- Chapter 8 -
"That concludes this file," McCorrmick said, looking up at everyone, then back down at his laptop. The uncomfortably loud shrieking coming from the vexed Queen was painful to listen to. It was disturbingly loud despite her sitting silently in her seat. There was something surrounding her that he couldn't see. Whatever it was held a furious violence that was pointed directly at King Frey. Frustration edged his thoughts then. He was certain that he didn't possess either the memory of what the silently broadcast emotion was or what the markings made of light were. It was left to him to figure them out on his own. What he learned would be brought back to Eidesh to handle. McCorrmick's gaze went to the back of his hands. Like the noise Queen Frigga was making, he couldn't see the marks, could only feel them. It was a little like the air. It could be felt, not seen. Thinking further on it he frowned a little and hoped that it wasn't like the air. You only see the air right before the storm tears you apart. He looked back up at Queen Frigga who was still sitting quietly. Fiddlesticks.
He's right here, on my helicarrier. Director Fury glared at the screen for a moment before standing to turn towards the back of the room. He was in the same room as one of Loki's accomplices. He had King Frey at hand. It made the Director grind his teeth to know that there was probably nothing he could do about it. It took Stark, Captain America and Thor to apprehend Loki. They only had General Rogers and Thor this time. The fact that Thor deferred to the King told the hardened spymaster everything he needed to know about his chances of apprehending King Frey. As he turned he saw it and smiled tightly. The Queen looked angry enough to take care of it herself.
The blanket of shock that fell over Thor's mind was soft and hazy. My uncle betrayed me. He betrayed my father. He betrayed my mother, his own sister. The anger that followed was sharp and hot. He stood and turned to face his uncle. Mjolnir's song changed from the soft lullaby she was singing to calm him into a soaring battle march.
In all her long life Frigga had never been so angry. She was overflowing with rage. Small flaxen lines seidr started springing up from her all over her. They rolled off her like electricity from a Jacob's ladder. She stood slowly and placed a hand on the table. The metal flashed white as it was blasted with heat from her seidr. The section of table she touched melted away under her hand, dripping down to the floor. A flaxen runework pulsed across her skin in time with her heartbeat. Loose seidr flashed flaxen fire in her eyes. She didn't notice as the mortals stepped away from the table quickly. Even the Warriors Three moved away quickly.
Alarm at his wife's actions entered Odin's thoughts. He stood beside her. "Wife, you must calm yourself," he said. Frigga turned around to look at her brother. He still sat calmly at the end of the table.
Her silent screaming was washing over McCorrmick. It brushed up against the light marks under his skin causing them to recoil at the contact. He blinked quickly as the room strobed magenta, then deep violet before returning to normal. The itching pressure deep in his eyes returned. Worry edged his thoughts for a moment as he felt his eyes swelling with whatever was happening. The pressure released suddenly leaving him feeling better. It also left everything blurry for a few seconds. Blinking helped to refocus his eyes. When he was done blinking everything around him looked a little different. There was a strange magenta shimmer to the floors, walls, and ceiling, as though there were something right beneath the surface moving like water. There was a pale white shimmer to everyone's skin. It was in Queen Frigga that he first noticed it.
There were light markings on her skin that he could see through her clothing. Though they were the same type of marks that Skuld placed on him they were arranged a little differently. What was on him was wrapped around him with one chain flowing over another. Queen Frigga's markings were straight and orderly. They looked like chains that were set next to each other then branded onto her skin like tattoos. They were also flashing in time with her heartbeat. The light intermittently filling them was flowing out of a sphere of light in the center of her chest. It looked like a miniature flaxen-colored sun to McCorrmick. In the middle of that light was her beating heart. He frowned heavily when he realized that he could see the vexed Queen's internal organs because part of her chest and back were missing. The edges of the cuts weren't bleeding. He wondered momentarily if it was the little sun sitting in her chest that burned those pieces away. Parts of the ribs, breastbone, shoulder blades and spine were all gone which gave him a clear view right through her. Little solar flares were stretching out of her miniature sun to whip at the things around her.
