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.

4. The Escape

Invitation
By Rey

4. The… Escape?

Father, Mother and Thor,
My apologies for leaving so suddenly and without prior notification. Wanderlust seized me, and I chose to heed it. I truly wish to update our knowledge about the herb lore from all over the Nine Realms, and maybe outside of it. Head Healer Eir has been wishing to update the usability of the healing stone, and I wish to gift her this knowledge for her upcoming name-day celebration.
I have temporarily assigned the execution of my duties to a few trusted assistants and postponed others until I return. I may be out of contact for a while, since some of the places that I am going to visit are secluded or even secretive, but please rest your minds that I shall take all due caution and safety, especially in Jötunheim.
Until I return, warmest regards from your son and brother,
Loki Odinson

And that is the shield that I have fashioned to save myself from at least most of the future remonstrations and punishments dealt out by my family.

I hope so, in any case.

I hope, as well, that poor, kind Head Healer Eir will not bear the brunt of my family's ire.

All the same, the note is resting on the middle of the family breakfast table, now, and I am already far away from home.

Far, far away.

In fact, I am presently on the planet of Midgard, doing what I was supposed to do, for the sake of both genuine curiosity and validation of my claim in the note.

Specifically, I am now crouched on a sheltered spot – a cave-like overhang – somewhere on Midgard's southern pole, ostensibly observing, cataloguing and gathering the soft greenish purple moss that thickly carpets this place.

It is supposed to be a genuine act. However, a damp wind is blowing from the sea, now, and snow is falling gently, and everything reminds me of… something. Something that triggers a phantom ache of hunger in my stomach and loss in my chest.

This situation, this environment, is familiar, for some reason. But how? This place is colder than the coldest part on Asgard! And, to my knowledge, I was never brought anywhere else – not even to vanaheim – when I was too little for proper recollection, which must have triggered this déjà vu moment.

Well, I would rather not dwell on the conclusion I have just come to, which has sent me into this stupour in the first place.

Because, why in the universe would my parents have brought sickly little me to Jötunheim?