Prevalence and Poetry

The next day, Loki stood underneath the wide canopy of the teaching pavilion in order to avoid the blazing heat of the afternoon sun. Eir was sitting in the shade as well and chatting amiably with his Uncle Fenni while they waited for the arrival of the documents from the Vital Records Office.

Uncle Fenni had just dismissed his last class of the day and most of his young students had dispersed out of the teaching pavilion and were now playing on the nearby grounds. Fenni was the head teacher at the palace and also part of Odin's inner circle of advisors at the court. He was short and slim with a wild mane of long grey hair that was still streaked through with the dark brown shades of his youth in places.

Loki heard the soft clip clop of hooves, he looked up to see an official messenger riding towards them. The messenger stopped a little distance away and untied a large package from the back of the horse. He approached the pavilion and carefully laid it down on one of the tables.

"The records you requested, Lady Eir," he said. Eir signed a scroll acknowledging receipt of the package before dismissing him with her thanks.

Loki began unwrapping it, he uncovered a large sheaf of parchments along with several official record books bound in black. Eir joined him and started sorting through the records.

Uncle Fenni walked over as well and let out a low whistle, "Well looks like we have our work cut out for us," he said.


Thor had woken up in a terrible mood after a night of fitful sleep. He had his breakfast and then made his way directly to the training pitch which had been left untouched from the previous evening per Odin's orders. He spent the morning clearing the pitch of broken equipment and debris, sorting through what was salvageable and discarding any target practice boards that were broken beyond repair.

Thor was joined in the afternoon by the Warriors Three once they were free from their palace duties. Between the four of them they managed to tidy up the pitch and mend some of the smaller breaks. They took stock of the equipment that needed to be rebuilt since they would need to request raw materials from Bhonar who was in charge of maintenance of the Palace grounds. Thor finally asked Hogun to drop off the list of required supplies at Bhonar's office before calling it a day. They would continue with the work the next day once they had what they needed.

Frigga spotted Thor making his way back from the training pitch to his rooms, his clothes covered in dirt and sweat. She invited him to get cleaned up and then join her for tea in that firm, motherly tone of voice that brooked no argument.

So now he was sat across from her in her cozy tearoom while she prepared a cup of tea for him. He accepted the tea from his mother and took a sip, it was piping hot, the sharp flavor perfectly balanced with a spot of honey.

Frigga was often busy entertaining officials or foreign delegates for afternoon tea. But on the days when she found time away from her royal duties she would usually invite her sons to have tea with her. Both Thor and Loki secretly enjoyed the private, family ritual of afternoon tea with Frigga.

Thor watched as his mother poured herself a cup as well. She took a sip and sighed in appreciation. She passed him a plate of biscuits. Thor was suddenly aware of how long ago breakfast had been and happily picked out a couple of his favorite kind, the square ones filled with apricot jam.

Afternoon tea with Frigga was never predictable. It could be great fun, filled with lively laughter and conversation, especially on days when both her sons were in attendance. If the mood took her, Frigga would sometimes sing or play music on her lute; on occasion her sons would even join in.

Some days it would be a smaller event with just one of them; Frigga would ask questions in her typical, gentle manner and Thor or Loki would simply prattle on about their day, regaling her with the latest palace gossip. And some days they would find their mother in a reflective mood, just content to sit quietly and share in their company.

Today appeared to be one of the quieter days. Frigga did not make any attempt at conversation, her thoughts appeared to be somewhere far away. Her striking blue eyes were focused on one of the tapestries on the opposite wall, as she drank her tea in silence.

Thor could not possibly imagine spending time with Odin in this fashion. Even five minutes of silence with his father would start to grate on his nerves, setting him on edge as he wondered what to expect. But while Odin wielded silence like a weapon, Frigga treated it with reverence. Even when his mother took refuge in silence, she still radiated a natural aura of calm that never failed to put her sons at ease.

Thor studied his mother's face. Frigga possessed the kind of timeless beauty that never seemed to diminish with age but today she appeared tired as if she had not slept.

"Is anything troubling you, Mother?" asked Thor.

"Just thinking, why do you ask?" replied Frigga as she turned her attention back to him.

"Nothing, I mean you seem worried about something," he said.

Frigga gazed out through the window at the late afternoon sun, "Even after all these years I never get tired of these beautiful summers days on Asgard. Though that was quite an unexpected little thunderstorm yesterday evening," she said with a knowing look in her eyes.

Thor felt a twinge of annoyance at her deflection, he was in no mood to talk about Odin and he knew his parents kept no secrets from each other. He retorted, "If you don't wish to tell me what's really on your mind, that's fine Ma. But surely you know all about the wager and the damage to the training pitch?"

Frigga smiled sadly, "Someone wise once told me –

Worry not about your past,

Or curse that the die is cast,

For what the future may bring,

Is known by no Bard nor King.

