Kari sat back in the bed, her body ached, and she felt as though she would never have energy again, like she was going to be in a perpetual state of exhaustion. But he was here, her son. A small bundle with brown hair, darker than her own, perfect little features, and healthy; he had fed from her eagerly, and was now asleep in his grandmother's arms.
Frigga had been distraught when Eir could not cut through to the child, she had tried to get it to calm so that her seidr could prevent it from using his, but she was too worn, and the child too distressed. They had gotten Kari to waken, so instead Frigga would be forced to give much of her own strength over to Kari to aid her birthing the child naturally. She was convinced Kari would not survive it, which was when she had gone to her sons to tell them of what was occurring. Sheer determination in proving people wrong seemed to be all that got Kari through the birth.
"Will I call them in?" Frigga asked, not taking her eyes off her grandson.
"Get Helena to do it, you need to rest too." Kari smiled, she wanted to hold him, but she knew herself rest was what she needed at that time, there would be time enough to hold him after.
The elated and relieved maid was dispatched, and soon after, Thor walked into the room, followed closely by Loki. Thor seemed torn between going to Kari in the bed, and the baby in his mothers arms, but Loki made straight for her.
"What in the Nine Realms were you thinking?" Loki was so concerned with speaking with her; he seemed to have forgotten whose company they were in. "Why did you not tell me, why did you have me put you at the window?"
"I wanted some fresh air." Kari shrugged with a small smile. "I needed to breathe."
"You should have something, to either of us. You nearly died rather than just mention you were feeling ill."
Thor watched the interactions between his wife and brother silently, he swallowed when he realised the situation at hand, looking to Frigga, and he was shocked to see a knowing look on her face. When she looked to him, it was clear what he was silently asking her, and she cleared her throat immediately. "I shall take this young man to be clothed I think." Frigga rose from the chair she was in and walked from the room.
"Still?" Thor looked between them. "After so long."
"We never stopped." Loki stood from the side of the bed.
"That is why you wanted me to admit my interest in Sif, so you could do the same yourself." Thor stated to Kari.
"If everyone can find happiness, why not do so? Why should there be misery when there is need for none?" She queried.
"So you two…Why did neither of you tell me?"
"Thor, you have been so confused about yourself. I told you to accept your love for Sif and you still tried to hold onto a marriage for a child." Kari stated.
"But…"
"Can you not see, this is all just a farce at this stage Thor." Loki shouted. "There is nothing about any of this that is the least bit viable to hold onto."
Thor became silent before simply storming from the room. "What do think that means?" Kari asked fearfully.
"That we told him a truth too great for him to process in front of us, he will return when he has dealt with his conflicting emotions." Loki looked at Kari again; her eyes seemed to be shutting as she looked at him. "Rest darling, you need it."
"I thought I was going to have to break my promise."
"If you are worrying about us not discussing your not telling me of your weakness and your allowing Thor be the one with you and not me, trust me, we will, but when you are healthier and more able to retort, alright?" With a small smile Kari fell asleep. Loki refused to leave her side as she did.
Thor was not seen for the rest of the evening by his family as he processed everything, just as Loki stated he would. The next morning, he seemed to be in better spirits when he visited his wife in her rooms, even with Loki present. Frigga was still sleeping herself as she attempted to recover.
"Should you not…?" He asked, his face slightly reddened.
"What?" Kari looked around before realising what had Thor so embarrassed. "I am feeding a baby, not advertising myself in a brothel, Thor. And neither you nor Loki can even see him, he is under a nursing shawl." She threw her eyes up as she spoke.
"I have not even seen him yet." Thor realised as he walked over to the bed, Loki walked across the room as he did so, and stared out the window, not wanting to witness his brother and his son together, as much as he knew it would have to happen.
When the baby required another winding, Kari took him from under the shawl and allowed Thor to look on him as she rubbed his back. "He is to be called Njall." She insisted. I do not care if father's get to name children; I quite literally nearly died having him. I am calling him that." she declared.
Thor nodded, not caring for something as trivial as a name when it was true she nearly died to bring him among them alive. "Njall, a fine name for a fine boy." He smiled, placing his large finger in the child's open palm, where it immediately closed around it.
Loki's lip curled contemptuously as he looked out the corner of his eye to see his brother smiling at his son. Kari noticed and pitied Loki, who could not be acknowledged for what he was.
"The realm has to be informed." Thor rose to his feet. "You are feeling better also?" Kari nodded, her eyes narrowed slightly as she studied him. "Good." Thor felt awkward under her quizzical stare, so he turned to leave again.
"So, pray tell, how did Sif react exactly?" She asked with a smile.
"What?" Thor turned to look at her.
"There are nail marks and scratches on the side of your neck, and I think I also see, yes, that is a bite mark." She smirked. "So I assume Sif took the news well."
"I…" Thor rubbed the evidence and winced, realising it was true what Kari could see.
