Týr had wished to head down to the dungeons several times during the past few days, but he had known that doing so after a long day made all the harder by needing to undo the damage done to his army by the traitors, or needing to slog through the draft treaty with Jötunheimr, was not a good idea. Which was the only reason he had been able to resist this impulse for so long, much as he had felt it would be better to take out his frustration and anger on those who deserved it, rather than on those who did not. Today, though, he had risen early to be able to come before he commenced his regular duties.
The prison guards leapt to attention at his approach. He waved them off and made his way down the main corridor. Now the sentencing had been officially carried out, the other prisoners were starting to be housed here once more, and several of them called out as he passed. Týr ignored them as they were not worth his time and effort. He dearly wished the traitors were not either, but there was one more thing he had to do before he could truly relegate them to the back of his mind and only focus on the army and cleaning up the mess they had made.
"General Týr!" Lor- Fandral exclaimed in surprise, leaping to his feet when the former warrior caught sight of him.
Týr met the man's gaze but did not verbally reply as he observed the others glance over and rise. Well, at least he still garnered that much respect. After some of what had been said and implied at the trial, he had not been certain.
Each of the four now wore thick metal collars and manacles which looked quite cumbersome and uncomfortable. Heimdallr, meanwhile, had moved closer to the front of his cell and, while unadorned in comparison, the former gatekeeper's dark brown eyes were, in their own way, far more jarring.
"Is it true Thor has regained his powers and position?" Volstagg finally asked, breaking the tense silence.
"Aye, Prince Thor has," Týr confirmed.
The news seemed to dishearten them which confused Týr at first, they had still claimed allegiance to him last he knew, before realization dawned.
"After everything which has transpired, you still believed Prince Thor would seek to usurp Hliðskjálf," Týr said in disbelief. "Does your foolishness and treason know no bounds?"
"We shall see who is the fool and who is in the right when Óðinn awakens," Sif retorted, a disdainful look on her face as she regarded him.
'Twas behavior Týr had not experienced so blatantly in a long time. 'Twas thus a good thing he cared naught for her good opinion.
"I have never understood your antagonism towards King Loki," Týr said rather than correct her words, as he knew better than to engage in such a pointless fight. "I had always expected the two of you to become fast allies, if not friends."
"Me?" Sif questioned, clearly startled. "An ally of Loki? Why, by the Nine, would I have done that?"
"Because you were both outsiders, in a way, amongst the rest of the warriors. You, a woman, and he with his seiðr and preference for long distance weaponry."
"His cowardice, you mean," Sif sneered. "Allying myself with him would have gained me nothing but more grief and challenges from the other warriors."
Týr pressed his lips together as he observed her in her cell. Anger and spite were written into every line of her body, and he wondered how he had never seen it before. He had monitored her closely in the beginning, skeptical but also willing to give her a chance after having witnessed both Queen Frigga and some of the other female warriors of Vanaheimr in action. He had noticed none of this hatred back then and he wondered if it had been present at the time, and had festered and grown since, or whether 'twas a much newer phenomenon.
"I do not understand your current feelings and defense of King Loki," Fandral spoke up from the other cell, and Týr turned to look at him.
"Why would I do otherwise?" Týr questioned, genuinely confused.
"You have never stood in his defense before," Volstagg stated. "Rather the contrary, in fact."
Týr furrowed his brow as he tried to understand the accusation and failed. "I have never attacked King Loki, whether as king or prince. We have argued, aye, but I have always stood by him as I would any other member of the royal family."
"The length of time you have spent in the God of Lies' company shows, General," Sif sneered, his title coming out more as an insult than anything else. "You will have to do far better than that to fool us, though, as we have extensive experience dealing withhislies."
While anger was his first response, Týr ignored it to focus on the implications behind their words. 'Twas why he had elected to come visit them first thing in the morning rather than later in the day, when he had been dealing with all manner of other difficulties which had frayed his, admittedly short, temper. Besides, this way he would be able to work off his frustration from dealing with them constructively, on the training fields.
