The Art of Lore: Chapter 6: with a wet back
Author: starhawk2005
Fandom: Marvel's Avengers
Date: April 2020
Pairing: Loki/ Jane (Lokane)
Rating: Adult (18+).
Summary: Next on the whirlwind tour of the Nine Realms: Nidavellir.
Author's Note: Nope, not dead yet. Also note I wrote this before I saw Nidavellir in the MCU, so I suppose I'm officially writing an AU now.
Disclaimer: Marvel owns it all, except for the occasional OC.
After enduring the dry sands of Svartalfheim, even for as little as two days, Jane is more than ready to try the water-planet Nidavellir.
When the prismatic lights of the passage through Loki's 'natural pathway' fade from Jane's vision, at first she sees…well, not much. They're standing on a plate of pale grey metal, set into an unremarkable shelf of rock of the same exact shade of grey.
The plate itself looks familiar; it's got patterns etched into it, and after a moment's close inspection, she realizes they remind her very strongly of the marks the Asgardian Bifröst leaves on the earth when it touches down. And also the 'travel discs' on Alfheim, though this plate is square. She snaps a picture of it for later study.
The plate itself forms the center of a stone balcony of sorts. Behind them a tall rock spire, craggy and mottled grey and black, rises to stab its sharp point into the sky, and otherwise the balcony is hemmed by a gracefully curling stone railing that has to be man-made, and the workmanship takes her breath away. How many months did it take to carve all that?
After snapping a few more photos, Jane ventures over to the railing to examine the view. Water. Nothing but water stretching out to the horizon as far as Jane can see in all directions.
At least the sky is interesting, even though it's noon (or so Jane assumes, from the position of the sun) and the sky entirely covered in a thin haze of cloud. The sun itself seems similar to Earth's, though a bit smaller. She suspects it's a white dwarf, but she'll have to measure it properly with her instruments later, once they've settled in. Loki did say this place was 'civilized', right?
But the real star of the show is the comet hanging in the sky off to her left. The nucleus of the comet is huge; from this vantage it's as large as the palm of Jane's hand. And that's not counting the coma, which extends an impressive distance around it, nor the curving dust-tail bisecting the sky. It all gleams white, easily visible even through the haze, practically rivalling the sun in its brightness.
Jane's never seen anything like it.
She takes more pictures and a brief video, but manages to withhold the torrent of questions she wants to ask Loki. He's been more than patient with her and her ramblings since the beginning of their honeymoon. Plus they've only just arrived here, so Jane's going to try to give him a break.
But as her curiosity never goes on a break, now she leans over the railing as far as she dares, distantly aware of Loki gliding over to stand beside her. A cold breeze scented by a heavy salt tang strips her hair back from her face and flicks the ends of the long, dark green dress and cape Loki suggested she wear.
There's no city sprawling across the rocky shore far below. Actually there isn't even a shore at all. There's only the flinty cliff-face, the waves pounding endlessly into it, stretching all the way up to where the two of them stand. So Jane turns to study the area they are in more closely instead, but again there are no signs of dwellings, just the balcony and the rearing point of the mountain.
Though it's not totally empty of life; scrubby grasses push stubbornly out from the flanks of the cliff here and there, and a sea-bird four times the size of a seagull, but with a call just as piercing, wheels past to settle on a ledge in the rockface behind them.
Its feathers striped in white and grey, it studies her back with oversized eyes like rubies. Two sets of them. Uuuuh, OK? Four-eyed birds? She snaps a quick picture before the animal takes off again.
Jane turns at last to Loki. "OK, where is everyb-?" She freezes mid-question, eyes widening as a door opens smoothly in the middle of the rising wall of rock, making a quiet grating sound as it does so. She rapidly hides her camera.
A stocky figure swaggers out with a wickedly long and pointed sword in hand. "Who be ye?" he growls with thickly accented words, coal-black eyes peering out at them from under bushy eyebrows. His braided, dark brown beard is long enough to reach his waist, and he's wearing enough armour to put Loki's usual 'Asgardian casual' look to shame.
He only comes up to Jane's shoulder, but…she's pretty sure she doesn't want to pick a fight with him. She'd much rather take pictures of his armour, which is decorated more elaborately than anything she's seen before, even on embellishment-obsessed Asgard. It's black, with intricate designs of silver and smooth little red cabochons everywhere. As he approaches, Jane notices similar gems braided into his beard and hair as well. Now that's accessorizing, she thinks, hiding her grin.
"I am-" Loki begins as he steps forward, his hands unthreateningly loose at his sides.
The dwarf cuts him off with a snort, coming to a halt in the middle of the stone shelf a few yards away. "I know who ye be, Loki Liesmith," the dwarf pronounces flatly. "Come to make more mischief? I've half a mind t-"
It's Loki's turn to interrupt, his smooth tones edged ever-so-slightly with contempt. "Not at all, Lord Dwarf. I've come only to show my esteemed wife the wonders of Nidavellir. I had assured her that the dwarves were renowned for their hospitality. Do I perhaps need to revise that opinion?"
At the mention of 'wife', the dwarf turns to examine Jane more closely, though at least he lowers the point of his sword. He cocks his head, looking her up and down. "Ye be not of Asgard," he notes.
"No, my bride hails from the fair Realm of Midgard. May I present to you Princess Jane Foster?" Loki continues, though he's also sidling forward and reaching behind him in a way that makes Jane think he may well be going for one of his daggers. Oh crap.
The dwarf narrows his eyes, glancing between them with a deep frown. "Married?" he scoffs. "Fah! What, did this snake trick ye into the deed, lass?"
Startled, Jane laughs before she can think better of it. "Well actually, yeah, that's exactly what he did."
