Chapter Text
"My King," Eir greeted softly as she came to stand in Odin's office.
Odin Allfather didn't turn to look at her. His blue-grey eye was fixed on some spot in the distance while his mind wandered far away. "How is my son?" In his pocket, Odin's clutched tightly the smooth stone that was Loki's token.
"The Queen has returned Prince Loki to his magically induced, dreamless sleep. It was the only way for me to get near enough to examine him. He would not let me or any of my helpers near. Only Prince Thor and Queen Frigga have managed to touch him. Prince Loki should be asleep at least for the rest of the night," Eir supplied.
There was a long silence as Odin ran his thumb over the talisman that Tyr had brought him. Odin's thoughts were running a million a minute, and yet, at the same time, he swore he was only thinking one thing. "Tell me, Eir."
Lady Eir shifted where she stood. "Perhaps the Queen-"
"Eir! Do not dodge the question," Odin snapped, finally turning from the window to fix the healing Goddess with his one eye blazing. "You will tell me what that... that beast did to my boy!" Odin needed to know what his son had suffered through. Every tiny scratch and bruise was Odin's fault, and he would not allow himself ignorance.
Eir swallowed hard but managed to not shift uncomfortably again. She gave a stilted nod and clasped her hands behind her back while trying to look professional. "The Prince has sixty-three lash marks along his back, forty-nine of which were deep enough to need treatment to close properly, a broken right ulna, six broken fingers, a broken and dislocated mandible, his back molars are cracked, many cuts to the interior of his mouth, a slice to his left ear, a dislocated hip, minor dehydration, an assortment of bruises over his face and body, and evidence of..." Eir paused here, but at the unyielding look in Odin's eye, she took a deep breath to force herself to finish. "Evidence of sexual assault."
When Odin still said nothing, Eir felt the need to fill the oppressive silence. "Physically he should make a full recovery, but it is his mental health I worry over. This has... obviously been a very traumatic experience for him."
"Three days with that monster... yes, I would think so," Odin growled as he turned to look out of his window again. He hadn't even slept since the morning they woke to find Loki missing, and now his rage wasn't letting him rest either. A large part of the King wished that Thor hadn't killed the beast. Odin would have preferred to make his death more drawn out. More fitting for all the suffering he inflicted upon Loki. Odin could still see perfectly the image of a naked and bloody Loki clinging to Thor sobbing inconsolably. The memory would haunt him for a long time, he knew.
Odin heard Eir shifting uneasily and turned slightly to look back at her. "There is something else?" he asked.
"Well... Prince Loki is Jotnar-"
"I'm well aware of that, Lady Eir," Odin snapped impatiently.
Eir steeled herself and pressed on, "And he has been developing as I would expect one of his age, and has even been showing signs of getting nearer maturity. There is a chance... that his attacker might have-"
"Do not finish that sentence, Eir," Odin ordered abruptly.
"It is a possibility that we have to face and deal with, My King," Eir argued. "Our laws are... murky about this at best, and Loki has been severely traumatized by this already. If he is indeed-"
"Eir!"
"Pregnant," Eir continued despite Odin's anger. "Then we must deal with the situation instead of ignoring it!"
Odin clenched his fist tightly and tried to remind himself that it wasn't really Eir he was angry at. She was right. They couldn't just hope and ignore the fact that there could be longer reaching consequences of what that monster had done to Loki. That didn't mean he had to like those facts, though. Odin took several deep breaths and tried to push his outrage as a father to the side to try and figure out what was best for Loki. "When will you be able to tell if he is or not?" he managed to grit out.
"We might know as early as the morning. The latest it will take for us to be able to tell is in another four days," Eir said. "But... you know as well as I, the many problems with such a situation. And that's not even taking into account Loki's feelings on the matter."
"I will pray the Norns will not be that cruel," Odin said. He didn't want to put his son into that position. In Asgard, the termination of pregnancies was only legal if the health of the mother was at risk. The idea being that, due to declining birth rates among the Aesir, the adoption of unwanted children was the better solution. Odin had always been somewhat ambivalent to the law. Especially since the number of sexual assaults was so low in Asgard and children born of it an even smaller number. Asgard had one small orphanage. Most children there were not even Asgardian and passed through fairly quickly. But this now threw the fairness of that particular law into question in a frighteningly personal way that Odin wished dearly had never happened.
Loki had already suffered enough. Odin didn't know how much strain being forced to bear his rapist's child would put on Loki's psyche, even if he were to give that child up at the end of it. And giving a child up was not an easy thing to do in the first place. Being Prince complicated things further. If news of Loki giving away a child so young got out there would be viciousness in court, Odin knew. Viciousness and disapproval, for what sort of royal family would give away a potential heir to the throne? Even if that heir was begotten by violence? Loki was still a child himself, he wasn't ready for any of this. Odin closed his eye and again hoped that all of the questions were going to end up being moot. For Loki's sake.
