It probably hadn't been a good idea to wander away from his father's party and explore Jotunheim by himself, Thor reflected, as he hung by his ankle from a rope hung from the limb of a nearby tree. His shirt and heavy coat were riding up, exposing his torso to the bitter chill of the fierce winds, and he was swiftly losing circulation in his foot. Not to mention all the blood that was rushing to his head.
The ten-year-old prince struggled against the thin, slippery rope, but to no avail. Whoever had set this trap knew what he was doing. Which meant Thor wasn't going to get down until they appeared.
"I caught one!" A voice whooped, not the deep, rough voice of one the adult Jotnar, but lighter, still gravely, but friendlier than the diplomats who were speaking with Thor's father, King Odin. A small, very cheerful blue face appeared in front of Thor's. Small, even for a Jotun child, with delicate, strange markings all over his face, bright, eager red eyes, and two delicate horns from his forehead.
"I can't believe this!" He enthused, his accent rendering his words almost unintelligible. "I never even seen an Asgardian, before, but I really did it!"
He circled Thor, scrutinizing him from head to foot, blue fingers poking at him, every now and again. "They weren't kidding, when they said you were small…" He mused, pulling at the fabric of Thor's coat. "And hideous!"
"That's not polite." Thor glared at this newcomer indignantly, but he was far from intimidating, when upside-down. The child only widened his eyes in excitement. "You can talk?"
"Of course I can talk!" Thor growled. "If you let me down, I can fight you like a man, too!"
"All the more reason to not do that." The child snickered, and prodded his forehead with one finger, causing the prince to sway back and forth, slightly. "So! What brings you to Jotunheim? Are you here to steal children? Conduct a raid? Burn our croplands?"
"I'm here…" Thor grunted, pulling at the rope, again. "Because my father took me. I didn't wanna come."
"Why did your father take you? What's he doing?"
"Talking to king Laufey." Thor shrugged. "I got bored, and wandered off. What is this thing, anyway?"
"It's an Asgardian-trap." The kid grinned, hands triumphantly on hips.
"What's it do?"
He rolled his eyes. "Trap Asgardians, ice-head."
"Why do you want to trap me?" Thor demanded, waving his arms to further his point.
The child only laughed hysterically. "For fun! I caught a wild Asgardian! Father's going to be so proud of me!"
Thor furrowed his brow. "I'm not wild."
"You're domesticated?" The child tilted his head in confusion. "I didn't know you could tame monsters…"
"I'm not a monster! I'm just a kid!" Thor insisted. "My name's Thor! I'm nice!"
"Thor…" The Jotun repeated dubiously. "As in, the prince of the Asgardians, Thor? Only son of the Allfather?"
"Uh-huh."
The child narrowed his eyes. "Prove it."
"How?"
The kid shrugged. "I don't know. Eat a puppy raw."
"What?!" Thor was, to say the least, incredulous. "That's disgusting!"
"I know, right?"
"Then why would I do it?"
"Why do you ever?" He countered.
Thor blinked in confusion. "I don't. I've never done that in my life!"
The child sighed in great disappointment. "Then I suppose you aren't Prince Thor after all. You're just a normal, everyday, run-of-the-mill Thor."
"Why would Prince Thor eat raw puppies?" Thor demanded.
"I don't know; that's just what Byla told me."
"Byla?"
The child nodded. "My older brother. Bylestir, really, but everyone calls him Byla. He told me Asgardians were naked savages who eat small Jotnar like me, and raw puppies, and they never wash."
"That's not true at all!" Thor protested. "I have clothes, and I eat cakes, and cookies, and normal things, and I do wash, when mother tells me to!"
The kid looked skeptical. "Are you sure?"
"Pretty sure!"
The kid tapped his fingers on his chin with a skeptical air. "Very well, then." Immediately, he vanished, and Thor felt the branch he was suspended from shake above him. He glanced up to see the same child, now clinging to the branch with one arm, the other sawing at the rope with a blade made from ice.
Moments later, the rope snapped, and Thor fell in a heap to the ground. "You didn't have to drop me…" He grumbled half-heartedly, dusting off his clothes.
"Maybe not." The child agreed. "But it was funny."