But it's not that easy to go against our fundamental nature is it?" she commented.

Thor's annoyance melted away, his mother seemed to be in a truly melancholic mood if she was spouting poetic philosophy.

"I have an idea, why don't we go and see Uncle Fenni," he suggested. Maybe a change of scene would cheer her up.

Frigga set her tea cup back down on the table, "Alright, let's go".


As Thor and Frigga walked across the palace grounds towards the training pavilion, they could hear the shouts of the young children playing nearby. As soon as they caught sight of Thor, they made a beeline for him chanting, "Prince Thor! Prince Thor! Come play with us!". Thor allowed himself to be ambushed by a dozen squealing children and pulled into their chaotic game of lock and key.

Frigga left Thor to the mercy of the children and made her way over to the teaching pavilion. Eir and Fenni broke off their discussion when they noticed the Queen of Asgard joining them. Loki smiled at his mother in greeting, but returned to poring over the record books, while Eir and Fenni filled Frigga in on what they were doing.

Sometime later Thor looked over towards the pavilion to see all the adults gathered together in serious discussion. He just noticed that Loki was there with them as well. Curiosity piqued, he wrapped up his game with the children.

"Hello Uncle Fenni, Good evening Lady Eir," Thor called out as he joined them. The reserved royal healer just nodded in acknowledgement but Fenni smiled warmly at Thor and gestured for him to join them.

Technically Fenni was Thor's Great Uncle since he was actually Frigga's uncle but the title of Uncle Fenni had stuck for Thor and Loki since they were young toddlers. By now most of the royal palace as well as Fenni's students had gotten into the habit of addressing him as Uncle Fenni.

Thor had heard stories that Fenni had been a terrifying warrior and mage in his younger days but he found it hard to reconcile those tall tales with the sweet natured old man who always had a kind word for his students. All the stories seemed to agree on the fact that Fenni had laid down his weapons and vowed never to pick them up again after the Battle of Bordenhall.

But even Thor was tactful enough to avoid the topic of that Battle with his family. The devastating battle between Asgard and Vanaheim that had occurred two thousand years before Thor and Loki were even born would make for an extremely awkward dinner table conversation. Especially, given that Odin and Frigga fought on opposing sides all those years ago before a lasting peace between Asgard and Vanaheim was finally brokered through their marriage.

Thor listened attentively as Fenni and Eir continued their discussion on the blood sickness in newborn babies. He realized this was about the death of the craftsman Manu's child. He had heard a few of the court ministers talking about the tragic news a few days back, but hadn't really given it much thought.

"I'm done with these, I think I can strip out the figures we need," Loki suddenly announced.

They all watched as Loki made a complicated wave with his hands over the sets of record books he had spread out in front of him. He then flicked his fingers towards the large blank sheet that he had hung up over Fenni's blackboard. Figures materialized onto the sheet, willed into neat tables by Loki's spell.

"These are just the records from the last five centuries," said Loki.

Eir and Fenni stepped closer to study the columns tallying the relevant death statistics for the different provinces of Asgard.

"About forty percent of all recorded deaths in newborns seems to be caused by the blood sickness," Fenni calculated after spending some time going through the figures.

Eir nodded in agreement, "In truth the proportion may actually be higher as some of the cases probably get recorded under unknown causes. I have to admit the prevalence seem higher than what I would have thought. It works out to around 1 in every 350 newborns dying of the blood sickness. Loki can you go further back? What if you include ten more centuries of records?" she asked.

While Loki continued sorting through the older record books, Thor examined the table as well. "It seems much less common in the two northern provinces," he remarked.

"That is an interesting observation ," said Fenni. He and Eir began to theorize on possible reasons for the two outlier provinces. Could it be related to the colder weather, or maybe the people from the mountainous province were just more hardy?

Loki eventually managed to populate two more sheets with the older figures. They now had fifteen centuries worth of information going all the way back to the period just after Asgard's final war with Jotunheim. They crowded around the blackboard, trying to make sense of the data. It quickly became apparent that the trend was not good.

"The older records show a lower prevalence, see it is as low as 1 in 3240, here at the start. But just a few centuries later it has jumped to around 1 in 1780 and all the way up to 1 in 350 in the most recent one," Fenni pointed out.

"Northern provinces still significantly lower in comparison," mused Frigga.

Loki had been uncharacteristically silent for much of the discussion. He now interrupted, "Wait we should be including the population distribution across ages as well." He snapped his figures as he added additional columns to the tables.

Fenni crinkled his brow, "But now the numbers for the northern provinces don't quite add up, they show a similar decrease in the proportion of population in the below fourteen century age group across time when compared to other provinces. So either there is some other factor contributing to a decrease in birth rates in these two provinces or.. ," he trailed off.

