- Chapter 33 -

Tony didn't know who the Norns were, so Loki moved to explain. She was glad that he didn't know who they were. If she'd said this to anyone in Asgard she'd be called a liar before she finished speaking. "House Norn are immensely powerful mages. More than that, truly. They aren't like normal mages. They've become seidr." They were much more than mages, but who and what they actually were and where they were going didn't need be mentioned then.

"So, they kept the battery and got rid of the rest of the car?" Tony asked. That sounds impractical. As impractical as it sounded, the name 'Norn' still sounded familiar. It was something Loki might have mentioned before. He couldn't place it from where.

"No, they didn't get rid of it, they couldn't. There is still a tenuous link between them and their bodies through their souls. However, since their seidr is permanently altered it's able to replace their bodies. Normal seidr can hold thoughts and feelings, but not a soul. The seidr they wield isn't normal seidr, it's become sjel-seidr, the only seidr capable of holding a soul. It makes them vulnerable to very specific things, which is why they almost never leave their temple grounds. Their bodies are kept safe there. The temple grounds of Urdarbrunnr sit outside of the bounds of time itself. This state also makes them some of the most powerful beings in existence. They're called the Weavers of Fate," Loki said.

"Weavers of Fate? All this is their fault?" Tony asked quietly. His ire was all too ready to direct itself at a new target. People who wove fate weren't people Loki had mentioned before, but they did sound like they would burn nicely. The more to burn the better.

"No. Weavers of Fate is an inaccurate appellation. At least I think it is." Loki paused to think of a way to explain it. "I've always thought that they should be called the Knowers of Fate. It's more accurate anyway." Knowing the brandings doesn't change them. Nothing can stop their long march now.

.-.-.-.

The three monarchs sat watching, thinking. Odin watched with interest. The Norns were mysterious beings. They were ancient and possessed of awesome power. It was a power that was skewed towards the Norns instead of the Nine Realms. Frey too found what he was seeing interesting and hearing. Norndottir, House Norn. As royalty himself, he knew what interesting historical implications that held. He wondered though if their different seidr was why they felt so odd. Sjel-seidr, I need to know more about that. Frigga, however, was only interested in it because of the how the power and mystery related to her son. Among all the Norns, Skuld was well-known to be the most petty and vindictive. Combining those traits with awesome power made for a terrifying being that she didn't want near either of her children. Frigga, the Queen of Asgard, didn't want an understanding that could even out an extremely skewed balance of power. Frigga, the mother, was looking for was the knowledge of what a Norn may have done to her boy.

.-.-.-.

"How so?" he asked.

Loki looked down at the floor for a moment. She didn't think Amma would be upset with her telling Tony some of it. It wasn't as if her secrets were going to be spilled by this. "What has happened will happen and must always happen."

"What does that mean?" Tony frowned. It sounded like circular nonsense.

"There are four things you have to understand if you wish to understand the power of House Norn. The first is that time is orderly. Time is nothing more than many well-ordered interlocking cycles all turning together, completing, and turning again. Every cycle is clearly defined. It only contains so many acts. Every action defined in a cycle will happen. Once the cycle completes it will turn again. Since what has to happen is already defined in the cycle when the cycle turns all of the acts defined will happen again. There's no stopping it. And so, what has happened will happen and must always happen. Orderly inevitability is the nature of time itself. The realizing of this nature was the first thing that allowed House Norn to begin understanding time," Loki explained.

"It's all predetermined? There's no free will," Tony didn't like that. It didn't ease the guilt of all the things he did to keep Loki by his side. Nothing could. The whole center of his back throbbed then, as if to remind him of those things.

The guilt and pain creeping in to edge the rage in Tony's seidr brought a frown to Loki's face, "The second thing you need to understand are the two tools which the Norns use. The first of these tools are the Mantles of Time. They're mantles that the cycles of time bestow on certain people, not everyone gets one, but they always fit the wearer well. They aren't just titles though, they're actions. This is why not everyone gets a mantle, because only so many people are needed for each event. This is also why the mantles can be passed on before the cycle turns because it is the mixing of mantles which creates most brandings, and few people can be present for more than one branding. By recognizing the Mantles of Time, House Norn was able to know what a person would do before they did it. The person dictates the where and when of an event, for a person's influence is only so far and only for so long."