"Is that all, Lady Eir?" Odin asked.
"Yes, Prince Loki will be ready to leave the healing wing in a week. I wish to keep him long enough to confirm... the other issue," Lady Eir said.
Odin didn't like that but nodded in agreement. "Send for Lady Vor to join me when you leave." Eir looked puzzled but nodded in agreement. Odin looked down at the necklace in his hand. He had already memorized the acid etching of waves across the thick silver plate. Finely carved runes all along the edge of the pendant that had directed Odin to confront Laufey he'd already ingrained into his memory, and he could feel the enchantments they held -ancient magic that he may be able to tap into now for his own purposes.
After perhaps half an hour, there was a knock on the door. "Come in," Odin roared.
Lady Vor was as inscrutable as she always was when she stood in the middle of Odin's office. "You summoned me, Allfather?"
"Yes, Lady Vor. Tell me, what you make of this?" Odin said as he handed the pendant over. He had his own ideas about it, but he valued Vor's opinion highly.
Vor took the pendant in her hands and studied it carefully, occasionally turning it over and brushing her fingers along the runes while her dark olive and pale orange seidr wafted over the slightly scuffed silver surface to read the enchantments upon it. "It looks to be a Kelpie bridle," she said.
"That was my thought as well," Odin said as he took the necklace back from her. "I took it from the Jotunn that kidnapped Loki." And wasn't that an annoying little riddle. One of the last things he'd expected to come across was evidence of a Kelpie of all things. Odin could only hope that the news he was waiting on from Laufey would explain the oddity of it.
"A Jotunn?" Lady Vor echoed in surprise. "Kelpies do not live in Jotunheim. The temperatures get too cold for them."
Odin grunted. "Nonetheless, he was using its power to shapeshift to keep Loki hidden from Heimdall," he explained as his thumb brushed over the etched waves again. If it weren't for the runes around the rim, Odin would have simply dismissed the situation as the Jotunn having stolen the bridle from some Kelpie, most likely dead. But that did not make sense if the bridle itself had come from Jotunheim. And clearly, the villain had had the bridle there as well if he used a horse form to flee from Laufey's troops that sought justice. "Can we use it to bring the villain back from the dead?" A Kelpie's bridle should, in theory, be linked to whomever last used it.
Lady Vor gave a slight start of surprise. "Why would you want to do that, My King?"
"So, that I can kill him again... slower this time," Odin said. "And more painfully."
"I would think that to be a waste of your time and energy," Vor said. "Although I can't say I disagree with the sentiment. I hear Prince Loki is... still resisting treatment."
"That is one way to put it," Odin grumbled. Hysterical might have been a more accurate term, but Odin appreciated Vor's restraint in not using it. "Lady Eir is treating him."
"She is treating his body... but I fear the mind will take much more time and effort for her to treat appropriately. She hasn't had a chance to start on his mind yet," Lady Vor pointed out matter-of-factually.
"Do you have a suggestion, Lady Vor?" Odin asked.
Vor shrugged, "Only that you try to be more patient than you usually are, Odin King."
Odin sent the woman a sour look. "You never have such an unhelpful suggestion," Odin said. "What do you really wish to say?"
"Are you sure you wish to know?"
"Would I ask if I didn't?" Odin snapped.
"Yes," Vor responded, entirely unmoved.
Odin scowled. "Well, I do wish to know. What is it, Vor?"
Vor sighed heavily. "Lady Eir is a very competent healer, have no doubt of that. But she has minimal experience with such trauma. Perhaps Prince Loki would benefit from being also seen by someone who has dealt with such a situation before."
"And who might you suggest?" Odin asked.
"There are a few options I can think of off the top of my head. Shall I write you a list of them and their qualifications?" she asked.
Odin thought for a moment. "Send the list to Eir for her to look over first," Odin grunted. He wanted the absolute best and Eir, he knew, would ensure that. Vor didn't look offended by the command and just bowed. "That's all," Odin said.
Thor sat beside his brother's sickbed and carefully held Loki's hand between his own. After the initial treatment, Eir had moved Loki from the Soul Forge to an actual bed. Loki was kept in his enchanted sleep, so he looked peaceful despite the bandages and casts around his body. The pure white comforter and mattress stuffed with down pillowed around Loki as if the entire bed was trying to swallow him whole. Though most of his brother's broken or dislocated bones had been set, they were not yet fully healed. A shell of blue seidr woven together with what seemed a netting of sparkling orange veins kept the worst wounds held stable and healing.
