The Trickster: Ragnarok
by: Shadow Chaser
Disclaimer:
I do not own any characters from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. All characters belong to Marvel Entertainment, Marvel Comics, and Disney. I am not writing this story for profit, only for my own (twisted) amusement. I will try to return the characters unharmed, but some they might have a few scuff marks.
Story:
Chapter 4
"Both the Crown Prince and Baldr were magisters," Sleipnir was leaning against the door to the library before he pushed off of it and stepped in, "they were the best and strongest of us."
"Us?" Loki asked mildly, noting to his slight irritation that Sif had been unable to keep herself from jumping a little in surprise. He himself had certainly been caught off guard, having not even been able to sense Sleipnir when he was well aware of everything around him. But he kept himself composed as he certainly expected people to be randomly appearing in the library – which truth be told, was what Sif had done earlier.
"The group of people, future advisers one might say, that the Allfather and his brothers collected in the years before his ascent to the throne," Sleipnir made no note of Sif's movement and instead looked interested in the tomes scattered across the table Loki was at, "ah, history books and the like..." He cleared his throat slightly, "I...learned in so many words today at the feast of, um...about the use of magick nowadays."
Loki only stared blankly at the older man who grimaced a little and absently picked up one of the smaller ones, flipping through it. "I supposed that it was the former Crown Prince's fault for Odin to enact the extreme measures that he did; all but outright forbidding magick or even to speak of it..." Sleipnir sighed, "I think nostalgia got the better of me and I wanted to see if the library held the lore from thousands of years past...I had not expected to find you up at this hour, my Prince, nor with your lady companion-"
Sif made a very unladylike scoffing noise in the back of her throat, making Sleipnir pause and look at her before looking at him as if trying to puzzle out something before he grimaced a little. "I, uh...apologize if I meant to imply if-"
"Obviously your grasp of Court politics has waned in the...what, hundreds, thousands of years of exile on...Midgard was it?" Loki drawled out softly, watching the red-haired man carefully. So far, Sleipnir seemed to play the innocence and guileless exile part well, but the fact that he could not sense him prickled at something dangerous in him. There could be truth in the other man's words and actions that he truly had been at the mercy of Baldr, but the fact that he walked the shadows to get from Midgard to the throne room of Asgard of all places told Loki that Sleipnir was a person to watch. There was flecks of white in the auburn-red hair of Sleipnir, and his face was lightly lined with age, but Loki would have pegged Sleipnir to be no older than five-hundred years older than he.
Considering the limited knowledge he had on familiars, and based on Munnin's appearance, which was clearly younger than he - but had served the Allfather for much longer than he had been alive - there was at least some truth to Sleipnir as a familiar. Now whether it was for Baldr or someone else, that was another story.
Loki caught the slight flickering of something behind Sleipnir's icy blue eyes as he gently set the tome down, "You do not believe my tale."
"It could be just a tale-"
"You believe me harm to Asgard or even to the House of Odin," Sleipnir interrupted him before shaking his head and sighing quietly again, "and your tomes scatter across this table speak of it as much."
"We did not-"
"I thank you, Lady Sif, for your attempt to dissuade me from the Prince's research here," Sleipnir turned a thin smile on Sif who pinched her lips together in a frown. He turned back and Loki regarded him with a steady look. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jormungandr curl into a tight coiled ball, tongue flicking in and out, unsure as to whether to stay where he was or get ready to potentially attack the other man.
"I wanted to thank you for your vigilance," Sleipnir looked restrained but earnest and gestured to a chair at the long table, "do you mind if I sit? I do not wish to convince you that I mean no harm, but wish to at least impart what has transpired to make you do this much research. I know because if I was a Sentinel, then this would be the first place I would be."
Loki nodded as Sleipnir took the seat, leaving enough space of one chair in between them, as Sif spoke up, "Sentinel? I have never heard of that title..."
"Comparable to Heimdall's station as Guardian of the Realms. Except it is one given not to warriors, but to mages. The first line of defense of Asgard," Sleipnir replied before tilting his head a little, "Lady Sif, I beg you to put aside your prejudices against magick-"
"I do not have any-"
Loki only shot a quick look at her from across the table and she fell silent before sitting down, arms crossed across her chest in annoyance.