Standing beside her was King Odin. McCorrmick noticed that he too had similar tattoos on his skin as well as a similar hole cut through him, revealing his insides. His light tattoos weren't flashing even though the elder King also had a tiny sun in his chest. The warrior King's was densely packed with citrine-colored light. Glancing at King Frey almost caused him to do a double-take. What he could see inside of the younger King was both pressing and concerning. The younger King had the same tattoos covering him and paler yellow tiny sun in his chest. Its light looked like normal sunshine but was so much denser than anyone else's. It was only slightly bigger than King Odin's. McCorrmick wasn't certain how he knew it, but he knew that it should be much bigger. It should've been massive in comparison to all the others. The edges of it should've been outside the bounds of the younger King's chest. This burning sun was compacted. As he examined the edges he thought it looked like it was close to violently uncompressing itself. Being there for that was something else he wanted to skip.
The beautiful miniature suns in their chests were providing neon light to the tattoos connected to them. The only sort of containment the light seemed to have was a bizarre muscle that the tiny suns were sitting in between the two ends of. The muscle ran diagonally along the front side of their hearts but curled back some at the ends to provide containment. The left side of the muscle strand was higher up while the right ran downwards. There were dark patches along the younger King's strange muscle. It looked like bruising, but the young corporal didn't know how that might have happened. An extra strand of muscle, he thought. Strand? String? Heartstring! His eyes widened a little as he looked back down at his laptop. In a disgusting and visceral realization McCorrmick understood why Stark was so angry. Hela's sick.
It was then that he noticed the tiny pale chartreuse sun that was sitting inside Thor's heart. His heartstring was small and weirdly shaped when set next to the Kings' and Queen's. He thought it looked like a little ribbon wrapped around the heart. The Asgardian Prince's light didn't look anything like his parent's light. That was more awkward to see firsthand than to hear about it. McCorrmick wondered why Thor didn't have the same tattoos that the Kings and Queen had.
The only other Asgardian who had a miniature sun in their chest was Heimdall. He had a tiny red-dwarf sun almost exactly as big as his heart, with a stubby heartstring. The tiny crimson sun seemed oddly cold and still when compared to the other miniature suns. The big brooding Asgardian also didn't have the tattoos like Thor. He had something else. Through the crimson light McCorrmick could just make out a little bit of green peeking out from under it. There was a little ribbon of emerald light in Heimdall's heart. The young man wondered what was wrong with the four other Asgardians that they didn't have their own tiny suns or tattoos made of light. He couldn't see into them as easily. It was only the silhouette of their hearts that he could see in their chests. Their hearts had similar ribbons of emerald light, but no miniscule sun. That's odd, he thought. Thor and his family don't have the emerald ribbons, just the colored suns. He wondered what was so special about Heimdall that he had both the ribbon and the crimson sun, but no tattoos of light. They all also had the odd white shimmer on their skin. But why do they have light in their chests? What is that, and why aren't they dead with those wounds? What am I seeing?
The more he looked around, the more McCorrmick saw. What piqued his interest was Agent Barton, Dr. Banner and Ms. Potts. There was the strange marking sitting at the center of the agent's forehead that didn't look like the same type of light tattoo that everyone else had. It was a small hexagon about the size of a silver dollar that had three tiny hexagons stacked top to bottom in it. In the bottom tiny hexagon was a crude angular helix with a horizontal line through the middle. The middle tiny hexagon had a picture of what was either a shield or a flattened spaceship. A strange scarecrow-looking effigy sat in the top tiny hexagon. The pictures didn't make the intent of them clear.
Each of the smaller hexagons were a pretty gold that deepened to emerald at the larger outer border. Despite it being so odd it was still beautiful. At either side of this little crest attached many tiny chains that interlaced together to create a larger chain. This emerald light chain sat around Agent Barton's head. It's like a crown with a golden gem, he thought. On top of the agent's chest was a burning brand. A fiery mark that he'd seen before on trees growing in a cave; a flaming bird nesting in the branches. He wondered if this was the tagging he heard about. It was going into his report, but the meeting was called before he could finish it. Besides that, the agent was covered head to toe in glowing emerald graffiti that he was certain he was the only person seeing them. There was all manner of odd markings up and down his skin. They weren't like the wrapped markings from his elder aunt, or the ordered ones on the Kings and Queen. McCorrmick couldn't see a pattern to them. Many of them weren't even connected. Wrapped overtop of all of them were translucent ribbons of emerald light. The agent was covered head to toe in the ribbons like the armored bandages of an irradiated mummy.
