THANK YOU TO ALL MY AWESOME READERS, REVIEWERS, AND EVEN MY CRITICS!
Beta: Zerubel
Ok! So I hadn't originally planned to break this off as the beginning of a new part, but Part 5 seemed to be dragging on and on and so I have. The good news at least, for you lot, is that not only are you not stuck with my usual break between parts, but I have continued to update consistently for the last few chapters! Here's hoping I'm able to continue that!
This was a strange chapter for me to write. Some chapters like to be difficult, and I find myself wrangling with them like a cowboy with an unruly bull. This was definitely one of those. So, if there are some parts that seem a little strange, that's why. But I wrote and then rewrote this one three times, so I'm just going to call it done now.
That said, I think it turned out ok, I just felt the need to warn you in case anyone thinks this chapter goes down a little in quality compared to previous chapters.
Moving on, I've got nothing to say here, although I do have a couple things to add at the end that will explain a couple unusual things in this chapter, so please read my ending note!
That's all I've got for now, so let's get to it!
Enjoy!
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Harry made the marks carefully; each symbol was painstakingly written out with great care into patterns of lines and shapes that were as perfect as he could make them. He had learned seals in China, but this was the first time he had ever tried to put his ideas of combining them with runes into practical use outside of a few simple tests. He knew all the theory and magic behind the processes well enough to know that it would work, he'd just never actually done it before.
And given the situation, he couldn't afford to make any mistakes.
Which was why he was taking his time somewhat, even though he wished he could go more quickly. Not one line, one mark, one single swipe of his brush could be out of place. He'd made various rune projects here and there, put small ideas to life, though he'd not done much with the fruits of his labours. There were a pair of bracers much like the ones he currently wore that were collecting dust on a shelf at home, several bands of various purpose and ability stuffed into a chest at Bogdon, some scraps of leather that he'd begun to make into armour but abandoned, even a set of books meant to work as communicators that had reminded him, when he was done, too much of Tom's old journal (as such, he'd thrown them in a box someplace and forgotten them). The only things he'd created that he actually made use of were his own glamour bands, and the size band he'd made for Metis that Tom still wore.
There was another thing too that he hadn't actually used yet beyond a bit of practice, but would be taking with him to Muspelheim just in case. But this would be his first 'big' project, something he needed and would use; something important. Something that could maybe save his life, or someone else's, depending on the situation.
Tom watched him as he worked on the cloak, but remained silent so as not to distract him. It was a point of pride for Harry that for all the experience and obscure magical knowledge the older wizard-turned-snake had at his disposal, runes were an area in which Harry's own knowledge surpassed his. That wasn't to say that he knew nothing of the subject. On the contrary, the former Dark Lord knew quite a bit more about runes than most, but he had willingly admitted that he understood very little of what Harry was doing now, beyond a handful of the symbols and the arithmancy values. So he was watching, hoping to learn something new.
Muhammad was there too, but sitting over by the main window of Harry's quarters smoking and reading one of those books. The only sounds in the room were of the pages as he flipped them, and the occasional slight tinking sound when Harry dipped his brush back into the ink and tapped it against the bottle to get rid of the excess. He didn't want to accidentally drip ink somewhere and ruin the entire configuration. Especially not now, after he'd been working on it for several hours and he was almost done. His back ached terribly but if he stopped in the middle of working then the runes could destabilize, and destabilized runes led to anything from explosions, to magical backlashes with unpredictable consequences, to turning whatever they were applied to into a sludge with effects very much like acid.
He was hungry too, and his stomach interrupted the relative silence to complain. Moo's eyes flicked over to him.
"How close are you to finishing?"
"Ten more minutes or so." The animagus replied distractedly and he hummed, and stood up with a heavy audible sigh, as though about to perform a difficult task.
"I'll get you some food. Water too?"
"Mead please." He snorted, but left to get it. Harry could definitely use a drink once this was finished. It was silent again with Moo gone. Harry wiped some sweat from his forehead, not for the first time, and the Arab male returned just in time to see him finish and apply the needed magic to activate the thing. The runes glowed a white and then sickly neon green, and then turned black again. He eyed it carefully and ran a hand over the material. The magic felt right, and the pelt itself was surprisingly soft.
"Did it work?"
"Well, it didn't blow us all up, so yes." He snorted again, and handed Harry a plate and a tankard, both of which he took gratefully. He set them down on his bed and stretched, cracking his back with a relieved groan, and then sitting to chow down while Tom looked over the runes, making sense of what he could to guess at everything Harry had done.
"I've seen a few of these on brooms, but a lot of their focus is in the enchantments placed on them after that. They don't last as long, which is why brooms lose power and effectiveness as they get old."
"Like the one's at Hogwarts?"
"Yes. Most of this is foreign to me. That main circle, at the base, that's a stabilizer, yes?" Moo settled himself stomach-down on the bed next to where Harry sat, laying his head on folded arms and closing his eyes.
"Partially. It also serves as a gathering point for the rest of the rune lines. Ties them all together so I don't have chains of runes all over the place."
"You used chains?" The serpent dipped his head closer to the pelt, looking more closely at the markings.
"I got the idea from that scepter. It's a lot harder to do than normal configurations, especially when it's laid out like that, but it'll help it all work together better make the cloak respond to my commands quicker."
"This section here, those look like calling runes?" He ended uncertainly on a questioning note, and Harry finished chewing his meat (he had no idea what it actually was; it was red meat but he'd never seen cows or pigs in Asgard and it didn't taste quite like either) before he answered.
