The England trip was fantastic but I've been back for like a month so I can't really use it as an excuse for the update delay. That mostly came down to being stuck because I couldn't work out the best PoV to approach the chapter from. Eventually I mentioned this to Baby Bro, and he immediately pointed out the obvious PoV character. I've trained him so well. ^_^ I should try to get a little bit written every day instead of waiting for inspiration to take hold of me for a multi-hour stretch. I just don't have the kind of time for that to happen very often these days.
Byleistr awoke in his chambers in Gladsheim with no sign that he'd had any other uninvited visitors after Prince Loki. Sleeping for a few hours hadn't really been necessary, but despite the warm reception he'd had from Queen Frigga, he didn't want to tax the Asgardians' hospitality overmuch by availing himself of her list of entertainments. Besides, it was amusing to picture the vein that would pop out in his father's temple when he described the leisurely nap he'd taken in the very heart of enemy territory. Circumstances were proving him entirely right and his father entirely wrong, and it was absolutely delicious.
The bed was comfortable enough that he would gladly have slept longer, but he didn't want to miss the arrivals of the royalty from the other realms. He'd had the lineages drilled into him as part of his early schooling but Jotunheim's near-total isolation since the war had prevented him from putting it to any use until now.
He dimly remembered being introduced to King Eitri of Nidavellir as a child but that had been briefer than his interactions with Queen Frigga. Old King Fjorgynn of Vanaheim, who was Frigga's father, had died in the last millennium and the throne passed to his son Njord. Of the four royal houses in the binary Alfheim-Ildathach system, Byleistr had only caught a brief glimpse of The Morrigan of the Winter Court of the Tuatha de Danann. If his mental arithmetic was right, the Summer and Unseelie Courts should be in the current ruling positions on the planet and its moon, which meant Queen Brigid would be the delegate, possibly accompanied by Queen Mab.
The ambassador returned so quickly after Byleistr sent a drengr to fetch him that he wondered if he'd been waiting right outside the door. The chap was certainly keen. When Byleistr explained his desire to meet the other delegates, he brought him and the drengjar several levels down to the Hall of Kings, which had him wondering if Odin had a separate hall in this palace for every type of guest and occasion. It would almost account for the size of the place.
The Hall of Kings was large enough that it would probably intimidate any guest of a smaller race (he was sure that was the point). It was as beautiful and ornate as everything else, and the walls were covered in glittering murals of the three generations of Aesir kings since Asgard's founding, as well as their families. Were gold and red hair as common among all Aesir as they were in the line of Buri? Such strange colors for hair. Almost as strange as the spectrum of pinks and browns of their skin.
Byleistr didn't have long to wait before he heard heavy footsteps, and in came the Nidavellir delegation, talking and laughing. King Eitri's retinue was rather larger than the Jotun prince's two impromptu guards, and they all, men and women alike, looked like they'd come straight from hours at the forge without doing much to clean up. While Dvergr proportions were very different from Jotun ones, it was nevertheless something of a relief to no longer be the tallest beings in the entire realm by several feet.
"Bless my beard! Is that a son of Laufey?" Eitri barked, throwing his arms wide at the sight of Byleistr. His hands were covered in thick calluses and shiny burn scars dotted his exposed skin like freckles. To the Dvergar, leadership was determined by skill rather than blood, and there was no blacksmith in Yggdrasil whose abilities or dedication to the craft rivaled Eitri's. The title of king seemed more for the benefit of the other realms than for the Dvergar themselves, something that had greatly confused him and Helblindi as children but which seemed rather sensible to him now. "Fancy seeing one of you lads in Gladsheim!"
"A little more than a lad these days, your majesty," said Byleistr, moving to clasp his arm.
"Norns, but it has been a while, hasn't it? Here for Jotunheim's piece of justice against the Dokkalfar plague, are you?"
"In spite of my father's best efforts."
Eitri harrumphed. "That stubborn old glacier. Good of Odin to invite you. I hope it means the trade embargo will be loosening. We never could get satisfactory replacements for some of the Jotun-made parts in our cooling systems on Nidavellir after they wore out, and the repairs we could do ourselves only barely keep it working some days."
"I'm sure our craftsmen would be eager to supply you with the parts you need. We've certainly been missing Dvergar steel in some of our infrastructure." This was getting better and better. Father liked to pretend that Jotunheim was isolationist rather than being held under a trade embargo, but he would make an utter fool of himself to the whole realm if he maintained that attitude with eager trade partners waiting and adding pressure for Asgard to loosen its grip.
They spent the next half-hour or so discussing the sorts of goods and raw materials each realm might be interested in from the other before Queen Frigga arrived in the hall with her attendants to collect them for the feast. Alfheim's delegation would meet them in the feast hall and it seemed Vanaheim's was running a little late. That must be the sort of thing you could get away with when Asgard's queen was your elder sister.