Although Týr was not surprised they had expected him to be on their side, as they genuinely seemed to believe they had been right, this particular reference was to something he had done before. It did not imply they were correct, but it might mean they were not the only ones who had misinterpreted one of his actions and he would take no chances in that regard, not after all which had already transpired within his army.
"Of what do you speak?" Týr demanded as he looked at Fandral.
He seemed the least hostile of the four and had been the only one to switch to using King Loki's proper title during the trial.
"On the training fields," Fandral replied as if surprised he needed to explain. "You called out Prince Loki whenever he utilized his seiðr to cheat in a fight. Everyone knows of this."
"To cheat?" Týr repeated in disbelief. "Thatis why you believe I wished him to fight without seiðr?"
"'Tis cowardly and argr," Sif spat. "Everyone knows this, and you have made your distain for seiðr more than clear, even Loki was well aware of it. Why else would you refuse to allow him to utilize it whilst training?"
"Because 'tis mine and Lieutenant-General Yngvarr's responsibility to ensure the safety of the royal family, and this means ensuring they are capable of defending themselves," Týr retorted, horrified at how they had twisted his intentions.
Aye, he had never particularly viewed seiðr well, nor wished to see either Óðinnson utilize it so readily and publicly, but he had never intended for it to be taken as a sign he viewed Prince Loki as acting cowardly.
"Seiðr, while allowing that, can be blocked, and I wished for King Loki to be able to adequately defend himself without it should such a situation arise," Týr continued.
At least, it had been his initial intention in issuing the no seiðr edict. Týr had to admit he could not confidently state he had not also enjoyed being able to prevent what he had viewed as simple tricks from being utilized on the training fields. What King Loki had proven himself capable of since, however... 'Twas another category of seiðr altogether and, just as the young king's alternative style of fighting had proven quite effective against Yngvarr yesterday, Týr was starting to wonder if the seiðr might not be thus as well. 'Twas a thought he would need to consider carefully and take to King Loki later if his suspicions were correct and he had left the army vulnerable to a whole class of attacks.
"'Tis a sign of weakness," Sif insisted. "Nothing more."
"Aye, very weak, clearly," Týr retorted, looking at her collar speculatively. "Kneel."
He had hardly uttered the command before the former lady was already sinking to her knees with a flush on her face.
"'Tis dökkálfar seiðr," Volstagg dismissed.
"The type, aye," Týr agreed. "But in the same way different styles of fighting may originally belong to one Realm, when they are adopted by warriors of another, they are powered by their strength."
"'Tis still cowardly and weak to resort to such a punishment!" Sif protested as she attempted to rise.
"'Tis not very æsir," Fandral added.
"Actually, 'tis, and it has a long history of use here," Týr countered, having looked up indentured servitude after King Loki had pronounced his sentence. "Half of Ásgarðr was built by indentured servants."
"He will not change his mind," Heimdallr spoke when it looked like Volstagg would protest this assertion.
"Aye," Týr confirmed. "I would rather die than dishonor myself and my family by committing treason."
Fandral and Volstagg both flinched at his words, but Sif and Hogun remained steadfast. The latter's role in this farce would be closely investigated, as Týr had to know whether the vanir had unduly influenced the others in their treasonous behavior. Not to mention whether he had ever been truly loyal to Ásgarðr and Hliðskjálf, or whether it had only ever been a very misguided loyalty to Prince Thor himself.
"As for my initial point regarding yourself and Prince Loki," Týr said, glancing at Sif. "I will admit to having feared what the two of you would have achieved had you worked together; two so highly inclined to flout the norms and rules. Had you worked together, there is much you could have achieved and gained. That King Loki rewards loyalty is abundantly clear from his decision to promote Höðr to the position of gatekeeper, yet here you are."
"Because of Loki," Sif declared.
"Because of your own actions. Do you know what is already being said amongst the warriors? They speak of how we should have seen it coming, allowing a woman in. They speak of obsession and infatuation on your part with Prince Thor."
