Thor stowed Sigyn's trunk in a corner of the cave that they had been escorted to by the Jotun that had met them upon their arrival, Drolfey having assigned him the task to see to Sigyn's needs in her new sanctuary. A thick, hairless hide of some sort of large creature hung over the entrance, blocking out some of the cold, wintry air and gusts of wind and also served to trap the warmth inside the cave that emanated from the bronze colored box just slightly smaller than her trunk that sat in another corner of the cave, the stones inside it glowing red. A makeshift cot had been set up along another wall. She had covered it with the blankets she had added to the chest before her departure. There were no chairs or tables or other furniture. Sigyn suspected that any such furniture to be found on Jotunheim would be far too large to be useful to someone of her stature. A large orb resting on a stone pedestal that glowed golden and the red glow of the stones coming from the top of the bronze box were the only sources of light.
Drolfey had explained that the cave would be the safest location for her to spend her exile until the way was cleared for her to return home due to its out of the way location, but Sigyn suspected that what Drolfey actually meant was that it was safer for the Jotuns not to have one marked for assassination among their numbers. She was relieved, whatever the truth happened to be, as she had no desire to be surrounded by the creatures that had spurred so many of her nightmares.
Sigyn, standing by the entrance, pushed the hide aside a bit and peered out over the dark stretch of white, the stony crags where the Jotuns made their home in the distance.
"Does the sun ever shine here?" Sigyn asked Thor who was now standing in front of the bronze box, warming his hands above it.
"Not long, a couple of hours. It does not rise high before it again sets."
"It's hard to believe that Loki was born one of them." Sigyn said, moving the hide back over the doorway and turning to face Thor. "It's as if the fates, the universe want to keep us apart. We find our way back to each other only to be separated once again, over and over." Sigyn said mournfully.
"With any luck, this separation will be the last." Thor said in an attempt to cheer and reassure the melancholy woman. Thor grabbed Stormbreaker from its place against the cave wall and walked across the cave to Sigyn, putting his free hand on her shoulder. "I must return now."
"Watch out for him, but don't let him know you are...you know what I mean." Sigyn said. Thor smiled.
"I give you my word, on both counts. You will not be long here. Have you yet considered a name for my future niece or nephew?"
"It's way too early for that."
"Time passes quickly. Perhaps you could use this time to consider the matter." Thor embraced Sigyn with the arm not holding Stormbreaker and then moved aside the hide over the entrance, stepping out into the frigid air and walking a few yards away from the entrance to the cave. Sigyn exited the cave, standing in front of the entrance, holding her arms tightly around herself, wrapped in the cloak and watched as Thor used Stormbreaker to summon the Bifrost. Now alone, she turned and reentered the cave.
Loki had started a record playing (watch?v=zSQp7YOPdJ8) as he stood by the window in the front room of the royal chambers of the palace, looking out over the city as the sun began to set. It reminded him of the many times he had done the same when Loriel had sat on the throne and Sigyn's lifeless body had rested in an adjoining room encased in ice. He thought about how the situation at the current moment was not all that different.
Loki had considered restricting the people of Heven to their homes but had decided against it. He knew what Loriel wanted, rather who she wanted and that person resided, or had until earlier that day, in the palace. It was those that resided and served within the palace walls, those who had more access to Sigyn and himself who were at risk. What form Loriel took now was anyone's guess. She could be anyone from a simple cook to the sentry right outside the door of the royal chambers. At the time, she could not have afforded to be choosy, needing to quickly trade the body of Mitra for another as Mariel's escape would mean the alarm would soon be sounded throughout the palace. As of yet, Mitra's body had not been discovered.
If Loriel was not to know Sigyn was no longer resident on Heven, appearances had to be maintained. The next key to those appearances arrived in a pinkish violet light. She held an angelic transport cylinder in her hand as Loki turned from where he had seen her reflection appear in the window. Mariel stood across the room. Loki walked towards her as her body transformed into that of the one she served. Loki couldn't think of a better candidate for the role. Mariel spent more time with Sigyn than anyone except Loki himself and had now served two Queens. If anyone would be able to pull off the ruse, it was Mariel. She had readily agreed. As she had told Sigyn in the past, she did not fear death, she feared far more Loriel seated again upon Heven's throne. Loki took her hand, bowing as he kissed it.
"My Queen."
Sigyn sat on the cot, her knees drawn up, reading a book she had packed into her trunk. She struggled to make out the words on the pages in the dim light. She wasn't sure what time it was, there or on Heven, or how Jotuns even kept track of time, with the almost constant darkness. The strain on her eyes was leading her to feel fatigued. She shivered, pulling the cloak she still wore closer around her. The heat from the stones kept it warm enough to avoid freezing to death, but it certainly wasn't what she would consider toasty, though she was sure the Jotuns would find it uncomfortably warm.
