fossilised | I come from a land of ice and snow

"No." Odin was still hard in his manners. He might have wished his own more pleasant afternoon listening to farmer disbutes to ease himself back into ruling after a long sleep, but no. His wayward son had returned the Casket to an enemy and disappeared until he had woke. Odin disliked distrusting his children but Loki had always been wildfire. "I wish to know if you have come as son, as ambassador, or as courier from a displaced foreign King."

Odin's words were almost biting. He did not fail to hear how Loki had disinherited himself, after all.

"The All-Mother has told me of her broken heart. You do no not see yourself as Prince of this Realm? I wish to hear it from your lips."

Anthony was grateful that Odin wasn't immediately angered by Loki's words. He wished he could tell his Master to be less troublesome!

Wildfire he was thought of, and wildfire he was. Brilliant and bright, but deadly and unpredictable. He could destroy that which he cared for as easily as that which he pit himself against, if only the wind blew in the wrong direction. He very nearly spat at Odin's feet for the reminder of his ill-chosen words to his mother, but he settled himself with drawing up further.

"Had I come as ambassador, I serve the position ill by not announcing myself in the proper fashions. Had I come as courier from Laufey-King, you would not have seen me before the dagger pierced your back."

Perhaps an unwise thing to threaten a king in his own throne room, but Loki had never been especially wise. Clever, yes. Wise, no.

"Asgard is my home, and I had thought myself still a Prince and son here. Tell me that I am mistaken, All-Father."

Loki did not know the proper way to choose his words and for that reason alone, Odin had insisted that they have this meeting in private. Threats, ill-timed and I'll-advised, were still threats and Loki would have found himself on his knees by the guards if he had said anything similar in their presence.

Odin wasn't entirely happy either. His frown beneath the golden eyepatch was exacting and filled with disapproval.

"Do not dare speak of betrayal and fealty in the same breath. You were raised better than that, my son. But so too were you raised with much of your mother's available love to give and still you spurned her. I understand the circumstances of your departure, Loki. The crime committed can be righted. But you must learn understanding. And trust. You may be my son, Loki, but I will not allow your behavior to continue unchecked."

Loki had been punished each and every day since leaving for his poor choice, for the hurt he had caused to his mother. But not for the life of him would he tell Odin that now, let him think that he had spent a year in the arms of another family being hailed for returning the Casket to its rightful place.

"And what punishment are you going to levy at me, All-Father?"

The tone of voice was a shaking and barely concealed rage, and he even followed it up with a bow that completely passed beyond sincere and into mocking territory. He was unafraid of punishment. He had suffered too much to be scared now - what could Odin possibly do to him?

Loki was mad to think that Odin did not know what had come of him. He did not need Frigga's magic for that, not when his Ravens, gifted to him by forces beyond those of Yggdrasil's branches, could come and go to any place they pleased. Luckily, Odin was wise and did not disclose this. Itstead, he aimed a punishment that would be more like a redemption to Loki.

"You will return the Casket. It is your birthright, one I have been told you were quick to master, but you require training. Once Jotunheim is once more subjugated and shown their place on the branches of our tree, you will begin your training in sorcery properly. I will not have a son who is weak and ill equipped with his power."

Odin moved away from Loki again, and Bruce moved to join him.

"Your slave will join you in this training. I can no longer put this off or shield you from it. Your mother will expect you. And it would be wise to enlist your brother on this campaign to Jotunheim."

"No!"

Loki rose to his feet again at once, vehemence in his tone and badly disguised fear in his eyes. He could not return to Jotunheim, he did not have the Casket, and he knew now that his power was no match for those that did hold it. He could not tell any, not the healers or his mother or even his slave, for it was not done on Asgard, but he had nightmares of being trapped there. The cold was no longer comfort but terror, small spaces made him short of breath.

"The Casket belongs to Jotunheim, you must not go there to take it or you risk outright war once again. They are content to heal their land, let it be."

As a punishment it was truly effective. If he had to go to Jotunheim with Thor, there would be no hiding that he was not seen as anything other than a malformed runt who had deserved to die at birth.

"I have returned home, I do not wish to leave again."

"The casket belongs to you. It has always belonged to you. I will not leave it in the hands of those that would seek to destroy Midgard or Vanaheim or Asgard herself." Odin did not turn to look at Loki. He could smell the fear coming from him. He was always and had always been a proponent of tough love. This was no different. Loki would only get over his fears by punishing those that forced those fears upon them.

He was hard edged in this.

