- Chapter 51 -

"Anthony, it isn't possible for those with seidr to regrow lost limbs. Their seidr core will always interfere. Even if it didn't their white seidr will never flow through the new limb properly. It will rot away. Loki knows this," Frey said. It worried him that Loki sunk so much seidr into whatever this thing was. It was dangerous for any mage to separate so much of their seidr from their body.

"Loki can do it," Tony said confidently. "I won't say I completely understand how it works. I even listened to her explain it as she set this up. It's a type of magic she hasn't taught me much about yet."

"Explain what you can to me," Frey said. This was too intriguing to let go. As the ruler of a kingdom of magic users the prospect of acquiring a way to replace their lost limbs had to be investigated. Answers might be more forthcoming from Anthony than Loki. He needed to know what she was up to.

Reentering the command on the control panel resecured the cube. It slid back into the wall which resealed itself. The small rails folded back into the floor leaving smooth concrete behind. "I thought you had to go?" Tony asked. Taking his hand away from the control panel, he said, "J," then grimaced, "Jarvis, close it up please." A second later the smaller wall section slid back out to cover over the number pad. The lock silently engaged.

Unease edged Frey's thoughts. He couldn't feel her seidr anymore. Not only was the nature of her magical endeavor unknown to him, but the manner in which she'd hidden it was also unknown. It looked like she'd instructed Anthony in what to do and how to do it. A Midgardian couldn't have done it alone. Where she learned to create a barrier that could so perfectly conceal her seidr and what she was having his nephew-by-law do with it now also had to be ascertained. A barrier like that could be misused in dangerous ways. Anthony won't understand all of its uses and could be injured. What are you up to, my dear? And why are you recklessly endangering him?

"I can stay for this," he said with a smile. Then he waited, hoping to get a few answers from Anthony. Loki rarely allowed Anthony to be alone with him. She always said it was to calm her husband's great anger. What she wouldn't say was that Anthony was a poor liar, and she feared what might come out of his mouth. Frey could always see it. He knew that Loki knew it as well. It was a constant game of push and pull with them. So long as they were both patient then Anthony would remain none the wiser about what they were doing. Although Frey hadn't managed to get his nephew-by-law alone very many times he was undisturbed. The few times he had were always very interesting. There was more than enough time to get to know his nephew-by-law better. He was patient and would wait. Eventually he would get answers for all his questions.

More hesitation slowed Tony down. He looked back to the tank, then back to Frey, then down at the floor, still hesitating. I should tell him no, politely. She might be upset if I tell him anything else, but he already knows. That's not really my fault. She'll be upset though. He considered a little more. It's not like he wasn't going to find out soon anyway. He made his decision then. As long as I keep my secrets intact, I guess I can risk it. The heavy weight of keeping his secrets continued to press down on him. Tony couldn't let them go though, not when they were price he paid to keep his wife. There was no price too high to pay, no amount of work that would be too much for him. It was all for her, and she was his alone.

"Anthony?" Frey asked lightly. Stop debating, she's sleeping at the moment and can't pull you away. Answer my question. He could see the thoughts passing over Anthony's face. Loki would be upset with whatever he was considering saying. That made the information much more valuable. The nervous little smile on his nephew-by-law's face pleased him. Loki didn't want Anthony to say anything, but he was choosing to speak anyway. That pleased Frey.

Remember to smile, the undying reminder flowed out of the back of his mind. Tony shrugged, "She didn't want to scare you." He put a hand on his chest and said with a smile, "I thought that was a load of bull crap, but that's what she said. I guess it'll be ok," he nodded towards the tank, "since you've already seen that."

A polite smile crossed Frey's face. Loki being blind didn't scare him; it angered him. Her sinking so much seidr into a mysterious undertaking didn't scare it; it worried him. Her giving things to her husband that might end up injuring an uninformed Midgardian didn't scare him; it upset him. Loki not telling him threw agitation into the mix. It hurt to still be unworthy of her trust.