The dwarf openly guffaws. "Did he? Ah, a creature of habit, he is." His sword point dips down even further.
Despite Jane's relief Loki is glowering now, so she rushes to add: "But he also saved my life. Twice. So, you know, I didn't really mind being tricked. Yeah," she ends lamely, annoyed at herself that she's babbling. Again.
The dwarf turns and studies Loki more intently. "Hm. A fancy tale, no doubt. Ah well, I suppose if ye came all this way to marvel at our works, it would be churlish of us to turn ye away." Sheathing his sword at last, he walks over to Jane and extends a blocky hand. "I be called Dree."
She glances over at Loki, whose posture is much more relaxed now, his hands dangling relaxed at his sides, so she allows her hand to be swallowed up in Dree's callused paw. The dwarf bows extravagantly, his beard brushing against the rock shelf as he presses a kiss to her wrist, and Jane has to stifle her giggle.
This is all so weird.
The dwarf releases her and steps back, but makes no gestures of welcome of any kind to Loki. "Come ye, the ship is like to be leaving within the hour. Ye'll not want to spend the night out on this rock, I expect!" he says, primarily addressing Jane as he motions them towards the still-open door in the cliff-face, then takes off ahead of them at a brisk pace, the mail skirts of his armour chiming softly as he strides purposefully away.
Jane takes the hand Loki extends to her and they follow, entering the dim tunnel. She tries not to jump in surprise as the door slides shut behind them, cutting off the cold sea air.
Torches flicker from holders built into the walls, revealing smoothly hewn stone stairs leading down. Soon it becomes obvious that the stairs are going in a wide descending spiral. Jane swallows a deep sigh, glad that at least they aren't climbing these stairs.
"Is he some kind of, I don't know, someone like Heimdall?" Jane murmurs to Loki in a low voice as the dwarf, humming tunelessly to himself, trudges on ahead of them. Jane steps on the hem of her dress twice before she remembers to hike it up a bit.
"A Gatekeeper? Indeed." Loki answers. "Had he decided we were too delinquent to consider, he would not have deigned to open the door. It is warded, and overcoming it would have taken some time and effort, even for one such as me."
Jane now remembers glimpsing lines of faintly glowing symbols etched into the jamb of the door they entered through. More magic. They have magic, but no damned elevators? Go figure, she grouses to herself as the stairway twists down another lazy spiral.
To pass the time since she has no clue how many more stairs lie ahead, Jane whispers to Loki: "This guy, Dree, how come he didn't know we're married? I thought the whole universe knew our story by now. Or at least the official version," she amends, thinking back to Alfheim.
"The Dwarves care little about what transpires in other Realms. Well, unless there is payment involved. Or war brewing against Nidavellir. It is why they have not bothered to visit your Earth in millennia."
"Payment?" Jane asks.
"You may recall Odin commissioned the Dwarves to forge Mjölnir in the heart of a dying star. Much of our Asgardian weaponry and armour is in fact made by Dwarves. Their craftsmanship is unparalleled across the Nine. Though Asgardian mages commonly then imbue the items, in order to make them even more formidable, the birth of said items not uncommonly begins here. My armour, for example."
Jane is too busy picking apart the logic of what he just said to notice the grudging respect now in Loki's voice. "Um, OK, how exactly do you forge something in the middle of a red giant? That's….just not possible," she argues.
She's raised her voice without realizing, and ahead of them Dree slows his pace and interjects: "Aye, it was not an easy task, that! Hot and thirsty work, and our best conjurers spent many a fourmoon constructing the spells. But Odin paid handsomely, and we dwarves are never ones to shy away from challenging work!" he finishes with pride evident in his deep voice.
"Sadly, inestimable skill is often accompanied by inestimable hubris," Loki adds in an amused tone in Jane's ear, and she has to resist the urge to roll her eyes at him. Um, pot, kettle, Loki?
The stairway eventually takes one final sharp turn and they find themselves on another wide stone balcony, this one indoors and lit with torches. Around them a massive cave opens out to the ocean outside, the smoothness of all the visible surfaces a tell-tale sign that this is anything but a natural formation in the mountainside.
Three stories below them lies another surprise for Jane: a man(dwarf)-made lake taking up at least two-thirds of the base of the mountain. A large ship of dark golden wood bathes in the pale sunlight that streams in through the hole in the side of the mountain, rocking gently in the waves.
"Captain Aarvis and his crew are heading for Brmiir. It be our capital city," Dree explains to Jane. "If ye're eager to see some of our best works, that be the place to visit."
At the opposite end of the balcony from where they entered, another set of stone stairs leads down in a zigzag to the docks. Dree motions them towards the stairs with a brusque movement of his chin. "Enjoy yer visit, lass. And as for ye, Liesmith," he fixes Loki with a threatening glare. "Ye'd like to be on yer best behaviour. The King still hasn't forgiven ye for the last time ye were here. Unless y'enjoy seeing the inside of our jail again, tread most carefully."
Jane hides a grin and thanks the dwarf (who kisses her hand gallantly once more, his coarse beard pricking her skin), and quickly hikes up her skirts before she forgets and steps on them. Again.
There's no railing and the angle of the steps is dizzyingly steep. Jane is forced to clutch at the wall for balance, the texture of it like fine sandpaper under her hand. Loki's fingers then snake around her waist, helping to steady her. "So you've pissed off the dwarves in the past, too. Is there any planet where you haven't annoyed somebody?" she inquires in a low, amused aside to Loki as they descend.
When she glances back at him over her shoulder, he's grinning shamelessly. "Oh, I am certain there yet remain some worlds out there to be discovered."
Jane fights not to grin herself as they reach the end of the stairs, and step off onto the smooth wooden planks of the dock. "Now I know why you wear that armour all the time."
