THE SHE-WOLF AND THE RAVEN

Chapter 14: New Asgard

But the Raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only

That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.

Nothing farther then he uttered—not a feather then he fluttered—

Till I scarcely more than muttered "Other friends have flown before—

On the morrow he will leave me, as my Hopes have flown before."

Then the bird said "Nevermore."

"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil!—prophet still, if bird or devil!—

Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,

Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted—

On this home by Horror haunted—tell me truly, I implore—

Is there—is there balm in Gilead?—tell me—tell me, I implore!"

Quoth the Raven "Nevermore."

"Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!" I shrieked, upstarting—

"Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!

Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!

Leave my loneliness unbroken!—quit the bust above my door!

Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!"

Quoth the Raven "Nevermore."

Edgar Allan Poe, "The Raven"

oooooo

Loki and Leah did not walk far before a familiar voice shouted through the streets.

"Where is he?" the voice said and booted footsteps echoed off the narrow passageway between two stone buildings.

Loki stopped moving forward to wait. The Lady Sif approached them with a muted expression on her fierce face. Her dark hair fell loose behind her and she wore a dark chestnut dress embroidered with gold flourishes instead of her customary armor. Instead of falling to one knee, she dropped the basket she carried in one arm and rushed across the road to where Loki stood. Loki braced himself, unsure from her expression whether he could be receiving a dagger to the side or a verbal torrent of insults. To Loki's surprise, she did neither. Instead, she threw her arms around him in a tight embrace and her face softened into uncharacteristic warmth.

"It is true then. You are alive!" she said as she pulled back to see his well-being for herself. "If I weren't so happy to see you alive, I would kill you, you worthless, treacherous, miserable piece of refuse. Where have you been?"

"Midgard," Loki answered, thrown slightly off-kilter by the manner of her welcome.

"Since Svartalfheim?"

"Aye."

"Thor thought you dead," she said in a solemn voice and she raised one lovely eyebrow over her fiery eyes.

"The mistake was mutual. I, unfortunately, was proved wrong and woke on Svartalfheim after he had left me for the rock dragons."

Sif scoffed and placed one hand on her hip as she looked him up and down. "Well, you might still make better fodder for a dragon than anything else, but I'm glad you've come. You've seen him then?"

"Aye," Loki answered. "Though I am left to wonder who is reigning Asgard in the king's stead."

Sif gave a boisterous laugh. "Follow me, oh prince. There is much you must be filled in about and it is a conversations better held in our tavern here."

Loki nodded and meant to follow but Leah's hand on his elbow held him back.

"I will go check on the pups," she said. He nodded once and recognized her intent to give him space as much as her desire to ensure the well-being of their young. She left him then to follow where he directed her and disappeared behind another side street. Sif watched her departure with a knowing half-smile on her face.

"They said you have been busy on Midgard," she said. "Still-a Midgardian? I would expect such dalliances from Thor, but from you? You typically have more sense and taste."

Loki bristled slightly at the observation. He had no more wish to discuss how little his sense or taste was involved in his current arrangement than he did for Sif to know about the Midgardian magic that bound him to the she-wolf.

"I prefer not to stay idle when I can turn my hand to more profitable ventures," he answered with a formal bow in Sif's direction. Sif chuckled in response and led him to a large, wooden doored stone building.

"I see. Still, more productive than usual for even you, oh prince. Might you elevate the title of the mother to honorable wife or will she remain as consort?"

"It depends on if I deem her honorable."

"You are a cur."

"So you have reminded me more times than there are fire flowers on Muspelheim."

Sif rolled her eyes but gave him an unusually genuine smile. She cracked open the door with a resounding creak of wood and led him into the dimly lit hall. The cavernous room was lined with tables, chairs, stools, and counters and carried the distinct fragrances of a Midgardian tavern. She led him through the main hall which, despite the early hour, was still half full of Aesir patrons. Through a curtained partition, she pushed open another door and led him to a smaller room. A long table lined on each side with chairs was the only furnishing and no window allowed light or observation into the room. A side door opened for a server who gave a respectful bow and immediately poured cups of some weak Midgardian excuse for ale and snacks. Sif sat on the side of the table and downed one cup before she poured herself another from the pitcher left behind on the table.

