Chapter 11

"The All-Father has requested to see you, Miss. Terra" said the guard who came to get her, they didn't give her much of a choice as they led her to where Frigga had died, and as they did, Terra didn't know what to say yet somehow as they entered the room where she had died, she found that she wouldn't be able to lie, not here in this place.

Odin was standing by the window in the shadow of the setting sun when she entered. It was the same place where Frigga had died that wasn't lost on Terra especially as she came to stand beside him in the setting sun.

"You asked to see me, All-Father?" whispered Terra, but he didn't even look at her.

"Yes, I did. I want to know exactly what you knew? Did you know what they were planning? Did you know that Thor planned on setting Loki free and if you did, why didn't you alert someone? I need to know exactly how involved you were in the plot to set him free" snapped Odin, the tone of his voice pierced with lightning and a strange hint of something that made her shiver even as they failed to shock her.

The fact was that she hadn't planned a thing, for though, she may have known of what was to happen planning it hadn't been in her mind. Yet, she didn't think he would believe that as she looked at him wondering as she did if their baby would be born in one of those cells and if Loki would return to find her in a cell like the one, he had been in. It all ran through her mind as she tried to think of something to say, but it was just as she knew it would be. Terra found she couldn't lie to him, not in this place where that great lady had died, and she knew the truth would seal her fate.

"I knew that Thor was going to break him out, but I had nothing to do with the planning of it—" whispered Terra, she was expecting it when he snapped at her again.

He cut her off, making her shake as his words seemed to envelope her, and the cell she would sit in flashed through her mind. Yet, Terra found she was not afraid of that future as she stared the man down as he looked at her with eyes accusing her of lying.

"You knew what was being planned and didn't think to notify anyone? Did you want him to get away or were you naïve enough to believe that he would take you with him?" said Odin, his voice none the kinder, but that wasn't what bothered her as he just kept staring at her in a way that made her feel unclean.

"I didn't tell anyone because yes, I suppose I was naïve enough to think that Loki would come back to me. That he is going to come back to me. I didn't tell anyone because I knew exactly what they were going to do and why they were going to do it. They want to avenge their mother…the great lady who died in this very spot. Her death has hurt all of us, but no one so much so as her sons. They won't let this go without justice. They loved their mother—" said Terra her voice firm and unafraid.

He raised his voice then, louder than she had ever heard it before, and yet, she did not look away. She stared him down and let him say what he pleased in that moment seeing a side to the man that was almost human as his eyes bore into hers. It was almost strange because she'd never thought of him as human before.

"I remember, she was my wife. I was more upset than those boys or you can know" exclaimed Odin, wanting to strike her in that moment, but as he looked at her, he somehow knew that despite the reason that Frigga would never forgive him.

And yet he found his hand raised to do so anyway.

Terra could see what he wanted to do. Part of her wanted him to hit her, just to see the look on Loki's face when he came back to the news, but also because she knew that would put him in the palm of her hand. It would give her something to hold over him, a devious act that surprised her even as she was having it, but the moment never came. Odin didn't hit her that day, but instead, Terra found herself taking the hand he had raised to strike her. She found herself trying to reason with him.

"Judge Thor and Loki as you will, but you can't pretend not to understand their motives" exclaimed Terra, their eyes were still locked together, and for the first time they softened.

She was touching at the very heart of him, and she knew it. He did too. Terra could see it the second he started to hide it. Because Frigga had been his heart, the emotional part of himself that made him see the softer side of things when he needed to see it, but now that was gone. They were both all too aware of that especially as they stood there in the place where she had died. In that moment, Odin found that she reminded him of Frigga as she spoke with an air to her that was exactly what Frigga would have said. There was something beautiful in that, as if his queen would somehow live on forever, but it also made him miss her more. It made him unable to punish this girl as he normally would have for her treason.

"You committed treason, by all rights I should have you put in the dungeons, in the very cell where Loki himself was. If not for Frigga's love for you, I would" whispered Odin looking at her without words and suddenly, no way for her to proceed.

He thought that would change the look on her face, if she knew he had thought to lock her away in Loki's old cell until such a time as he could join her, but now he just found he couldn't look at her as it didn't change a thing.

He found himself turning to peer into the setting sun as it turned to twilight. He could feel her waiting for whatever punishment he would dole out, but there was nothing he could do.

"Go now, Terra, go back to your room. I will send for you if there is any word of Thor or Loki" whispered Odin feeling as her eyes watched him before abruptly turning away.