You're pissed off at her. You don't get to throw me across the room again, …even if it was a little fun. Maybe just one more time, but I get to laugh if we're going to play. "Loki called it a kibisis. She said that it would hold the seidr in place. Under the seidr is something called a," Tony stopped for a moment trying to remember the name. "A reginnaglar?" I should've asked her for the spell. I will when she's all better.

"A small golden focus," Frey provided for him. He'd noticed both of those. A powerful container with a singular focal point was the beginning of many spells. However, this wasn't a spell he knew. The kibisis and reginnaglar were the only things he recognized.

Snapping his fingers Tony said, "Just the one! She placed a drop of seidr on that and the whole thing just pulsed and then began to fill up like she was pouring water into a bowl. Once it was filled she screamed at it and it began working."

"Screamed at it?" Frey wasn't sure about what Anthony meant by that. Harmonic magic is used to destroy, not create. He knew Harmonic Magics. He was a Master in them. They were a part of his studies into becoming a Battle Mage. Masters in that discipline were able to use the final spell, Shattering Whisper, to explode star-felled steel with their voice alone. Frey smiled to himself. One of the most effective tactics he had was teleporting into the middle of a battalion of armored soldiers and whispering, "Go away," at them. A quarter of them were explosively vaporized. The rest regretted surviving. That spell helped him win the war.

A pleasant smile stayed on his face while Tony motioned as he spoke, trying to describe the process, "Loki created a pentagonal runeword cage out of blue seidr. When it was complete she drew a transmutation circle on the front of the cage and then inhaled all the runewords. Then she yelled at the reginnaglar through the transmutation circle and the whole thing activated. It's been working ever since."

Transmuted Harmonics. Ah, so she wasn't creating or destroying with it. That sounds like she was using it to ignite the spell. What spell though? Blue seidr? "Were her eyes blackened as she inhaled the runes?" Frey didn't at all think that Anthony understood what he'd seen. What he was describing wasn't something he wanted to think about Loki doing. Associating with those people was dangerous, and Anthony wouldn't know better. Using a grim talisman seemed out of character for Loki.

Turning, Tony walked back to the rose tank. He looked in on Loki then said, "Yeah, they were."

"Who else assisted her?" Frey asked. He didn't want the fae anywhere near Loki, or his grandchildren. The fae of any realm were notoriously possessive and volatile. It was difficult to tell what they would suddenly consider to be theirs. A shiny object, an old weapon, or a small child. Anything could instantly become theirs causing them to battle to the death to take it home with them. Even a previously foreign place could suddenly become their new home. None of them had a loving relationship with sanity. Frey wouldn't have thought that Loki would take that chance by inviting one of them into her home.

"No one. You know we don't allow anyone but family in the house," Tony said. Family and only family. Not even all of his family, just what he was comfortable in sharing.

"Of course. That's wise," Frey continued to smile politely. When he didn't ask another question right away Tony turned to look back at Loki. He hated to think of what grim talisman Loki might have used. "What other things did Loki use to create this?" What fae body part did you make the grim talisman from, my dear? What did you bargain to get it? And how did you fool Anthony into letting you bargain with a fae in the house?

"Nothing. It was just the kibisis, which was some words on the pedestal, the reginnaglar looked like a golden golf tee, the transmutation circle, the runeword cage and the drop of living seidr. There wasn't anything else," Tony said. He was still looking at Loki.

"Are you sure Loki didn't use a grim talisman?" Frey asked incredulously.

The reminder of that revolting topic caused Tony to wrinkle nose in distaste. Loki only made it halfway through describing the process of using someone else's flesh to use their seidr when he decided that he didn't want to know the rest of it. He was glad that she shared his antipathy though not the reason for it. "No. Loki and I both agree those things are disgusting. She wouldn't use one," he answered. He put a calm smile back on his face.

"Loki wielded blue seidr?" Frey felt as though he were on the edge of something monumental. Loki used fae magics without a grim talisman. Am I right? Have I been right all these years? Despite knowing that she was keeping a secret, he still didn't know the truth of that secret. This was something Loki had succeeded in keeping from him. There were very few other things that she'd managed a similar success with. He understood that they were important to Loki. However, he also understood that the secrets Loki kept tended to be important to a great many people.

