Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel, Elder Scrolls, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Final Fantasy, Harry Potter, or anything else that finds its way into these pages. No disrespect intended, only homage, no profit made, only entertainment intended. If you're a fan, read it, if you don't like it, stop reading. Simple as pie.

Rating: M for Mature.

Spoilers: Few but possible throughout the comics and the entire MCU, although I don't know yet whether the MCU will even come into play here. Currently we are long, long before any of that takes place.

A/N: This chapter was very hard to write. A child not wanting to eat? Madone! You breaka you mama's heart! But now its down and I can move on. On a more serious note, Lady Eir's very clinical assessment of pedophilia and homosexuality has absolutely nothing to do with my own beliefs. I just thought a clinical breakdown from a person who looks at things very dispassionately might actually be somewhat helpful for Frigga in the moment, even if it disgusts her at the same time.

Chapter Four: Fire and Rain

Whoa, I've seen fire and I've seen rain,

I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end.

I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend,

But I always thought that I'd see you again.

- "Fire and Rain," by James Taylor

"Loki, my poor sweet child, are you all right?"

Loki opened his eyes at the voice and the gentle touch of a hand on his hair. "M-Mama?"

"Yes, my boy. I'm here," Frigga said, her blue eyes sparkling with tears.

Loki began to shake and weep again. "Tell Father I'm sorry," he said. "Please, Mama. Tell him I won't disobey again."

"What? Whatever do you mean? Loki, you don't think… you can't think that your father sent that wretched man to hurt you?"

In response, Loki closed his eyes tight and wept. Frigga put a fist to her mouth and continued stroking his hair. Lady Eir, the ever-stoic and professional Royal Healer, came in carrying a tray overflowing with food.

"His Highness may not be feeling like it, but he should eat. He missed lunch, and he will not be fit to attend second luncheon," she said.

"Put it on the table, Lady Eir," Frigga said, after a deep, steadying breath. "I will see that he eats when he calms down a bit."

"The healer set the tray aside and stood up straight with her hands folded before her. She looked at her young charge, and a flicker of something like sympathy crossed her perpetually emotionless features.

"Does Your Majesty wish to hear an assessment of His Highness's condition?" she said.

"Oh. Yes, Eir, please. Just… let me stand up. Let's… keep this between the two of us."

"Of course, Your Majesty."

"The two women left the room. "He has internal injuries," Eir said, diving right into the worst of it. "The bastard ripped him open inside, but fortunately it was nothing I could not fix easily enough. Lucky His Majesty got to him before more damage was done, or it might have been another story. He'll heal, physically, in short order. The emotional wounds will last longer, I fear, but he is young. The young are resilient, and forgetful."

"Personally I think he will be lucky to ever forget this. How can anyone do such a thing to a child?" Frigga said.

"No one has figured that out. Something triggers in the brain when they see children, we know that, but we have no idea why. It doesn't really seem to be hereditary, and it definitely doesn't have to come from having been molested as a child. Some molested children do go on to abuse children themselves, but hardly the majority. It just seems to be a case of the brain being wired differently, and we have no idea why it happens."

"Is this… common?" Frigga said.

"Unfortunately, more common than anyone would like to admit. It's still a very slender percentage of the population, but omniverse-wide they're quite prolific. Every species seems to carry this… divergence from the standard. If it were not that it was so harmful to the children, it would no doubt be seen as natural as homosexuality."

"It's natural? What biological drive could make one attracted to the preadolescent?" Frigga said.

"I did not say that it is natural, I said it would be seen as natural if it were not harmful. As it is without biological benefit to be sexually attracted to preadolescent children, it is certainly a deviation from the natural biological imperative, just as is homosexuality. But homosexuality is of no harm to anybody, ordinarily, so the fact that a significant percentage of the universe's population trend that way is something with which most civilized people are fine. But civilized society – and most uncivilized society, to be perfectly frank – is geared toward protecting the next generation above all else, so a dim view is taken toward anyone or anything that would hurt children. They are not evil people, they are acting on a biological imperative they feel inside themselves that is simply… different… but that doesn't mean they don't need to be stopped from acting on it."

