Notes: Surpriisee... More plot. xD

Thor had watched his uncle through the whole feast, fascinated by how he had managed to blend in his attire strong symbols like his shoulder plate with delicate ones like the thin chains that hung around his torso. Loki looked regal and his movements looked precise and natural, though he knew it must come from practise. Thor remembered all those time he had to be with tutors who tried to teach him how to move and behave. He never saw the appeal to any of that so he did the bare minimun, just enough to get by, though now he saw what could get accomplished by putting effort on it.

He also watched his father and mother: they were as graceful as ever and the three of them were aweinspiring in their own right. Thor felt clumsy, even though he knew his own etiquette was flawless by now, he wasn't as natural as his parents or uncle. The feast was going well, in Thor's opinion, though he could feel his father tense, looking from time to time to the head of guards. That was enough to give Thor enough information: he was expecting something to happen.

A movement from his uncle distracted Thor. He looked towards him and found him making faces at someone and that... That was not proper while sitting at the Royal Table. He followed his uncle's eyes and found an old Jotnar woman: she had bluish skin and swirling patterns on her in white. Her hair was tightly braided and she was making faces at his uncle in return.

He heard his uncle's chuckle and looked back at him. He was enjoying himself... with that woman... Thor looked back at her and studied her form. She wasn't bad looking, but she was old. Maybe even older than Loki. Why would his uncle want to have anything to do with a mer like that? She looked plainer and plainer the more he looked and then she looked back at him. She seemed surprised then confused. He kept staring at her until she looked away, with a frown. That was when he decided to look at the rest of the hall. People were engrossed with their meals so maybe no-one noticed. But if they noticed looking at the Jotnar... Well, he could always say that he had never seen one before.

He felt a little satisfaction to have made the woman look away so his meal wasn't as sour as it would be. After the feast, his father gave a speech and re-introduced his long-lost older brother Loki, Prince of Asgard, second in line of succession. At that, Loki's eye twitched ever so slightly and Thor knew that he was annoyed that his father had put his uncle in the line for the crown yet again.

Then, his father invited the guests to enjoy themselves and dance and celebrate the return of both princes to the capital. And the people did. And Thor saw how uncle Loki grabbed his father's wrist and his tense smile and heard him say: "Brother, a word?"

Thor wasn't a pup anymore, but curiosity was a trait that even the oldest mer had so he followed them discreetly. He found them soon enough.

"Are you daft!?" Loki exclaimed in a hushed voice. "No, are you on drugs? Are you eating those poisonous eels that were forbidden-"

"Loki. Stop. And no. I am neither drugged nor stupid. This is the best course of action. If you are in line of succession there's less possibilities for... some mers to try and..."

"What... Are you saying that the Jotrnar are still as dumb as a thousand years ago?" Loki huffed. "Odin, really, you can't keep doing things for my own good without consulting me first! You may be the king, but I have been raised to be the best of advisors and the right hand of the king, and if necessary the left too! You cannot make these decissions without-"

"You don't understand, Loki. They have already sent Jarnsaxa."

"I know. I saw her! And I assure you that if you free me of my princeling duties I will be able to fend for myself better. If you shackle me with the crown, I will be tied down by rules and norms and customs! If I keep being the Sea Witch I can do away with whomever tries anything against me without fearing the law!"

"Yes! And then you won't be ablte to come home. I recall you were quite upset for being forgotten. What are you, a pup of one hunded? Make up your mind, Loki!"

"No! What gets me this angry is not that you do these things. What gets to me is that you still don't count with me to make these plans! If you want me back, you have to talk with me, whether you like it or not." Loki and Odin stared at each other, identical frowns on their faces.

Then, both men looked straight at Thor. Loki sighed and rubbed his face with one hand while Odin's face became an exhausted mask.

"Thor, come here, pup," Odin said. Thor went to them. "You should be out there, enjoying yourself and dancing and singing. What are you doing?"

"These are matters that interest me. We are talking about repercusions to the crown and to the kingdom," he defended himself. Both men looked at him, dubious. Thor rolled his eyes. "Oh! Please. I also have been groomed to be the Crown Prince and I am still being groomed to be the next ruler. I have to be involved in matters of state."

"Then, I should be added to it too," a voice came from the far end of the corridor. Jarnsaxa swam towards them and Thor frowned.

"Why should you be? You are not Asgardian," he half growled, frown deepening when she stopped at Loki's side and without saying a word or asking for permission fixed some of Loki's chains. Loki put one of his arms around her and Thor saw red, but didn't act. Not yet.

"'Saxa should be because I asked her to," Loki said with a calm voice. "Come, let's go somewhere else."