"They are."
"There's something you're connecting to this?" He nodded.
"A band that'll go on my tail. The runes on this will respond to the motions of the band to help me steer. It'll work in place of tail-feathers on a bird."
"Ah." He continued to study it for several moments while Harry ate, and then shook his head. "The extent of your rune knowledge astounds me." Harry shrugged, a little uncomfortable. His tail flicked behind him, curling against his leg.
"I'm not a Master. There's quite a few people out there who know more than I do."
"I would be surprised if that was the case..." Tom muttered the last bit, and Harry only just heard him. He chose not to acknowledge that. Sure, he knew a lot about runes, but he was hardly the leading expert on the subject.
... Not that he knew who was.
He finished his food in silence, Tom slithering up to lay in the spot of sun coming through the window. Harry's eyes caught on the movement, and, more importantly, on the book laying on the sill. His chewing slowed and he glanced at Moo, who was still, his breathing deep. He wasn't asleep yet, but he soon would be if Harry left him alone. This was the first time he hadn't shrunk and hidden one of the books he'd taken away the moment he paused his reading. A quick summoning charm, and Harry could finally find out wh-
"Don't even think about it." He jumped, gaze jerking to the other wizard. He had one eye half open and was looking at Harry lazily. The animagus scowled.
"How can I not think about it when you've been so damned secretive about it? You won't tell me a bloody thing." Muhammad opened his eyes fully then, but didn't lift his head.
"Don't you trust me?" Harry was taken aback.
"What? Of course I do! What does that have to do wi-"
"Then trust me in this. Trust that I'm not reading into anything bad, and that I'll tell you about it when I'm ready to. You act like you think I'm up to something terrible." His voice had turned bitter, and Harry frowned. Moo acted irritated a good portion of the time, but that was practically his default mood, and he knew the other male well enough to know that it was rare for him to really be bothered about anything; but he was about this.
"It's not that. I've just been worried. You came home that night after some kind of fight and you've been acting oddly ever since then." Moo looked away. "You haven't insulted me half as much, you've been strangely quiet, and you've been reading those books so intently they may as well be religious texts. I've never seen you even touch anything with more than a hundred pages in it! You've been..." He made a noise of frustration. "different. I just-" He stopped, not sure how to put it in words. Muhammad rolled onto his back so he could look at him better. His torso was pressed up closely enough to Harry's knee in the new position that he had to wrap his arm around the animagus just so there was space for it. Harry knew the awkward half-embrace was him being comforting as well.
"I'm ok. Really, Harry." His eyes were soft, the way they got sometimes, when he knew that was what Harry needed. Muhammad was an asshole, but, with Harry at least, he could be surprisingly compassionate at times. "I just..." He sighed. "I had a... wake up call, I guess. I realized a problem, and I'm trying to fix it." He turned his head, looking at the book across the room. "I've been researching."
"Researching what?" He shook his head.
"Don't worry about it."
"Bu-"
"Harry. It's... If I can find a way to fix the problem, I'll tell you about it then. If I can't I'll put the books back in the library and we can both forget about it. You've got enough on your plate, you don't need to worry about this too, especially if it turns out that there's nothing to be done about it." He frowned, but Moo rubbed his side once and then pulled away and rolled back onto his stomach. "It's alright ok? It's nothing- It's not bad, I promise. You don't need to worry, alright? Just- just trust me." Harry took a deep breath.
"Ok." Moo met his eyes and smiled. It was soft, the sort of smile he really meant, and an expression Harry only saw on him once in a blue moon.
"You just worry about your King thing right now, alright?" His smile turned more into a smirk. "You need to stop hunting for more things to fret over you moron." Harry swung his tail around to swat him with it. He smacked him right on the bum and then laughed so hard at Moo's following good-natured grumbles and curses that he knocked his tankard off the bed.
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Of all the magical forms of travel that Harry had experienced, the smooth, easy transition of using the bifrost was certainly his favorite. No spinning. No nausea. No tight through-a-tube feeling. No wild bus rides where you had to hold on for dear life. It was fairly pleasant, more or less. The only problem Harry had with it was the suddenness of the transition. Portkeys were sudden too, but the horrid feeling of the portkey itself did, in its own way, cause your body to expect a difference, in fact, portkeys were designed to be uncomfortable for that exact reason. It was entirely possible to (with some practice and knowledge of spell creation) create a portkey that didn't feel all that bad. But no one would do it, because then your body wouldn't know to expect a change, and it would make the travel even more jarring than it already was.
Which was why, even though travelling through the bifrost was fairly comfortable, the sudden change between the pleasant and clean-smelling atmosphere of Asgard, and the extreme heat and sulfur-scent of Muspelheim, made him jerk a little when they arrived. He shuddered and took a deep breath when the light of the bifrost faded away, eyes flicking around him to study the unfamiliar environment.
His whole body tensed with alarm.
Surtur had apparently requested that only a small contingent of Asgardians be sent along. Out of respect for the turbulent relationship between the two realms and their leaders, Odin had agreed. As such, it was just himself, Thor and his friends, and four other warriors, one of whom was older, and who had been chosen for his previous experience with the Eldjotnar. When he'd told Harry the reason for the small numbers, the animagus had agreed that it was probably for the best. After all, there was no reason to provoke Surtur and his people unduly over something like a few extra men. But now, Harry reconsidered his previous thoughts on the matter.
They were standing in a cage.
