Hogun sighed as he rested his weary body down on one of the benches that lined the training ground, he glanced towards the palace knowing that soon he would have to go back inside and attend the feast that was presently being prepared to celebrate the return of Loki and Fandral. Well technically just the return of Loki from the frozen realm of Jotunhiem but most of those who would be attending would be doing so because they were glad to see Fandral safety home, especially the ladies.
Despite his unfortunate runs in with a frost giant that had resulted in him becoming the butt for everyone's jokes for the past day or two since his return, he maintained as cheerful an attitude about it as he could. Loki on the other hand had not been seen since his return and it was assumed as it always was that he was ensconced in his rooms catching up on his reading or whatever else it was he did when alone in his room.
A sudden chill went through his shoulders at the thought of Loki and for a moment or two the nightmare that he had kept experiencing in concern of Loki returned briefly, fleetingly within his mind. He shook his head trying to dispel the images from his mind of Loki hanging from a wall being beaten; he was being stupid in still seeing that nightmare. It could not be real, such a thing could never happen, he thought to himself.
Sighing again, he reached down for his sword intending to finish his training for the day, there would time enough to think about Loki and possibly talk with him, at the festival or to watch him from afar as he had done so for such a long time.
XxX
Odin paced his office as he regarded the words of the Jotunhiem prince who had just left, there had been a few questions about the treaty which it seemed had been agreed upon between Laufey and his son Loki but which Laufey had decided for whatever reason or other to change his mind about after Loki had returned home.
Odin sighed to himself in frustration at the actions of the Jotun king, he was sure that the Laufey was being contrary just for the sake of it and Loki had assured him when he had seen him briefly when he had returned that everything was, as he Odin had wanted the treaty to go and that there had been no problem in the wording of it with Laufey, but now he was beginning to wonder if there was trouble to come, because he sent his youngest instead of his eldest to negotiate the treaty.
However he knew if he had sent his eldest Thor, as Crown Prince and his heir, he should have done out of sheer politeness, if nothing else but he had known that there was a possibility, nay, a definite certainty that if he had sent Thor, then Asgard and Jotunhiem would now be at war.
Sighing, he placed what he was now beginning to consider an accursed document onto the never seeming ending of another pile of documents, intending to look at it at a later time, such as after the feast that was being prepared to welcome his son and Fandral home.
Odin was no fool though he knew that the court was glad to have Fandral home but there was none beside his family that were pleased to see Loki home, not even Hogun who he had placed as a personal guard to his youngest son, the man had seemed to damn happy to see the back of Loki, when the Jotunhiem treaty had necessitude sending Loki to the frozen realm. Sighing again to himself, he came to a decision to remove Hogun as Loki's guard, knowing it would make the silent warrior happy but knowing that Loki would miss the dour man, Odin had not been blind to the fact that of all the warriors serving his family, that it was Hogun that his youngest seemed more comfortable with.
Yet he knew that what he was about to do would be for the best of all of Asgard and especially Hogun, due to the nature of what Loki was and he had been grateful that the young princes glamour had held while he away in that accursed place and no one was any wiser to what he really was. In time he knew that removing Hogun would be best for Loki also, for he could never have a relationship of any kind with any in this realm for although the glamour disguised what Loki truly was, Odin knew that the chances of any children Loki fathered would most likely have the blue skin that was Loki's true heritage and not the pale skin that he had, as he had always believed himself to be, as Aesir.
Odin still feared the day that Loki would find out he was anything but the species he believed himself to be, but rather a hated frost giant, admittedly a runt amongst them but a frost giant all the same. He knew the day that happened that the relationship between him and his adopted son would change and although he hoped and prayed that Loki would not come to hate him for his deceit in not telling him the truth from the beginning, as his wife had told him to do, he knew he still believed that in lying to him and hiding what he truly was, was for the best, for everyone concerned, especially for Loki.
XxX
It was getting late and the palace was getting busier as time of the feast approached, servants were running backwards and forwards between the kitchen and the great hall, placing food on the long tables and making sure that there was plenty of mead and other drinks for those attending the feast.