Frigga was sitting on the other side of Loki's bed and was petting his freshly washed black hair back. Her own pink and golden seidr was still just visible sparkling at the corners of Loki's eyelashes telling that he was sleeping thanks to her magic. Barely any part of Loki's pale skin was visible without the glow of seidr over the top. Already the worst of the bruises had lightened as the magic healed Loki's soft tissues faster than his bones.
Odin had come down along with Tyr briefly, but both had then left again. Tyr would not say what duties he had to perform, but Odin had told Frigga something about contacting Laufey. That had puzzled Thor some, but he didn't feel particularly up to questioning his parents right then. Eir came in every half hour or so to check on Loki and drip multicolored tinctures into his mouth.
After what felt like hours of sitting in silence, Thor looked up. "Mother?"
"Yes, Darling?" Frigga asked back without looking away from Loki's face. Even the lower half of Loki's face, including his mouth, had magic glittering upon it as the cracked teeth and dislocated jaw was healed. When the Queen finally allowed Loki to wake he wouldn't be able to speak due to the spell.
Thor hesitated before looking back up to Frigga. "... what did Father see that made him leave like that?" Thor asked. Thor had rarely seen or felt his father so enraged. He had a terrible feeling he knew, but in the off chance there was something even worse he didn't know about, Thor felt he had to know if he were to help his brother.
Frigga opened her mouth as if to answer but then closed it again. After a long moment, she sighed. "Many things, Darling," she finally said. Thor recognized a dodge when he heard one, but he didn't dare press any harder. He wasn't sure what he would do if he'd gotten an answer in the first place.
"But Loki will be alright... won't he?"
Frigga gave her best attempt to smile, which was not particularly strong or convincing. "Yes, Darling. He'll be alright."
Loki was a much better liar...
With Thor's powers bound, the storm had finally tapered off near dawn although a dismal mist clung to the city even after the sun started peeking over the mountains. The average citizen was busy taking stock of damage that had been done to their property or chasing down where lost items had been carried off to by the wind.
Amid the mess of the morning after such a storm, there was an even stranger sight. A large blue figure flanked by Einherjar on either side stalked down the Bifrost to the grand front steps of Valaskjalf. Only a few citizens had ever seen Jotnar aside from in books, and so everyone stopped and stared. This Jotunn had their slightly angled blood red eyes fixed on their target, and surprisingly red hair that caught the sun like fire fell to their shoulders in thick and somewhat wild wind-tousled curls broken up by a few tight braids and ornaments. A white fur of some Jotunheim beast was wrapped around the Jotunn's shoulders and hung low over their front and back, but other than that all that they wore was a leather skirt of two different lengths (more extended in the front and back than on the sides) and a pair of thick boots that went to their mid-calf. Though they had a sword scabbard at their hip, it was currently empty.
Tyr came down from the Palace to meet the Jotunn at the base of the stairs and inclined his head slightly. "I take it you are the messenger from King Laufey?"
"I am no messenger, but you are correct I come on my King's orders," the Jotunn said, their voice full of pride. Everything about the Jotunn near screamed pride, in fact. From the ramrod straight posture to the tilt of their head that made certain the silvery lines of their Dynasty marks caught the Asgardian sunlight. Their nose was of a classically noble shape, and their jaw was strong and set parallel to the ground eighteen feet below. The Jotunn, without lowering their head or relaxing their posture, reached under the fur wrap and pulled out a thick bundle of parchment wrapped in a black ribbon and sealed with blue wax. "My orders are to give this directly to your King and no other."
Tyr couldn't quite help himself, "I thought you weren't a messenger."
The Jotunn narrowed their red eyes as they tucked the package away again. "You are lucky your guardian made me leave my sword at his post. I am of the Royal Guard. No mere messenger."
Tyr shoved his somewhat inappropriate amusement probably brought on by lack of sleep to the side. He probably shouldn't tease the nearly twenty-foot giant that could make weapons from summoned ice. "Of course. My apologies, Master..."
"Jarnsaxa. And it's not Master. 'Lady' will do for a title, if you feel you must," the Jotunn said.
"Lady Jarnsaxa. Again, my apologies. Asgardian habit is to default to male. I will try to remember to not do that again," Tyr said. This was why he preferred to leave the talking to his Father.
"Do," Jarnsaxa agreed. "Now... I cannot leave without seeing Odin Allfather. I would prefer that to be done quickly as it is uncomfortably warm here."