It was the first thing he registered, and his body went completely rigid at the notion. It was a chore to keep his tail wrapped around his waist and not allow it to swing outwards and flick in anger. There was a pressure on his wrist and his eyes flicked down. Tom had made use of the collar he wore, making himself nearly as small as Metis had been when Harry first found her (and Metis had never made himself smaller than a python, so he hadn't realized Tom could do that) and wrapping himself around the animagus' wrist. He blended in so well with the multitude of jewelry the wizard wore that no one would notice him as long as he was still. That was not the only reason for his closeness however. So long as he remained flush against the animagus' skin, the heavily enchanted belt Odin had given him was able to extend its protection to the serpent. Harry could feel the heat, like lying on a rock under the sun, against his skin even with the belt and the cooling runes built into his new cloak. He didn't want to imagine how hot it would be without those things.
Relax Harry.
We're in a cage.
I know. But Heimdall wouldn't have sent you here if he couldn't see what was waiting for you. If he could see it, that means he can bring you back. Tom was missing the point. Harry didn't give a fuck if it would be easy to get out, the fact still remained that they were in a Mitera-damned cage.
Regardless, he did his best to remain calm, turning his attention outside the matte black bars to the room beyond. The cage itself seemed to be a new addition, having been placed into the center of the room which reminded Harry a little of the atrium at the Ministry. It was clearly there for the express purpose of accepting visitors from the bifrost, or at least that was what he thought. It was a large room with a rounded ceiling above them, and, though he was more concerned with their current predicament than aesthetics, it was also very beautiful. The floor was a black marble with crackles of white spread throughout it in a way that was reminiscent of lightning. The walls were inlaid with large stones that looked eerily familiar, and he glanced from them to one of the stones on his focus band, blinking. Labradorite? He didn't know it was possible to find pieces of it that were that large. They were irregularly shaped, but sanded smoothly down to a shine, and set together perfectly, like an enormous jigsaw puzzle; the grout between them shining gold. They continued up until the start of the ceiling beams, which were also gold. The ceiling itself was a white stone of some sort that glowed slightly, serving as the main light source, though smaller lights (small glowing orbs that reminded him of fairy-lights) had still been placed along the walls to make the room brighter.
The room only had two doorways, both enormous, arch-shaped, and without actual doors. They each had a set guards flanking them. Harry's eyes were drawn, however, to the two people in the room standing closest to them, and he looked them over, taking in his first encounter with Muspelheim's residents. The two of them were both similar but also vastly different, and he couldn't help but to compare them.
They were both far taller than him, red-skinned and heavily tattooed. They both had horns and tails and neither wore clothes from the waist upwards, but that was where the similarities ended.
One was a woman. Harry probably only came up to her hip or so. Her skin was a dark maroon and she was entirely hairless. Her horns were relatively short and framed her bare head. There were six of them, the frontmost set being the largest, with the set behind being smaller, and the set behind that even more so; the effect was similar to a crown. Her eyes were black, and from her neck downwards she was covered in swirling, orange plant-like tattoos that glowed. They were incredibly intricate, and if they reminded him of anything, they reminded him of some of the beautiful henna designs he'd seen in India; only the designs weren't as tightly packed. One nipple was pierced, the piercing itself being shiny grey metal and curving down into a hook shape. Plain white cloth was wrapped around her waist, with a length falling down in front and in back. She was muscled and had a spear in hand, which, given the knicks in the head near the point, had clearly seen use.
The other was a man, and where the male guards stationed at the doorways had a similar height to the woman, he was even bigger, easily a head taller than the woman, leaving Harry's own height at somewhere near his groin. He was much wider too, large and bulky like the Hulk, but slightly more lean. He had only two horns which were long and curved very slightly, pointing straight up in an overall effect like a very large 'U'. His skin was more of a blood-red, and unlike the woman (or the guards, from what Harry could see) he had hair; a wild black mane of it that flared around his head and down to his shoulders. His tattoos and clothes were similar to the woman's, but his tail was easily twice as long as hers, laying across the floor in a small coil. His own eyes glowed as a bright an orange as his tattoos, and he had an enormous sword, about as long as Harry was tall, strapped to his hip.
But the thing the animagus took the greatest note of, was the spiked metal band set between his horns. It wasn't particularly complex (just a dark metal with a slight 'v' shape, with the bottom point coming down over his forehead a bit), but Harry could tell it was a crown.
So this was the King of Muspelheim.
"What is the meaning of this?" Thor was the first to speak, his voice ringing with a combination of confusion and anger.
"A precaution." It was the woman who answered (her voice slightly scratchy and loud in the chamber they were in), but it was her King who explained.
"Forgive me if I was not willing to trust Asgardian thieves to roam freely through our home. You are here to speak, and you can speak as easily from there as any other place, Odinson." He bit the final word out like a curse, his voice lighter in tone than Harry had expected, given his size. The wizard's eyes narrowed, attention drawn more to the first part of his speech.
"Thieves?" King Surtur and the woman looked at him then, seeming to take notice of him for the first time. They'd been paying more attention to Thor and the warriors around him.
"You are not an Asgardian." The woman's voice was neutral, but there was an air of confusion there.
"No, I'm not." He stepped forward, coming close to the bars. Thor paused, face still angry, but didn't speak again. Harry wondered if he was trusting him to take care of this, or if Odin had ordered him to leave the animagus to lead things. "I am King Harry Black, of Niflheim. I came here to speak with you." The yew band and the ring both warmed against his skin, and he grit his teeth slightly, ignoring them. Both their eyes widened in unconcealed shock, and while the woman's mouth fell open slightly, the giant King frowned.
