These Things We've Gained: Eternal Love, Building Hope, Just Honesty

by Tales of Suspense

In the aftermath of "These Things We've Lost" people strugggle to create a new normal. (Slice of Life)

22. Chapter 22

- Chapter 22 -

23May2023 – Night

Aboard The Skithblathnir In Flight To Vanaheim

Frigga could hear the distress in Frey's seidr. The look of horror and disgust on his face was turning quickly into self-loathing. He was going to blame himself. She could hear it happening and wasn't going to stand around and do nothing about it. Extending her seidr to cover them, she filled it with her love for her brother then pulled him into a tight hug. "No, Frey!" Frigga wrapped him in her seidr so that he could feel her love for him. "This does not touch us. I won't let it. It's not your fault! It's not mine," Frigga held on tightly to him, "I won't lose you over this."

Frey couldn't help but wrap his arms around his beloved sister in search of some solace. Little tears misted over his eyes. "I'm sorry," he whispered, because he was. He didn't want her to think that he approved of their parents' idea.

Closing her eyes and holding on to her brother tighter, Frigga turned her face into his chest to let go of a few of her own tears. "I don't blame you. Don't blame yourself." Pulling back to look up into his eyes, the tears and confused pain she found there hurt her as well. "Don't! You would never do that. This isn't your fault," she repeated, hoping to make sure that he knew. She was going to keep speaking with him until he understood this as she did.

Seeing the two siblings together made Sean think that he was right to need the iödod technique. He needed it for several more seeds of truth. Sharpening his extended sarammr down into the iödod spikes again, he fit them to the siblings to plant the seeds of truth, This is not your fault. You didn't/don't want this. Your parents loved you and you love each other. They were reminders that he felt were desperately needed in light of what was happening and coming up.

Stepping back and taking his hands in hers, Frigga looked up at her brother. This wasn't how she saw herself apologizing to him but was going to do it anyway. "I'm so sorry, brother. You were wasting away, weren't you? You needed someone by your side, but I couldn't be it. I left you on your own so that I could sneak behind your back and not trust you. I assisted you to begin this wasting by not telling you how happy I was. I'm so sorry that I did this to you. I never meant to harm you!"

The reaction to her apology was instantaneous in Frey's mind, melting away the pain he felt at her having been so untrusting. A raw little smile touched his lips even though there was still a film of tears over his eyes. "I forgive you sweetling. I'm sorry that I gave you reason to mistrust me. I'm sorry that I spent so long hating that you couldn't come to me. I promise you that I'm going to do better, so that you can bring these things to me." He wanted, needed, to know that she was happy.

"I promise to bring these things to you." She smiled up at him, radiant in her happiness at him forgiving her. It was a forgiveness that she wasn't going to take for granted. "I'm happy with Odin. I've been so happy with him since he first made himself known to me. He apologized on his knees and swore that there was nothing he wouldn't do for me, to keep me and make me happy. He's kept that promise, brother."

Hearing the words and feeling them in her seidr whispers let him know that they were true. It was such a relief for Frey that he could feel a physical weight lifted off of him. After so long of thinking that she was merely making do with a situation that he created, this was wonderful. She's happy! Truly happy. The tears in his eyes turned to tears of happiness that trickled down his face. "I'm so happy to know it." He pulled her in for another hug, wrapped her in his arms and reveled in the new honesty between them. This was the kind of love he wanted between them, the love of siblings and nothing else. After a moment he let go of Frigga and wiped his face dry. Gratitude was owed to his brother for taking care of his beloved sister, so he turned to face Odin. "Brother…?" His Elder Brother was frozen in place. The older King wasn't even breathing.

"I'm sorry," Sean began, "but there's still more to see." Using the iödod technique one last time he planted one more seed of truth in each of the Royal siblings to help handle what they were swiftly approaching, What happened to Odin was not your fault. You had no control over the situation. You can make this situation better. With that done he gave each of them a burst of calm and then withdrew his sarammr from them.

Frey's voice dying down brought Frigga's attention to Odin, who was sitting still. It went to Sean when he spoke. Her gaze went back to Odin as she considered, then back to Sean to continue considering, then back to Odin. An ominous feeling of foreboding came over her. There was no reason that she could see for Odin to not join them. When she spoke her gaze went back to Sean. "What more is there?"

The happiness Frey felt, the calm edging his thoughts, began to dissipate at Sean's 'I'm sorry'. Whatever else there was wasn't going to be happy. Despite everything else that had happened that day he still felt calm enough to handle what was coming at him.

"I'm going to show you the day that your parents died, but that's not what you're going to see. What you need to see is the other half of what happened in that room. Neither of you were capable of seeing it as it happened, but the time of you being ignorant of this has to come to a close." Motioning to the older King, Sean spoke again. "Out of compassion for what happened I'm not going to have Odin with us through this." Angling out his seidr from his core, Sean bent a Wavering Visions Weave and a Learning Spell which drew in his censored memories. Looking each of the siblings in the eyes, he smiled reassuringly. "I'm sorry, but it's time to understand why you're still alive, how close you came to dying, and what it cost to spare your lives." Sean walked over to stand next to them before releasing the weave and spell together in front of them.

The second apology discomforted Frey even more. What could be so bad that it requires two apologies? He could only wait while the weave and spell formed what they were to see. What took shape in front of him almost caused him to recoil. He was just a boy, with a younger Frigga secured behind him. He couldn't stop her from seeing the blood, could only stop her from seeing the murders as they happened. It was the day that their parents were killed by the Mad King Borr. The blood, viscera, chunks of flesh and body parts were missing from the scene though, as was the blood that he knew had been splashed across his person. His parents were entirely absent from what he was seeing. Frey was glad of it. Reliving that day was never something he enjoyed doing, yet he found himself looking at what was being displayed. It was the weakest moment in his life. A moment in which he could only stare in horror and weep, making little whimpering noises. Part of him was disgusted with himself for being so weak, for only finding the strength to fight back after his parents were taken from him. Frey wondered if that part was right. The guilt that came with it always felt right to him. He didn't notice when Frigga took up one of his hands to hold onto him as she looked over the scene.

Sean played the small, censored movie that he'd put together for them and hoped that it wouldn't be too much after what had already happened that day. When Lord Borr came into the scene he could hear the sudden and violent inclinations towards him in the Royal siblings' seidr whispers. He was certain that each was close to summoning a weapon to attack Lord Borr. It was when a young, red-headed Odin came into view that each settled back down some.

Both of the Royal siblings looked to Odin's face and saw not a look of pleasure at their misery, not a look of satisfaction at the felling of a foe. What they saw was the awkwardness of a young man who was both horrified by and terrified of his own father but trying to hide those things. The chains he held in his hands, connected to the manacles on Frigga and Frey's wrists, clinked softly together as his hands shook. Lord Borr turned to the chained children with a snarl and a sneer, so Odin slid smoothly in between them.

Lord Borr looked to Prince Odin. "Get out of my way, boy. There's more entertainment to be had."

Prince Odin spoke. "I would like to spare them."

"You would take my entertainment from me?" There was a dangerous edge in the Lord's voice.

Reason was what the nervous Prince tried first. "It would be best to leave the children alive, so that the other Noble Houses won't go to war against us."

Lord Borr lifted his axe, with the blood conspicuously not dripping from it. The blood wasn't dripping from his red hair or armor that was no longer shiny. It wasn't even covering his face with his sharp blue eyes shining out. He rested the edge of his axe against his son's chest near his left shoulder. "Are you taking my entertainment from me?"

"We've satisfied whatever debt you determined that they owed. There's no need to do more." The frightened prince tried reason again.

"Are. You. Taking. My entertainment from me?" The dangerous edge soaked through Lord Borr's voice.

It was an edge that the Prince didn't miss. Resignation crept across his features as his shoulders dropped as he offered the only thing he had that would keep his father entertained. "If you, your armies, influence, agents, or any means that you are involved in will stay away from Vanaheim and these children then I will play two games with you instead. Will that keep you entertained, my Lord?" It was clear that if this didn't work the young Prince wasn't sure what he would do next.

The Mad King Borr snarled again and grabbed his son by his jaw, dragging his taller son down to eye level. "You will give me a year of games for each life I spare." He smiled with sick glee in his eyes. "Will you play many games with me, my son?"

Distress blew Prince Odin's eyes wide, and he glanced down to the traumatized children at his feet. More resignation crept into his expression as he met his father's wicked gaze. "Yes." Extending his seidr just enough to activate the Bargainer's Charm on him as he laid out his proposal. "The bargain," he paused as he felt the charm waiting for the bargain he was going to propose, "As one action shall guarantee the other, I will play games with you once a week for two years, and you will spare Frey Njordson and Frigga Nerthusdottir, and not contact them again, through any means or agents, you will leave them in peace."

"Three times a week or there is no bargain!" the Mad King demanded of his son.

"As one action shall guarantee the other, I will play three games with you a week for two years, and you will spare Frey Njordson and Frigga Nerthusdottir, and not contact them again, through any means or agents, you will leave them in peace."