"I at least tolerate you..." she grumbled quietly and Jormungandr hissed quietly in laughter before she glared at the snake. "Not you, you stupid traitorous snake."
"Ah...this must be Jormungandr," Sleipnir looked at Jormungandr who flicked out his tongue, tasting the air before settling back on a coil, but Loki noted with some flickering remnant that may have been pride that the serpent was still tense, ready to attack. He himself kept his hands held in front of him, no magick tingling at his fingertips, but nonetheless ready in case Sleipnir did anything unexpected. Eir might have said that his core was ripped out, the borrowed magick to transport him from Midgard to Asgard all but gone, but the fact that Sleipnir explained what a Sentinel was told Loki enough – Sleipnir had once been trained in the warrior's arts. No one who claimed to be the first line of defense of Asgard was stupid enough to not be trained in some physical defense or offense when their primary skills failed them.
"Former Director Fury's notes of what had transpired on the treatise made two years previous made note of what happened to Jormungandr when he was brought for judgment on Asgard. There was also a footnote of his supposed imprisonment on Midgard itself hundreds of years previous, but no other information was noted in his report," Sleipnir explained as he tapped a hand lightly on the table. The rhythm was indiscriminate, but it seemed to soothe him to an extent as he looked at Loki. "The organization SHIELD fell a year ago, taken down by Captain Rogers, or rather, Captain America, because it had been supposedly corrupted by it's rival organization HYDRA. Are you familiar-"
"Seventy years ago, HYDRA's leader Johann Schmidt had the Tesseract," Loki explained, "located in Tønsberg, Norway."
"HYDRA survived after the death of Schmidt," the red-haired man shrugged, "but the truth was different. Baldr and I nurtured HYDRA even before Schmidt had taken over, so we were well aware of events happening. SHIELD fell, HYDRA rose, and all of the secrets and reports now in the public eye of the mortals." His fingers absently made their way to the tome he had picked up earlier and now tapped his tuneless rhythm on it, "We learned a lot about the Avengers, about what the mortals think of the situation on Asgard and Baldr accelerated his plans."
"And so you helped this...Baldr," Loki gestured absently to the page he and Sif had been looking at.
"Because it was the only way to escape after thousands of years of forced servitude and exile," Sleipnir shook his head, "I read SHIELD's reports of you, complete with psychological analysis, background-"
"No doubt colored by Thor's words-"
"-Yes, even that, but this is why I wished to speak to you, my Prince. Please...you are not blinded by the affection, the memories of whom I used to be, who I am like Odin, Frigga, Eir, the twins Huugin and Munnin, and even Heimdall. They..." he shook his head, "the fact that you are here, searching for my past, of who I am because something does not sit right with you, I am glad."
"Why?" Loki was truly curious as to why someone would be glad for him to be searching into his past, when it was normally the opposite. It only served to heighten his suspicions and make him scrutinize Sleipnir further.
"Because Baldr intends to use the Crown Prince, your brother Thor, to take the throne of Asgard for himself," Sleipnir said quietly.
"My Queen, she is here to speak to you," her dark...skin, if it truly could be called that, almost blended in with the supposed dim light of the great hall, but to Lady Hel, it was bright enough. Most of the dead that appeared before her came with the expectation that this was not the bright lights of Valhalla or of the Heaven, Nirvana, or any other trivial religious bright lights of salvation. This was her realm and thus she kept it as such.
"Thank you Sigyn, you may continue your watch," she replied, smoothing out an absent wrinkle in her dress, sending the silent howls of the damned across the vast hall. The Valkyrie, who once had been relatively mortal, but now was kept under her careful watch as a promise to a certain Asgardian Prince, bowed her head, her beautiful face lighting up with the fires of her kind that had been seared to her to keep her alive as she floated away, returning to her duties. But then again, she supposed that her version of beauty was far different than what most people though of – if the lack of a face where flames licked internally and blackened skeletal bones covered her form, a true fire atronarch, a fire demon of Muspelheim instead of only in name.
She smoothed out another wrinkle, sending a burst of howls across the cavernous room once more before she looked up, feeling the change in the room rather than the announcement or approach of the being in question. It was only a courtesy that her guest afforded to her daughters, approaching swiftly as the swipe of a sword, cut of a dagger, or even the short blast of a gun or explosion that take others into her embrace. Whether they land in her realm or were escorted by Sigyn by her duties as a Valkyrie to the heavenly paradise of their choosing in the aftermath was another story.