Loki chuckles but says nothing, as they are now approaching another small yet muscular figure. This man's beard is a graying brown, and braided through with gold thread and blue stones, his elaborate armour decorated in the same colours and gem-work.
He nods briefly in greeting and gestures for them to board the craft, his manner even more taciturn than Dree's was. Loki said this was a hospitable planet?
They cross a slender but solid ramp of wood and rope, the new dwarf following after. The other dwarves on the ship glance disinterestedly at her and Loki, before bending to their appointed tasks. Moments later they haul anchor and the ship casts off, though damned if Jane can figure out how, especially since the ocean breeze coming through the hole in the cave wall is blowing very strongly against the direction they're going.
Her curiosity piqued, Jane heads towards the bow, aware of Loki drifting along idly behind her. No really, how is this thing moving? The sails are still closed, and it's not like they have outboard motors…or do they?
As she debates whether the dwarves will welcome her questions, the ship passes through the cave opening and the endless expanse of water spreads out before them.
The sky is the same, the comet still clearly visible through hazy cloud. Gorgeous, she thinks. Then her stomach flips over and Jane clutches at the rail with a grimace. She hasn't had much experience on boats, and if this reaction to the swaying of the deck is any indication, she may need to ask Loki if he knows any spells against seasickness.
Before she can ask him, a creaking noise behind Jane distracts her from the complaints of her belly. She turns just in time to watch the sails slowly, gracefully unfurling.
The dwarf who welcomed them (if that's the right word for it) aboard the vessel is holding down an elaborately-carved handle that juts from one side of the front mast. The whole process is automated! Jane realizes, her gaze tracking thecomplicated series of gears, pulleys and winches involved, all of them apparently triggered by holding down that single handle.
Master craftsmen indeed. Jane asks the dwarf standing at the mast if it's alright to take some pictures and videos. The dwarf agrees, but only after he (and pretty much all the crew) study Jane's recording devices intently for nearly twenty minutes, though they are puzzled and unsatisfied by her efforts to explain battery power and optical zoom and the rest of it.
Still, the Captain (the dwarf they met on the dock) is only too happy to show Jane how the rigging system of the ship works, as well as take her and Loki below deck to display to them the equally complex system of weights and pulleys that acts as the ship's motor in calm winds, as well as the 'engine' that powers everything.
Well no, actually - he's obviously happy to take her below deck. Loki? Not so much; the Captain gives her husband sidelong glare every few minutes, and the dwarf's right hand rests over the haft of the axe protruding from his belt during the entire 'tour'. But if Loki notices, he pretends not to.
In probably the greatest example of irony that Jane can think of, she's equally confused by the Captain's descriptions. Well there is one familiar element – the ship seems to be powered by a much smaller version of The Source that she saw on Alfheim. It apparently produces steam from a reservoir of ocean water to drive all the gears and weights. But all the rest of the specifics sound like utter nonsense to her.
Annoyingly, Loki only smirks before Jane can ask the obvious question – it's magic, isn't it? Or a meeting of mechanics and magic? – and Jane stifles a groan though not an eye-roll. This is getting so old!
When they return to the deck, Jane is all too aware of the other dwarves casting mistrustful glances at Loki, who is still smirking, so Jane drags him to the bow with her before he can annoy any of their impromptu hosts.
There's not much new to see. The ocean still extends out around them on all sides, with no obvious land in sight, though the comet is hanging lower in the sky than before. Loki tells her the dwarves refer to it as 'The Luck-Star', and that it was caught in the Realm's orbit many centuries ago. But beyond that he doesn't know anything about where it came from or what the comet might be made of.
"Argh!" Jane complains, stamping her booted foot on the deck in her frustration. "There's just so much I don't know or understand. Like this damned magic thing." Just as unhelpful, her stomach flips over again as a particularly strong wave rocks the deck a littler harder, and Jane clenches her teeth, stubbornly refusing to ask Loki for help. More damned magic, right?
"On Nidavellir, as on Asgard, what you understand as 'science', and magic, are one and the same," is Loki's attempt to placate her.
Jane shakes her head, the wind whipping her hair back from her face. Another thing that has changed since they were below decks: the salted wind is strengthening, and getting colder. "That makes no sense. Science is objective, quantifiable. Testable. And it follows rules. This 'magic' stuff? How can I begin to measure something that isn't tangible, and doesn't follow any known rules of physics or logic?"
Loki shrugs and leans his forearms on the intricately carved railing. "Perhaps, beloved wife, you may have to come to accept the fact that not every force in the universe can be reduced to mere numbers and formulas."
"I won't even dignify that with a response," Jane scoffs. "There's obviously some common threads. Like the fact that Alfheim cities and dwarf – dwarven? – boats are both driven by some kind of energy-spheres." I will not call them 'magic balls'.
"Asgardians refer to them as 'power sinks'," Loki says. "As you have no doubt surmised, just as on Alfheim such concentrations of magical energy are fed by mages, so it is here, in this case before each ocean voyage. Unlike the Light Elves, however, dwarves blessed with magical aptitude are far rarer. Perhaps only one dwarf in every two to three hundred will be able to serve their people in that capacity. Thus dwarf mages are generally held in highest regard in the dwarven culture." Is it Jane's imagination, or does Loki sound envious?
Asgard doesn't value skill with magic nearly as much as skill in more conventional hand-to-hand combat, and Loki is still obviously bitter about it. She steps closer to him and loops her hand around his elbow, offering silent support, and he glances down at her and smiles, though a shadow still hovers in his eyes.
It's probably best to distract him with questions, especially since it may help her unravel her own questions. Kill two birds with one stone. "OK, but, how does a 'mage' even do that? Where does he get the power from? How does he put it into the 'power sink' or whatever, and how does he know how much power to put into it without under-charging or over-charging it, or is that even possible, or-" Jane has to stop to breathe.
