The Allfather had not been lying when he promised to honor Fandral for saving Loki's life. Fandral was summoned to a meeting with the Allfather himself, and Thor, a week after Loki's trial, while Loki himself was yet laboring on Midgard. The Allfather had decided to name Fandral to the Order of the Wolf, reserved for warriors whose bravery had served to protect the persons of the royal family. He had also decided to grant Fandral civilian honors as well, in the form of an Asgardian godly title, which Fandral and anyone else was free to suggest but would be voted on by the council. Frankly, Fandral would have been happy to forego the latter, as he had been raised Vana, not Aesir. It was rather mortifying trying to think of himself as god of anything, but it would have been foolish in the extreme to refuse. He did at least have the option of private or public ceremony, and he immediately elected for a private one, with no more than thirty attendees.
The ceremony was scheduled for the day Loki was due to return from his month in Midgard. The ceremony was held in one of the rooms near the throne room, a place usually reserved for one of the royal family to hear routine civilian petitions. Besides Fandral, Loki, and the Allfather, in attendance were Thor and Frigga, Fandral's parents and sister visiting from Vanaheim for the occasion, Sif, Volstagg, Hogunn, Generals Tyr and Aldriff, Lady Eir, and every pair of life sponsors living in the city, including Arne and Ulf. Fandral watched those two arrive with great interest, remembering his conversation with Lady Pepper about them. They arrived separately and spoke together quietly near the doorway. They hugged tightly for a moment, before Arne broke away with face flaming and went to sit on the other side of the room next to Lady Eir. Ulf watched him go with an unreadable expression then sat next to Volstagg, who had been his commanding officer once upon a time.
Once all the guests were settled, the Allfather called the occasion to order. "Will Captain Fandral please join us on the stage?" Fandral stood up and crossed the space between them. He bowed respectfully to the Allfather, and then to Thor who stood at Odin's right hand. Odin smiled at him, then raised his eyes to address the audience. "We are gathered to honor the bravery of Captain Fandral Geirson. Captain Fandral has had a distinguished service in the Einherjar for twelve hundred years. He joined as one of our few select foreign applicants to gain acceptance into the cadets and graduated in the top ranks of his cohort. Since his graduation, his service has been exemplary, a credit to his family and his homeworld. He has previously earned numerous distinctions for valor, and he has also proved himself a capable and dutiful officer worthy of the responsibilities of leadership. My son Prince Thor will be the first to report, Captain Fandral has never hesitated to give aid to companions and to risk himself on behalf of others.
"The act of bravery which we celebrate today goes beyond any that have come before. Two months ago, my second son Loki was under threat of magical attack which at the time we barely understood and had no way to defend against. In fact, we completely failed to defend against it. With the final attack, my son would have died, had it not been for Captain Fandral. When Loki's heart was stopped and his mind ceased its functions, Lady Eir had no alternative to save him but for life-sponsorship. When the need was plain, Captain Fandral volunteered at once to take this risk. Strong and capable as Captain Fandral has proven to be, he is no magician. He did not know what this sacrifice could mean for him. There is no training that could have prepared him for this ordeal. What he knew was that there was a life at risk, and so he gave the only means at his disposal to save it, trusting others to use what he offered as he himself could not.
"To trust without understanding is an act of faith, in this case a faith that our esteemed chief healer, and also my wife, knew what they were doing..." Frigga and Eir chuckled at that comment. Odin continued more gravely, "And it is also a profound act of bravery. It is easy to be brave when facing a threat one fights with one's own arm. It is hard to be brave when the fight requires one to relinquish control to another. This kind of bravery is the however one of most important in our Einherjar, for it allows an officer to command their troops and trust in the result."
Odin nodded to Thor, who stepped forwards and opened a box, similar to the one Loki had gifted Fandral with his ear studs, which he was of course wearing today. Odin lifted a medal out of the box. It looked to be made of silver and was wrought in the shape of a wolf's head. "For outstanding bravery and service to the royal family of Asgard, I hereby name you to the Order of the Wolf," Odin announced.
"I humbly accept this honor, my king," Fandral said.
Odin affixed the medal to Fandral's jacket, smiled, and waited briefly for the audience' applause to fade. "Loki Odinson, please join us now." Loki stood up from where he sat in the front row and walked forwards. He flashed a cheeky grin at Fandral before retooling his face to solemnity and turning to face the audience. Odin spoke again, "We are joined today by six others who have made the same sacrifice as Captain Fandral did for my son. Life sponsorship is not like any other trial Aes or Vana will ever face. I called it ordeal before, because that is what it is. It is not a battle to be fought but an ordeal to be endured, at great personal risk and suffering. Thus, ever since the true nature of life sponsorship has been understood, those who volunteer as sponsors have been honored regardless of origin, circumstances, or station, because they have lived the creed the rest of us can merely say with words: that life is sacred, and to save an innocent life is worth any cost. Thus, today we also honor this valiant captain with a godly title, to be spoken for the first time by the person whose life he saved." He nodded to Loki.