"How fares you Mother?" she looked up and greeted the hooded figure. Lady Death by all rights, looked exactly like how many pictured Death to look like – skeletal, hooded, and always carrying a scythe. Only a very select few knew what was under the cloak, and only one knew Death in such an intimate way. But that particular one individual was currently languishing in his prison of the Tesseract, and certainly not Hel's father. No, she and her sisters had been pulled from Death itself, her truest daughters in the sense. Certainly her mother's lover would have liked to have claimed them as his daughters, like many he had 'adopted' over the years and turned them into his personal assassins, but she claimed no allegiance nor loyalty to that creature in the Tesseract. His true-born sons certain always seemed to think so, a product of various affairs when Lady Death was fickle.
"Sated," her inhumanly light eyes peered out from under her hood as Hel stared at her, pleased at her appearance in her Court. Her voice was clipped, deep enough to be masculine, but feminine enough that it truly was that Death had no gender, but considering that Death took everyone when it was their time, she supposed that it was a bit of the influences and affection she had for certain others that she personified her mother as, well, feminine.
She sat back, content to let her mother speak when she wished it,s as silence reigned in the vast room. The silence would have been enough, filling her with contentment, but there was always a reason for Death's appearance in the realm of the unjudged dead – and it was not to deliver the newly deceased.
"Storm," Death spoke up and Lady Hel noticed a shift in her inhuman light eyes, "Ragnarok."
She only nodded once, absently shifting in her chair, sending out several silent howls of the damned from her dress. So it was nearly time then...and though the past two years since her last appearance in front of the Court of Odin Allfather had passed by relatively quickly – to her only a blink of an eye – she had been waiting for this moment. And truth be told, she was mildly curious as to what would happen. What would be the tipping point...what would he chose?
"A promise?" she asked and only got the barest hint of a smile, and not even, as a reply before she felt, more than saw her mother disappear to resume her duties. Ah, so it was a promise and Lady Hel wondered what had been made in the minutes in Death's embrace on the Rainbow Bridge three years ago. Interesting indeed...
"And you were to walk this Baldr and Thor across the shadows, am I correct?" Loki continued for Sleipnir, "but you escaped with the power you were given."
"Yes," Sleipnir replied, "and even now I can feel the mental tugs of the bond a familiar to its master, calling me back to Midgard, to be by his side." He gestured to Jormungandr, "Surely you summon him in the same manner?"
The lie was easily on Loki's lips, the quick 'of course' and the easiest way for him to smooth it over with some nonsensical explanation, but something stopped him from saying the words and instead he smiled fractionally, "No. I do not."
He was rewarded with the smallest start of surprise from Sleipnir, one hidden behind the man's icy blue eyes that Loki knew was not laced with falsehood. Sif only looked confused, but even she seemed surprised – as surprised as someone could be who knew nothing of summons or magick; he supposed it was enough. "But perhaps it is easier for you to resist the call since you claim to not have any magicks within you."
"You wonder when I might take a weapon and demand to be sent back via Bifrost," Sleipnir shrugged as if it was nothing, "it is not so sinister as the geas contracts you made with Director Fury."
"You know of geas contracts?" Loki asked, curious as to what the former mage might have known about them.
Sleipnir raised an eyebrow at him, "I do know that they were forbidden magick when I was still with the Court, and guessing the attitudes of the present Court, it is still forbidden magick if not at all discussed. How you have learned it to create two contracts with Director Fury is interesting. What I knew about them was that they involve blood magick and thus a person's core." A small bitter smile, one that somehow made Loki distinctly uncomfortable for reasons that he could not fathom, appeared on the man's lips, "Perhaps since I do not have a core, I do not know how a geas would work."
"And how different is it for a familiar?"
"It can be ignored without consequences considering what Director Fury put into his report. Something about...death?" Sleipnir's smile disappeared as he looked at him and Loki shrugged.
"If one was inclined to ignore the geas in such a way that it reneges on the agreement made," he answered and saw the quick flash of disappointment across the man's face before he nodded. Sleipnir had been hoping for more, but to what end, Loki did not know. Perhaps it was truly innocent in a manner of speaking, but he was not inclined to share anymore than the vagueness of it being spoken – and hopefully whatever Fury had put into his report.
