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Loki woke up later with a dull ache in his shoulder and found a warm blanket wrapped around him again. He lay still for a moment, taking inventory of his body and making sure everything was there. Then he tried sitting up, but he couldn't do much more than raise his head. He had been turned over onto his back, and all four of his limbs were still restrained. This time there was no confusion as to whether recent events had been real or a dream. The lingering pain in his shoulder was proof enough.

Loki squirmed gingerly, trying to prop himself up on his pillows so he could survey the room. He didn't see anyone else, no guards, no brother, and certainly no blue-faced Jotunn girl. Even so, he knew he was not alone in his chambers. As children, Thor had played enough pranks on him that he'd become very keen at sensing when there was another presence nearby.

"Are you feeling less pained now, my prince?"

Loki jumped at the voice that had come from directly behind and above him. Craning his neck backward he saw, from his vantage point, the upside-down figure of the Jotunn girl seated on the edge of his headboard with her knees gathered up to her chest. She was peering down at him with mild curiosity. "You were crying out in your sleep. I was not sure whether to wake you."

Loki stared up at her and could not help remembering childhood stories about blue-skinned monsters who towered over men and quite literally froze the blood in their veins before killing them. Thor had indulged in those kinds of tales when they were young, always going on about how he would defeat the monsters by shattering their icy armor with a mighty blow from his weapon. Loki, on the other hand, would lie awake at night and feel thankful that Jotunheim was an entirely different realm, and creatures like that did not exist in Asgard. Frost Giants. Though Loki knew there was objectively nothing giant about the girl currently balanced on his headboard, from this angle she seemed to stare down from an imposing height. He balked under her gaze and pulled instinctively at his chains.

"You are very weak," the Jotunn girl assessed, tapping her lips with a long finger. "The sealing charms on that thread have taken almost all of your magic. And you cannot eat to gain new strength. Also, you are clearly violent and mentally unsound."

Loki grunted harshly and glared, but found to his dismay that glaring upside-down was much less effective. The girl raised a silvery eyebrow and hopped down from her perch, swinging her mane of white hair behind her head. She crossed her arms and looked him straight in the eye. "Nevertheless, I will take care of you as your brother has asked. He wishes for you to be kept healthy and safe while you are confined here. This will be much easier for both of us if you learn to cooperate. You cannot simply-" she gestured vaguely toward the wreckage of his chambers, "go around breaking things and injuring yourself and bludgeoning people with that."

Loki narrowed his eyes furiously as she pointed to the candelabra on the floor. How dare this little savage stand before him and tell him how to behave! She was in the presence of a prince of Asgard! Slaying her kind had been a minor amusement for this kingdom's warriors for the past several thousand years. She ought to be grateful no one had taken a sword to her the moment she'd stepped foot in the palace. Thor's orders, no doubt, but Loki was keen to see just how long those orders would hold sway over the ancient animosity of the court.

She seemed to know what he was thinking, as she sighed and stepped back toward the kitchens. "I am going to begin cleaning the other rooms. If you need me, just….make some sort of noise. I have very strong hearing. Also, do not move that arm excessively."

She turned and vanished through the doorway as Loki clenched his fists and let his head drop into his pillows. It seemed he was cursed to spend eternity shackled to this bed while he was tormented by imbeciles. You are very weak. He gritted his teeth and pulled reflexively at the stitches that kept him from uttering every curse he knew. He wanted to get up and pace the room in agitation. He wanted to walk out of these chambers, out of the palace, and keeping walking until he reached his favorite tree in the nearby woodlands. He wanted to lie down underneath its branches and think of nothing.

Thor found him in this restless state several hours later, when the great oaf finally came thundering into his rooms with a sheaf of parchment and a quill. Loki eyed them desperately as Thor took in the state of the bedchamber and looked at him in concern. "Brother, what has happened here? Have you been destroying things again?"

Don't ask me questions until I can answer them, you idiot! Loki gestured toward his wrist shackles and gave Thor a plaintive stare. The god of thunder sighed and glanced around. "Where is your attendant?"

For the love of - Loki rolled his eyes and grunted fiercely. Imbeciles, all of them.

"Pardon me, your grace." A small, bluish figure stepped into the room and bowed demurely. "I have just been cleaning the other rooms in your brother's chambers."

"Ah, good! They were starting to look like the aftermath of a battle." Thor smiled, approaching her with his typical drawling ease. "If I may ask, what happened here?"

The girl averted her eyes tactfully. "My prince is still….struggling to accept my presence here. At the moment he is rather hostile. It is as you said; his mind and body have suffered great damage."