"Where the power comes from depends on the mage, of course. Asgardians generally, being gods, are powerful enough to draw it from their own life-force. Other mages, like the Light Elves – and eons ago, the Dark as well – draw their power from the natural world. The soil, the rock, the air. Some mages can combine such skills; when they have the strength, or find a suitable source outside themselves, they harness the power and put it into a smaller power sink, often a gem, that they can then safeguard until their hour of need. Some mages believe that is how the Infinity Gems came into existence."
Jane blinks in puzzlement. "The what?"
Here Loki sighs and rolls his eyes. "Truly, Director Nick Fury and SHIELD are entirely too strict in how they parse out their knowledge. Thor and I explained all this to them, expecting they would convey it at some point to you."
"Well, maybe they just didn't have time?" Jane jumps to their defense, though she's not sure why. "We did kinda have that last-minute wedding ceremony for Fury to deal with, right?"
"I suppose," Loki concedes with another shrug. "In any case, to return to the matter at hand, the Tesseract is one such Infinity Stone." He goes on to explain each of them, and what their particular power is rumoured to be. "But most of them have been lost for so many untold millennia, some of the tales of them and their powers are likely to be just that – tales."
"Well, the Tesseract is real enough. And Thanos sure thought he could find them all and stick them in that Gauntlet thing your fa- Odin had in his vault." Despite herself, Jane shudders.
If Loki notices her slip he says nothing, though he does pull her closer to loop a lean arm around her waist reassuringly. "Thanos was fit to be chained. Yes, the Tesseract was found. But he possessed none of the other Stones, or he would have used them. And though he had agents searching the whole of Yggdrasil, I never heard tell of any of them ever finding one of the other Stones. The only other Stone that Asgard ever encountered was The Aether, as we recently discussed while on the Dark World. My- Odin's father, Bor, made sure that it would be well-hidden, and that few would know its final resting place. To this day, it has never been found, though few but the Dark Elves would feel a need to seek it out."
Jane shakes her head, not wanting to dwell on that particular subject. "That's all well and good, but let's say you're a wizard or whatever, and you have the power and you put it into one of those sink-things…I mean, how would you know how much to put in? There's got to be some way of quantifying this thing you call magic!"
Loki starts to reply but Jane barrels on, a new thought occurring to her: "I mean, on Alfheim they have that 'mirren', right? You buy something, and it's worth a certain amount of power – some a lot, some a little?"
He nods, one eyebrow raised. "And?"
"Well, that's a quantity! Therefore it's got to be governed by some mathematical rules!" Jane exclaims, gesturing wildly as she talks, vaguely aware of one or two of the dwarves observing them uneasily.
"There are rules," Loki concedes. "But if you assume the Light Elves use one of your Earth calculation devices to decide on the amounts, you would be mistaken. As a mage, I just know how much magic must be 'spent', if you will."
"What?!" Jane stops, mouth agape.
"And though I am loathe to tell you this, my Jane, the rules that govern the payment of mirren, even if you were to find a way to describe them in Midgardian terms, it would only apply to the magic on Alfheim. Asgardian magic is entirely different."
Jane stares at Loki, saying nothing, her mind awhirl. But…but…
At last she throws up her hands and turns to look out over the water again, fuming silently. This is fucking ridiculous. There has to be a way.
But now nearly all the dwarves are giving them suspicious looks, so Jane decides she should leave this discussion for later. "Is this entire planet covered by water?" is her next question, though the frustrated edge isn't entirely gone from her voice.
He pulls her even closer and presses a kiss to her temple. "Very nearly. All but the Spires."
"Spires?"
"That is what the Dwarves call their mountains. Or rather, the ones tall enough to breach the waters. We landed on one such Spire when we arrived. Now we approach another." He gestures ahead of them and Jane squints, but she can see nothing but the misty horizon far ahead of them.
Loki makes a sharp motion with his right hand, a short tube appearing between his fingers. "Allow me," he says, shaking the tube out, and when he hands it to her Jane realizes it's a telescope, its barrel made of stiffened leather embossed with Asgardian symbols and filigree.
She puts it to her eye and looks straight ahead, in the direction Loki is pointing, and there it is, a distant point of rock rearing its shoulders out of the crashing waves. It's hard to see at first even with the instrument, but before Jane can wonder how to adjust the focus on this thing, it does it for her. More magic, I'll bet, she thinks in disgust.
Jane passes the telescope back, and Loki makes it disappear. "How many Spires are there?" She may as well stick with more terrestrial things. Something tangible, observable, measurable. Understandable!
"To my knowledge, sixty-three. Though not all stand sentry to the dwarven cities. Some are merely docks or way-points, as was the first Spire we encountered. Only a mere forty-one serve as part of the cities of the dwarvenkind."
"And the entire population of the planet lives on the tops of forty-one mountains? The population of Dwarves must be pretty small, then."
Loki grins. "Oh, they don't live on the Spires. Those are merely the gateways, if you will."
Jane blinks. "Gateways? To what?"
He only smiles wider. "You shall soon see for yourself, dearest bride."
No matter how Jane begs, elbows, or scowls at him, Loki will say no more. Figures.
When the comet 'sets' (though the sun is not yet below the horizon, just starting to touch it), the Dwarves take their evening meal. They eat off plates and use cutlery of a bronze-coloured metal, chased with silver in intricate patterns, and the food is not so different from that of the Asgardian feasts Jane has attended: breads, roasted tubers, whole fowl that Jane is sure is the same type as the sea-bird she saw earlier, and some oddly-shaped and flavoured fruits and vegetables.