"Baldr will continue to put pressure for my return, but I have had years of practice by his side and will be ignoring it for sometime. I will petition the Allfather to heed my warning and summon your brother Thor back with all haste though," Sleipnir said, "any chance that Baldr may have with his plan will put Asgard in great danger."
"If he was exiled to Midgard, it only proves that he can affect Midgard. If he does not have any means to travel from there, then how-" Sif started confused before Sleipnir shook his head, interrupting her.
"Baldr means to exert his influence and control Thor-"
Sif barked out a laugh, "Preposterous! Thor cannot be-"
"He has the sceptre you invaded the Midgard with, my Prince," Sleipnir leaned forward a little, and Loki frowned, "this was why I told you that his plans were accelerated with the downfall of SHIELD and the rise of HYDRA. When you left the sceptre with Director Fury two years previous, it was supposedly sent to orbit around the Earth, Midgard. But in reality, it ended up in the hands of SHIELD's enemies."
"Loki, that sceptre-"
"Is able to control the minds of others," Loki replied softly, not so much concern about the weapon, but rather interested in where it had gone to after he had left it, to Sif's half inquiry, "to twist and bend them to one's will." He looked at Sleipnir, "Even though the fool is dimwitted and an oaf, not all of Thor is brute strength."
"Wait, he will try to control Thor with the sceptre?! But that's impossible!" Sif shook her head violently, unable to believe what they were saying. "It cannot be-"
"Baldr was shrewd, devious, and clever enough to fake his death when the Crown Prince came after him in his fit of madness. The fact that he was clever enough to stay hidden on Midgard from Heimdall's eyes all these thousands of years should be a testament to his strength of mind to keep the Guardian of all people from realizing that he was alive. I do not lie, my Prince, nor to you my Lady, that Baldr wants the throne of Asgard and would do anything in his power to get it," Loki could hear real fear in the man's voice.
"Why tell me?" he finally asked after a moment of silence, "surely you have heard the rumors, known of whom I am."
"Loki Jotunkiller amongst other epithets and names given? Silvertongue? Trickster?" the other man smiled briefly and bitterly as he managed to compose himself and sat back once more, "I've heard. The tales told at tonight's feast spoke of previous deeds, but also of the Warriors Three and the good Lady's battles with the current Crown Prince. Your absence from a majority of those tales as well as your absence from the feast did spark rumors."
"Not so out of touch with Court politics as you claim earlier," Loki said and caught the brief flash of surprise on the man's face before he accepted the statement.
"My exile on Midgard required me to play politics with those who ruled the countries," he said with a small shrug, "perhaps it was no different here, except for the long wordplay and subtleties that seem to take months instead of hours." He twisted his neck a little, and covered a small yawn, "My apologies, it seems that the hours I kept on Earth are vastly different than the ones on Asgard. Partially also why I was curious to hear voices in the library when most of Asgard slept. Though now it seems to have caught up to me." He folded his hands together, "I tell you because you are one of the few who has the Allfather's ear, but are not influenced by memories of who I am or what I have done."
"The adopted son of the Crown Prince," Loki ignored Sleipnir's words about him having the ear of Odin – it was more for the benefit and influence at Court and a not so subtle reminder for Thor that he should be paying more attention to Asgard than off gallivanting with his mortal friends. Besides, he stood at Odin's left hand side, not his right – which was most definitely occupied by Frigga and by Thor whenever he felt like making an appearance at Court.
"My former title. I am surprised that it was not excised from that tome you were looking at," the auburn-haired man gestured to it, "I certainly would have had it done give the events that happened."
"The tale of the battle between Odin and his brother that you and, um, H-Huugin spoke of at the feast?" Sif looked like she had swallowed something sour at mentioning Huugin. Loki again regretted that he was not at the feast – it certainly sounded entertaining if not for the visual factor of seeing the Allfather's ravens as humans; speaking as if they had been part of the Court all along - just not quite in their human forms.