The stubble he hadn't bothered that shave that morning was starting to itch. Tony turned to Frey and scratched at his goatee. "Yeah. I told her that purple seidr seemed like it would be more efficient to use. Higher ignition potential and all. She told me that purple seidr flows against your own seidr unless you naturally have purple, while blue flows with it. I asked about using yellow then. It still seemed more efficient. Apparently yellow infuses instead of igniting, so that was right out." Tony sighed, "I still don't understand how she twisted the runes like that, it just happened so fast." He snapped his fingers, "There and gone, you know?" Tony turned back to watching Loki.

The unguarded words left Frey rooted to the spot. If it hadn't been for Anthony's complete lack of guile he would've laughed at his nephew-by-law. In all his long years, he'd never heard of such a thing happening. It was strictly impossible. There was no mage who could wield a color of seidr that they weren't born with unless they used a grim talisman. He walked over to stand next to Tony. He could see Loki sleeping inside the tank, as she always did. "I thought she could only wield the two types of seidr. Anthony, how many colors of seidr have you seen Loki using?" Frey asked, careful to keep his voice pleasant and neutral.

"All of them," a rueful chuckle came with that. Loki bringing a rainbow tumult to bear was terrifying and beautiful. The event still brought tears to Tony his eyes. He straightened up as something occurred to him, "No, all of them but orange. That's mine."

.-.-.-.

I'm not wrong. Odin glared sharply at the screen. Orange seidr. Only the beast wields that. He counseled himself to patience. He hadn't yet seen the runework yet. Does it matter if I've seen it? Frey seems confident in this. Confident enough to go to war over it. Odin felt his pulse speed up a little at the thought. He knew what it meant. Asgard has made an enemy it cannot best.

Her brother was keeping more from her than she knew. Frigga frowned as she wondered what else. What do you mean two types of seidr? That thorn was still sharp and digging into her side. Added to that was Stark's admission that orange seidr was what he was using. She still wanted to see his runework. A definitive answer was what she needed before she would truly believe. Even as she settled that in her mind she already knew that it made very little difference. With or without seeing it, there was only one being who used orange seidr. It was a beast that not even Asgard could stand against. Frey dealt with him though, we still might be able to pry Loki away from the beast, she reminded herself.

.-.-.-.

Standing silently, Frey pondered again what he'd pondered many times before. He waited over the long years for a sign of what Loki was, and she displayed so few. It was exciting to think of an individual like that existing. Intellectually, the idea of many conflicting things coming together harmoniously in a single individual was an extremely exciting idea. Now that he was coming to the reality of it, he found himself a little nervous at the prospect of it a person like that walking about. So much power in one place. Is any single being meant to have that? "All but orange, my goodness. How she's grown since I gave her lessons."

"Not really, I mean, probably. Yeah." Fuck, I shouldn't have said that! Distraction! "You and her mentor gave her great lessons. Really terrific," Tony said then bit his own tongue on purpose. Fuck! I shouldn't have said that either! God dammit, not worth the risk! Not worth it! Why do I keep trying to chat?! Loki would be very upset with him if he gave away Amma or either Afi. He was still trying to quietly convince her to introduce him to them. Exposing them was a fast way for her to keep telling him no.

"Ah, to what mage do I owe my thanks for providing such excellent instruction to my beloved niece?" Frey asked lightly. He didn't mean to give that away, tell me more Anthony. He was pleased to hear Anthony's seidr whisper, She's old, she's powerful, in Asgard.

Loki made me promise not to talk about Amma or either Afi. Tony ducked his head a bit, "I can't really say, I don't know them." I'm sorry Frey, but I want to meet them sooner not later.

Anthony was clearly lying at Loki's behest. Frey felt slightly guilty for deciding to try such a low trick on Anthony, but he needed to know. Unfortunately, his nephew-by-law so rarely responded to subtle manipulation. He was quite intelligent, ..for a Midgardian. It gave Frey an odd dilemma that he'd never come across before. It couldn't be said that his nephew-by-law was unintelligent, just not intelligent enough to be manipulated. So, Frey spoke carefully in hopes of maybe getting his nephew-by-law to respond. "Oh? I wasn't even aware that Odin had presented her with tutors for her magical studies. The last I knew of he was still punishing her for studying it."