Lord Borr released Prince Odin's jaw and grabbed his left hand. He placed the blade of his axe in between the middle and ring finger. "Let's seal this in blood." He drove the blade down into his son's hand then nearly to the wrist, cutting the hand in two. He slashed a deep cut in his own left palm and gripped his son's bleeding hand. Their blood flowed together. "Again!"

Prince Odin's voice was tightly laced with contained pain as he spoke again. "The bargain is thus, as one action shall guarantee the other, I will play three games with you a week for two years, and you will spare Frey Njordson and Frigga Nerthusdottir, and not contact them again, through any means or agents, you will leave them in peace."

Squeezing as hard as he could so that he could feel Prince Odin's hot blood gushing over his fingers, Lord Borr smirked cruelly. "I accept the bargain." The small movie paused and faded away into a small brick chamber with chains hanging from the ceiling. Manacles hung at the end of the chains. More manacles hung from one wall. A heavy metal chair in the corner of the room sat facing the center of the room. Heavy restraints were placed at its arms and legs. A small table with gruesome looking instruments on it sat near the door to the room. A coiled whip with spikes hung on the wall over the table. Everything was perfectly illuminated since the ceiling light was a glaring white.

Sean looked at the scene before him, knowing what was coming next. "You should brace yourself now. The 'games' that come next aren't pretty." Waiting a moment to give them time, he began the movie again. Prince Odin appeared naked in the chains hanging from the wall. His left hand was cut open again. Lord Borr was using the whip to slowly and methodically peel the skin from his son's shoulders, back, buttocks, and thighs. Blood flew off of the whip with every strike, splattering to the floor or onto the walls. The crack of the whip played out loudly over the gasps and shudders of the bound Prince. The maniacal laughter coming from Lord Borr echoed loudly in the small room.

As Frigga gasped loudly the young seidmadr wished that he had a better way to present this information. Transferring it to them with the Learning Spell wasn't an option since Odin would never agree to have his wife experience what he did when he was young. Frankly, Sean wouldn't agree to let her experience what her husband had anyway. It was pain for the sake of pain, nothing more.

The movie played on, and Prince Odin moved from being chained to the wall to being chained and hanging from the ceiling naked. His hand was cut open for this event too. Lord Borr was jamming long thin skewers with razor sharp points though the muscles of his son's chest, side to side. There were already skewers through the bound Prince's knees and thighs. Occasional spurts of blood spewed out from around a skewer jammed into his inner thigh as he breathed slowly and deliberately. Scene by scene the movie quickly played out what had happened to Odin until it was moving Prince Odin from one bloody moment to another. At the beginning of every 'game' Odin's left hand was cut open, nearly split in two. At the conclusion of every 'game' Prince Odin ended up covered in his own blood and lying on the floor unconscious. He frequently had to remove the skewers from himself when he awoke. According to Lord Borr he wasn't allowed to heal himself after the 'game' was done until a day later.

Once Sean was certain that Frey and Frigga grasped what had happened he stopped the movie and broken down the spell and weave back into seidr to angle it into his core. Both Frigga and Frey looked horrified at what they'd seen. Frey had a hand over his mouth. Little tears gathered in Frigga's eyes. They were covering over a look of such potent rage that Sean felt compelled to focus on her white seidr for a moment to see if that rage was pointed at him. It wasn't, so he was fine with it.

Frey didn't think him caring about this so much was weird in some undefined way. He did care. He had started caring about Odin as more than just who his beloved sister was married to. Odin was his Elder Brother now, and he couldn't stop himself from caring. He wondered what manner of scars this left Odin with that couldn't be seen and thought he might already know. After that he marveled at how healed his Elder Brother seemed from this experience, and then questioned if it was healing or discipline that he was seeing. Little tears gathered in his eyes to stream down his cheeks. There was another member of his family who had such a profoundly bad experience when they were so young. That it happened was bad enough to Frey. That it happened to spare his life made it worse. It was a life that he spent spitting and jabbing at Odin. The guilt of it was instantaneous.

Whether the horror or the rage was stronger in Frigga's mind would never be certain for her. She wanted to go to her husband, to make this never have happened by taking Lord Borr's head off his shoulders. She wasn't going to lie to herself though; there was a small amount of anger at her husband for never having shared this with her. She wanted to know why. He was harmed irrevocably in the protection of her life, and she never had the chance to directly see to those wounds. Him hiding things from her, refusing to answer her questions, was no longer acceptable. Frigga knew that it never should have been. Her husband was still hiding things from her, like who Thor's birth mother was, and the nature of their meeting. It took on a more ominous tone now. She resolved to find out one way or another. The time of her husband hiding things from her was done.

By the time the hideous display was done both of the siblings had tears in their eyes and distress in their seidr whispers. Sean hated to hear the distress in Frey's seidr, but still understood that it was necessary. The Royal siblings needed to understand why they were spared, and Odin deserved to have some gratitude and understanding. They were going to be his family. He couldn't stand by while they were in pain and hiding it. Like James says, they need to be straightened out. Frigga was going to be the easiest one in his opinion since she was already open with her emotions. Odin just needed a helping hand to get this secret out to the right people. It was Frey who was going to need the most amount of assistance in Sean's opinion. His lover had created an entirely other persona to carry out the expression of his pain. As Brotna Brandr Frey had harmed others in his pain and would need Eidesh's aid in being disentangled from what he'd gotten himself into. It was going to be hard and messy, but the young man knew that Eidesh would make it as smooth a transition as possible. Frey just had to cooperate.

There was only one more thing Frigga wanted to understand before she went to her husband. "Why would he not tell me?" The question was directed at the only one of them that she thought knew, Sean.

A little grimace then another reassuring smile crossed Sean's face. "He didn't want to compare it to what you and Frey went through. This kind of cruel 'game' was what he grew up with. Lord Borr began his abuse of people at home. It was ordinary to Odin. He could see by your faces and reactions that what happened to you was out of the ordinary, and so worse than what happened to him. After that he could never find a way to tell you that he felt didn't compare the two events."

"He didn't want to harm me?" The furious rage at Lord Borr exploded into a transcendental fury that became bitter disappointment when she realized that she still couldn't harm him in return. There was something else she could do though. I can enlist Frey's aid, perhaps Sean as well.

"No. He never does." This was why Sean had to do as he had, because Odin just couldn't.

"This, this was normal while Odin was growing up?" Frey needed to know if he'd understood properly. He hoped that he hadn't.

"It began with manipulative mental games, then progressed to slapping in private and then to beatings under the guise of combat training. Finally, this kind of 'game' came after Lady Bestla left them, as revenge for her leaving. Lord Borr would send her pictures imbued with his seidr so that she could maintain her bond with him. They were of him abusing their sons while she was on Jotenheim. He would include notes to her that said if she sent demeaning pictures of herself imbued with her seidr that he would stop tormenting them. He never did though. They were so distressing to her that she eventually stopped eating and wasted away." Sean tried to keep a matter of fact tone of voice, but it was difficult.

Turning her attention to Sean, Frigga began. "Sean, can you take us to the King's crypt in Asgard?" Her voice was low and edged in fury.

A frown instantly crossed Frey's face and he wiped his eyes dry and turned to face his sister. "What do you want in the King's crypt, sister?"

"Borr is haunting Odin, brother. He is haunting Asgard and the Nine Realms. He is haunting us. We are going to remove his body and destroy it."

"That's treason against the Crown of Asgard, Frigga! Punishable by death! I cannot let you do that, not even for this." Frey was honestly shocked by what his beloved sister was proposing. Corpse desecration wasn't something he ever thought she would condone.

Quick as he could Sean reached for the cool connection in his mind linking him to Lady Audhumbla. A cold wave in his mind brought her thoughts into his. The first thing he heard wasn't his lady though, but what she must have been hearing, a snippet of James' voice and children playing. What distresses you, my Truthkeeper? Her voice filled his thoughts again. My Lady, Sean began, Lady Frigga wants to remove Lord Borr's body from the King's crypt and destroy it. How should I handle this situation?

And why, pray tell, does she want to do this thing now? A quiet tone of disapproval entered her thoughts.

I made her and Lord Frey aware of what Lord Borr did to Lord Odin and how Lord Odin saved them from his father. He answered readily.

Show me all that you have found, she commanded.

My memories are open to you, my Lady. He grasped more of the sjel-seidr to light his runework forcefully. It allowed her to link her memories to his so that she could see all of what he found when he looked into Odin's seidr. The sorrow, disappointment, and anger at what she found colored her thoughts vividly. A strand of power pulsed strongly through her seidr for a moment before receding.

You shall speak for me, my Truthspeaker. Inform them that I have removed the body and its trappings. Lord Borr did not belong there and shall not be returned there. Inform them also that they are allowed to remove any lingering influence of Lord Borr. This is my compromise with them. Lady Audhumbla's tone softened then. Thank you, my Truthspeaker. This is the information that I need to speak with Odin when the moment is right. The cold wave began to recede then as she turned her attention elsewhere.

You're very welcome, my Lady, Sean managed to get in before the wave fully left. This is a good compromise, he thought quickly.