There's also a dark, bitter beer which Jane decides to only sip half of, once she notices that even Loki isn't drinking too heavily of it. Given the Dwarves' obvious distrust of Loki, she and her 'god' of a husband should probably stay sober and alert.
Once both sun and comet have fully, half the crew goes below decks for the first shift of the night. Jane and Loki are shown to a small room. She's very glad of Loki's anti-nausea spell, as the gently swinging light – a tiny energy-sphere trapped somehow within a twisted metal fixture - on the beamed ceiling is driving her crazy all by itself, let alone the rhythmically rocking floor.
"I am so not cut out for a life at sea," she groans to Loki, sitting down on the low bed.
"Pity. Well, perhaps a distraction then?" Jane expects him to start to peel off her clothes but instead he extends a hand to her and leads her back up the stairs to the darkened deck, where half the dwarven crew remains to man the mechanisms.
The night sky is just as full of treasures as the other two planets they've visited. There is a string of five moons, one pale blue, two white, one pale green, and finally one of a faint sandy-peach colour, all of them twice the size of Earth's moon. And while the nucleus and coma of the comet are no longer visible, its insanely long tail still is, a shimmering banner across the lower part of the skyscape.
Jane scribbles notes as frenetically as always, her notebook helpfully illuminated by one of Loki's floating light-globes. She does her best to take some stills and videos as well, though she's not sure they'll turn out given the bobbing of the ship. Maybe I'll try again once we reach solid ground.
Her eyelids are starting to droop hours later when Loki guides her back below deck. Which is probably a good thing, since she's asleep the moment her head hits the pillow. Later she'll wonder whether he used a sleep-spell on her; the idea doesn't bother her as much as it once did.
It takes them another two days to reach the Brmiir Spire. Aarvis says goodbye to them with a kiss on Jane's hand and a final death-glare at Loki.
The beach they land on is covered in a fine gray sand, and Jane doesn't resist scooping up a few empty seashells. Their shapes are almost flowerlike, and they're striped with bands of rose and gold. Loki stows them for her in his Interdimensional Closet, before pointing out to her the steep stairs hewn into the side of the cliff that rears above them.
"Great, more climbing," Jane grumbles, hitching up her skirts. Oh well, at least I won't gain too much weight on this trip!
Fortunately they don't have to climb to the very top of this mountain. About halfway up, the stairs open out onto a familiar-looking terrace, with a recognizable square of metal set into its center. Jane again wanders to the railing and looks down, mesmerized by the waves crashing against the beach and the rocks far below them now. Her breathing slows and the burning ache in her thighs and calves subsides. She wipes sweat off her forehead with the palm of her hand, heat radiating from her face, neck, and chest from the strenuous climb. She's glad this time for the cool sea breeze.
Loki saunters over to stand next to her, barely breathing hard. Of course. He probably could climb endless stairs in his sleep.
"I need to re-start those dance aerobics classes with Darcy. I'm way too out of shape to keep up with you," she says ruefully to him.
He chuckles. "Unless you intend on joining that motley collection of so-called 'Earth's Mightiest Heroes', my love, I doubt that 'keeping up with me' will be necessary. Beyond what is needed to maintain the health of your mortal body, you need not bother. Your intellect is a far greater asset than any physical ability you could aspire to cultivate."
Jane blinks at him, still trying to catch her breath from the climb. "Wait, what? Are you joining the Avengers?" She'd heard some rumours in the days leading up to their wedding aboard the Helicarrier, that Fury was going to ask Loki to join the team. It would certainly be a useful way for Loki to make his amends.
However, as far as she knows, the Director is dead-set against it. Fury might still trust her – barely – but Gods of Mischief are apparently a bridge too far for the SHIELD leader.
"Not as yet," Loki frowns as he leans against the railing, his leathers slapping against Jane's legs as the wind whips at them. "But Thor apparently has been urging it very strongly, especially as he must spend some of his time in other Realms, at least in the immediate future. With the Bifröst inoperable, several of the Realms have gotten it into their petty heads that it is time to revolt. Or to engage in bloody civil wars."
Jane's eyes widen. "So that's why you're still in 'battle-mode'. We're in danger?" While the Light Elves had been very friendly (and the Dark Elves D.O.A.), the jury is still out on the dwarves as far as Jane's concerned. She wonders if it might be better to curtail or even cancel this honeymoon, at least until things settle down. I've got a portal to re-build, so it's not like I'm going to be bored in the meantime, right?
"Here on Nidavellir? No. But several other worlds are proving themselves problematic. Vanaheim is currently engaged in civil war…then again, the tribes that populate it are nearly always at war with each other. It is now merely that they are going about it more, shall we say, enthusiastically than is usually the case. But our travels there shall be limited to those who are currently in an alliance with Asgard. My plans have changed little in that regard."
Jane shakes her head. "So which planets are at war with Asgard?" she prods him. If he refuses to cancel this little jaunt across the stars, at least Jane will have a better idea when and where she may need to keep her guard up.
"Muspelheim, and also….Jotunheim," Loki continues with obvious reluctance. "The Giants, both Frost and Fire, have ever chafed at the rule of Asgard. Now that Odin cannot pull on the reins as easily, they try their best to overthrow the meager controls he has put on them." He shrugs as he turns to face her. "But such things are of little import to you and I. We can move unseen if we choose, through any and all worlds. You need fear nothing with me by your side." He lifts a hand to caress her cheek with cool fingers, and she leans into his touch, closing her eyes.
"OK, but what's Thor supposed to do about all that?" Jane asks curiously, her eyes still closed.
"What he always does, of course. Fight," Loki laughs mirthlessly. As she opens her eyes he is flicking a windblown lock of hair out of his face. "Diplomacy has ever been lost on him," he adds.