"Of course," Tyr said before nodding at the Einherjar standing beside Jarnsaxa. "I will take things from here." The Einherjar bowed and left to return to their posts. "Follow me, Lady Jarnsaxa," Tyr said with a welcoming gesture.
Jarnsaxa nodded her head slightly in acknowledgment, and the little ornaments in her hair clinked together lightly. "Am I correct in assuming this is something about Svadilfari?" Jarnsaxa asked so quietly that Tyr almost missed the question entirely. "King Laufey announced last evening that he had been killed finally."
"... it is," Tyr acknowledged, not seeing any reason to deny it. "King Odin requested more information on the beast."
"A beast indeed," Jarnsaxa murmured.
As they walked, Tyr felt slightly uncomfortable. Though he wasn't as much of a talker as some of his brothers, the topic and the following silence was something he longed to change. "... I don't believe I've ever seen a Jotnar with red hair before," he finally said, settling on the first innocuous thought that popped into his head. In fact, aside from Loki, Tyr couldn't recall seeing any Jotnar with hair before. Even Tyr's grandmother Bestla, whom Tyr did not remember all that well, had not kept any hair on their head.
Jarnsaxa hummed thoughtfully. "It is a rarity but us Jotnar that hail from nearer the equator seem to have it most often, usually accompanied by purple eyes," Jarnsaxa said. "Several of my family are red-headed even though it has been multiple generations since we were that close to the equator."
"I see," Tyr said. He struggled for a moment to think of anything else to say. "Well... it is quite fetching. I would have thought the contrast with your skin too much, but it does not seem to be so."
Jarnsaxa raised a thin eyebrow. "I do hope that was not an attempt to flirt, General Tyr."
Tyr snorted. "No," he assured with half a laugh before realizing how that might have sounded. "Ah, not that you aren't attractive, I'm sure. I just... don't... do that."
Jarnsaxa hummed again. "A pity. I imagine you break many a heart."
"Perhaps," Tyr said noncommittally. Tyr was glad when he spotted his Father's public study up ahead of them since he'd succeeded in making a complete fool of himself. "Here we are," Tyr said as he opened the door to the study.
Jarnsaxa's red gaze swept the ornate room for a moment before returning to Tyr. "I will go get my father," Tyr assured her before leaving. Odin was in his private study in the family wing of the palace, but he would never take an audience with a foreign visitor there.
Tyr couldn't quite help from letting out a long breath and shaking his head once he was heading away. Give him a battlefield or a sparring match any day, and he would be much happier. Odin was not entirely pleased when Tyr came to get him. He had been brooding and carving something out of wood while staring at the fire burning away in his hearth. Tyr knew that was probably a bad sign but didn't dare bring it up. Once Odin heard the reason he was being interrupted, he hurried back to the other study with Tyr struggling to keep up.
When they returned, Jarnsaxa was still standing in the center of the room right where Tyr had left her. "King Odin," she greeted.
"I hear you bring news from your King?" Odin asked as he went right up to the Jotunn fearlessly. Though Jarnsaxa towered over twice Odin's height, there didn't seem to be much of a disparity at all.
Jarnsaxa bowed her head slightly. "I do," she agreed and reached into her fur wrap again to pull out the package of parchment. "He was very insistent I give it only to you," Jarnsaxa added as she held it out to Odin.
Odin nodded and took the thick bundle. He hesitated for a moment and eyed Jarnsaxa closer. "You are not the usual messenger he sends," Odin stated.
"No, I am not," Jarnsaxa agreed.
"You are a Vedmakt if I'm not mistaken," Odin added.
Jarnsaxa didn't react immediately but then nodded again. "I am surprised you would know that word... and recognize one in front of you," Jarnsaxa admitted. "But you are correct."
"Why, if I may ask, would Laufey send one of his Vedmakt here with a message?" Odin asked. "Is the information he sent so sensitive it required such protection?"
"I requested the task," Jarnsaxa admitted.
Odin hummed and went to his desk to pick up a small dagger. He sliced the bindings off the bundle of parchment even as he studied the Jotunn in his study thoughtfully. "You wanted something from this visit yourself, I take it?" he asked. He didn't wait for an answer, however, since he seemed to already know it somehow. "Why come here personally, Vedmakt Jarnsaxa?"
Tyr thought he saw the slightest tremble in Jarnsaxa's mouth, but it might have been a trick of the light. "The one who killed Svadilfari... I was told it was Prince Thor."
"Yes," Odin confirmed.
"Might I speak with him?" Jarnsaxa asked. It came out slightly rushed as if the words had to be forced to be said. Tyr straightened by his spot near the door. A Jotunn that they'd never met wanted to speak with Thor? Why?
Odin narrowed his one eye. "Is there some reason you wish to speak with my son? He is currently in the Healer's Ward."