When McCorrmick looked at Dr. Banner he was surprised. In the center of Dr. Banner's chest were floating broken shards of radioactive green light. Occasionally the pieces of broken light would vibrate or grind against each other producing a long, low growling noise. Is that the Hulk? There were other little broken shards floating throughout his arms and legs. There was even a single pulsing shard in the middle of his brain. Back and forth between King Frey and Dr. Banner his darting gaze went as he compared what he was seeing. He should have a colored sun in his chest too. Why does it look like it exploded? How did he survive his sun going nova? Once more the young Satska Soledras tried and failed to bring up any knowledge on what these miniature suns were, besides stars in people's chests. These things were in the memories he possessed. They were normal. Nothing of what their name or purpose was existed in his memories. Them being normal without explanation frustrated him. He still kept his thoughts to himself. They aren't part of the test. Gather as much information for Eidesh as you can. Let the rest go.
Upon further examination of Dr. Banner McCorrmick saw what he thought might have been a heartstring in Dr. Banner's chest like what he saw in Thor. It was warped and twisted around Dr. Banner's heart. It even looked like it was cutting into his heart muscle in places. That can't be healthy, he thought. The pulsing light of the broken pieces was being contained by Skuld's light mark. A single dark magenta light mark sat just over his heart, branded onto his chest. It reminded him of a massive spider's web above the bars of a prison door. Every attempt the broken shards made to pulse their light past the mark was halted. Is that what she meant? It must be.
Looking over to Ms. Potts showed him a more intricate marking than the one on Agent Barton that was sitting on her chest above her heart. It looked like it had several layers that were interlaced together to form something truly beautiful. He wished he could see the individual layers, but he couldn't make them out. The marking gave off flickering shafts of emerald light. Those shafts of light were feeding into the same type of translucent emerald ribbons as Agent Barton had. Ms. Potts was similarly covered head to toe. McCorrmick didn't know how he knew, but he was certain that most of these things were present before Skuld arrived to test him; before she marked him with her magenta light. No one else was seeing what he was seeing. Their unconcerned reactions spoke well enough to that. What puzzled him was why he was seeing them. His elder aunt hadn't mentioned him needing to pay attention to what she would be showing him. That didn't mean he was going to ignore it. It only meant that he would be brief and polite when he needed to speak. Other than that, he would observe, remember details for Eidesh, and keep quiet.
Frey leaned forward, arms resting on the table with hands clasped. Oh sweetling, I didn't want any of this. The same grief laden thought refused to leave him alone. She will never forgive me. He took a deep breath and let his seidr core out some. It wasn't enough to give away his thoughts or feelings. It was just enough to take a little more edge off the pain biting into his chest. He instinctively unfurled his seidr and discreetly formed another Regenerative Weave. Once it was released into his chest he furled his seidr back into his core. He could keep his seidr pulled in tightly for longer but didn't want to risk the pain suddenly becoming debilitating while he was there. He couldn't retreat into his office with his ale, so he couldn't risk it. It was hard not to pull it in even tighter as he heard it. Betrayer, his beloved sister's seidr was screeching at him. I can't stop it, just have to roll with it. It's probably time for her to know. This wasn't how I wanted her to find out.
Small flashes of seidr lightning continued to spark off Frigga striking the area around her. Frey didn't like her loosing of so much seidr she while was there. He didn't think she could call down the destruction this flying fortress was capable of. He wasn't certain how much injury it could do to her since he'd already warded her. He didn't want to find out either. He particularly didn't want to find out since the Norn-chosen Truthkeeper was close. Any attack on a Truthkeeper, even accidental, was always met with harsh repercussions. Frey couldn't allow her to endanger herself simply because she was angry with him. He hated what he had to do, but it had to be done. Her wrath had to be crushed when all he wanted to do was take her aside to explain that he never betrayed her. Everything he'd done stemmed from his desire to protect her. He hated it all, even as he understood it. The entire situation was like a wound left to fester. It was best to just drain the wound, then deal with what was left. Roll with it. A pleasant smile stayed on his face. "Yes, sweetling?" he asked calmly.
