the middle of the room expressionlessly. He turned back to face her, suppressing anger out of curiosity for why she wanted this delay.

"When you are finished retrieving her, she will convince you fervently to return to Sylvanheim to remove the marking. When you return, Eldred will be awaiting your arrival. He will take Darcy's life force in lieu of that which should have ended your apprenticeship to him," she said slowly and almost sadly. He gave her a stern look as if to remind her that he already knew the old sorcerer would make such a demand and, even being slightly less experienced and powerful at the moment than the dark master, he had planned to face the issue head on. She moved closer to him. "Unless you can present him with an alternative."

"And what would a shrewd sorcerer take in place of the last rune of power or that most significant tool with which he planned to seek it? There is nothing that can match the Norn Queen's Eye, nothing that he would accept," he corrected, turning back to the door and grasping the handle firmly.

"You could give him Nauthiz, the one rune he lacks, the one you could not find in any of your travels," she remarked. He laughed. "He plans to use the Eye to find it, after all. Nauthiz, the source of shadows drawn into light and secrets revealed, the power to know the past and guide the future. That is what he desires in it, is it not? That is why you were told to seek it for him, wasn't it?"

"I have searched worlds you've never dreamt of, oracle," he said with scorn. "What makes you think I could simply retrieve it and deliver it to him now?"

"Because it stands behind you," she said flatly. He froze at those words, a fizzling of strange, familiar realization moving through him. He heard the child-oracle move a step towards him. "To reveal all that is hidden, to turn misfortune into destiny, to discern and guide the banes and blessings of fate . . . that is the Rune Nauthiz. You remember well its vices and virtues from your texts, Loki," Drifa said emotionlessly. The trickster heard her breath beginning to grow a little shaky at the revelation. She folded her hands in front of her. "The answers to all riddles and the memories of all lost creatures, that is what Eldred lacks and what he still wants from you stands and speaks before you."

"This is deception, a ruse," he said softly, staring at her in disbelief. "The powers of a rune only answer to the most capable of sorcerers. Even with all of your gifts, your skills are limited at best."

"I have been cautious to show them to you any more than simply using the crystals," she confessed, staring up at him with wide, white eyes that now eerily pierced his thoughts and gave strange testimony to her confession. "Loki Odinson, I am the Rune Nauthiz."

His eyes trembled as madly as the rest of him at this news. He knew it was true, somehow it had to be and he felt that her powers mirrored all that he had learned about the rune's blessings in a sorcerer. Part of him had felt it when he had first met the girl, but he had ignored it until now. She was not only an oracle, she was a runic mage. "How?" he demanded simply.

She sighed and looked down. "Well, it all began with a fish."

(*)

"I will see about my niece and return, that is all I am asking to do, now stand aside!" Volstagg continued to demand angrily at the group of guards that had amassed to curtail his leaving the palace. Originally only two had stood in his path, but after the warrior had opted to try and get out to retrieve Loki from Drifa's dwelling several more had joined them. When he had reminded Thor of the trickster's promise on Alfsheim, the warrior, saddened and disheartened by the most recent refusal on his brother's part to follow him home, the older son of Odin and the rest of the warriors had tossed the notion aside reminding Volstagg that Loki was known as many things and a liar above them all. Ignoring this, Volstagg had hurried straight for the exit that would give him a straight shot out to Drifa's dwelling. He thought momentarily about the fact that Loki was well noted for his deception, but having involved anything with Drifa in the promise, he somehow felt that Loki would be more inclined to follow through with any vows. Drifa, at the very least, would go and see that the trickster did as he had promised even if only briefly, long enough to face the queen.

"The king has given his express desire that no one, good Volstagg, NO ONE leave this palace. His command was issued three hours ago and it has not changed since!" the largest and most agitated guard shouted at the red-haired warrior. Volstagg growled and instinctively clenched his hands into two fists. "And what's more, he's not likely to change his mind in the next three hours, either!"

"I was given an errand by the queen and I will not sit idly by and refuse to do my sworn service to her," Volstagg countered. The rest of his usual friends accompanied by Jane still clinging to Thor, walked slowly up to where their friend was arguing with the guards and growing louder in doing so by the minute. Sif frowned and shook her head, glancing over at Fandral and Hogun in turn who each did the same. "Now stand aside and you may tell the king that his queen has sent one of the warriors off to do her bidding in the rest of the kingdom."

