Chapter 17
Thor received a response from King Frederick swiftly enough. As he had expected, with the impending birth of their child, he and his wife were not willing to risk her travelling via the Bifrost, so they invited him and Kari as well as members of their court to visit Alfheim instead. Much to Thor's chagrin however, the Light Elf king also knew of Loki's return, and the invitation was extended to him specifically also.
Kari frowned as Thor informed them all at the breakfast table that he had decided on a date to depart. It had been a fortnight since they had been in each others company in private, and for the entire time, they had not slept in the same quarters. Instead, each night, though it was assumed she was in her old rooms, she graced Loki's bed, neither able to sate their lust for the others bodies until late into the night, and then lay in each others arms exhausted until they fell asleep. When they would be in Alfheim, Kari would be forced to stay with Thor in the same quarters. None would be made aware of the issues between the young King and Queen.
They were hardly speaking, with Kari not even acknowledging Thor at her parents' memorial. She only entered their chambers when she knew for a fact that he was absent from them. Her handmaids looked at her with a peculiar manner, wondering when their mistress would return to them, seeming as she all but barred them from going to the other quarters, locking it, they assumed, to prevent her husbands entry. They informed her on more than one occasion that Stefan, Thor's chief hand servant, stated that the king had yet to sleep a full night since her departure, unable to rest without her there beside his side. She had noted herself that when she was in Thor's company, he indeed looked weary, and spent considerable time staring at her.
She continued to draw and sketch, mostly objects within her environment and soon her love for drawing Loki as a subject returned also. As with before, he was gracious when she showed him something, and understanding when she did not; she did ensure however, that everything she drew of him, immediately made its way to him, not wanting Thor to see them were he to demand her sketches again.
Thor however, saw the visit to Alfheim as a way to bring Kari back to him. He knew she would not want to cause issues and would stay in the same quarters as him, and that would permit him to speak with her, and get her to realise his remorse.
The day of their departure, the whole family ate together, and an uncomfortable silence looked over the table.
Loki and Frigga were discussing the drama that had played such a defining part in Fredericks ascension to the throne, as Loki was able to fill the table in with more details, having arrived on Alfheim not long after everything had occurred. It transpired that the old king, Frederick's father, had gotten not one, two or three, but every last one of the queens handmaids with child, causing his wife to force him to step down and have their far more respectful and honest son take over.
"I find it interesting that you arrived there at that time." Odin commented from his seat, his one eye glaring at Loki.
"I arrived after, or is your hearing leaving you as well?" Loki retorted angrily. "He was already King before I set one foot on Alfheim."
"How did you get there?" Loki looked to Thor. "You were not using the Bifrost, so how did you make your way among the realms?"
"There are weak points on any realm, you know that. You simply have to choose which one to take carefully."
"Where are they?" Odin demanded.
"You are no longer Allfather, I need tell you nothing." Loki stated coldly, giving his father a glare.
Odin was about to begin an argument when Frigga intervened. "Have you found your ravens yet dear?"
Odin glared at Loki, who was grinning to himself. "What have you done with them?"
"On my life, I have not touched your beloved feathered pests."
"Like Hel."
"Why would Loki go to your rooms to attack your birds father, really?" Thor sat back in his chair, waiting to see if his father would confirm his suspicions that the ravens were sent to follow Kari..
"They were in the weapons vault when I last saw them; they must be ravenous if they are not yet dead. I cannot believe you sent none to look for them sooner." Kari stared at Odin appalled.
"Why were they in the weapons vault?" Thor frowned.
"And how do you know they are there?" Odin demanded.
"I noticed they were always wherever I was, which, for the record, is most distracting when you are trying to get dressed. Does the idea of watching your daughter-in-law getting changed titillate you somewhat?" She queried. Thor glared at his father. "So I decided to see how far into the palace they were ordered to follow me, and the answer, it turned out, was all the way to the weapons vault, which as we all know, is protected by Gungnir's magic, not to permit someone to spy within, including dirty old perverts."
Loki could not hide the scoff of laughter he emitted as Kari challenged Odin in such a way. When he looked at Thor however, his grin turned into a full blown smile. Thor was shaking with fury, and even Odin realised it.
"You dare send your ravens around after my wife as though she a treasonous wench!"
"Thor." His mother attempted to settle him.
"You cannot possibly be fine with this mother?" The young king asked incredulously.
"Of course not, but ahead of our going to Alfheim, the last thing we require is an argument."
"I cannot believe that no one is still gone to look for those ravens." Kari stated as she continued to chew on a slice of melon. That only set Loki off chuckling again.
"You are relishing in this as much as he is." Odin snarled looking to Kari.