At the doors to the feast hall, Frigga requested that they wait to be announced before entering and making their way to their table, then went in ahead of them. They didn't have to stand there long before a voice rang out with: "King Eitri of Nidavellir!" The Dvergar strode through the doors to a round of polite applause.
"Byleistr-Prince of Jotunheim!" Byleistr walked through with the drengjar behind him. There was no applause this time. The room must have at least twenty thousand Aesir in it and he felt the weight of every single silent stare. He kept his head high and followed Eitri's company to the large table set to the right of the high table (but slightly lower so that everyone sitting there would be at eye level with the royal family).
He offered a stiff bow when he passed in front of the Allfather himself, trying not to be relieved when he saw no sign of the golden spear. Part of him was disappointed to see the golden eyepatch. Father had not exaggerated in his boasts that he had put out one of Aesir king's eyes in the war, then. Odin met Byleistr's gaze with an unreadable expression and acknowledged him with a nod. To Odin's left, Frigga beamed at him and Prince Loki gave a hint of a smirk. The seat to Odin's right was empty, and Byleistr soon saw why. Ahead of him, Eitri was getting an enthusiastic welcome from a man who could only be Prince Thor.
Byleistr's immediate impression of Asgard's future king was that, despite his small stature, his boisterous attitude gave him a presence almost as large as a Jotun. Still laughing heartily over something Eitri had said, he turned and caught sight of Byleistr. His eyes lit up as his mother's had in the welcome hall and he bounded forward, arm outstretched. "Byleistr-Prince! At last we meet. I hope you're enjoying Asgard so far."
Surprised and amused, Byleistr bent down and returned the gesture. His hand easily closed over Prince Thor's entire arm, while Thor's hand barely covered half of his wrist, but that didn't seem to bother Thor at all. "The House of Odin has been most welcoming. I hope it is a sign of things to come."
"It is if I can help it," said Thor with a fierce determination and a tightening of his grip. Byleistr had only ever heard evil of the Aesir, but it was hard to believe it of the three members of the royal family he'd met—unless they were all very good actors. The princes parted and headed for their seats. Thor seemed completely unperturbed by the palpable shock of the hall at their pleasant greeting. Byleistr couldn't shrug it off so easily.
There was a wide gap at the table to the left of the House of Odin, which must be where the Vanir and Alfar delegations would sit. Prince Loki was on one side of the gap and, on the other, a family of three. The little curly-haired blond boy sitting between his parents was staring wide-eyed at Byleistr. He lowered the tinted goggles enough to wink at the child, who looked delighted. The mother, on the other hand—Ljosalfr by the look of her—shot him a glance. Her features were carefully neutral, unlike the more openly curious or hostile ones he'd been getting from most Aesir so far. If she feared and mistrusted him as they did, why bother trying to conceal it?
"Queen Brigid of the Tuatha de Danann of Alfheim and Queen Mab of the Daoine Sidhe of Ildathach!"
The tension in the banquet hall broke as excited murmurs swept along the tables and every head turned to face the opposite end of the hall. Queen Brigid was not difficult to spot in the column of Ljosalfar crossing the threshold. She was clad in flowing green and gold, her loose hair the color of fire tumbled nearly to the ground, and her skin glowed as if she was standing in a sunbeam. A sigh rippled through the people she passed on her way to the top of the hall. The Summer Queen was renowned across Yggdrasil for her skill as a healer, and Byleistr could believe it just by looking at her. He couldn't imagine anything managing to remain ill in her presence. She simply radiated life.
Queen Mab flew on insect-like wings at shoulder height to Brigid. She was barely as tall as Byleistr's little finger, so he couldn't get a very good look at her until the procession was nearly at the high table, but she wore an armored gown made of woven flower petals and iridescent beetle shells, topped off with an elaborate headdress made of the skull of some tiny, antlered creature. While Brigid exchanged cordial greetings with Odin and Frigga, Mab flew directly for Loki and touched down on his shoulder, where she bent to whisper something into his ear. A few seconds later, he burst out laughing and she flitted off to sit cross-legged on the table. Byleistr supposed a friendship between Mischief and Unseelie made a great deal of sense, but it was probably a headache for Asgard and Ildathach.
Once Brigit and the Alfar and Sidhe attendants were settled, Odin got to his feet. The hall quieted down almost at once. "Welcome to Gladsheim. We are honored to have royal guests from four other realms tonight, as well as our Midgardian visitors and guests from Nornheim and Ria. As you know, the subject of the coming Council of the Realms is very serious, but first we feast! In honor of our guests, the palace kitchens have prepared a Feast of Five Realms, with fruit from Alfheim, greens from Vanaheim, beer from Nidavellir—" At this, Eitri gave a hearty cheer and clunked his tankard against the one Byleistr hadn't touched yet, and quite a few people echoed him. Odin chuckled before concluding, "and roast meat from Asgard and cheese from Jotunheim."
