Chapter 19: Off and Out
The next day was Loki's first day off as a prisoner with a job on Midgard. To be accurate, it was his first day off since his sentencing. It was strange to wake up and not be given a list of tasks. It was strange to not have to clean the kitchen and just enjoy the breakfast with Thor.
"So what toys do you want, Alex?"
The decision was a hard one, but in the end, Alex got a small rubber horse he could climb on and a set of play-doh, more colours, some small tools, etc. In the morning, Thor, Loki and Alex had played with the play-doh.
"You just model what you want," had explained Alex to Thor. "It's fun!"
Thor was intrigued by the dough, but it turned out to be fun. For Loki, to play with his brother like they were children was strangely comforting. It was like they were back in time, back in a simpler time.
"Look, I made another giraffe," said Alex.
"And I made a hammer," said Thor.
"It doesn't look like a normal hammer," observed Alex.
"But it looks like this one," said Thor showing off Mjolnir.
"Wow! Can I try it?"
"Well, Mjolnir is very heavy, I doubt you would be able to lift it," said Thor.
"Your uncle was not able to lift it before he was twelve," said Loki.
In truth, Odin had not let his children close to Mjolnir before they were twelve. And the people who could lift Mjolnir were so rare that Loki just didn't want to explain to Alex why he would not be able to lift up. After all, the descendant of Loki surely would not be able to lift Mjolnir.
Loki had also exchanged his stars for an hour outside. Tony had said the playground was now optimised with more modules so Alex could play in there and slide. The rules and security around him were still tight, just not as tight as last time.
"You have to stay within the fences," said Steve. "We all still have the buttom and we can electrocute you if you try something, but I trust you not to."
Giving his condition, Loki couldn't play soccer with the others, but it was fine. He had helped Alex with the monkey bars and had supervised him for sometime, but Loki had got tired of standing and Thor took his place. At the moment, they were playing soccer and Loki was sitting on a bench with Banner.
"How are you," asked Banner concerned.
"Good. This is a good moment. Alex is happy, I am happy. We are good."
"Glad to hear, but I meant you physically. You look like you are exhausted."
"Oh, well, the baby is heavy and my back hurts. But I'm good, don't worry about me."
"I'm your doctor. It's my job to worry about you and the baby. You are close to your due date and the last week had been tiring for you with the slave act."
"It was harder the first time, with Alex. I'm not looking forward to having to work with the baby, but I can do it."
"Wait, working with the baby? As in doing your work and taking care of the baby?"
"Yes, what else could I mean?"
"Loki, here, a mother can go on a maternity leave. Having time off from work to care for the new baby. Steve didn't tell you? Oh, he probably thought I would... Well, in a week or two, you won't have to work as much. You will be able to take care of the baby for a few months. It can be up to a year even."
"You mean I will have days off work with nothing to do other than taking care of the baby?"
Surely he misunderstood.
"Yes, don't you have that in Asgard?"
"Well, yes... Some women take time, but only those who want to. And certainly not slaves."
"Loki, you are not a slave. You deserve some time to recuperate after the birth, even if you told me Jotun's births are easy. And it will give you time to form a bond with the new child. You can have that."
"It is strange to not have to work for a day, what will I do not working for more than a day?"
"Don't worry, you'll have plenty to do with two kids."
At the end of the hour, it was time to go back inside and have lunch. Alex had run a lot outside, so Loki had no trouble putting him to sleep for his nap.
"That kid has a lot of energy," said Thor.
"Well, not at the moment," said Loki.
Thor and Loki went to sit in the living room. Loki was a bit on edge, it had been so long seen he had a day like that or the chance to just speak to Thor freely without time limit.
"You love Alex very much," said Thor.
"Yes, I do."
"Even though you didn't want him?"
"The way he arrived in my life has nothing to do with who he is. He doesn't deserve to suffer for what other people did."
"Those are wise words, brother. I'm am glad to see you are well here."
"I'm lucky to have a righteous master. He treats me like a person. Not a god, not a prince, not a slave, but just a person. And he doesn't care that Alex is not according to midgardian standard for his species, his genders, anything. All the Avengers have been really accepting."
