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 and Anthony also found themselves in the middle of the courtyard, the bright morning sunlight harsh after the cold of Jotunheim. He did not do anything so undignified as struggle with his tent, he just cut his way free with a cold and vicious fury. He had been betrayed, he had been whipped away by a spell regardless of his desire to stay and take vengeance, as though he had been nothing more than a babe having a tantrum about a favoured toy.

He grasped Anthony's arm none too gently and hauled him up too, giving him half a push towards the palace proper.

"Go. Run. Discover what madness has befallen us and return, I must deal with my brother."

He stalked over to the other tent and began to cut Thor free, fire blazing behind his eyes and tone one of shaking anger. "Cease this shouting, it makes you look the fool, do you not recognise your own home when you see it?"

Run Anthony did, arm bruised from Loki’s less than careful way with him, though it healed before he was in the shadow of the doorway. His feet, wrapped in boots that had not been meant for a winter campaign, and hastily thrown on now, squeaked on the polished floors. There was only one person whom he trusted his gossip from, and that was Bruce.

Of course, not even the All-Fatherms favoured slave could know the heart of the queen as she was working in secret to most. Only her own slaves knew the breadth of what was happening within her chambers and they were among the most loyal in all the palace.

Thor, however, snapped away the blade his brother held and cast it down deep into the soil so it would be difficult to fetch again. He was tired of his brother making slight of his intellect and he pushed him down into the grass as well.

“I know our home but I know not who brought us here! I was to meet once more with the princess for instruction. What have you done!?” Everything terrible that had befallen them lately was by Loki’s hand. And Thor had finally had enough of it.

As skilled as Loki could be with a shortblade and as dexterous as he was, he was no match for his brother in the physical realm. He was easily knocked onto his back and pinned, though he snarled up at Thor for the ignominy of doing this where others could see. People already disrespected him, if they saw him handled like a child then they would be even worse.

"I have done nothing, you knew my intent was to stay, why would I bring us back here? This is the work of our mother, her seidr is strong in the air."

It was humiliating to be tugged back like babies crawling towards a precipice.

"Allow me to my feet! I will not be shamed this way in front of all."

"--my prince?" That was Volstagg off to one side, looking incredibly awkward about interrupting. "The All-Father wishes to speak with you in private counsel." Thor only, not Loki.

“You promised me that you would return!” Thor bellowed, spittle flying from his lower lip. “You promised you would abide by my desire—. I am through completely with your lies, Loki! If you feel shame, that is your own doing.” He grunted at this red headed friendly and stalked off, leaving Steven behind to clean up. He did not need his slave to speak with his father, though he felt no desire to keep whatever they discussed private.

He was much too angry st the moment to wonder or worry anyway.

The halls of the palace echoed with each footstep and Thor stalked into the room his father tended to have his personal audiences in without mind for impudence. He did not take a knee, he merely stood in his armour and regalia, cross look never leaving his face.

“Father?”

He knew this would likely not go well. They had done a terrible and stupid thing. Thor ought to have known better. He ought to have kept his brother from this foolishness.

Odin felt tired.

He loved both of his sons, no matter what his youngest might think of him, and he had done his best to prepare both of them for their lives ahead. It seemed as if he had failed on both counts. Here stood his eldest son, a man in his prime, yet with the surly look of a chastised youth on his face and disrespect in his posture. And outside was his youngest, a man fallen to chaos for the slave he owned, and now unable to be separated from it without the wounds festering.

"The year you spent on my seat prepared you for much, but it seems you still have many lessons to learn. The All-Father cannot be swayed to foolish action, especially ones that might bring war, by the honeyed words of people he loves."

Even he ignored Frigga's counsel at times, for he had to do what he knew was best.

"You disappoint me greatly, my son."

Thor was stunned, colour touching his cheeks. “I—. Know. You know it wrong, Father,” Thor said, his posture changing though he still stood proudly. He did not question his his father knew of the last few days. Odin had forbade them for going after the slaves lost to the Midgardians for a month before Loki took it upon himself to go anyway and Thor had gone with to assist. He knew it was wrong but he had done it just the same.

Just like he had immediately gone to follow Loki to chase the magic user that had tried so hard to trick them, once their dead were buried.

Thor understood why Odin was disappointed but he wanted to plead his case just the same. “Loki can not be allowed to do things on his own, you know this. His mind was unclear and his desire for retribution was great. He believes himself ridiculed despite the success he had with the raid. He hears slights at the end of every tongue. This was important to him. He wished to reclaim his go out and I do not believe that a foolish pursuit! I was there to reign him in. I was attempting to negotiate for a way to pluck the diseased fruit from the branch of Yggdrasil! How does this disappoint you?!”