"The campaign need not leave tomorrow. Much needs to be prepared for. You may take any of my resources for your use while you remember what enjoyment of the Realm Eternal can bring. All warriors know to take their leisure in memory of what they will eventually return to. We will discuss your plans at the next full moon." it gave Loki three weeks to learn and to devise strategy. "It will be your first led campaign, my son. Not even Thor was given this honour less than a century after he reached his majority."

Odin laughed to himself and signaled for Bruce to leave with him. Loki could yell all he liked but Odin would not be disobeyed.

"You seek to see me passed into one of the realms of the dead."

Loki hissed those words, fear and anger mingling desperately, at Odin's retreating back. He did not wait to hear any reply if one were coming, he only stalked from the throne room and swept through the palace corridors back towards his own rooms. He hated this, he hated--

Every day that he had been in that place, he had dreamed of returning back to the life he had known before he knew what he was. Where he could hide his Jotun skin and pretend to be Aesir, where he could be a prince of the realm once more. Those dreams had been dashed now, destroyed in favour of being forced back to the realm of his birth.

He was scarcely into his chambers before an explosive burst of magic knocked furniture and books aside like rags in the wind. He was trapped, no way out.

Anthony himself was knocked off of his feet, and he fell back against his arm with a thud. He hadn't hurt anything too badly, but his shoulder would smart for awhile. Still, it took him a moment to pull himself back up. His tongue felt thick in his mouth, swollen from having been bitten, but it didn't deter him from speaking. "You said you could find a way to go with you."

To Jotunheim.

Anthony shut the door to his chambers and returned, only slightly limping. "And the All-Father seems to think I might be useful. To you. To your magic. You saved me from a life of misery and death, Loki. I will follow you anywhere you let me." Even if that was to death.

Anthony waited to be hit or reprimanded for speaking out, but as he waited, he also took one of Loki's hands in both of his own.

Perhaps that would offer him solace if not strength.

"You know nothing, Anthony," he spat, taking his hand away with a vicious jerk. He wasn't truly angry, just frightened, but he didn't express that sort of emotion particularly well. "This is no campaign that you can assist me with, the All-Father intends for me to die on Jotunheim."

He knew that for truth.

His sorcery was nothing compared to that of Jotnar that had lived and trained for millennia, especially now that they were in possession of the Casket again. Taking his brother would do nothing, only let him see the shame of Loki's life before he was killed. He couldn't do this. He didn't want to do this.

"You know all of that is bullshit right?" Anthony had not learned humility in the year apart from Loki, that was for sure, and with remenants of his Master's scent and seed still in him and on him, he felt himself able to pick up where they left off in terms of comraderie. "He wants you to avenge yourself. Whatever happened to you. And he's giving you access to everything in his kingdom. If he thought you'd die he wouldn't send Prince Thor. Or his army. Or give you access to the sorcerer's library--"

Anthony crossed his arms over his chest.

"He's giving you all the means you need to reclaim your honor, Master." He was stepping over his boundaries in the worst way. He'd be punished for this, surely. "He's being a good father to you."

Anthony wasn't wrong that he was overstepping, and overstepping greatly. Perhaps if it had been phrased more gently, or Loki had not been so afraid, he might have been willing to listen to this advice. But now he did not, and to hear it coming from the mouth of his own slave felt like one betrayal too many.

"Get out."

The words were low, hissed out like an angry snake rather than shouted. He could not shout or he would kill Anthony there where he stood.

"Get out and do not return to my presence, or I swear that I will send you to Hel myself."

Anthony left with tears in his eyes, knowing he had said what needed to be said, hoping that Loki would come to understand that, but feeling as if he had just dismantled his own happiness in the process. Wasn't that what a good slave was supposed to do though? Put their Master first? Above anyone and everything?

That did not make him feel even remotely better and his retreat from Loki's chambers turned into a job and then an all out run to Bruce's room. He knew the older slave would not be there, as he was still currently serving Odin as he returned to sit once more on the throne, but there was a comfort to his bed, to his smell and to the smell of all of the old books that lined the walls. Anthony hid like a child under his blankets and cried himself into stillness.

It hurt to hurt Loki. He felt like he'd just willingly severed off a limb.

Bruce may only be the personal slave of Odin sometimes, but he knew that he had favour. He was not intimate with his master as the slaves of his sons were with their owners, but he occasionally offered mild advice. He knew it would be listened to, even if not taken, because of how carefully he thought things through.

He merely said to his master that his younger son was only just not a child, and that love was a hard thing to foster. Treat him gently now, and he may earn loyalty that would only become resentment if he forced Loki to do this task. He did not say Odin was wrong, merely left it at that and waited to be dismissed.

