fossilised | I come from a land of ice and snow

I come from a land of ice and snow

Asgard sat atop the branches of Yggdrasil since time began, and little had changed in their society in the years since. Each Asgardian was long-lived into the millennia, their lands were fertile, their people brave and strong. They had their vassals, their allies, and their enemies. Yet even those who opposed them respected the might of the Golden Dias, and the royalty who sat upon it. Currently that was Odin Borson, though he grew weary more easily now and had begun to consider passing the throne to his eldest son.

He had been blessed with many children, but only two that he considered worthy of his lineage and status. His firstborn, Thor, strong and honourable and everything an Asgardian warrior should be. His second son, Loki, was not natural born, though none knew that but his wife. He was different, a creature of magic and mayhem, of sharp intelligence. Both were worthy, but together they would take Asgard to a new prosperity, he was certain of it.

Midgard, where the mortals dwelt, was a land raided every few centuries for stock. It was seen as a breeding ground, much like a corral for cattle. Mortals were lesser, short-lived and weak, they were fit only as slaves. The last raid had taken place when Loki had been but a baby, nearly a thousand years ago, but the mortals that had been taken had been bred and cared for so that a healthy slave population still thrived. Slaves were given a weakened mixture of Idunn's crop with their food, to extend their natural lives to at least a few centuries in order to make them worth the effort to train. They had no rights, but they were taught well that this was their natural position.

All slave children were raised in a central pen and taught the same when small, those that then displayed talent at cooking, riding, hunting, housework, artisan skills, or singing were then measured off to be specially trained for higher masters. Every five years those who could afford to buy a slave, or those of high enough status to simply demand them, came to the corral and chose. Those who were chosen were special, were envied, and those who were not ended up working the fields out in the far reaches of Asgard, the most menial of work.

Anthony and Steven had been friends since they were little and being raised in the large pens together. Both had excelled, Anthony at crafting and Steven at warrior's skills, but neither were chosen when they were five, nor ten, nor even fifteen. Now, at twenty, it was their final chance to be chosen before they would be assigned to one of the meanest farmers beyond the borders of the great capital. Steven woke Anthony as the dawn rose, mingled excitement and nerves on his face.

"Anthony! Wake up, I've got news! I heard the overseer talking to one of the passing guards, and Princes Thor and Loki are coming to the corral today."

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Loki nodded gravely, she had heard that the Aesir in this realm were savages who used others as their playthings, unlike the Aesir who existed in her realm. Of course they were also war-like, it was just their nature, but they were tempered with the wisdom of knowing they should use their strength to protect the weak.

"Asgardians in my realm would not do such a thing, the All-Father stands as a protector to all realms. And should the future All-Father change their ways, I shall stab him until he recants, for he is my betrothed."

Loki had never met Thor, they had simply been engaged since Loki's birth. It was tradition, each All-Father took a consort from one of the vassal realms so that each of those realms had a turn at prominence. The current Queen was of Vanaheim, and the next would be her of Jotunheim.

"And I have authority to make any trade deal you wish, I am daughter to the King."

There was a whole lot to unpack there, but thankfully Tony could fill in the blanks. He confirmed that they were from an alternate plane of reality too, mentioned Midgard because of what he had learned from the otherr Tony, and couldn't help but grin at his good luck of meeting a princess. He could guess that she meant Thor as the prince she was betrothed to and that was good. Tony wasn't sure how he could deal with a teenage version of the guy, but he was doing a lot better dealing with everything.

Thanks to Banner. Who had not been even remotely interested in him at all. AAAAND okay. He needed to get off the thought train before it headed back to the land of Bruce again.

Tony nodded and pulled the gaulnet from his hand to offer it to the girl. Maybe he should bow or kiss her knuckles but she wasn't human, could turn into a bird, and looked a little tomboyish. He didn't want to ruin his chances here. "I'm Tony Stark. Formerly of Earth. Nice to meet you. Sort of. Still noticed you haven't given me back the processor. And I need it if you want armor. It makes my assistant work."

A brokered trade deal with another dimension could be exactly the sort of wedding present Cap deserved!

Loki strode forward to clasp her hand to Tony Stark's arm, for the art of handshaking had not quite made it to the Jotnar. It was considered very rude to make a deal while wearing an illusion, if a sorcerer, but this was no illusion for she was a true shapeshifter and she could not wear her real skin to touch a mortal unless she wished to damage him deeply and probably permanently.

Not a good way to seal a friendly deal.

It took only a moment after that for her to take out the processor and hand it back over, hopping up to sit on one of the desks so that she could watch, as she assumed that he would begin work at once.