"Actually more so than him, I got to call you out for being a pervert, I do not think he has ever had that honour."
"It's true." Loki acknowledged.
"And perhaps our similarities derive from our once being chosen for one another on our likenesses." She rose from the table. "And since no one else is going to go and deal with those poor creatures, it seems I will have to."
"You put them there."
"You forced me to." Kari retorted. "And be warned, if I so much as sense them following me again, I will have the palace archers use them for target practise." She stated coldly as she walked off.
"I must commend you Thor, whatever you have done this past month, it has done wonders for her. Her fire is back." Loki finished his chalice and too rose from the table. "I think I best get the last of my things ready for the journey. As always, I can never accuse a family meal of being a boring affair." And with that he walked off.
"Thor." Odin began, but the young king raised his hand and silenced him.
"Kari has not slept in our bedchambers in four weeks, she has not spoken to me unless necessary in that time either, some of it is my fault, but so much of it is yours too father. The reason she will not even let me near her…"
"Just went out the door." Odin pointed after Loki. "You are a blind stupid boy, not yet fit to be king."
"BUT I AM KING." Thor roared in return, Frigga jumping with the viciousness of his tone. "And the reason for why I cannot hope my wife to bear child lies solely with you. My chance to remedy that by having her come with me to Alfheim has been hindered greatly again, by you. Forget Kari's threats, heed mine, if you use those filthy beasts to look at my wife again, I will allow her the threat she made, and carry out my own punishments on you."
"You are blind."
"I am trying to save my marriage. The one YOU forced us into. Do you want me to die heirless, you know what happens then don't you, Loki becomes king, or his own offspring. I am trying to ensure what you wanted happens, and every time I get close to repairing it, you ruin it again, so sit down, shut up and for once in your life keep your opinions to yourself." With that he too rose from the table.
The ravens were alive, thankfully there was water in the vault around one of the weapons, so they were not dehydrated, but they clearly were very wary of Kari as a result of her actions, and most would wager, even if Odin told them to follow her again, they would be reluctant to.
The carriage journey to the Bifrost site was an awkward one. None spoke, and Loki grinned at the chaos around him for which he could not be blamed, since he technically had no part in it.
On Alfheim, things fared little better, but the Aesir royals acted as though nothing was amiss. When they were shown to their rooms, Kari assessed them immediately. The bed was smaller than theirs, not really made for a man of Thor's stature, to even attempt to remain in the same bed as him she would be forced to lean in against him. She was grateful that the Light Elves enjoyed comfort; there was a choice of areas in the room for her to rest.
"Kari." She did not even turn around to face her husband; she simply turned her head slightly. "We need to get ready to go to the feast." His voice was low, and almost defeated. She simply nodded in reply. "Please, please talk to me Kari."
"I have nothing to say." She dismissed, walking to the bathroom, but Thor followed her. "Get out."
"How can I make it up to you when you will not let me?"
"I do not wish for you to. I wish to be left in peace."
"And what about tonight?" he asked, hurt.
"What do you mean?"
"You are not going to ask for separate rooms are you?"
"No, of course not, do you wish for us to be the talk of the realms?" She snapped. "There is a window seat over there, it is large enough to fit me well, I will rest there."
"That is not right."
"Well I am not the one to cause this mess, am I?" She retorted, leaving a hurt Thor in her wake.
When they were dressed in their finery and ready to go down to the feast, Thor extended his arm to her, and Kari forced herself to take it. "I will make it up to you Kari, I swear."
"Can you take back what is done Thor?"
"No."
"Then do not bother. It is one thing to not trust me, which is hurtful, but it can be worked through, but I did nothing to deserve the manner in which you treated me that night, you took something so precious to me and pissed all over it. That to me is unforgiveable."
"I'm sorry." He hung his head.
"So you keep saying, it does not make it any better. Now let us start this charade. The sooner we are done here, the sooner I can go home."
The feast was a pleasant enough affair, with Frederick, Anya and their court welcoming the Aesir as old friends. For the first time in too long, Kari found herself happy in the company of others, enjoying speaking with Anya at length on different matters.
"Being queen is not easy." Kari agreed.
"Whatever of us, you have to follow Frigga as Allmother, I would never be envious of you Kari."
"I find myself very envious of all but me of late it must be said." Her eye falling to the bump which Anya was stroking.
"You are no doubt duty bound to have one soon also. If you hurry they will be friends as our husbands are." The other queen smiled excitedly.
Kari swallowed hard as the smile fell from her face. "I fear they will not have the chance." She stated sadly.
Anya looked sadly at her, not wishing to press the matter too much. "Do you see yourself being a mother in the future?"