He's attempting nonchalance, but Jane's not fooled by the tight lines of his mouth. "I'm surprised Thor didn't ask for your help. That's more your area of expertise. Not that you aren't an amazing fighter," she amends quickly.
Loki chuckles drily as his hand moves down the side of her neck, tracing distracting little designs on her skin. "Oh, but Thor did. But the All-Father would not hear of it, naturally. Any glory I may have achieved by fighting at Thor's side – or by averting such fighting – is not to be permitted, it seems. I am to serve my punishment and stay on Midgard like the prodigal son he always considered me."
Jane is about to retort when Loki pulls her closer, leaning in until his breaths caress her lips as he speaks. "But let me be most clear, Jane Foster. If it is a choice between having my considerable magical talents ignored and denigrated, or showing my beloved wife the wonders of the cosmos, well….that is not even a choice, is it not?" He kisses her hard before she can answer, tongue slipping sensuously into her mouth.
OK, so not helping me catch my breath here…Mmmmmm….
He finally releases her, motioning past her to the teleportation pad (as Jane has decided to label it, at least in her own thoughts). "Shall we?"
"In a second," Jane insists breathlessly, all too aware of Loki's preference for dodging questions he prefers not to answer. "If Fury did ask you to join the Avengers, would you?" she repeats her earlier question.
He shrugs, his face annoyingly unreadable. "I have not yet decided. Odin did not specify exactly how I am to make 'reparations' to your people. If serving at the pleasure of the Avengers would suffice, perhaps that is what I should do. But sometimes I think I would have preferred to remain in the hands of Thanos' torturers, rather than listen to one more second of Stark's self-important prattle!" he grouses.
Jane slaps Loki's arm, though not hard. She knows from past experience how much her hand will sting after! "Oh come on. Tony's not that bad."
Loki shrugs once more, then takes her hand and tucks it into his elbow, guiding her towards the teleporter. "I remain to be convinced. There is also the small matter of whether the other team members will be in favour of such an arrangement. Perhaps the man out of time, but Agent Barton? He may have tolerated attending our wedding, but fighting at the side of the one who once enslaved him?" Loki rolls his shoulders. "Not to mention the problem of the green beast."
Jane can't help it; she snorts at the expression on Loki's face. "Don't let Bruce hear you call him that." It's still so weird for her to even try to comprehend how Bruce and The Hulk could be the same being. Not that she's spent much time around either version of him.
She wonders how Erik feels about all that; he'd seemed comfortable enough around Bruce, once he'd gotten past the initial shock of learning that Bruce is The Hulk, anyway. But to Jane's knowledge Erik's never come face-to-face with that other side of Bruce, not in person.
But just as they are about to step onto the teleporter, Jane halts as another question pops into her head. "Wait a sec, Loki. Explain something to me: when we first got to this planet, why did your Bridge land on that other Spire? Why not just land here in the first place and save ourselves the boat trip?"
Loki turns to face her. "Still feeling the effects of our sea voyage?"
"Not anymore."
"Ah. Well, in answer to your query, it is because I could not have 'landed' our Bifröst there, as you put it."
"Why no- Oh wait, let me guess," Jane interrupts, rolling her eyes. "Magic."
He laughs, but kindly. "Indeed. The dwarves, as I may have mentioned before, are civilized. However, they are not precisely friendly to outsiders, as you yourself noted. Hence, the Dwarf mages created machines that can detect the coming of any Bifröst, and redirect it away from the Dwarf cities. Instead, the pathways must deposit their occupants onto the nearest of the Guardian Spires."
"Oh," Jane says. It makes sense, she supposes. "And then we have to get by the gatekeeper there."
Loki nods. "Precisely. Shall we?" He motions for her to step onto the metal plate.
She does, but she's not done asking questions. "And you couldn't have used your magic to teleport us directly here from that first Spire, either, for similar reasons?" she guesses.
He nods. "These Dwarf machines, in their way they function much like the Guardian beasts Thanos once employed. All magics of a certain type prove useless within the sphere of their influence." His mouth flexes at the unpleasant memories, and Jane slides her hand down his arm to find his hand and squeeze it.
Now determined to distract him, she voices yet another of her thousands of questions: "OK, so I get that part now, but…I'm still not understanding why they bother with boats?"
He turns to her face her, eyebrow raised as he waits for her to clarify.
"They have these, right?" She taps her sneaker-disguised-as-a-boot on the surface of the metal plate. "Couldn't they use them to go from city-to-city, just like the Light Elves do?"
"These types of spell-craft are more of a short-range magicking. I am not sure the Dwarves have ever even considered altering them to take occupants across The Water as you suggest."
"But why not?" Jane persists. "I mean, that would save them so much travel time-"
"The answer is the same as before: to protect against unwanted visitors. Or against an attack, for that matter. Though I hesitate to remind you of it, you yourself have witnessed personally how a more powerful being may commandeer a portal."
Thanos. Yeah, how could I forget? And they were back to Thanos again. Wonderful.
"And there is this," he continues, "Given the rather…antisocial nature of dwarves, I suspect it is to discourage visitors, as well."
Jane has to laugh at that. "Yeah, 'cause that's working so well against people like us."
"Well, you are a resolute mortal, Jane Foster of Midgard," Loki smirks.
Whatever answer Jane could make is interrupted by a flutter of wings as one of the massive sea-birds lands in front of them on the metal square, folding its wings prissily as it looks at them with its many eyes.
Jane tries to shoo it away as she and Loki take another step, moving to the center of the teleporter pads, but Loki stops her. "It is a carrier-bird. The Dwarves use them to send messages between Spires. It is meant to travel within the mountain in such a manner, using the portal as we do."