"I am Loki, of Jotunheim, and it is nice to meet you also. I would have the armour in red and gold, for those are the colours of Prince Thor, and this will be my engagement gift to him."

Was this any creepier than meeting a forever-young version of himself who was Loki's personal slave?

Tony had stiffened to hear it, already plugging the professor back in, but decided that they'd experienced enough weirdness lately for this to be normal. Loki was a teenager. Engaged to Thor. Who might also be a teenager. His own Thor, before he was killed, once said that his brother had been adopted from Jotunheim too. The similarities were enough to leave his skin prickling but lately, he was more apt to just go with the flow.

This girl was not the asshole he'd met on the training moon. She was inquisitive. And evidently a shapeshifter. Which might be useful to know about her counterpart too.

"I've met two Thors so far. I liked the first one better. Why do you want a flying suit of armor for him? He's almost impossible to hurt and can fly. Hm. We should add something cool to it. Maybe give you a way to talk to him while he wears it. It's own AI." Tony in planning mode was the most pleasant Tony to be around, surely. He finished hooking FRIDAY back up and sat back on his heels. "Done be lazy?"

"Sorry, Boss. Not my fault I was taken offline," she snarked back in her amusing Scottish accent.

"Meet Princess Loki. She's got a gift for a boy she likes in the works. Can you bring up the armor schematics?"

Loki's eyes lit up with interest again, she had truly had a fortuitous meeting with this mortal if he had met versions of her future husband. She had never travelled to Asgard, and she knew that Prince Thor had not travelled far beyond his realms either. She would likely be the first Jotnar that he met, and she had no idea if he even accepted his arranged marriage as a good thing for their realms or if he would be boorish and irritating.

"Truly? I have not met him, nor even seen a likeness, I did not know that he was near indestructible. Tell me, what is his manner like? Does he enjoy books? How does he feel about spells and magic?"

She knew that things would be different between realms, but she was interested all the same.

"I am to meet him in only another year when the marriage takes place."

Both Jotunheim and Asgard had a much lower age of consent than Earth had.

"Boss, I have images of Thor, Prince of Asgard in my memory banks. Would you like them displayed?"

FRIDAY, as always, was on top of everything and Tony didn't hesitate to agree. Many of the images moved, videos caught of Thor flying or fighting. There was nothing of his death in FRIDAY's systems, but a great deal of his valor and his resilience. Tony didn't watch. He was too busy looking over schematics. "He's probably a little older there than the one you're going to marry is," he offered. If their culture was like Europe's from a few hundred years ago, they tried to match young adult men to teenaged girls. He assumed Thor for this Loki would be in his upper teens or young twenties.

At least the Prince of Asgard was radiant. Strong. And perhaps some of the footage of him laughing at a Starbucks with several Midgardians would make him seem affable too.

"We fought together. Books and magic never really came up so your mileage might vary, but from what I knew of him, he was pretty OK." That other Thor, though? That other Thor made him want to vomit. "Loki. Hey. Over here. Stop mooning over your hubby to be and help me design this thing."

He had no idea how long he'd be able to keep this clever girl to himself but right now, he didn't want to share her. She was enthusiastic and arrogant and he liked her.

Loki did not moon over Thor. She knew what her duty to Jotunheim was and she had accepted it long ago, mostly because both of her brothers and her father had vowed to lay waste to Asgard should Thor hurt or displease her. She had been quite the pampered child growing up, as pampered as any were on Jotunheim, for she had the gift of seidr and shapeshifting and the others naturally tried to protect her for she wasn't as capable for being a runt. Or so most who didn't know her well might think. She also played up the part if it suited her, a master of manipulation before she could walk.

But she did study the images in interest. He was a good specimen, it seemed, or had the potential to be if he were anything akin to this one. Strong, but obviously generous and warm. Good qualities to be nurtured and then shaped.

"Tell me of your history, how you came to fight beside the Prince of Asgard and yet became ruined and refugees by Asgardian hands."

She did leave the footage to come and stand by him, though, in order to help design the armour which would have more Aesir flair than the usual Iron Man suit. In the space of one breath and another, she became a he, looking much the same but for more height on him. Tall for a mortal, very short for a Jotnar.

Ah. So there was the Loki he knew and hated. Tony was actually a little turned off by that, though he didn't really put it that way as he glanced at the twelve or thirteen year old boy with Loki's chiseled features now standing beside him. Was that normal for a shapeshifted? Did all Lokis do that?

Tony frowned. "Go back to being a girl. If you look to much like the Evil Loki, people here are going to be pissed off." He was just being truthful! And since he went that far, he decided to be a little more forthcoming about how humanity arrived here from home.