"What?" Sif exclaimed, shock and horror rushing across her face as she abandoned her attempts to fight the seiðr keeping her on her knees.
The reaction was so genuine, Týr believed it and he motioned for her to rise, curious if a nonverbal command would be enough to counter the previous verbal one. 'Twas.
"And we were what, persuaded to play along?" Volstagg questioned, aghast.
"I do not know what you were," Týr snapped, his anger finally flaring. "But you, Sif, are lucky that what is viewed as your attempts to curry favor from Prince Thor and an effort to supplant King Loki in his affections will not prevent any other women from entering the Einherjar."
"They will not?" Fandral asked, startled.
Týr grunted. "One of the King's Funds applications King Loki has approved is for nontraditional warriors. I have checked and they currently have three women in their program."
"I-" Sif began, before trailing off.
"And how many utilize seiðr or dishonorable weapons?" Hogun demanded, finally weighing in.
"We had a guest for the evening feast three days ago," Týr stated.
"A guest?" Fandral repeated, clearly perplexed.
"A skáld, quite a famous one from what I understand," Týr would be the first to admit he did not know much of skálds, even though he did quite enjoy listening to their tales when they spoke.
Lord Bragi's had been quite a bit different from normal and his inclination had been to leave when he had learned of the man's specialty, but he had remained, knowing it would be perceived as an insult, both to the skáld and his host. Rather surprisingly, Týr had been pleased he had remained. Though he had studied the Battle for the Yggdrasill, as he had any other great battle in Ásgarðr's long and proud history, that had focused on the overall strategy and troop movements. It had actually contained surprisingly little on the fight between King Óðinn and Thanos himself. Therefore, it had been quite fascinating to learn more of that, even if most of it had related to either seiðr directly, or seiðr related objects like the Infinity Stones.
Fascinating, and frightening.
Týr had been in the vault countless times during his time as head of the army and, somewhat less frequently, before, and he could easily admit to himself the Tesseract had long been the object stored there which he had liked the least. Even more so than the Casket of Ancient Winters. While he had personally witnessed the latter's power, without a jötunn (or one with jötnar heritage it seemed), 'twas quiescent and harmless. These Infinity Stones, however... the thought of them being as powerful as they were as well as being indestructible... well, Týr was no longer surprised he had never liked the Tesseract.
"And?" Fandral inquired.
"He spoke of Thanos and the battle to defeat him," Týr replied. "A battle which King Óðinn won through the use of seiðr."
Sif snorted. "So he claims. Let me guess, Loki invited this skáld?"
"Nay, he came by uninvited and offered his services."
"Convenient."
"Thanos was defeated through the use of seiðr," Heimdallr spoke up. "All of the other Realms tell of the tale."
"And those who were present, agree," Týr added.
"So you now agree with the use of seiðr on the training fields?" Volstagg inquired.
"I have requested it to aid in the preparation of our warriors, in the event the peace treaty fails."
"From Loki?"
Týr snorted, unable to believe the question. "Nay, of course I did not request that the king come to the training fields to aid in training the warriors! I did ask for the addition of fire when King Loki came out to view our progress, but for the rest we have utilized several seiðkonur."
"So, Loki considers himself too good to train his own army?" Sif sneered. "And you still stand by him? Thor would be out on the fields."
"Not as king, he would not," Týr replied. "Or at least not as frequently as you imply. A king has more important things to focus his attention on until war is inevitable."
"He insults you."
"Nay, the insult would be to not trust me to preform my duty and prepare the army."
"You refuse to see his weakness."
Týr sighed. "A weak man could not have withstood all King Loki has since ascending to Hliðskjálf. You are the ones who will not view him as he truly is. What I do not understand, is what caused the initial schism. He was your prince and superior, and you faced battle together on various occasions."
He knew by this point 'twas futile, but he felt the need to say it at least once more.