"I just wish there was a way to change your sentence."
"I don't! Thor, I did what I did. I deserve some kind of punishment and I am ready to take it. At least this punishment is humane. I may not like what was done to me at the training facility, for it was the worst part of my sentence, but now I'm here. It has been a rough path, I won't say the contrary, but now I found some peace. Captain Rogers is fair with me and so is everyone else. You saw what Clint gave me for the baby, and we are talking about the Avenger who has the strongest reasons to want to punish me or see me suffer."
"So you are happy here? With this life?"
"I'm not sure what happiness is anymore. I will say I can see myself be comfortable living this life. I have no equal in rank, I am a servant to the Avengers, but they treat me fairly. I have as much freedom as I could hope for giving the situation."
"And what about the bracelet? Does it bother you?"
"It's part of me now. Rogers removed the chains that had been on me for more than four years, replacing it with a small electronic bracelet. I cannot tell you how I feel about not being chained everywhere. This place has surveillance, with Friday, the Avengers, the bracelet, but it doesn't feel like a prison. If I could only forget my training, I could pretend to be a stay-at-home father who takes care of the house."
"Loki, one day, I will be king of Asgard. But there are two things I need to know. First, would you think I would be a decent king?"
Loki was surprised by that question. Never before did Thor had expressed any doubt about being king.
"Thor, the fact that you are asking the question means you are ready. A good king must always question his actions and decisions. When I schemed against you at your coronation, I knew you were not ready nor mature enough to be king back then. Now you are. You will be a good king."
"Thanks. I wish you could be my advisor. I would love to have you by my side."
"And thanks to all my schemes and tricks, I will never be. Though I would have been honored to be by your side."
"We both know you are a better strategist than me. The second thing I want to know is, were you at my place, what would be your actions to overturn your sentence? And maybe to end slavery."
"The first step in solving a problem is to admit there is a problem. Before I became a slave, how much thought did you give to that problem?"
"None. There were no slaves in the palace, just servants. I didn't care about slaves."
"See, you didn't care. They were so low, too low for you. Too far away. Odin might as well sentence me to slavery just for you to open your eyes. But a true king mustn't care about a problem because that problem is now in his family. A true king must help all of his people, not just his family."
"I must be impartial. But slavery is still there. And so is your sentence."
"You should not overturn my sentence. I was your brother and all Asgard knows. You should want to end slavery for another reason. A good start will be to not sentence more people to slavery. But by doing so, some people might say it's unfair to those who are still slaves. Maybe offer to resentence all of those who are slaves, even those born in bondage. But then, you will have the angry owners of those slaves who would want to keep what is their. As king, you could offer to buy all slaves in the kingdom and bring them to the palace for resentencing. But, Thor, not all of them deserved to be set free."
"But they might deserve a second chance," said Thor. "Like you do."
"I don't deserve it. Or I already had it. I have something good here. I'm still serving my sentence and I'm genuinely good. Don't worry about me, Thor."
Thor nodded.
"I wish I could see you be totally free," said Thor.
"Mister Rogers told me about parole and early release. It's a concept I've never heard before. Basically, if a prisoner has a good behaviour, the prison set him free with conditions. And I spoke to the new guy, Ant-man, he informed me about something called home-arrest, which is basically what I have."
"Maybe it's time for a reform in our way of punishing people," said Thor.
"Well, I guess it's a good thing the future king is aware of that fact," said Loki with a smile. "Maybe a system where a household could foster a former slave to readapt him to society. Don't forget that those slaves will need time to acclimate back to freedom. And remember that some slaves were born in captivity, they had never been free. Like Alex. You should know it's quite unsettling to come back from strict slavery, even if some masters are more benelovent than others."
"This won't be an easy task," said Thor.
"So is the duty of a king," said Loki.
"We might have much to learn from the humans after all. They had changed their judicial system and are sometimes giving second chances to those who truly deserve it."
oOo
That evening, Thor had offered to cook something Asgardian for supper. His options were limited giving the difference in the available meat. The meal was unusual for the Avengers, but for Loki, it was nice and familiar. And for Alex, it was a good way to educate him to Asgardian cuisine.