It was devoid of all of the truly interesting details, but he wasn't about to tell a twelve year old girl about the breeding.

"The hole in the void is gone. So is our Asgard. Now we just have the shitty Asgard to try and avoid until they go home. We plan on rescuing whatever people are left when they do. You know, I can't really do much here if I don't know how tall he is," he said changing the subject quickly. I can make armor for how he's going to look as an adult? Unless you can get me his dimensions."

Loki was disturbed to hear about the behaviour of his other self, especially since it seemed he had abandoned Jotnar philosophy in order to join in the enslavement of mortals. It was as though he didn't even know where he had come from. He screwed up his nose, but he did shift back and become a she again.

"I am not man nor woman, truly, but out of respect for you and yours I shall maintain female form when in your presence."

She had been born that way and existed more as a daughter than a son, but sometimes the whim took her to be something else, for whatever she was she was always Loki.

"Perhaps make the armour to the dimensions you know, I doubt he will be far from those. He reached his majority two hundred years since."

"Wow. Seriously? Child bride stuff huh?" Tony was probably the best person to talk to about this because he never judged. It sounded a little messed up but Loki was probably a few centuries old anyway. "I hope he's a cool guy. Actually. I have a better gift than armor for you to give him. If he's anything like my Thor, he's going to love coffee. I'll teach you how to brew it after we get this template down and build the model."

Outside, people were just breaking off to sleep, finally leaving the newly weds to enjoy each other, but in his lab, Tony was having no trouble chatting to a little girl version of Loki as if they were old friends.

Or at least fast friends.

Maybe this was why Anthony was so loyal to his Loki. They sort of just clicked. Great. What did that say about him?

It was a different morality to Midgardians and Loki did not see herself as a child. She had enough wisdom and teaching to prepare her for what marriage would be, and it would be better to be married before Thor took the throne so that she could have plenty of time to make him malleable and turn him into the greatest All-Father who ever lived. Not just for the glory of Asgard, but for the reflected glory of Jotunheim. It would be remembered that a Jotnar had sat as All-Mother if she succeeded.

She did not know if she wanted Thor to love her, it hardly mattered because they would be married either way, but she selfishly hoped they would be friends. She did not want to live a miserable existence. She somehow found herself telling all of this to Tony Stark as he worked on the armour, her legs swinging as she sat on the side of the desk.

"So tell me, Tony Stark, what are the plans for your displaced Midgardians? Will you stay here and forge a new life? I could petition for you to be allowed to our realm, where you may be able to return to a Midgard there or, if not, be given sanctuary on another safer world."

Listening to Loki's wants and her fears made her a likable sort and as they slipped towards a strange and easy friendship, as if they had always been friends, Tony started to tell her about the love of his life being lost in the war and that he wasn't sure what to do with himself in that department anymore because he craved a connection with someone else above all else. He assumed this ease of communication was partly due to Bruce's kind rejection and partly due to the fact that Loki was a visitor on this world and that he'd probably not really talk to her much when she left. Their communication would be with her people instead, especially since her offer seemed almost too good to be true.

He nearly cut his finger off with the lathe as he was fashioning the internal circuits of one of the greaves in an effort to pop an eyebrow at her. "If you can make that happen, I'll build you anything you could ever think of."

He wasn't just being facetious about that either. Tony was absolutely sure that he could do anything if given enough time and some smooth jazz. He'd already decided to throw himself into his work anyway and what better way to live his life than in effort to see humanity saved?

Loki was an odd one. She got along with most people at the palace, but she counted very few as true friends. None were as quicksilver as she, as chaotic, and so none could keep up. How odd that she should find herself opening up to, and enjoying the company of, a random mortal that she had not even intended to come across. Perhaps this was just one of the mysterious ways that the magic of Yggdrasil moved all who lived on it.

"Do you have the power to negotiate for your people? If you do not, I will take you and the ones who do to visit with my father, he knows more of the ways of Midgard and if it would be possible to take you there."

She would make no promises she could not keep.

"If we can do this, no payment will be necessary. Jotunheim has always acted in the interests of all Yggdrasil's inhabitants, it would be doing our duty."

"There's a council," Tony explained, rattling off the most annoying thing about each member as he flipped down his face mask to finish welding. The blue-white light blazed brightly for a moment before he set the torch aside and sat back on his heels. The armor was really shaping up. It usually took him weeks to get armor ready, but he was building off of an already started prototype and Pepper wasn't around to bother him with other things supposedly more important.