"Our orders were clear, good Volstagg, and we aren't about to abandon them on your word alone," the guard replied angrily. He looked over the large warrior's shoulder at the blonde prince who had now joined the scene and bowed his head. "Your highness."

"Volstagg, this is lunacy. Loki isn't going to be waiting for you, you know that," Thor said with a tone of sadness. Volstagg turned and stared harshly at his friend, a defeated look in his blue eyes. "He's chosen a home on Alfsheim."

"Not a good idea, mind you, but with his natural affinity for charming citizens and beasts alike a bear should be no small feat for him," Fandral added. The other three turned and gave him a sharp look as well. "Besides, it might suit him more to be among their kind where he might just feel more at ease, visibly speaking."

"You've given up hope . . . now?" Volstagg demanded as he glared at Thor. Thor frowned and looked away, tightening the hand around Jane's. "Your brother has died and been revived twice in your mind, in our minds, after countless acts of mischief that became menacing . . . but still you stood by him."

"I had hope then of him returning to stand beside me," Thor replied sadly. "That's not going to happen."

"Oh, for the sake of all that lives! He's still the same scrawny little imp and as powerful as he might become, as menacing as he might make himself, he still needs you," Volstagg countered angrily and then looked at each of his friends in turn. "And the rest of us as well."

"Do you really think your friendship and my protection will sway his mind, change his desires?" Thor demanded, releasing Jane's hand as he took a step closer to the larger warrior. "No. Loki is beyond our reach now and that is exactly where he wants to be." Thor sighed and looked away. "He's grown used to isolation, it seems to comfort him."

"You fool, if he wanted isolation he wouldn't constantly rue over vengeance and reach pitifully for a throne!" Volstagg shot back. Unknown to the warriors, the prince, and the mortal, Odin observed from a short distance away. He remained silent and hidden behind a set of columns, watching the six cautiously. Volstagg had long been known for being loyal to the queen and as much of an older brother figure to Loki as Thor though Odin knew that the trickster might have seen him more as a distant uncle than something as close as a brother. Volstagg loved the royal family, but in loving them and having observed them for years, was ready to burst after seeing all the centuries of misdeeds and misunderstandings that had gone unaddressed. Thor glared at the man that had just blatantly called him a fool. It might've been true in some regards, but he wasn't keen on hearing it from anyone. "You've watched your brother for years and you still don't know who he is!"

"How can I know who he is he's changed it dramatically in exile and proudly wants to keep it that way," Thor shot back, hiding the hurt that Volstagg's words had created with a louder tone. "I know Loki more intimately than any of you," he continued. Sif scoffed at this causing Fandral to roll his eyes and Jane to mutter "Not as intimately as some people". Thor sighed and gestured to one side and then the other as he spoke. "Even on earth, after I told him I mourned for him, even after I stood to defend him on Alfsheim he turned and fled from me. He will not come back to Asgard, not for you, not for me, not for my mother, and not for . . ."

"He will return and Drifa will see to it," Volstagg corrected firmly.

Thor laughed scornfully at this. Hogun shook his head sadly and glanced toward Odin, the only one of the group even remotely aware of the All-Father's presence. "Drifa? The child-oracle will make my brother, the would-be conqueror of earth and leader of a legion from the galaxies beyond, appear meekly back on Asgard?" he said with another caustic laugh. "That is foolishness."

"Drifa is wiser and more powerful than you realize," Volstagg countered, a warning tone in his voice that harkened back to Thor's addressing Banner about his brother's sanity. The two glared at each other and stood only a few inches apart, Jane still clinging to her darling's arm, urging him to back down and be calm. Odin watched sadly as Thor remarked that Drifa's power was nothing more than a festival trick, giving fortunes and predicting the pasts of patrons. Volstagg glared more angrily at him and drew an inch closer. "Did it ever occur to you that perhaps this, this arrogance and this notion of magic's frivolous nature is what turned Loki against you? Did you?" Thor looked as if he had been smacked in the face by a wet cloth as Volstagg glared at him. Sif and Fandral both took defensive steps backwards at those words. Jane looked down and sadly leaned her forehead against Thor's arm at this accusation that he apparently had harbored in the back of his mind for some time. Volstagg moved closer and spoke more softly, but not so softly that the All-Father's keen senses couldn't hear the words and each weighed more heavily on his heart than on his son's mind.