Both Frey and Frigga waited to see why Sean's runework lit powerfully again then faded back. Neither was nervous since nothing bad had come from his runework lighting in a Norn's seidr.

Sean smiled and looked to Frigga. "There's no need for you to handle this. My Lady is aware of the situation and offers a compromise. She has taken it upon herself to remove Lord Borr's body and its trappings from the King's crypt. She agrees with you that it doesn't belong there and has granted her permission for you to remove any lingering traces of Lord Borr's influence that there might be in Asgard."

Frigga could only be grateful that she had permission to scour Asgard for any last traces of Lord Borr, but still not satisfied with the situation. She would only be truly satisfied if she could have killed Lord Borr and disposed of his body herself. There would only be ash left in her wake if she had been allowed to deal with him herself. "Very well. I accept this compromise." Frigga didn't want to accept it but couldn't not accept it. She couldn't demand that Lady Audhumbla return the body to her for disposal, but she could ask her husband for his memories of killing the previous Lord of Asgard. When the time was right she was going to do just that, then relish the memory for the rest of her life.

"Sean, take us back into time. That scar needs to come off Odin's hand." Frey wanted to be the one to take that scar from Odin's left hand, since he felt like he helped to put it there. It was another symbol of Lord Borr's profound effect on his family. The younger King wanted it gone immediately.

"I'll bring him into the moment in time that we're in. There's still more for you to see." Sean didn't like the immediate hesitation in both the Royal siblings.

"How much more is there?" At hearing that there was more Frey's heart sank. He didn't want to think that something else had happened in his family that he couldn't undo.

Commanding the sjel-seidr to bring Odin into the same moment as them let Sean begin moving them forward. "Just a few more things, then we'll be done."

As soon as Frigga realized that Odin was looking at her she went to him. He didn't get a chance to stand before she pulled him to her, into a hug. From him sitting, his head rested against her midsection, and she stroked her hand over his hair. "You should have told me, beloved."

"I couldn't." It was more a statement of inability than a lack of willingness. Now that she obviously knew he found he didn't mind her knowing, despite still being unsure of whether he could talk about what happened.

Unraveling her seidr she extended it to encompass the two of them. It was filled with Frigga's love for him, her sorrow at what happened to him, her rage at Lord Borr for inflicting so much harm on her family, and her resolve to see him healed from these traumatic events. Without thinking about it she grasped the imprinting in her core so that she could send her vast love for Odin to him.

It warmed Odin's heart to feel the powerful emotions that Frigga had for him. Through their imprinting he could feel the love she was deliberately sending his way. Tightening his around her middle he breathed in her light floral scent. She was a goddess in his eyes, one of kindness and understanding. A goddess of love and ferocity. She couldn't be more perfect to him.

An intense desire filled the younger King's thoughts. Frey wanted to go to Odin, to remove that wretched scar from his hand, as well as any other scars that he might have kept from Lord Borr for whatever reason. He hesitated when Frigga got to Odin first. They needed a moment, and Frey was willing to give it to them. Instead of going right to Odin, he went to Sean and pulled him into a brief hug. It helped him to deal with the situation before him and the fact that there was still more to deal with. Pulling back, Frey looked into Sean's beautiful violet crystalline eyes. He ran his fingers down the side of Sean's face, smiling at the beauty he found there. It was beauty that was for him. "What else do we have to see?"

"A secret office, your father's Great Work, and a friend with a power that's your birthright." And how to keep that friend. A summary of what was coming was as much as he was willing to offer. Sean never liked to stray into the territory of redundant information.

"Father created a Great Work?!" Intense curiosity filled Frey's thoughts.

"I'm going to show it to you."

"You'll show it to all of us?" Frigga interjected into the conversation. Her arms were still wrapped around her husband. She let go of him only to kneel next to him take a hold of his right hand. She looked into his sharp blue eyes. "We'll be together for whatever comes."

"Minn elska, er ru minn munr (you are my heart). With you is the only place for me." Odin looked into her gem-like light blue eyes and loved her with all his being. I wish it could have been at your side sooner.

Going over to Odin, Frey knelt down next to him and spoke. "Brother, I want to remove this scar from your hand. You shouldn't have to carry Borr around with you." He was nervous to know why Odin hadn't removed it the day Lord Borr died.

Looking Frey in the eyes next, Odin replied. "It reminds me of what I've done. I shouldn't be rid of it." The standard self-loathing he felt when he looked at the scar filtered into his mind. The resignation that followed after it couldn't imagine being rid of it. It was his opinion that he deserved what had happened for not stopping Lord Borr, deserved a reminder of it. It was what punishment he could find for himself in the wake of Lord Borr spending two years punishing him. The part of his mind that protested against holding himself responsible in favor of holding Lord Borr solely responsible was long silenced in the little brick room. It died in the splashes of his own blood. But as he looked into Frey's eyes he wondered if maybe Frey truly wanted the scar gone. "But if it reminds you of Borr, then I can try to be rid of it."

"I'm not the only one it reminds of Borr. You shouldn't have that reminder either." Frey could see that Odin still didn't fully believe him. There was a terrible resignation on Odin's face and in his eyes when he looked at the scar, but it was still something that Frey could work with. "We should both heal from this."

"I don't know if I can." Oddly, Odin found himself feeling lighter than before, knowing that they knew. It was another secret that he'd given up, another weight off of him. When he looked into Frey's eyes he found the younger King's desire for them both to heal shining there. It was in Frey's seidr whispers and growing louder by the second.

"But you'll try." Frey reminded his Elder Brother of their agreement from earlier in the day. Taking Odin's left hand into his he held it between his hands. "Let me remove this scar from you. Don't hold on to Borr."

He had said that he would try to heal, even though Odin didn't know if he could. Taking a breath, he steeled himself for the pain that had always come with trying to remove the scar. Lord Borr did something to the wound, but he could never tell what. "Very well."

"You're doing the right thing." Frey unfurled his seidr to form it into a powerful Healing Spell that lit his runework brightly. He sunk the spell into Odin's body so that he could focus on the afflicted hand. It was unsurprising, given what he'd seen, that there was deep scarring in the muscles and ligaments of Odin's left hand. When he began to slowly break down the scarring Lord Borr's cursed seidr flared to life, coming out of the very lifecode in the scar itself. Instinctively, Frey used his seidr to slap it away. With the seidr in the scar active he could see how it linked to the seidr in the curse in Odin's heartstring. There was a very thin but very clear connection. He could feel how the malicious seidr in the wound was even older than the curse. The narrowness of the connection made the younger King believe that he could handle this seidr, so he unfurled even more of his own seidr. Forming the Transmutation Spell, he covered the seidr in Odin's hand with the spell. However, using the spell didn't go off as he thought it would as the curse strengthened the seidr in Odin's hand to the point where the Transmutation Spell wasn't strong enough to handle it. What shocked him was the voice though. From the seidr linked to the curse Frey heard a very audible, "He's mine." It was Lord Borr's voice in his ears for the second time that day. It was unacceptable. Before he had a chance to ask Frigga for her assistance she was moving over next to him.

"Open an Ascending Circle for me." Frigga's voice was hardened by having heard Lord Borr trying to keep Odin. The smug tone in his voice raised her hackles. Odin was hers, no one else's.

Opening an Ascending Circle of Strength on his shoulder, Frey was glad to feel the Descending Circle that his beloved sister aligned perfectly with his. The influx of structured power from her allowed him to greatly strengthen his Transmutation Spell. He laid the strengthened spell back over the cursed seidr in the flesh of the hand and began to use the spell to transmute that seidr into white seidr which would be absorbed into the rest of the flesh to heal it. The cursed seidr in Odin's left hand transmuted and absorbed as smoothly as he wanted. Frey broke down the scar into a paste and used the paste to prompt new cellular growth. The hand was whole, but a frown still crossed the younger King's face. Intense pain was beginning to streak down Odin's nerves as the seidr from the curse began to invade the appendage to mar it. It struck out from the heartstring with its own seidr whispers, which were filled with more smugness.

"He's mine." Lord Borr's voice came from that seidr again.

There was no thought or patience left for Lord Borr in the minds of the Royal siblings. Each focused on the seidr; Frey through his Transmutation Spell and Frigga through her Descending Circle of Strength. They slapped the cursed seidr away, smacking it all the way back to its hiding spot in Odin's heartstring while transmuting its extended tendril of seidr into white seidr. "You cannot have him!" Frey and Frigga's voices were loud as they spoke in unison.

Terrible pain spasmed in Odin's chest so suddenly that it stole his consciousness away. The last thing he saw was his beautiful wife and his Little Brother trying their hardest to free him from Lord Borr. It brought a small smile to his face. Darkness overtook his vision, and he collapsed back in his chair.

Frey worried but didn't stop healing as he saw Odin's heartstring spasm. He wanted to rid Odin of this curse, but it wasn't to be. A bright blast of cursed seidr exploded from its source, knocking both Frey and Frigga backwards.