Yeah, not falling for that bull. Fuck Odin. I have a project with his name on it. Yes, I know you want to know. That doesn't mean I can tell you. I need to talk to Rhodey about this. Tony looked down and considered his next words more carefully.

A violent outburst of anger at Odin's name was expected but not delivered, and the subsequent spilling of secrets in that anger weren't forthcoming. There was only an increase in the perpetual burn spreading from Anthony's seidr. His nephew-by-law's seidr whispers were a physical thing unlike anyone else's. Then again, Anthony was unlike anyone else.

.-.-.-.

A hard smirk crossed Natasha's face. It was a dirty little trick that wasn't going to succeed. Stark was frustrating. She wondered why King Frey didn't press harder. He clearly could have. It looked like both patience and respect. It was interesting to know they had that kind of relationship despite King Frey throwing him around. That must be an isolated incident, so Stark was willing to forgive, she thought.

.-.-.-.

Anthony was silent and vaguely guilty looking Frey placed a hand on his shoulder, "Anthony, are you well?"

The mild brown of Tony's eyes darkened slightly before he nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine, you know how it is. I always worry." A dark voice crept from the back of his mind to whisper at him, Odin won't get the chance to worry about us. It'll happen too fast. "Loki can tell you about the spell when we come to visit," Tony said calmly.He wondered suddenly if he could increase the efficiency of the reactors in the generator by incorporating the new runic stippling that he was developing into the reactor cores. Increasing their efficiency might mean increasing the productivity of his nimp factories. He was always trying to improve both the generator and the nimp. They were both essential to keeping Loki healthy.

"Yes, I should like to see her whole and well again. When should I expect you?" Frey looked at Loki again. Anthony's seidr was a useful burn against him since it was still hissing out his thoughts, Damn Odin, sundown on Asgard, hate secrets. It stopped hissing out coherent thoughts as a design for a machine filled in for the words momentarily. It was a machine he'd seen in Anthony's seidr many times. It was an odd insectoid thing. He'd never seen the machine itself. It was bizarre to get flashes of images in his mind, instead of unguarded thoughts. It often irritated Frey that Anthony's thoughts were so undisciplined. You know and will not speak. I don't have much more time to pry it from you. My Council of Lords doesn't know where I went to and they'll be sending the Royal Guard out soon. Dammit, he hadn't thought he'd need any constructs that day to handle his business. It was supposed to be a quiet day, so he hadn't created any. It was an irritating oversight now. It's probably best to hear it from Loki anyway. She's well enough. Anthony has the dwarven mage and the portal stone if anything else happens. I can wait.

For a moment Tony thought about that. "Probably around the middle of next week. You two can talk details then."

"Excellent. Before I go, are my grandchildren about?" Frey asked. He never missed an opportunity to see them. They were precious to him.

The smile Tony gave Frey was apologetic. "No, Jay took them to the beach about an hour and a half ago." Taking the children to Vanaheim was one of the reasons he liked going. It made him happy to see his children playing with their grandfather. Thankfully, it was something he never had.

"That's a shame. I'll have to wait then." Frey clapped Anthony on the shoulder, "Be well, Anthony. I will see you soon. Continue to take good care of Loki." With a small nod, Frey turned, unfurled his seidr and created a portal back to Vanaheim, to his office. With one last look at the rose tank, he stepped through the portal. It closed after him.

A minute later Rhodey came through the door quietly, looking around discreetly.

.-.-.-.

It was only in watching it again that Frey realized he'd let his shock at Loki's blindness distract him from asking Anthony what he meant by 'living seidr'. That was a worrisome phrase. There wasn't much time to ponder it when something else shocking happened. Rhodes came through the door without hesitation. Anthony made it clear during his second visit to their house that only a few people went into the medical lab. The Royal Guardsman who came into the room with their Lord and were nearly set ablaze made that clear to him. In the beginning of their relationship, it was very plain to him that he was allowed in the medical lab only because he could heal Loki and for no other reason.