"To commit patricide, especially one adopted like I was and lauded, given titles, land, holdings, honor, accolades that one received in such service..." Sleipnir's icy blue eyes looked distant for a moment as he shook his head wistfully, "the fact that Odin left his brother's name in the line and mine after it...he loved his older brother too much to dishonor his memory like that. And...mine I suppose." The older man pursed his lips for a second as he looked away, "I should have been stripped of my title after what I had helped Odin do. I was the Crown Prince's heir and I helped kill him. I was...lucky to not have been killed when I arrived this morning. I thought...I thought I was going to be. Maybe it was a punishment of sorts that I fell to Earth, to Midgard, after committing my deed. Or perhaps the Norns decided that my fate was to be bound to Baldr for committing patricide and for Odin's fratricide for him to rule as Allfather."
The faraway look disappeared from Sleipnir's eyes as he turned back to look at Loki, "I ask of you, my Prince, to plead with the Allfather to retrieve Thor from Midgard. Odin does not understand Baldr like I do. He and the rest of the coterie had been deceived-"
"Coterie?" Loki was surprised at how flat he managed to keep his voice while he inwardly recoiled in shock, "a coterie?"
"Y-Yes," Sleipnir blinked, surprised, "that was what had been formed between Odin and his brothers and the others like myself, Heimdall, Lady Hel, Frigga, Eir, Tyr, Freya, Freyr..." Something seemed to click in Sleipnir as he tilted his head to the side, "O-Odin did not explain any of this to you or even to Thor?"
Loki shook his head, unable to trust himself from even speaking through the sudden swooping anger that filled him. The Allfather had a coterie of all things. A coterie. Not just one of mages, as clearly Eir was part of it and even Hel of all people. But a coterie where warriors like Heimdall were included. Never mind the fact that it included his brothers Baldr and the Crown Prince Loki, both whom were magick users! He had only stumbled upon such a word when his coterie had been training with Lady Death – and there had not been a single word from Odin when he had introduced his coterie to the Court before Fenrir had enacted the plan of regicide.
Sleipnir shook his head and rubbed his eyes as he muttered, "Odin, what in the name of the Norns were you thinking?! Not telling them to form their coterie? Not..." He let loose a very audible sigh, "It would have been explained when Thor would have been crowned as the Crown Prince and heir-in-waiting."
"The coronation was interrupted," Sif said quietly and Loki kept his face neutral, knowing what she meant. There was never any official ceremony to finish the coronation, but everyone knew that Thor had taken on the title of Crown Prince and so assumed that the rest of the ceremony must have happened behind closed doors.
"But I thought-" the older man looked puzzled then shook his head, "you know what, never mind. I do not know what Odin was thinking, but it certainly explains a few things, especially why magick has all been outlawed or not even spoken of in such an open manner since he took the throne. The Allfather is too frightened to do anything that would upset the balance or put his family in harms' way." Sleipnir laughed a little bitterly, "Why all but hush magick use? Why shun it? Because Baldr supposedly died from the Crown Prince's madness, that's why. Too ashamed of his brothers' actions to even consider magick to be used anymore. Malign the battlemages because, 'oh no they might go mad from what happened to my family.' Why not tell his sons that they should form a coterie because the divide between warriors superstition and battlemages is too great..."
"Unnatural...not needed when all there is, is the sword and shield," Loki whispered, feeling an odd sense of kinship with what the other man was saying, "a monster..." He sensed more than saw Sif's aborted movement before he looked at her, a sharp painful smile on his lips, "It was always the truth Sif. Monster..."
She looked away, closing her eyes, "I refuse to believe that."
"There is no truth in your voice Sif. You say that lie to yourself because you still refuse to see it," he replied before looking back at Sleipnir, "You wish me to speak to the Allfather to have Heimdall retrieve Thor?"
"Yes. Because if Heimdall is the same person that I have known, he will not do anything unless it is a direct order from the Allfather. His position as Guardian means he took an oath and Heimdall will follow the oath to the very last letter," Sleipnir looked a little hopeful, his icy blue eyes brightening a little.
"You'd be surprise at what orders Heimdall follows," Loki still distinctly remembered Heimdall attacking him on the edges of the Observatory. "You would be also remiss to know that Thor has already disappeared from Heimdall's sight."
That got reactions from both Sif and Sleipnir. Sif sat forward, uttering a flat 'What' to which Loki ignored while Sleipnir's eyes widened, fear creeping back into them.