Sean was watching the healing, admiring the talent his lover had in being able to heal what was essentially a cursed wound. The unexpected, brilliant blast of seidr from Odin's heartstring blinded him for a second, before he swiftly extended his sarammr to catch both Frey and Frigga. When he looked back to Odin he saw the older man passed out, so he angled out his seidr to bend into a powerful Regenerative Weave and a Spelling of Failing Pain. Both were quickly applied to the inside of Odin's chest. He was just setting the Royal siblings on their feet when he looked back to Odin again and saw a ghostly image of Lord Borr standing next to him. The previous Lord's hand was on Odin's shoulder, squeezing it brutally. Lord Borr snarled at them all as he faded away. Sean focused his vision on the curse in Odin's heartstring and found more of the words burning away. The scar from them was still there but they could no longer light in Lord Borr's cursed seidr. The knot of the curse itself was further loosened.

Much of Frey's seidr was expended in the blast from the cursed seidr. He was tired and almost wanted to stay where he was. It felt like Sean was holding him up. His gaze went downward to see his feet touching the floor. There were no hands holding him, but he knew it was Sean that caught him. When he looked over to Odin he saw his brother passed out in the chair. He went over immediately and was grateful to feel the powerful spells from Sean working in Odin.

The blinding light was clearing from Frigga's vision. It didn't make things more normal. She could see that she was being held aloft by Sean, but he wasn't standing near her. The curiosity was wiped from her mind when she saw that her husband was still unconscious. She rushed over to him and was grateful to feel Sean's spells working in Odin before she could get to him.

Pleasant warmth greeted Odin as he came back to himself. It was nesting in his chest and driving back the pain that had been there. Frigga and Frey were across the room but moving back to him. He wondered what they were doing over there. It didn't matter as they both came back to him, kneeling down in front of him again. Frey's Healing Spell added more pleasant warmth to his body. The overbearing pain in his chest was clearing up quickly. Sitting up and smiling at the his wife and Little Brother, he realized that his left hand was unscarred and not in pain. That hadn't happened for thousands of years. It was wonderful, but the pain in his chest caused him to hesitate. "That was perhaps a little dangerous."

"It was dangerous, and it probably shouldn't happen again. It was also worth it." When Sean had all of their attentions he let them know what he saw. "More of the curse was burned off in the transmutation." From his angled out seidr Sean bent a Wavering Visions Weave and a Learning Spell which gathered his memories of Lord Borr into it. He released the spells together to create another small movie next to him. They could see the healing, the blast of seidr and the ghostly image of Lord Borr who was standing next to Odin, gripping his shoulder tightly. When it was done he broke down the spells into his seidr which he angled back into his core. "The words 'this is your fault' in the curse were burned off. They can't light with the cursed seidr anymore." It brought a happy expression to Sean's face.

The crushing resignation of dealing with the scar on Odin's hand burned away in the anger of seeing Lord Borr standing beside him, throwing his wife and Little Brother away from him. He touched Frigga and Frey. He can touch them. No! Never again! This, more than anything else, was an incentive to heal from what Lord Borr had done to him. Healing from these things meant that Lord Borr couldn't touch his wife, or anyone in his family, ever again. He reached out tentatively to touch the side of Frigga's face. Odin couldn't abide by the thought of Lord Borr coming near his golden goddess. "I'm sorry that he touched you, minn elska. It was never what I wanted."

Such love for her husband filled Frigga's thoughts that it shined in her eyes. She placed a hand over his hand touching her face. Then she looked up into his eyes, with her love still shining in hers. "You will be free of him. We will be free of him. I believe in you, in us. He holds onto you so tightly because he knows that he's losing his grip, and there's nothing he can do to stop you! You will win this fight." Moving to kneel in between his knees, Frigga pulled him down into a hug. She flared her seidr to him powerfully, I'm so proud of you!

Frey assured himself that everything was well with Odin's heartstring, heart, and hand. There were still deep bruises on Odin's shoulder that he removed as well. There was nothing else he could do that Sean's Regenerative Weave and Spell of Failing Pain weren't doing. Watching the bruising disappear from inside Odin's chest and shoulder helped him to feel better, so that he could comfortably remove his Healing Spell from Odin. He broke it down and furled his seidr back into his core. Despite Lord Borr making an appearance, this was still a good healing. Frey was satisfied with it, so satisfied that he didn't notice how unphased he was by still caring for Odin.

Waiting patiently a few moments, to give them time to settle themselves, gave Sean enough time to think over what was coming. First and foremost there was something he had to tell them. Frigga was running her hand over the side of Odin's face and Frey was smiling at them. He didn't want to disturb them, but they still had business to attend to. "Are you ready to proceed?"

Taking Frigga's hand from his face, Odin placed a kiss on the back of her hand and looked lovingly into her eyes. I love you forever, he flared his seidr to whisper to her. Then he turned his gaze to Sean. "What more is there?" The sense of being tired began to filter into Odin's mind. He shoved it away and held onto Frigga's hand instead of indulging in it.

An embarrassed blush covered Sean's face as he listened to the love in Odin's seidr that was only meant for Frigga to hear, then being asked what more there was. He took a steadying moment for himself them plunged ahead, prepared for them to be angry with him. "There is an ability that I have. I don't have to actively use it because it's always active. I don't know how to stop it, and I think you should be aware of it."

This had Frey's focused attention since it was something that dealt with Sean's abilities. He still didn't know what all of them were. The book he read only mentioned broad categories of abilities within the senses instead of specifics. If Sean was willing to come forward with those abilities then he was very willing to listen.

"I can hear your seidr whispers as you flare your seidr out to one another. I'm not meaning to eavesdrop, but I can't stop it either." Now that they knew, Sean expected them to be angry with him for waiting so long to tell them.

Immediately both Odin and Frey each flared their seidrs out to each other. Odin's flared seidr whispered Frey, Can you hear this? At the same time, Frey's flared seidr whispered to Odin, You can hear this?

"Yes, I heard both of you." More red flushed through Sean's face.

"Before, when I was speaking with Styraesmandr Varangr, did you hear that as well?" Frey was very interested in this. Sean's abilities were so much more useful than the legends of the Seidmadrs made them out to be. He still didn't believe that Sean could hold conversations with beasts, but it was looking like the rest of the legends were accurate, and there was more than that too. I need to read over that book again to see what I can determine. He was a little displeased that Sean looked so uncomfortable to be relaying this information.

"Yes, I heard that. I'm sorry for listening to it when it wasn't my place to. It was rude to listen to your conversation. I tried not to pay attention to what was said." Sean took a little breath, still disappointed in his own behavior. He wasn't representing his clan very well and he knew it. Eidesh was going to have harsh words for him. His sibling rathsvidr would as well. The thought of disappointing the brother Visr and sister Furstinnum was almost as shameful a thought as disappointing Eidesh and Eideshan. He valued the opinions of his brothers and sisters in the rathsvidr almost as much as the clan elders' opinions.

Frey understood immediately and felt a little foolish for not seeing it coming. Sean's manners were excellent, for him to have eavesdropped on someone without meaning too struck his young lover as rude. That truly did seem to be unacceptable to Sean. A little frisson of heat shot through him straight down to his loins. He had to ignore it for the moment since they weren't alone. Later though, later he would make Sean aware of how arousing his refined demeanor was. Standing, Frey went to his young lover. "I'm not angry with you for hearing what was said. You couldn't stop it from happening, and you aren't going to spread what you heard about. I'm glad to know what gifts you have."

"Indeed. None of us are angry. I'm only intrigued by what you're able to do." Odin kept a small smile on his face. He could see how the young man was uncomfortable at the thought of being so rude as to eavesdrop on them. The elder King didn't look unfavorably on this though. It was another reminder that he needed to see if he could recruit a seidmadr from Sean's family, if he could find another one.

"It's quite fascinating." Frigga smiled brightly at Sean. He showed them again that they could fight and defeat Lord Borr. She was grateful to him for that, not irritated.

"You're not upset with my rudeness?" That seemed almost impossible to Sean. Eidesh would have had his hide for being so rude, was going to when he got home. There were more than a few horse stables that he expected to be cleaning as punishment for how poorly he was representing his clan.

A gentle smile touched Frigga's face. "You haven't lied to us. If anything you've brought truth to us, so when you say that you can't stop the ability, we believe you. You also told us what's happening and apologized for it. That demonstrates your feelings on what is happening. We aren't angry. We're grateful for what you've done for us."

Drifting downward, Sean's gaze came to rest on the floor. He was so ashamed of his own behavior, of hurting these people, of participating in Skuld's betrayal of Lady Audhumbla, of his own poor representation of his beloved clan. To be forgiven for such actions as he had taken was like Lady Audhumbla's kind encouragements; a balm from the heavens to heal his wounded soul. He looked back to the three of them. "I don't approve of eavesdropping," shaking his head lightly, "I apologize for not telling you sooner."

Sean's youth was showing itself and Frey didn't mind. He reached out to turn the young seidmadr's face towards him. "Did Lady Audhumbla teach you what a seidmadr is capable of?"

