Thor and Loki sat on opposite ends of the plush settee in the royal chambers, Loki resting his elbow on the arm and his forehead against his fist, his eyes tightly closed. Sigyn appeared with two crystal glasses filled with a pink liquid and handed one to Thor who thanked her, then moved to stand in front of Loki who sat oblivious to her presence.
"Here." Sigyn said, holding out the glass. Loki opening his eyes and lowering his arm, looked to her and took the drink from her.
"Thank you." said Loki, moving the glass to his lips. The shock of the murder had momentarily caused Loki to overcome the consequences of the night before, but now that they had returned to their chambers, they were catching up with him. His head pounded, his body feeling as if it were a towel that had been wrung out. Thor for the most part seemed unaffected which internally raised his ire somewhat. He was certain Thor had imbibed more than he had the night before.
"I'm not sure how much information to put out there. People should know to be vigilant...but at the same time, I don't want to create mistrust. I want this to work. I was hoping from the beginning for Heven to become a refuge. We talked about that many times." Sigyn said, sitting down in a chair across from them.
"For the moment I think it best to tell them what we know, which isn't much." Loki answered.
"I agree. People appreciate honesty. My father used to say-" Thor began. Loki rolled his eyes at what he considered Thor's hero worship of their father.
"Spare me. Honesty was never father's strong suit. I know that better than anyone." Loki said, irritated.
"Father was as flawed as any of us. He would be the first to admit it." Thor replied.
"Honestly? What planet were you on all those years because it couldn't have been Asgard. I don't recall father having ever admitted to a mistake in his life. I had forgotten how you blindly worshiped him. Perhaps had he followed his own advice, there would still be a throne on Asgard upon which to sit." Loki said bitterly.
"I am only saying we can learn not only from his triumphs but also his mistakes." said Thor.
"Oh, there's plenty of those for us to examine. Where should we start?" Loki said.
"And I suppose you believe leaving the realms to fend for themselves while you enjoyed poorly scripted melodramas and ate grapes was the epitome of wisdom and good leadership?" Thor countered.
"What do you mean poorly scripted? I would like to see you do better! It's doubtful you'd get past writing your name on the first page!" Loki responded, insulted.
"Enough. Both of you!" Sigyn scolded. "If you're going to squabble like children, I should send you both to your rooms." Sigyn said, exasperated.
"That sounds quite wonderful actually." Loki said, rubbing his forehead.
"I suppose the only good thing is that most everyone out there probably feels about the same way you do right now. There won't be a lot of people going out today. Our security forces don't have a lot of experience with investigating murder. It almost never happened here before Loriel and when she was in power they didn't even bother."
"It was the same on Asgard as well. With rare exceptions..." Thor momentarily looked over to Loki, "the dungeons saw very few Asgardians held within its walls." Thor said.
"It's just strange...I mean, the whole situation is...but the angelic blood they found as well...at least as yet no one's been reported missing or injured." said Sigyn.
"As you said, most people are probably spending the day recuperating from the revels. If the blood was of another victim their absence may not yet have been noticed. If it was the perpetrator, they would most likely be tending to their own wound. They would not wish to call attention to themselves ." Thor conjectured.
"I just can't see an angel doing this. We naturally abhor such acts, wish to relieve suffering, not cause it. Of course, with Loriel on the throne it was a different story but they were under her control. She fed off pain and suffering, grew stronger from it so she wanted to bring about as much of it as she could." Sigyn said.
"We ourselves have seen how when newcomers are introduced it can cause dissension. Remember the Order of Jormungandr." Loki reminded Sigyn.
"That generally happens when people feel threatened in some way. There's no such concerns here. There's nothing for anyone to fear losing. There's more than enough for all and it's freely shared. There should be no reason for anyone to feel threatened by the Tartarans. You did say you met the victim last night, that she inquired about a job here. Did she say anything else?" Sigyn asked.
"Not that I recall. It was a short conversation." Loki recalled.
"What job was she asking about? Did she say?" Sigyn asked.
"She asked if you were in need of additional assistance."
"She wanted to work for me specifically?"
"Yes. I thought it a bit forward, but then these people have been isolated their entire lives." Loki answered. Sigyn sat silent, thoughtful for a few moments.
"After Thor brought you home last night, you talked of meeting a woman...was it the same woman who was murdered, Phaedra?" Sigyn asked Loki. Loki looked a bit uncomfortable at the question.
"I'm not certain. I don't recall our conversation. I remember nothing after a certain point I'm afraid." Loki said, somewhat embarrassed at his admission.
"You don't remember anything...after you got home..." Sigyn said. Thor, noticing the expression on Sigyn's face looked from Sigyn to Loki surmising that Loki had said too much.