It all looked and smelled delicious to Byleistr and tasted even better—even the foods he didn't have a name for. They didn't normally age their cheese over a thousand years on Jotunheim (unlike this cheese if it hadn't come from some black market he didn't know about), but it paired remarkably well with the fruit from Alfheim especially. Everyone got to eating and the volume of talk in the hall rose steadily. Fewer unfriendly looks came his way as people paid more attention to their food and drink than him. Even the Ljosalfr lady had stopped watching him with wary eyes.
"King Njord of Vanaheim!" The announcement came a good twenty minutes into the feast and was greeted by distracted clapping that was too uneven to build to proper applause. Odin looked annoyed and the smile Frigga had for her brother was rather stiffer than the one she'd given all the other royals.
Njord greatly resembled his sister but he didn't have the same light in his eyes that she did. "My dearest sister!" he declared when he was close to the table. "How good to see you again. And amid such exalted company." He turned and bowed to each of the delegations before facing her again. "Why, I hardly imagined I would ever see one Jotun on Asgard. You cannot imagine my surprise when I heard who would be in attendance."
"Yes, we are very pleased to welcome Byleistr-Prince to Gladsheim, dear Brother," said Frigga loudly. Thor had opened his mouth, looking angry, but closed it when she spoke first. "Come enjoy the feast," she added, gesturing to the empty place on Loki's left. "You nearly missed it."
Byleistr narrowed his eyes, glad that the goggles would keep his expression disguised. What was that about? What could Njord possibly have meant by stressing that particular word? The drengjar? But he couldn't have expected him to come without a guard, surely.
X
The rest of Asgard would remain for hours of feasting and dancing as usual, but for the delegations it was time to begin the summit. All the foreign royals were led to the summit chamber first so that Odin could say a few more words to the people, any retinue other than personal guards remaining behind as well. Thor took the opportunity to speak to Frigga after spending the second half of the meal silently fuming. "What the Hel is Uncle playing at, Mother?"
Growing up, he'd never particularly liked Uncle Njord. He couldn't have said why, but Loki had summed it up quite well when they were boys: Njord and their mother had the same smile, but Njord wore it falsely. Loki had taken the lead in quite a number of pranks against their uncle over the centuries, and they agreed that Vanaheim would be better off if Grandfather Fjorgynn had named their aunt his heir instead of their uncle. He may as well have done; Njord left most of the royal duties to Fulla anyway.
"Well he rather resents learning of Loki's adoption from the spread of rumor rather than from my own lips a thousand years ago," said Frigga, dabbing the corners of her mouth with her napkin. "I suspect doubly so because our sister has known the entire time."
"Is he going to be a problem?" said Loki.
"He's made his point. Vanaheim's position on the Dokkalfar is the same as Asgard's, given that Vanaheim created Asgard in the first place to do battle with them. He won't want to compromise our united purpose by appearing too divisive over an unrelated family matter."
"Do you regret not telling him?" said Thor.
"No." She got to her feet and took Odin's offered arm. "I love my brother, but I think his little display proved that Fulla's advice to keep him out of the secret was correct."
Thor exchanged a glance with Loki before they followed their parents out of the feast hall.
The other thing that got me stuck was I couldn't decide how I wanted to describe Queen Brigid or commit to the sidhe being in any way Tinkerbell-esque, but eventually I got there (partly because I discovered that the sidhe are already Tinkerbelle-esque in the comics). In Irish mythology, Brigid is a triple goddess whose domains are healing, poetry, and blacksmithing. I decided to focus on healing but might attempt to incorporate poetry when we get some actual dialogue from her. We're getting a little deeper into the Irish mythology foundation for how I'm doing Alfheim. Also I've decided it would be more fun if it and its moon were a double planet. That's basically what Pluto and Charon are, and I've wanted to do that in a story ever since I found that out. They're similar enough in size that they kind of orbit each other instead of the small one orbiting the big one. So I gave Alfheim a moon and put fairies on it. Alfheim and Ildathach have opposing axial tilts and therefore opposite seasons.
I discovered while writing this that there are cheeses on Earth that are well over a thousand years old (I'm not sure anyone's eating it, but it exists) so I had to tone down Byleistr's reaction to the aged Jotunheim cheese from the first draft.
Probably my favorite thing in this one is the idea that Asgard and Ildathach do not at all appreciate Loki's friendship with Mab.
Anyway, extended family drama meets biological family drama! Bad timing, Uncle Njord.