Bruce was present, and so was the slave that had been seeking him. Anthony looked furious at Thor’s words. Loki loved his brother and to be so shamed this way—. He felt a hand lightly upon his and Anthony struggled to hold his emotion back.

He knew he was part of the problem. He knew any twitch could get him dismissed or killed. There was a reason Odin had not ushered him out.

Odin glanced to the side, noting that the two slaves were still in attendance, and waved his hand to encase them in a shield of silence. A small magic, one he was capable of. Anthony was a part of the problem, and he would be dealt with in time, but he wished to speak to his son in private. He had matters to say to him that he did not trust the gossiping tongues of slaves not to wag about.

Only then did he fix his one steely eye on Thor once again, demanding explanation for his egotistical decisions, and not the excuses that he currently felt he needed to spout.

"If you believed that Loki needed reigning in and that his mind had become so unstable, why did you not come to your mother or I and explain his malady? A King asks for help in issues he is not well suited to, and you have made this worse by pandering to his delusions and driving a rift between the both of you."

“He is my brother. He was shamed by his capture on Jotunheim already. How could I again come to you to have this new burden he bears removed?” Thor did not want to risk Loki hating him. It was truly just that simple.

He was an older brother. He had responsibility for Loki.

“I have not always done best by him. I have not always been kind. But he is my brother. He is my blood even if I know we share none. I handled him, Father. There will be no war. As wrong as those people are, as well we might defeat them, I know the price to be too high. Do not punish me for love.”

There were perhaps better words to have said there.

And herein lay the issue. Odin did not want to punish his children for acts of love, they were to be encouraged and his heart was glad that his sons loved one another, but as a King he must punish acts of disobedience that could lead to war.

"I do not punish you for love, but for disobeying the word of the All-Father and throwing our realm into the shadow of war. It will not be a severe punishment, for your motives were good and your mother has informed me of your wisdom in dealing with the Jotnar princess. Tell me, do you believe that to be unjust?"

If he did, then he was immature enough that Odin feared for the kingdom. He needed the answer to this question before he could move on, before he could lay a heavier burden on Thor's shoulders in a few moments if he proved himself mature enough to think like a king and not just a brother.

Thor did feel as if this was unjust. Not the premise, but the target. He had done none of these things. The moment he realized that this could start conflict greater than he was willing to handle, he had backed off, he tried to get themselves out of the situation. He did not quite understand that his father was asking him to take responsibility of another and that his time as ruler would require this daily. Not in the way Odin expected st least.

But Thor was willing to take responsibility for the crimes now to spare his brother. So he puffed up his chest, and nodded.

“For my part in assisting with this foolish task, and for not seeing how detrimental it could turn out to be, aye, Father. I will agree. Punishment is warranted. I love Asgard. I respect the throne and the burden of rule. I know you can not always act as my father when you are father to us all. I nearly allowed ruin to come upon us.”

He said this tight lipped, angry and not complicit. He would indeed take punishment but not entirely for the right reason.

It was not ideal, Thor still had much to learn, but it was better than an outright refusal and so he nodded. His voice stayed firm, but it was no longer harsh with anger, and he sat back on his throne a little further.

"Remember, Thor, that as All-Father you will have responsibility for all who serve beneath you. If they seek out a fight in a foreign land, it is you who will bear that punishment. For your punishment, you will work in the kitchens for one month as if you were the lowliest of their servants."

Not a slave, that would be a punishment far too far, but he could teach humility by putting him under the few free servants who worked there.

"Now, tell me, not as a brother but as a future King. What would you do about Loki?"

Thor popped an eyebrow. A servsnt? For a month? He could butcher and clean a month’s worth of food in a day and roast it all in two. This seemed more like an amusement, like he was being wagered a task. He straightened up, the corner of his mouth lifting. Thor was not like Loki. Loki would take this as an insult but Thor? He would use this as a challenge. For better or for worse, he would certainly learn a great deal in the bowels of the castle.

Hopefully.

A snap of Odin’s fingers stripped him or armour and removed use of Mjolnir, though Thor did not yet know it. His strength would be greatly diminished, though Odin had not stripped his very nature from him. His punishment would still be realitively easy.

His smirk faded when he regarded his father. This was not an easy question. The answer was even more difficult.

“I do not wish to say.”

“Thor,” Odin presses, his good eye gleaming. Thor looked more uncomfortable.

“I believe he must have his personal slave taken from him. But I also believe that would be a mistake. My brother... is unstable at times. Chaotic, as mother calls him.”

"Then if you cannot remove the slave and cannot allow him to remain, tell me what your solution would be."

