Thankfully, this time Heimdall did not set Loki down on the glacier but rather at the end of the moraine, just outside the city edge. Today, happily, there was no storm. The sky was still overcast, but it was much brighter than before. The snow showed stark white instead of blue-gray, and Loki could actually see the mountain peaks and the massive extent of the glacier, itself a small tongue of the continental ice sheet. There was a brisk wind stirring his hair. Loki threw back his hood to experience this world more fully.

It was beautiful, even if it was still alien to his experience. It might have been beautiful because it was alien. It was still a barren wasteland, objectively speaking. There was no visible vegetation, and no signs of any animals other than the Jotun settlement itself.

Loki walked briskly through the city, and once again, he encountered no one until he came to the plaza/lake. The ice of the lake had completely resolidified, but evidence of the battle was everywhere. The ice was jagged and pushed up at odd angles, and in many places spotted with blood even through the drifting snow. The place where Fandral had lain was easy to identify. It was smaller, but it was a different shade from all the others, a brighter red. No to mention, the place was marked in his memory.

Loki did not let the memories disturb his purposeful gait. He stepped lightly across the broken ground, heading straight for the temple. Unlike everything else, the temple was still shrouded in mist and shadow. As Loki drew nearer, he called up his second sight and saw this was a kind of cloaking spell. The Jotnar new about Heimdall, obviously, and had taken precautions. It made him feel rather better about his own chances of keeping what he had done in the vault secret. Heimdall must notice a cloaking spell this big, even if his gaze could not penetrate it. It would reassure him the Jotun could have gotten past him without assistance. He looked further afield and noted that not all the ruined-appearing houses were abandoned. Rather, most had definite, recent magical traces on them. Were all the ruins shrouded? Were they even ruins, or was this also an illusion for enemy benefit? It was an exciting thought to Loki, but he put it aside.

A sentry finally stopped him when he reached the unblemished ice before the temple. Loki raised his hands. "I come unarmed. I would speak to your king."

"Would he speak to you?" the sentry asked him with a sneer.

"If you do not presume to make such decisions on behalf of your lord, then yes, I am sure he would," Loki said calmly. The sentry glowered at him but gestured him to follow. He was led through an entry hall, past what looked like a feasting hall, past the associated kitchen, past a lounge, and a ballroom, all in perfect repair, which made sense given the centuries of cold war since the last land battle. Things should be repaired by now. When they came to a throne room, it dawned on him this was not a temple. It looked like one from the outside, at least to Asgardian aesthetics. And of course, everyone on Asgard who had ever been here called it that, but this was no temple. It was a palace. Odin had taken him as an infant from Laufey's palace. He might even have been in a cradle, but that detail mattered not. He had not been abandoned, he was suddenly very sure. He had been at home.

The sentry led him to the center of the throne room and had him stop there. The room was large enough and without artificial lighting, it was hard to see Laufey in the gloom. That was probably intentional to allow the Jotnar the chance to observe him without being observed themselves. Here, he was illuminated by a great oculus overhead. Laufey was not. Rather than having him come closer though, Laufey got up and came to him. He stopped far closer than was polite, forcing Loki to crane his neck backwards to see his face, which was fixed in a menacing glare.

"Tell me why I shouldn't kill you," Laufey said, softly and dangerously.

"I've come alone and unarmed," Loki said.

Laufey snorted, unimpressed. "To what end?"

Loki grinned and flipped him the coin that had started it all. The magic was gone. It was no longer an access to Odin's vault. But it was stamped with Odin's face on one side and Loki's on the other, and Loki suspected Laufey would recognize the serial number. "To make you a proposition," he said.

"So you're the one who let us into Asgard," Laufey said shrewdly. Loki was elated. Laufey wasn't an idiot. He might have met an intellectual peer for the first time in his life.

"I've come to offer you peace again," Loki said, neither confirming nor denying Laufey's conclusion.

"My men are dead, and I have no casket."

"And my brother who killed so many has been banished, on orders of the Allfather, may he never trouble you again."

Laufey shook his head. "You are a deceiver," Laufey said witheringly. "I don't negotiate with deceivers." He lashed out and grabbed Loki's bare throat.

He did not squeeze, though, but rather freeze. Loki did not struggle, as he felt the workings of Laufey's ice magic. He looked Laufey in the eye and grinned. "You have no idea what I am," he said as his face turned blue. He could see the reflection of it in Laufey's wide eyes. Laufey dropped him in surprise. Loki adjusted his tunic and continued innocently. "I was born a child of the Jotun-Aesir war, the same year Odin took your precious casket from you, you now. I am now old enough, I think it is high time our people put this conflict behind us."