"The second of these tools is the branding on the cycles of time, the events themselves. Every cycle is defined by its branding. Each branding is a specific act or event. They only become visible just before the act or event occurs. Each branding has a specific set of qualifications, things which must occur for the cycle to recognize the branding as having happened. It also means that a cycle doesn't have a set time limit to turn, but a set of actions that must happen before it can complete. If the branding happens quickly then the cycle turns swiftly. If it takes a longer period for all the branding to be recognized, then the cycle turns slowly. The branding determines how swiftly the cycle turns and when it completes. By being able to see the branding and know what act or event it specifies, the Norns can see what's coming. Being able to tie the mantles to the branding is what is being referred to when 'fate' is spoken of. These two things allowed House Norn truly understand and utilize the currents of time."

It was a thousand years of study condensed down into a few minutes, Loki sighed at herself for trying to condense it so much. These were the only basic principles. There was so much more, but she no longer had the time to teach him about time. That was a bitter irony. "The third thing you need to understand are the currents of time. While time flows in cycles small amounts leak out between the cycles. These leaks act like seidr whispers. By being able to hear what the whispers were saying the Norns were able to learn everything there was to know about any person, act, place, or thing which drew their attention. The whispers reveal everything. Being able to hear and understand them was one of the last steps towards the Norn's mastery of Time Magics. It was only when they were able to move through these currents that they gave up their individuality. You can walk through the currents of time slowly. The currents will resist your body, press down on you inexorably. To truly move through time, you must be able to swirl through it. Only a soul able to leave its body may swirl upon the currents of time. However, a soul without containment would slip away in the currents. The sjel-seidr contains their soul. This is what they've become." She paused to take a breath. What was coming next had never been pretty.

"You said there were four things," Tony said. He added this Skuld woman to his list of people to find and burn. It was an ever-expanding list. When his ships were done, then he would hunt. Then they would burn.

"The fourth thing is also something you already know," Loki spoke quietly.

"Oh?" he said. Tony couldn't remember any lessons like this one.

"The Road Untraveled," Loki looked up at him as she spoke.

"It's not just a philosophical thing for you, is it?" Tony said. The Road Untraveled was Loki's core philosophical tenant. It was a path they walked together.

"The Road Untraveled is a different path. It's buried so deeply in the currents of time that there have only ever been a few people who've walked it. To step onto the Road Untraveled you must have a Mantle of Time and be willing to take control of the Mantle of Time you wear, for while what has happened will happen and must always happen, it doesn't have to happen the same way every time. It only means that the same qualifications must be met in every cycle. If those qualifications are met, then the cycle completes, no matter how they're met. It won't complete until they've been met, no matter how long it takes to complete. This path scares the Norns, because it can't be seen or heard through the currents of time. Only the person walking it can see the future of the path since they forge that future with every step they take. Thus, what makes it most fearful to the Norns is that it can never be undone since the person forging the path doesn't know what other choices they might have made in the moment. What is truly terrifying about the Road Untraveled is that while a person walks it, they lock the people they interact with in place in the cycle. The person walking that path needed them to make the choices they did, and so the choices of the people they interact with similarly can't be undone. The Road Untraveled robs the Norns of their ability to act, manipulate and control. Therefore, it's one of the few things that can spur them into action, to move people out of its way," Loki explained. "All of these things come together to give the Norns an immense power. The power to prophesize. This allows them to control those who can't see what's coming. But as they can see what's coming, they can't change it. Prophecy isn't just the Norn's power. It's their curse. They are both masters and slaves to time itself. This is what the Norns are." This was only a tiny slice of what the Norn's were, but they were among the most relevant things.

"There's no free will then? Not really. We just do what we're supposed to and that's it?" Tony didn't like the sound of that at all. It rubbed him up the wrong way. Did Arno, Morgan and I have no choice? Do we?

"No. You're always free to make a different choice. The Road Untraveled is hard, but it's always open to the mantled who are strong enough to walk it. We both know that," Loki gave Tony a very serious look then. "We both know what SHIELD and the Avengers would have done in that theater. You walk a different path, as I walk a different path." Tony had always walked a different path, and Loki had always loved him for it.