"Or they are simply not reporting all the cases of blood sickness to the officials?" Frigga asked.

Eir turned to the blackboard as she considered the question, "The remote provinces have been known to be very superstitious so it's definitely possible," she realized with a sinking feeling.

"Then the numbers would make perfect sense," concluded Loki.

"In any case, now that we have a rough answer on the question of prevalence, I don't think it would be correct to continue classifying the blood sickness as a rare illness anymore," said Eir. She had a somber expression on her face as she turned back towards the group.

"I think we should call for a special assembly on this issue," declared Frigga.


The sun had set hours ago, Loki enjoyed the cool night breeze as they walked back to the palace along the garden path. Thor and Loki had just left the pavilion leaving the adults to finalize the details of the special assembly they were planning to hold.

Thor was asking him questions along the way, what were the symptoms of the blood sickness, why did it occur at all, etc. Loki answered to the best of his knowledge, surprised that Thor was even interested in the subject.

"So essentially the blood turns on itself? That's why the children die?" asked Thor.

"Yes, that's more or less what happens," Loki agreed. Something in the way Thor had phrased it struck him. Why did the words ring a bell? He focused his mind, searching through his memory for the answer. He stopped in his tracks as he recalled the book with the faded grey cover, the book of old Vanir poems.

Thor was talking to him, they were just a few yards away from the palace entrance. Loki pulled himself back to the present and was met with his brother's concerned face.

He shook his head, "It's nothing really, just remembered something I need to do. I'll see you later Thor," he said as he escaped directly to his quarters.

Thor stared at the space where his brother had been standing and shook his head in bemusement. Loki and his crazy antics. One moment his brother had been walking alongside him, the next he had suddenly just been frozen in place as if he had seen a ghost. Then he had dismissed Thor and vanished away.

This used to drive everyone mad when he was a child. Loki would be running or playing, laughing in excitement and then suddenly he would just disappear into thin air. The adults had been greatly alarmed at first and would search frantically for the missing child. Though soon enough they realized that Loki was simply reappearing at a different place, traveling through the branches of Yggdrasil. He would disappear from his playroom and end up in Frigga's gardens, or else from the training pavilion to the palace kitchens.

It was astounding. It was known that talented mages could travel instantly from one place to another after years of intense study and practice. But it was unheard of for an untrained child to instinctively bend Yggdrasil's laws in this manner. Odin had questioned Loki for hours trying to understand how he was doing it. Loki had never been able give any satisfactory explanations as a child, though he did seem to have control over his ability.

"So you are here one moment, you wish to be somewhere else and then what the next moment you just end up there? Or do you go somewhere else in between?", Thor had once asked him when they were both older.

"There is a place in between, but if I step through it I can go where I like", Loki answered carefully.

"What does it feel like", Thor had been curious.

Loki hesitated, "I'm not sure, it's mostly just like walking but not on solid ground. It's more like I'm walking through the sky," he offered.

And that had been all he would say, his strange brother could simply walk through the sky apparently.


They had missed dinner, so Thor made a detour to the palace kitchen and loaded up a loaf of bread, some meat and a bit of cheese onto a plate. It had been a long day and he was tired but he still walked past his rooms and down the corridor to Loki's rooms.

He stood outside Loki's door wondering if his brother was even there, but then he heard someone moving around inside. Thor knocked and the door opened itself.

He found Loki surrounded by a mess, more than half of his huge collection of books spread out on the bed. He seemed to be looking for a specific book.

He was about to ask him what he was up to, but Loki suddenly pounced on a small book with a triumphant Aha!

"Do you remember this book?" asked Loki while leafing through the pages.

Thor glanced at the title on the faded cover and realized he did recognize this book of Vanir poems. His mind flashed back to Loki reading it in his room over a century ago… He didn't like to think of that dark time really. But from what he could remember the poems were mostly all quite dull, detailing various mundane activities from the daily life of Vanir folk. Thor had once read out a few of the poems to Loki, only to find his brother fast asleep by the end of it.

He responded, "Yes, but not particularly well, If I recall correctly it was a bit.."

"Boring?" Loki interjected. "Verses upon verses about cows grazing on grass and fishermen catching fish? It truly was an excellent sleep aid though, but that's why this one poem stuck out. It's the one bit that wasn't so dreadfully dull."

"It's about this old witch who lays a curse on a kingdom and then terrible things happen. I always thought it was talking about battle and war, but looking at it now it could just as well be about sickness. It actually makes more sense if I read it that way, listen to these lines here," Loki read out –

For then blood turned on blood …

Mothers , Fathers wept in grief …

Blamed the scourge with no relief …

But there lay a flower in the mud …

One day discovered by a thief …

With orange leaves and stems of white …

Blue petals when formed into smoke …

Brought harmonious light to end the fight …

And thus at last the curse was broke