00000

To Jarnsaxa it was clear that the Crown Prince didn't like her, which was a pity because she wouldn't mind sharing a passionate night with him, but alas! You can't always have what you wish. She still didn't know what she had done to the princeling to make him dislike her so much, but she was a fast thinker and good analizing and she had a few suspicions. It could either be that Thor didn't trust Jotnar in general or that he hater her closeness with his uncle in particular.

"And what is it that you want to tell us?" Odin said without preamble. Jarnsaxa didn't even flinch.

"Through time, peace has been reached in Jotunheim. After the king disappeared, the nobles and royals rose to war and almost destroyed the kingdom. But then news of Loki's death reached us and people stopped fighting. Though there's still a lot of tension between the major and most prominent houses, the people are not inclined to be at war again. Lots of coral reef were destroyed and algae farms almost went out of business. They'd rather rise their weapons against their nobles than against fellow mer."

"So, there's no more nonsense, Saxa?" Loki asked her. She nodded.

"Not quite though. Most of the population couldn't care less about you but..."

"But?"

"Some of them made up a religion about you." Loki stared at her. "They worship you as a god." Loki's face was blank. "And some say that you were originally Jotnar but that you were kidnapped at birth and that you real name is Loptr."

Loki let out a long sigh.

"Worshipped...," he said with dismay.

"Don't worry about them, though, they do think you didn't die but ascended and that you will be reborn someday in a Jotnar form and that then you will guide Jotunheim to the age of splendor."

Loki nodded.

"Which means we wait until some Jotun pup is said to be his reincarnation and that's it," Odin said then, not looking convinced. Jarnsaxa shook her head.

"If only. If they discover that Loki here is alive and well they will claim it to be false and they will want to kill Loki for heresy."

"So, no matter what we do, they are going to pursue me. Peachy," Loki said.

"Or we could convince them that in truth they were waiting for Vili but people mixed you two up since you were twins," Thor commented. Three pair of eyes set on him. "What I'm trying to say: they said that whomever married Loki would be the rightful monarch, but since Loki and Vili were twins how could they be truly sure that it was Loki and not Vili the one "stolen"? They sound dumb enough to believe that the one who ascended is the one missing, right? And look: my uncle has marrins and scars, he can't be a god, just a mortal mer."

Jarnsaxa looked at the young prince appraising.

"We could make it work... People would stop pursuing the twin that's alive to venerate the one who is dead... That could also help into improving the relationship between our two kingdoms..."

"Sounds like a plan. It'll need polishing but I'm sure you can pull it off," Loki said patting his nephew on the shoulder. He was about to say something else when a fish appeared out of nowhere and stopped right in front of him. It was a strange fish, for it had a seal on the flank. Loki seemed to recognize it and paled. "If you will excuse me, this is an important matter."

"Loki-"

"Uncle?"

"Let him go!" Jarnsaxa stopped the king and the prince while Loki swam away. "That seemed to be an important message from his order of seidrmasters."

"His what?" Odin asked, confused.

"The landwalkers one?" Thor said.

Jarnsaxa looked at both royals and sighed.

"Do you even know Loki?" she asked, bewildered.

00000

"So she is on the move?" Loki asked Strange through the portal. Strange nodded.

"I don't know where she got such life force but she looks young again and it seems she has a siren song too."

"That is impossible! She was born human, through and through!" Loki exclaimed. "Are you certain she is targeting you all?"

"So far she has gotten three down and even though Mordo isn't keen on believing what I say, he is following my advices now. We don't know where or who will be the next. I wouldn't have contacted you if I thought we could keep her at bay by ourselves. I know you have... duties," Strange said, motioning to Loki's appearance.

Loki winced. He hadn't taken out the decorations and surely looked silly to a mortal.

"Yes, well... We were in a feast. But worry not. I'll be arriving in three days maximun and then we can start developing a plan."

"Thank you."

Loki sighed.

"I just wish I could have prevented this. I though I already did but... It seems I didn't."

"Don't worry. Neither of us thought that she would try to strike again."

Loki nodded and after giving a few pointers on how to stay alive if they encountered their foe, he vanished the portal.

"So, you are going up again?"

Loki turned around and smiled warmly.

"'Saxa," he said, swimming towards her and hugging her. She hugged back.

"I can't belive they made you prince again! All that planning to step down the line and now with a word you are back again. Must suck!" she said, laughing.

"I does, but did you look at my sister?"

"Queen Frigga? Yes, I would say she is about to lay, right? Maybe in a couple of weeks?"

"I bet there will be at least two," Loki grinned. Jarnsaxa smiled too but then became serious.

"You are leaving again."

"Yes. This is why I cannot be tied down. I have too many..."

"Projects?"

Loki snorted.

"Let's call them projects, yes."

"Can I help?"