"On behalf of Asgard?"
"On behalf of peace." There was silence for several moments, and then the two exchanged a glance. The woman turned her gaze back to him and nodded.
"My apologies, King Black. We had not expected you to be accompanying the-" Her eyes flicked to them, something heated in her gaze. "Asgardians. Had we been aware-"
"You would have greeted us more respectfully?" He interrupted her. It wasn't polite, and he knew that, but the cage grated on his nerves in a way he hadn't expected it to. The more beastly side of his nature had immediately sat up and taken note of their situation. He could feel a rumbling fury at the confinement inside himself that made it more difficult than he would have liked not to snarl audibly.
The very sight of the bars made him want, badly, to sink his claws into something that could bleed.
"We do not trust members of Odin's house to roam freely here. I am sorry." He met her gaze with narrowed eyes.
So it's not the Asgardians as a whole? Just the House of Odin? They don't trust Thor?
I don't know. There seems to be some history here that we're not aware of. For the first time, it occurred to Harry that Odin hadn't actually told him what the problem here was, just that war was brewing on the horizon. Harry had gotten so caught up in his concerns over his title and in making his cloak so he would be prepared, that he hadn't even noticed.
That sneaky son of a bitch.
"Perhaps, but surely there's a private room of some sort where we could speak that would allow
you to... Keep an eye on us without these sort of methods?" He flicked a finger against one of the bars, the metal making a ting sound that echoed louder than it was into the room around them. He and the woman shared another look, and, with a frown, the larger Eldjotnar nodded slightly. The woman turned to them and made a swipe through the air with her spear. The cage rose up, and Harry stepped forward without bothering to look up at it. His touch of the bars had been enough to tell him it wasn't magical at all.
It would have been easy enough to get rid of it.
Escalations like that are not what we're here for, Harry.
I know. That doesn't make the temptation to blow it to pieces lessen much. There was a sense of mirth from the former Dark Lord at that.
"Thank you." There was no real gratitude in his voice, and the woman, at least, had the grace to look a little uncomfortable, if not quite ashamed. The Asgardians came up behind him, and Thor moved to stand next to Harry. They glanced at each other. The Thunderer looked as unhappy with the circumstances of their arrival as Harry was, but the animagus tried to convey with his eyes the need to keep this calm. Thor took a deep breath, and turned his attention to the Eldjotnar.
"We come here in peace, King Surtur." He said. "We come to speak, not to fight... Nor to steal from you."
"It would not be the first time an Asgardian came to these lands in the name of peace," Surtur spoke, voice hard. "and left a trail of falsehoods and dishonor in his wake." The Asgardian Prince looked deeply offended, and, gaze flicking over the others, Harry could see he was not the only one unhappy with the insinuations being made. Sif was frowning, her jaw clenching in a way that suggested she was gritting her teeth, and Volstagg had one hand wrapped tightly around the axe at his hip. One of the younger warriors was baring his teeth much like Harry himself sometimes did.
"Perhaps that's the case." Harry intervened. "But no Asgardian has come here in the name of peace with someone like me beside them. I assure you, we're here for what we say, and I would ask that you respect that, whether you believe it or not." His eyes narrowed, his tone changing, taking on a slight mix of incredulity and disgust. He'd learned that from his father. It was a tone he'd directed at his students once. It wasn't a strong inflection; just enough to get a rise without immediately offending. "How are we to discuss peace if you spend your time trying to antagonize each other?" He looked to Volstagg, who met his stare and dropped his hand from his blade, and then turned his attention upwards towards Muspelheim's ruler. They didn't speak, but after several moments he dipped his head in acknowledgement of Harry's point.
He could feel Tom's pride.
"Come." He waved a massive hand and turned away towards one of the doorways. "There is a room this way we can make use of." He walked at a slow pace, the woman beside him and occasionally glancing back, with the rest of them behind. They were forced to walk very quickly in order to keep up. They didn't say a word, and the hallway they were led down was long and with the same sort of design as the circular room. The only sounds to be heard were the heavy echoing of their footsteps.
Is there anything you know that might help here?
You should have asked that before we arrived.
I'm asking now. There was a hissed sound in his mind that had no meaning but Harry likened it to a huff.
Well... I don't know if it will matter, but it might, given the way they gave into your demand for a meeting room so easily.
Hmm?
Niflheim and Muspelheim are sister-realms, or so Hel told me at least.
Sister realms?
Well, there's a story to it; a creation myth about how everything began. As it goes, back at the beginning the only realms to exist were Niflheim and Muspelheim. In the void between them was an empty place called Ginnungagap. The myth says that from Ginnungagap was born Ymir, a being of unfathomable size and the first of all Jotuns. From him were born the first of all Jotuns; the frost giants and the fire giants. The former made their home at first in Niflheim, and the second in Muspelheim. As time went on the other realms came into existence, and with them some level of order was needed. Helheim was created to house the dead-
I thought the dead lived in Niflheim?
Well, in a way, they do. Helheim is a realm within a realm. It exists at the center of Niflheim, and that's where most of the dead are kept. Think of it like... Helheim is the Kingdom and Niflheim is the country surrounding it, still part of the Kingdom, but...
Not as heavily inhabited?