Odin had possible solutions laid out for him, but all of them came with pitfalls and none were paths he wanted to walk. He could take the slave and have him sold or killed, but this would likely turn Loki against him for good and tip him properly down the path of ruin that Frigga had seen in his future. A path paved with blood for all involved. He could leave the slave with him and do naught, but that may also lead to ruin. His son loved this slave in ways a slave should not be loved, and time might see him try to do something foolish like attempt to free and wed him. Such disgrace could not be allowed. He could strip Loki of his magic so that he would not pose a threat, but such a punishment would be needlessly cruel. Frigga had advocated, even, for a tricky spell to give him a second chance at life, to turn back the clock and make him young once more. To allow him to keep his slave, but with a relationship that could never be sexual or inappropriate again. He was reluctant to do this, it seemed as if he feared to fail a second time, and such a spell could only be performed once.

He wished to see what Thor would say.

“Give him purpose. Give him an ability to make for himself something great. His slave is his friend. He does not even see me in the light of friendship and only brings up our bond to manipulate. He rules well. His cull was perfection, all agree. Send him somewhere on a task that will take the full lifespan of his slave to complete. He will be better for it when he returns.”

Thor always thought in terms of task. He himself needed to be kept busy. A year of rule on the throne had shaped him away from loving his slave as totally as he had loved Steven. The affection was still there, as was the desire, but the love had run its course, or at least allowed Thor to understand slave versus potential mate.

He doubted a year of separation would do that for Loki, however.

"No purpose I could give him would not be seen as an insult. He would perceive it as being sent away from his home, he would make issue where he was sent, and he would insist on bringing his slave with him."

Which would be unacceptable. Not because they couldn't take their slaves places, that was far from the truth because they were expected to have their slaves in attendance, but because then it would spread his shame to other realms and other peoples.

"Tell me what purpose you believe would fit, that would require him to leave his slave for good without issue?"

Thor hadn’t thought that Loki would have to leave Anthony. If he went far away from Yggdrasil and all of her Realms, none need know him. There were other corners of the universe that did not abide by their rules. Thor knew it because Frigga often rewarded Loki with trips to those places when Odin brought Thor in campaign. It made Thor long to see them but he knew his place was here. And battle was fun enough to take his mind from it.

“You should not remove his slave from him. But he can keep his slave here and be trusted. Can he not be sent to another plane for a few hundred years?”

Thor immediately regretted saying that and was quick to do away with his words.

“Or perhaps have him wed? A consort will take the place of a slave easily, should it be the right one.”

At least Thor did away with his words quickly, for that was the cruellest of plans. If he sent Loki away to a different plane, he would surely see that as being sent away in disgrace. Out of the sight and influence of Yggdrasil, who knows what he would end up falling into over the next few decades? No, he needed to stay close at home.

"Now you are thinking desperately and not like a king. We do not force consorts on our children here, we are not barbarians. You will choose your own consort, as I chose mine, as Loki may choose his."

But an appropriate one, of course.

Frigga had told him that this other Loki she had seen was betrothed by force to the Thor there, it was abhorrent to him, much as slaves were to them.

“Then I know not the proper course of action,” Thor said, frustrated to the point where his teeth clicked together. He nearly had to pry his jaw apart with his fingers to keep from breaking his teeth with the force of his jaw. “If He were not my brother, I would have the slave disposed of and the offender flogged in front of the kingdom as is proper. But he is my brother and he is a powerful sorcerer and i know anything short of being left as is will ruin him.”

He left where he stood to get a cup of wine, always delighting in the All-Father’s drink as it was always carefully filtered against the bitter dregs served with meals.

“So what is the answer that will allow him to remain my brother and cause no harm?”

"I do not know."

That was an important lesson for Thor to learn, that even the All-Father did not always have all the answers. Sometimes there would come a situation to which there was no right path, to which every decision would lead to ruin, and yet he would still have to choose a path and stick to it with resolve.

"I am of the mind to place this decision on your shoulders, to teach you that judgement may have to be passed at any time on those you love as well as those you do not, and your leniency or harsh punishment may both lead to different wrongs. But I will tell you the counsel that I have received so that you may make your decision with all of the information that I possess."

This was a harsh thing to put on Thor's shoulders, but sometimes harsh lessons were needed as well as kind ones.

"My chief adviser has told me to kill the slave and deal with rebellion harshly, perhaps by the nature of imprisonment, banishment, or the removal of magic. My second adviser believes we should allow things to remain as they are and trust to Loki's intelligence to not bring disrepute to his name. My fifth adviser believes his instability has crossed too far and his magic must be removed now. My wife believes his insanity has taken hold, but there may be hope if he is allowed to live and grow again by the grace of a spell provided but once from the Norns. Each of these paths may lead to different ills and different gains, or you may find a new path, but the decision is yours."

