Fallen Star

Fallen Star Chapter 27

During this section, I listened to "Jurassic Park Theme (Long Version)". Trust me—it's gorgeous. You may have to turn it up a little in the beginning, as it's kind of soft.

Enjoy.

VVVVVVV

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

"When brothers agree,

No fortress is so strong as their common life."

~Antisthenes

Loki stepped out onto the vast balcony that adjoined the great feasting hall. Night wind rustled his long green cape, and moonlight glinted against his breastplate. He took a deep breath and approached the railing, gazing out over the twinkling windows of Asgard, and beyond that, at the sweeping sea, the glowing, winking stars and planets high above—

And the soft white light that sat on the edge of the water.

Sighing, he reached up and pulled off his helmet, and held it in front of him for a moment, studying its lines and figure, and the way it gleamed anew. Then, he set it down on the stone railing.

"You're taking that off already?"

Loki turned to see Thor, dressed in his shining silver-and-scarlet finest—minus his helmet—stride out of the glow of the feasting hall and up next to him. Loki reached up and ran a hand through his black hair and winced.

"It scrambles my brains," he confessed.

"Yes, but it looks so splendid on you," Thor folded his arms and grinned.

"Better than yours looks on you," Loki muttered.

"Ha! Shut up."

For a moment, the two of them stood in companionable silence, gazing out at the horizon.

"So..." Thor took a breath. "You are married." He shook his head. "Too strange."

Loki's brow furrowed as he glanced at him. Thor's lion-like face betrayed nothing but thoughtful amusement.

"Strange?" Loki repeated. "Why?"

"Because I am the eldest!" Thor burst out, gesturing to himself. "I should be getting married first, not you."

"Actually, neither of us knows who is older," Loki pointed out.

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Thor held out his hands. "Everyone knows I am more mature."

Loki snorted and pressed a hand to his side.

"Don't make me laugh—it hurts my ribs."

"How long are you going to keep complaining about that?" Thor asked indignantly.

"Oh, at least for another couple centuries," Loki assured him.

"See? Proof." Thor pointed at him. "You are clearly the baby."

Loki did laugh now, and it did not hurt—and Thor's deep, rumbling chuckle joined in. For a while longer, neither of them spoke, and their gazes were drawn upward, past the horizon, to the vast heavens above. Fondly, Loki traced the constellations he had known since birth, naming them each silently—marveling at how they seemed a little strange to him now, since he had spent so many nights gazing up at the constellations above Midgard.

"There was a time, when you were gone," Thor said quietly—and Loki instantly sensed the change in his mood. Loki glanced downward, listening, but not turning toward his brother.

"There was a time when we thought you were lost," Thor said. "We doubted that you had been killed—but of course we were not sure—and yet, we daily considered the idea that we may never see you again."