Bruce was not expecting to find Anthony in his bed when he arrived, allowing himself a tiny silent sigh for it being one thing after another, before he sat down and laid a hand on the quivering blankets.

And that was a reason that Bruce was so prized, too. He was capable of a great deal of stamina. Unfortunately, Anthony saw the same strength in Bruce that Odin did, and so there was no other person that Anthony went to when he needed comfort. "I've been dismissed," he whispered.

It was a day he had been dreading for a year, though he'd expected it to come for other reasons. Not this one. Never this one. And given his treatment the last few days, he'd been too bold with his words. He'd grown comfortable knowing that Loki cared for him.

Anthony moved over to allow Bruce a little more access to his own bed. It was the least he could do.

"I have to leave. He said if he so much as saw me again..."

Well, being killed would be better than exile.

"I don't know where to go, Bruce."

Bruce sat down heavily.

It was Loki's right to dismiss or even kill his own property if he wanted to, he didn't even have to have a reason for it. Though it was frowned upon to be too cruel, some owners did just kill slaves that they had become tired of, or left them to lives of drudgery on one of the farms.

"Tell me what happened."

Though it was a slave's job to say what a master might not want to hear, it didn't necessarily sit as a good idea if that master was Loki. He was not stable, he was not mature, and he was still too fragile internally. Especially after his meeting with Odin.

He truly hoped his words would sink in with the All-Father. Tough love was not a good idea in this case, it would just break their family further.

"I can't." Anthony said, because telling Bruce could break Loki's confidence. "I can't tell you anything more. Just let me stay here a little while. I'll leave. I'll figure out where to go after that." He hoped. He didn't quite have a direction though, but he knew that he could not stay. Even hidden in Bruce's room, he would just end up a burden. A slave without a master did not belong in a great house.

As for Odin, he was indeed considering what Bruce said and was in conference with his wife. The Casket could not stay on Joyunheim. By right, Loki ought to be the one to retrieve it. To send Thor alone would disgrace Loki. Frigga knew his son's heart better than any. So it was to Frigga he went for answers his own wisdom could not supply.

But that did not cure the situation with Anthony.

One slave was trivial though. Even if that one slave was destined for so much with his son.

"You'll care for him, right. Bruce? He needs someone to love him. He has trouble loving himself."

Frigga counselled much the same as Bruce had done. Her youngest was too fragile in his belief that he was loved, too eager to doubt that he belonged on Asgard, he would need to be shown these things through gentility and safety. Tough love could wait for another time. The Casket must be retrieved, but to send Loki to do it would be folly. She would go herself to save the pride of her youngest and the life of her oldest.

Not that the slaves knew any of these things were occurring.

Bruce shook his head, though not in a refusal to care for Loki, more in disappointment that this situation was even happening.

"Alright, don't tell me. Just tell me if he dismissed you in anger, or if it was a calculated choice."

"Anger." Such anger. "He told me to never return to his sight of he'd kill me," Anthony said. Loki often said things in anger he didn't mean but he wasn't Thor or Odin or Frigg. He couldn't get away with letting him cool off and returning because Loki's Pride would never let him bow to a slave. Even if he loved that slave more than most others. "He destroyed his chambers in that same anger. I overstepped. I was too confident and... He told me my first day in his service to mind my mouth and it's been nearly a fully Midgardian lifetime and I haven't figured out how."

Anthony pulled himself up to look st Bruce with beautiful, wet amber-hued eyes. He wrapped his arms around the usually stand offish slave and held him as if this might be the last time time he was able to.

"He won't change his mind this time, Bruce," Anthony whispered. "I'm sunk. I have only myself to blame. So please mind him." A sigh escaped his lips as he pressed his face against Bruce's neck. "If I were female or you were, I would ask to be yours. You've meant so much to me here. And we would have some really cute kids."

"Stop being so dramatic," said Bruce, though his voice was still sympathetic and his hand came up to rest on Anthony's back comfortingly. Honestly, he had never seen a slave so given to histrionics as Anthony, he was definitely a good fit for Loki. "Anger can cool, and it often does with Prince Loki. I've been sent away from him before, but I still serve him sometimes now."

It would have been a much harder case to deal with if he had been dismissed as a logically thought through action, that sort of thing didn't tend to be swayed by emotion and time.

"Of course he's not going to apologise to you. But I would wager that one day soon he'll send for you, and expect you to go to him as though nothing has changed. He won't acknowledge what he did, and as long as you don't either, then he can go back to normal without sacrificing his pride."