Jarnsaxa's perfect composure shook for a moment before she straightened again. "Was he badly injured then?"
"Answer my question before you ask yours," Odin ordered.
Jarnsaxa's jaw clenched slightly before she let out a long breath. "I merely wished to thank him for what he did for all the Nine. Many have wanted that monster dead for many decades."
There was a heavy silence in the room as Jarnsaxa bravely met Odin's stare. Tyr wasn't entirely sure how she managed it although the General did detect that faint tremble again and this time he was certain it wasn't a trick of the light. "... Thor was not seriously injured. But his brother was," Odin answered.
Jarnsaxa's face twisted with emotion for a moment. "I see." There was a beat, and then Jarnsaxa dipped her head. "I am... most aggrieved to hear your other son was harmed. My condolences to him."
Odin didn't move for a moment. "Tyr. Go and fetch, Thor." Tyr looked to his Father in protest. "Do as I say," Odin commanded. Tyr had reservations about the idea but knew better than to argue with his father in front of a stranger.
When Tyr reached the healing wing, he tried his best to not look at the battered form of Loki on the bed looking so tiny and vulnerable. Magic was glittering across him, healing his physical wounds but that still seemed nowhere near enough. Nothing could erase what had happened. The General of Asgard really wished that Thor hadn't killed Svadilfari. Tyr hadn't gotten any vengeance himself before the monster died and that was terribly disappointing. The more he saw what his baby brother suffered, the more he wanted to rip into the one responsible. Tyr had already torn apart several training dummies since he lacked the correct target for his anger. The mindless destruction had not helped him much.
Thor and Frigga both looked up when Tyr entered. "Thor, Father requests to see you," Tyr said.
Thor frowned and his hand visibly tightened around Loki's slack one. "Why?"
"Someone wishes to speak with you," Tyr answered. "It should not take long and then you can come back here, Thor. I promise."
Thor still seemed reluctant and looked back at Loki's sleeping face. "Who is it that wants to speak with him, Tyr?" Frigga asked. "Is it really so important?"
"It is a Jotunn, Mother," Tyr said. "She says she wishes to thank Thor personally for what he did for all the Nine."
"I don't want thanks," Thor muttered. "I didn't do it for thanks."
"I know, Darling," Frigga said as she reached over to brush a hand through his golden hair.
"She seems genuine, Thor," Tyr said. "And Father has allowed it."
That didn't seem to persuade Thor at all, but then Frigga gave him a slight nudge on the shoulder. "A short walk will do you good, Thor. And Loki will not be waking for another few hours at least." Thor scowled but didn't dare argue with their mother. With a sigh, he got up and followed Tyr out of the healing wing.
The walk back was a quiet one, and Thor was clearly unhappy to be asked to step away from Loki's sickbed. Tyr couldn't blame him for that in the least, and he wasn't much happier that this was being allowed, but he had to trust his father knew what he was doing.
Jarnsaxa still had not sat down, but then again no chairs in the room were really built with giants in mind. Jarnsaxa's red gaze instantly went to Thor, and her eyes widened just a little. Odin gestured for Thor to join him, which he did. "Thor, this is Jarnsaxa of Jotunheim. Jarnsaxa, my son Prince Thor," Odin introduced formally.
Thor couldn't help but stare a little at the only true giant he'd seen in person as a child. Jarnsaxa was massive. Thor's own few inches shy of six feet was laughable next to Jarnsaxa's near twenty. The term giant hadn't ever quite registered as an adult as it did now. Jarnsaxa sunk down to one knee to reduce the imposing distance between them and still, she was looking down at Thor. "Prince Thor. I wish to sincerely thank you for what you did. Often I wished I could catch that beast and end it myself, but I never got the chance. And you are so young yet... I didn't realize. It is even more an impressive feat, and one worthy of recognition."
For some reason, Thor felt a wave of heat rushing to his face. He'd never been thanked by a Jotunn before, so perhaps that was the reason. Those red eyes were really quite intense when fixed solely on you. "I didn't do it for thanks," he muttered.
"All the more reason for it," Jarnsaxa insisted.
There was a moment where Thor couldn't help but fidget under Jarnsaxa's gaze. "Well, you're welcome, I suppose," he muttered.
Jarnsaxa tilted her head to the side ever so slightly before reaching for her boot. She pulled a small iron dagger from it, and Tyr stirred at the sight of the weapon so near his little brother. Jarnsaxa spared the General a quick glance but otherwise didn't stop in lifting the blade. Odin's eyes narrowed, but he didn't move to interfere. Jarnsaxa brought the knife down upon her open palm and quickly sliced a line across it.
