Consequences

19

In the morning, after Brynja had brushed Loki's hair, bathed and dressed Amundr, and made herself somewhat presentable, they joined the rest of the family, including Angrboda, for breakfast. No one seemed quite ready to talk about whatever Loki had endured during his captivity, their eyes darting back to their own meals if they were caught staring at his lips.

Sunny felt the tension in the room and carefully set down her fork before speaking, "There's an elephant in the room that we need to reveal before this gets any more uncomfortable."

Loki's face paled and Katja dropped her knife to her plate with a clatter as she said, "Finally."

Sunny continued, "You all keep staring at Loki. I've seen every one of you do it, I've done it myself. His lips were sewn shut. We all saw it. We all know that there was probably some kind of enchantment on the thread to make it harder to heal. Let's not make this harder by dancing around the subject. We're going to all say what we need to right now. I'll start. It looks horribly painful. I can't imagine what you're going through or what you went through...but I did see you right after she sewed them closed in the scrying bowl. I saw the blood and the tears and dear god, Loki, I'm so sorry you had to go through that. I want to know what I can do to help, but I'm afraid there won't be much that could even come close to being enough. If she was willing to do that...." she let the sentence hang before turning to Odin on her left, "Your turn."

Odin sighed, "I don't know what to do, Loki. I know you were unkind to her so long ago, but this...Sunny said it best. What ever else she did, I can't imagine there's anything we can do to make it any easier for you. We will need to talk about what is coming, though. And I am not sure even we can stop it."

Thor continued, "The last time Thanos was sighted, it was in Midgard by the Avengers, all of whom have since passed from life. If he is behind Sigyn's sorcery, then I do not know what we can do to intervene. We will try, though, to keep more harm from coming to you. I cannot fathom what it feels like to have your lips sewn shut...and to have it done twice. You are far stronger than you credit yourself for, Little Brother."

Frigga added, "My son, the pain looks unbearable. Yet here you are, eating with us, talking with us."

It was Katja's turn, "What you did to Sigyn a century ago was terrible, so maybe you deserved a little of what you got, but damn...what the hell did she all do to you?"

Brynja was next to speak, "I'm just worried about you. I need to know you're surviving, I need to know you're here. Two weeks, Loki- you were missing for two weeks and all we saw of you was when you either were threatening someone or trying to kill them. It wasn't very reassuring. All of us knew you were under her spell, but all of us also had seen you that way before under your own power. It was hard to fight the sinking feeling that the worst days were repeating themselves."

Angrboda nodded, "I have only seen you from afar for many years, but I watched the ones you love struggle. I knew from their faces that something was very very wrong. I am now looking for the man I watched dance at his own wedding a few long weeks ago."

Freyja spoke last, "And I'm hoping she's really dead. I remember you once saying that once someone was in your mind, it was hard to shake them out again. This is not the first time someone has been in your brain, is it?"

Loki sighed, "No, it isn't. But The Other was different. I could say no, even if he would hurt me for it. What is worse is that I had two people under my control who could not. I have done what Sigyn did to me to two good Midgardian men. I wish I could tell them that I now realise how much harm I caused, but I cannot; they are dead. Sunny, I'm so sorry you saw what you did. But thank you for speaking to me. Your magic is powerful to have broken through the barriers Sigyn put up around me. Katja, I will not tell you what else she did to me. This was one of the most painful things, but not the most hurtful or humiliating. You do not need to know more, especially since I am even having a difficult time talking about it to your mother. Angrboda, I hope you can find him. I am looking for him, too. And Odin, Thor, I don't know what we can do to stop what is coming. Thanos is old, powerful, and fascinated by death. To seek death out is his obsession, to create it by setting up wars and to observe it. The Other is merely a messenger. I do not know if either can be killed."