.-.-.-.

So that's what the Norns are, Director Fury thought. Well, …shit. He had to admit that King Frey was correct in his assessment that they were incredibly powerful beings. Being honest with himself, he admitted that any being who could consciously control the ebb and flow of time to move through it was beyond incredibly powerful. It worried him that a being that powerful came to Loki. It bothered him more that the same being came to them. He had the uncomfortable feeling that they were just pawns in a political game far beyond the scope of any human. The Director was at least grateful to know where their information was coming from. It helped him to better appreciate it. It also helped him to worry more about why they were being shown all of this. Guilty, we owe something? The settling of debts could be a bloody affair. Long years spent in the shadows taught him that. He wanted nothing to do with beings of that power level settling their debts. Director Fury frowned and thought, We don't go to their home and pull this shit. What is it about Earth that attracts them?

The low growling coming from Skuld almost caused McCorrmick to cringe. The deep potent anger reverberating through it was palpable. He didn't want to be near it. The image of those two men flashed through his thoughts again. It was just as indistinct as before. There was still no context for why he was seeing them. Despite not knowing who they were McCorrmick suddenly understood that she was thinking about them. Why she kept thinking about them wasn't something he was likely to get an answer to.

The three monarchs were grateful but worried to finally have perspective and definition on the matter of the Norns. It was something that was lacking throughout the entire Third Era. Odin was surprised that the Norns allowed his son to possess such knowledge to begin with while Frey had a sneaking suspicion that his suppositions on his beloved niece's seidr use were right after all. How it happened was what he wanted to know. He also suspected that he was about to get an answer for that. They all worried over Loki somehow coming into possession of this knowledge, worried that Skuld had come to Loki, but it was Frigga who worried primarily over what Loki did to gain this knowledge. There was only one way that she could think of for it to have happened but wasn't sure it was even real. It was an old legend, and not something she wanted her son involved in.

.-.-.-.

Loki's mind drifted back to that day. Rage, resentment, disappointment, and fear had all but drowned him as he returned to his chambers from his meeting with his father, the Counsel of Lords, and Thor. I could just show Asgard what they've refused to see. I should show them, she remembered the temptation in those thoughts as he'd left his father's office. "Skuld was right. I kept thinking it over and over for the next few days. Skuld was right. Let it burn. Let it all burn! I hate them so much!" Her eyes lost focus in the torrent of memories. "I nearly did it. I knew my fate, and I was so angry. Dangerously angry."

"You're fate?" Tony just couldn't like the idea of fate. He didn't care if it was the nature of time or not. Anything that removed a person's ability to choose wasn't ok with him. The self-loathing that was always present next to his rage flared to life again. He set it aside for the moment. It didn't do him any good, and it wasn't ever going to go anywhere. It was unending.

As her thoughts drifted back Loki thought back to her resolution of that moment; it was one moment that connected to another and another. Each event was another link in the chain that pulled her along the Road Untraveled. It was the chain that allowed her to walk it in peace. She knew her place and was sanguine in it. "I am Ragnarok."

.-.-.-.

The statement caused Frey to huff softly. He'd never placed much weight on prophecies. People had the ability to see the road ahead and choose the route they would take. It was Loki who'd shown him it was possible. With her explanation of the Road Untraveled, he believed in that even more.

.-.-.-.

"Wait, I've heard of that. It's the end of the world, right? You're supposed to end the world?" that confused Tony. Ending the world wasn't his Loki.

"Ragnarok. It's a Celestial word for one of the Greater Mantles of Time, for they too recognized the cycles of time. The word itself is a title. It means 'Harbinger of Change'. The Mantles of Time are passed on when the action they're needed for completes. The Greater Mantles of Time can't be passed on, even if the cycle completes. You are born into the mantle and must live your entire life in it. Only when you die does a Greater Mantle remove itself from you," she sighed. "Asgard, in its sickness, twisted it to mean 'The End of All Things'."

Fuck Asgard. Tony whistled "Wow, they really are averse to change, aren't they?"

