Consequences

8

The next morning, Loki and Brynja woke late, had breakfast for lunch, and celebrated quietly with their family in the gardens. After a week, they felt as though their lives had settled back into something comfortable, though Loki and Brynja were often caught acting like new lovers, kissing in secluded passages, giggling when they were found, and generally being so sweet that Katja rolled her eyes at them at least once a day.

This peace did not last very long, though. Loki woke up in the middle of the night sensing that something wasn't quite right. He turned over to find Sigyn sitting on the edge of his bed, Amundr asleep in her arms. Startled, he sat up quickly and scuttled away from her.

"Please, give me my son," Loki whispered, pleading.

"No, actually, I think I'll keep him. And your wife. You did wonder where she went, didn't you?" Sigyn replied.

Loki kept his eyes on the child, "Yes, I did. But she is grown and powerful in her own right. He is so small and cannot fight you. Don't hurt him."

She stood up and stepped towards the door, "Oh, I wasn't planning on hurting him, just taking him to his mother."

Loki began to panic as Sigyn reached the door, "Where are you taking him?" He stood and began to follow her, but she dashed for the door and left.

Loki ran into the hallway, not caring that he was naked, and looked frantically in both directions. He saw neither Sigyn or Amundr. He grabbed his silk robe from the back of the door and ran down the hall calling for the guards.

One of the night watchmen heard him and hurried to him, "What is the matter, sir?"

"Brynja and Amundr have been taken," he said, his voice panicked.

"That's impossible, sir. We watch these halls very closely at night."

Loki yelled at the guard,"Sigyn was in my chamber, holding my son, and disappeared with him when she got to the hall! I watched her take him!"

"Calm down, sir. We'll search the halls, as you wish. I don't see how she'd have done it, though."

Loki strode away, headed for Thor's chambers, calling back as he did, "She's a witch, she can do whatever she wants." As soon as he was sure the guard was out of sight, he took off running. When he arrived at Thor's door, he pounded on it as hard as he could, calling his brother's name as he did.

Thor opened the door, bleary-eyes, but worried by the fear he heard in Loki's voice, "Little Brother, why do you come to me in the middle of the night? What is so urgent it could not wait for morning?"

The full impact of what had happened had hit Loki and he felt his knees going weak as he spoke, "She's taken them. Sigyn's taken them," he said, frantic.

Thor caught him as he sank to the floor, "Come, let's get you to a chair. Then you can tell me what happened." Loki leaned heavily on Thor as he was escorted to an overstuffed armchair. Thor handed Loki a glass of water, "Take a drink. It will help. Then tell me what happened." Thor sat down across from Loki and waited for him to talk.

"I woke up and Sigyn was in the room. Bryn was gone. Sigyn had Amundr. She said she was taking him to his mother. She vanished when she got to the hallway. I don't know where they went. I called the guard, but it's useless. If she can vanish like that, they won't find her," Loki said, his voice quiet and hopeless, "Thor, she took my son. She's taken my wife. I don't know what she's going to do to them."

Thor stood and placed a hand on Loki's shoulder, "We will find them, Loki. I will do everything I can to find them, every soldier I can spare will be searching the realm for them."

There were tears in Loki's eyes, "But what if we don't get to them in time? What if Sigyn does something terrible to them in order to hurt me?"

"Do not think that way, we will find them and they will be safe."

"But what if-"

"No. You aren't asking that question. You're going to get some rest so you can be ready to use your magic in the morning to search for them. I will go ready the guard and they will begin searching every building we can search during the night."

"I can't go back to that empty bed, Thor," Loki whispered, "Sigyn stole its safety...."

"Then stay here. You can either sleep on the couch or sleep in my bed as you did when you were a child. I will keep you safe, Loki. I may not be a sorcerer like you are, like Sigyn is, like Brynja is, but these rooms are protected by spells and she cannot find you here. Let us just say that it is good to be the king." Thor rose and went to dress so he could meet with his captains. Once dressed, he returned, Loki still sitting in the same chair, the glass of water still clutched in his hands, "Sleep, Little Brother. You will need all your strength to search for them come morning." With that, he left.

Loki sat perfectly still, thinking of all the horrible things that Sigyn could do to his family, hoping that none of them would come true. He set the glass on the side table and went to Thor's bedroom, remembering all the times a nightmare had driven him to share the large bed that Thor still slept in. He climbed in it and tugged the blankets up to his chin and finally let his guard completely down, sobbing into the pillow.

He was asleep when Thor returned from meeting with the guard, his hair damp from where his tears had plastered it to his cheeks. Thor changed into a robe, knowing Loki would probably feel somewhat awkward if he woke up to find him naked, and slid under the blankets beside him. At first, he lay with his back turned to Loki, but then his protective nature and all the memories from childhood tugged enough at his heart that he turned around, gently brushed back Loki's hair from his face, and put an arm around Loki's slender body, carefully taking the hand Loki held close to his chest. He had held Loki this way many times in the past. When he had been so very young and the attention he had shown Sif had been ill received, resulting in him being shoved into a wall and told that he was far too weak for her to ever consider. When he had been beaten by several of the older boys when his magic had inadvertently interrupted a training battle and caused their team to lose. When he had made poor decisions and found his lips sewn shut for his insolence and lies. Any time Loki came to him long after he had gone to bed, ashamed of whatever he had done that made him seek the comfort of his brother's arms, unwilling to curl up against him or look him in the eye, unwilling to let Thor see him cry. Loki had been a sensitive young man, hiding behind his wit and his magic. Somewhere in him, Thor knew that had survived the years and his ever-willful little brother was just as sensitive to the slights of the world as he had ever been, but he was now far better at hiding it. Thor fell asleep hoping that the guards would have good news come morning that he could deliver to Loki. No news or bad news could bring about catastrophic action on Loki's part and he did not want to have to be the king that handled his brother melting down and acting out as he had against Odin.