"You betrayed me!" Frigga hissed at her brother. Raging wrath shrieked out through her seidr. A larger bolt of seidr lightning arcked out from her arm to strike the wall near her. It left a charred glowing scar down the metal. She was genuinely stunned and deeply hurt that he would take her grandchildren from her. A large part of her was having a hard time believing that he kept her child from her. Loki may have become unbalanced enough to commit crimes, but he was still her son. The moment Frey knew he was still alive he should've brought the boy right back to Asgard, to her. That he hadn't was an unfathomable betrayal.
As he saw seidr lightning arc off his mother Thor's ire with his uncle drained away. He'd never seen her angry enough to provoke lightning from her seidr. This wasn't a place that could withstand his mother's wrath. He looked on with an increasing sense of worry. There was nothing he could do to stop her. If it came to it, all Thor could do was stand in between his mortal friends and his own mother.
"Oh? Have I?" Frey asked calmly. He felt so badly for his sister. All the terrible things she failed to see had taken from her the wonderful children and things that he now had. Almost none of them were things he could give her. He understood why she felt betrayed, how she felt that he'd taken from her. She didn't understand the situation they were in, and he wasn't sure that she ever would.
Frey spent much of his life trying to make her life easier. That was the only reason Vanaheim still had trade routes and treaties with Asgard. The last thing he promised his father, before his parents' deaths, was that he would take care of Frigga. It burned him to know how many times he'd failed to protect his beloved sister. He wasn't going to fail here. He was unable to protect her from the cruelty of life. Originally, he protected Loki because he thought he could protect Frigga by protecting her child. Loki wasn't Frigga's child by blood, nor Odin's either, but his beloved sister loved her children equally. He knew this, so he did what he could. In doing this Loki became quite dear to him. Loki was his own family. Loki's family was his family. As he faced his beloved sister's wrath, he despised again that it was Loki he was trying to protect from his beloved sister, so that he could protect his beloved sister from herself. Frey was never tempted to ask himself how it came to this. He already knew.
The last few years were wonderful as he was unexpectedly gifted with a multitude of grandchildren. At first, he struggled with not sharing these grandchildren with his beloved sister. His protection and care of her was one of the stars that guided his life. It was a gleaming perfect star. As more of her small comments and little actions were revealed to him, the gleam of that perfect star faded. Her failings and flaws simply couldn't be ignored any longer once he was forced to clean up the terrible mess she had a hand in creating. The entire thing wore on him heavily. Obliviousness could be overlooked, outright neglect could not. Despite it all, Frey wouldn't be angry with her. He purposefully struggled against that. He could easily be disappointed and sorrowful instead. I haven't betrayed you, sweetling. I swear it.
The room strobed deep violet again for McCorrmick. Thankfully, the itching pressure didn't return with it. There was only a vague sense of dryness in his eyes. When he was done blinking again, he noticed that Thor's hammer was suddenly lit up, ..as was its owner. There were emerald markings all over the Asgardian Prince's skin similar to what Agent Barton had. They still weren't anything like his family's ordered tattoos. He couldn't tell how many of them there were. Every piece of Thor's skin seemed to be covered in them. His face had markings where Agent Barton's didn't. Big ones, little ones, fat ones, thin ones, long ones, and short ones. They didn't look magical. They looked more like random graffiti to McCorrmick. Is that what Loki put on him? His gaze drifted to the hammer Thor held. He suspected he knew what it was glowing with. The head of the hammer was lambent with a soft emerald light. It was pulsing along with a very noticeable song coming from it. The lilting otherworldly voice mesmerized him long enough to leave the impression of a beautiful raven-haired lady in his mind. Like many other things she was familiar but unknown. Her uplifting song calling for the beheading of her Lord's enemies was creepily appropriate accompaniment to his mother's wrathful shrieking.
Looking back down at his laptop, his eyes widened some. There was a magenta light mark on it as well. It looked like two thick Ys done in outline with the middles empty. One was standing up like normal. The other was inverted. Its outline was centered over the other Y to create a blocky, angled flower with six petals. It was pretty in a blunt sort of way. Why am I seeing these, he wondered to himself. McCorrmick almost laughed as remembered something that his Aunt Teresa liked to say when she was teaching college philosophy. If you're the only one to see something, does it make you insane for seeing it? Or does it make everyone else insane for not seeing it? Who is it that's gone mad, and how do you know? Aunt Teresa had a particular love of the emmiki story Alice in Wonderland. The cheshire cat made many points for her. They made him laugh but stuck in his mind. He almost wished he was still taking college classes. Those were better days. Aiden was still with him.