"No..." Loki said, himself now taking note of the expression on Sigyn's face. "But of course there are some things that under no circumstances could I ever forget-"
"Too late." Sigyn said in response to Loki's attempt to talk his way out of trouble. "You said something about how you thought she was trying to read your mind, that she wasn't herself, it didn't make much sense."
"Now as I recall, there was something that struck me as strange about her. I couldn't put my finger on it. Something about her eyes, perhaps. It was as if she were staring into my soul as they say. But then, by that time I had already had quite a bit to drink. I would put little stock in any impressions I may have had of anyone at the time."
"She must have made more of an impression than you realized for you to have mentioned her." Sigyn said, "At least you found someone memorable last night." Sigyn added. Thor turned his head away to look at the wall after Sigyn's barb.
"Yes...well..." Loki began when he was interrupted by the door to the royal chambers opening. All looked towards the door to see Mariel enter. Sigyn looked from her to Loki.
"Speaking of women that have made an impression on you..." Sigyn said fixing her eyes on Loki.
"My Queen, My King...your head of security requests to speak with you."
"Of course. Tell him to enter." Sigyn said. Mariel turned and exited. After a moment, the same angel that had been present in the morgue entered with her and stood a few feet in front of the door as Mariel remained near it. "Raguel, you have news?" Sigyn asked.
"I was summoned back to the examiner. He said upon further inspection, based on the angle of the wound and other observances, he now believes that her death came by her own hand." Raguel informed the three. Sigyn looked shocked and confused.
"How is that possible? There was no weapon found with her body."
"I do not know. We are still investigating. Perhaps she was somehow forced by another to harm herself. Loriel was known to cause others to do such things so it is possible." Raguel said. Loki stiffened as if coming to attention as Sigyn looked discomforted. She and Loki looked at each other.
"Thank you. Continue to keep us informed." Sigyn told Raguel.
"I will certainly do so." Raguel said, bowing his head then turning and exiting, Mariel opening the door for him and following him out.
"You don't think..." Sigyn said to Loki.
"Father said it would take much time for her to grow strong enough to again pose any threat...centuries. I doubt after only a year...besides, what would she gain by murdering an innocent Tartaran woman that had no connection to either of us?" Loki answered, attempting to reassure her.
"Loki is likely right." Thor said in agreement with his brother, also hoping to reassure Sigyn. Mariel again entered through the door, standing before it.
"My apologies for yet another interruption, but your friends from Tartarus, Elpida and Aegeus are here to see you." Mariel said.
"Oh! Yes...please, tell them to come in." Sigyn said, rising. Mariel exited once again, shortly after Elpida entered, Zosime in her arms, Aegeus by her side. "Thank you, Mariel." Mariel bowed her head and exited the royal chambers. Sigyn, smiling, made her way to Elpida and stood before her, looking down at Zosime. "She's growing fast. She already looks so different than when I last saw her. Please, sit." Sigyn said, gesturing for Elpida and Aegeus to take a seat in the other settee near the table in the center of the room near where Loki and Thor sat.
Loki and Thor, recalling their manners, stood as Elpida neared, Aegeus behind her as they made her way around the table to the settee.
"We just returned from viewing the body. It is Phaedra. I recognized her immediately, though it had been some time since I last saw her. She disappeared from the katafygio right before last growing season. We all had assumed that she had fallen victim to the empousae as so many others." Elpida said.
"I had spoken with her last evening. She said that she had been held in their dungeons." Loki said.
"That would explain her disappearance. It is unusual for the empousae to have held someone that long without either killing or converting them, but I'm sure they had a reason. It's strange that she looked so well...besides the obvious...many of the others among us rescued from there were severely weakened, barely fed. They are still recovering and had not been there nearly that long." Elpida told them.
"Perhaps she was being given special treatment. I made the acquaintance of an empousa while I was being held there, Sotiria. She had been taken as well, had been made into one of them. She said that few were allowed to be converted. Perhaps they were considering it but were unsure." Sigyn hypothesized.
"I suppose anything is possible. We never knew exactly how they decided who to convert." Elpida responded.
"Do you know of anyone among you that would have wished to harm her, or why she may have harmed herself?" Thor asked.
"No, I do not. She had no enemies among us that I'm aware. She was generally a happy person, at least as much as one could be under the circumstances."
"After a year in captivity though, the abuses she most likely suffered...that would greatly affect a person, change them. I know from experience." Sigyn said.
"I had not spoken with her. I was honestly not aware she was among us. She must have been keeping to herself since she arrived here so that is possible. Beyond that, I know nothing more."
"Thank you. You've been very helpful." Sigyn told her and Aegeus. Elpida stood, Aegeus following suit.
"We must return. She will be wanting fed soon and then will take her rest." Elpida said. Loki who had been sitting silently, listening and looking contemplative now rose.
"I will see you there safely. There's a matter I wish to look into." Loki said, then looked to Thor. "Brother, would you stay with her?"
"Yes, of course." Thor answered.