“I wish time. This is not a decision I can make immediately.” And he wanted to speak to Loki. That might not be wise, his brother could escape and wreck havoc across the stars, but Thor thought that, perhaps in this case, he might not. Then sgsinC when it came to Anthony, it was impossible to predict Loki.

He knew that his brother did not see Anthony as his equal. He believed in their lifestyle and would not be poisoned into thinking otherwise. But his heart had too much to dwell upon. And Thor thought that alone would allow his brother to sit down and settle and to advise him as he always had in the past.

Odin seemed to know the mind of his son and allowed it, watching Thor leave without his strength, without his title.

Only then did he turn to the slaves he held in silence. “Brice, bring Anthony to your quarters and keep him there.”

Anthony would not be present for this talk between sons.

Thor found Steven digging up the blade he had sent into the grass some time before and Loki scowling st him. Waiting. Likely for his slave.

“We must speak,” he intoned. “In private and away from the palace. Come with me to our place.” They had not gone to the little grassy cliff with its cave in years. But Thor thought it best to do this there.

A wise ruler took time to think on weighty decisions, but not too much time, for inaction was a choice of its own with pitfalls and problems along the way. But Odin would allow Thor to make his own mistakes on this. If it turned out that he warned Loki and his brother fell completely to insanity, that would be on his own shoulders.

Loki scowled, standing tall and proud a short distance from Thor, with no affection or trust in his expression at all. "You may speak with me in either of our chambers, why would I go with you such a distance for you to tell me of the disgrace that our father thinks should be heaped on me?"

They were going to try and take Anthony, perhaps that was even why Thor had invited him to their special place, to get him out of the way so that his Midgardian could be removed or killed in peace. "Tell me where my slave has been taken to."

“He remains with our father’s favoured,” Thor said, turning to hear back inside. His heart was heavy but he had little else to do but follow the sentence of his king and father. He went to his chambers since Loki would not allow him to have the privacy he desired nor the ride to think on it, and sat upon his bed heavily.

“Master? Shall I—“

Thor immediately dismissed his slaves to the stables so that they would be alone. He wanted no ears nor eyes here for this. His brother was already in a foul mood and he might turn to kill his brother’s possessions. Thor did not want that. His slaves had always been loyal and worked well for him.

“I will cut to the quick. The All-Father is aware of unnatural feelings you have for your property. He has left the punishment up to me and I want it not but have little choice. I will not have Anthony killed nor sent away. He had been with you in loyalty and none of this is his fault. Putting down a slave of his caliber is disgraceful. But your actions are more disgraceful still. You came to me to guide me when I nearly succumbed to those desires myself. And now I come to you. Tell me how I should rule on this matter?”

Perhaps a small part of Loki recognised that Thor was attempting to do him a kindness with his reassurances that Anthony would not be killed or sent away, but to know that judgement was still to fall on his shoulders and, worse, from his brother as if he were not even important enough to be judged from the throne, stuck in his throat.

"You need do nothing. I am not the fool you were, I do not cavort with my property in public, he is treated with the decorum expected. I do not lust for him in the idiotic way you did for Steven, he does not need to be separated from me."

It was to the well that Thor had dismissed his slaves, for Loki's foul temper showed no signs of abating and he might have turned on them.

"Pass your judgement, but do not think that I will abide with it easily. You are not King yet."

“I did not nearly start a war for Steven,” Thor shouted, sending window casements rattling. “That is the difference between my folly and yours. You saved me from mine. And I am trying to keep whatever damage this will cause to a minimum. Why must punishment for a obvious wrong be a slight to you?! You know the punishment for putting a slave above their position!”

They had been to a few public whippings and had watched several slaves put to death over impropriety. And none of the Asgsrdiatn perpetrators had gone to the lengths Loki had.

“Pull your head out of your conceited arse and help me think of a way that will be punishment without having you lose Anthony or me lose you!”

"I have committed no wrongs and placed Anthony only as high as a favoured slave may be placed, the wrongs are in the minds of those around me, who wish to see me cast below my lot."

He had feared this ever since discovering his true heritage. He had feared that people would try to find ways to undermine him, to make him seem less of an Aesir than he was, to disgrace him so that he could be removed. His lip curled into a sneer and he swept past Thor towards the door.

"Only scant hours ago you accused me of sorcery and betrayal, now you wish my counsel? I do not forget so easily, Thor. If you wish to punish me for wrongs you have devised, I will not be complicit in it."

He went to stalk out, to go to his room. He did not believe that Thor would actually levy a punishment on him, and if he dared to do anything to remove his property then the last vestiges of affection would be broken.

I come from a land of ice and snow

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check plurk, Jeni my dear, plotting must be had since we destroyed this world