Refocusing his attention on the situation as hand, McCorrmick extended the sarammr to protect himself. He was going to give the Queen a few more moments then he was going to sit her down himself. Royalty or no, this sort of interruption during a presentation was extraordinarily rude. The presence of the elder aunt would cover his overt use of the sarammr. Order was going to need to be restored.
Anger drove the spread of Frigga's seidr. It arcked out from her, destroying as it went. The chair she sat in had already melted down to smoking slag. The stretch of table next to her was glowing white and dripping onto the charred floor. She pulled the long skirt of her dress up to her ankles and stepped over the remains of her chair. More lighting arcked out from her as she moved slowly towards Frey. Frigga wasn't certain what she was going to do when she got there. She was only certain that she was violently angry with him for having done this.
"Uhm, Thor? You might want to do something," Bruce said, looking nervously towards his teammate's mother. The scientific researcher in him noted how odd it was that the Queen's dress didn't burn even as the metal near her was melting. He wondered what the material was made of and even made a mental note to ask Thor later if he could maybe have some clothing made for him that could survive the Hulk. That'd have to wait until there wasn't a walking lightning storm in the same room as him. Bruce smiled nervously. He was proud of himself for keeping control through this when turning into the Hulk normally would've happened already. That he hadn't was great.
The doorhandle would budge when Pepper tried to open the conference room door. When it didn't move Clint moved her out of the way and tried to force it open. Ramming his shoulder into it a few times failed, so he gave up. "It won't move, it's blocked," he said. Natasha grabbed the fire extinguisher from the wall mounting and began dousing the smoldering metal. The smell of burning plastic hung thickly in the air.
Instinctively, Steve pulled Pepper back. She was out of Clint and Natasha's way, and behind him as well. There wasn't much else he could do. Thor's mother was generating lightning. Shielding Pepper was all he could do, so Steve set himself to do just that. He grit his teeth and wished he had his shield with him.
"Cease fire! Cease fire!" Director Fury moved down the opposite side of the table as Queen Frigga. "Ma'am, I understand that you're angry and offended, and that you have good reason to be. I need you to calm down, so why don't we please sit down and discuss this." He spoke calmly and directly to her even though he understood that she was past talking. One hand moved motioned for her to sit. The other reached into his pocket for a tool that might handle this situation. While he didn't mind her dealing with King Frey, her dealing with all the rest of them before she got to him was a concern. The situation spiraled out of control at a shocking pace. It only increased his desire to prevent casualties if he could.
"Move away, I will handle this," Odin turned to the mortal. There was no mortal living, except the Truthkeeper, who had the right to approach to his wife. Were it not for the unusual circumstances he'd strike down the mortal right then and there. Instead, he turned to his son, "Get the mortals back." Thor began moving his mortal friends away from his mother and towards the front of the room. Odin heard him speaking quietly to them, "Do not worry, father will handle this," his son was saying.
Rarely did Odin see the full measure of Frigga's wrath. She was very close to loosing her ire at Frey. Her seidr was shrieking wrath to any who could hear it. Betrayer, it screamed. Skuld showed them before she brought them to it that this was a sky fortress towering unseen over the lands of Midgard. It was a large fortress, but one still constructed by mortals. It would be destroyed in its entire, killing everyone within, should Frigga loose her ire at Frey. Odin moved quickly to place himself between the two of them. While he completely agreed with his wife, this wasn't the place for that kind of argument. Not between Frey and himself. Not between Frigga and Frey. "Frigga, please my wife. You must calm yourself," he spoke quickly and calmly.
Lightning flashed in Frigga's eyes. "He has betrayed me!" Odin tried to place his hands on her shoulders. She placed a hand on his middle and then moved her hand to the side of her. Her seidr wrapped around him and he moved with her hand.