Glancing back at Loki, he noticed that the sun had risen. Already. It seemed like he'd just been yelling at a little bird not all that long ago. He was not, however, tired. He'd crash eventually but his body was used to never sleeping now that he had been given a directive that encompassed more than 'get over the torture.' "Do Jotuns sleep? Or eat plants and meat?"

What did he know? Loki said she was a frost giant. Maybe all they ate were rocks.

"Because we should probably face the council well rested and with full bellies." And then immediately visit with Loki's dad to make sure it was okay if they still hung out sometimes. She might be just s kid but she was refreshing. And Tony needed the company.

"Of course we sleep and eat, but we do not need to do it as often as mortals. I will not turn down some food and rest, though."

She might not be too happy with what mortals called food, though. Jotun food was very natural, and very heavy on meat and fish. Few plants grew in the cold freeze of their homeland, and what little there was had to be tended to in special underground caves. Bread, meat, and fish tended to be their main fare.

"It seems wise to have a council to advise the leader. My father is King, but he would not make decisions of war or great import without seeking the advice and consensus of his council first. Helblindi, that is my eldest brother who will be King one day, does not see that yet. He's growing, though."

"It's a good thing that you'll be queen then," Tony said, rinsing his hands off and heading back upstairs to get on a clean shirt. He didn't think much of doing that with the girl there, though the reactor planted in his chest might give her some pause. "You can keep all the stupid boys in check." He might have been a womanizer at one (or two) point in his life, but he also was fully convinced that women ran things. He quickly buttoned up a fresh shirt to head out into the messy streets, still strewn with the remains of reveling. Expectedly, he had to tell Loki all about the reactor and while it was a story he told many times, he enjoyed it this time with the girl.

Tony didn't keep food at his place. He always used the communal kitchen (and whoever was manning it) to get something to eat when he needed it. Or sometimes Bruce would bring a meal over to make sure he ate. That might not be happening so much anymore.

"Let's see," Tony said, encountering no one in the food supply building. Evidently it was still too early for celebrators to get out of bed (most of whom with new partners). He pulled open one of the refrigeration units he spent his days refurbishing and scanned the neatly labeled items. "We have a lot of roasted Dog-sheep left." The biologists had named most of the animals here based off of what was in the skiff databases but Tony used his own classifications.

There were one or two people who passed not that far away, but they just assumed that Loki was another one of their number that they hadn't met yet, such happened quite frequently still. A thousand people was not a lot as far as a population went, but it did still mean that there were strangers among them, nobody could know a thousand people all at the same time.

Loki again hopped up onto the cabinets to sit, she seemed to prefer those to any chairs that were around, and crossed her legs. Roasted dog-sheep, whatever that was, could be edible but she had a definitely preference for fish. All Jotnar did.

"Have you any fish? Raw will do, I do not need it cooked, though I could make you a traditional spiced fish soup if you wished it."

"I could really go for fish. But no. We know there's a lake right south of the settlement but we don't have experts to tell us what's edible. And no one wants to chance it yet. It's on my to-do list, making a scanner to find out what is safe for consumption." He had a very long to-do list. Some of the stuff he could and did give to other engineers but most of it was still stuck in his head. And he just worked better alone where his genius didn't make everyone else feel angry and inadequate.

And his personality didn't make people want to hit him. All. The. Time.

"Oh. Wait. Good old tuna!"

Loki probably had never had fish in a can before but that was one supply that they had s lot of. Thanks Walmart.

Loki had definitely never had fish in a can before and when the top was opened, she wrinkled her nose and poked the flakes inside. Jotunheim didn't have an issue with food storage that would necessitate tins, their climate was so cold and their farming and fishing methods so economical that the need for long term storage beyond what the ice could already deal with wasn't there.

"This is not fish, you are trying to jest with me. A fish has a head and fins, a tail. This looks like something your children might have brought up with a sickness."

She poked it again and then held the tin back out to Tony.

"Surely all of the fish is safe to eat, it's just fish, why would it not be?"

"A lot of fish is poisonous." Tony dumped the tuna out into w bowl, chopped up some space onions (they were closer to nuts sctuslly but Tony thought they tasted like onions), and made two sandwiches on toast with fried bacon for extra crunch. If Loki wanted it, she could have it if not, he'd eat both. He did brew some more coffee though since the girl enjoyed it, making a full pot should anyone else happen by during a walk of shame home.

By now, Tony should have gotten annoyed at all of the questions but he took it in stride, and did so for the entire day, breaking only twice more to get a little sleep and then make another meal, this time something akin to a hamburger. He didn't even warn Loki away from his stuff. She was curious but trustworthy. Or Tony told himself that at least. She was their best hope for a return to normalacy.