.-.-.-.

"Did he leave already?" the older man asked as he went to the tank.

"Frey had to get back. He's always busy." It was a wonder to Anthony that Frey had any free time, and no wonder that Loki's uncle used constructs as heavily as he did.

The King was gone but not all had returned to the way it was. His younger brother's shirt was skewed and wrinkled around the side and back. It was immediately suspicious to Rhodey. Before he could handle that he needed to handle something else for his younger brother. "How's Loki?"

"She's sleeping while the nimp is working," Anthony put a hand beside the window.

A small frown chased across Rhodey's lips. He knew his younger brother would use that filthy solution. A correction was needed so he unfolded his seidr from his core and let it shoot down his left arm to marshal in his hand. Glowing garnet surrounded his hand with the increase in seidr. When he had enough he rested his hand on the seam where the top of the tank met the bottom.

"Rhodey .." Anthony didn't get much farther. One calm finger rested over his lips while he went to move his older brother's hand away from the tank and failed. The soul song of stillness filled the room, easing his worry.

Taking his hand away from his young brother's mouth, Rhodey looked over to him and smiled patiently as he tuned his soul song to this specific younger brother. "I'm just going to check on her to make sure that everything is moving in the right direction." Anthony eased down and waited so he turned his attention to his sister-in-law. Sliding through the tight seam his seidr almost instantly came to Loki. A Healing Spell mounted and released into her. Through it Rhodey could see the injuries that were nearly healed. The work was graceful and skilled. Shining silver solution sloshed through her veins which drew his displeasure. Since there was no need for it he contained the nimp, burned it out, cleaned her blood and left a powerful Regenerative Weave in its place. Then he turned his attention towards his unborn niece or nephew for another exam. Once he was certain that the baby was safe Rhodey broke down his spell, withdrew his seidr and stowed it back into his core.

"Did you find anything?" Anthony hated waiting for Rhodey to tell him. He wanted to be able to do this himself.

"Her uncle's work is excellent. The injuries are healed without scarring, the baby is safe and developing well, and she's sleeping comfortably." Rhodey directed a hard look at his younger brother, "I removed the nimp from her blood and replaced it with a Regenerative Weave."

"Rhodey!" While the thought of not having the nimp to ensure his wife's health was anxious for Anthony he did understand that if his brother said she was fine, then she was just that.

"No! You shouldn't be using that unless it's necessary. She didn't need it, so I removed it," Rhodey pointed at Anthony. "The weave will stabilize and provide comfort for Loki while she sleeps."

Another minute passed with anxiety working through Anthony's thoughts before his absolute trust in Rhodey overwhelmed it. His worries over the events of the day weren't going to change that trust.

With Loki taken care of Rhodey's attention moved back to his younger brother. "So, what happened?"

Anthony's gaze snapped back to his older brother. "What?"

"Your shirt is crooked. What happened?" Rhodey pointed to the skewed rumpled fabric.

Running a hand through his hair, he grinned, amused. "Oh that. Frey tossed me."

Instantly the older man frowned. Disappointment and frustration crept into his eyes. "20 minutes. I was gone for less than 20 minutes and you started a fight? With your wife's uncle?!"

"No, I didn't," Anthony replied quickly, eager to avoid a lecture.

"You two just got into it for fun and cookies?" disappointment edged his voice at his younger brother's actions.

"There were no cookies," he replied quickly. Anthony pursed his lips, quickly realizing what he said and the need for fixing it. "And I didn't start a fight."

The arch in Rhodey's eyebrow was pronounced. Before he decided what to do he needed a more accurate picture of what had already happened. "Jarvis, can you tell me what you saw, please?"

"His Majesty, Lord Frey, was visibly distressed at discovering Madam's blindness. He lifted Sir by his shirt to question him on how the injury occurred. My analysis concludes that Sir's response led His Majesty to believe that Sir had allowed Madam to be attacked by operatives from Asgard. This was when His Majesty threw Sir to the other side of the room. Following that, Sir's explanation deescalated the situation. This was able to be resolved peacefully," Jarvis replied quietly before playing the audio file of Lord Frey's apology.