"No, my Lady didn't. I don't know what I can and can't do until I do it, or see it, or experience it." Sean's voice dwindled away as he spoke to Frey. "It's better now that I have you. No one looks mutilated anymore, and things aren't so overwhelming now," looking back up he said, "I'm glad to have the protection of your seidr."

Everything that Sean said lined up with what the book they'd read yesterday, the one from Edward; 'A Seidmadr in Detail'. "Would you show us what you saw yesterday?"

Angling out his seidr, Sean bent a Wavering Visions Weave and a Learning Spell which gathered his memories into it. In light of their accepting attitudes towards him unintentionally eavesdropping on them, he spoke to his feelings on the matter. "It happened so suddenly, I'm not the one who made it stop." He released the spell and weave next to him to reveal the moment when his vision changed.

The little movie played, showing how yesterday, in the SHIELD conference room, Frigga lost her temper with her brother and approached him with violence in her eyes. Lightning arcked off of her runework to strike the metal walls and melt the table beside her. She approached Frey, and Sean as well. Sean could suddenly see something under the floors and behind the walls and ceiling, something magenta. That was when he noticed the raging Queen approaching him. The first thing he noticed was her runework and how it was being fed by her seidr core to light. Through the viewpoint it was clear that it took Sean a moment to notice that Frigga was missing part of her chest and back. A very clear part of her had been cut out cleanly to display her seidr core. It looked like a beautiful, miniature, flaxen star sitting in her chest around her heart. There were dark streaks here and there in her seidr core that adequately conveyed the anger she felt at that time. In the little movie Sean's attention went to Odin next, who also was missing enough of his chest and back to see his golden seidr core clearly. The swelling in his heartstring from the curse was as obvious as his runework.

This was a viewpoint that instantly alarmed Frey. He turned swiftly to his beloved sister and Elder Brother, his seidr already unfurling to form into two Healing Spells. He stopped when he saw that they were both uninjured. Turning back to the now still image of his sister and brother, he relaxed at the gruesome image knowing that it didn't reflect reality. What he was seeing clicked into place in his mind suddenly and he turned back to Odin. "Barton asked how we were still alive. This must be what he was seeing."

"Undoubtedly, this is why he worried over us bleeding out." It was a grisly view of his wife that he wasn't sure he liked. The only thing he did like was seeing Frigga's seidr core. It was as splendidly magnificent as he knew it would be. It was a brilliant core befitting a glorious goddess. Odin wasn't the only one looking at the seidr core being displayed. Frigga looked lovingly over her husband's handsome seidr core. That seidr core was the only golden kingdom where she had ever sought to reign as Queen. An image of Sean handing Frey a picture that she couldn't see flashed across her mind as she remembered something else she needed to know. "Continue with the memory please? I wish to see more." Her voice was carefully modulated to hide her true intent.

Frey realized that he was going to be shown next, he had to be. Before he went to object to his beloved sister seeing what he'd done to himself he stopped. He pulled in a steadying breath and let Sean continue on with showing his beloved sister. He didn't want her to see what her lies had done to him, but he was also so very tired of lying to her. He looked down at the floor when Sean's memory showed his seidr core. The damage on display was directly caused by him to his own heartstring by compressing his seidr core onto it. His heartstring was an ugly panoply of new dark bruises and older fading bruises. As a Heal Meister, it was hard to look at. Had he been treating this patient his healer's orders would have been strict and restrictive. As it was, he was the patient who needed treatment. Mainly he needed to stop compressing his heartstring. He considered that day to be a good start in doing just that but didn't think the future would be as easy when he went back to his normal routine. As he looked up to see more tears in Frigga's eyes at what she was seeing he wondered if his normal routine was even desirable anymore. Frey had been more honest with Frigga yesterday and that day than he had in centuries. It was such a soothing feeling to be honest with her, and to have her be honest with him. Even if the times were tough, he never wanted to lie to her.

The unsightly bruises on her brother's heartstring brought tears washing into Frigga's eyes. They were the undeniable proof of what she'd done to him by not simply telling him that she was happy with Odin. Swiftly she went to him, wrapping her arms around him and holding him close. Warmth moved through her as his arms came up around her. "I'm sorry, brother! I'm so very sorry!" She pulled back and looked up into his eyes. "I never wanted to hurt you."

"I only ever wanted you to be happy. Are you happy with Odin, in Asgard?" She's already said it once, but Frey needed to hear one more confirmation from her.

"I am happy. I'm jubilant to be with Odin." Her brother seemed receptive to this, so she gave him her understanding of it. "Odin was, is, and will always be my future. It's one filled with love and joy." She plunged ahead and hoped that the smile on his face would stay there. "It was because I was so happy that I lied to you. I thought that you could never understand that it's Odin who makes me happiest. I thought that you would be angered by my being happy with Odin, so I tried not to tell you anything about that." More little tears dripped down her cheeks. "I never thought it would sicken you. I just wanted you to be happy as well." She truly had assisted his wasting away and was terribly ashamed of it.

"Oh sweetling, I could never be happy without knowing that you were happy first." The smile on his face widened as he leaned down to give her another hug. "I want you to be happy. It's all I've ever wanted for you. Thank you for telling me." Happy little tears welled up in his eyes and trickled down his cheeks. Much of the anguish, the misery that he'd lived with for most of his life began to melt away in those three words, I am happy. It was what he needed to truly move forward with his life. Now he could be happy. When he looked up, he saw Sean and knew that he was going to be very happy. Focusing back on Frigga he wiped the tears out of her eyes as he'd done so often. "Don't cry, sweetling," placing a hand on his chest, he said, "this wound is healing. It feels so much better already." It wasn't a lie; he did feel better.

The angst between them was resolved, and Frigga couldn't be happier about it. She took his hands in hers and smiled sweetly for him. "I promise you, brother, I won't lie to you again. I should never have done it."

"And I promise you, sweetling, that I won't lie to you either. It was wrong to hide so much from you." This new honesty between him and his beloved sister renewed his feeling of having a new beginning that was fresh and pure. There was nothing he wouldn't do to keep what he had now. It was so much better than being alone and miserable.

The happy lightening of Frey's seidr core brought a smile to Sean's lips. It was his solid opinion that Frey needed to relax some, and this was helping that cause along. Again he waited, this time until the two Royal siblings were done, and they turned to him. It was Frigga who spoke first.

"Could you gift us with images of what you can see? You see so much and it's so very fascinating." Frigga wanted to see much more.

"I can," Sean paused, "but what to show?" He mulled it over for a moment before settling on a montage of things from yesterday. His seidr angled out of his seidr core to bend into three Conjuration Spells and three Learning Spells which took in the memories he wanted to display. Some of them he didn't want to display, but he also didn't want to lie to the three monarchs more than he already was. He imbued his sarammr with the spells and released them to create three small crystal-ball-cut marbles. One was made of honey topaz, another of Cognac red diamond, and the third of sky blue aquamarine. His imbued sarammr took the memories that he wanted to display and stamped them on the mineral molecules as they formed. Unlike Jay's musical marble, the memories here would play across the eyes of any who touched the marble without being heard by anyone except the person touching it. When the marbles were complete, stamped with the memories, and polished in his seidr, he bent three more Conjuration Spells. Then he released them to create three small, wooden, lacquered, velvet-lined boxes which the marbles dropped down into. He took the boxes with his sarammr then and extended it towards the three monarchs. Odin received the diamond, while Frigga received the topaz, and Frey received the aquamarine. "They all have the same things, but I thought you each might like your own copy." He braced himself for what was to come.

The younger King took the small box being held up by nothing that he could see or feel. He wondered again at this ability since the book on seidmadrs didn't mention anything like it. He opened the box and set eyes on the beautiful gem within it. Placing a finger on it allowed the memories within it to play across his eyes.

The first thing that Frey saw was an expanded version of the scene he was just watching. He saw the moment that Sean's vision changed and felt the unease in the memories. Frey could tell that Sean was disturbed by what he was seeing. After that came a montage of events where Sean could see things that no one else could. It was of particular interest to him when Sean was able to pull information from Thor's companions, Heimdall, and the mortals. Odin, Frigga, Thor, and himself were noticeably absent in Sean's visual explorations. He was grateful for that. Next he saw how Sean could see into the shadows and through them to who was hiding in them. Is that what the shadows look like when I'm using them. It was enlightening to Frey.

What he saw next caused a murderous anger to brew in him. He could see how Skuld was directing Sean but abusing him at the same time. It was hideous physical abuse combined with demeaning mental abuse. Frey didn't even get to see all of it but what he did see was enraging. Yet again, he hoped that whatever punishment Lady Audhumbla subjected Skuld to was painful and lasting.

Then he came to it, the moment where Frey was able to see Edward's messenger as the smirking ball of golden flames, what Sean was able to see it as. The scene he witnessed was amazing but felt incomplete somehow. The memories all fit together, but it still felt like he wasn't seeing everything. Frey did see how Edward had guided Sean to him. The younger man truly was his to be with. He's mine, and I'm his. There was something primal in that knowledge that gave Frey a very strong foundation for all of his new growth to rest easy on.