Sort of, now, let me finish. As the story continues, the Norns created Helheim to house the dead and create a semblance of order, but with its creation, the surrounding lands of Niflheim became so volatile and vicious that ordinary living beings could no longer exist there, so the Norns took the most peaceful part of it and broke it away, forming it into its own realm, which then became Jotunheim. They left the two connected by a small passageway that has since been lost to time. The Jotuns crossed over and made their home in Jotunheim; all but one of them. Hel didn't give me a name for her, but she became the first Ruler of Niflheim, and Helheim of course.
Later on, Ymir was destroyed, and his body was used to form the realm of Midgard, with the first of Earth's giants being born from his corpse.
But they're-
The giants on Earth today have been ravaged through time. Attacks by wizards and the encroachment of muggles on their territory lessened their numbers considerably. They were forced to resort to inbreeding just to keep their species alive, and that inbreeding has led to the beastly existence they have today. But going back to Niflheim and Muspelheim. The jotuns of both races recognize their ancestry. They have an alliance that dates back practically to the very beginning, and although they can only meet directly at the well of Urd or in a realm outside their own homes, that alliance has stood firm all these millennia.
When the frost giants die, they call it 'going home', because they consider it the land of their birth. And as Niflheim is where the fire giants go in death as well, they consider it a place where they are able to meet and be with their frost giant siblings. Both species consider death with a sort of reverence. Niflheim is important to both of them. Because of that...
You think they might feel some level of subservience to me?
No, not subservience... But perhaps kinship? I imagine they hold you in high regard. At least, I think they do.
Well, that would explain why Odin asked me to come here. If they respect me already, then that can work in our favor.
Indeed. They came to a fork in the hallway and turned, and the woman looked back over her shoulder at them as though to be sure they were still following. The hall widened considerably this way, and there was a closed set of arched doors partway down that King Surtur seemed to be headed straight for. Harry supposed that must be it then. He slowed down a bit to walk in step with Thor, and the Eldjotnar ahead of them slowed down slightly as well, and then stopped in front of the door. The two of them traded a glance before the King opened the door. There was something significant there, and Harry's eyes narrowed suspiciously.
Something's up. Tom didn't respond, but he tightened slightly around Harry's wrist again. The Eldjotnar entered the room without incident, and then the rest of them followed through.
Shit.
The second he passed through the door he felt the buzz of a ward of some kind, and the next moment his entire body lit up red. He went rigid, and then realized it wasn't hurting him. Thor and the others had frozen just past the room's entry and he looked at them. He was the only one glowing, and he knew that couldn't bode well. Thor pulled his hammer from his hip, and one of the other warriors drew his sword.
"What trickery is this?" The Thunderer barked, looking between Surtur and Harry. The King of Muspelheim looked entirely unconcerned with the threat of violence, and was instead looking down on the lone wizard of the group with darkened eyes.
"I could ask the same. The magic of this room reveals falsehoods. What is this? Some Asgardian plot? Did you think you could claim yourself Niflheim's ruler to make me drop my guard?" Harry glared at him.
"I didn't lie about who I am." He snarled.
"And yet your form is cloaked in illusions." His stomach filled with ice.
"Harry?" Fandral was looking at him suspiciously. Surtur sneered.
"Your face is not your own, and you expect me to believe you are who you say?" His eyes flicked between the fire giants and the Aesir. The giant woman had a tight grip on her sword, and Thor looked uncertain.
Sif was clutching the handle of her own blade, her eyes suspicious, but she shifted on her feet as though she wasn't sure what to do. Harry could see the shine of Hogun's sword, where he had pushed it out of the scabbard slightly, preparing to draw, but his face was unreadable.
Harry.
Tom, I can't sh-
You have to. What's more important? The chance to prevent war, or the Asgardians' trust?
Tom. His heart was beating wildly in his chest, but he knew he didn't have a choice. The snake's voice quieted.
The opinion of one woman isn't worth what it will cost if you don't reveal yourself now. You don't have a choice. He grit his teeth, and then, meeting Surtur's eyes, he unclasped his glamour band. He stopped glowing. There were sharp intakes of breath from his friends, but he didn't look in their direction. He bared his teeth at the giant.
"I am exactly who I say I am." His words has the taste of a hiss to him, and he let his tail fall from its place around his waist to brush the floor. "I arrive here to find myself in a cage, and now you call me a liar to my face." His eyes darkened, pupils slitting dangerously thin. "I expected better of Niflheim's sister realm." He said, throwing Tom's early words in the Eldjotnar's face. The other King looked taken aback, and it was the woman who stepped forth to speak, her expression placating. It was enough to prove that Tom was probably right, because he could see in their expressions that they were backpedalling now.
"I am sorry, your majesty. You must understand, we could not be too careful."
"There is a difference between caution and this sort of bull-"
Harry! He didn't finish his sentence, instead he took a deep breath, getting the reins on his temper even though his stomach churned. He was scared to look at Thor and see disgust or distrust there.
He was scared to see those things on Sif's face as well.
"I came here for the sake of peace, not to cause more conflict." His eyes flicked over the room. There were no chairs, but there were several large cushions in varying shades of white and cream on the floor that looked to be for sitting. He waved a hand towards them. "Perhaps we can sit, and get started towards that goal. They both nodded. Harry finally looked at Thor, but didn't allow his eyes to slip to the others. The god looked more puzzled than anything else, and also off-kilter, as though he'd expected one thing and been given another, and wasn't sure what to make of it yet. His eyes kept moving from Harry's face to his tail. 'Later.' Harry mouthed at him. He nodded, slowly, and hesitantly put Mjolnir back at his hip. Harry turned away, and they all went and sat down. It didn't escape his notice how hesitant some of the Asgardian's steps were.