Facing her wrath was disappointing now, so Frey stood to handle it. He'd seen his beloved sister's wrath, been subject to it many times in his life. It was a very familiar thing. It wasn't something that could be loosed here. "I have betrayed you? How have I betrayed you?" Frigga was too angry to catch the warning in his tone. Her seidr shrieking 'Betrayer' at him sent deep shocks of pain through him. I have done all of this for you, and you would throw it back at me without even asking why?! He struggled against his anger again. It was tempting him to be very angry with her. She isn't the one who I'll exercise my wrath on, he reminded himself. There were brigands for that. Frey braced himself, this wasn't going to be pretty. She was far too close to the Truthkeeper for his liking
"All these years, you knew Loki lived! You knew, and you let me believe my son was dead! All these years you've known of Loki's children," lines of seidr were rolling off her in waves with every word she spoke. "They call you grandfather?! They're my grandchildren! Mine, and you've stolen them from me! Betrayer!" Frigga yelled. Raw seidr rolled off her to sink into the floor, shivering the entire room as it went.
"Thor!" Director Fury looked to Thor, but Thor's gaze was fixed on his mother.
A look of growing worry stayed plastered to Thor's face as he stood between his mortal friends and his mother. His hand went to Mjolnir, and he raised her. He held her upright, with his left hand resting on the head of the hammer. He touched at Mjolnir with his thoughts, asking her to please extend her barrier. He could feel her grasping his tiny amount of seidr to use for the barrier. Once she had it, he projected it out through her to safely surround those behind him. A moment later Mjolnir created an Ascending Circle of Strength out of his seidr. It was placed on his shoulder. Heimdall's hand rested there a heartbeat later to align and connect his Descending Circle of Strength. He could feel Heimdall lending his strength to the barrier, reinforcing it for Thor through the circles. His mother's loose seidr rolled away from her and towards them. The brunt of it broke harshly against the hammer's barrier, dissipating into nothingness. The outer edges that missed Mjolnir blew by them like a scorching summer gale.
In order to lend strength to the barrier Prince Thor was projecting through Mjolnir Heimdall kept sliding small amounts of seidr out of his core. He'd seen the Queen's wrath before. This wouldn't require him to summon Hofud for the barrier it could produce. Merely strengthening Mjolnir's efforts through his Prince would be enough. When this was handled then he would allow his meager supply of seidr to slide back into his core.
"Ah, sweetling. Which one of us neglected Loki? Which one of us drove Loki to choose death? You know not how many times nor by what means. Which one of us lied to Loki, every day of her life? Which one of us raised her to be second best?" Frey let his knife sharp words sink in. He hated even thinking them, despised that he had to say them. He hated the look of shock that crossed his beloved sister's face, as though he'd physically struck her. The light of her runework abruptly extinguished as her seidr was withdrawn completely back to her core. Frey never wanted to hurt her, but he did this for her safety. He did this to protect both his beloved sister, and his beloved niece.
She still doesn't understand! Frey wished ardently that he could pull her aside to make her understand. Only through understanding could they move forward peacefully. He didn't want bad blood between him and his beloved sister, but he wouldn't back down either. He would always fight to protect her, even if it was from herself. He would fight to protect Loki, and his grandchildren. Loki was owed this protection, and Frey paid his debts. "Tell me sweetling, why would Loki have come to you? Tell me, who do you think asked me not to breathe a word to you, to Thor, to Odin? Who do you think named me Grandfather to the children?" Frey moved from where he stood. He stopped in front Frigga and placed his hands on her shoulders, then pulled her into an embrace so that he could whisper to her alone, "Who do you think chooses to bring the children to me and not you?" He placed a kiss on the top of her head and moved away.
With the majority of her wrath crushed, Frey moved back to his seat. He pushed back his tears as he heard raw pain bleed through her seidr. It was enough that he kept his calm look in place. Frey wished he had a few barrels of ale and a roaring fire in front of him. Something soothing would be nice right then and there. He was very well aware that there wasn't anything soothing likely to appear anytime soon. So he pulled in his seidr again until the ache appeared. It was the ache that always told him that no one would know how he felt.
The necessity of what King Frey did was questionable in McCorrmick's eyes. He would have handled it himself since what Queen Frigga did was absolutely not necessary. All of them needed to sit and mind their manners. I know you're emmika, but you're nobles. Aren't the nobility supposed to behave better?
