Loki's life was very busy. He had convinced Odin to allow him in the weapons training class, but he was not allowed to spar. He learned the forms with the rest of the boys, and when they sparred he went to archery practice and also learned the throwing of small hand weapons like daggers and hand axes.
All morning he did classes, and he excelled at them, usually first or second in every subject; then weapons training. After that the other boys went to play, but he returned to his rooms, bathed and put on clean clothing. Then he did his class assignments for the following day and usually some extra reading on pertinent subjects.
He had a book on magic theory and one on magical practice. After working on his current magic assignment, he went to Frigga's garden. He only had a lesson with her twice a week now instead of four or five times a week, but on days there wasn't a lesson, he practiced. There was a clear space in her garden between an ornamental hedge and the outer wall that was just clipped grass. That was his practice ground, out of the way if Frigga was in the garden, and where he could do no harm to her special plants and animals.
The young prince was currently working on size changes in transmutation of living matter. Living things changed all the time, so they were easier than non-living objects. He had managed to change flowers, beetles, and finally an ant to frogs. The frogs went into the pond. If they were good, healthy frogs he slipped them in gently. If they weren't, he tossed them in with a plop, and the fish swam up and swallowed them; an excellent way to dispose of mistakes!
Today he was a little distracted. Loki had noticed the other boys doing a lot of whispering among themselves, that stopped when he was around. He knew they were trying to come up with a prank to repay him for his last one. He'd cast an illusion that Thor was bald that could only be seen from the front, just as their mathematics teacher entered. He wasn't able to twist light from all directions yet, but he could manage one.
She was an older, very precise woman named Fela. She had gasped and stared, and asked Thor what had happened. He hadn't noticed anything and just shrugged.
"But your hair! What happened to it?"
From Thor's point of view, he could see his blond locks hanging down. "My hair is fine, please mind your place and continue with the lesson," he replied.
"You may be a prince, but here you are my student and you will show respect," she responded sternly.
Thor looked at Loki, who could see the bald illusion when Thor turned, and just shrugged as if everything was fine. Thor then turned to Hogun, who pointed and laughed. Volstagg started laughing and Fandral was out of his seat to see, too. Loki made a small inconspicuous hand movement and dispelled the illusion.
Lady Fela could see Thor's hair now too, and was not pleased.
"You may think such tricks are funny, but they are not and you have disrupted the class. You will receive a zero for class today, Thor. Now everyone settle down and we will begin."
Thor glared at Loki who just smiled. Nothing could be proved and accusing his brother would only disturb the class further and get Thor in even more trouble. But Loki knew by the frowning, determined look on his brother's face that there would be pay back. He didn't care, sometimes the other boys' pranks worked, but more often he was able to spot them coming and either avoid them or turn them back on the perpetrators. It was a game he was good at.
When the other boys went off to play after weapons training, he returned to his room expecting something to happen. He had an individual room now like Thor that connected to the nursery and had a door leading directly to the corridor too. But there was nothing out of place and he did his studying in peace.
He felt safe in Frigga's garden. The only entry was through her rooms, and he doubted Thor would play tricks there, he wouldn't want to spoil anything and disappoint Mother.
Today Loki was going to try to transmute something larger down into a frog, perhaps a rabbit or a squirrel. Mother had told him which creatures he could use in his magic practice and which he could not. The rabbits chewed her plants, and the squirrels sometimes gnawed the wooden benches, so turning them into frogs would be an improvement.
He'd brought some fresh carrots with the tops still on, and put one out some distance from him and waited. The rabbits had no natural predators in the garden and were quite bold. Shortly, a small brown one hopped out of the plantings toward the carrot, and Loki readied himself.
Suddenly there was a blood-curdling yell, and Thor sprang out of a bush and charged toward Loki waving a huge battle axe and screaming, "I'll fix you, I'll cut off your head, I'll cut off your head!"
Thor was stronger and faster than he was, and Loki only had a dagger. He had one defense, and he used it. There was a great flash of green light.
The small prince stood panting and swaying, staring at the battle axe lying on the ground. From the bushes, Volstagg burst forth followed by Fandral and Hogun.
"Where's Thor?" Volstagg demanded.
"What did you do, Loki?" Fandral asked.
"I . . .I don't know." Loki stammered out faintly.
Frigga appeared, hurrying down a path and out onto the green practice space. "What's going on here? How did you boys get into my garden?"
"Um . . ."
"We, uh, . . ."
Hogun finally said, "Thor led us over the wall. We were playing a trick on Loki."
"Thor?" She looked around. "Where is he?" She turned to Loki, knelt down in front of him and took him by the shoulders. She asked gently, "What happened Loki. Please tell me in your own words."
"I was going to try to turn a rabbit into a frog. I was working on reducing size in transmutation." Frigga nodded encouragement. "And then Thor jumped out with that battle axe and yelled he was going to chop off my head!"
"He wouldn't harm you, you know he wouldn't."
"Well, yes, but . . . right then . . . he scared me and I didn't know what to do. I used magic to defend myself."
"And where is your brother now?"
Loki pointed with a trembling hand to the grass next to the battle axe. Frigga looked, and at first didn't see anything. But then she saw a large green frog sitting absolutely still.
She gasped and went to it. Was it alive? Loki had never reduced something the size of a boy down so far. And some of his transmutations didn't work exactly right the first time he tried them and the result was not viable.
Frigga knelt by the frog, picked it up in both hands and raised up to eye level. The frog blinked twice and gave a forlorn croak.
"Thor?" she asked it. The frog croaked again, a little louder.
Frigga stood up with the frog cradled in her hands and faced the boys. "You boys go home now, no arguing. Loki, you and I must fix this."