Kari looked at her, her eyes displaying her heartache. "I do, and I wish I could see myself as one now. I…" She swallowed again. "I fear it may not be possible though."
"You have been…" Kari nodded. "That is concerning for you, is it not?"
"It has been an issue of contention for some time I fear."
"Well, let us not think of such things this evening." Anya smiled sadly patting Kari's hand. "I see Prince Loki has returned to Asgard."
"With a month, yes. It is good that he is back. Thor missed him greatly."
"And you?" Anya looked at her. "We all know what Odin did to you all, taking you and Loki from one another like that. I never heard of a crueller fate."
"There is nothing can be done with regards it, we can only continue on." Kari shrugged.
"You are stronger than I Allmother, for I would never be able to do such a thing. He told us during his time here that he would try to return, we thought he would not be capable of it, the heartache was still too raw for him."
"He seems to be coping well though." She looked over to him for a moment, on seeing the two queens looking at him, Loki raised his chalice slightly in acknowledgement and smiled.
"Do you spend much time speaking with him?"
"Rarely, sadly, but life is so busy at present."
The evening ended with the men going with King Frederick to enjoy some elfin wine while Anya insisted on going to bed, tired. Kari ceased the opportunity to go to her bed quarters before Thor and left also. When she arrived, she took some blankets and had her maids help her ready for bed, before taking the window seat and curling up on it comfortably.
When Thor arrived back, he frowned on seeing the empty bed, thinking Kari had shamed them by requesting separate rooms, but he soon realised it was worse than that when he saw her sleeping behind him as she swore to. He swallowed hard. How was he supposed to set things right, when she would not let him.
He had heard through Frederick of her conversation with Anya regards childbearing. As he had thought, she reacted longingly, but also more upset than he could have predicted to the discussion. Frederick mentioned offering her some elfin mead, it was sweeter than Aesir one, and was said to aid in conception. Thor thanked him for the offer, and said he would mention it to Kari, not wanting the other king to know of the elixir Kari had decided to take to prevent her becoming with child after everything.
He was no fool, his marriage was in a bad place. Why had he demanded those drawings, why could he not have just listened to her. She had been right, she had never given him reason to not trust her before that, his mistrust was just that, his, not hers. "Please forgive me Kari." He mumbled as he got into the bed.
During the night, Kari tossed in her sleep, too used to being in Loki's embrace, having relished in it since his return. In her tossing, she woke Thor, who turned in the bed to look at his wife. Realising she was too close to the edge, he got up just as she began to slip off.
Kari woke in Thor's arms. "What?"
"You fell off." He explained.
"Oh." She righted herself onto her feet again. "Are you just back now?"
"No, I woke and saw you falling."
It was then she realised that Thor was naked in front of her. "Right, well, sorry for getting you out of bed." She took the blankets again and got back onto the window seat.
"You do not have to sleep there." Thor voiced sadly.
"I feel it best if I do."
"Kari."
"Goodnight Thor."
"Is this it, for the next say four thousand years, barely speaking with one another? What happens when we require an heir?"
"I will get ridiculously drunk, take that elixir of Freya's and that will do it." Kari stated coldly.
"Kari, this is ridiculous."
"No what is ridiculous is every day I have to stand in that hall with you and listen to people who wish to divorce because they want to take a younger lover, they cannot stand the others snoring and they hate their wives cooking, and all the time I have to remain married to a man that neither trusts me nor believes me, with no good reason I might add." She knew it was a bit hypocritical for her to say such when she knew different, but he didn't. He thought she merely thought of Loki, when the truth was far worse. "I have to look at them daily as though I am not envious of them."
That hit Thor like a slap across the face. She wished for a divorce, it was far worse than he feared. The only thing in his favour was that for them, like with all monarchs, such was not an option. "I had not realised it had gone that bad."
"Well it has, I want nothing to do with you any longer Thor, and the thought that I will have to one day give you an heir makes my skin crawl. Do us both a favour, take a fancy mistress and get her with child, that way the onus is off me to be stuck with such a task."
Thor swallowed, trying to will the tears back at her words. "It would not be my heir though, would it?"
"I am sure we could make an exception." She said through gritted teeth. "Now, goodnight."
"It was a few pieces of paper, nothing more. Is that reason enough for you to want this for us?"
"Pieces of…you see this is proof why we are in this position, I do not call Mjolnir a lump of metal, I never scoffed at your pursuits or belittled them, but you have just outright dismissed mine. You have no respect for me."
"I do, I love you."
"How can you say that? I am not someone who shares my art, so instead of trying to get me to open up to you about it, you demanded it."
"I made a mistake."
"That is all you are doing of late Thor, you are turning into him, and I despise him with all of my being, and it is starting to be the same with you!"