Tears flooded the vexed Queen's eyes. Frigga shook as she struggled to contain her tears. She understood the truth in her brother's words. Even though Loki was alive, Loki was lost to her. Her grandchildren were lost to her. Frey all but said it. Her family was torn apart. She didn't protest as Odin gathered her close. She held tight and shook. Her hands clutched at his vest as she tried to stop the small dry sobs from breaking loose. How could I have not seen it? How could he take them from me?
Going quickly to his wife, Odin pulled Frigga close, wrapped his arms around her and whispered quiet reassurances. With one hand on the back of her head, the other hand stroked slowly up and down her back. He glared at Frey. There were many times he wanted to harm Frey over the long years. They'd never been friendly with one another. For the most part he managed his dislike through yelling. This personal a betrayal was inexcusable. There was going to be more than yelling involved in the righting of this.
"Do not glare at me. You began this madness. Be grateful that I have, in small part, been able to contain it." Frey sat back down. It was at times like this that he wanted to take the gilded sword pin back from Odin and stab out his remaining eye with it. That he'd willingly handed over the pin as a sign that he approved of the marriage between his beloved sister and Borr's boy was galling enough. He only handed it over after the marriage was complete. Giving it over before would've been a public statement that he approved of his sister's husband. He never would. Times like this made him fantasize about burying that tiny sword hilt deep in his brother-by-law's left eye. "Do you think this is the only thing I've kept back? Do you think me as ignorant as you?"
Understanding washed over Odin. "You know why we have been called here today, don't you? You know what 'truth' they've spoken of. You know what they're hiding," he'd never disliked Frey more than at that moment. That smug bastard! How dare he hurt her! Odin wanted to hit Frey, hit him again and again and until there was naught but blood and mangled flesh left. Apprehension grew in his chest alongside the rampant anger. What did Frey know that he didn't, and how long had he known? Again, Odin asked himself, What have I missed?
"It isn't my tale to tell. I suspect that you will hear it from Loki this day. This day, you will finally hear Loki's words. It will be as it should've been more than twenty years ago," Frey motioned towards the screen. He motioned again to the screen. "This time, you will hear Loki's words and know that none of this needed to happen. Everything that has befallen your family is your fault, Odin. Had you listened to Loki, heard her words, none of these terrible choices would've been forced on Loki. Had you listened, none of the terrible things Loki was forced to do would've been needed. Had you listened to Loki, instead of dismissing her, as you always did, none of the terrible consequences that Loki has faced on your behalf would've happened. You began this madness. You alone." And I continued it. That was a private shame for him and none other. He hated to think that it might be made public.
It irritated Odin to hear Frey speak of Loki as though he truly were a woman, as though this weren't some guise worn to escape Heimdall's watchful eyes. "It seems you have many tales that aren't yours to tell," he spoke with quiet venom. Frey's answering smirk only served to further his dislike. His damnable brother-by-law always had a new smug smirk on his wolfish face.
"Uncle, what do you mean?" Thor asked from the front of the room. He brought the barrier down only after his mother no longer had seidr lightning arcking off her. Mjolnir was set back to hanging by his side again. He was still bitterly angry with his uncle for betraying them, now more so because his mother was almost crying from whatever his uncle said. Thor didn't hear it. That didn't matter since he wanted to hit his uncle for hurting his mother with those words. Not that it was a desire he had any power to do anything about. He'd never once landed a blow against his uncle in all the times they'd sparred. His uncle was wily and never there when the blow landed.
"Sit, listen and for once in your life boy, try to think about what you're learning." Frey raised one hand to gather his seidr in it as it unfurled from his core. He formed it into a Restoration Orb Spell. As his hand opened the spell released into the room. The small glowing orb darted around the room making swift repairs and sucking up the burnt smell.
After Pepper was seated again, Steve went back to his own seat. The entire incident was frustrating. He was happy that it was handled, and that the damage to the room was even repaired. He was much less happy about one of Loki's accomplices being so close without being able to apprehend them. The ranking of power was both clear and ascending. He wasn't at the bottom, but he wasn't close enough to the top. King Frey was looking down at him from that top. Steve didn't have a way to change that.
