That morning Loki navigated across the palace his head up, escorted by two royal guards as if he'd been a very important person and leading the way. Except that the guards following him had him in chains which dented a bit of his glamour and dignity. He didn't let the annoying clicking of his shackles stop him as he marched into Odin's throne room. The large doors opened before him and he waltzed in through the long hallway, drawing attention of the whole assembled court with his fashionably late arrival and the fact that he wasn't summoned. The buzzing of talk in the grand room died down on the sight of him, only turning into puzzled whispers of confusion. Loki noticed that even in his cursed shackles his mere presence seemed to intimidate the court members, and in some level he enjoyed it. He knew that this day was going to test his skill set.
The only ones Loki found worthy to be acknowledged among the dull faces in the room were Odin and Thor and he nodded to them formally. "Good morning, Allfather. Thor."
The old king looked down at him from his pompous throne. "Loki. What is it that you find so important to come here interrupting my war council? Not to mention seeing it fit for breaking the rules of your house arrest?" Odin asked, skipping the welcomes.
With a quick sweep of his gaze, Loki put together the little details laid in front of him. The mere word war council was a clue enough and that added with Einherjar generals and the hologram map of Jotunheim. It seemed they were already in war and no one had bothered to tell him.
Loki tore his eyes away from the glowing, three-dimensional map of the Jotunheim and looked at Odin displeased. "Are we in war with the Jotuns now?" he inquired sharply and glanced at Thor who rubbed his ear as though he had failed of keeping Loki fully updated with the news in the realm. Loki would have rolled his eyes but only clenched his jaw and turned back at Odin, his features composed and his voice solemn as he continued, "Then I am where I should be, and not a moment too soon. As you asked, I am ready to redeem my mistakes and thus offering..."
"This is not the time, my boy," Odin interrupted his son, lifting his hand and his voice filled the room. "The Frost Giants have been gathering their forces for weeks. We have every reason to believe that they are soon going to attack Asgard. We have pursued peace with them but they have vigorously rejected our diplomatic efforts to form a new treaty. The war is upon us."
As Odin spoke, Loki glanced at the Warrior Three and lady Sif on Thor's side and the councillors who shook their heads, whispered among themselves in unease and kept casting bleak stares at him as though this all would have been his fault. Maybe he had had some minor design input in the chaos they were now dealing with, but he wasn't the only one to blame. However, he, Loki -the one they called the god of mischief- surely was going to be the one to solve this problem.
Calmly Loki took a couple of steps closer the court and Odin, lifting his chin like the restrains he was wearing were only fancy accessories. "What is your course of action then? Attacking them before they would attack us?" he criticized, his cuffed hand pointing at the map.
Thor's head had been hanging down and as he lifted it to look Loki, he did not look so eager for waging war with the Frost Giants anymore. "We shall face them on their own ground with our last hope to negotiate for peace and avert the bloodshed on both sides," he explained woefully, heaved a sigh and added, "Failing it means a full scale war between our realms."
An older councillor (who's ginger beard was in an unattractive state of turning white) snorted. "You are wasting your time with these futile attempts of negations with the beasts," he grumbled and faced Odin. "Jotuns do not bow to you, Allfather. I say we cut a dying branch of Yggdrasil like any good gardener would do to save the rest of it. Why not finish what your sons started and harness the powers of the Tesseract to end this war before it begins?"
"Quite extreme gardening tips, councillor Reynir!" Loki chided disapprovingly. His gaze was as sharp as a sword they could have all fell on, and with that look he choked the mouths of a few court members who were about to support the old fool Reynir. This was lady Thyra's father and there was no doubt about it; like father, like daughter. "Care to explain, where this undying vitriol towards the Frost Giants is coming from? You are feeding your vain children with your rancour."