"Truly, Loki, have you sought refuge on Midgard these years or is this another jest?" she asked him.

"I jest not, milady. I had no wish to return to my imprisonment or face the wrath of the All-Father again…nor the long line of fierce warriors threatening my life if I betrayed Thor. I came across a portal in Svartalfheim that led me to Midgard. I came and decided to stay. I had little desire to reveal myself and risk facing the dual wrath of both Asgard and Midgard with my undesired presence. I told none my whereabouts and sought not the companionship of Midgardians, save one. Think they would welcome my return to their lands with open arms and grant me a happy welcome? Nay. I hid in the wild, empty lands and kept my own counsels. I have no wish for great schemes or noise."

"What is this? The trickster prince with no desire for attention? It is not to be believed."

"Good lady, I have had my fill of mischief for at least a century, I assure you."

"Loki-after everything, I wondered…," she said.

"Speak plainly."

"The Tesseract-you didn't come to Midgard to fetch the Tesseract for yourself did you?"

Loki shook his head.

"You bore another of the Infinity Gems," she said. "In your hands."

Loki nodded.

"Who gave it to you?"

"You already know."

"Why?" she asked. "Why did you serve as his minion?"

"I proved too much a failure at achieving death, despite my best efforts. Not even the Mad Titan's wrath succeeded in ending my miserable existence. As he failed to end me and his attempts to do so grew more…creative…there was little option available to me other than to surrender as a cowardly rogue. Though I admit to attempting my own plots within Thanos' shadow which have borne little fruit in light of recent events. I am afraid I remained ignorant of all that has occurred until a few days ago."

She shook her head. "All is in the past now," she said. "Let us place our mistakes-all of them-in the graves of the honorable and dishonorable dead. I prefer you alive and a cowardly rogue than honorably dead. Your honorable death gained us little reward and only more grief."

"How shall I manage such an abundance of praise," he said with a wicked smile. "Is not the acceptance of my roguish ways the deepest of betrayals to the throne of Asgard?"

Sif laughed. "Such a throne as remains!" she said with clear sarcasm in her tone.

"Sif, why are you on Midgard instead of Asgard?" Loki asked. "I hardly expected for you to lower yourself to willingly dwell in the trenches of the Nine like a cast off exile of Asgard."

She scoffed before she turned serious. "You do not know?" she asked. She exhaled deeply and stared at the glass ridges on the edge of her mug for a moment. "Loki, we are all that is left of Asgard. The entire realm is destroyed."

"Thor spoke something of that, but all he said sounded like madness."

"Aye. Recent events have felt a bit like living through madness. It's been too much for him to bear, I fear," she answered. "Though if anyone can get him to see reason again, it's you."

"See reason?"

"Aye. There's been no getting through to him. Ever since your death, he has never been quite the same. Another death…please, as your sister, I beg you to stop dying for at least the next millennia. I do not believe his poor heart can take mourning you a third time."

"Sister, is it? Well, dear sister, I would hate to raise the ire of one such as yourself. I will attempt to no longer die for at least the next thousand years, if only to stay in your magnanimous graces."

"Ass."

"Is it true? Thor finally agreed to wed you?"

Sif snorted and gave him a rueful expression. "It can hardly be described as a willing alliance. After the All-Mother's death, the All-Father's grief drove him near to madness. With the damage Asgard received at the hands of the Dark Elves and the news Thor brought of your supposed death, it was too much for him. He was never quite right again. Thor came back to Asgard after defeating Malekith and proclaimed he wished to stay on Midgard with his Midgardian love and Odin refused him."

"Thor accepted it?"

"Hardly. The fight was so furious the whole palace heard it and more than one still-standing column felt the wrath of both father and son. In the end, it was solved when Odin fell into the Sleep without warning and Thor was left the hold together the pieces of Asgard that remained."