.-.-.-.

What sickness Loki was referring to puzzled Odin. No plague had ravaged Asgard in hundreds of thousands of years. Is this something else that I've missed, some plague, perhaps magical in nature that's gone undetected until it was too late? We've seen no signs though; no shortened lives, no increases in illness, no abnormal deaths, nothing at all. He also wondered how Loki might know that Ragnarok was a Celestial title. Very little was known of the Celestials, most of it was from what few relics they'd left behind. What was known of their language was scant and incomplete. Ragnarok had never been linked to it.

How do you know that, my dear? Frey arched an eyebrow at that. Loki was implying that not only did she have an understanding of the history of the word, but of the Celestial language itself. That understanding didn't exist in the Nine Realms. It was something he was going to have to ask her about. How she might have come to that understanding and if she could share it were two very important things. It might be able to make sense of the few Celestial artifacts that littered the Nine Realms.

Unease snaked through Frigga's thoughts. Not only was Loki in possession of knowledge that the Norns surely wouldn't want anyone but the Norns themselves to know but seemed to be in possession of Celestial knowledge as well. Neither of these things were normal and she wanted to know how Loki came across these things. How a person obtained what they knew was often just as important as what they knew. Most importantly, Frigga wanted to know what her son was exposed to. His mind was unbalanced, even small things could do him harm now. In knowing what he'd seen and where he'd been, she had a better chance of making sure that he wasn't harmed again. Frigga's gaze drifted to Stark as she hoped again that they could still bring Loki home.

.-.-.-.

A sad smile crossed Loki's lips, "I can look back on it and see the truth that I didn't see then. I believed that Skuld let me go. She didn't. She sent me back to Asgard not to prevent an Inquiry, but to start one. She believed that I would burn and destroy as he believed I would burn and destroy. It was why she took me to begin with, so that I would see him. I don't know why, but she meant to have me destroy Asgard." She didn't want to mention that she firmly believed that Skuld sent her to destroy Asgard because someone in Asgard owed her a mighty debt, enough to fell a kingdom. Skuld believed strongly in the repayment of debts and could be quite depraved when angered. There was no firm proof on it, but Loki suspected she knew. There were only two things she could think of. Neither of them was anything less than bloody and using an Inquiry to repay the debt was just the sort of depraved thing Skuld would do. Loki certainly wasn't going to mention Amma's role in the Inquiry. Loki didn't want to go down that particular road of betrayal and death.

"I made a different choice. I chose the Road Untraveled. I chose to change my own choices," Loki looked down to her right hand. She flexed the fingers, still grateful and mystified that she could use it. She refocused and shrugged. "That's what House Norn is. They are the Keepers of Choice, the Knowers of Fate." It wasn't the timeless history that would explain their resounding future, but it was enough to satisfy him.

"And one of them came to talk to you," Tony still wanted to put all the pieces together, to see it as it happened from beginning to end.

And now we come to it. Loki stopped again. There was no good well to tell him this. "When Skuld came to me that night, she offered me a bargain. I accepted it and she took us to the temple grounds," Loki held up her hand to stop Tony from interrupting. "I'm going to tell you everything, I just wanted to give you an overview that way you can't say I didn't tell you later on."

"Why would I say that?" and again he didn't like where the conversation was going.

Nervousness was welling up in Loki again. "Skuld said that she knew about my troubles in Asgard. Of course, she did. She said that she knew I was leaving Asgard and had no intent to return, so she offered me a bargain."

"You've said that. The truth, Loki. What was the bargain?" Tony didn't like where this was going. She's nervous. What did she do for them?

"Skuld offered me the Seer's Bargain," Loki said as she tensed. The seidr in her blood was producing another powerful urge to tell him what he wanted to know. This isn't going to be pretty. Not that it ever was. None of it ever was.

.-.-.-.

No, I didn't hear that correctly. Frigga's hand tightened violently around her husband's hand as she flinched back from the screen. Please, no! Her hand tightened even more in Odin's grasp. When Odin's hand tightened around hers and she knew that she heard correctly. It was only supposed to be an old legend.