Thor watched with bewilderment as ruby red blood quickly started spilling from the Jotunn's hand. Jarnsaxa held out her bleeding palm up so that the liquid began to pool there. Thor stared at it for a moment and then his eyes went up to Jarnsaxa's face. Jarnsaxa nodded slightly and then closed her hand. The temperature around her fist plummeted so fast chilly mist wafted through the air and frost formed across her blue skin.
Thor continued to watch as Jarnsaxa's hand shook as if she were squeezing as hard as she could. The cold breeze made gooseflesh of Thor's exposed arms as he watched the strange scene.
Finally, Jarnsaxa opened her hand to expose a red crystal sitting in her palm where the blood had been. The sides were not perfectly flat, and one side was a little larger than the other, but it looked entirely stable. More like a stone than frozen blood. "Hold out your hand, Prince Thor," Jarnsaxa murmured.
Bewildered but also transfixed, Thor did as he was told. Jarnsaxa carefully tipped the crystal into Thor's open hand. It was cool to the touch, but no more than a river stone freshly pulled from the water. "What is it?" Thor asked as he stared at the odd thing in his hands.
"It is a blood oath to you," Jarnsaxa said as she put the dagger back in her boot. "... I owe you a great debt for what you've done, Prince Thor. And I promise you with that stone I will repay it one day."
Thor frowned at the stone and then looked back up at the Jotunn. "You don't owe me anything, though," he said. He didn't even know Jarnsaxa, and he definitely hadn't killed Svadilfari for her. Thor had killed him because he deserved to die.
"But I do," Jarnsaxa insisted. There was a moment where Jarnsaxa hesitated and then sighed. "... there were five in Jotunheim, Prince Thor. The other four cannot give you their thanks... so I shall do it for us all."
The meaning behind those words took a very long time to sink into Thor's brain. But when it did his eyes widened in horror. The idea that Loki wasn't the only one that had been treated so horribly hadn't even occurred to Thor. It should have from what Svadilfari had said in that stable, but it hadn't. Thor sputtered, trying desperately to come up with something to say.
"Shh, I would rather you not," Jarnsaxa said before Thor could think of anything at all. She put a large hand on Thor's shoulder. "It was quite some time ago now, and I'd rather not think on it further. You have given us more justice than we had." Jarnsaxa shook her head so that her red hair fell back behind her shoulder. "And now I should take my leave. I fear I shall overheat if I linger here much longer."
"I will escort you to the Bifrost. Tyr, take Thor back to his mother, please," Odin ordered.
Tyr nodded and went to put a hand to Thor's shoulder. He guided the still somewhat stunned younger prince out of the study and back towards the healing wing. Odin watched them go before gesturing for Jarnsaxa to proceed him out of the office. Jarnsaxa inclined her head and left first.
Odin made sure to seal the office behind him before hurrying to catch up to Jarnsaxa's longer stride. The two walked in silence for several moments. "Might I ask you something?" Odin asked finally. "A favor."
Jarnsaxa glanced down at Odin. "... you may, but I do not guarantee my answer."
"My son. Loki," Odin began before frowning.
Jarnsaxa kept her red eyes fixed ahead. "He was brutalized," she guessed with nearly no emotion in her voice.
Odin scowled but nodded. "Yes."
"You wish me to help 'fix' him," she guessed again.
Odin sighed. "I know it is not so easy," he denied. "I would like it to be so, but I know trauma when I see it." Jarnsaxa hummed in agreement but didn't say anything. "I did want to ask if, when he is ready, you would be willing to speak with him?"
Jarnsaxa thought for a moment as they walked. "If," she said finally.
"If?" Odin repeated.
"If he is ready," she said. "He may never be ready. Or willing. And I shall not be surprised if that is the case."
"If then," Odin corrected. He hoped his first statement of 'when' would be proven right, but he couldn't argue with her about it. Not with the one person in all the Nine who had even a hope of understanding whatever it was Loki was going to go through in his recovery.
They passed a large statue of King Bor that seemed to glare down at them disapprovingly before Jarnsaxa said anything else. "... yes," she murmured. "If he ever wishes to speak with me... I will."
Odin nodded. "Thank you, Vedmekt Jarnsaxa. We owe you a debt for your help."
Jarnsaxa shook her head, making the ornaments woven in the fiery strands clink together lightly. "There is none," she said. "And I will accept none."
"Very well," Odin murmured. He could tell there wouldn't be any arguing with her about it. They continued to walk when something that Laufey had said floated to the forefront of Odin's mind. "... would he have killed Loki?" Odin asked.
Jarnsaxa missed a step but quickly recovered.