"Ah, yes." Thor pursed his lips uncomfortably. "Loki can be rather stubborn. It takes a great deal of persistence to –"

At this point Loki slammed his fists upon the headboard and twisted wildly against his chains. His injured arm throbbed, but he didn't care – he would not lie here mute and helpless while Thor talked about him with this savage as if he wasn't capable of understanding them. Just because he couldn't speak, didn't mean he ought to be treated like an invalid. Loki gestured toward the parchment in his brother's hands and growled insistently. The Jotunn girl watched his face. "I believe he wishes to make his thoughts known to us."

Thor looked uneasy, which prompted more thrashing about from Loki. The god of thunder placed a heavy hand against his chest and held him down. "Given these circumstances, I am not sure this is the right time for a conversation. My brother can be rather….harsh when he is upset. He will go to great lengths to give insult to anyone his wrath falls upon. I would not wish for you to be offended…."

Loki felt acid rise in his throat and burn his tongue. He wanted to scream in fury and overturn every piece of furniture in the palace. Thor had no right to deny him this, his only means of interaction and relief. Why was he so concerned about the feelings of some wasteland savage who probably couldn't read anyway? The girl tilted her head as she glanced over his strained face. "We must listen to him. It will ease his suffering. That is why we are here, yes?"

"Yes, but I don't want you to have to –" Thor stopped as she crossed the room and hopped back onto the headboard, drawing her knees up to her chest in what seemed to be her usual style of sitting.

"There is nothing he can say that has not been said before." Her grey eyes seemed to cloud over like a coming thunderstorm, but Loki breathed in relief when he saw that his brother was finally convinced. Thor's strong hands unlocked the shackles binding his wrists and Loki sat up and immediately grabbed the parchment and quill. His injured arm shook as he dashed ink across the page with a speed gained from many years of scholarship. Thor came to sit on the bed and Loki practically shoved the parchment in his face. I demand you cease your deplorable actions toward me at once.

Thor raised his eyebrow. "Me? What did I do?"

Loki's fingers nearly bowled over the quill as he wrote, You brought this lowly creature into my chambers as a mockery against my origins. Did you think I wouldn't suspect as much? You intend to humiliate me further by associating me with these miserable Jotunn beasts.

"I don't – Loki, that's not true," Thor argued, while the girl watched calmly from her perch. "I would never do something like that. I brought her here to help you recover from your ordeal. You cannot stay like this – the way you've been these past months. And I cannot stand to see you in such despair."

Then why do you insist on coming to see me? Loki wrote, scowling.

"You are my brother," Thor replied simply.

Loki's hand clenched around the quill, rolling it between the pads of his fingers. After a moment, he scribbled I'm not, though.

Thor furrowed his brow. "Loki, you ought to know better than that."

Don't tell me what I ought to know. Loki practically stabbed the quill into the parchment before remembering that his primary objective was to rid himself of the unwanted newcomer. He had limited space to write; Thor never seemed to bring enough parchment for everything he wanted to say. He glared over at the Jotunn girl on his headboard. If you are determined to furnish me with a new attendant, you must find one from Asgard. I don't care who. Anyone is better than this – he gesticulated wildly toward her and she raised a silvery eyebrow at him.

"Loki," Thor warned in a low voice. "That is not going to happen. Have you forgotten how many servants you've driven away these past months? After all that, do you think it was easy to find someone willing to look after you? This girl will stay for as long as she pleases."

I don't need anyone to look after me!

"Yes," Thor said firmly, "you do."

Is this part of my punishment, to have every detail of my life taken out of my control? Loki shoved the paper in his brother's face and Thor frowned and started to answer when he was interrupted by a sharp rapping on the door. One of those hateful guards leaned his head into the room and uttered, "My lord, your father the king has requested your presence in the throne room."

Thor sighed, looking down at Loki regretfully. "More matters of state to attend to, I'm afraid. But I'll rest easier knowing you won't be here alone." He moved to take the quill and Loki lunged away from him, clutching it tightly to his chest. Thor frowned and moved toward his brother, who could not retreat any further due to the shackles on his ankles. "Loki, stop it. You know you cannot keep that. If the Allfather found out I'd even let you use it in my presence…."

"Why can't he have the quill?" inquired the sudden voice of the Jotunn girl, who was watching the brothers' struggle for possession of the writing implement. Thor pinned Loki's hands in his lap and managed to wrest it from between his fingers, causing the younger man to choke on a scream of fury. It felt like his shoulder being dislocated again, a part of him breaking off and leaving him undone. I need that! He threw himself at Thor and wrestled with his forearms, fighting to snatch the quill back. The god of thunder stepped out of his reach, leaving Loki to claw at the air and strain desperately at his stitches.