Laufey's eyes narrowed. "Leave us," he said shortly.

"Your majesty," one of his advisors ventured.

"I said leave us."

The two of them waited, staring each other down as the rest of Laufey's court departed. When the last door closed, Loki said, quietly, "hello, Father."

Laufey's lips parted. He sank down to one knee, bringing his face just a little lower than Loki's. "You... you're not dead," he whispered.

"I'm not," Loki said with a real, genuine smile. Laufey's reaction was not feigned. Loki was a good enough liar to know.

"My child..." Laufey reached out to touch him, hesitated, then set just one finger on his arm. He looked down suddenly and laughed. "I don't know what to say."

"You could try 'hello,'" Loki suggested.

"Hello," Laufey said at once, then laughed again. His laughter cut off quickly. "Odin took you from me."

Loki lifted his hand to forestall whatever dire conclusion Laufey was about to voice. "That was an honest mistake."

"I doubt it."

"Then you doubt me. I know Odin. What he told me when I confronted him yesterday was the truth as he saw it."

Laufey sighed but sat back into a cross-legged position and gestured for Loki to do the same. "Tell me about it."

Loki smiled ironically. "For starters, he thought this was a temple."

Laufey raised his eyebrows. "Does he think I am a priestess to live in a temple?"

Loki shrugged, then exactly what Laufey had said struck him. "He... wait, priestess?"

Laufey blinked, then smiled softly. His appearance rippled with a dissipating illusion, allowing facial features to soften. "I am actually Queen of Jotunheim, not her king. And I am your mother, not your father," she explained, voice now ever-so-slightly-more alto than tenor. "Forgive the disguise. I always wear it when dealing with Asgardians and forgot about it. Neither Odin nor his father would ever take a woman as seriously as a man."

"Oh," Loki said, extremely surprised to say the least, although not about Laufey's observation regarding Asgardian misogyny.

"Please, continue, Loki," Laufey encouraged him.

"Right. Well, Odin thought I was abandoned and sure to die if he did not take me with him."

"He thought you were abandoned... in a temple," Laufey repeated disbelievingly.

"This would make more sense if you had lived in Asgard as long as I have."

At that, Laufey laughed again, long and hard. "Oh, I can imagine." Quickly, Loki summarized the rest of what Odin had said to him in the vault, as well as what had happened on Asgard after their precipitous departure the day before to land Loki on its throne. Laufey was silent for a long time then. When she finally spoke again, it was not at all related to the conflict. It was another question about Loki. "Why do you look the way you do? And why are you so small? What did they do to you?" She looked honestly worried and not a little upset.

Loki shook his head. "I'm fine. I wouldn't say I love living with Asgardians, but I was not mistreated." He concentrated and willed the illusion in his fingertips away, as he had in the vault. "Somehow, this is my magic. Not Odin's. I have no idea how I do it. I don't even think about it. I did not know it was there until yesterday, when one of your men grabbed my arm."

Laufey nodded reluctantly. "Our sorcerers are often adept with illusions, true enough. You even moreso than most, it would seem. But your size..."

"Odin thought I was small to begin with it."

Laufey shook her head emphatically. "Odin was misinformed, which should not surprise you. I birthed you the same night Asgard finally took our last extra-planetary base before coming here. You were only days old when Odin's forces overran this city. We never show our young to strangers so early."

Loki shivered at Laufey's recollection, but he did not know how to react to her clear anger and grief. So he ignored it. "Ah. I thought that might be the case. It doesn't matter. This magic is more than skin-deep. I think it affected my physiology somehow."

"Are you cold?" Laufey asked suddenly.

"No. Why?"

Laufey looked relieved. "Our halls are not heated. An Asgardian would be very uncomfortable by now. If that spell was affecting your body to such an extent you found Asgard habitable, I was concerned you might find Jotunheim... not."

Loki shrugged uncomfortably. "I don't know enough about it to say at this point." He smiled again. "And that is beside the point. I'm King of Asgard at the moment, so we probably should discuss the little war we're having. I'm sorry about what happened. I did not expect that coin to come to your attention. I expected a single, surprised Jotun, who would take one look at where he ended up and run like hell. Asgard doubtless would have captured him, and I would have done my best to ensure his safe return."

"What was the point then?" Laufey asked curiously.

Loki smiled thinly. "To keep Thor off the throne."