"I won't be long. I will return to you soon." Loki said to Sigyn, reaching out and taking her hand as he noticed the worry on her face, her displeasure in parting from him, now exacerbated by the fear of a murderer in their midst.
"Why don't you have one of the sentries accompany you as well?" Sigyn asked.
"If it will make you feel better." Loki said, then leaned over, kissing her cheek before releasing her hand and escorting Elpida and Aegeus to the door.
Loki found Xenia exactly where he had supposed she would be, standing inside the temple that housed the Ladder's mechanism near a column that looked out of the back side of the structure over the expanse of the city. She stared silently up into the blue sky, seemingly taking no notice of his approach, but Loki was confident she knew he was there, and probably had known he was on his way long before. As had been true for Heimdall, Xenia seemed dedicated to her new position and had thus far spent most of her time there, though it was far from necessary for her to do so.
"How can I be of service to my King?" Xenia asked without moving from her position or ceasing to peer into the sky.
"I didn't see you at the celebration last evening." Loki said.
"I'm afraid it would have been a bit much for me, for the moment at least. I am already quite overwhelmed...my vision has expanded exponentially as I'm no longer restricted to one world only. I now see the universe as my grandfather once did. Imagine having spent your life looking through a keyhole...and then the door is fully opened to you." Xenia explained. "The universe is quite a place to behold. It is a lot to take in."
"I imagine it would be." Loki replied. "Such vision may have been useful last night."
"You speak of the murder of Phaedra. I have already told Raguel all that I know, which is nothing, unfortunately. At the time, my attentions were elsewhere...out there. Eventually I will learn to integrate my sight to both places, I'm sure."
"Heimdall, the guardian of the Bifrost during my father's reign, did so. I'm certain in time you will as well. He once saved Sigyn's life. I fear her life may be in danger once again from the same entity, or one like her. We may have brought it back with us, in the guise of this Phaedra."
"I will do what I can to protect her." Xenia said, finally turning to Loki. "However, if here is where she is in danger, then perhaps here is not where she should be. As I am learning, the universe is a big place, far bigger than I ever imagined. Is there not somewhere you could take her where this entity would not know her location?"
"I suppose there is. However, I don't believe she'd take well to the idea. Our separation had quite an effect on her."
"It matters not how she would take to it. What matters are the lives of both her and the child."
"I agree. I will consider your counsel."
"Do not consider it for too long. If this dark creature has the ability to take on the guise of others, you will never know who is a threat. The enemy will soon be at the door. It will work its way closer and closer until it is in a position to strike and like a serpent in the brush you will not expect it until its venom has already been delivered."
Loki returned to the palace, the sentry Sigyn had insisted accompany him at his side, pondering what Xenia had said. As he entered the palace, he sent the sentry off to relay a message and headed to the next place that he had planned to visit before returning home to Sigyn whom he knew anxiously awaited him.
Descending the wide marble staircase with the gold fretwork railings he approached the entrance to Heven's vault of treasures. The guard standing before it upon seeing his approach stepped to the side and opened the door for him and he entered, the guard closing it behind him. Walking among the pedestals displaying the vast array of relics, he approached the one that he had come for. The blue orb with the light pulsing within it stood on its stand once again, having been returned to its place when Sigyn had first arrived on Heven after her escape from Tartarus. Removing it from its place, Loki magically stowed it away. He walked further along the row of pedestals to view the other relic he had come to visit, finding only an empty pedestal. Looking concerned, he turned and made his way back towards the entrance.
Mariel stood at the foot of a crystal monument that depicted two pairs of angels wings connected back to back upon a marble base where the name of her sister and her brother in law were engraved in their memory. She turned as she heard the door open to the balcony overlooking the courtyard where the monument stood. Loki walked out onto the balcony, then traversed it to the staircase on the left and descended it, walking across the courtyard towards her.
"I thought this the least likely place for us to be overheard." Loki said to her.
"What is it that you wish to speak with me about?" Mariel asked. She had been somewhat surprised when the sentry had approached her and given her Loki's message. She knew that he continued to feel ill at ease in her presence and avoided being alone with her. She understood the reason behind it though she knew he bore her no ill will and was grateful to her for saving his and Sigyn's life as evidenced by the monument he had commissioned and had placed in the courtyard at the site where her sister and brother in law had met their end at Loriel's command by Loki's hand. He had not forgotten the oath he had sworn to himself that day to forever honor their sacrifice.
"Sigyn is in danger here. I have reason to believe Loriel has returned. I'm moving her off world until the threat is contained." Loki told her.
"Where are you taking her? Loriel knows of the island, there is no safe place on Midgard where she could not find her."
"Somewhere no one would think to look and where she will be well guarded. She will need her things made ready. She will not need much. The wardrobe I commissioned for her for our last visit to New Asgard, a few other things for her comfort." Loki told her.