He felt exposed.
Harry had planned to, eventually, show Thor and Sif, and even the Warriors three, what he looked like beneath his glamours. But he had planned to do it slowly. He had imagined it happening in his quarters in Asgard, on his terms. He would have shown Thor first, maybe with his brothers' there with him; he would have gauged the Thunderer's reaction and used it to help him decide how to proceed with the others. But this-
This sudden reveal- It was too abrupt, too jarring. This wasn't how it was supposed to happen. And even worse, with the other, more unfamiliar warriors there, he likely wouldn't even be able to keep it quiet. Thor and his friends he might have trusted not to tell anyone, but the others? He didn't know them. They didn't know him. And he would bet that it would only take a few hours after their return for word to spread.
He felt sick to his stomach.
Calm down Harry.
How can you expect me to calm down? They-
Harry. Look at them. They're surprised and confused, not revolted. Even with Tom's assurances, he couldn't bring himself to. He kept his eyes forward, and came to sit on one of the cushions. They'd been created with the fire giants in mind, and were only a bit smaller in size than a large mattress. He settled down in the middle of one, and, to his surprise, found himself joined by Thor on one side, and, when he looked, by Sif on the other. He couldn't read the expression on her face, but for just a moment he felt her fingers curl around his own and squeeze. It surprised him, and he was sure it showed, because she frowned a little and looked away.
But it was enough to ease him, or at least, ease him enough to take stock of the other Aesirs' reactions.
Fandral looked... Well, Harry couldn't really make sense of his expression any more than Sif's. But he kept glancing at the wizard and then away, and he was frowning. Hogun had a considering look on his face. Volstagg was wide-eyed. He kept looking at Harry's tail where it moved and his face seemed to flick between unbelieving and wondering. It was surprisingly childlike, and more funny to the animagus than upsetting. The other four warriors, the ones Harry didn't know, mostly looked disconcerted.
Except for the older man. His reaction was the strangest of them. He looked almost... Sad? Regretful? Harry didn't know what to make of it.
I told you so.
What are you, five?
He looked away as King Surtur and his companion settled down on their own seats and crossed their legs. He took a deep breath, trying to settle his nerves. The reveal of his form left him unsettled and uncomfortable. He was treading water in an unfamiliar ocean, with no idea how to proceed.
But this situation was more important than what he was feeling just then, and he needed to remember that.
He turned his attention to the woman once they were all settled.
"Before we get started, I know who your king is, but I'm afraid I don't know your name, ma'am." Something strange flickered across her face, but she leaned forwards across the small bit of space between them, and offered Harry her hand.
"I am Ragnhild, your majesty, Commander of the guard."
"It's an honor to meet you, Commander." He nodded at her, shaking her hand firmly. It was much larger than his own, but for a moment, Harry was distracted by the Aesir on either side of him. With the giantess this close the two had reacted. Sif was stiff beside him, and Thor was leaning away slightly. Harry glanced at him. He looked uncomfortable. There was the slightest bit of red in his cheeks, and his eyes were fixed on Ragnhild...
Too low on her, however, to be her face. Harry tried to follow his eyes and blinked a little as he let go of Ragnhild's hand. Her nipple piercing? What was wrong with that? True Harry had never seen such a thing. Oh he'd seen piercings, but not one there. Of course, his experience with topless women was limited to what little he'd seen on the telly or the occasional advertisement, and his time travelling between tribes in the Magical African Nation. Almost none of the tribal women wore tops. The only exceptions were a few larger breasted women who sometimes wrapped their breasts when working, if they were of a size that caused them to get in the way. He still recalled the first time he'd seen one of them breastfeed. He'd known of course, from what little biology he'd gone through in primary school, that that was how infants were fed, but he'd never seen it himself before then.
Maybe the Asgardians disapproved of the piercing because it got in the way of such things? He frowned, but put the thought aside for later consideration when Surtur spoke.
"We have long made our desires clear to Asgard, and Asgard has long ignored our requests. Have you come here to consider them properly now? Or to offer pointless appeasements?" Thor shifted.
"The things you want are not things Asgard is willing to offer. Your desires are unreasonable, and you know this." Surtur snorted.
"Unreasonable? I find nothing unreasonable about them."
"Pardon," Harry interrupted. "but what is it you want?" The giant frowned a little.
"We requested, first, free use of the bifrost for both ourselves and our jotun brothers and sisters. It has been a millennia since we were able to meet at Urd's well. We wish to do so again, just as before." His eyes hardened. "Then there is also the matter of the gold stolen from us by the House of Odin. We would see it returned, and a formal apology given by Odin's house along with it, both for their thievery, and also for their involvement in the Murder of the true Allfather." Harry made a face.
"Forgive me, but- The House of Odin stole from you?" The giant looked bewildered at the question.
"You do not know?"
"I'm afraid my knowledge is very limited. Niflheim has always been far removed from the goings-on of the mortal realms," Or so Odin had implied. "and while I myself may have become more deeply involved, that was a recent development. Besides that most of my knowledge is centered on Midgard where I make my home, which is also rather removed from things." The Eldjotnar made an odd expression, frowning.