Thor gave him another sorrowful look. "My brother is not permitted to have any sharp objects in his possession. He has used even the most ordinary items to cause injury to himself and others, even this." Loki knew Thor was referring to the times when he had given in to anguish and sliced at his own mouth, desperate to get free of the stitches. Any servant or guard who came near to stop him was at risk of being stabbed. Loki only wanted to be left alone to his misery and self-mutilation. Instead they took away his sharp implements and bound his hands and left him trapped in these silent chambers with no way out. He stared pleadingly toward Thor, who looked at the ground. "He will be quite upset after I go, so keep watch from a distance. Give him nothing except water, and do not get within arm's reach. When he calms, you might try reading to him. He enjoys that a great deal."

Loki cried out as Thor moved to leave the room, but his brother set his shoulders in a stiff line and did not look back. "It will be all right, Loki. I'll come again soon." Then he was gone, the door closing loudly behind him. Loki gave a broken wail and threw himself onto his mattress, pounding his fists against the headboard and tearing at the fabric of his pillows. The stitches on his mouth burned like fire. He could feel traitorous tears flaring in his eyes, and a muffled sob tore free of his chest. Then he couldn't stop them and he simply lay facedown on his bed and wept until his head hurt as much as the rest of him. Finally he was too exhausted to cry anymore. He rolled over and stared at the old cracks in his ceiling, which as a boy had soothed him before he fell asleep. He vaguely noticed the Jotunn girl was no longer seated on his headboard, but he was too miserable to care where she had gone. He squeezed his eyes shut and lay still, willing sleep to come and take him from this awful place. Time passed – he didn't know how much, but he could tell from the faint sounds of voices in the hallways and breezes outside. Still rest remained out of his reach. Loki moaned and pressed his hands over his eyes, feeling his head throb and his jaws ache. Why should he expect sleep to be more merciful to him than any other force in this goddamn cosmos? He hurt. He hurt so much.

"Pardon me, my prince."

Loki cracked an eye open and wearily observed the Jotunn girl standing in the doorway to the kitchens. She stood out in stark contrast to the cream-colored wallpaper, and she appeared to be clutching a thick tome in her bluish hands. "Your brother said you liked being read to. May I read to you from this book I brought with me? It is a collection of stories called 'creation myths' from the peoples of Midgard."

Loki wondered vaguely how a Jotunn savage had even learned to read, much less gotten ahold of a book from another realm. He stared warily at her but had no energy to protest. She seemed to take his silence as an assent, crossing the room and righting a fallen chair near his bed. Loki noticed that she heeded his brother's warning to stay well out of his reach. She sat down and flipped the book open to what looked to be a table of contents. "I have read them all many times, and they are as strange as they are colorful. The earliest one comes from a place called Mesopotamia. It is called the Enuma Elish, which means "when on high." It says that in the beginning, there were two beings who existed with no maker; Apsu, the god of fresh water, and Tiamat, the goddess of sea water. They came together and brought forth many sons and daughters. In time, the sons began to disregard the orders of their father, so Apsu decided to have them killed. But Tiamat learned of his plans and warned her son, Ea…."

Loki didn't want to, but he couldn't help relaxing as her low, dark voice laid out the tale of a divine family history more lurid and chaotic than even his own. Ea used an incantation to cast his father into an enchanted slumber, then murdered him to avoid his wrath. (Loki recalled the time he had tried a similar trick, only this one ended with him killing his true father instead of Odin.) After becoming the supreme god, Ea had a son of his own called Marduk. Meanwhile Tiamat grieved her husband's death and decided to avenge him by creating eleven monsters of the deep to help her overthrow Ea and the other gods. She also took another husband, Kingu, who was one of the sons she had bourn with Apsu. (Loki made a choked noise of disgust at this.) Marduk, now grown, promised to save the gods from Tiamat and her monsters if they would make him the supreme deity. (Of course he did, because simply being a god wasn't good enough, was it?) They agreed, and Marduk challenged Tiamat to battle and cut her in half, using one half of her body to create the heavens and the other half to form the earth. (What the hell kind of story was this, anyway?)

Loki breathed slowly as he listened. He turned his head very slightly to peek at the Jotunn girl, whose white hair fell loosely over her face as she read about how Marduk had won and killed Kingu, creating from his blood that weaker race known as humans. Loki felt his eyelids growing heavy as the wheels of thought in his mind slowed. He stayed awake long enough to hear the gods declare Marduk supreme and gather in their council chamber to call out the fifty names of his greatness. Loki was asleep before they finished all the names.