When Odin rebuked his court and son for their harsh opinions, Loki's attention was completely captured by something that was radically out of place in the war council. He didn't hear a single word Odin said as a young, black-haired boy, four-five years old, ran past him straight to the glowing map and turned to look at him curiously. The boy's sincere, dimpled smile on his pale blue face challenged Loki who could only stare back at the small one and his ruby-red eyes.
With a genuinely flabbergasted expression Loki approached the boy with hesitating steps, uncomprehending how had the small Jotun child, wearing some overly colourful Midgardian clothes, entered Odin's highly secured throne room. His protective instincts activated immediately and he knew he had to shelter the child from everyone else in the room as though the child had been his own.
"Loki!" Odin's voice called for him and got through to him on the third time, sounding annoyed. "Is there anything you would like to add?"
Being only 5 feet away from the boy and the map, Loki swivelled his head towards the king, nonplussed. He frowned, apparently missing a great deal of Odin's talk but so were they all if they hadn't even seen the child. "Are you all damn blind?" he scolded, raising his voice with a raspy wisp and glanced down at the boy, but the small one was gone like a vanished illusion. He was only staring at the map of Jotunheim and his hands clenching into fists in his irons.
Was he starting to see things? The boy had seemed so real but the others apparently hadn't seen him at all. Had his mind created him the son he so unceasingly had been thinking about after Frigga's news concerning Emma's pregnancy? The sheer notion had kept him up and contemplating the impact of it on them both until he let it finally settled in. It wasn't any wonder he would go hallucinating. He'd spent many sleepless nights studying, preparing for this very moment, not granting himself any rest in days.
Collecting himself quickly, Loki faced the dubious stares of the court in front of him, his rigid features softening. What a glorious start to redeem his honour, indeed!
A soft, slightly amused sigh passed his lips covering his momentary outburst. "Cannot you see?" he asked again, now more calmly in his softer tone. "Instead of striking the ones that has already been beaten and wronged, we should offer the Jotuns our aid to rebuild their world." He suffocated the protesting snuffles with stronger voice and challenged them all, his gaze seeking Odin. "Is this not what Asgard should do as the protector of the Nine Realms? Not only seeking the prosperity for ourselves but the spread it to our allies as well? What good does any peace treaty, any pact have if the mere purpose of it is to keep our opponent at bay, to keep them as our enemies? Where is the peace in that?"
His suggestion received murmurs of disapproval but Thor nodded with a supportive, broadening smile. "My brother is right!" he yelped and cut the displeased symphony of objections around him. "We have caused enough harm to the Frost Giants. Let us rebuild now what was once destroyed. Even as much as I enjoy a good fight, the victory is not made by shedding blood."
The brothers exchanged significant glances and the court gawped at the both princes, scoffing at their ideas but no one dared to say a word.
Allfather studied his sons in the fallen silence, his good eye beholding them both in turns. "Leave us! I want to speak with my sons alone," he demanded with such authority in his voice that the court members bowed without objection and granted them peace, excluding the Einherjars who remained guarding the king and Loki. Even the Warrior Three and lady Sif moved out.
When finally alone with his sons, Odin kept watching at the two grown-up men before him as though testing their humility. He had been teaching them over a millennia but it seemed that the greatest growth had taken only a few months to change them both. Thor's arrogance and thirsty for battle was replaced by more virtues values. And Loki was genuinely striving to correct his past mistakes and desperately trying to undo the damage he'd done. Odin could tell that by just listening to his adopted son's speech to the court and he really hoped that this was Loki's true character and not some scheme to disguise his foul play.
Odin got up from his high seat and slowly descended down the steps of the platform, approaching his sons. "Lives of innocents lies on the decisions we make today, my sons. The army of Jotuns are approaching our realm as we speak, heading towards the secret passage you showed them, Loki."
Loki's sorrowful gaze dropped and he swallowed as the full gravity of these news occurred to him. "I am so sorry," he sighed, his voice barely audible, knowing that his words held only so little, if any, value.
"Then we should not waste time but face them right away," Thor announced.