"It was millennia ago." He began, in the tone of a person telling an old story. "Many centuries after the death of the murderer Búri, who killed our Great Father, Ymir, his son Borr, Odin's father, came to us. The liar made a request for peace. He claimed that he wished to put the sins of his father behind him. He said he wished for the Aesir and the people of Muspelheim to live in peace, for us to live as friends, to make trade and marriages." He grit his teeth. "It was all falsehoods. We welcomed Borr into our home, he and his people. We let them roam freely while we discussed the peace he claimed to desire. We gave them shelter. We gave them food. Friendships were formed. A Muspel woman even came to me with her desire to marry one of the Asgardian men, asking if I would help her arrange it. And then, just when we were on the cusp of signing our treaty, we all awoke one morning to find them gone." He snarled.
"And our gold gone with them. Our mines had been pillaged, our vaults emptied. All of it, gone. They stole it all. Even now, so many years later, we are without gold. We have never recovered. Then! Then! When Odin rose to the throne we gave them another chance! We appealed to him, asking if he would return what was taken! We asked that he make right the wrongs of his father, and he laughed in our faces!" He clenched his fists, the veins bulging and took deep breaths. Harry turned to Thor.
"Is this true?" The Thunderer looked ashamed, and that was answer enough. "Then why hasn't the gold been returned?" He lowered his voice to a whisper. This room didn't echo like the 'atrium', and he was sure Sif was the only other person to hear his question. Thor leaned closer.
"Because my grandfather built our home from it." Harry's eyes widened. The palace? That-
That was a lot of gold.
And all at once Harry understood both Surtur's fury and Thor's exclamation of it being an unreasonable request. The Asgardian palace was covered in gold. Harry had, after a while of living there, grown curious enough about the gold to do a few test spells. Most of the palace was actually built from a combination of stone and a metal he couldn't identify. But nearly every inch of it was covered with gold that had been magically altered somehow to make it much stronger and harder than gold was naturally. It was effective enough that even though gold was a somewhat softer metal, Harry had once seen Thor, with his immense strength, punch a wall in a moment of irritation and not leave a dent in it. As massive as the palace was, the amount of gold there was greater than Harry had ever seen before; great enough for him to wonder if that much gold even existed on Earth.
Just the process of removing it all, without compromising any of the structural integrity of the palace itself, would be an enormous undertaking; and in the meantime the place would likely have to be evacuated.
The palace wasn't just home to Thor and his family. The guards and their families lived there as well, along with any number of healers, smiths, some craftsmen, the few magic users Asgard had and tolerated, the librarians, the warriors, and most of their families as well. Plus there was the armory and the training grounds, the library with all its books, the dungeons with its prisoners, and the vaults down below that Harry wasn't allowed to access, and whatever they contained.
There was just too much. They'd have to space it out if they were going to do such a thing, take the gold back piece by piece. The problem with that however, was that Harry had seen the rune inscriptions here and there in the gold. Whatever magical defenses the palace had were tied into those, so breaking it up would destroy that. Not only would the place be vulnerable throughout the undertaking, but they would also have to go through replacing all those protections into the metal and stone located beneath the gold, and Harry wasn't sure there were enough rune users in Asgard to do that, or if there were, if they had the skill needed for such a thing.
The entire process would be nearly impossible to complete without putting the palace at risk of attack or structural failure, and there were the smaller risks outside of that. Could they be certain wherever they moved the weapons or books to would be secure enough to protect them from thieves? Same for whatever things the vaults contained? He knew the tesseract was down there. What other dangerous things were hidden behind those protections? Where would the palace's occupants live while the gold in their various living quarters was removed? Would they have to find other housing on their own or would Odin provide? And if he did provide, where would he put them?
It was... Really, it probably couldn't be done; or at least, the Allfather would never consider the attempt.
It may not have been right, but Harry could see why the Asgardian King would have laughed at their request. Really he could have had more tact but-
Harry took a deep breath, and addressed King Surtur.
"I'll speak with King Odin on the matter of your gold, but I doubt anything can be done to return it to you. An apology however, at the least, would certainly not be out of order, and not at all unreasonable to ask for." He narrowed his eyes at Thor, who frowned, but said nothing. "For now I'd like to discuss your other request." He turned to look properly at the Asgardian Prince. "As far as I'm aware, Asgard is the only realm with access to something like the bifrost, right? The only realm capable of accessing the other realms with ease?"
"Yes."
"That doesn't really seem fair to me." He was blunt. "Being the only realm capable of moving about puts Asgard in a position of power over the other realms that don't have that kind of ease of travel." The Thunderer frowned, looking at Harry uncertainly.
"Asgard uses the bifrost to bring peace to the realms, to prevent war."
"It also puts Asgard in a position where it's easier for you to wage war if you ever need or want to. You can reach any enemies you have easily enough, but they can't reach you." Thor stiffened. "I don't think it's too unreasonable to allow the people of other realms to use the bifrost for travel. It's still under Asgardian control, but giving other realms access to it seems much fairer than the current situation."
"Any who travel through the bifrost have to stop first in Asgard." The man said guardedly, looking at Harry like he wasn't sure whose side he was on. "Any group we bring to Asgard is given the opportunity to do battle with us, and even if they arrived in peace," He glanced distrustfully towards the Eldjotnar. "they would have the chance to conspire with their brethren in the name of war." King Surtur looked furious at the insinuation.
"Given what Asgard's done to them, they would be well within their rights to go to war." Thor jerked, surprised at his words, or rather, that Harry has said them, and then he looked angry. "But that doesn't mean they will." He paused, and looked up at King Surtur. "You are the sole ruler of your people?" He dipped his head. "Then if you gave your word to something, would the whole of your people be bound to it?"