"Ah. He's a nightmare, is he?"

Loki leaned back in his seat. How did one describe his brother? "Thor... is an idiot. If he were not a prince, there would be no problem."

"But he is a prince, and he causes nothing but problems commensurate with his status," Laufey finished, nodding. "You were wise to prevent his ascension, even if your methods were not what I have chosen."

"I wasn't particularly thrilled with the plan either, but talking to Odin didn't work."

"No, I don't imagine it would. He only wants to talk if the other party is the one who listens, not him," Laufey observed.

"Well put. The thing is, even though the incident in the vault nicely disrupted Thor's coronation, and Odin was irritated with Thor's reaction afterwards, he still fully planned to crown Thor, just not that day." Loki half-smiled again. "You see, Odin apparently has a condition called Odinsleep-"

"Great name," Laufey said with a grin.

"I know. Anyways, that's the real reason he fell into the coma I mentioned."

"It was a preexisting condition?" Laufey asked in surprise.

Loki nodded. "One he never deigned tell either Thor or me about, but it made his haste to get Thor on the throne make much more sense in retrospect."

"He didn't tell you? Or his heir?" Laufey yelped. She rolled her eyes. "Asgardians. Nevermind me. Go on."

"He did not tell us, so when just the ploy with the vault failed, I assumed Thor needed to do something much, much worse than his typical tantrums to get Odin to reconsider."

Laufey stilled. "You made him come here," she said grimly.

Loki winced. "I provoked him, yes. We weren't supposed to actually get here, but I underestimated the stupidity of the ones who should have stopped us."

"That is one of the most annoyingly common problems a ruler will face," Laufey agreed. "I felt much the same way when some fool decided to taunt your brother just when you and I had talked him into leaving in peace. Just because chiding is deserved does not make it helpful." She took a deep breath and sighed. "So, where does this leave us? My long-lost son is returned to me, but sits on the throne of my bitterest rival. None know if he can actually, physically come home, and besides there is war between us." She drummed her fingers on her knee.

"Well, I for one would like to cancel the war," Loki said.

Laufey nodded. "Yes. I am sure between the two of us and my army we could conquer Asgard and make it a protectorate of Jotunheim rather than the other way around," she grinned devilishly at Loki's horrified expression. "But I sense you would not go along with that. No matter how much they grieve you, you care for the family and world you grew up with. If we are to make peace, then, we must first and foremost figure out how to save face for both sides."

"Or else there will be more Thors," Loki said, nodding tiredly.

"Exactly."

Loki groaned. "On Asgard, anything less than a clear victory tends to be considered defeat. And backing away from a fight someone else started is considered cowardice. I only got to come here suing for peace because I said it was Odin's idea. What's it like here?"

Laufey smiled. "Not that bad. We are wise enough to see a victory as victory, unsatisfying as it may be. It will be difficult to forgive Thor's incursion, but not impossible since he has been soundly punished by your father. You'll find our posturing towards Asgard is exactly that - posturing for Asgard's benefit. Every non-Asgardian civilization does it, because it is the only way to deal with them. I could not immediately give Odin his truce yesterday because your brother was still there demanding battle. To be weak in front of one like him would be to invite another, larger invasion in a few years. Anyways, I do not want to settle for resuming our truce. I would like to be able to see you in the future."

"You would?" Loki asked. The words escaped him before he realized.

Laufey looked first surprised, then sad. "Of course I would, if you would be willing. My other children, Helbindi and Byleistr, they were lost in this infernal war even before you were born, and your father too is gone now. If you wish to remain on Asgard..." her sly grin returned, so similar to Loki's. "Well, I won't say I understand, because I definitely would not. But I would respect your decision, since I can hardly claim to be your mother when the only relationship we have is in our genes. That said, the status quo is unacceptable. Whatever we do, we have to leave you with the ability at least to visit me."

"I could get myself appointed ambassador to Jotunheim," Loki suggested.

"Unless you want us to drag negotiations out for the next thousand years, that is not a long term solution. A prince cannot be an ambassador forever. I also question whether Odin would even allow it. Even he will guess what you are after."

"He would not need to guess. I would tell him."

"And risk losing the choice," Laufey warned. Laufey was much more suspicious of Odin than Loki was, naturally, but Loki could see her point. There was no guarantee Loki would be able to convince Odin, Thor, or even Frigga to go along with this fantasy.

Loki thought about it, for a long time. Then he shook his head. "I may love Asgard and my family there, but it makes me crazy to live there. If you'll have me, I'll try living with you for awhile, not just visiting."