In the healers wing Fandral was finally leaving his bed, eager to attend that night's feast, his frost bite finally having healed up with the tender ministrations of the healers especially the young blonde blue eyed one who had caught his eye. She had seemed more hesitant than the older more experienced ones but what she lacked in years and experience she had more than made up in his massages on his tortured skin.
He sighed as he remembered her gently yet firm touch as her hands had ghosted over his body, manipulating the muscles beneath the skin and brings a smile to his face. He had invited her to join him after the feast that night and looked forward to spending more time with her hands upon his body as they continued to enjoy time together.
XxX
Thor was dressing in his rooms, looking forward to spending time again with his younger brother and maybe finally bringing to the surface the love that he knew both Loki and Hogun felt for one another but which both he knew both was too stubborn to bring it out into the open, especially Hogun who he knew would not do anything about the feelings he felt for Thor's brother unless something was done. And he, Thor, was determined to act as cupid if he had to, to get them together.
He smiled as he considered what it was he had to do, he knew there would be many who would be scandalized at the choice of both men, especially Hogun but as Hogun was of Vanaheim, Thor thought that it should not be of too much of a shock for the good people of Asgard, after all the view of such relationships was so different on Vanaheim and was not looked on with such contempt as it was on Asgard and well as for Loki, well most people thought of him in that way any way, or that he was totally inexperienced in the matters of love and a virgin still. Again Thor smiled broadly to himself, oh if only the people of Asgard truly knew his brother, they would he was sure be quite surprised, after all Loki did not just get the nickname of silver-tongued for his words, but for another reason altogether not entirely known to those at large.
XxX
The feast was underway despite the none appearance of one of its main guests and although the king was angry at what he considered his sons blatant disregard for the traditions of their people in holding this feast for his and Fandrals safe return, he still opened the feast, as people were used to Loki not always attending or coming in late, as it was well known that if he picked up a book, he would get side tracked and lost within its pages.
Odin could see his son Thor at a table a little ways away, feasting and talking with his friends, Fandral amongst them. The blond haired warrior was still showing some signs of the frost bite he had received on Jotunhiem as not all had been on his nether regions but despite the visible scars, which would fade in time, it had not put the ladies off the man. In fact it seemed to fascinate them more and he saw one, in healers robes lead the man away from those at the table towards the great doors, Odin chuckled to himself and smiled, knowing all too well what the two of them would be getting up to.
For despite what people thought and especially his sons, he and Frigga still had a rather hot sex life, he knew full well what his sons would think of it. In fact on more than a few occasions when the boys had caught him and their mother kissing, they had covered their eyes and screamed at their parents to get a room. He chuckled as he thought what they would do if they caught the pair of them doing more than kissing, Thor would probably throw a tantrum and cause a thunderstorm and Loki, well knowing him, he probably set a spell or two on them or even a series of pranks.
XxX
Fandral followed eagerly the healer when she had approached him at the table he was sharing with his friends, there had been plenty of young ladies from the court gathered around their table but the healer whose name had still not learned had maneuverer between them with ease, and led him from the great hall.
He could not wait to get somewhere more private and spend some time with her and in his eagerness to having her see to his needs; he did not seem to see or feel the magic emanating from the room down one of the less used halls of the palace.
As the door slammed behind them with a surprising force, he felt himself being propelled forward as before them a portal opened and before he could go anything such as shout or raise the alarm at what was happening, the young woman he had so eagerly, up to this point, pulled him forward and through the portal.
Back in the great hall, Odin sat up as he felt the vibrations of unknown magic within the palace, his eyes narrowing as he focused his own seidr on what had a familiarity to it and yet was not at the same time known to the Allfather, his seidr reached out, grasping at the remnants of the magic before it dissipated and vanished.
"Frost Giants," he whispered.
Standing, he raised gunghir and slammed it to the floor, those present immediately stopping their chatter and looking at their king with concern.
"Call out the guards, there are intruders in the palace."
A/N: Sorry for the lack of Loki in this chapter but he will be in the next.