"Year after year since I came to offer my services to the court he advanced in his studies and you in your training. And every time he proudly showed you some new spell, some new and wondrous charm you ridiculed it and regarded it as nothing. Tirelessly he tried to do something, anything to impress you or your father, to attain some semblance of favor and you two mocked his every attempt. Do you remember the day he learned to take hold of his transformations? Do you?" Volstagg shouted. Thor seemed to be shrinking down with each reminder, knowing that he bore a great amount of responsibility for Loki's suffering and having hoped that he would never have to hear about it from anyone but his brother. It hurt more deeply than any betrayal to be reminded of this cruelty right now. "He announced his accomplishment in front of the two of you one evening, in front of the rest of us, so proud of everything he had mastered to that day. And then, then he became the one thing he had always wanted to be, as I recall him saying, and he took another form entirely; yours."

Jane was unable to stifle a pitied 'aw' at this and watched Thor's reaction sadly. "And what did you do? Huh? What did the Mighty Thor do when his brother honored him?"

Thor took a step back and looked down. "I laughed at him," he admitted shamefully.

"You laughed at him," Volstagg repeated. Thor glanced back up at him in mixed anger and remorse. "And what happened after that?"

While Thor gave a concise reply about what had followed, Odin felt the memory replay painfully in his mind. He had laughed as well, which always invited the laughter of the rest of the court. He remembered standing and pointing at the faux-image of his older son and remarking as loudly as he could, "At last; Loki has made visible progress towards being able to lift something heavier than a quill!" The shock had caused the trickster's sleight to fade instantly into a pink and pale youth filled with humiliation. The All-Father remembered adding then "It's a shame such a thing is so fleeting. I suppose I shall have to settle for having two perfect sons only as long as the charm will last!" Odin grasped his heart as it wrenched in agony at remembering the trickster hurrying away from the grand hall. The sounds of his cries didn't manifest themselves until he was well out of the palace, but Frigga had heard them from within one of the gardens nevertheless. Along with Volstagg she had been the only member of the court to not delight in the mockery had repeatedly at his expense. He slowly returned to the present as the shame became somewhat easier to bear and the arguing that had renewed between Volstagg and the guard grew even louder. Odin sighed heavily and suddenly realized that keeping the truth of his heritage hadn't been the only wrong wrought against the younger for so long. It had seemed harmless, even merited at times, to say such things and increase Thor's sense of pride and Loki's sense of cunning. Instead, all it had done was create a terrible rift in the trickster's heart, one that had consumed him and boiled over into wickedry against worlds beyond. He gathered his strength, now knowing what truly needed to be done to set things to right. It was more than uniting the family and making the boy feel welcome that was needed; he needed to hear that those things in the past were wrong and be assured that they would never transpire again. Odin stepped out from behind the column and raised a hand sternly. "Enough!" he shouted towards the group. All present turned and bowed as Odin joined them more fully. He looked at Volstagg and Thor with a measure of admiration and apology. "If Loki has told you where to retrieve him and Frigga has given you instruction to do so, then be on your way and be quick about it." Volstagg nodded and shoved harshly past the guards. Thor turned to his father in confusion. The elder stared back at his son flatly. "You go with him, retrieve your brother and bring him home before the sun rises."

"Yes, father," Thor replied hurriedly, quickly bidding Jane to stay behind and saying goodbye. Without being told, the warriors followed their friends out and into the rest of Asgard leaving the All-Father and Jane standing silently in front of the humbled guards. Odin turned and swiftly moved towards the vault. He cared little about what the mortal did in Thor's absence, but the mortal in the vault would not be alone for long. Even if the group did manage to retrieve Loki, which he doubted they would if he already knew where she was, then he would be drawn toward the vault upon returning and that is exactly where the All-Father intended to wait for him; repentant of the trickster's horrible past.