Standing on the same level with Odin, Loki took a cautious step forward, the lines in his forehead showing sincere concern. "All-father," Loki begun, finding this the only way he could address Odin as his father now days. "We both know, when you took a child of your enemy and raised him as your own, you did it for a purpose." He paused and looked Odin in the eye pleadingly. "Let this be the reason. Please, allow me to face the Frost Giants."
His mind wandered off for a certain moment nearly three months ago when Odin came to see him and sat with him at the game table. While two strong minds were pitting against each other in the game of Hnefatafl, Odin told him the whole truth why he took Loki from Jotunheim as a baby. The alliance and the permanent peace with the Jotuns required sacrifices and commitments. An abandoned Jotun baby was brought and raised in Asgard, brought up as a future king to take over his own realms one day and rule it under Asgard's control. Those original plans no longer mattered since the fragile peace had been so cruelly violated.
"Those plans have to be altered but the commitments stands," Odin had said as he moved his white king piece. "You are a son of two realms, Loki. And you alone hold the keys to the peace between our worlds now. Will you accept your true legacy? Are you willing to do what it takes to defend that peace?"
Loki moved a black pawn on the board, his fingers returning to his lips. He was smiling inwardly for being only two moves away from victory and Odin didn't even see it yet. He lifted his gaze from the gaming board at his father's eye. "What is it that you want me to do?"
"I want you to be prepared to face your own people."
"And which people are we talking about? Are you going to hand me over to the Jotuns?"
"No, if you will not make me. You are my son and thus you will remain. Jotunheim has fallen in chaos and your brothers have been wrangling over Laufey's throne like petty brats. There is no telling what it will bring," Odin pondered aloud and could tell by Loki's annoyed reaction that the boy didn't appreciate of having any more brothers, Jotuns or others alike. "I know your mind is your sharpest weapon, son. Hone it and you shall be victorious."
Allfather looked Loki in the eye now, referring into that same conversation they had back then. "The time has come. Peace of two realms is at stake. Do you think you are ready, Loki?"
To Loki it sounded more as though Odin had asked was he truly prepared to pull himself through hell and show his true nature. Not a trace of hesitation crossed Loki's face as he lifted his chin, accepting the monstrous challenge. "I am ready," he declared solemnly.
"So am I," Thor reassured and watched at his father and brother.
… …
"Surely he is not coming along, is he?"
"Taking Loki on this mission would be a plain suicide."
"He will betray us. I just wish I would live long enough to catch the sight of Odin punishing him for it."
"Maybe Allfather will offer that traitor to the Jotuns for exchange of peace. Norns, I do hope so."
This was what Loki had to put up with from Warrior Three and Lady Sif as he'd been preparing to depart Asgard with their group. Had the fools really believed he wouldn't hear their whispers of despise? Or maybe those were meant to reach his ears to get on his nerves. Either way, he had turned a deaf ear to their mocking like many times before and concentrated on what to come. When Thor himself grumbled how distasteful his friends' damfool prattling about his brother was, they all fell in mute silence uncomprehending why Thor took his deceitful brother's side.
Soon, the chilly breezes howled in the icy, rocky canyon around Loki and his companions in the wilderness of Jotunheim. They had just arrived there and as he stood still, the harsh wind cut through his black coat but that eternal winter didn't get under his skin. Even so, he shuddered at the sight of the approaching Jotun army. The same they had come there to stop from getting to Asgard through the secret passage between the realms (which wasn't so secret anymore).
For avoiding provocation, Odin had decided that there should be only a handful of the Asgardians compared to the numbers of Jotuns had brought. There were Odin, Loki, Thor and his best buddies and a dozen soldiers. The rest of the Asgardian army was ready and waiting with Heimdall who was prepared to send the whole bunch to Odin's aid with the Tesseract if Allfather would summon them.