"Shit, shit, shit, fuck..." Loki had to admit, it was a little odd hearing the mortal swears coming from Sleipnir's mouth as it devolved into incoherent mutters before he shook his head and ran a hand through his short cropped hair, "shit, we're too late...we're..." He gritted his teeth for a second and looked at Loki, "We need to return to Midgard, at least someone needs to return there and find Thor before-" He huffed a breath, "It means that Baldr's already got him, at least maybe controlling him through the sceptre or doing something if he's cloaked from Heimdall's sight-"
"Should Baldr have magick after all this time-"
Sleipnir suddenly slammed his hands on the table, making the heavy tomes jump and Jormungandr to hiss wildly as he lifted his head, "You're not listening to me, Loki! We need- I need- No, I definitely do not want to go back there, but someone needs to! Baldr faked his death! That means he still has the powers of a magister! Do you even fucking know what that means?!"
"Please, do enlighten me," Loki replied coldly, drawing himself up as he sat in his chair and stared at the older man who was staring at him like he was an idiot. It must have occurred to Sleipnir that he was still speaking to royalty, and to the second Prince of Asgard to boot, as he suddenly deflated and tried to compose himself. He ran a hand through his short red hair and breathed out a loud sigh and looked away, his fingers tapping nervously on the book once more.
"Magisters are technically the highest title one could achieve in terms of the magickal arts. The Jotuns are known for their line of magisters before they were all supposedly killed in a massive rebellion eons ago. The other races...they were lucky if one or two of them could achieve the rank in their longest years of study. Powerful, strong, they traversed the universe, peacekeepers for the most part, or warmongers. A magister at the head of an army with battlemages and warriors as support...that army conquered," Sleipnir pursed his lips as he tried to settle his nervous tapping, "When I studied under the Crown Prince, I learned a lot of the secrets of magisters. Rumors that the fire demons of Muspelheim were a race of all magisters, but their spellcasting gone awry with some powerful artifact that was made of stone. I learned that the Jotun magisters might have been wiped out by Asgard itself in its conquest of the nine realms. Direct competition you see...though they tried to challenge others beyond the realms, but were pushed back because of other artifacts created to hamper Asgard's conquest."
Sleipnir laughed a little hysterically, "It just hit me...it makes sense now...why..." He looked up at him, "Baldr with the power of a magister from long years of study, the Crown Prince Loki as a magister with his long years of study...why I was taken into his care...trained...why Odin was part of their coterie...Asgard was ready to conquer again..."
Loki knew he was missing something in Sleipnir's words, but decided not to ask as he saw an oddly familiar mad light in the older man's icy blue eyes. It unnerved him as Sleipnir opened his mouth again. "Baldr has had these thousands of years of exile to further his study as a magister, my Prince. He's had years of subjecting those around him to his will and words, if not through the power he wields. He has worked behind the shadows of Midgard's history all these years, manipulating politics, wars, as HYDRA and as other organizations with the clear goals of furthering mortal technology and uplift it to that of Asgard. The advent of SHIELD, Thor's arrival four years previous... With the staff you used to control Agent Barton and Dr. Selvig..."
"...Thor does not stand a chance," Loki finished for him, a disquieting sensation filling him. He knew how the sceptre worked, how to twist the thoughts of those he touched the crown to. The brute force suppression of Agent Barton's rebellious tendencies under the sceptre three years previous had been tempered by the ease of a few nudges and hints with Dr. Selvig's mind. He had told Jane Foster that Selvig did what he had done with an open mind, he had only just given him some direction and nurtured his curiosity about the Tesseract back then. Thor's Jane had called him a monster and he had only smiled at her.
Heimdall had reported that Thor had been talking to someone cloaked in shadow before he disappeared from his sight. If this Baldr truly had used the sceptre on Thor, whether it be the brute force suppression or even the nudging hints, it meant that Baldr had time to study it. And since SHIELD's fall, it meant that whatever notes had been made on the sceptre was out in the wide open, giving Baldr more information about the sceptre. The fact of the matter was that Thor had been talking supposedly to Baldr. As far as Loki knew, Thor never talked and always led with his hammer first. Thor never stood a chance when talking, especially with his opponent.
And now...if it was all true, Baldr controlled Thor.
Author's Notes:
A lot of little minor plot threads left hanging in Atonement just coming together now. Hopefully if you've read the cliff notes or even if you've followed the series since Atonement, you're starting to realize the scope of things. Also, per usual, Odin kind of really needs to work on his communication – I mean, he's far from the perfect, loving King, but he's apparently very recalcitrant.