Loki smiled broadly. "You did not want for suggestions, I assure you, Captain" he began. "The list the council perused included such excellent possibilities as God of Love, but no one thought you really wanted to compete with Freya, God of the Peerless Face, God of Fashion, the Thank God of Good Taste, God of Indulging the Flesh..." Fandral blushed, and his sister Ragna started snickering loudly. He was not surprised such things had been suggested - he would not put it past Sif to submit multiple such titles as a joke - but he was surprised Loki decided to read them. "Also suggested were God of the Riposte, God of Charging in Blindly with No Thought for Consequences, which was rejected because no one could come up with a satisfactory acronym that rolled off the tongue, and God Who Actually Seems to Like Calisthenics Or Else Abhor Cadets, or Wast-lick-aelack for short." He grinned widely as Sif and Volstagg guffawed, Thor started coughing to cover his laughter, and even Odin's lips twitched. "I am very glad all of these were rejected," Loki continued, "because the title that was actually selected suits you marvelously, and is one I will very much enjoy calling you. Thank you for my life, Fandral, God of Generous Spirit."
Fandral's lips parted. It was not what he expected, not that he knew what he was particularly expecting. It was a very, very good title, something he could actually be proud of. Loki beamed at him, and Fandral smiled back. Odin took his hand and raised it in the air. "All hail Fandral, God of Generous Spirit!"
"Hail!" The audience cheered back. The small crowd broke into wild applause. Odin lowered his arm and released Fandral's hand, inclined his head in his own gesture of respect, and stepped off the stage to join his wife. Thor clapped Fandral on the shoulder, shook his hand, and then joined in the applause as he followed the Allfather.
Since it was a private ceremony, Fandral took the opportunity to hug Loki and kiss the side of his cheek, the side facing away from the audience. "I missed you. Nice speech, dearest," he murmured.
"Well, Odin already said all the nice, formal, boring things, all that was left to me was comic relief. I'll have you know I managed to obtain the complete list of suggestions. Some of them were very good, but some of them were much, much worse."
"Risque or insulting?" Fandral inquired curiously.
"Risque. I never would have repeated them in front of both our parents and siblings. I love picturing the Council reading through them, though."
"You would," Fandral agreed, imagining what might be on the list.
"Come, greet your admirers, oh God of Generous Spirit," Loki said, and gently pushed him towards the crowd.
Fandral grinned, snagged Loki's hand, and dragged him towards his family, who were all still clapping. His mother had definitely been crying, he decided. She swooped over to him, took his face in her hands, and kissed both cheeks. "I'm so proud of you, darling!"
"Not everyone gets to have a god in the family," Ragna agreed as she elbowed their mother out of the way and hugged him. "Congratulations, God of Generous Spirit. Does this mean I get to expect a more expensive nameday present?"
"Alas, no," Fandral said. He tweaked her nose. "It means I'm going to be begging more money off of you for constantly giving mine away."
"Congratulations, son," his father interjected, enfolding him in an embrace that conveniently averted the sibling argument before it could grow and blossom into something actually mean-spirited. He stepped back and looked over at Loki, who had drawn to the side and said nothing as yet. He offered a shallow bow. "An honor to meet you, Prince Loki."
"The honor is mine, Lord Geir," Loki said at once, bowing much deeper. He straightened and smiled. "And you of Fandral's family need never use my title, even if I currently had the use of it. I am indebted to you all for the very existence of your son."
Ragna raised her eyebrows, eyeing Loki shrewdly. She grinned at Fandral and nudged him. "All that talk of bravery. I know why you saved his life. He's exactly your type."
Fandral scowled at her, but Loki grinned, and both of Fandral's parents nodded. His father sighed and rested his hand on his shoulder. "My son, I know you are of amorous disposition, but please do not make it a habit to risk your own life for the sake of love."
His expression was both knowing and accepting, which Fandral very much appreciated. "I make no promises," he said said primly.
His mother rolled her eyes. "We know, it's a lost cause. But we do worry."
"I will try very hard not to die then."
"And I will try very hard to keep him to that promise," Loki said easily.
"Thank you, dear," his mother said, patting Loki's shoulder casually.
"Alright! Party after this!" Ragna exclaimed. "Fandral, can you introduce me to the handsome warrior with the long, dark hair?"
Fandral followed her gaze. "Captain Hogunn?"
"Is that Hogunn? He doesn't look anything like you described! You really sold him short when you told me he was grim and broody..."
"I'll introduce you," Fandral agreed. He met Loki's amused eyes and grinned. He gestured to his parents. "It's a family curse. Legend has it these ones were each dating six other people when they first met."
His father shrugged but did not deny the accusation. His mother actually grinned. "It was one of my boyfriends that introduced us."
Author's note: we're almost done! Two more chapters after this. I don't mean to imply that Fandral's entire family is necessarily polyamorous nor that his parents remain in an open married relationship (since it really doesn't matter for a one-off chapter), but that they come from a culture where queer relationships and polyamory are not particularly uncommon.