I have finally completed another chapter after such a long time. My apologies. I would be overjoyed to hear from anyone. Please enjoy!
Thor finished his goblet of mead with a gulp and thumped it carelessly onto the table. Frigga watched her eldest son carefully over the rim of her own silver cup. Silently, and still eyeing Thor, she exchanged the cup for a fork and took a few dainty bites of her lunch. After a few quiet moments, she spoke. "You have hardly eaten." She said in a concerned tone. "What is troubling you?" Thor pushed a large bit of meat around his plate before answering. "I am concerned for the Lady Elizabeth." He paused then added quietly, "And for Loki." Frigga tilted her head in an expression of open curiosity. "What is it that concerns you?" Thor thought for a moment. "I cannot say exactly. I am worried that the Lady Elizabeth was too deeply affected by Loki's actions. I fear that she will be unable to regain her former life." Thor lifted his eyes to Frigga's face, searching for reassurance.
Frigga moved to join her son on the long wooden bench. "You are afraid that she will be unable to forget this realm and all the experiences that have altered her reality." Thor nodded. Frigga smiled a sad little smile. "Would you truly wish that upon her? To forget or deny that part of her life? Every moment in a life shapes that person into what they are meant to be. The good must be taken with the bad and there is always something unpleasant that accompanies joy." Frigga placed her fingers gently on her son's wrist. "What is there to say that she wants to forget?" Thor placed his opposite hand atop his mother's and his countenance brightened for a moment. Then it grew dark again and his eyebrows furrowed.
"Mother," He said, looking as serious as Frigga had ever seen him. "I think that Loki was not entirely responsible for his actions on Midigard." Frigga nodded. "I am under the same impression." Thor's brows knitted themselves even further together. "Then he has been wrongly accused and sentenced." Thor moved to stand, but Frigga stopped him. Placing a hand on either side of his face, she looked him in the eye and smiled mournfully. "Although he may have been manipulated to act as he did, it does not mean that he acted solely for another. He is still responsible for the destruction of a great many lives, including his actions toward Elizabeth." Thor looked torn.
The large blonde man tenderly wrapped his fingers around Frigga's slim wrists. "I am unsure if I should defend Loki as my brother or condemn him as a criminal. He has acted as both." Frigga wrapped her arms around her son's neck and pulled him to her bosom. She ran her hands lovingly through his hair. Thor wrapped his own arms loosely about her waist and let her stroke his head as she had when he was a child. The warmth of her body was comforting and the soft sound of her breath mingled with the thumping of her heart in her breast. Thor closed his eyes and let the familiar scent of his mother chase all thoughts from his mind.
After a time, Frigga spoke. "My dear, sweet son." Thor let himself be drawn back to reality by the way Frigga's voice resonated firmly in her chest. "My little Thor." He leaned back from the embrace to look up at his mother. Her eyes glistened with the dew of unshed tears. "You are no longer the innocent child that played at good and evil. You are a man, still young, but old enough to know things as they are. Each and every being of each and every realm has infinitely many facets of themselves; love, hate, courage, cowardice, foolishness. They exist in equal parts to begin with, but as we grow and age, we choose what we will be, what facets we will care for and which we will allow to fall into disrepair. Our circumstances will determine some of the person we will be, but the ultimate choice is ours." Frigga smiled sadly. "You have to choose how to acknowledge Loki, just as he must choose how to view himself."