Out of the corner of his eye, Loki saw a green flare against the bleak, dark, rocky wall. He turned to see his Emma in a green dress who walked to him across the snowy ground barefoot like an etheric being, like a phantom that she was. No one else saw her so she had to be only a making of his own mind just like the child he'd seen earlier in the throne room. Oh, he had to be mad for sure, but he didn't care as long as his delusions were as sweet as she was.
'Patience, my love. Soon we will be together', he thought optimistically, holding her loving gaze.
The ghost of her stopped and blessed him with an encouraging smile. Then she was gone like blown away by the relentless wind. He felt as though she was there with him all the steps of the way on his most troublesome journey. And he held on to that thought. He needed at least one person who believed in him.
Loki let his clenched jaw relax as he turned at Odin, standing by his right side. His light movement made his chains clinging. How he hated that sound. The coldness made the Asgardian iron around his wrists feeling even more uncomfortable as it had already been. "Would this not be a good time to remove my shackles?" he suggested. "There is no place for me to run."
Odin looked at him and nodded at the guards. "Release him."
The guards did as they were told and freed Loki from his chains and manacles. The strong disagreement could be almost tasted in the air as nearly everyone of their group considered Odin showing poor judgment by letting Loki free. But it would have showed even poorer judgment to tell that to Allfather.
"We are greatly outnumbered. There must be the whole Jotun army," Volstagg murmured under his beard.
Thor glanced at his friends by his side with a trusting mild smile. "Well, this time we are not here to fight, my friends."
"Do not bet your hammer on it," Fandral said with a grimace. The mere thought of a rematch with the Jotuns was creeping him out. He was the one who got impaled by an ice spike the last time they were there.
Finally with his restricting manacles off, Loki rubbed his wrists to get the blood running. The guards must have intentionally cuffed him too tightly because he was getting allergic to those damn shackles. As he turned his head, he met lady Sif's distrusting scowl across their group. And he answered it with a small smirk just to annoy her and give her a reason to fear for the worse, which seemed to work like a charm since she squeezed tighter on her weapon while staring at him murderously.
Loki ignored her then and contemplated all his companions. They wore armors, he didn't. They were armed, he wasn't. They probably considered him to be more deceitful and vicious foe than the whole army of the Frost Giants ahead. He should have been pleased. He was after all standing now on the land he was born. So, he was holding all the cards. They had none.
As the Jotuns noticed them, the welcoming party was two huge frost beasts sent ahead. The monsters rushed towards the guest roaring with means to kill.
"Leave this to me," Thor said and lifted his hammer.
"No," Odin said simply, staring calmly at the fast approaching beasts. His quiet order was enough to stop his confused son.
"But Father?"
"No more blood shall be spilled on this land."
"Of course," Thor yielded, placating his eager-for-battle heart.
Allfather lifted his spare only a little and returned in back on the icy ground, the effect of it sending a mighty shield of energy around them like a wave and once hitting the beasts, those were thrown backwards on the ground like huge ragdolls. Even Thor was impressed and gave a small triumphant glance at Loki as though telling 'that's our dad!'
"Call your beasts back!" Odin shouted out then to his opponents, his voice echoing in the canyon. "We are not here to wage war with you but to form a new treaty."
There really was no warm welcome for the Asgardians in Jotunheim but soon their unequal groups stood on the bottom of the great canyon vale face to face. The blue warriors had armed themselves with their icy blades just waiting for a reason to use them on their uninvited guests that they had half circled. They were prepared for war and location of the battlefield was irrelevant. If it wasn't for their fear of Odin's powers, they would have crushed and slain the Asgardians with their great predominance and dragged their lifeless, frozen corpses back to Utgard or what was left of their once so glorious castle.
Two giants stood out from the blue mass of warriors behind them, both bearing a resemblance to the late king Laufey, both seething with anger, both seeming to be leaders. And what Loki had heard from Odin, he assumed those two to be his Jotun brothers, also sons of Laufey; Byleistr and Helblindi. He so had nothing common with those two brutes.