Odin stopped and turned to face her directly. "Laufey and you both said the other four children he took on Jotunheim were gone... would he have murdered my son had we not found him?"
The lack of answer was almost answer enough, but Odin waited and watched Jarnsaxa seem to gather herself. Without a word, Jarnsaxa reached up to her fur wrap and undid it. Underneath the fur was a leather collar that covered her neck, shoulders, and collarbones in a thick protective weave. Odin watched as she reached up to the collar and did something at the back of it. Jarnsaxa leaned closer as she pulled the leather down and away to expose a thick scar that wrapped halfway around her neck.
Odin stared at the jagged line for a moment before Jarnsaxa covered it again. "When he got tired of one he would get a new one... whoever wanted to live the most got to do so," she murmured. Odin frowned. "I sliced two throats to live... I almost let the second end me before I became too cowardly to meet the afterlife that no doubt awaits me."
Odin stared in horror as Jarnsaxa fixed her collar and put the wrap back around her shoulders. "He made you... kill each other?" he echoed in horror.
Jarnsaxa's red eyes flicked to Odin for a moment. "He said he only wanted willing whores," she whispered before swallowing thickly. Her hand went up to her throat for a moment before dropping quickly back to her side again. "... I don't think I would have cut a third had I gotten the chance. I am glad your son never had to face such a choice."
Odin's eye swept over the Jotunn standing in front of him. "It is no crime to survive," he said.
"Isn't it?" Jarnsaxa challenged.
"No."
"Tell that to my nightmares... or the families of the two children I murdered," Jarnsaxa replied before turning away and starting to walk again. "I believe I can find my way back on my own, Odin Allfather," she said. Odin didn't try to stop her.
Late that night, Odin had retreated to his private study. Frigga was still sitting with Loki and Thor. Loki's physical wounds were mending without too much complication, Eir reported, but Odin hadn't anticipated any trouble on that front. Odin had the long letter from Laufey in his hands that detailed all the scattered bits of fact and conjecture that had been gathered about Svadilfari. It was simultaneously too much information and not enough. There were a lot of details that helped paint a picture of how depraved the monster had been and yet very little that Odin could use to punish his spirit properly.
"What was he?" Tyr asked his father from where he was leaning against the doorframe. He had been watching Odin read the letter for nearly half an hour and could no longer take just standing there and waiting.
Odin sighed and sat back in his chair as he dropped the thick package of parchment onto his desktop. He'd already read the thing three times despite its length. "According to Laufey's letter... Svadilfari was actually only half Jotunn that escaped capture several centuries ago through a portal to another realm." There was a long and awkward pause. "Loki is not the first child Svadilfari has... hurt, as you know.'' Jarnsaxa's admission to Thor would have told him that even if Odin didn't suspect Tyr of eavesdropping on the conversation with Laufey. "When his perversions were discovered Laufey attempted to bring him to justice with quite a large force of his best fighters."
"How could he have escaped Laufey and the other Jotnar?" Tyr demanded. Though he had many reservations about Laufey, Tyr knew that the Jotunn King was not easy to escape. "Did he have some help from outside of Jotunheim?"
"Not that they could tell. The horse that we saw working with the men... that is a form that he can take, and the stallion was very fast even over snow and ice. He found an unprotected portal to Alfheim and fled into a marsh," Odin murmured. He couldn't help but hate himself for not recognizing that Svadilfari -or Flárekkr- was a danger. Loki was in the healing ward with terrible wounds, and Odin had let it happen. Ignorance was not an excuse. He swallowed hard and picked up the paper. "According to Laufey... Svadilfari's sire was a Kelpie." It solved the riddle of the Kelpie bridle but not in a way Odin had expected.
"A Kelpie?" Tyr echoed in surprise. Kelpies weren't exactly common in most of the Nine Realms. They came primarily from Alfheim and the coasts of Avalon -and even those herds were not very large. Additionally, the icy waters of Jotunheim wouldn't be comfortable to the shifters so how the water horse and giant would ever come together to produce offspring was mind-boggling.
Odin nodded and put the paper back down. "Yes. And from the mess in the stables where we found Thor and Loki... he'd been using his bridle to keep Loki hidden as a horse," he murmured. Only if Loki had been in a different form would Heimdall have been unable to spot him. Nobody had been searching for a horse.
"But... how did he hide being a half Kelpie? Or half Jotnar for that matter?" Tyr demanded. "Surely something should have given us a clue!" Tyr had thought the man a friend! He'd even had a drinking contest that very night of the feast with him! Tyr couldn't help but look back and wonder if that hadn't been part of the plot and want to gut himself. He had been a fool!