"They would." He sounded unsure, but Harry understood it to be the line of questioning, not the amount of power he had over his people.
"Do you know anything of magical oaths?" The King shook his head, and Harry was a little surprised. If Ragnhild's earlier levitation of the cage was any indication then the Eldjotnar weren't as against magic use as the Asgardians. But when Harry looked at Thor, even he seemed confused.
... Maybe oaths were purely an Earth-based form of magic?
But then what had they been using for their treaties? Just... Their word? Nothing proper to bind them to their promises but honest and trust? He frowned. No wonder they were all so cautious of each other.
"I was born on Midgard." He told them. "Those who wield magic and those who don't are split there. They live separately from each other, and those who have it depend heavily upon their magic. We have ways of using it to make binding oaths. If, for instance, I were to swear something to you, and I put the power of my magic into that promise, I would be forced to keep it, whether I wanted to or not. We use such oaths mostly for the sake of secrecy, but often when countries or factions of people want to make peace, they use such oaths to ensure each side keeps their word. If Odin would make such an oath to promise you the use of the bifrost, would you make such an oath in turn, to not go to war against Asgard?" Surtur leaned back where he sat a little, frowning.
"Such an agreement would not include the return of our gold."
"No it would not." He rubbed his chin.
"Such an oath, it would be permanent?" Harry tilted his head.
"It could be adjusted. You could each make an oath to span over a certain number of years. When the time came however, you'd have to renew the oath to continue your agreement." He sighed heavily, and sat staring at Harry for several minutes.
"If Odin will make such an oath, and will apologize for his actions and those of his father, and his grandfather... Then I will agree to an oath of peace, for the next five hundred years." Harry smiled.
"And what of Jotunheim's ruler?" Fandral cut in. They all looked over to him. "You're saying Muspelheim wouldn't go to war, but that wouldn't stop Jotunheim." Harry nodded.
"Which is why, once I've spoken to Odin and he's agreed to this arrangement, I'll be going to Jotunheim, to speak with their ruler."
"Asgardians are not meant to go to the realm of the frost giants." Sif interrupted, and Harry met her gaze.
"I'm not an Asgardian." Her face fell.
"You mean to go alone?" She hissed, and then stopped, glancing at the Eldjotnar. She clearly wanted to say more, but not in front of them.
"I do. I had already decided to go there for another purpose, this just gives me more reason to." He looked up at the King of Muspelheim and stood. "Will you and Commander Ragnhild be so kind as to show us out?" He asked. "I'll speak with Odin this evening and return the day after tomorrow. We can go over the finer details of this treaty then. Also, if you have any sort of message you'd like me to pass on to Jotunheim's ruler, then you can give it to me then as well. If that's alright?" Surtur smiled slightly. It wasn't a strong expression, but it was the first pleasant one he'd seen on his face; something like bitter acceptance mixed with relief.
"It is." Everyone else stood, and they made their way back to the first room.
Five hundred years of peace. Not a bad deal Harry.
They only agreed because I was the one to come up with it and they don't have anything against me. It won't change the hostility between them. Or the negative history.
No, but it's no small victory.
It's not a victory until Odin and whoever rules Jotunheim agree to it. Tom didn't respond, and Harry rubbed a hand over his wrist, fingers touching on the bracelets he wore there; they felt almost strange without the thick glamour band there in the middle of them.
For every situation he managed to deal with, there was another problem that sprung up, and as they said their stiff farewells to Surtur and Ragnhild and the light of the bifrost descended, Harry wondered what the backlash would be.
He still felt sick.
wawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawa
So I've got a couple things to address, and the first of them was probably the part that stuck out for some of you.
Why didn't Harry react to Ragnhild's toplessness like Thor clearly did?
Okay, I plan to address this properly soon, within the next couple chapters (hopefully), but I'll explain here in the meantime. To begin with, my understanding about Europe, from what friends I have who live there have told me, is that breasts aren't nearly as fetishized as here in the U.S. and also that it's not altogether uncommon to see a naked woman on daytime television. I don't know the full extent of things, but I went with what I know and the implication given to me that interest in breasts isn't as much of a thing oversees.
Combine that with the first time Harry actually saw a topless woman in person being while he was wearing the chastity charm. He wouldn't have developed an interest then even if he was inclined to, and he spent several weeks travelling amongst several African tribes where he saw breasts used to feed children, and no sexual connotations were ever given-
Well, it makes sense to me that Harry would have grown used to it, and, even with the chastity charm removed he just doesn't have an interest. And given that I think Muhammad would have explained the mechanics of sex and protection spells, and even oral, but probably left out that boobs were a thing during intercourse then I think it's not entirely unreasonable to say that Harry, with his obliviousness, doesn't quite realize that boobs have any kind of use beyond breastfeeding.
Sweet sweet summer child.
Of course, I imagine he wouldn't react so blase if he saw Sif topless, but that'll be a bit yet.
The only other thing I had to say was that, if the ending to this chapter seems a little abrupt and rushed, that's because it is. Harry is still off-kilter from having his glamour band removed, and he's sort of in fight-or-flight mode with fight not being an option. Basically, his cutting the meeting short to go back to talk to Odin is him hightailing it, and the rushed ending was meant to reflect that state of mind.
Ok I think that's it for now. I'm probably missing something, but I'm not gonna fret over it.
Questions? Comments? Worries over the chapters to come? Review friends! I may not answer often but I read what you have to say!
Alright, see you all next chapter! Again, I will try for the weekend after next, but no promises!
Sincerely,
Mr. Hate