After that he saw how Sean chose to sit next to him when his seidr was assaulting the younger man. It showed him how Sean had become addicted to his seidr. All of the negotiating, reasoning, and rationalizing, the need for more and demands for more, and the relief of having what he needed so badly all played out for Frey. It was all there but Sean was too disciplined to let all of it show. That's what the tugging on my seidr core was, Sean needed more of my seidr.

Then the younger King saw what things looked like to Sean after the young seidmadr drank his fill of Frey's seidr. Frey's sunny seidr was acting as a shield between Sean's nerves and everyone else's seidr. The young seidmadr was under his protection, literally beneath it.

The very last thing that the pale monarch saw was what happened to Sean at the end of the presentation yesterday. He saw how Sean commanded the sjel-seidr; how he created a vessel to hold and purify their powerful emotions. He saw but didn't feel how the spikes of that vessel pierced Sean and how the younger man cried out in pain and for aid. Frey wondered who Matt was that Sean would cry out for him. A twinge of jealousy in the thought that Sean called out for someone other than him. It was dismissed easily enough since Sean's heart would be fully his soon enough. The only comfort Frey had in watching his lover die was knowing that his seidr was there to provide some relief to Sean. He was more glad now that Sean was pulled back through time to undo the fatal injuries. The memories stopped playing across his eyes after that and Frey saw that Odin and Frigga's gems had just stopped playing the memories for them.

The viewpoint that he had just seen was more than Odin could have imagined. All of it was extremely useful to him. It powerfully reinforced his opinion that he needed to recruit a Royal Seidmadr for Asgard. Looking back over the last thing that he was shown, he was more glad that Sean's grievous injuries were undone from the vessel that was created to control the powerful emotions that the group had. It was what forced him to be so calm as he went back through time to watch as Loki was beaten and mutilated before his youngest son gave his life for the Nine Realms. What Skuld did to Sean also concerned him very much. It was torture and couldn't be called anything else reasonably. All of it to try to control his abilities. It was an immense ability that Sean had, and it needed to be stewarded carefully.

What Frigga just saw was amazing for many different reasons. The reason that impressed her most of all as a Queen was how well Sean handled the new abilities as he learned them. It was all out of the ordinary, but he handled them with grace and discipline. What impressed her most as an individual was just how personable this made Sean out to be. He wasn't going to tolerate their bad behavior. Instead he was going to encourage and support their good behavior. He didn't even tolerate Skuld's bad behavior, even though it cost him dearly. Frigga was amazed at how Sean refused to harm them even after Skuld began harming him in retaliation. It was such an honorable position to have. Beyond that it was kind and compassionate. She was glad to know that the compassion she saw from Sean yesterday truly was him and not just a front he was putting up for them. Now she worried over how well Sean was after what he suffered through for them just the day before.

So far Sean was surprised that the three monarchs weren't upset with him for the thoughts and emotions that he presented to them. Yesterday wasn't his best day ever, he wasn't going to say otherwise. He was thrown into a situation in which Eidesh would have been best suited to handling, and he didn't do well enough. Eidesh was going to be disappointed in him for his poor behavior. I'm sorry, Matt. I never meant to disappoint you. The thought of disappointing the man who meant so much to him was a brutally heavy thought. His uncle was the only reason he made it through his brother's death after his father's death. Matt, his second father, was an essential part of his life.

"I tried to stay away from redundant information, or things that were pointless." Sean's voice carried a tone of awkward embarrassment. Once again his thoughts had been laid bare before others. It was his choice this time, and he chose what to display and what not to display. His clan was still protected while he was exposed. Despite it being his choice it was still embarrassing. He wanted to return to a time when his thoughts were his own and Aiden's. Sharing my thoughts with Frey might be nice though, he thought suddenly.

Frey wanted to say that he was shocked that so much happened right next to him without him knowing better, but he wasn't. 'In plain sight' seemed to be one of the very best places to hide things. It was something that he needed to pay more attention to. Hiding things where anyone could see them was such a brazen strategy that he hadn't accounted for so many people using it previously. With everything he'd seen, that needed to change. Something else needed to happen before that. Frey went to Sean and pulled him into a comfortable hug. "I'm sorry that Skuld did that to you." Frey ran his the backs of his fingers down the side of Sean's face. "How many times did she harm you?"

"Any time I refused to obey her, …she punished me." Sean looked down, away from Frey's gaze.

"Why did you disobey her? Was it for us?" The younger King hurt to think that Sean may have been brutally punished on his behalf.

"She wanted me to heighten your pain at what you were seeing and learning, so that she could enjoy listening to it. I refused to participate in her vengeance once I knew what it was. Before that, she punished me for behaving kindly towards you, or anyone in the room. When you absorbed the seidr from me that I had absorbed from Odin and I apologized for it, that was the first time she beat me." Taking in a shuddering breath, Sean continued on. "I won't lie, what she did was a factor in why I chose to follow Lady Audhumbla."

"Can you show me all of it?" Frey needed to know how deep the wounds went before he could begin healing them.

Sean's gaze flew up to meet Frey's gaze. His eyes were momentarily wide, "No," before he regained control of himself, "You don't need that. It won't help you." I can't tell you before I tell Eidesh. The clan father would know what to do with him next. He stepped back, after covering himself in composure, and put a small smile on his face. It didn't touch his eyes. "This isn't about me. There are still things you need to know," he commanded the sjel-seidr to open a portal to the secret office underneath a new garden in the Royal Palace in Vindrvelsignet, "and it's my responsibility to make you aware of them." Then he commanded the sjel-seidr to extend the moment in time that they were in into the secret office. He didn't want to relive the bone-splitting, blood-boiling, skull-crushing, organ-melting agony that Skuld buried him under, not when he already knew he was going to have to relive it when he showed Eidesh what he'd done. Until then, he wanted to pretend it didn't happen.

Sean's reluctance in talking about what happened and his attempt to divert Frey onto another subject worried the younger King more. "We will speak on this later then?"

The smile on Sean's face was already false, but it faltered a bit because he knew Frey wasn't going to let this go. "Just …give me a few days to settle things and then we'll discuss it. Alright?"

Nodding in agreement, Frey took a step closer to Sean and cursed Skuld silently. She had harmed Sean right out in the open. Even if they hadn't seen it as it happened, which they didn't, there was probably still a feeling of being exposed before everyone that looked to be embarrassing Sean currently. "You did nothing wrong. You have no cause to be embarrassed, not with me."

"Not with any of us. What Skuld did was heinous, and she should be lashed for it. Her actions aren't your fault." Odin sorely disliked that Sean had been mistreated so badly while sitting near him. His own understanding of how easy it was to hide things right out in the open only caused him to dislike Skuld further for it. The elder King found Sean to be an amazing individual. He was grateful that Sean had bodily shielded Frigga and Thor from further harm and angered to know that the young man had been tortured to spare Odin from Skuld's wrath.

Walking quietly over to Sean, Frigga pulled him into a quiet hug. She pulled back and held his hands in hers. "You spared me, and my family, from Skuld's torments. I thank you for that. It was an honorable sacrifice you made. When you're comfortable and not before, will you let us assist you through this healing? Anything that we can do to assist you, we will. Is there anything we can do?"

"Beyond having a few days to settle things, I don't know what else I'll need to deal with this." Sean had to wait until he explained himself to Eidesh before he knew what was going to come next. Unfortunately they couldn't even know about Eidesh and Eideshan and the clan until he'd spoken with Matt. They would not know of his clan from him without permission from one of the deshar.

Frigga squeezed his hands gently before letting him go. "Very well. When you've settled things, then you can let us know."

It was a very practical application of an underlying compassion that Sean appreciated very much. It reminded him of his own mother's actions which instantly set him at ease. He had to urge to say, "Yes, mom, I will," be restrained himself. Looking into her eyes he saw a tolerant affection that was masking a hardened steel in her character. In that moment she was so much like his mother that he couldn't help but respond similarly. "I promise that I will."

"Wonderful! Since this will be taken care of," she eyed him heavily, "why don't you show us what you wanted to. Is it through the portal?" Frigga looked over to the portal, then back to Sean.

It bothered Frey that Sean wouldn't respond to a healer but pleased him when Frigga was able to get the young seidmadr to respond to her motherly attitude. He was still going to do what he could to work Sean into responding to a healer when he was injured. What bothered Frey the most was knowing that there was more than what he'd seen, but that it was still beyond his reach. I have to give Sean patience, and more of my seidr.

"Yes. I've extended this moment in time into the room through the portal, to cover all of the items there. This will be hard to see, and I'm sorry for that, but it will also be worth the trip." Sean motioned for them to go through the portal, then flared his seidr to Frey to caress the younger King. At the same time he extended his sarammr to grip at Frey's hips and shoulders at the same time. Give me some time and I'll tell you everything, his seidr whispered to Frey.

A little smile touched Frey's lips as his hips were gripped again, and his shoulders after that. It warmed him to know that Sean wasn't pushing him away, only asking for something small first. It let him settle into going through the portal easier.