"You stay here and help Thor with his plan. If we are lucky enough it will work and I'll have less threats to worry about. I don't want to add even more Jotnar that want my head."

"You can leave it to me."

"And don't touch him!" he added, half warning half joking. "I can recognize that gaze of yours anywhere."

"What can I say, Your Majesty? Your nephew is hot as fire."

Loki laughed.

"Take care. And take care of him. And be patient. Half his brain came from my brother."

"I'll bear that in mind," she said hugging him again. "Be careful, all right?"

"I always am."

This time, Jarnsaxa snorted.

00000

Svadilfari had a sour look on his face. His "father" had died and his mother had decreeted him to be the new king. Hurray... He still wondered why he didn't leave when he could. Now he was the king of that fucking kingdom and had to make public that he was already married. And such a woman was in front of him, looking as sour as he did.

"You are joking."

"Sorry, I'm not."

"For fuck's sake, Svad!" she almost yelled. He looked unimpressed. "You said that... that..."

"Things didn't go as planned, Jane. It's not as if I want this to happen."

"They will want a ceremony," she growled, slumping on the nearest chair, defeated. "I don't want to marry you again."

"They won't have a ceremony. We have all the documents so there's no need for one, but the people will want to see you and I together," Svad sighed, rubbing his face. "I'm thinking about appointing some heirs and in the course of a few months disappear for good."

"Yes. Dumping everything on me! Look, I have a business to run and I can't spare the time to be the queen of this kingdom," she said. And he agreed.

"There are other options. We could apply for a divorce."

"Can that be done?"

"I'm the king now, I'm sure I can work on it."

Svad saw Jane tensing up.

"You will make good on your word about my ship, won't you?"

"Certainly."

"Then, let's do this. Let's give them a queen. But as soon as my ship is ready, I'm out."

"It's just fair."

"God! I just wish Loki was here. He would be laughing on the floor by now," she whinned.

"Why would I be laughing at the floor," Loki said, popping out of thin air. Both humans jumped on their seats, startled.

"Loki!" Svadilfari rose and ran towards the mer before enveloping him in a crushing hug.

"Loki!" Jane said while running towards them and elbowing Svad so she could be the one crushing Loki in her arms.

"What's going on, pups?" Loki asked, surprised.

They explained, and sure enough, Loki was cackling in a matter of seconds, breatlessly, on the floor, fighting hard to breathe.

"You could at least show a little bit of concern," Jane admonished before she started laughing too.

"You are both idiots," Loki said before laughing again.

"Yes. Idiots who need your help to solve this," Svad said, and even though he tried, he couldn't help but laugh too. Loki's laughter was always contagious and Svad would admit that he had missed it, even if Loki hadn't been far from them for that long. "But what are you doing here? I thought you needed to do mer stuff under the sea," Svad asked once they calmed down.

"It seems that there's a rogue mage on the loose who is hunting and killing people from my order and leaving clear messages. She wants to meet with me. So I've come to deal with her."

"How long will you be staying, then?" Svad asked, putting his arms around Loki again. Loki rested his hands on Svad's chest.

"How long do you want me to stay?" he purred. At their side, Jane coughed.

"Maybe if you can help us with this, we can help you with your rogue."

Loki looked at Jane, exposing his throat to Svad who didn't miss a beat and started kissing it.

"That's a most generous offer, but I would prefer if you were to stay clear of her path. I wouldn't like it if she were to hurt any of- ah, Svad...- you... Mm... Continue..."

With the corner of his eyes, Svad saw Jane roll her eyes before she left. And he continued, as Loki had asked.

"I've missed you," he mumbled on the skin before biting it lightly.

"So it seems," Loki moaned. "Take me, take me now!"

Oh! How he had missed his beautiful mer.

00000

Amora looked at the corpse of her sister, Lorelei. She felt a cold fury through her veins.

"Who did this to you?" she asked to the nothing. "I will rip them to pieces."

Kneeling down, she closed the eyes of her dead sister, feeling rage. She would find the one who was hunting them down. Amora had been out collecting herbs and debts so she wasn't home when they attacked. But she would find the perpetrator. On the wall, written with Lorelei's blood, was a message for someone she didn't know.

This one wasn't of yours. But that doesn't matter. Whether they are of yours or not, I am going to hunt them all until you come and see me. Let's talk, dear Loki. I miss you so.

First of all... She needed to find that Loki. It seemed that whomever had attacked Lorelei was also targeting other magic users to lure that Loki out. She needed answers and she would get answers. With the wave of a hand she had a rucksack prepared. For now, she needed to clean Lorelei's body and their home. After that she would bury her dear sister. Then, she would go on the road. She would have her revenge.

More Notes: I'll give ten cookies to the one who guesses correctly who's our new foe. :) Though I doubt anyone will try here, lol. xD