"My lady...may I enter?" she heard a deep voice say near the entrance on the other side of the hide curtain. She closed the book, sitting it down on the cot. She had not expected any Jotuns to make a social call which had been fine by her. The less she saw of them the better she thought. She knew she should be grateful to them for providing her sanctuary, but she also knew they were likely not doing it out of the goodness of their hearts but because Loki was their king, even if he wasn't in residence, and also the king of a currently far more powerful realm that could easily lay waste to what Loriel had not already when she had ordered the attack upon them a year prior. The Jotun population had been decimated by that attack, almost as badly as it had been after Thanos' snap, though of course those lost to that event had been returned to them. Added to that were their losses from their string of defeats while doing the bidding of Loriel. It would take generations for them to recover, if they ever did.
"Yes. Come in." Sigyn answered then watched as the hide curtain was pushed aside and the same Jotun who had initially greeted them and led them to the cave entered with what looked like a large iron crock with a handle held in his hand.
"I have brought food." He sat the crock down on the floor of the cave and laid a spoon down on top of the cover of it that he had held in his other hand. Sigyn looked at the spoon. It was so large it was comical.
"Thank you...I'm sorry, you never told me your name." Sigyn said, realizing she had no idea how to address the Jotun.
"We receive so few visitors to Jotunheim, I'm not used to giving it. Skrymir. He who accompanied you...?" Skrymir asked, glancing around the cave.
"He had to return. I'm alone." Sigyn said. The word 'alone' almost stuck in her throat. It had for so long been the overarching theme of her life. Sigyn rose from the cot and crossed the floor of the cave. Kneeling down and taking the large spoon in one hand, she used her other hand inside her cloak to remove the hot lid of the crock, steam rising from the soup inside. Despite her fears, the smell was appetizing. Now that her episodes of nausea had abated, she was feeling quite the opposite sensation. Dipping the spoon into the soup, she raised the tip of it, which was about all she could hope to fit into her mouth, to her lips, blowing on the contents, then sampling it. It tasted somewhat like chicken soup. She saw no noodles or vegetables, only broth and pieces of some sort of meat. She was sure there were no chickens on Jotunheim and dared not ask the source of the protein for fear the knowledge would alter her perception. "It's very good."
"I will take my leave, if there's nothing more you require." Skrymir said, turning.
"Wait..." Sigyn said. Skrymir turned, looking at her questioningly as she replaced the lid on the crock, resting the spoon back on top of it and stood up. "If you have no pressing matters to attend to...I thought, maybe we could talk. You seem different than the others, or at least, the ones I've met...they were mostly trying to kill me. Of course that was before Loki took the throne, before I was Queen."
"I'm pleased that they failed." Skrymir said.
"I have some questions. I'm your queen by right of marriage but I know so little about you, I mean Jotuns in general. I'm sorry...I'd ask you to sit but there's no chairs." said Sigyn apologetically. She walked back over to the cot and sat down. Skrymir moved to the middle of the floor and sat.
"I will answer them as best I can."
Loki sat on the settee, Mariel in the chair Sigyn had been seated in earlier in the day. A record played on the turntable, the volume down to allow them to converse as they engaged in a card game, the deck of cards circular, the size of coasters. Loki looked up over the cards in his hand at Mariel. Several times over the evening he had been forced to remind himself that it was not Sigyn who sat across from him. Her face was that of Sigyn, her hair, her voice. Such a good actress was Mariel, he had discovered, that she had adopted her speech patterns. He should have known she was quite a capable actress or she would never have survived Loriel's reign having been immune to her influence, he told himself. He had already decided that when he finally finished the script for his play, there was no other to be considered for the lead role.
Mariel, with a smile, put her cards down on the table, face up. Loki looked at them in disbelief then tossed his down on the table in frustration.
"If you are going to portray my Sigyn, you must learn to lose." Loki said. "She never wins this game...or any other actually." he said as he gathered the cards.
"Why does she continue to play?" Mariel asked.
"She entertains a fantasy that someday she will beat me."
A sentry entered and stood before the door. Loki and Mariel looked over to him. Out of the sentry's view in his hand on the opposite side from the sentry, hidden by his leg, Loki produced a dagger.
"Is there anything you require for the night?" he asked.
"No, thank you." Loki told him. The sentry bowed his head and exited, closing the door behind him. Loki sent the dagger back into the ether and leaving the deck of cards on the table rose as did Mariel.
"The hour is late...I suppose it is time that we..." Loki trailed off, looking uncomfortable as the reality hit him that he would be spending the entirety of the night with Mariel, sharing a bed. Her appearance as Sigyn did nothing to assuage his uneasiness, it in fact left him feeling more discomforted.
"I will join you in a moment." Mariel said, seemingly not in the least bit disturbed by the arrangement, but then, as Loki supposed, someone of her vocation would likely be used to such things. She moved to the table where the record player sat, removing the needle from the record.
