"It has been a season," Frigga whispered to herself as she joined the head healer by her son's bedside. Despite everything, he looked the same. "How is Loki today?" She asked the same question every day. It had become a ritual of sorts, the melancholy start to the morning.
"My queen, I noticed something today, now that the paralytic has worn off again. A subtle difference, but all the same..." She lifted up his hand. As usual, it stayed where she left it, but only for a few seconds before drifting listlessly back down.
Frigga's breath caught, and she could feel her heartbeat quickening. "What does it mean?" She whispered.
Eir barked a laugh. "I still don't know. Perhaps it is improvement. I have been flooding his bloodstream with various psychoactive chemicals. Thor has electrocuted him four times at my direction. Perhaps it all has had some kind of effect. Or perhaps his body is failing him and his limbs are too weak to sustain against gravity anymore." She looked away. "I feel blind, Frigga. A blind failure. I am not helping him."
Frigga touched her shoulder gently. "My husband would be the first to tell you that blindness can be overcome with the right tools and in fact lead you to further wisdom. I think we should reassess his status fully, as we did when he first arrived. Unless you have already done so and found no answer?"
Eir smiled humorlessly. "I thought of it, but I must confess I was honestly afraid to know."
"My dear, you were only afraid to learn something not to our liking. But let us have hope. Who knows? You might be helping him after all."
The two women happily discovered that Loki's eyelids would also drift closed when they opened them. He still initiated no movements independently, though. Reassessment with the healing stone was reassuring; his body remained sound. Finally, and with obvious trepidation, Eir replaced the healing stone on his forehead. She was silent for a long time, studying the readings before shaking her head in despair. "There's still nothing." Frigga didn't answer, only leaned forwards to lift Loki's hand up, holding it in hers for a time before letting go and watching it drift. "Wait..." Eir lifted up the other hand, watching the readings intently. "It's still not normal, but it is different from what it was before. There's more activity." She pulled his eyes open, and both women gasped at the sudden, short-lived burst of activity. "He's alive!" Eir laughed, tears forming in her eyes. She hurried around the bed and hugged the queen. "Your son is alive!"
"He's alive!" Thor fairly sang when he met the Warriors Three at the training fields. He swept the young men into a hug that set Volstag's head ringing against Fandral's helmet. "He's alive!" Thor exclaimed again as he let them go and turned around to grab Sif who had walked over from the other end of the training fields, bodily picking her up and twirling her around twice before setting her down. "He's alive!" He continued to jubilate.
"Loki?" Sif asked as she carefully brushed herself off and straightened her tunic. She hated the indignity of being picked up but was willing to suffer it today for Thor's sake.
"Yes!"
"Wow!" Fandral said, eyes wide.
"How do you know?" Volstag asked, still rubbing his head.
"The Lady Eir of course. Her magic shows some improvement at last!"
"So he's not awake, I take it?" Hogun asked.
"No, but it will happen," Thor said determinedly. He gathered all his friends close again, until their heads gently rested against his. He closed his eyes. "Norns be praised," he breathed. He let go of them and sank to his knees, eyes still closed, shoulders hunching. His relief was raw and palpable as his lips moved in silent prayer.
"We are glad, Thor," Sif said after a moment.
Thor looked up at her and smiled. "Thank you, Sif. Thank you all, for your comfort and support. It has been... a difficult time." He shuddered. "You must understand what it's been like: every time Eir summons me to help her, I feel like I am a torturer, profaning the body of my own brother in an utterly futile ritual. But now... now we have seen results at last. Now, I have real purpose again. Norns be praised!"
Loki lives... The thought echoed in the mind of the Allfather all day and all night. He canceled all his regular business for the day and instead knelt in the temple until Frigga finally found him and dragged him to bed. He did not sleep, merely stayed awake, holding his wife and watching the stars though his living eye as he finally allowed his Mind's Eye to imagine, to See, a future for the family with Loki in it again. Loki eating and laughing at a feast, Loki beating him at table-games, Loki casting his famous illusions in some high-hearted prank, Loki counseling his father on current affairs...Loki forgiving him for all the lies and growing into the extraordinary, wise man he had such potential to be.
Loki lives... The thought gave Odin far more energy as he watched the dawn then a full night's rest ever could. He had been weighed down with infinite worry. Now his worries were finite. He did not know how long and winding Loki's road to recovery might be, but at least he was on it.
Loki lives...
Author's note: my apologies for the delay... I got distracted and wrote an entire different Loki fic. Anyhow, short chapter, really just a bridge chapter. More to come, and hopefully more timely the next time.