She simply started to laugh before adding fondly. "Told you, you blind man."
"Yes, well…" Thor said no more and left.
X
"Well done Njall." Loki smiled proudly as the boy was able to make a fork disappear from in front of him. The brown haired boy grinned back at him, his blue eyes radiating brightly at the praise, the specks of green within them shining all the more when he was happy.
"Loki?"
"Yes." Loki hated how to his son he was just Loki, and not father, that privilege was his brothers, much to his chagrin.
"Why…"
"What mischief are you teaching him today Loki? Could you not teach him something useful." Thor interrupted. "Njall, you should be training with a shield and sword, or even more importantly, hand to hand."
"I have already today father." Njall informed him. "My tutor says I am exceptionally skilled at it." He added proudly, Loki gave him a smile and wink.
"Good. Well it will serve you better than this magic malarkey."
"This magic malarkey has saved your ass more than once Thor, or do you need to be reminded." Loki growled, irritated by Thor dismissing seidr for the millionth time. "Njall is a natural, it has to be encouraged."
"As the future king of Asgard, he will need to worry more about battles and war than making cutlery disappear for a cheap party trick." Thor began to get irritated, disliking how Loki was giving his view all too often on how Njall should be raised.
"It leads to more difficult things, like making him disappear, that could save his life." Loki stood to full height across from his brother.
"I think you forget that he is my son Loki, not yours." Thor stood straight also, reminding Loki he was two inches taller and far broader than him.
"Of course he is." Loki replied smarmily.
Thor frowned as he eyed Loki. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing." Loki walked away.
"No, what does that mean Loki?" Thor followed after him, turning him to face him. For a split second, there was a look of fear on Loki's face and Thor paled, looking around at the young boy who was looking at them both, concerned at their arguing. He looked back at Loki again and let go of him. "No." He walked off, and out of the room immediately.
"Oh Norn's." Loki knew he had caused a problem. "Njall, go to Helena." Realising that there was more going on that he understood, the bright young heir did as he was told.
"WHAT!?" Thor roared, lightning ripping through the sky outside.
"Thor, please." Sif tried to calm him.
"You." Thor glared at his brother, and then turned to Kari. "And you." She winced at the hatred in his voice. "You had me think he was mine. He is to be made king."
"You think I don't hate what I did, I have since the day I screwed up." Kari stated calmly.
"You're not even going to try and justify yourself?" He asked in disbelief.
Kari laughed back. "There is no way to ever justify such actions, I can never say or do anything to take back the terrible acts I committed. I stated that to you before."
"I did not think that included him. Why did you not come clean then?" Thor shouted angrily.
"I was terrified." Kari explained.
"Of me?" Thor stared at her, his anger drained. "You thought I would…" Kari could not look him in the eye, but he could see it had been a concern for her. "I…" He swallowed. "I would never have done such a thing." He shook his head. "He is supposed to be my heir, he is not even my child." Rage filled him again. "And you." He turned to Loki, shaking with anger. "No wonder you were so happy around her at that time, you bastard." He lunged at Loki, punching him hard in the jaw. "You made a fool of me too."
Loki did not fight back; instead he merely stopped Thor from actually landing any more blows. "Yes, we wronged you, and we are sorry, but…"
"There is no but Loki. I want you gone, both of you and your brat too." Thor snarled as he stood straight once more.
"Thor!" Sif scolded. "Be angry at them, that is completely justified, I am fit to kill also, I assure you, but do not take it out on Njall, he never had anything to do with this."
"This is about him." Thor argued.
"But he did not ask to exist, did he? Nor did he choose who sired him." She argued and Thor silenced. She then turned to Kari, who mouthed 'thank you' Sif nodded, but her anger at Kari was clear on her face.
"What are we to do? He cannot take the throne." Thor stormed through the room pacing.
"There is nothing can be done about that, not without showing the family to be weak." The four turned to see Frigga standing at the door. "It is one thing if the people were to suspect you both taking lovers, but to disown Njall will mean no legitimate heir. If Sif was to carry your child, it is not from your marriage, you will not be able to call it your heir. The throne would have to pass to Loki or Njall then anyway, but with it being common knowledge and you know that there would be a few lords willing to use the tensions to take the throne. And with trust in our family broken, they would have more than a few supporters."
Thor's eyes widened as he turned to glare at Kari, Loki stood in front of her to shield her. "What have you done?"
"There is no good can come from any of this." Frigga insisted.
"So what, we go on acting as normal?" Thor scoffed in disbelief.
"Yes." Frigga stated. "Njall is an intelligent and able boy, the realm accepts him, and that is what matters here." Thor looked at her incredulously. He stormed from the room in a fury. "Sif." With a nod, she walked out if the room.
"You knew." Loki stared at his mother in shock. "How long?"
"Oh please give me some credit Loki. Your anger when you noticed Kari's condition, then your elation not a day later, his seidr, then he was born, as soon as I saw his little nose, it is yours through and through. Even his nature is a mischievous one."