Loki lay with his eyes closed as Mariel, dressed in a long, silky nightgown from Sigyn's chest of drawers, slipped into bed beside him. He turned his head, opening his eyes to glance at her for a moment before looking again at the ceiling and closing his eyes. Both lay silent for a moment before Mariel turned her head on the pillow towards Loki. She knew he did not sleep.
"You are uncomfortable with my presence here."
"It is disconcerting." Loki admitted.
"You must rest. I can use the cylinder to return to my chambers and return in the morning..." Mariel began to slide out of the bed. Loki quickly reached over, grabbing her wrist.
"No..." Loki said. As he held her wrist, he felt a surge of peace and calm as well as a longing, a desire flow through him. He warred internally with himself to release his hand, finally doing so. "We must do nothing to risk her absence being discovered. My rest would be just as uneasy without you here, I'm afraid."
"Tell me what troubles you." Mariel said.
"It was my obsession, her loyalty to me that led to all of this. I brought that vile demoness here. Now I have sent her off to be with the creatures of her nightmares on that frozen, forsaken rock. My father was right. Everywhere I go there is war, ruin and death. How can I protect her from it when I am the cause of it?" Loki said glumly as he turned onto his back, looking up towards the ceiling. Mariel turned onto her side facing Loki.
"Sigyn has told me of your father. There was a time when the same could have been said of him. He saw himself in you and he feared you because of it."
"How could that be? I was adopted."
"It matters not. He is the only father you knew. He made you what you are."
"It is an interesting thought. It would explain a great many things. I must ponder it further."
"Yes, but not this night." Mariel reached out putting her palm on Loki's chest. "Now you must sleep." Loki again felt the intense sensation of peace and calm as before along with a deep fatigue, every muscle in his body relaxing as his mind drifted deep into a blissful slumber. Mariel moved closer to him, putting her lips to his cheek.
"Goodnight, sweet prince." she whispered, her eyes sad before she laid her head again upon her pillow, closing them, her hand still resting on Loki's chest.
Skrymir had told Sigyn the basics of Jotun history, that which he knew, and answered her questions as truthfully and thoroughly as he could. Many times his answers had led to more questions. She had returned to the soup, eating her fill of it after it had cooled, but it was far too much for one sitting. She had moved the crock next to the bronze box to keep it warm if hunger overtook her once again.
"Laufey, Loki's father...his Jotun father...what do you know of him?" Sigyn asked.
"He was feared more than any other Jotun, even by his own father. Even for a Jotun his heart was hard, his mind filled with darkness. His father's fears proved true when he betrayed him, ended his life and took his throne."
"Laufey murdered his father?"
"Yes. He thought him weak, too easily cowed by Odin and Asgard. Many agreed with him, yet others feared where his aspirations would lead, which is where they ultimately did...to our ruin. Yet even after, no one dared to challenge him. He was biding his time until an opportunity arose to take his revenge. He never had any intention of upholding the peace." Skrymir replied.
"Loki's mother...what do you know about her?"
"I know only that she was executed when it was discovered after his birth that she had used magic to conceive him."
"She used magic?" Sigyn said. She had not been surprised to hear that Loki's mother had been murdered, but the reason was not what she had expected.
"Yes. I know no more, only that it was of a type that was forbidden." Skrymir said. Sigyn yawned, then looked apologetically to Skrymir.
"I'm sorry. I'm just a bit tired." Sigyn explained.
"It is late. I will leave you to rest." Skrymir said, rising.
"Thank you for speaking with me." Sigyn said as she wrapped the cloak she wore tightly around her, preparing to lie down.
"I should be the one thanking you. It is rare for anyone to be interested in anything I have to say."
"I find you interesting, whatever anyone else thinks. If I had met you as a child, I would not have had nightmares of you."
"You had nightmares...of Jotuns?" Skrymir asked.
"Yes. Many times I awoke screaming in the night." Skrymir noticed Sigyn struggling to hold the cloak wrapped around her and pull the blankets over herself. He approached the cot, taking hold of the blankets and drawing them over her.
"I hope that your dreams this night will be more pleasant." Skrymir said.
"Thank you...again." Sigyn said, looking somewhat surprised at Skrymir's assistance. The frost giant turned from her and crossed the cave floor to the entrance. As he pulled it aside, Sigyn felt the blast of cold cut through the warm air inside the cave.
"I will return in the morning." Skrymir told her. "Sleep well." He exited the cave out into the frozen bleakness outside of it. Sigyn closed her eyes, unable to any longer hold them open.
Raguel turned the corner of a corridor in the palace, heading for the living quarters of those who served Heven and its monarch. As he did so, he saw a familiar figure traversing the corridor in his direction. The angel who had examined the body of Phaedra approached him.
"Raguel...I must speak with you. Mitra's body has been found." the examiner said. Raguel looked shocked.
"When? Why wasn't I notified?"
"Not long ago. I have only done a cursory examination but the findings are interesting. I don't wish to discuss it here. I know it's late...if you'd rather wait until morning."
"No...come with me." Raguel said, leading the examiner down the corridor.