Phil came in early the next morning, hoping to catch Judah's first-ever potions lesson. He was, admittedly, curious as to exactly what that would be like. He'd read the Harry Potter books, too, and quite enjoyed them. He'd liked the movies, too, although he felt they'd gone downhill somewhat after they'd lost Richard Harris as Dumbledore. He found the boy sitting quietly at the kitchen table, but Loki was nowhere to be seen.

He gave Judah a quick hug. "Where's your pop?" he asked.

"He's still in bed," Judah said. "He doesn't actually 'sleep' very often, so I don't like to wake him when he does."

Phil sat down at the table next to him and gave him a look. "D'you get your reading done?"

"Yeah."

"Excited about today?"

"Yeah."

"You don't sound terribly excited. Something eating you? The book?"

"No."

"Judah… you know you can talk to me, right? Anything."

Judah looked at him for a moment, then looked down at his little hands on the tabletop. "I'm worried about Dad."

Phil was surprised. "Why?" he said.

"Because I think he's worried about me."

Phil fidgeted in his seat. "All parents worry about their kids, Judah. It's natural. It's nothing you have to worry about."

"Most parents don't worry about their kids dying before they do."

Phil swallowed hard. "Oh Judah, he's not worried about that –"

"Don't lie, Uncle Phil. For a Secret Agent, you're not very good at it. I'm going to die before he even knows it happened. Aren't I?"

"Judah, you're going to live a long and happy life."

"But Dad won't realize it. Because time moves funny here, for him. He's going to miss out on it."

"That's… that's not your problem, Judah. Your job is to live, and grow, and be happy. Loki's job is to teach you and take care of you until you can take care of yourself, and be happy for you."

"He's not going to stop worrying about me," Judah said.

"No. No, he's not. But you need to stop worrying about him worrying about you."

"I can't, Uncle Phil. He means too much to me."

"I know, Judah, I know," Phil said, and gave the boy a hug.

"He would have been better off if he'd left me in that building to die," Judah said into his shirt collar. Phil pulled back and stared at him in horror.

"Don't ever say that! Judah, do not ever say that! I know you don't know this, but you are so good for Loki. He… wasn't the nicest guy before he met you."

Judah grabbed a tissue from the box on the sideboard and wiped his nose. "I know," he said. "I know all about it."

"You… you do?" Phil said. Judah nodded.

"I do. I know what he did. I saw him on the news when the Avengers captured him in Germany. I know he was behind the attack that killed my real parents. I don't know why he did that, but I know. He never denied it."

"And you… still trust him?" Phil said.

"He told me not to. But I do. Maybe that's stupid of me."

Phil didn't know if it was wise, but it was sweet. And unexpected, given what had happened to this child at Loki's hands. But such was the faith of a child. Phil hoped for both Judah and Loki's sakes that Loki never broke that faith.

They sat in silence for a few minutes until Loki arrived, tousle-haired and still in his pajamas.

"Good morning, Dad," Judah said.

"Mmph," Loki said.

"He's not really a morning person," Judah said to Phil. "He needs his coffee."

"I didn't know he drank it. That coffee maker has sat unused for all the time I've known him."

"He only drinks it when he first wakes up."

Loki fairly punched the button on the coffee maker. Phil was surprised the thing didn't shatter into a thousand pieces from the force, but evidently the god was more aware of his strength than Thor was. He stood over it impatiently for all the time it was brewing, and as soon as the pot was done he grabbed it up and drank it down, not bothering with a mug.

"Wow," Phil said.

Loki turned with the mostly-empty pot in his hands and leaned back against the counter. "Hey, Phil. Here to supervise Judah's first potions lesson?"

"Mostly just to see what a potions lesson looks like," Phil said. "You don't get a lot of chances to see something like that in the twenty-first century… on earth."

"Mm."

Judah suddenly looked a lot more excited. "Are we gonna start now, Dad?" he said, leaning forward over the table and grinning ear-to-ear.

"No time like the present," Loki said. "We should have pretty much everything we need, I think."

He began pulling bottles off the spice rack and things out of the refrigerator and pantry. Then he took a large, copper sauce pot out of the cabinet and put it on the stove. "All right. Judah Lokison, come on down," he said, gesturing grandly.

Judah jumped down off the chair and danced over to the stove. "What are we making?" he said.

"A very basic healing potion," Loki said. "It's a good place to start. The recipe calls for mostly Asgardian ingredients, but most of them can be substituted. I had a few laying around for emergencies, thankfully."

"Where is he going to get Asgardian ingredients under normal circumstances?" Phil asked.

"The Bifrost is functional," Loki said, a little testily. "I can replenish my stores at any time."

