I forgot in Part 7 (or was it 8?) to ask if anyone knew where that poem comes from, and who the author is…so if anyone knows, put it in your review.  If you get it right you get……. A great big smile from me!

And now, without further ado, here's:

Loki's Plan Part 9

Loki quickly finished up his wards for Mayura's room and mounted Sleipnir.  As they rode to Niflheim, he told his son all about what had been happening since Odin banished him to Midgard and all the troubles the Alfadder had caused him, and Sleipnir was quite upset.

"Master has been awful to you, Mother!  How can he be so awful!"

"I don't know, Sleipnir, I don't understand it either, but for some reason he seems to be set against me.  He has been for a long time, really."

They sped across the bridge and Loki bowed politely to Modgud as they went past her and she waved.  It wasn't long before they were inside the hall again, and Loki rushed off his son's back to embrace his youngest.

"Hel!  You're alive!  I hardly dared believe it when Sleipnir told me, but now I see it for myself." he said happily.

She hugged him back weakly and smiled.  "Yes, I'm fine Otousama.  You shouldn't have worried about me," she said.

"Shouldn't have worried?"  Loki held her out at arms' length, "But Hel, you're so weak!  And you don't look very well either.  Besides, I'm your father, of course a father would worry about his daughter."

Hel giggled.  "I guess you're right.  But really, Otousama, all I need to do is stay here for a while and I'll be better.  Odin placed a spell on me when he first put me here to connect me with the land.  If I'm away too long it drains me and I have to return here to recharge myself."

Loki growled.  "I knew he had trapped you here somehow, but I had no idea it was as bad as that.  I don't know if I can take the spell off you, but I think there may be a way for me to circumvent it.  You shouldn't have to be lonely here by yourself all the time, Hel."

"That would be nice, Otousama, I would like to spend more time with you and Niisan-tacchi and that kind Mayura girl.  Is she all right Otousama?  I know Sleipnir said Odin had hurt her."

Loki laughed.  "She was hurt, but she's better now.  In fact, that's a little bit of exciting news... the Norns told me that her wyrd will soon turn her into Sigyn, whom she was meant to be from birth."  He grinned.  "How would you like to have her as your step-mother?"

"Otousama!  Really?  But that's wonderful news!  She is such a sweet girl.  Mind you, I suppose it's also worrisome for you, since if Odin finds out..."

"He'll use her as a tool against me." Loki said solemnly.  "Yes, I had thought of that."

"Otousama..."

"Don't let it concern you, Hel, I'll be careful, and I have a few surprises set up or Odin when he comes." Loki said grimly. "I'm not letting him hurt my family any more than he already has.  If wyrd has already been altered through Sigyn being born where she was not expected, surely its threads can be shifted yet further to avoid the tragedies that are supposed to be in store for us."

"I hope that might be true." Hel said with a smile for her father.

Loki stayed and chatted with Hel for a little while, then he headed back.  He didn't want to spend too much time away, in case something might happen while he was gone.  He trusted his sons, but their power was not as strong as his, and definitely not as strong as Odin's. 

He bid his daughter a cheerful farewell, promising to look into some way to circumvent Odin's spell so she could stay with them for a while, then rode back across the bridge to Midgard.  There was little conversation this time, and more speed, and soon he was back at the Enjaku.  It was almost time for Mayura's school to let out, and he decided it would probably be a good idea to collect her from school.  He would go in his kakusei form, he thought, and surprise her.

Ecchan greeted him excitedly when he arrived, and the two of them headed to the school, Ecchan taking her accustomed place on Loki's head.

Heimdall was still a little dazed by Freya's great gift, so it didn't at first occur to him that the man walking toward him with the funny white hat was in fact Loki with that shikigami of his sitting on his head.  It wasn't until the other God stopped dead in his tracks and stared at him that the Watcher realized who he was.

"Heimdall?" Loki asked, confused to see his usual adversary in his true form for the first time since he had been sent down to Midgard.

"Yes, Loki, it's me." Heimdall confirmed smugly.

"How did you..." Loki gestured to the other God's obviously full-grown form.

"Why should I tell you?" Heimdall laughed.  This was great!   It was almost better than his earlier plotting!

"Never mind, I probably don't want to know.  It's been such a good day so far, no need to ruin it yet." Loki muttered.  "Just you stay away from Mayura." he cautioned.

"Don't worry, I have no designs on Sigyn." Heimdall placated Loki.

Loki blinked, then frowned.  "Those damned ears of yours again." he said.

"Indeed.  Ja, Loki." Heimdall said cheerfully and sauntered off.

Loki scowled as he walked the rest of the way to Mayura's school.  Heimdall's sudden change of form was not at all a calming thought, and he really wanted to know how it had come about.  He wasn't likely to find out from Heimdall himself though, that much was obvious.  He would just have to keep his ears open.  The Gods all gossiped like old women, and that hadn't changed since they came down to Midgard.

He waited at the school gates for Mayura to come out, and when she did she didn't see him right away, which was all as he planned it.  He came up silently behind her and put his arms around her, covering her eyes.

"Guess who!" he whispered into her ear.

Mayura giggled and leaned back into his arms.  "Loki!" she said.

"How did you guess?" he laughed and turned her around to kiss her.

She leaned into his embrace and they kissed deeply for a moment before he let her go.

"I have exciting news, but I'll tell you about it when we get home." he told her.