A dreadful stillness stole over Odin as more shock spread through his thoughts. He reflexively tightened his hand around Frigga's, making sure that she was still with him. There was something worse in this than the awful things already revealed. Those were things done in despair, this was a choice Loki made. It wasn't one he understood and hoped that he might be wrong about what manner of choice it was. There weren't many details in the legend. What details there were weren't things he wanted to think about his son doing.

As he thought, And now I have an answer to that, Frey let go a small and miserably resigned sigh.

Thor saw his parent's reaction and wondered why they seemed so disbelieving. When he glanced back he saw that Frey didn't look stunned. It confused Thor that his uncle looked resigned. Confusion gave way to worry, more anxiety followed. What is a Seer's Bargain?

.-.-.-.

"It's a bargain that the Norns offer to those they feel would make acceptable additions to House Norn," Loki explained. Only the greatest will see the end of the long march. There were days that she still lamented that she wouldn't be among them. It would have been an unparalleled honor to battle at her Amma's side. Battling by Afi Gin would be fine as well. At least she would get to see him again.

"It's just a recruitment offer?" Tony interjected. Why is she nervous about that?

"Yes, and no. It's both an offer to training and a test. You have to not only be worthy, but fully willing to undertake the training. The path to becoming a Norn isn't an easy one. To be a Norn is to be more than you could ever be alone. To be a Norn is to be more than you've ever been. This is what they offered me," Loki took a deep breath. "But, in order to walk that path, you must have total dedication, and you must prove that dedication. You must, you must," Loki stumbled over the words that she'd never said aloud, "let them lock you in a moment, so you can rip out your eyes and give them to the Norn who comes for you. Your eyes for their training. When the training is complete they return your eyes. This is the Seer's Bargain."

With the exception of Loki's sickening words Tony's mind emptied out entirely. Shock rippled through him, building into violent waves. Rip out your own eyes, rip out your own eyes, rip out your own eyes ... It wouldn't stop echoing through his mind. He could see Loki doing it too. Loki was never one to let pain stop her from doing what she wanted. His mind grabbed his own memories and twisted them. In a sudden moment, he could imagine what happened. Tony could see her reaching into her own eye sockets and pulling out her beautiful eyes, leaving nothing but bloody holes behind. Little rivulets of blood trickled down her cheeks smearing across her pale skin. Tony choked, then whirled around and emptied his stomach into the kitchen sink. His body heaved until there wasn't even bile left. Every stinking heave brought a sharp stab from the ache in his back. "Oh god, oh god," he whispered in between heaves. Loki was at his side in an instant. Her seidr flared out to run gently over his skin. He almost recoiled from it. He didn't want to think about what he just heard, didn't want to know anymore.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Tony," Loki said over and over again. She knew she would eventually have to give him this truth, there was only so much she could talk around. Their bargain required her to give him the truth should he ask for it. It didn't make her feel any less guilty as Tony was bent over heaving into the sink. There would be no getting out of this for either of them. She grabbed the towel hanging on the stove handle and turned on the sink faucet. Once she'd washed all the vomit down the drain she dampened the towel and blotted it over his face, wiping the last of it from his lips. "It'll be alright. I moved them back through time to reclaim them when I left, it will be alright. It no longer matters, remember?" Loki uncurled her seidr to form into a Regenerative Weave. She slid it into his blood. It wouldn't do much, not with how unstable his body still was. In a few more years he would be accustomed to having seidr. His stomach wouldn't bother him then. Regenerative Weaves would also do more. She hoped that Frey would teach him Healing Magics during those years. They would be after she'd already left. For the time being, Regenerative Weaves weren't what soothed him the most during a bout of instability. She rubbed his back while she waited for him to stop heaving. Even though his stomach was empty his chest was still heaving. He was sucking down air but still looked green around the edges. Loki let her seidr flare further out to him again. Tony's seidr flared out to mingle with hers. More silver sparks ignited before another sparkling golden radiance briefly filled the air around them. His breathing slowly calmed.

Pulling him away from the sink, Loki took him out the front end of the kitchen. Around the side towards a bar stool at the kitchen island was where she took him. A weave wasn't what he needed now. Herbs always did more than any weave during his bouts of instability. "Wait here," she said as she turned and went to the refrigerator. She opened the door and pulled out a fresh sprig of mint from the small drawer in the door. Walking back over to him she held it up, "Here, Love. Chew on this, it'll settle your stomach."