Hopwaffle jumped onto the kitchen table and sat down to observe the goings-on with Phil as Loki talked Judah through the beginnings of a basic Asgardian healing potion.

"All right, four cups of water, brought to a boil. Then add one cup of whole milk and stir well."

"Are we making a potion… or soup?" Judah asked, stirring and looking skeptical.

"Patience, youngling, I promise you this is not a cooking lesson, although the single biggest difference is that there is much less forgiveness for error in potion making. And very, very often, what you come up with at the end tastes absolutely noxious."

"Dad?"

"Yes?"

"I know I told you not to be Snape, but… will you say it?"

Loki chuckled. "'As there is little foolish wand-waving in this class, few of you will believe this is magic. I can teach you to bottle fame, brew fortune, even put a stopper in death,'" he said, in a flawless Alan Rickman. "Add two level tablespoons of curry powder and stir until the mixture is uniformly beige."

"Right," Judah said, and added the spice. "Does it matter if I stir clockwise or the other way?"

"No, that's a totally fictional conceit."

"I have to say, this isn't much like potions as I expected," Judah said. "I mean, a sauce pot on a stove? Kinda… what's that word? Bourgeois."

Loki laughed out loud. "My set up in Asgard would be much more to your liking, no doubt," he said, when he recovered. "Unfortunately, there's no room for it in the apartment. Perhaps, after you've had a bit of experience, I can do something about that. Turn down the heat to low and start chopping up that thing that looks like a furry carrot. Carefully, now, don't cut yourself."

"I always thought this thing was just… really old…" Judah said, grimacing as he gingerly touched the strange plant-thing.

"It is. But it always looks like that, it's not gone off."

Judah took hold of the paring knife and girded himself. "Okay, here goes." He began to chop, slowly and carefully. A marvelous smell arose from the juicy pieces, like the sweetest flowers ever to bloom. Loki sneezed into his elbow.

"Wow, it doesn't look very nice, but it sure smells great," Judah said. A sort of blissful expression lay on both his and Phil's face, and even Hopwaffle seemed slightly dazed. Loki, on the other hand, just kept sneezing.

"Hurry up with that, why don't you, Judah?" he said, sounding miserable. "I've never been able to take much of that stuff."

"What is it, anyway?" Phil asked, shaking himself out of his reverie. "Something Asgardian, obviously."

"Asrelle Root. The flower is even worse, but fortunately it doesn't have as much use in puh-puh-POTIONS," Loki said, sneezing the last word into this elbow. Phil handed him a tissue. "Thank you."

"Asgard has lots of stuff we don't have here on earth, doesn't it, Dad?" Judah said.

"Well, yes, Judah, it's a different world," Loki said, calming down as Judah dumped the chunks of chopped Asrelle Root into the sauce pot to stew.

"Is there any chance I'll ever get to see it someday?" Judah asked. "I'd like to."

Loki was silent for a while. Then he said, "I'd like you to see it, Judah, but I'm not certain."

"Why couldn't I go with you sometime?"

"It's… complicated. Now you need to take that scale over there and cut exactly three ounces off that garlic and chop it up fine, then add it to your mix and stir."

Judah moved to do as directed. "Why is it complicated? The Bifrost is open now. Uncle Thor goes back and forth all the time."

Loki sighed. "It's complicated… because mortals aren't welcome in Asgard," he said, with the air of getting the worst over with.

"What?" Judah shrieked, accidentally squirting himself with garlic juice.

Loki threw up his hands in despair. "It's the way it is, Judah. If I brought you to Asgard, my father would be incredibly angry. Asgard cut itself off from mortal realms what you would consider a long time ago. Father isn't happy with us that we're down here on Midgard. I think he's afraid we'll 'catch' mortality."

"If your father has a problem, that's his problem!" Judah said, turning away from the stove and drawing himself up to his full three feet, eleven inches. "He can't tell us what to do and what not to do!"

"Judah, he's the King," Loki said quietly. "He can, actually. Be careful, or your potion will scorch."

Judah spun back to the sauce pot and began stirring furiously. "I hate Odin! I hate him!" he muttered.

"Please don't," Loki said, surprising Phil. For all he knew, Loki hated Odin, too. "He's just an old man who doesn't know you. He's trying to do right by his realm but he doesn't always know how. It's hard work, being King."

"He's a… a… a racist!" Judah said.

"He's a product of ignorance. Don't hate him. It solves nothing. Trust me on this, if nothing else."

Judah's aggressive stance wilted and his angry expression faltered. "I suppose, if you don't want me to hate him, then I won't. But that doesn't mean I'll like him."

"That's something I won't ask you to do. Just… don't hold to hate. It's the worst poison of which I know, and I know a lot of poisons."

"That's good to know," Phil said.