Sean was clearly agitated at having revealed as much as he had. It was understandable for him to be hesitant now. That Frigga had calmed him pleased the elder King. Odin didn't feel that someone so young should be exposed to such cruelty. A strange bout of awareness struck his mind then, and it made something about that sentiment seen off to him, as though he wasn't expanding it to cover enough people. The moment passed quickly, taking its awareness of his own thoughts with it. He stepped through the portal to find himself in a darkened room that smelled musty with age. Dust was thick in the air. The soft sound of their breathing was uncomfortably loud in the overbearing quiet. The stillness was thicker in the air than the dust. It covered everything, leaving him feeling sacrilegious for intruding into the dim room. The lights that should have automatically lit the room were dark. There was no light from the sjel-seidr portal to illuminate his surroundings for him either, when there would be light from a normal portal. He tried to take a step forward, but his foot knocked into something. All he could tell was that it was a small round object. It was featureless otherwise. As he tried to put his food down, he found the floor was covered in things. He felt that some of them had to be books. Odin had to scoot some of them aside to be able to put his foot back down. Where am I?

When the three monarchs were through the portal Sean stepped through and angled his seidr out to bend into many small Plentifulness of Heat Spells. He released the spells in the places where he knew the candles were. They flared to life. The dozens of flickering flames illuminated the room for them. The lightless portal remained open behind them.

They stood in the middle of a large square room with cerulean-blue tiles. What little of the wallpaper that could be seen was a matching blue with a stark white done in a floral pattern with a geometric base. Most of the walls were obscured by the heavy bookshelves lining the walls. Only the metallic blue molding at the top of the walls could be seen clearly. It gave way to a pearlescent ceiling. There were several bookshelves that were sitting in front of other shelves, creating rows of shelves like a mini library. Books of all sizes sat on the bookshelves alongside rolled up scrolls. Almost all of the shelves were double stacked with the overabundance of books and scrolls. The few shelves that weren't double stacked held all manner of trinkets, from the pretty but useless to the ugly and extremely useful. At one end of the room sat a heavy table with a full set of alchemy tools on it. There were even alchemical tools that none of them had ever seen before. Near it a large dense wooden desk sat up against the wall. There were papers strewn across it, books on the papers, pens, and ink bottles with cloudy ink in them. Letters that were either unfinished or just unsent sat in the shelves in the top of the desk. One of the drawers was slightly ajar. Next to the desk was a tall, thin, wooden, cerulean-lacquered pedestal with a small but plush white pillow sitting on it. Atop the pillow was a lengthy dagger with a long, drawn-out, thin, triangular spike instead of a traditional blade. It was made of a strange black metal with a rainbow of swirls intruding in on the metal here and there. Runes that they'd never seen covered the spike-blade. The handle of the dagger was made of a smooth lustrous silver metal. The pommel of the dagger looked like a small marble with some sort of miniature scene in the heart of it. There was a strange power resting in the dagger that called out to Frey and Frigga. A small bed that still looked slept in was shoved up against one wall next to the pedestal. Dozens of childish pictures, partly-conjured items, and pictures of Lord Njord and Lady Nerthus with their children were fastened to the wall beside the bed, all the way up the wall and onto the ceiling. On the opposite side of the room was a black Soul Forge with red accents. The floor was littered with trinkets, books, jars of alchemical ingredients, clothing, jewelry, miscellaneous items, little boxes, and many other things. A thick layer of dust covered everything.

Bending two Restoration Orb Spells from his already angled out seidr, Sean released the spells on either side of them. As soon as they were released the spells began swiftly cleaning and repairing everything in the room. It only took them a few minutes a zapping things to completely clear away the dust from the air and the places it was resting. They drove back the musty smell to leave something fresher in its place. The stillness remained though as no one spoke a word.

Looking around, Frigga realized that she recognized many of the items on the floor. They were her father and mother's things. She could see the book of stories that her mother read to her on the floor near Sean's feet. The ball her father used to teach her control of her seidr was lying near Odin's feet. All of her mother's jewelry was scattered about the tile floor. Every new thing she found caused her eyes to widen just that much more. Tears welled up to fill her newly wide eyes. When she looked at Frey and saw the same recognition on his face as was on hers, Frigga knew. The contents of her parents' interdimensional pockets were strewn carelessly about the floor.

His heart was hammering so hard in his chest that Frey was having a hard time catching his breath. "What is this?" Even though he had a strong feeling that he knew what he was looking at, he asked anyway.

Motioning to all around them, Sean answered. "This is Lord Njord's private office and library; one away from his everyone but his wife. The items on the floor are the contents of Lord Njord's and Lady Nerthus' interdimensional pockets."

"But how? The pocket and its contents always die with their bearer." Frey both wondered how it happened and was glad that it did.

"Lord Njord devised a spell which empties the interdimensional pocket upon the death of the user, into a place that the user picks." He motioned to Lord Njord's mage's journal that was sitting on the floor near Frigga's feet. It was a thin book bound in cream colored leather with gold engraving. "His mage's journal has the spell, and several others in it. It was his plan to bequeath the journal to you, Frey," he motioned to Lady Nerthus' mage's journal which was sitting near her husband's mage's journal, "and Lady Nerthus' plan was to bequeath her mage's journal to you, Frigga." Smiling reassuringly to the woman who reminded him of his mother, he spoke softly. "It's yours now, and all the wisdom in it from your mother is yours as well."

Dropping to her knees, Frigga picked up her father's mage's journal and almost sobbed. It had so much of her father's seidr in it that it still felt like him. She handed the book to her brother and picked up her mother's mage's journal which brought the tears streaming down her face. The small book was bound in cream leather like Lord Njord's mage's journal, but instead of gold engraving it was embellished with a riotous rainbow of flowers of every shape and size. It too had enough of its original owner's seidr in it to feel like her. Frigga held the book close to her chest and cried quietly. Without stopping to think about it she reached her hand out to Odin, needing him then.

This was the very last room in all of the Nine Realms that Odin wanted to be in. He had to believe that there was a reason that Sean brought him there, so he didn't ask to leave. Without a way out, Odin went to his wife, clasping her hand and kneeling down beside her. Her seidr whispers were unstable so he didn't know what to say. With him beside her she pulled him into a powerful hug with the book between them. Happiness exploded into his wife's seidr whispers, and he stroked a hand over the back of her head. He didn't flare his seidr out to her, choosing instead to pull it in some to cover the distress this room was causing him. Odin didn't want her to feel that right then.

Through their imprinting Frigga could feel the distress that Odin was trying to hide from her. She wiped the tears from her eyes and smiled brilliantly for him. Cupping the side of his face, she looked him in the eyes and spoke firmly. "It was not your fault!" She stroked her hand over the side of his face. "Oh beloved, she would have loved you too. It was Borr who took her from us, not you."

Tears covered Odin's eyes swiftly at his wife's forgiving words. He could feel the truth of her belief in her seidr whispers. It was only a little less painful than it normally was. "I'm sorry, minn elska. I'm so sorry. It wasn't what I wanted." He'd said it so many times to his wife over the course of their marriage. She forgave him over and over again, but he still thought that he would never stop apologizing for assisting Lord Borr to do something so awful. As glad as he was that his wife was able to have at least this much back, he was still apologetic for being one of the ones to cause her to lose her loved ones.

Drawing her husband closer, so that their brows were touching, she kept her gaze locked onto his as she spoke. Frigga flared her seidr out to Odin so that he would hear her voice from two different ways. "I(I) don't(don't) blame(blame) you(you). You(You) suffered(suffered) enough(enough). This(This) isn't(isn't) your(your) fault(fault)!"

"Minn elska, I…" but Odin didn't get a chance to finish.

The shame in Odin's voice disgusted Frey to hear. After what his Elder Brother had done and given for him and his beloved sister, he couldn't stand to hear it. He particularly couldn't stand to hear it as he stood in his father's sanctuary. The moment in time that Sean showed them, of Prince Odin bargaining with Lord Borr and the fear on Prince Odin's face, played through his mind again. "Borr carried out violence against all of us. Your suffering was no less than ours. We all suffered at his hands." Being in this sanctuary brought back a flood of memories and emotions that Frey had long since thought were gone from him. While he was a Heal Meister, his father was a healer through and through, even going so far as to try to heal those who caused him trouble. What would you do in this situation, father? What wisdom would mother have given you to aid you along? It seemed like he knew what is father would have done. He wondered if he too could be so forgiving and hoped that he could. Thousands of years of hardened emotion had softened and was melting away. It wasn't that he wasn't ready to let go of the negative emotion, he realized. It was that the emotion wasn't ready to let go of him. It was a hopeful realization to him since it showed him that he could reach the level of forgiveness that his father routinely practiced. It brought a smile to his face again. Frey's voice was strong with purposeful intent as he said something that he thought he never would. "Frigga has the right of it, this wasn't your fault." Feeling his father's seidr again aided Frey to make good on the thoughts swirling around in his mind. Looking down at his Elder Brother, he knew that his parents would have been grateful for what Odin did to save them and would be equally horrified at what happened to the current Asgardian monarch at Lord Borr's hands.

