When Sif reentered the FrostGrinder, the Warrior Three surrounded her instantly, Fandral the first to speak.
"Lady Sif! What was it that you were thinking?" He demanded in a tone that was unusual for him. She cast her gaze down, ashamed.
"How did you do it?" Asked Hogan, as received angry looks from the other two warriors.
"What do you mean, how did she do it, Hogan?! She should not have done so at all!" Volstag said, outraged that Hogan would think to participate in this madness.
Hogan turned to Volstag in defense of himself, "I simply wanted to know how she tricked the trickster, that is all, Volstag. Nothing more."
His answer seemed to satisfy Volstag for the moment, and so he quieted. When Sif mumbled that she did not wish to talk of it, the Warrior Three became outraged.
"My Lady Sif," cried Fandral, "Do you even know what it is you have done?" She gazed at Fandral, matching his gaze, "Do you not remember that Loki had had his title restored?! In court no less," Volstag interrupted Fandral, "Which means,"
"You have just murdered a prince of Asgard." Finished Hogan.
The other warriors gasped, gazing at each other in horror. Hearing the words themselves spoken by her friends weighed on Sif greatly. The true weight of what she had done began to weigh on her heavily.
"And the penalty for that is…" Volstag trailed off, not wanting to say the words aloud. Hogan finished for him. "Death."
She did not even notice that she had spaced out until Fandral grabbed her by the shoulders, shaking her roughly, "Sif! Listen to me," he forced her to look him in the eyes, "did you kill Loki?!"
She pushed him away, shaking her head, "I, I, I pushed him off the tower, I,"
Fandral interrupter Sif again, "Is. He. Dead?!"
Sif looked at him honestly, and said, "I don't know."
The Warriors Three grouped together immediately. Volstag spoke first, "If we could find Loki alive, then we could get him to healers, perhaps even fix this!"
They agreed, looking at each other, then at Sif. Fandral asked, "Why, Sif? Why would you do something so stupid?"
She sighed, turning away, "For Thor."
"But why-"
"Because! Look at all that Loki has done?! And then Thor sets him free for one good deed, and even that good deed Loki used to his advantage. He wasn't even really dead! Thor is, and always will be, blinded by his love for what he thinks is his brother. That is not his brother. It is a monster."
The Warriors Three were stunned into silence. She continued, "Plus, I doubt Odin would try to have me executed for Loki. Do you al not feel the same way about the trickster?!"
The Warrior Three nodded in agreement with her over Loki, but Hogan spoke.
"Even if he wouldn't, Loki's title is restored, rules are rules Sif, regardless of who is enforcing them. Odin's opinions would not matter," Hogan stated in his signature grimness, "especially if Thor insists the death penalty. And we all know how Thor gets in grief over friends. Imagine the depth he would feel for his brother, taken in such a way…" As Hogan trailed off, the Warriors and Sif quieted, Hogan having spoke the grim truth.
Fandral was the first to speak, drawing his sword, and pointing it toward the forest surrounding the tower, "Then, my friends, we find Loki alive, and convince him and Thor to drop any such charges."
"I doubt Loki would be in a discussing mood if we did find him alive. He would most likely want to murder Sif." Volstag stated, munching on something he found in his beard.
"Calm Loki's rage? Ha," Hogan huffed, shaking his head. Fandral rolled his eyes, but shook his head in agreement, "Yes, you are right, Hogan, but we must try still!" He began marching into the forest, stopped at the edge and turned around. "Well, are you coming with me to save our Lady Sif, or am I going alone?"
Everyone, including Sif, followed silently, a grimness and dread in the air.
Rage and grief bubbled in Thor's stomach as he searched through the underbrush. He had circled the tower twice, but had found no body. He was searching now for something that might have knocked his brother's body off of its intended course. He had caught sight of some broken branches on a tree, and when he had gotten near it, had found a broken and abandoned Skraeling hut, with one of their small villages nearby, also abandoned.
He entered the broken one looking around, kneeling when he spotted blood on the straw laying in a heap from the large hole in the roof.
He knew who it belonged to immediately. He had learned to tell the difference between a Jotunn's blood and an Asgaurdian's. A Jotunn's was several degrees cooler, and tried slightly faster.
And the only Jotunn in Vanaheim now was…Loki.
Hope and joy sparked, and ignited something akin to fireworks inside of Thor. His brother! His smart, tricky, crafty, little brother! Thor hated his brother's tricks, but oh how he loved them.
He stood immediately, searching around the hut, around the small village, for any signs of Loki.
There were signs of a scuffle, Thor noticed. There was blood, the dirt from the ground kicked up in several different places. When he looked closer, he found the bodies of two Skraelings, scratched and black with frostbite.
If Loki had resorted to what he called, 'primitive' abilities, then he must have been hurt enough to not be able to fight.
Thor was worried, as his elation was dampened slightly.
If his brother was hurt enough to have to do something like that, than even if he did find his brother, he may not be alive by the time he did.
Then he heard them. The Skraelings. He turned his head, to face where the wound was coming from. A cave not far from the village.
Thor's hand wove around the handle of Mjolnir. Any who would dare threaten his brother's life would fall before Thor's rage.
And so he headed toward the cave.