"At my next visit, I should bring some asgardian delicacies," said Thor.
"How was your day, Loki," asked Natasha.
"It was nice, I must admit. It allowed me to have time for only Alex and Thor," answered Loki.
Overall, it had been a fantastic day. The feeling of freedom, even illusionary, was more than exhilarating. Of course, he had behaved all the time, but he still felt like he was guilty of something.
"In training, I have been told a slave doesn't idle. There is still conflict between what I was taught and what is happening here. It is hard to accept I deserve to have free time and just act like a person. I am grateful for all that, really. Thank you mister Rogers."
"Actually, the day off was proposed by Wanda and Vision. They established the reward system," said Steve. "And you earn it, especially after playing along for the raven."
oOo
"Daddy, why are you pregnant? On TV, only the mommy can be pregnant."
Well, at least Loki was alone with Alex for that talk.
"Because on TV, you only see mommy from Earth. But I am not from Midgard."
"It's different in Asgard?"
"No Alex. Asgard is similar to Midgard in that regard. Only the mommies can get pregnant. I was born in another realm called Jotunheim. I am a Jotun, or a frost giant. And you are half-asgardian or Aesir, half Jotun. And so will be your little sister or brother."
"Oh. So for Jotun, it's the daddy who's pregnant?"
"Well, you see, on Midgard and Asgard, they have two genders, male and female, or boys and girls. And everyone is either one or the other. Miss Wanda and Miss Natasha are women. But Mister Rogers, Mister Bruce and Mister Tony are men. Even uncle Thor. You see?"
"Yes."
"For Jotnar, or frost giants, it's different. An individual has both genders at once, but will express one gender more than the other. However, a frost giant can be either the mommy or the daddy of the children."
"But you are daddy?"
"Yes, I am daddy, but I gave birth to you which make me also mommy."
"Oh..."
"Frost giants can decide if they are more female or male, but all of them can act as father or mother. Now, you already know you are both, right Alex?"
"Yeah, but everyone here thinks I'm a boy."
"You can be a boy or a girl. You are actually both already."
"I want to stay a boy. If I am a girl, want would that change?"
"Well, not much really. You will still be able to do all the things you are already doing. For now. On Midgard, they have genders, but we are more flexible with that, more fluid."
"But the baby? Will I have a little sister or a little brother?"
"The baby will be both, like us. Though I think she will be a bit more of a girl. But she can change her mind when she grows up. And this is why I choose a name that is appropriate for both girls and boys for both of you."
"What is her name?"
"You want to know now?"
"Yes!"
"But this is a surprise. You have to promise you will not tell anyone else. Can you do that?"
"Yes."
oOo
A few days after, Thor departed back for Asgard. He had become closer of Alex and hugged the boy before leaving. Thor knew if he tried to hug his brother, Loki would refuse, but he actually made a joke of it.
"You're hugging him, but not me. What kind of brother are you?"
So Thor hugged Loki too.
"I will come back brother, Alex."
And he was gone.
In Asgard, Thor saw his father at supper that evening.
"How was the rest of your trip?"
"It was good. Similar to the first part of it. The part your raven told you all about."
Well, the AllFather had seen the rest of Thor's vacation through his second raven, but he didn't hit on that.
"Are your friends well?"
"They are, yes. And I learn more about Midgard and their traditions."
"The raven report that you didn't interact with their slaves a lot."
"Well, it's a slave. Two of them. I won't talk to them more than necessary."
Odin nodded.
"The slave is pregnant."
"Yes, like he was when I delivered him there. The baby should arrive soon. In the next moon probably."
"I should visit them sometime. We would not want this slave to get off easy, now, should we?"
"Well, Loki betrayed us, but he seems to have changed now. He's different."
"Slavery would do that."
oOo
Odin knew, of course, that Thor had twisted the truth when he retold his tale. But the AllFather didn't care, it showed Thor could be a good politician. As for Loki, Odin was secretly happy his son was okay. Through his raven, he had seen their moments together and he was happy Loki had changed for the better. Maybe his son had truly learned after all.