The bird's long, wickedly hooked beak makes Jane nervous, so she keeps Loki between her and their avian fellow traveler. You stabbed Thanos, but you're afraid of a fucking bird, she scoffs to herself.
Fortunately they don't wait long. The plate under their feet emits a quiet hum, then everything around them blurs for a second or three. Then Jane's sight goes back to normal and they are in another massive cave lit by torches….fenced in by thick metal bars that surround the perimeter of the transporter plate.
"Um-" Jane gulps anxiously, glancing around. This is not the reception she'd expected.
The bars don't completely enclose their little party, but are open at the top, high above. The bird takes wing, escaping and leaving her and Loki alone in this impromptu prison.
"Civilized but not friendly, got it," Jane murmurs to Loki as heavy footfalls approach. Loki only smirks coolly, and Jane has to admire his composure. Then again, this is probably somewhat more familiar to him than it is to her.
A party of at least fifteen dwarves emerges from a tunnel in the cave wall off to Jane's left. They march over, their armour creaking and jingling, to stand in front of the barrier of bars. "Identify yerselves," the dwarf in front demands. He has long hair as black as Loki's, and a beard in neat braids that is long enough to brush the floor. His armour is silver and gold, with an elaborate insignia of some kind on the breastplate.
In bored tones, Loki introduces them again. The dwarf's eyes, black as his beard (at least so far as Jane can tell in the torchlight), narrow. "The Liesmith. That's who I thought it was. I'm of half a mind to leave ye in there, ye deceiver."
"Come now," Loki coaxes with a stretch of his lips that Jane thinks is supposed to be taken as a winning smile, "Surely you have heard? We are newly wed, and my esteemed bride is beyond eager to view the many wonders of the fairest of the Dwarven cities." His smile then shading to a smirk, he appends: "And surely your venerated King does not bear me a grudge after so long?"
"Oh lad, but he does," retorts the dwarf.
Jane sighs loudly and rolls her eyes. "What did you do this time, Loki?" I swear, I can't take him anywhere.
Loki scoffs, though she knows him well enough by now to be able to tell that he's loving this whole thing. "A misunderstanding that sadly escalated. After seeing the skill of the sons of King Ivaaldi in fashioning Mjölnir, the All-Father wished that the Dwarves would make more weaponry and other sundry items for the royal family. He put the matter into my hands, with the understanding that I would try to bargain for a good price."
"When the sons of Ivaaldi and I could not come to an agreement, I approached the Blacksmith's Guild and spoke to their most valued craftsmen, Brokkr and Sinndri. But as they too asked too high a price for such items, we settled on a wager: if they proved unequal to the task of making weaponry up to the same standards as the sons of the King, the items they made would cost the royal coffers of Agsard but a single gold piece in exchange."
"Aye," grunts the dwarf, "and should their work have proved unparalleled, yer part of the bargain was to forfeit yer head."
Jane's eyes widen at this. "I remember reading about this in the myths book! Didn't you ask the Dwarves to make new hair for Sif because you cut hers all off as one of your pranks?"
Loki throws his head back and laughs, full-throated and loud, the sound bouncing and echoing off the cave walls and ceiling. Startled by his reaction Jane anxiously scans their audience, but the dwarves are laughing too, one of the blond ones behind the dark dwarf actually wiping tears of laughter from his eyes.
"Oh lass! I haven't had a laugh like that in at least two fourmoons. 'New hair for the Lady Sif!'" He chortles again.
Jane frowns in puzzlement. "But-"
"Did I not already inform you how your Midgardian versions of these tales have, shall we say, burnished the truth somewhat? And people label me 'Liesmith!'" Loki grins.
"So you never cut off her hair?"
"By Yggdrasil, no! I value my hands too much," Loki responds, still chuckling.
"And I suppose this means she never had blonde hair?"
Loki snorts. "Hardly. But your fellow Midgardians have ever valued yellow as a hair colour, for reasons that make little sense."
Jane has to wonder if somehow this is also a dig at Thor.
"These Midgardians and their tales!" the first, black-haired dwarf marvels. "I'll have to hear more of these lays at feast-time tonight."
"Does this mean you will permit us entry?" Loki inquires casually, as if it doesn't matter to him at all what the dwarves decide.
The dwarf levels a flat stare at him. "I've half a mind to let the lass in alone."
"You could," agrees Loki with studied nonchalance, "but think how peeved the King might be, when he hears that he lost an opportunity to acquire this." With a swirl of his hand Loki conjures something into existence.
Jane's never seen anything like it. It fills Loki's palm completely, sparkling in the torchlight. It's something like an opal, but only if opals were a pale orange-red, and glowed. And the colours! They seemed to eddy around inside the gem, as if a multi-toned fire burned within its depths.
The Dwarf's eyes widen. "A fire-gem from Muspel! A rare gift, indeed…if it's a true gem, of course." His eyes narrow again in suspicion.
"The King is welcome to inspect it," Loki offers magnanimously. With a deft flick of fingers he passes the gem from hand-to-hand, spinning it, and it throws off arcs of light to dye his skin in oranges, reds and yellows. "If, of course, we are allowed to come in?"
His eyes absently tracking the stone, the Dwarf nods and takes a cleverly-worked key from his belt. Unlocking a gate in the bars, he motions them through.
"Ye know the way to the King's Keep," he says to Loki. "But by the Luck-Star, none of yer mischief, ye hear me?"
"My wife would not countenance such a thing, I assure you," Loki replies with his trademark smirk as he makes the stone vanish again. Jane sighs inwardly as she takes the hand he decorously offers her, and they walk through the narrow opening. I'm so going to regret this, aren't I?
Loki, now haughtily ignoring their audience, leads her to the tunnel the dwarves entered from. It's odd; the sides and ceiling of the tunnel, as with the cave behind them, are rough and craggy, but the floor is smooth with a subtle sheen that makes Jane feel like she's walking on tiles, even though it's obviously made of the same stone.