"If we can manage it, I would love to have you. I'm not sure how compatible you actually moving here is with peace, though, even if you decided to announce your heritage to the council back on Asgard and set yourself up as a combination royal hostage and future puppet king. Odin will be reluctant to give you up."

"Also, that position sounds unimaginably awful," Loki pointed out.

"It does, doesn't it? I'm willing to be flexible with both you and Asgard, but I doubt we're going to preserve your status as a prince on both worlds."

"We don't have to. I definitely don't want to be Odin's heir. If it turns out I can't travel back and forth, I will come here permanently. I could fake my own death or something if it comes to that."

Laufey frowned. She reached out and touched his arm again. "I'm sorry you have been so unhappy in your home to leave it so easily."

"I don't blame my, er, family for that. It's hardly their fault they don't know how to make me happy."

"Yes, it is," Laufey said incredulously. "They were the adults. Odin knew what you were. Even if he did not think he could return you, he could have at least tried to learn more about us." Laufey rolled her eyes. "Tell me, when you confronted him about all this, did he tell you he did not want you to feel different?"

"No," Loki said slowly. "But Mother did, as an explanation for why I had never been told."

"I knew it." Laufey shook her head despairingly, and there looked to be real tears in her eyes. "If nothing else comes of our meeting today, Loki, please remember there is nothing wrong with being different." She smiled. "You will be unique wherever you go, because you are special. You have lived a life like no other. I hope that you will find a place with us that makes you feel comfortable, but never think that means you need to give up who you already are."

"You may not like who I already am, once you get to know me," Loki commented ironically. "I might be more Asgardian than you can stand." That was the biggest doubt he actually had about moving suddenly to Jotunheim, that he would be disliked and misunderstood just as much here as on Asgard.

"Then that would be an excellent opportunity to learn how to better coexist with an Asgardian," Laufey said sternly, clearly seeing his true meaning. She grinned again. "Don't try to scare me off when I'm entertaining warm, maternal feelings again for the first time in centuries."

"I won't," Loki agreed, accepting her confident reassurance like a drink in a desert. Then he exhaled, thinking. "Returning to the problem of war and peace, complete normalization of relations is the ideal, like we have with Vanaheim. People flit back and forth between the two worlds all the time. I could move about with impunity, even if my origins remain secret for now, at least on Asgard. I doubt there will be many other Asgardians inclined to visit your cold climate." He winked at Laufey. "I could get Odin and Frigga to go along with it, I think." He sighed. "The problem is the council, and of course people like Thor. The peace with Vanaheim succeeded because Asgard flattened their military at the end of the war. They were stuck as our protectorate for ages before a new generation came of age, all of which were indoctrinated to love Asgard. The agreements with Nidavellir and Alfheim succeeded because they never had a military to begin with."

"Asgard's peace with Nidavellir and Alfheim succeeded because those cultures are both wily enough to take advantage of Asgard's aggression," Laufey corrected. "By making itself Asgard's chief weapons' supplier, Nidavellir protects itself from Asgard, and Asgard by necessity protects it from outside threats. Jotunheim had a similar agreement with Nidavellir before the rise of Asgard, and they still trade with us."

"They do?" Loki asked in surprise. The Aesir would be livid if they knew that.

Laufey grinned and nodded. "We use the same cloaking technique as you no doubt noticed around the palace to disguise our ships. Nidavellir does trade much more with Asgard, though. Your Bifrost makes Asgard impossible to disregard."

"I always suspected that, but never had the ability to confirm with someone who was not fawning over my titles," Loki said. "We keep getting distracted, though. I think I should tell Odin's council you are willing to negotiate, and see how receptive they are. Then we will know better what our options might be."

Laufey nodded approvingly. "Always prudent to have more intelligence before deciding on a strategy when you have the time."

"If they are receptive, what would complete normalization of relations look like, in your opinion?"

Laufey pursed her lips. "Your template of Asgard's current relationship with Vanaheim is a good one. Cessation of hostilities, obviously. Relief of Asgardian boycotts and surtaxes levied on our exports, which of course Vanaheim and Alheim also impose. Nidavellir gets around them via smuggling. Relief from travel bans. Establishment of extradition agreements. And relief from Asgard's zero-tolerance policy for our extra-planetary base operations, which would require the return of the Casket of Ancient Winters."

Loki raised an eyebrow. "The Aesir view the casket as a weapon of mass destruction. They will not be keen to return it anytime soon."