"You speak of peace but you know nothing of it! You brought the war upon yourselves," another one of the young but fully grown Jotun spat. "You have invaded our lands. You destroyed our world! Now we will destroy yours!" he growled harshly and his fellowmen agreed with him with supporting grunts and shouts.
Odin held his ground, his gaze fixed up at the leading giants, his grip tightly on his spear. "The Bifrost tore your realm. I am sorry. That should have never happened. We are offering you help to rebuild everything…"
"Why should we believe you? You are liars and deceivers! Return home to defend it or die where you stand!" The other Jotun barked and took a threatening step forward, furious look on his face. "We will not speak with Asgardians!" he boomed, pulling his long blade on Allfather.
All the Asgardians drew their weapons too, but before any of them took action, Loki had already placed himself between the icy blade and Odin, his arm blocking the weapon.
"But you will speak with your rightful king!" Loki demanded in a strong voice that got half of his companions off guard and even some of the Jotuns around him. His gaze never left the giant's red eyes as he turned his wrist and took a hold of the frozen blade and by doing so he let his skin turn blue, starting from his bare hand.
Following the situation develop, Thor smirked a bit, giving his brother some recognition for that brave stunt Loki pulled. The Warrior Three and lady Sif however kept staring at Loki, dumbstruck, as his whole appearance changed into his birth form that they had never witnessed before, unsure was it just a trick or his true form. No one dared to move. They hardly dared to breathe.
The giant glared down at Loki with contempt. "King?" he sneered between his crude teeth as though it had been pure affront. But then he stared at that foolhardy, deceiving Asgardian who was turning into a runty Jotun right in front of his eyes. "What kind of trickery is this?" he grumbled angrily and grasped Loki's shoulder to prove it was a trick with his freezing powers.
Einherjar guards were ready to defend their prince but Odin lifted his hand to stop them being only a spectator of this peculiar event. Sif wasn't sure what to do, pondering were they just going to let the Jotun kill Loki. Not a bad idea. But still? She glanced at Fandral and Hogun for some help but they were as much confused. Even Thor seemed to just observe whereas Volstagg barely got the stomach to watch, his own frost burn still fresh in his memory.
Loki's challenging expression hardly changed as a part of his coat and sleeves of shirts were frozen and peeled off under the Jotun's freezing touch, revealing his unharmed blue arm and shoulder. For such a small creature compared to the giant, his courage and determination puzzled the Jotun who released him and took a confused step back, beholding his work.
Loki couldn't help but to smile a bit even though he hated to be gaped at, being fully aware of his transformation. He could feel all the stares at him from both sides, but he ignored them and added a touch of his own into this show by giving them something to look at. Grateful that he wasn't wearing any armor, he took a grip from his already spoiled top garments and ripped them off with one grand gesture. His blue bare chest and arms with the pattern-like markings, like adornments, revealed his origin along with the rest of the patterns on his face, telling the tale of his parentage.
A strange silence fell over the Jotun horde as well as the Asgardians who waited something to happen after that unexpected revelation. Nothing did, nothing that demanded attention of their weapons. They all stared at him like they'd never seen a Frost Giant before and he stood still and daring, revealed, topless and in a way on the same level with the Jotuns. He could see Emma face-palming herself for his stunt in his mind's eyes and he fought off a grin.
"I am Loki of Asgard," he declared, taking his audience's full attention as his voice echoed in the rocky passageway. His skin was slowly returning back into his Asgardian form but the coldness did nothing to him. It was actually pretty refreshing. "I am a legitimate son of Odin. True son of Laufey. A Jotun by birth and an Asgardian by heart. I am a prince of both realms and as an heir have a claim for the throne of Jotunheim. I am your blood, and I have come here to repair the damaged that was done. So, you hear me now!"
"W-what?" Volstagg mumbled, totally flabbergasted.