The torchlit tunnel ends in a circular opening, and while Jane's pretty sure there's enough light in the tunnel that she should be able to see what's on the other side of the opening, she can't. It's like the exit is covered by something pitch-black and slightly shimmery. Are those curtains? she wonders.
She slows, unsure what they're supposed to do but Loki forges on, urging her through with him. The recognizable tingle of magic passes over her skin as they breach the 'curtain'.
Her jaw unhinges. Oh. My. God. No, this is...impossible!
They're in yet another tunnel, but nothing like the one they left. The floor is of the same smoothed stone, and the lower part of the tunnel walls are also stone, but most of it seems to be made of curved panes of some kind of transparent stone. Or of glass? Jane can't be sure. "Wait, I need to get some photos and videos of this! Just…amazing!"
Loki waits patiently, folding his hands behind his back, as Jane takes her pictures. His smile widens as she begins to pepper him with questions: "We're under water? So, the Dwarves' cities are under water? How do they manage that? How the heck, I mean, did they build everything on land first, and then sink it? Or did they build it all on the ocean floor while wearing some kind of scuba gear? And-"
Cities floating in the sky (and flying horses, and near-unicorns!) had seemed miraculous enough, but to a scientist like Jane, the engineering feats required to build a city on the bottom of an ocean…it's so incredible as to border on sheer insanity.
Though the water is remarkably clear by Earth standards, it's still hard to tell how big the city is. But Jane quickly counts at least fifty-two squarish buildings of at least three stories, and furthest away rears a building ten times as high as the next-highest building. That's probably the Dwarf equivalent of the palace, Jane assumes. Everyone seems to build them tall; that's one thing that never seems to change.
But even the smallest of the buildings are marvels to her. Much like the tunnel they're currently standing in, these seem to be constructed of a combination of dark and transparent stone. The water is muddling her vision to some extent, but even from here Jane can detect movement behind certain 'windows' as the population of Brmiir goes about its daily business.
The wildlife is predictably fascinating, as well. As Jane squints, trying again to figure out how far the city sprawls, a handful of creatures swims by so fast, all Jane is able to distinguish about them are the greenish bioluminescent streaks they leave in their wake. Moments after that, another creature the size of Jane's head passes by more slowly. It's smooth-scaled like a snake, but it seems to swim by spinning itself in circles like a drill or auger. Then there's another creature, rounded and similar in size to a basketball, whose mouth appears to be stuck permanently open, with teeth the length of toothbrushes.
Smaller creatures in a rainbow of iridescent colours dart around between these larger cousins. A similarly-hued spread of what Jane takes to be the Nidavellir version of coral takes up much of the ocean floor. It's even growing up the sides of most of the buildings that Jane can see from her vantage point. Do the Dwarves encourage, or just tolerate, the coral doing that? she wonders.
Her camera starts to beep quietly at her. The battery is getting low. It's OK, we're not leaving for a while, she reminds herself as she turns it off. Besides, Loki is waiting, poor guy. Poor God. Eh, whatever.
Loki continues to wait tolerantly until Jane stows her gear away, then extends his hand to her once again, grinning all the while at her reaction to everything.
OK, so she's a little thunderstruck by it all.
Her enchantment only increases as they stroll down the underwater corridor and towards the city. As they get closer it becomes evident that around the coral, there's seaweed growing in rows that are too precisely laid out to be naturally-occurring, at least in Jane's opinion.
After they've walked for a couple of minutes, Jane spots a little vehicle that she can only describe as a cross between a bubble and a submarine, with auger-engines similar to the sea creature she saw before. It is hovering above a patch of seaweed, then as Jane watches eight metal arms extend out from the base of the submarine. Some of them cut swathes of seaweed off, while others catch the fronds and put them into a large mesh bag attached to the base of the vehicle. If she squints, Jane can just make out the dwarf inside the bubble, working levers with practiced ease.
A tug at her hand makes her realize that she's stopped dead to stare. "Sorry," she states sheepishly to Loki as they start moving again. "This is all so new to me, and-"
"I am well aware, my Jane. But no apologies are required. I expected as much."
Jane raises a brow at this. "You expected me to spend most of this trip standing and gaping at everything?" She can't help but poke a little fun at herself.
"With a mind as keen as yours? By Yggdrasil, I would be more surprised if you were utterly unmoved by the spectacle," Loki chuckles. "And I doubt I could have ever tolerated marrying so jaded a woman."
Jane snorts laughter at that too, picking up her pace a bit; the submarine-like-craft is moving back towards the city now, and Jane is curious to see where it's going.
The craft approaches a building on the outskirts of the city, and as Jane attempts to watch and walk at the same time (without tripping over her own feet, ideally), it doesn't just pull up to the side of the building, but goes right into it. Through the stone wall. "What th-"
Then Jane realizes it must be another forcefield, just like the one they crossed to get into this corridor. Which Loki confirms when she asks him about it, just to be sure.
She continues to watch, noticing that the underwater craft hasn't gone completely through the wall-forcefield, but only halfway. A pair of clamps descend smoothly from the sides of the building to hold the craft in place, and then the submarine pushes the bag of seaweed past the energy-field and into the building. Then the clamps release and the craft is off again, moving towards a different patch of seaweed.
That's when Jane becomes conscious of the fact that she's stopped walking again, and this time they're about to have an audience – she can hear heavy boots tramping towards them from the direction of the city. Soon the new group of dwarves stands in front of them, blocking the corridor. There are at least twenty of them, all wearing identical armour of black edged with gold trim and tiny diamonds and pearls, and grim expressions on their faces.
Oh no, here we go again.