Kari had tears in her eyes. "I am sorry for all the damage I have caused."
"Sweetheart, you are just Aesir; you are capable of doing wrong. It is a terrible cruelty what you both did to Thor, I was less than pleased at that, but in all honesty, I was not surprised. You should never have been separated to begin with."
"Thor…"
"He will calm in time, he knows what I said is true, and he will not want to cause a civil issue."
Thor did calm, but not for some time, and for years, looking at Njall caused him to feel a pang of pain. He had tried to have a child with Sif, not to have another heir, he knew it would not be able to take Njall's position, but simply to have a child of his own, but sadly, she never conceived, according to Eir, both were not able to create one.
Kari was not able to have anymore after her traumatic birthing of Njall, but she an Loki were happy to watch Njall develop into an adolescent, even if Loki was forced to watch from afar.
As he trained with his peers one afternoon in the training grounds, Kari watched on from a terrace beside it and Thor walked over next to her. "He is good, better even." He commented.
"It is all the hand to hand training you insisted he have."
"It will serve him well."
"I rather not think about such." Kari shuddered as she placed her hands around herself. "No mother wants to think of her son in battle."
"It is his duty."
"I am aware." She looked up at him. "What is it Thor?" He looked back at her curiously. "I can still tell when something is bothering you." She smiled.
"Still?" She nodded. "I can still read some of your little tells too." He admitted.
"I would be offended if you didn't."
"We are married how long now?"
"Fifteen hundred years."
"And it is a very happy marriage."
Kari laughed. "It is, but let's face it; it has little to do with you and I being together."
"Well it is as you said, we love one another, just not like that."
"I thought you loathed me now."
"I did, but I forgave you, after a while."
"Why?"
"Because you extended the same courtesy to me when I did horrid things to you."
"Such as?"
"Forcing you to be so involved in a marriage you never wanted. I should never have tried to force you to love me back."
"It does not justify what I did."
"No, that is true, but we can only move on."
"You are getting soft."
"Do not say that too loud." He grinned in return.
"So what is it you wished to say? That is not what you came to me about."
"I found something the other day. I did not know how to broach giving it back to you." Kari frowned as Thor extended his hand to her. "It was one of the books you left the rooms."
She opened the scrap of paper and smiled. "Thank you. How did you know what it was?"
"The night of our wedding, you had it hidden in your undergarments. You kept it."
"I thought it would be the last I would ever hear from him."
Thor nodded, looking to the training pit. "I better teach Njall not to be so disrespectful to older warriors, Fandral is too gentle on him." He grinned as he walked forward.
Kari rolled her eyes and walked back into the palace. She made her way to Loki's chambers to see him staring out the window. "Is Thor trying to kill our son?" He asked looking at the training grounds.
"I think he called it 'teaching him a lesson'." She smiled, sitting down across from him. "I was thinking."
"Oh Norns, that is not good." He chuckled as she struck him with a pillow. "So what have you been thinking?" Kari opened the tie at the front of her dress, walking to the bedchambers as she looked back at him suggestively. "I rescind my previous statement." He smiled as he rose and followed after her.
X
Thor stepped down as Allfather not long after Njall and his wife Katrin welcomed their son Viktor. Kari smiled as she held her grandson in her arms during his coronation.
After the coronation feast Kari was enjoying a moment of quiet on the balcony. "So, how does it feel to no longer worry of such things?" She smiled at her grown son.
"I am not sorry to see it go if I am honest. It is yours and Katrin's problem now"
"I think father was proud today."
"Yes." Kari gave a small smile at that.
"I think Uncle Thor was less pleased." He added. Kari stared at him. "I've known for some time now mother."
"I'm sorry. I never meant to drag you into anything."
"Well I am not. I know you and my father love one another, and I know what happened you both. Grandmother told me once of what my grandfather did to you." Kari bit her lips together as she thought of Frigga, who she missed terribly since she passed to Valhalla. "I am proof that love conquers all mother, I am not ashamed of that. I am just glad you and Thor never did such a thing to me."
"We never could have done that to you."
"I know, it does not mean I cannot be grateful for it."
"Smart."
"Like his mother." Loki added as he joined them. "Your wife is looking for you. It appears your son has waddled off with Mjolnir."
"Mjolnir?" Kari stared at her soul mate.
"Yes, Thor is in fits of laughter, declaring to all that Viktor is worthy, we should tremble in fear at this time I should think."
"I better deal with that." Njall kissed his mothers hand before he left. "You'll keep her company here, won't you father?"
Loki smiled widely at his son calling him that. "I will." Njall walked back inside, his smile very similar. Loki walked over to Kari. "I don't mean to brag, but we created a great child." He wrapped his arms around her.
"It is only a pity the realm does not get to know it."
"Such things are irrelevant my dove."