Bruce's dismissal of the severity of the situation, and his not so subtle turning down of Anthony's hypothetical situation did not make the younger man feel any better. Even if Bruce was right and Loki requested him to return, Anthony would always been worried that it would happen again. He loved taking chances, he loved the thrill of dangerous situations, but not when it came to his heart.

"If that's true... I'll wait for him. I'll find a place in the slave quarters and wait until he needs me."

Hopefully that wouldn't take too long. Anthony was not patient.

When he left Bruce's room, he would dig out a place for himself in an empty bunk and set his jerkin aside. He had projects to work on at least. Something to keep him busy. Occupation was the only thing that kept Anthony from falling to apathy.

When dinner came, Thor stomped his way to Loki's chambers, Steven in tow, and dropped into one of the chairs at an unset table bare of food. Without Anthony, no meal had been set. Thor looked even more gloomy. "You must also be upset, brother, being denied what is our right." Thor glanced to Steven and the blond would know to fetch drinks. He'd learned quickly. "To have our mission taken from us-- and all because Mother is bored?! A Queen should never be bored!"

Loki had spent much of the day after visiting with Odin pacing and furious. Terrified for what would come, regretting the loss of his slave, and feeling as though his whole world had been pulled from underneath him once more. This was no act of redemption, this was revenge, and he would be shamed by it.

He had truthfully forgotten that he had promised to dine with Thor, and looked up in irritation when his brother interrupted to sink into a chair. Words of accusation and annoyance were cut short, though, as the implication of Thor's grumbles sank in.

"Mother is going to Jotunheim in our stead? Does Father know?"

Surely not. After all Odin had said about punishment and not allowing Loki to get away with it, he cannot have sanctioned Frigga to go in his stead.

"He's gone with! And without sanction from his advisors. This puts me once again on the throne, place I would rather not be again for the foreseeable future. It is as if they are young children, rushing off without a care upon the Realm or for those that have a right to be sent! This was to be our triumph, brother. Our first genuine campaign. But our parents believe us to either be incompetent or they have lost their minds! A year of Odin-Sleep and a year of being exempt from the duties of a consort have left the two acting as if they were in their first millennium!"

Anyone listening to Thor now would laugh at the nonsense he was spewing but he was genuinely angered and feeling slighted.

"Do you think our Father has discovered a distaste for ruling? Do you think our mother has told him that I did a fine enough job and to just leave it in my hands now that you have returned?! Loki!" Thor was on his feet in a near panic. "Have they been enchanted to live out their youths and are we to become their parents?!"

Even Steven was fighting to keep a straight face at this hysterical ranting as Thor paced.

"It is not natural. It is not right to take glory from the hands of your sons and to force upon them duties they are not equipped for. Did he not name me general? Did he not name you chief strategist?!"

To Thor, this was the punishment.

He could hardly believe it.

He could not believe it.

Surely the All-Father had not such compassion in him, or even that their mother could have swayed him. He was notorious for not listening to advice or changing his mind, his own wisdom enough. He believed in toughness and lessons and punishment, he would not allow Loki the benefit of staying free from Jotunheim. Not unless he had another punishment in place prepared.

"I asked him not to send me," said Loki, voice low and startled. "I told him that I would not go back to Jotunheim, but he said it was to be my punishment. Why would he revoke such a thing?"

A campaign to be in charge of, yes that would be reward indeed. But not this campaign, this was no glorious battle or charge against enemies, it was theft from those who had humiliated him.

Thor gazed upon his brother for a moment as if he did not truly see him. He could not imagine how Loki would not want to return to Jotunheim. Was he still sore that they could not offer an alliance? Odin had not told him anything of what may have befallen his brother and Thor thought this campaign to be about forcing vassalage.

He watched Loki for a moment, and then took the cup Steven offered him only to put it down again before he strode towards his brother. Something terrible had happened then on Jotunheim and Odin and Frigga had gone to teach a lesson to those that remained upon that broken Realm. Sense flooded him and he put a hand out to Loki's shoulder.

"Well then. It seems as if he has decided that you were punished enough. Do you not remember when we stole the cask of ale from the sea witch? He'd initially commanded me to return it but changed his mind instead at the last moment and returned it himself." Thor had gotten a good telling off from their mother for putting himself and Loki in danger and his punishment had become the knowledge that he had done the wrong thing.

Thor yanked Loki into his arms after that and sighed.

"There will be other campaigns. Let us not be too disappointed about this one." Of course, it was only Thor who was disappointed but he tended to only think about himself.

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