Fandral led Hogun and Volstagg down the path that led to her rooms. The boys dragged their feet and looked back as they went, but they kept walking. Frigga knew her maid would see that they left.
Frigga's eyes went vacant for a moment. Loki knew that meant she was projecting an illusion to communicate with someone. The sick feeling in his stomach grew.
Odin arrived in a flash of light. He looked around quickly, and then turned to Frigga.
"You summoned me, I thought there was danger."
She held up the frog. "No, just a crisis. This is Thor."
"What?" He turned to Loki. "I suppose you are here because you are responsible for this?"
Loki knew his father was angry, furious even. But he held his face blank. Showing fear to his mother got him sympathy. Showing fear to Odin was a mistake.
"I am, but it was not deliberate. Thor threatened me with a battle axe and I just reacted."
Odin squinted his one eye and said in a disbelieving tone, "Threatened you?"
"It was a prank, but I didn't know that immediately; I was practicing transmutation and used it to defend myself."
"I see. Then you can just turn him back into himself. Now."
Loki looked helplessly at Frigga.
Frigga obliged by responding for him. "We haven't covered that in his training yet. Unfortunately, Loki's magic and my magic are quite different. I might be able to restore Thor to his proper form, but the odds are small that I would succeed. I could change the frog into a boy again, but it might not be exactly Thor as he was. Loki must do it, and I will have to teach him how very quickly. The longer our son remains a frog, the less likely he will fully become himself again."
Odin took a deep breath and let it out again slowly. "I will see both my sons at dinner, or I will see neither." He turned and walked away.
Frigga created a small tub, put Thor in it, and set it aside. She turned to Loki and said, "You are a bright boy and an apt pupil. I will show you how to restore a transmuted creature to its former form, you will practice, and then you will bring back your brother. All right?"
Loki nodded. Frigga brought a rabbit to her, turned it into a frog, and then back to a rabbit. She indicated to Loki to do the same. He hesitated, she encouraged him. "You can do it, I know you can. That's why you came here today, you're ready to do a rabbit to frog conversion. The only difference is now you will also do a reverse conversion. Go ahead."
The rabbit was sitting on the grass quietly, still rather dazed from the last changes. Loki called up his magic, there was a green glow, and then there was a frog in its place. He stopped with his hands up, and Frigga could see him concentrating. Then there was the green glow again, and the rabbit was back.
Frigga scooped it up and examined it. She slowly shook her head. "No, it's breathing is off, there is something wrong inside." With a wave of her hand, it changed back into a frog and she handed it to Loki. "Pond, please."
Loki took it and walked to the pond. He let his eyes tear up where his mother couldn't see him. He dropped it into the pond for the fish.
He had to do better. Thor was a pain sometimes, but he loved his brother and couldn't imagine anything but sadness without him. When he got back to Frigga, she had a sheep with her. That made Loki blink, there normally weren't any sheep in the garden.
"This is closer to the size of your brother. Let me show you something." She picked up the frog and felt its skin in a couple of places. "Feel here."
Loki did as she bid, and felt some hard flat places on the frog. "What is that? Did I do that? Does it hurt him?"
"You changed his clothes with him. What you are feeling is the metal he was wearing. But no, I don't believe it pains him, it is part of him right now. When you change him back, you will have to account for that. I have attached two metal disks to this old ewe. When you change her, do as closely as you can the same as you did with Thor."
Loki had never deliberately tried such a radical transmutation before. Sheep with metal to frog; it should have been beyond him. But he did it to Thor, hadn't he? In a panic, in one fell swoop. He raised his hands, thought "frog" and let his magic fly.
The green glow enveloped the sheep, and then it was a frog. Loki leapt forward and picked it up and examined it.
"It's the same, hard spots under the skin. Look, Mother!"
She took the frog from him and went over it. "It seems so. And it seems healthy as well. Turn it back now." She set it down.
He paused just a moment. The metal had to separate out, not stay inside. He kept that in mind, and gestured. Green magic flashed.
The ewe was there, the metal disks in place. But it collapsed.
"No! What did I do wrong?"
Frigga was examining the sheep with her hands. In a moment it stood up again.
"I think it was just the shock of transformation. Plus she's old, her heart faltered perhaps. She seems all right now."
Frigga waved her hand, and her own magic transported the sheep back to its flock. "It's almost dinner time, and Thor will be harder to turn back the longer we wait."
"No, I'm not ready. I need to practice more."
"Thor is not a sheep. His own will to return to himself will help you. It's time."
Frigga picked up Thor from the tub with one hand and eliminated the container with the other. She stepped away from Loki and placed the transformed boy on the grass. She went back to her youngest son and stood beside him.
"You can do this, Loki. You must believe that, or it will not work. Remember the metal, and go ahead."
"But if I fail . . ."
"Then I will try, but I have less chance of success than you do."
Loki turned back to the frog. He took a deep breath and let it out. Then he raised his hands, a look of intense concentration on his face. His green magic flowed out and obscured the frog and a large area around it.
When it cleared, they saw Thor crouched, fully dressed. Frigga and Loki both ran to him, and helped him stand.
Thor looked at Loki and then his mother. They both waited breathlessly for him to speak.
"Ribbet," Thor said.
Frigga and Loki both looked shocked, but then Loki laughed. "Very funny, Thor. You can fool Mother with that, but I know I transmuted you correctly."
Thor laughed too. "I had to pay you back somehow."
Frigga and Loki both hugged him. Thor didn't realize it, but they were both checking him over during the hug. Finding nothing wrong with her oldest, Frigga steered them both to the path leading to her rooms.
"We are late for dinner. And there are going to be a lot of new rules for both of you."