"That would not excuse his usurping Hliðskjálf, even if it were true," Heimdallr stated.
Týr glanced at the former gatekeeper, unable to comprehend what had happened to the man to bring him to this. He still found it hard to believe that hearing a lie told often enough could come to influence a person's thoughts, but he had no other explanation for it.
"Why did you come?" Fandral asked.
"I was attempting to find logic where there is clearly none to be had," Týr replied.
"Why bother if you will not listen?" Volstagg questioned.
"Why bother? Five of those under my command committed treason, that clearly is an indication of a problem within the Einherjar," Týr stated. "Though King Loki does not seem inclined to remove me from my post for this, I refuse to allow such a destructive culture to remain. I will root out the problem and see it rectified, so the honor of the Einherjar can be restored."
With that, Týr turned about and left, ignoring both Sif and Volstagg's outraged replies.
The lack of major projects or meetings for the day meant Loki stayed in bed longer, but he did not feel he slept any more for it. As after the ignition of the Yggdrasill, his seiðr use yesterday had aggravated his core, but he could not regret it. Not only had it been dökkálfarian metal seiðr, but it meant 'twas his seiðr which now enslaved the former Warriors Four, and that was more than worth the pain and resulting sleeplessness. In fact, it still brought a smile to his face even now as he rose.
Since he had the regular petitions later in the morning, Loki elected to wear something more than simply his armor. Stepping out of his bedchamber, he was surprised to find his brother waiting for him.
"Thor," Loki said. "Did I forget a meeting?"
He was pretty certain he had not, but there was so much going on at present, 'twas entirely possible.
"Nay," Thor replied. "I was hoping we could break our fast together and I forgot how late you like to rise when possible."
Loki mock scowled at his brother, but the fact Thor had not simply come charging into his bedchamber to rouse him from his slumber was rather significant as 'twas a departure from his brother's normal behavior. 'Twas too much to hope it marked the beginning of how Thor would treat him moving forwards, but, even so, it proved Thor had thought long enough to think of his current status and acted accordingly. 'Twas a promising step for the next few days or weeks until Óðinn woke.
Well, if it had not been Livunn who had kept Thor out here.
"Of course," Loki replied, motioning towards the table which Livunn had already set for two. "What do you have today?"
"'Tis one of the reasons I wished to have words with you," Thor said as he took his seat. "Did you have need of me?"
Loki blinked in surprise, unable to believe Thor was asking for official duties. He had expected his brother to use the excuse of the friction with Jötunheimr to spend all day on the training fields. Mayhap Thor had been more serious than he had thought with his promise to do better.
A part of Loki almost hated the thought it had taken matters deteriorating to such an extent for his brother to finally deign to understand what Loki had been trying to tell Thor all along.
"We could use a royal presence along the outer towns and villages at some point over the next few days," Loki responded.
"To reassure them all is well?"
"Hmm, and to show they have not been forgotten amidst all of the upheaval."
"I can do that," Thor nodded.
The thought of asking his brother to take up his duties at the Princes' Court crossed Loki's mind, but he did not wish to create more work for himself should his concerns about Thor's rulings be correct. He could ask Uncle Vé about chaperoning his brother later, if Óðinn remained asleep long enough.
"Beyond that, I would see what General Týr may have for you," Loki continued. "I assume there would be opportunities to help ensure everyone is ready should Laufey reject the treaty."
Loki truly hoped his birth father did not as he knew he was in no condition to take Ásgarðr to war, but Loki also knew he could not afford to lose sight of the fact 'twas still a very real possibility.
"You think I could?" Thor inquired, perking up.
Loki frowned. "No one criticized your fighting ability, Thor, and the warriors do admire and listen to you."
"This time no one has said anything, but you have before," Thor replied, and held up a hand when Loki moved to reply. "I have done a lot of thinking lately and you were not wrong in what you said, I do lose track of what is going on around me when I fight. Fandral's injury was but one of many examples and I am aware you have been injured thus too."