The following morning, Tony called a Council meeting. He'd not gone without seeing Bruce for almost two days in a row before but evidently that was what happened when you kissed a friend these days. You had to give them space. And besides, Loki filled the friendship niche pretty well since.

He made sure to be fashionably late for the meeting, Loki in tow, if only to make sure that they had a grand entrance.

Though she did not normally vanish from home for several days at a time, she did not think that anyone would worry about her unless at least a month passed by without any word from her that she was safe. Besides, she was enjoying herself learning about this mortal, his hopes and dreams and fears, and the humanity that had been all but wiped out by Asgard.

It wouldn't be the most grand of entrances, because they all just saw Tony with a teenage girl. Bucky frowned, he didn't like the amount of people in council meetings anyway, let alone with added members, but Loki didn't seem to notice. She just stepped forwards and smiled.

"These are your leaders, Tony Stark?"

"Technically, that blond there is out leader," Tony said, good naturedly, trying not to let his eyes settle on Bruce. "We just advise and out vote him on occasion. His name is Steve Rogers."

"Barnes," Steve said immediately. "I took Bucky's name."

Tony arched an eyebrow but considering how Barnes wanted to stamp himself all over Steve, that made sense. "Steve Barnes. His husband, James, is next to him. And the rest." He didn't get into it. Loki probably didn't care. "This is princess Loki of Jotunheim."

He waited for there to be some commotion. He was not disappointed, either.

"She's from a different reality. Like we used to be. She's offered to act as a liaison between us and her father the King. They want to help us. And I don't think we should say no when we still live in a reality where Asgard wants us as slaves."

Bucky had a gun out and in his hand before the introductions had even concluded, keeping it trained on her without any hesitation or hint of regret. He didn't fire, but nor did he give any indication that he wouldn't if she gave him a reason to. The Asgardians had done horrific and atrocious acts of mass genocide, rape, and subjugation, they didn't deserve any mercy.

Loki took one look at the gun, and at the commotion, and scoffed. They wouldn't be able to hurt her even if they tried, she would simply teleport away to a safer place and leave them to their fate.

"Have wisdom and do not treat me as though I were the monster you have encountered. I am not him, nor am I Aesir, I am Jotnar."

She allowed her human skin to fall away, showing the truth of her heritage to all. Beautiful blue skin with natural whorls and patterns that denoted her lineage as royalty. Her eyes changed to blood red, and an aura of cold could be felt coming from her.

"I am offering to take you to speak with my father, who knows more than I. I cannot promise you safety in our realm, there may be reasons why you cannot reside there, but I know my father will want to help you find safety and a solution."

A blue space princess... He'd been hanging out for the last day and some change with a blue space princess? Fifteen year old Tony Stark just came in his pants. Forty-two year old Tony Stark put himself between their guest and his newly wed friend. "Stand down. She's not here to hurt anyone. Rob from me, yes, but we came to a mutual understanding that no one is stealing from anyone else and that fish does not ever belong in cans on our way to a potential solution to the fact that the Asgard here are enslaving rapists."

His eyes were set and hard, though his gaze was fixed on Bucky. He knew what the reaction was about. He knew this was a need to protect Steve, though the blond had risen to his feet by that time and, honestly, looked regal even in a tshirt and blue jeans. "I'd like to meet the King."

There were some murmurings going on but Stevd plowed through them.

"We decide everything by vote, FRIDAY--"

"Wait a sec," Barton said, leaning forward. "We're gonna vote without any information at all? Jesus Christ people. Just because some blue girl says it's fine, we can't just go to some other planet-- remember what happened to us last time?"

Bruce felt a twinge of excitement himself. It was difficult not to feel enthusiasm as a scientist when meeting a member of a race of creatures that didn't even look human. For so long mankind had looked for alien life and here it was in front of them; for some reason, even though they were also from another realm, the Asgardians didn't seem to count as much. They looked too human, they were too entrenched with folklore and religion as figures of Earth.

But this?

He wanted to vote to go, but Clint was right and he nodded in immediate agreement. "We can't risk walking into a situation we know so little about. While I don't want to offend Princess Loki, especially if her offer is genuine, we're in too much of a precarious position to risk it."

Loki wasn't offended, she was actually impressed. The one who spoke out seemed to have some tactical intelligence to him, and she could appreciate that they didn't know her word was her bond.

"I can return and ask my father to come and treat with you here, but I do not think you will trust that any further, for you might fear we return with a conquering army. I have little to offer you as surety."

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