He wasn't the only one who felt like he's missed something grand for a whole millennium. Sif kept staring at the self-declared Jotun king whom she had thought she'd known for ages. She'd been horribly wrong! That certainly explained a lot. And what even more shocking; Loki's body wasn't completely scrawny as she'd assumed for such a lanky sorcerer. Slender, yes on Thor's side, but gracefully muscular as though sculpted for perfection. Sif tore her eyes away from his bare, pale torso when Fandral's elbow grazed her arm playfully.
A great wave of aggressive objection went through the Frost Giants and the two leading ones looked down at their would-be-brother, the other one angrily and another slightly amused.
Helblindi, the younger of the brothers smirked at Loki. "If you claim to be king, where are your horns, small one?"
Loki smirked back. "I left them home."
"No! We are Laufey's sons!" Byleistr barked and slammed his fist against his chest with a hollow thud. "We, Byleistr and Helblindi. How dare you call yourself a Jötnar and Laufey's son? You are but a puny weakling!"
"Do not mock my brother or I will let you taste my hammer!" Thor shouted and stepped forward, closer to Loki. They exchanged brotherly glances and heard Odin sighing behind them.
"Come on. It is not like that was the worst insult I have ever heard. I can deal with this," Loki reassured dryly in a quiet voice to Thor.
Byleistr conjured his icy blade as an extension of his arm. "You will all die for your insolence!"
"Enough!"
The sudden exclamation came from an authoritative female Jotun who shifted out from the crowd and her rough order silenced everyone. She approached the arguing parties and the two leading giants stepped aside, letting her enter in front of the Asgardians. She was clearly respected among her people, which Loki found unusual since the Jotuns were considered extremely patriarchal society. She was a warrior by the looks of her large agile body. She was shorter than the males of her race, her features more feminine and graceful compared to the majority of the Jotuns around her.
Odin bowed his head to the giantess. "Queen Nál. I am sorry for your loss. I wish no more bloodshed between us."
"Allfather," she greeted him coldly, looking downwards at them all. "I trust my husband died with honor."
Loki swallowed but refused to show any sign of regret. "He did. I slew him," he announced simply before Odin had a chance and saw the aggression growing among the blue giants.
"Loki," Odin warned whispering for not making things any worse.
The queen turned at Loki with a feral frown. "You?"
Loki lifted his chin up to meet the queen giantess gaze. "Laufey offered me nothing but death when I was born. I had right to revenge," he recited loosely their laws he had aquatinted himself with.
Byleistr's frozen arm was becoming restless. "Let me kill him, Mother!"
"Silence!" the queen hissed at the young Jotun and he took a submissive and unhappy step back.
Ignoring Odin and all the other Asgardians, she studied Loki and her red eyes narrowed into slits with dangerous curiosity and she moved even closer. "So, little Lopt has returned home. You think you know our laws, do you?" she nearly whispered. "Let me see you, boy," she ordered and her hand rose on the level of his face.
Thor had to control himself for not to yell to the giantess to keep her hands off his brother. He followed her every move like a hawk, ready to defend Loki is she would try to harm him. So did Odin.
Bravely Loki remained still, letting the giantess touch him and reveal his Jotun form again. He didn't even wince as she touched the patterns on his forehead, her cold, rough, large fingers brushing over his skin. In his opinion, she showed a strangely keen interest in someone who had killed her husband and he remained cautious. He could only wonder was this creature his mother. He hadn't prepared himself for it. She stood so close, towering over him, that he could sense her feral essence, similar he had sensed fueling Emma's darker side and it confused him.
The giantess studied his patterns a moment and withdrew, satisfied by her discovery. "No, I am not your mother, son," she said as if answering the question that haunted him. "But I was there when you took your first breaths. So small. So small but eager to live you were. A survivor, yes. Defying your father from the very beginning. An avenger." She whispered the last sentence in a pondering tone keeping eye contact with Loki and as though something had just entered into her mind she smiled to him cunningly, making Loki nervous and fearing he would lose his head soon.