"I have," Loki confirmed as there was no point in denying it and it might even make Thor truly think twice the next time. "That may be all the more reason to train with the other warriors, though."
"I do not understand."
"See how they work together in a group, what they do differently and why."
"They will hardly have the same skills as we do, even if it were simply the two of us," Thor replied. "I have Mjǫllnir, and you, your seiðr."
The mention of his seiðr surprised Loki, but his brother made a valid point.
"Lieutenant-General Yngvarr, General Týr and I had a similar conversation on the training fields the other day," Loki said. "Speaking of different fighting styles and weapons. I believe Týr concluded the army may have become too used to those who fight similarly to the æsir, with mainly swords and axes, with but the occasional spear."
"We are very good at it, though," Thor protested.
"True, but it means we are not so well prepared to handle those who fight differently."
Thor toyed with his eggs for a moment, a thoughtful expression on his face. "I have heard some of the army have not performed as well as expected against the... elemental challenges the seiðkonur have set them."
"Hmm, 'tis not something they have been trained for unless they are old enough to have been involved in the last war with Jötunheimr."
"I was told those who fought with us on Nornheimr that one time performed better."
Oh, Loki recalled that occasion, the keljari had the aid of a seiðmadr versed in non-Yggdrasilli seiðr and it had taken him some time to adjust his strategy to effectively counter the man's attack, meaning the warriors with them had been forced to deal with the resulting chaos in the meantime. They had lost rather more warriors than usual when quashing a would-be invasion on that planet.
"So suggest they share this knowledge with the other warriors as you teach them what you know of facing opponents with different powers."
"Very well," Thor replied, before pulling a face. "You do not require my aid elsewhere?"
Loki was so surprised at the offer he could only blink in shock for a moment. "Nay, thank you," he finally replied. "Since the draft treaty is with Laufey, we have less to deal with and our most urgent issues are ensuring the army is prepared should it come to battle, and keeping the rest of Ásgarðr running smoothly. I fear most of today will be dealing with issues and tasks neglected in favor of the negotiations until now."
The face Thor pulled at his words amused Loki to some extent, and he could not help himself.
"'Tis the greater part of a king's duties," he said.
"Aye, so I am coming to see."
Loki was not at all surprised to find Lord Ragnvaldr waiting for him when he arrived at his study.
"I hope you have not been waiting long," Loki said, leading the way in.
"Nay," Lord Ragnvaldr replied. "I had one of the servants ask your servant when you were likely to be available today."
"Good idea," Loki chuckled. "I do not rise early if I do not have to."
"I am rather the opposite I fear, doing most of my best work done before anyone else rises."
"No interruptions and a special quality to the silence?"
"Aye," Lord Ragnvaldr seemed surprised.
"'Tis what I like about the late evenings."
"Ah, aye, I suppose they would be similar. Alas, I would fall asleep at my desk."
The thought made Loki smile. "So, what do you have for me today?"
"Rather a lot I fear, Majesty."
"I would be surprised if you did not, much has been neglected in favor of the treaty."
"Aye. First, more of a formality, but rather an important one I believe."
Loki took the scroll of parchment and unrolled it. 'Twas a short edict officially declaring Thor restored to his full status and making his brother crown prince once more. As Lord Ragnvaldr had stated, 'twas more of a formality than anything else, but should something happen to him before Óðinn awakened, then Uncle Vili or someone else would be able to make a claim stating Thor's position was precarious at best or that Loki had never officially recognized him in the line of succession, since his brother had not been thus when he had ascended to Hliðskjálf. Loki still had his reservations about whether his brother should be in this position, but he was not convinced Uncle Vili would be much better. Besides, this particular decision was not truly his as regent rather than king outright.
With a few quick movements of his quill, he had signed and sealed it, handing the parchment back.
"I hope everything you have for me will be this quick," Loki said.
"We may commence with those, if you wish," Lord Ragnvaldr replied.
Loki resisted the temptation to groan.