Laufey snorted. "They would interpret it that way. Destruction is not its purpose. It is for terraforming."

"They are aware of that use, but our histories about the war say you used it against an Asgardian colony," Loki informed her. "A civilian colony, with families. There were no survivors. Even the Aesir, who consider blood feuds to be perfectly normal, called that a war crime."

Laufey's brow furrowed. "Where and when was this?"

"If I recall correctly, it was fifty-six Asgardian years before I was born. The colony was on Stavromula Beta."

Laufey's eyes widened. "There? That moon was supposed to be uninhabited. We followed all the usual protocols, sending surveyors and notices to major interplanetary powers years in advance and hailing in all frequencies for two days prior to activating the casket... We did eventually find evidence of a settlement, once we had already been using the moon for a few years, but we did not have time to fully investigate before Asgard ousted us as the war escalated. We assumed it had been abandoned. We never found any bodies, let alone Asgardian ones..." She blinked. "Do you think... would they have ignored our hails and hidden from our ships, since we were at war?"

Loki winced. If they had, the colonists had run headlong to their own deaths. Usually, the only organic material to survive during terraforming was single-celled organisms. "They... might have," Loki said reluctantly. He shrugged. "I have no idea, but I would not put it past an Asgardian to be so foolish. If the head of the colony thought you were an invasion force, the rest would have followed his lead."

"That is disturbing. Any other atrocities attributed to me of which I am unaware?"

"That was the worst. The second worst was when you invaded Midgard. Did that happen?"

Laufey shook her head. "No. That was another survey team. We were considering building a base in the polar regions. The glaciers were more extensive then, so the humans probably would never have known we were there." She smiled ironically. "They noticed the Asgardian army that showed up to scare us off, though. I believe that was the start of their Norse religion."

"I knew that, yes. Well... I should probably go back."

"So soon?" Laufey said wistfully.

"If I stay too long, General Tyr will assume something terrible has happened and talk Heimdall into letting him come rescue me. Especially considering the cloak you have on the palace. Heimdall will have been very upset to learn he would not be able to watch this whole conversation."

"That's a good point," Laufey said, standing up. "I'm surprised they haven't come looking for you already, now you bring it up."

"That's because my prearranged distress signal would not be affected by the cloaking spell." Loki stood as well, and the two of them turned towards the door.

"You had a prearranged distress signal?" Laufey asked mildly.

"Of course. Wouldn't you, in my position? I had no guarantee you would be happy to see me."

"True. Out of curiosity, what was it?"

"I left a totem at the Bifrost site. It activates if I am unconscious, or I can touch it off intentionally from up to several miles away. Once activated, it lights up with big, shiny letters that say, 'HELP!'"

"Does it really?" Laufey laughed.

"No, it actually says, 'TREACHERY!' Much more dramatic and to the Asgardians' taste."

"Hmm. I hope you no longer fear treachery from me, my son."

"If I did, I would hardly have shared so many secrets with you," Loki pointed out.

"Nor I with you," Laufey agreed. Yes, their faith in each other was mutual, as soon as Laufey was convinced Loki was her son, and as soon as Loki was convinced Laufey had not intentionally given him up for Odin to claim. Their positions were awkward for mother and son, but each wanted the chance to know the other. This was by far the easiest new friendship Loki had ever made, because Laufey was just so much easier to talk to than any of the Aesir. He found it easy to trust Laufey, because he found it easy to understand Laufey, and because he had been waiting and watching for lies and seen none. If Laufey was deceiving him, she was doing it extraordinarily well.

They reached the entrance hall, and the edge of the cloaking spell. Loki turned to Laufey. "Farewell. I will see you on the morrow, I hope with good news."

"On the morrow," Laufey said, nodding.

They did not embrace as Loki left, but Loki could feel his mother's eyes on him as he walked away, all the way back across the ice, until he stepped in between the buildings of the old, "ruined" city and lost sight of the palace.

Author's note: possibly the most important chapter in this story? 'Twas fun to write a sympathetic Laufey for a change, and an explanation for why the Jotnar still live in a ruined city a thousand years after the prologue. Laufey is gender-flipped because in the original mythology, Laufey was actually Loki's mother. There's no good narrative reason to have changed her to a man in the first place besides confusion over Loki's matronymic and not wanting to have the Jotnar be ruled by an evil queen... which personally I think would have been perfectly fine. Particularly as then Laufey would have been a dark mirror for the lovely, gentle Frigga rather than the far more ambiguous Odin... but I digress. Hope you enjoyed that.