She continued, speaking only to him as if no one else was around, "When we took you safe into the temple with your mother, she prayed for the gods to decide you fate. And they did." The giantess glanced at Odin and then looked Loki in the eye. "You spoke of peace, prince of two realms. You said you have come here to repair the damage that was done. Is this true, Farbauti's son?"
That name was unknown to him but Loki glanced at the Jotuns and Odin, and then looked back at the giantess with the most solemn expression he could conjure on his face. "Yes, my gracious queen," he promised and touched his bare, cold chest, his hand flat against his heart.
He had thought he'd been abandoned and left to die on the frozen temple like Odin had told him, but the aspect that he'd been brought there by his mother into safety never crossed his mind until that moment. Accepting that fact made him feeling somehow greater and stronger and he continued earnestly, "I swear to you, I do not desire the throne. My intentions are simply to restore Jotunheim and bring peace between our realms. There is nothing I wish more than to heal this land and the wounds our conflicts has caused to the people of Jotunheim. And I beg you most humbly to consider a treaty with Asgard. If you will allow it, I shall personally see that the terms discussed in this treaty will be met."
Lady Sif and the Warrior Three exchanged looks, baffled by the whole thing they were witnessing.
Queen consulted her growling sons in a quiet voice, sharing with them something that clearly made them upset at first then bemused and finally putting down their icy weapons hesitatingly while staring at Loki in utmost disbelief.
"Then we will discuss of this treaty," Byleistr spoke in an undertone that was clearly skeptical. "But if you will betray us I will have your head... brother."
Were they regarding him as a peer, Loki pondered and nodded, amazed by his achievement but remained calm and formal. "Then I am obliged to you, brother."
Odin closed his eye in relief and thanked the Norns for this unbelievable chance that was given to them. As he watched and listened his adoptive son speaking to their old enemies, overwhelming sense of pride filled his heart but he didn't let it blind him, knowing Loki's capricious nature. Loki was indeed shrewd and his art of diplomacy beat Thor's quick temper anytime and with luck probably was going to save them from another war. There was an If though. That was if Loki had truly changed and sincerely striving for peace with the Jotuns and not using this opportunity for creating secretly more discord with them.
Helblindi shook his head and glanced at the queen as if all this was a bad joke. He growled silently and moved then back and announced to their people in a strong clear voice, "We will accept to discuss with the Asgardians!" His words sent a wave of displeased confusion among the grunting warriors. Then he continued as if reasoning their sudden change of mind, "Now behold! Lopt of Utgard, brother of Byleistr and Helblindi, the firstborn of Laufey..." He paused with a displeased grimace and glanced at Loki, his ruby eyes smoldering. "... and the son of honored Farbauti!"
Their hostile grunting ceased slowly and the complete silence around them was broken only when they hesitatingly conjured their icy weapons away and Asgardians put down their own. By touching their hearts, the Jotuns bowed their heads and kneeled down on one knee, one by one, starting from the older warriors and the younger ones followed the example.
Loki wasn't the only one struck speechless as he watched around him, the ferocious giants kneeling before him. He had no words, no idea what was going on. Why were they kneeling? He wasn't their king! What were they expecting from him? His books had not explanation for this strange occurrence. He only wished that Emma would have seen it.
He stole a side-glance at Odin and looked nearly scared as he gazed at the giantess who stood with Helblindi and Byleistr, their head slightly bowed to him. Loki swallowed and his voice was barely a sigh, "Why...?"
Queen Nál gave him a good-natured snarl. "You do not even know who you really are, do you, son?"
... ...
Thanks for all the follows, favorites and your review The true Hero of Skill.
Please let me know what you think of this fic. Should things go forward faster or would you like to get those little moments in life from Loki and Emma more when they are still separated?
Despite the current situation we're all in, have a great summer.