Invitation

by Virodeil

*Caught Is Caught Is Cuddled Series* – A young, curious, intrepid scholar, Loki Odinson seeks to know more and more, especially about the knowledge that is forbidden in Asgard. And there is no knowledge that is currently more forbidden than anything about Jötunheim and the red-eyed, blue-skinned, black-clawed giant monsters that inhabit it. So he asks round, including to them.

3. The Familial Petition

Invitation
By Rey

3. The Familial Petition

"Child… are you sure…?" Mother is anxious. With reason, and I do agree with the reason, myself. But my heart is set, and my curiosity has been well ignited by now, trumping all concerns.

I nod as firmly as I can to her. – Yes, I wish to go to Jötunheim, for my own sake of curiosity about the whole Nine Realms and beyond.

A flimsy proposal, I know. It's flimsy even to my own ears. But I cannot tell them – tell Father – that I have snuck a rather thorough read on one of Father's forbidden tomes.

And Father is looking at me thoughtfully, even as Thor joins in the protestation and insists that he accompany me in my quest, should I persist to embark on it. I stare back at him – Father, that is, not the ranting Thor – and refrain from raising an eyebrow in challenge. I do need his permission, and being considered insolent to him will not get me that permission. Unless… well… there is indeed another way… hmm.

Regardless, this new look of his does merit some digging. It is… odd, to sum it all in one definable word. Father is unreadable in most times, almost flat, and I have long made it a challenge and a game to define his moods and thoughts from the few signs he exudes; but this one…. There is remembrance lurking deep in his gaze, tinged with pain and sorrow and even longing, and I cannot fathom why – the longing, that is.

The time to wheedle the reason from him is not now, though. Not when Thor is mentally and verbally – almost physically, too – taking all the space at the family dining table, declaiming passionately about the monstrous barbarism and violence of the jötnar. Not when a permission from the King for this quest of mine would hopefully mean an easier, safer time for me in the land of the monsters, either.

I do not even get any chance yet to put a word in edgewise to replead my case, as it is! The situation will just deteriorate – fast – if I shut Thor up now, I know that well, but… but… but…!