"Brother," slipped out of Odin's mouth without him thinking about it as he looked up to Frey, "I am responsible."

"Brother," Frey emphasized it, "Sean showed us the moment in time when it happened. I could see the fear on your face, the disgust at what he forced you to do. I saw your emotions when I didn't see them the first time, and Frigga is right. It's not your fault."

"You can't say that." Odin wasn't sure he liked where this was headed. It was an outlandish dream to be forgiven by both Frigga and Frey. The reality of it was that he didn't deserve it, he knew as much.

Kneeling down next to Odin, Frey held his father's mage's journal near to his heart. He looked his brother in the eyes. "I can't say that I've forgiven you entirely, but what I can say is that I want to. I have two thousand years of wretched emotion to be rid of. Though now that I know the truth I'll be rid of it soon enough, then I'll do what I want."

Staring up at his Little Brother, Odin couldn't believe what he was hearing, so he repeated the words that he thought were best in this situation. "I'm …responsible, brother."

Frey placed a hand on one of the elder King's shoulders, and asked something he'd wondered about, something he'd made a thousand assumptions about, but never had an answer to. "Did you want to hold the chains?"

"No!" Odin couldn't help but protest. What happened that day was never what he wanted. "He forced the chains into my hands!" He looked down again. "I didn't want them. I didn't want any of it."

"It isn't your fault. It's Borr's fault. He forced his violence onto all of us. Father, mother, Frigga, me, ..you, all of us," he stressed the point. Frey never thought he'd try to convince Odin that he wasn't responsible for the deaths of his parents, but he truly hoped that he could now. After seeing the terror on his Elder Brother's face when dealing with Lord Borr, Frey couldn't hold Odin responsible for what happened in that room so long ago. The terror looked old and deep. "You were right. Borr destroyed both our lives."

Tears washed into his eyes There was so much remorse in Odin's eyes as he looked up to Frey. "I'm so sorry, brother." I don't even know why he did it. Lord Borr would never tell him what 'debt' Vanaheim owed to Asgard. As the casualties from the war mounted and the other Noble Houses began to intervene on Vanaheim's behalf, Odin, Vili, and Ve would ask their father what 'debt' was owed. Their father would frighten them by saying that the son would suffer the most. None of them wanted more punishments from Lord Borr, so they escaped while they could with the sound of their father's laughter chasing them away.

Seeing the remorse in Odin's eyes, the tears helped the younger King along the path of forgiveness even faster. Odin didn't want the chains. They were forced onto him as they were forced onto Frey and his beloved sister. In that moment the younger monarch could see that Odin was as scarred as he was from the event that had once torn them apart. It continued lessening the anger in his heart and mind. There was so much anger in Frey that any lessening of it was noticeable. The reduction of so much anger was palpable to him. He pulled the elder King into a hug. The relief of knowing that Odin was innocent of the crimes that he'd held him responsible for since so long ago was even more palpable than the reduction of the anger. When he pulled back, he spoke again. "I was so angry for so long. I thought that you wanted to follow after Borr. I'm so relieved that I was wrong."

Odin could only shake his head lightly at Frey's remarks. It was hard to imagine that his Little Brother might truly mean what he said. "But I'm responsible."

The phrase, 'I'm responsible,' sounded familiar to Sean, so he focused on Odin's white seidr. Through the elder King's white seidr the young seidmadr could see Odin when he was young, and in Lord Borr's clutches. He found why the phrase was familiar to him and it too needed to be revealed. Turning to Frigga, he said, "The wall directly across the hall from the entrance to yours and Odin's chambers is a false wall. It's hiding the entrance to the room that Lord Borr kept Odin in while he was playing his 'games'. In order to end the game Odin frequently had to accept responsibility for what was done. 'I'm responsible' is what he was required to say."

More wicked anger pressed against Frigga's thoughts, but before she could speak Sean spoke again.

"I might be able to help begin healing this wound, if both of you consent. It won't fully heal this wound, but it would speed the healing along, and I can reapply it as needed." Sean offered to assist with this as he could and hoped to be able to help. Since this wouldn't qualify as an emergency medical aid, he could take his time and gain consent.

"What healing technique is that?" This was a wound of the mind that Sean was offering to begin healing. Frey wondered if this was something else that Lady Audhumbla had taught Sean. It was potentially ancient knowledge that he wanted.

"It's called a 'seed of truth'. It's a truth wrapped in white seidr and planted in a person's white seidr to release and grow once planted. I can take one of these seeds and plant it in the depths of Odin's mind. It will grow there and spread out throughout his mind and memories." He turned to Odin to look the elder monarch in the eyes. "The seed will fade away slowly, but if the person is amenable to the truth within the seed then a temporary seed will leave behind permanent changes. Are you amenable to the truth that you aren't responsible for Lord Borr's actions?"

Before Odin could muster an angry reply Frigga grabbed his chin and turned his head forcibly so that he was looking at her. "Yes, you are amenable." She gave her husband a hard look, one that wasn't going to tolerate him harming himself through stubbornness. "You. Are. Not. Responsible. This is another wound the nithingr is responsible for. He made you his accomplice in your mind because he couldn't do it in reality!"

"Frigga, I.. can't." Now Odin didn't know what to say. Part of him knew that they were right, that Lord Borr had wounded him deeply. The words, and the beliefs behind them, were so ingrained that he felt actual nervousness at letting them go. He'd held onto them for so long. I did promise Frey that I would try to heal, he reminded himself. As if to aid him, his mind threw up a motivating picture. The image of Lord Borr throwing Frigga and Frey away from him played in his mind, to remind him that his father could still harm his wife and brother. It was what he needed, so he turned back to Sean. "I'll try. What do you need me to do?"

"Thank you, brother." Frey was glad that he didn't have to persuade Odin, that he decided to keep trying on his own. There was hope now that they could heal from what was done to them. Each had powerful beliefs that needed to be gotten rid of. If Sean could truly help Odin to begin that process, then he thought that he might ask Sean to aid him also. This healer needs healing as well, he thought wryly.

Looking to Frigga first, "May I assume that you consent as well?" When she gave her assent, he looked back to Odin and spoke again, "Just stay still, and I can begin immediately."

Odin stayed nervously where he was and grasped Frigga's hand when she stayed next to him. As an expert in taking a mind apart and fiddling with it for a specific result, this sort of thing worried Odin greatly. He couldn't think of a way for Sean to accomplish what he was describing. It interested him though, and he wondered if he could learn the technique to aid in healing Loki's mind. That thought was put out of his mind as Sean moved around to stand behind him.

"I'm going to link myself to you, my mind to yours. Then I'm going to plant the seed in the depths of your mind to begin healing the negative thoughts and emotions from the very beginning of your memories. Once that's done, I'll disconnect myself from you and release you entirely. There will be no pain, or side effects, and it will happen very quickly. Are you ready to begin?" Sean began centering his mind to undertake this procedure.

"Yes, I am." Odin wasn't sure what to expect, so he held on to his wife's hand and waited.

After he finished up centering his mind he extended his sarammr to form the spikes of the iödod technique. The four spikes sinking into Odin's white seidr at the cardinal directions of Odin's head came first. The spikes acted like keys unlocking locks in the white seidr. The spike into a lock on the neck, one over the heart and one just below that came next. The two on the lower back and one on the upper left thigh came last. Again, Sean could feel Odin's emotions as if they were his own. The first thing that he did was to clamp down on the nervousness and negative emotions and change them into the calm that he needed the elder King to have. With that done he formed one last iödod spike out of his sarammr. It went into Odin's head to sink down into his mind. In an instant their minds were connected, and Sean could feel how, see how the elder King didn't think this was a good idea, but was going to do this anyway, for his wife and Little Brother. It made Sean smile to see the willingness to heal in Odin's mind. Through the last spike the young seidmadr created and planted a seed of truth. The truth in it was, "You are not responsible for Lord Borr's actions."

The elder King's eyes glazed over as his mind linked powerfully to the young man's mind. As Sean spoke so Odin spoke with him, "I am not responsible for Lord Borr's actions."

The seed took root instantly and smoothly, beginning to spread its roots from the very center of Odin's mind. Very soon it would touch on many different thoughts and emotions and memories, then it would fade. If Odin likes it, I can put another in place to keep helping him. Sean smiled to see how it was spreading and already loosening hardened beliefs. With the seed successfully planted, the young seidmadr carefully removed the iödod spikes from the elder King, disconnecting them.

There was a sudden aloneness in Odin's mind that snapped him back to consciousness. He startled and looked over to see wife was still next to him. He wondered how long he'd been unconscious since it didn't seem to be very long.

Sean asked something important then. "Are you still responsible?"

Odin looked to the young man and went to give his standard response, that he was responsible. Something was different in his mind though. After a long moment of hesitation and thought, shock spread across his face. He could feel his thoughts changing, hear the difference in their tone. There were tears in his eyes as he looked up at Sean and said simply, "No."

The young seidmadr smiled brightly. It was the answer everyone wanted to hear.