"And without the All-Mother or myself, Thor had to step in as acting king," Loki surmised.

"That's it. Odin never fully recovered. For near a year he slept and we feared his spirit had already left to join that of the blessed queen. When he did finally wake, the council determined it imperative that the coronation happen post haste and Thor take a wife so an heir could be added to the line of succession post-haste."

"And you were made queen."

Sif rolled her eyes. "Odin refused a Midgardian to be queen and I was the only choice that the council and Odin both agreed upon. It's hardly a comfort to be the consolation prize."

"You were a wise choice," Loki said. Sif's dark eyes found his and she gave him an uneasy, slightly self-depreciating smile.

"If I'd known what lay before us, I would have refused." she answered. "Ruling is not easy."

"No. It is not."

"Loki-ever since the first day I was forced to act as ruling sovereign during Thor's absences, I could not help but think of how difficult we made things for you during your time as king….You have my apologies for the way I behaved during your short interim as king."

Taken aback by this new version of Sif, one he had never seen before, Loki could only take her hand and place a kiss on her knuckles. "You make an excellent queen, my lady."

Sif snorted. "If I'd known you were alive, I'd have fought through a horde of dragons single-handedly to drag your pathetic, magical carcass back to Asgard and made you rule instead."

Loki threw back his head and laughed. "Perhaps that is why I was so diligent in hiding. Tell me, what tragic fate befell the Realm Eternal?"

"That is a tale! Well, it was not so long after Thor's coronation when the All-Father started speaking strangely. He spoke of hearing the voice of his wife calling him to join her and not long after, he left us for Valhalla. Upon his departure from this life, his enchantments upon his thrice-cursed firstborn daughter, Hela, were broken. She immediately left her exiled home in Helheim and came to Asgard to seek her vengeance upon us all. We had no choice but to let Surtur destroy Asgard in order to destroy Hela."

"Speak more slowly, good lady. Why did this supposed sister necessitate destruction by the prince of Mupelheim?"

"She was a demon in her own right. Goddess of death, she called herself. Her first deed was to crush Mjolnir with one hand and her second was to pluck out Thor's eye. He looks the very image of his father now."

"She…he…," Loki spluttered incredulously. "But she is now gone?"

"Yes. We evacuated Asgard as quickly as we could. Thor stayed to resurrect Surtur in the eternal flame and then used the Tesseract to make his escape to rejoin us."

"And Thanos came for the Tesseract."

"Barely a fortnight later. The Mad Titan killed the half of us that remained after Hela's reaping of us and then stole the stone. We barely survived. We thought Thor lost for his portion of the one of the escape pods was entirely destroyed. Heimdall and the Warriors Three were casualties of that bitter slaughter. Thor survived, but barely. His body was retrieved by a wandering band of Ravagers and he was revived. Thinking all lost, he set out to Nidavellir to create a new weapon and then he returned to Midgard to challenge Thanos to combat. The Aesir were still in flight during that battle or we would have joined and fought till our last breath. Unfortunately, all was in vain as our foe gathered all the Infinity Gems and destroyed half of all life in the universe in a single instant. Our numbers were halved again till were were barely a remnant of the once great Realm Eternal."

"So this is surely all that remains? It is so few," Loki said and his heart fell at the revelation. They must not number more than ten thousand-a mere fragment of what the mighty Aesir, the rulers of the Nine.

Sif nodded sadly. "When we arrived on Midgard, we found a distraught, grieving king. Our losses were heavy indeed as we were reduced to so few what we once were. Since Midgard lost so many inhabitants to the Titan, they allowed us to settle these lands."

"And you have acted as ruling sovereign in the stead of the king," Loki added and she nodded.

"Aye. Thor did not handle his grief well. It was too much for his great heart. I have managed the best I could, but Thor has been…unfit and unwell. A few months ago, a united band of heroes of Midgard and other realms united to attack Thanos, retrieve the stones, and undo his past deeds. While they managed to best the Titan, Thor nearly died in the battle. He is still heart-sore for despite his best efforts, our numbers are still small, and those lost during Thanos' first attack are still lost to us. There is no magic that can return their souls from the Halls of our Ancestors. All Aesir are heavy with grief.