"You make it sound so…clinical," Frigga said.

"I make everything sound very clinical," Eir said, matter-of-factly. "When you come down to the root of things, most things are clinical in nature."

"I am going to see if Loki is ready to eat now," Frigga said, and went back into the room. She picked the tray up from the table and took it to his bed and sat down in the chair beside it.

"Loki, my dear, are you hungry? You missed lunch, you must be."

"No, Mama, I'm not," Loki said, in a watery voice. "I don't want to eat."

"You're going to miss second luncheon, and it's a long time to dinner. A growing boy shouldn't miss too many meals, and it will help with your healing. Won't you please just try and eat a bit? Please?"

Loki hesitated, then nodded. "All right, Mama, I'll try."

She put the tray across his lap and handed him the fork. He took it and looked doubtfully at the plate full of beef and chicken-like offerings slathered in rich gravies, greens dripping in butter, and other things he would ordinarily be delighted to eat. His stomach was unsettled, and he didn't think any of it would sit well right now, but for his mother's sake he forked up something that resembled a pea pod and bit it gingerly.

"It's good, isn't it?" Frigga said. "Good food helps."

He dropped his fork and his half-eaten pea pod. "I'm sorry, Mama, it just doesn't taste right, and my stomachs are all churning. Do I really have to eat?"

"Try the milk, it might help settle you," Frigga said. Loki reached for the goblet of milk on his tray and took a sip. He grimaced and put it down.

"It does help a bit," he said. "I'll drink a little more once the first sip settles."

"That's good. Just try and get a little something down," Frigga said, and stroked his jet-black hair. "Believe me, you might feel poorly now, but you'll only feel worse if you go without food for too long."

"I suppose." He swallowed, as if to gird his courage, and took another sip of milk, then picked up his fork again and ate the rest of his pea. He ran the tines of his fork through what looked like mashed potatoes and gravy, mixing them together, and forked up a small amount. Then he picked up the knife and cut a small piece of the not-chicken. He downed it courageously, though his stomachs protested. He knew they were empty and wanted food. He didn't really understand why he felt sick, but he had an idea.

"Mama," he said, not putting down the flatware, but not picking up any more food for the moment, "am I feeling sick to my stomachs because my head is making me sick?"

"She looked at him in amazement. "What do you mean?" she said.

"I mean… I hurt, and I feel bad because of what happened, and I'm all confused and sad and scared, and it's making me feel sick when there's really no reason to be."

"Well, there is reason to be, you were hurt, really very badly… but yes, your bad feelings are probably exacerbating this feeling of illness, my boy. It happens."

He nodded, and manfully returned to his plate, cutting off a rather larger portion of beefish substance and shoving it into his mouth than necessary. He chewed for a long time, then swallowed and kept forking up food as though on a mission. He tried very hard, but finally threw down his flatware after having eaten all of his vegetables and most of his meat.

"I'm sorry, Mama, I don't think I can eat any more," he said, his eyes closed.

"That's quite all right, my boy, you did very well indeed," Frigga said. "I'm proud of you."

"You shouldn't be," Loki said. His breath began to hitch. "I was bad, Mother. I knew something was wrong, but I went with the servant anyway, because I wanted to see the secret room. But it was just a nasty storage closet."

"No no, it's not your fault at all, Loki – that bad man tricked you. If you need to blame someone, blame him, or your father, or me. We failed to protect you."

"I don't blame you, Mama," Loki said. "I'm gonna try and sleep now. How long do I have to stay here?"

"Not long. You go ahead and take your nap, darling. I bet you'll be back on your feet before dinner."

"She took the tray away and tucked him into the bed. She smoothed his hair and resisted the urge to kiss his cheek. "Rest easy, my dear. This too, shall pass."