"I will see to it." Mariel said.
"Tell no one." Loki said to Mariel before turning from her and heading back towards the staircase.
Loki entered the royal chambers to find Sigyn pacing. Though he was pleased to see her with such energy and not miserable in bed as she had been in previous days, he also was aware it meant that she was filled with anxiety which couldn't be good for her. Thor sat looking helpless, having tried and failed to relieve her of her worries. As she heard the door open and saw Loki enter, she rushed to him.
"I thought you said you wouldn't be long. You've been gone over an hour. I was getting worried. I was about to send Thor to find you."
"Where is the Horn of Naglfar?" Loki asked the question that had been troubling him since he had noticed its absence from the vault, ignoring Sigyn's mild scolding.
"It's under the protection of Valkyrie on New Asgard. I had Sif take it there when we went to the island." Sigyn explained to him.
"Whatever for?" Loki asked.
"I thought it better...I didn't want to be tempted..." Sigyn said, looking down. Loki was surprised he hadn't reasoned it out himself. He wrapped his arms around her.
"A wise choice. Sit, my love. We have much to discuss."
Mariel stood in front of a large trunk in the expansive room that held the royal wardrobe. she had just finished putting the last of the clothing Loki had requested her to pack into a large trunk and closed it, turning from it when she heard the door open. A fellow angelic attendant in the blue dress, wearing the badge of her position stood by the door for a moment, looking to Mariel then began to approach her.
"Mitra. I was just organizing the Queen's wardrobe. She will soon need many of them altered." Mariel said, using the excuse she had come up with to obfuscate the true reason for her presence there.
"Mariel..." Mitra said. Mitra's voice was her own, yet Mariel sensed something off about it and the woman she knew well.
"Yes? Does the Queen have need of me?" Mariel asked as Mitra came closer. Mariel sensed a familiar, dark presence and danger.
"So it was you." Mitra said.
"What are you talking about?" Mariel asked.
"After I had risen you so high, you dared betray me."
Mariel by this point knew that Mitra was not who she appeared to be, at least the mind operating from inside the shell that had once been Mitra.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Mariel said. Mitra lunged towards her, grabbing her by the throat.
"It will be poetic when the body that once saved her life is the one that ends it." Mitra said as she stared into Mariel's eyes and produced a dagger. Mariel, unaffected by Loriel's attempt in the form of Mitra at mind control choked and gasped for air. Mitra made a stab at Mariel with the dagger. Mariel brought her arm up, blocking it, the dagger embedding itself in the flesh of her forearm. She quickly brought her knee up, catching Mitra in the gut, almost simultaneously forming a fist with the hand of her uninjured arm and brought it up under Mitra's chin hard, knocking her back, Mitra releasing her grasp on Mariel's throat and on the dagger. Mariel pulled the dagger from her arm and held it out towards Mitra with her uninjured hand as she quickly made her way to the exit and out the door, leaving a trail of blood.
After news of the attack upon Mariel reached her and the identity of her attacker all but confirmed, Sigyn knew she had no choice but to resign herself to Loki's plan to insure her safety. Mitra, at least her body, had disappeared without a trace soon after Mariel's attack. Loki knew it was likely that Mitra's body would soon be found also dead from a self inflicted wound as Loriel found a new body to inhabit, of course after she evicted the original tenant. There was no way to know who that may be. No one in the palace or anywhere on Heven for that matter could now be trusted.
Sigyn, bundled in the warm clothing and heavy cloak she had last worn to visit New Asgard in Norway for Jul the previous winter, looked out over the icy wasteland of Jotunheim as Thor, wrapped in a heavy cloak as well and hauling the large trunk Mariel had packed, escorted her to meet with its regent, the son of Loufrir whom Loki had appointed to see to the affairs of the frost giant's home world. A Jotun made his way towards them. Sigyn stopped in her tracks and stiffened as she anxiously watched the blue giant approach. Thor set the trunk down and reached his arm out, clasping her forearm in a strong hand.
"Have no fear." Thor said quietly "Do not forget, you are now their Queen as well. It would not go well for them if any harm were to come to you."
The Jotun stopped in front of the two, Sigyn and Thor looking up into his face, Sigyn trying, though fearing she was failing, to mask her inherent fright. Before her stood a being that had haunted her dreams throughout childhood, that had attacked them on her island and almost cost her her life. She recalled the suffering she had endured as she lay slowly dying from the effects of the Seraphillium that contaminated the angelic dagger the Jotun Gymir had thrust into her body.
"Welcome to Jotunheim, my Queen. I will take you to Drolfey." The Jotun said in a deep, resonant voice then bent over, picking up the trunk in front of Thor and hefting it onto his shoulder with seemingly no effort. It even appeared smaller against his large frame. Sigyn and Thor followed the Jotun through the frosty snow, across the barren, frozen landscape.