Leaning an arm on the counter, Tony took the sprig from her. He pulled a few leaves off and put them into his mouth. The strong taste of mint began washing away the taste of bile covering his tongue. Loki's Regenerative Weave had warmed his blood and dulled the nausea some. It even pushed the ache back. He was grateful for the soothing feeling at least. With a few more leaves downed, he looked up at her. Try as he might, he couldn't keep the horror out of his eyes. "How could you do that, Loki? How could you ..." Tony didn't want to say it, didn't want to think it. He wanted nothing to do with it, but that wasn't an option. This was part of Loki's history, part of his Loki. The only option he had was to deal with it.

"Why wouldn't I?" Loki asked.

"Why wouldn't you?! Oh, I don't know? Maybe because you had to, you had ...oh god, I think I'm going to be sick again," Tony was trying hard not to yell. His stomach crawling back up his esophagus into his mouth was making that hard. He closed his eyes and focused on deep, rhythmic breathing. Calm breathing good, hyperventilating bad, he told himself. Tony truly hated how temperamental his developing seidr had made his stomach. He couldn't wait for the day to come when it would settle down. Until then, his stomach would continue to be a traitorous bastard. His seidr flickered out of his core to forge a Regenerative Weave that was released quickly into his belly, then his seidr fed back into his core. It brought a second bloom of warmth to his blood and dulled the continuing nausea. His stomach calming down was going to depend on him calming down. It always did. He could hear Loki moving around the kitchen and then the pungent smell of ginger was under his nose. He looked down to find Loki holding a fresh cut slice out for him. Tony took it, chewed it quickly and swallowed. "Thanks," he said weakly.

.-.-.-.

On this one matter Odin could agree with Stark. The thought that his son would so willingly maim himself was a nauseating one. He too wanted to know why. Loki seemed so unconcerned by the horrific injuries he'd done to himself. That was almost more disturbing than the injuries themselves. That his son thought so little of doing such harm to himself wasn't a thought he could abide. Being able to speak with his son on this would allow him to determine how best to proceed. That it happened to begin with was horrifying enough. One way or another, the attitude couldn't be allowed to continue.

In a quick moment Clint's mind went blank before his eyes went wide and he looked down. What the hell did you do, Lilith?! He didn't want to be disturbed by this but couldn't seem to stop himself. In that instant, he wished that Loki would put on his own face. Finding all of this out from Lilith made it very difficult to simply be angry. It was the anger that he reached for, but all he was finding was confusion and worry.

.-.-.-.

Before she asked Loki waited for Tony to calm down some, "Better now?"

"No, not really, but I started this, so I'll finish it," Tony still felt wound tight, but at least his stomach wasn't threatening revolt anymore. He looked at her and placed a hand on the side of her face. He'd always loved her eyes, not just for their vivid green. He loved the intelligence he saw there, the mischief, the devotion. Tony loved Loki's eyes because they let him see her, the real her. The image of her face with nothing but empty bleeding sockets made him want to vomit again. He closed his eyes and shook his head to get rid of the image. When he opened his eyes again he didn't like the chiding look on her face.

"I know it seems a bit gory, but it wasn't that bad," Loki tried to soothe her husband. This reaction was why she'd never told him. He always had such a visceral reaction to any injury she sustained. In truth, she worried more about him whenever she broke a bone than she did about herself.

"Wasn't that bad? Explain that to me," Tony hated it when she tried to rationalize horrible things or horrible people. 'Just let them be horrible' was his line of thinking. It wasn't a point of view Loki ever shared with him. There was always a reason. It was his opinion that she used many of those reasons to excuse people of the responsibility they had for what they did. His understanding of why a person did something only went so far. He didn't want to understand horrible people. They were just horrible.

"Tony, why would I have kept my eyes? By that point I was already completely blind. I had been for centuries. Taking that into account, how much of a sacrifice was I actually making?" Loki asked. She tried not to chide him about it. That would only upset him more.