Hogun was honestly shocked at what happened right before him. Had Lord Frey simply betrayed Lord Odin, he wouldn't have been the least bit surprised. It was the betrayal of Lady Frigga that shocked him. Lord Frey's affection for his Little Sister was well known throughout the realms. Something went terribly wrong with the Lord, but he couldn't only suspect the causes. Hogun's gaze darted over to Lady Frigga. He'd never seen the Lady so angry, nor did he care to see it again.
A small and profane rant went through the old spymaster's head as things quieted down. Director Fury didn't like being in the same room as one of Loki's accomplices. He liked it even less that King Frey was able to reduce the Queen to near tears with a single whispered sentence. The old spymaster didn't hear what the King said but was curious anyway. He was also curious about the little orb of uncontained sunny light that was floating around the room zapping things until they were fully repaired. It looked like a tiny sun moving about them. Each miniature lightning strike from the equally miniature star melted metal and plastic back into place, cleaned char marks and even sucked up smoke. It looked extremely handy to the Director. That was something else he was going to have to ask Thor about when he had a chance. Putting that in the hands of SHIELD's janitorial and maintenance staff would make their jobs easier and less expensive.
"Sit, mortals. Be at ease, all is well." Frey looked back to his sister. He pulled in his seidr again, renewing the ache. For the first time in his life, he was grateful to his brother-by-law. Odin stemmed the tide of her pain and was guiding her back a newly constructed seat. He knew that Odin couldn't give her the reassurance that she needed. He sighed heavily. Will I ever be immune to her? "Sweetling," he called to her.
Frigga refused to turn around. She didn't want to deal with Frey, didn't want to see him, didn't want to hear him. If she did turn around she'd start crying. She knew she would.
"Sweetling?" Frey called to her again. His voice was soft and full of sorrow. I did this for her, and she'll never forgive me! Despite having anticipated this for years, being faced with the reality of it only sent the pain in his chest deeper and spread it farther out.
"What do you want?" her voice was soft and filled with both grief and anger. How could you keep my son from me? How could you steal my grandchildren? Frigga didn't have answers to those questions, but still needed them.
"I know it doesn't seem so now, but when this is ended, when you know what I do, you won't be so angry with me. I promise you this." Frey wanted to tell her why, wanted to tell her everything. He knew that she wouldn't believe him, none of them would. Even if they would listen and somehow believe what he had to say, he was still bound by the oaths he'd given. There was only one person who could tell them the truth, and she didn't even know that she was going to be speaking. He pulled in his seidr tighter and unfurled enough to form another Regenerative Weave. It released into him then his seidr furled back. He was determined to keep it pulled in just a little longer this time. He would be calm; it would assist his beloved sister to calm herself if he was calm. The weave took enough of an edge off the sharp pain spiraling out through his chest for him to keep it pulled in longer. Frey took a deep breath and set himself. If he needed to ignore pain today, then he would. His ale would deal with the ache when he got home.
With his thoughts edged in irritation McCorrmick looked between the sibling monarchs. Queen Frigga was lowering his opinion of her with her childish and disappointing behavior. That would never show in his work or his demeanor. His opinions would be for himself alone. You shouldn't be snapping at your brother, ma'am. It's not his fault. He watched as King Frey's tiny sun violently compacted. It slowly expanded and then violently compacted again. It happened when she spoke to him. This is abuse of family. It was dishonorable of him to do nothing while it happened, but he also wasn't permitted to say anything. While he held some small pity for the younger King, it wasn't enough for him to endanger his clan. It didn't matter if he wanted to tell the vexed Queen that it wasn't so much her brother's fault as it was her own. The lives of his clan had to come first.
A soft snickering started from the light markings on him. McCorrmick didn't like it. There was still nothing funny about this. The Satska Soledras might have had higher standards for handling family mistakes than the emmika but it was no excuse to laugh at their suffering. It felt natural to be repulsed by such behavior. If it'd been genuine then he would have been. The elder aunts were honorable as Aideshan was honorable. This is a test. When everyone returned to their seats he began the next file. "This next file was recorded earlier on May 18, 2023." Everyone turned to the screen. No one was going to want to see what was coming. He was already sure of it since none of them saw this coming.