Odin was quiet. "He did... I should have seen in. I knew there was magic in that necklace he wore, but I didn't think about what it might be..." he berated himself. “I thought it harmless. It seemed a minor trinket that cast vain magicks over his own form... nothing insidious.” There was a painful irony that -in hindsight- the glamour he used to disguise Loki's form was of a similar spell to the one the pendant had cast over Svadilfari. It should have been such an obvious clue, and yet, Odin had thought nothing of it. He'd been so arrogant to think nobody else would have thought to hide their true species with a glamour spell and now Loki was the one paying for it.
"The necklace?" Tyr echoed. "That thick one he always wore? What about it?" He had been curious about the thing since he'd taken it from the body and watched the corpse begin to liquefy before his eyes, and even more so when his Father had raged upon seeing the trinket.
"Kelpies have a special bridle that allows them to shift their forms from that of a horse to a two-legged one. When they are in their horse form, it looks like what it is, but when they possess only two legs, it also shifts and looks like a necklace. If one is put on a non-Kelpie, it will force that person into the form of a horse and under the Kelpie's control," Odin explained as he crumpled the paper from Laufey in his hand. He should have noticed the necklace for what it was. All of this would have been avoided if he'd only investigated that magic more closely.
"But if Loki was wearing the bridle-"
"He must have had two," Odin said. "If you kill the Kelpie the bridle belongs to, I imagine you'd end up with an extra... But I could have sworn that only those descended from the first Kelpie had such artifacts..." Therefore, there shouldn't be many in existence and getting hold of an extra would have taken tracking down one of those rare so-called Pure Kelpies. Kelpies, like most sentient species in the nine realms, had their own form of royalty that traced their lines back all the way to before they and the Hippocamps of the Olympians separated. The vast majority of Kelpies rarely -if ever- took different forms from their horse one and even then it was usually the stallions of the herds and not the mares because only the Pure Kelpie stallions tended to have the bridles which seemed to be the key to their shapeshifting.
Odin sighed and looked at the half-crumpled papers again. "Laufey tracked down Svadilfari's dame to a Jotunn that had served as a scout before disappearing one day. Eventually, Laufey found that scout again when they were first searching for their missing children. They'd been rendered insensate from a nasty old head wound shaped like a hoof. Laufey couldn't tell if it was caused by Svadilfari or whatever Kelpie sired him."
"So either Svadilfari was raised by his Kelpie sire that begot him upon a disabled and defenseless Jotunn or is so despicable and ungrateful a creature to attack both children and his own mother," Tyr surmised.
"Laufey preferred the former option," Odin said as he shuffled through the papers. "Though Svadilfari's dame was not as young as the children Svadilfari hurt when the beast was born, they would have been quite young indeed, and Laufey's healers said the wound was easily that old. Combined with Svadilfari's own preference for children it seemed likely to Laufey that his sire taught him his own perversions and even younger children were easier targets for a younger Kelpie..."
"That is a disgusting scenario," Tyr growled. Odin gave a short nod of agreement.
"The theory among some of Laufey's healers is even that the Kelpie might have begot Svadilfari purely to abuse him himself... there is, of course, no evidence of that since they know very little about before Svadilfari was already nearly full grown," Odin murmured.
Tyr scowled. "I cannot see how if he were hurt by his sire he would then go and hurt others the same way," Tyr muttered.
"It would not be unheard of, Tyr," Odin said. "And really, at this point, the why he started doesn't matter. Chances are there are far more victims we will never know about. I highly doubt a monster like him could have simply stopped harming children between the time he fled Jotunheim and when he appeared here in Asgard."
The only sound for several minutes was the crackling of the fire behind Odin's desk. "... so what will you do now, Father?"
Odin sighed and picked up a list of ten names that Vor had sent him. "We shall focus on helping your brother. The dead can wait... Loki cannot. Have you written to your brothers?"
"I have," Tyr agreed. "I'm sure they'll be here as soon as they can."
"Good. It is unfortunate Loki will most likely be awake before they get here. He could use their support as well," Odin muttered as he eyed the names. Odin would definitely need to run the list by Eir and Frigga both.
Tyr nodded slowly in agreement. He crossed the room and carefully reached out to push the paper down onto the desk, causing Odin to look up with a frown. "Then... might I suggest we go and see Loki ourselves, Father?"
"Tyr-"
"Father. Let's go."
Odin studied his eldest's determined face before sighing and nodding in agreement. He would rather be doing something. Odin always felt better when he was trying to fix things and being active in the solution. But, perhaps Tyr was right. And even if he wasn't, most of the night had gone by since Odin had dared step into the healing wing again. He needed to see with his own eyes his son's progress.