"The return of Midgard's lost peoples have further complicated matters. The rulers of these lands were willing enough to grant us asylum while they struggled with empty lands and homes, but now those struggles have evaporated. The people of Midgard fear any not of Midgard and we must hide our presence and our origins or we risk their wrath and displeasure. A few handful of their princes know our true identity, but we cower like swamp rats in fear of eagles when we trespass outside our borders. I know not how long our habitation on this realm is sustainable."

"And what does the king say?"

Sif snorted again and downed another mug of ale. "He gives little guidance into our current struggles."

"I must admit to my surprise at Thor's current condition," Loki said.

"Thor feels a failure. As Asgard's greatest warrior, he failed to protect the land itself from Hela's wrath. As Asgard's king, he failed to protect her people from Thanos' scourge. He carries the blame for the deaths of his parents and brother upon his shoulders. He is at a loss as to how to manage the council or the politics of Midgard. With the loss of his closest companions, he feels he has none to turn to. He has not even succeeded at his task of producing an heir. He lacks purpose, he grieves what is lost, and he no longer knows himself."

"Truly?" Loki said. "It is hardly to be believed."

"You remember how he was after that time in Nornheim?" she asked with a half-smile at the memory.

"Unfortunately."

"Well, he has been worse."

"Thus, you prefer him to remain semi-intoxicated."

"Exactly. No easy task when the weakness of Midgard's offerings are all that is available. However, without Asgard's deep coffers, the All-Father's interference, and your silver tongue, we have had few other options to remedy his behavior. The blizzard he caused during the Mid-Winter's feast collapsed three buildings and we lost a full growing season when his dismal mood lingered through the short summer days. We do not have the resources to buy food for even so small a population as we currently have for every year in consequence of our monarch's foul mood. The honor fights he has challenged each time a Midgardian speaks ill of the Aesir have nearly caused his imprisonment on multiple occasions. The council determined our best way forward was to mediate his ill-tempers the best we can and hope time heals his heart-and the hearts of all Asgard," Sif said with a sigh. She jumped down from the table to collapse into one of the wooden chairs and Loki noticed how much straighter she held her shoulders and the lines of care on her brow which had been absent from her face in the past.

"We have tried to busy him with quests," she continued. "His Midgardian companions have tried their best, but we can little afford to replace every woeful error he makes. He spent two months journeying with a rogue band of Ravagers after the defeat of Thanos, but even they sent him back to us when his thirst for drink and foul tempers grew to be more than they could bear. I know not how to replace the parts of their ship he left damaged for the lists of damages we owe grow faster than the income we can reap from this small kingdom.

"The throne of Asgard is stripped of most of its glory and all of its might. We require a politician and not a warrior. Thor tries to rule as if the old Asgard lived on and as if he were prince, not king. We do not even have our gatekeeper for our protection and the only bridge to other realms comes through the ax, Stormbreaker, and that enables only a small handful of warriors to travel at a time. We are weakened and vulnerable as we are."

Loki quietly considered her words as he stared deeply into the golden toned mug of ale he held.

"I do not envy you, oh queen," he said as he raised his eyes to consider her again.

"Will you stay?" she asked as she watched him.

"For a few days," Loki answered. "I will do what I can, but I will not stay long."

She nodded, though she failed to hide her disappointment that he did not plan to remain indefinitely.

"Be prepared. Thor will wish to throw a grand feast."

"Is Midgard even capable of hosting a feast that can be described as 'grand'?" he asked.

Sif snorted and stood from her chair. "Well, Thor will consider it grand, even if he is the only one to call it so."

"Some things will never change," Loki answered as he also stood.

"Come, prince. We will organize chambers for you and your following," Sif said. "Then we will see about preparing Thor to play the role of king, at least enough to host a feast."

He followed her from the tavern and into the humble city that Asgard now called home.

Oooooo