"Exciting news?"  She snuggled next to him.

"Yes, about my little girl." Loki said with a smile.

"You're... smiling about her!" Mayura exclaimed.

"I am." Loki agreed.

They walked home hand in hand, earning more than one jealous glare from women they passed, and when they got there Mayura turned to Loki and kissed him sweetly.

"So?  Tell, tell!" she insisted.

Loki laughed.  "First I want you to meet someone."  He took her through the house to the back yard and whistled.

"Mother, you're home!" Sleipnir neighed excitedly as he trotted up to them.

"Mayura, this is my eldest son, Sleipnir." he gestured at the stallion, "Sleipnir, this is Mayura."

Sleipnir bowed politely to Mayura, who did the same.

"It's because of Sleipnir that I have my good news." Loki explained.

"I was worried about Mother after Master hurt you, so I went to talk to Little Sister.  She told me Mother might have thought she was dead, so I came here to tell Mother she wasn't." Sleipnir told her.

Mayura turned, smiling, to Loki.  "Wasn't I the one who said there was still a chance she didn't die?"

"You were.  I should have listened to you I guess," he admitted

"You should have," she said sternly.  Then she laughed.  "But oh, Loki that's wonderful news!"

Sleipnir whickered with laughter.  "You certainly picked a good mare this time, Mother, strange as that always seems to me," he said.

Loki laughed as well and wrapped his arm around Mayura.  "You're remarkably understanding about your mother's preference for other mares." he teased his son, ruffling his forelock.

Sleipnir whinnied loud and long, tossing his head.  "I've missed you, Mother," he said.

"And I you." Loki smiled sadly.  "I wish you had more freedom from Odin."

"It's alright Mother, Master and I manage together."

"I know.  But with the way he's been lately with anyone or anything related to me I worry for you.  I want you to promise me if he ever ever tries to hurt you, you run here, as fast as those legs of yours will carry you, is that understood?"

"Yes, Mother." Sleipnir bowed his head dutifully.

"Good." Loki said.  Then his expression lightened.  "Now you go find that mare you were telling me about.  I may be your mother, but this 'mare' understands a stallion's needs all too well." he laughed and ruffled Sleipnir's mane affectionately.

"If my Mother insists!" Sleipnir neighed, tossing his head to settle his mane back in place and laughing as he spun, then galloped off into the sky.

Loki grinned at Mayura, who was giving him a quizzical look.

"I know there's a perfectly good reason he calls you 'Mother' but for the life of me I can't remember what it is." she admitted.

"Because I am his mother." Loki laughed, steering her inside, "I took the form of a mare to avert a little crisis by distracting a stallion, and some months later my little colt there was the result."

"Ah.  I think I must have known that." Mayura mused.  "These memories of mine are such a mystery!"

Loki rolled his eyes indulgently.  "It wouldn't surprise me if Odin gave you that bit of knowledge, it doesn't exactly paint me in a very good light.  After all, it means I had sex with a horse!"

"But you had to, right?  I mean if that was the only way to keep the stallion away from where you didn't want him.  And besides, these days guys are supposed to be nurturing too, and it gives you an edge there... You actually know what it's like to childbear and give birth!" Mayura teased him.

Loki mock-growled at her and pulled her into a deep kiss.

"You'll be knowing what that's like soon enough as well, if I have anything to say about it," he said huskily.

She shivered, running a shaky hand through his hair.  "Why did the Norns say we have to wait?" she asked plaintively.

Loki forcibly stopped himself before he dipped her into another scalding kiss and rubbed a hand soothingly over her back instead.  "Because I could hurt you if things happen too soon, love.  I want this as much as you do, but it'll only be another week or so."

"How will you know?" Mayura asked.

"The Norns will tell me." Loki assured her, grinning. "And if they don't, I'll pester them until they do."

Mayura giggled.

"Once they say it's okay, you'll just need one other thing," he told her, leading her to one of the interior rooms she hadn't seen before.  Holding his hand before the door, he whispered a few words under his breath.  The door opened just far enough to admit the two of them, then closed again behind them.

"What is all this?" Mayura asked, looking up at all the "mysterious" items placed on shelves above her reach.

"These are magical items, or items of power.  Not dangerous ones, but like anything else, they could do harm to anyone just stumbling across them without knowing what they are." he explained.  "The one we're looking for is over here." he told her, lifting a box down from one of the shelves and placing it on a table in the center of the room.

He carefully and caressingly ran his fingers down the row of bindrunes inscribed instead of a lock, and they flared briefly with the green flame of his power before the box opened silently.

Mayura peered into the box, full of excited curiosity.  "Oh!  Those are the apples that friend of yours sent...  But I can read the label now!  It says they're for... me?"  She looked up at Loki, confused.  "Why would your friend send you something for me?" she asked.

"Because my 'friend' is Idun, and these are her golden apples which grant the Aesir and Vanir their continued youth.  She sent them to me for you because she could see somehow that we were meant to stay together, and she knew they would allow that.  These apples are what you need before we can be together.  The Norns said at least one before we can do anything." Loki explained.

Mayura ran one finger gently over the smooth, firm flesh of the apple then smiled at Loki.  "I hope it won't be long."

*grins* Loki's gonna skewer me for that bit about childbearing but I don't care, it was too funny to pass up!

Seeya with the next part soon!