"I didn't start a fight," Anthony repeated. A vaguely victorious look crossed his face. It wasn't often that he was able to avoid a lecture.

With his hands on his hips the older man said, "Your mouth still gets you into too much trouble." Rhodey put a hand on his brother's shoulder. "Did he hit you? Are you ok?" I should have gone with him.

"No, he didn't. I'm fine. He was just a little loud," Anthony smiled up at his older brother.

A serious expression came over Rhodey's face. He gently squeezed his younger brother's shoulder. "Did you want to hit him for doing that?"

"No. Absolutely not." It would have been something to be proud of if Frey hadn't already started down the path towards becoming family. Anthony always used Rhodey's definition of family because the definition that Starks were raised with wasn't acceptable to anyone but those same Starks. Frey was one of the few people he wasn't directly tied to who was family.

"Good. We'll talk about what happened to make sure it stays that way," he squeezed his younger brother's shoulder one last time before letting him go. "After that I'm going to have a discussion with Loki about today."

Looking quickly to his brother, he said, "You don't need to do that! It was an accident." Oh fuck, babe, did you do that?

"This wasn't an accident." Nor was it an issue that he was willing to accept excuses on. Pointing to the tank Rhodey said, "Loki was the one who put that statue on the table so she's the one I'm going to have a discussion with about how unacceptable her decision was." Opposition still lingered on his younger brother's face, "You saw what that glass did to her. Can you imagine what it would do to one of the kids, like the one she's pregnant with? That isn't something I want to consider."

"I understand that, but she's going to be upset. I don't want to upset her if I don't have to. Besides, no one else was injured so there's no need." Anthony began to fret again for a new reason. Please don't do this to me. She'll want me in the middle of it.

"Yes, there is. She injured herself and endangered the baby needlessly at the same time. When she put something dangerous near where my nieces and nephews play this decision went beyond her. I cleaned a few more shards off of their toys! I'm not going to accept an 'Oops' on this one, Anthony." Rhodey could see that something about this was bothering his younger brother. It wasn't him speaking with Loki about this though. There was something else; something he was still working on.

The safety of his children was always one of the most important things to him. Having it endangered by their mother was frustrating since he couldn't bring himself to be angry with her. Anthony was certain that she hadn't done it maliciously. She also valued the safety and wellbeing of their children. There were very few valid arguments for why Rhodey shouldn't discuss this with Loki to make sure something like this didn't happen again. All of them were time sensitive. This was a poor decision that he could've made when he was much younger. Rhodey helped to straighten out those decisions. Him doing the same with this decision would make his children safer. Unfortunately for Anthony, he knew that once that discussion began his wife was going to try to pull him into it. Loki had already tried to use him as a shield against his older brother. Words didn't work since she wanted a bulwark that he couldn't be. Being stuck between his beautiful wife and his uplifting older brother as one was chastising the other wasn't where he wanted to be. A grimace spread across his face as his gaze fell. The floor was perfectly level and suddenly interesting in its hard grey blandness.

"You know that someone needs to discuss this with Loki; go over what happened before and after; go through her decision making process; find where she went wrong; impress upon her why it was wrong and make corrections to keep this from happening again. You also know you're not going to, so what problem are you having with this?" he asked his younger brother calmly, giving him a chance to try to express what he was so hesitant to. The nonresponse of his brother staring at the floor as though it held all the answers to his life confirmed for Rhodey that instead of risking his wife's ire to create safety Anthony wanted to avoid this entire thing. The discomforted expression made it obvious. "I understand." A relieved little sigh came from his brother. It wasn't that Rhodey wanted a confrontation between his younger brother and his sister-in-law. What he wanted was for them to be able to discuss bad decisions when they happened. Anthony wasn't there yet.

With his hands on his hips Rhodey considered for a minute. I need to discuss hers and the kids' safety with Loki and I need to get him settled too. The thought gave him an idea. "Ok, here's what we'll do. I'll wait until Loki is well enough to discuss this. When she is then you can take the kids out for ice cream. Your phone can be turned off 'accidentally'. While you're out I'll have a chat with her about today. How does that sound?"