"Loki!" A voice called out over the frozen wasteland, and the child looked up with a half-disappointed, half-hopeful look. Thor jumped in surprise when another, far bigger Jotun appeared out of nowhere, and scooped his new friend up in his massive arms. They traded a few words in their native tongue, as Thor stared up in confusion.
"Thor," Loki, for that was apparently the child's name, squirmed out of the older Jotun's hug. "May I present my oldest brother, Helbindi."
Helbindi gave a little wave.
"You have a lot of brothers." Thor noticed, after introducing himself, and solemnly shaking hands with the giant.
"Yeah, six. All older, and way taller, than me." Loki nodded. "Bind says it's almost supper time, so I have to go wash up."
"Maybe you could dine with us, Prince Thor?" Helbindi suggested.
"Oh, I'd have to ask Father…" Thor sighed, and kicked disconsolately at the pebbles beneath his feet. Odin was very likely to say no. After all, Thor had wandered away, and he was bound to be in at least a little trouble for that.
Helbindi nodded amiably, and suddenly vanished.
"How do you guys do that?" Thor wondered, as he and Loki strolled back towards the palace.
"Teleporting." Loki shrugged. "All of us can do it. Can't you?"
Thor somberly shook his head, eyes wide in wonder. "Can you teach me?"
"Can you teach me to breathe?" Loki asked, in answer.
"Why aren't you teleporting, now?"
Loki smirked smugly. "I'm talking to you. And you don't know how to. So, I might as well keep you company. What did you say your father was doing?"
"Talking to King Laufey." Thor shrugged, still a bit miffed about the lack of teleportation lessons.
"Well, isn't that interesting…"
Thor wrinkled his nose. "Not really. I was bored half to death."
Loki chuckled. "Well, yes, what they were talking about is obviously mind-numbingly tedious. I was referring to the fact that they were speaking at all."
"How come?" The phrase seemed hilariously inadequate in comparison to the eloquence of Loki's speech. He used bigger words than Thor, and this wasn't even his first language. It was impressive, to say the least, but a little off-putting.
"King Laufey's my Papa." Loki grinned, his sharp white teeth flashing in his blue face.
If Thor had been drinking something, he would've spewed it all over the snow. "No kidding?" He gasped. "So, you're a prince, like me?"
"I guess." Loki shrugged. "Helbindi's the real prince, though, cause he's the heir."
"That doesn't make you any less a prince." Thor pointed out. "All the sons of kings are princes. That's what Mother told me, cause she's gonna have a baby, pretty soon, and he'll be a prince, like me."
"A baby?" Loki's eyes widened in wonder. "I've never seen an Asgardian baby, before. Well, I've never seen any kind of Asgardian before today…" He admitted.
"Maybe you could come to Asgard, sometime, and see him." Thor offered.
Loki clapped his hands in delight. "Oh, that would be grand! What shall you name him?"
"Father likes Balder, but Mother wants to call him Mimir, after my uncle." Thor shrugged. "Probably Balder, though, cause Father usually gets what he wants."
"It's a good name." Loki nodded, as the two of them pattered into the throne room, their small voices mingling with the louder, deeper voices of their parents.
Thor suddenly turned to Loki, a new plan having suddenly formed in his head. "Loki!" He cried, taking the Jotun child's cold hands in his. "Let's be best friends, shall we?"
A small smile worked its way across Loki's face. "I've never had a friend, before!"
"Never?" Thor cried in dismay. "Why not?"
Loki sighed, and glanced down at his bare feet. "Papa doesn't let the other children play with me, because I'm too small, and could get hurt. But you're about my size, so maybe he'll let me play with you!"
Thor nodded eagerly, and, hand-in-hand, they approached the Allfather.
"Father, this is my new friend, Loki!" Thor introduced when the two kings' conversation had come to a pause.
"Your Highness, can he stay for supper, please?" Loki widened his eyes hopefully, with a tiny smile. "We'll be kind to him, and make sure he comes home by his bedtime!" He frowned, and turned to Thor with a quizzical air. "When's your bedtime, by the way?"
Laufey leaned forward with an amused grin, before Thor could answer. "Liebling, as a matter of fact, I had just invited the Allfather to stay for supper, to finalize the trade negotiations. Your new friend will be staying, whether he likes it, or not."
Loki and Thor glanced at each other with twin excited grins, and that was the beginning of the Nine realm's most glorious friendship.
TheOnlyHuman.