"Where is he? Where is the bastard?"

A crash outside his door: What is there in the long, empty hallway that could fall over and make such a noise? A moment later, the sound of struggling: It is a guard who has fallen, or been pushed perhaps. But did the All-Father have guards outside the door? Why would he need them? Surely the magical wards he set on the place were enough?

"Useless... – Get out of my way!" It is a woman's voice, upset and angry. A moment later, the door slams open and Sif stands in the doorway, with her hair disordered and a furious light in her dark eyes.

"Loki."

"My lady?" The rage seems misplaced. It seems ill-timed. Where was she when Loki was brought back from Midgard? He thinks: Can he remember even seeing her? "You seem troubled." The pretense of complete innocence has helped him so many times when he knew full well of his crimes, but this is the first time he's used it when he had no idea why the other person was angry. "How can I help?"

Angered or not, the Lady Sif is beautiful. Her hair, loose for once, tumbles in dark curls over her shoulders. Her eyes flash fire, and her slim, fighter's body is tense. "What did you do with him Loki?" Her bosom heaves. She looks fit for the leadership of the Valkyries, a sight to strike terror as well as admiration in the hearts of all who see. "What... – How did you do something? What magic did All-Father leave you, that you can use outside this cell?"

Magic? Outside the cell? And he'd not have used it before to get free, if he had it? – At least, to get some books he hasn't read before from the library? "In truth, I know not of what you speak, My Lady. Pray sit." He gestures to the chair at his small desk/table. "We can discuss whatever has happened."

"Thank you, I will stand." Sif leans against the wall with her arms folded, her eyes still flaring with banked rage. "I believed you when you said you knew not how the Frost Giants got into Asgard, Loki. I have learned since then, how little trust your words deserve. What happened to Thor, Loki? What did you do to him?"

"To Thor..." He echoes her words, trying desperately to understand their meaning. And what has happened to his brother? Did the All-Father find out that he spent the night in his cell, and punish him for it? Is he confined somewhere? – Surely Odin would not banish him again for so small a disobedience? "What did happen to him, Sif?"

She rounds on him. "You'd like to pretend you don't know." Her hands are on his shoulders. She'll be shaking him in a minute. "I was sorry – Sorry! – when you fell off the Bifrost, Loki, but then after you were gone we found out things... How much you were doing that we didn't even know about... And now after what you did on Midgard..." Only instead of shaking, she clutches. Tears start falling. "Loki, L-Loki, I know you're jealous of Thor, but did you have to take his soul away? He's just lying there ...just lying in bed, and he doesn't see any of us. – Doesn't know any of us."

She's honestly crying now, and Loki finds his arms going around her without any thought. He has no thought to give. – His thought is mired in confusion. Thor's what? He's unconscious? He's conscious but with no memory? "Sif..." One word only, because what else is he possibly going to say? He strokes the back of his old playmate, brushes her tumbled hair away from her face. "Oh, Sif."

"Oh, Loki." Just for a moment, she clings to him, but then she pulls away. "Nice try, but I know you for the liar you are. What did you do to my best friend?"

Something happened to his bro... – To Thor... But what? "He just lies there?" Numb, Loki can do nothing but echo Sif's words. "He doesn't see you?" Old age can do this to people, he knows. Old age or illness. But the Aesir know not old age or illness. It is their gift from the Goddess Idunn, who shares golden apples from her orchard with them all. "It has to be magic..."

He only knows he's spoken aloud when Sif rounds on him, in a fury all over again. "I know it's magic," she says. "He breathes, and his limbs can be moved, but he does not move them. He doesn't respond, no matter who speaks to him. I watched Frigga..." Her voice catches. "She touched him, called him 'son'..." Tears cloud Sif's blue eyes.

Frigga, who raised Loki from a baby. Frigga, who was never anything but a mother to him. He thinks about the touch of her soft hand, the gentle tones of her voice. Unexpectedly, tears are in his eyes as well.

"You did it," Sif says. "Only you have magic enough. – All I want to know is why? Why, Loki? Was it out of jealousy? You were ever jealous of your brother, I know."

Only he has magic enough: But that is not true, Loki thinks. Frigga brought magic to Asgard. It is part of her birthright as a goddess of Vanaheim. And Odin is a formidable spell-caster as well. But even as he thinks that, he pushes the thoughts away, repulsed by the idea that his parents... That Frigga, who is good and loving, and Odin, who values his precious heir above all things, would even think of harming Thor. But if not them, then who?

"It was not me," he says aloud. "I could not have done it. – Sif, my magic is sealed inside my chamber."

His words have effect. Sif's posture droops, her face goes suddenly forlorn. It is as if a last hope has been taken from her. "I know that's what you say." The indignation in her voice is but a shadow of what was there before. "But you are ever skilled in deception. I remember how easily you fooled Thor and me, and the Warriors Three."

The Warriors Three. Those lumpish clods, intent on their womanizing and debauchery: A child's sleight of hand would leave them gaping. In light of the seriousness of the situation, Loki withholds the obvious comment. His words instead, are pure truth. "The All-Father is stronger than me," he says. "I cannot get past the seal he has placed on my chamber."

"But if you didn't, then..."

"If I didn't, then who did? Yes, that is the question."

"If you didn't, then why did nothing happen until you came here?" Sif looks at him with eyes of blue steel. "What are you hiding, from us... – From yourself maybe? I don't believe that the secret does not lie with you."