The smile on Anthony's face as he looked up to his older brother was bright and relieved. "Sounds great!" He turned back to look at Loki through the window again. She was well taken care of.

A very small grateful smile that was truly only one side of his lips quirking up came across Rhodey's face. This was one of the easiest messes to clean up.

.-.-.-.

What he was seeing continued surprising him as Rhodes neared the rose tank without provoking Anthony. He physically shushed Anthony! He's touching the tank! Frey waited for Anthony to snap, for him to burn this man for daring to approach Loki when she was injured. It didn't happen. His nephew-by-law was waiting patiently for Rhodes to finish. Petty offense quickly passed through his mind and was just as quickly dismissed. The dwarven mage was doing what he wasn't allowed to, that was true. It was done for Loki's wellbeing which eased Frey's emotions. How is he doing this?! Where are the limits of what he's allowed to do? As he watched them again he marveled at what Rhodes was doing. While what Rhodes was getting away with was shocking, it was equally pleasing to Frey. Not only had this brother-in-arms come to verify that Loki and the babe were healthy, he even adjusted her care. Nervous irritation tried to steal into his thoughts. The fact that he'd seen the work of the dwarven mage reassured him that he was competent in healing. Unlike Frey, this brother-in-arms seemed to know enough about the nimp medicine to know if Loki needed it or not. He wondered how powerful nimp was if Rhodes felt that she didn't need it. A new worry cropped up. Nimp was used every time Loki went into the rose tank. Was Anthony overusing it? He didn't know but needed to discuss this with his nephew-by-law.

Despite the worry a new thought brought a smirk to his face. As he was going to speak with Anthony, so Rhodes was going to have a discussion this with Loki. The smirk on his face widened. Just a few days after this Frey watched Anthony go to take the children out for treats. His brother-in-arms had them ready to go. Frey wished he could have seen what happened while his nephew-by-law was out. What was already a positive opinion of Rhodes sweetened when he thought about the Dvergar giving his grandchildren something nice as cover for giving his beloved niece a well-earned and honorable scolding. Perhaps he could teach me how to calm Anthony as he does. There might be much we could learn from one another.

Another tart smile spread on Frigga's lips. Loki's health was seen to thoroughly. That wasn't the only thing that caused her smile though. Frey accosted Stark without retaliation. The lack of response was encouraging. The statement from Stark that he wouldn't retaliate was even more encouraging. If her brother had managed to pacify a beast somehow then she might only have to get him to step aside before she could see Loki and her grandchildren. If this beast was too weak to retaliate then Frigga was curious why Frey hadn't sent him away already. There had to be a reason. She had to discover it.

If Stark is a beast, then Rhodes is able to speak and act very freely around him. Or he has no fear of the flames and is a fool. He doesn't seem like a fool and is able to do this. Why would a beast tolerate that? Odin was grateful that the dwarven mage was an honorable enough man to risk the flames of unyielding rage on Loki's behalf. The old warrior didn't know very much about this mage, just what he'd seen. However, what he'd seen was enough to make him think that having this man around Loki when his son's health was uncertain was a wise decision. That honorable aid came with similarly honorable reproving also seemed right. Normally he would be offended at the thought of someone other than his wife, himself or sometimes his brother-by-law taking either of his sons to task for anything they'd done. This was the first time that changed. Loki did need to be spoken with about how this foolhardy action was unacceptable. Rhodes seemed particularly honorable to him. The outline of his discussion was one Odin agreed with. Since he didn't know when he would be able to speak with his son on this event, and wasn't sure if Frey had or would, the thought that someone honorable had spoken with Loki on this was fine by him.

He's not wrong. Colonel Rhodes had a wide breadth of experience with Tony Stark; far more than the old spy did. Despite the deficit of experience, Director Fury still understood the fundamental truths of Tony Stark:

His machines were always distinctly interesting.

His weapons were always efficiently lethal.

His mouth was always shockingly dangerous.