The Queen of Jotunheim

Chapter 15: Water under the Bifrost

Chapter 15: 
Can we truly call this 
Water under the Bifrost

"... WHAT?!" Fandral exploded, his face that of horror and confusion. Loki quickly covered his mouth and made a shushing gesture at him, looking at the people around him.

"Not here!" He hissed desperately and signaled to Nix and Crystal to go to one of the nearby buildings. It acted like a traveling inn, and he quickly pulled a shocked Fandral with him to said place.

"Hello there," Loki said to the innkeeper, with a strained smile. "My friend's feet are starting to ache from all this walking around, so I was wondering if perhaps you have a meeting room or something where we could rest in for a few minutes, preferably in private?"

"Of course Prince Loki, right this way," the innkeeper said, quickly guiding them to a private room with worried eyes and a nervous smile.

The innkeeper looked like he wanted to ask Fandral a question. Something like if he should be worried about Loki planning a prank, or if Thor and the others were coming soon, meaning he would need to call his chef to make more food and/or get his carpenter ready to fix stuff they would indubitably break. But upon seeing Fandral's blank stare he seemed to decide against asking and went off leaving the group alone.

"Is everything alright?" Nix asked, looking worried at Loki and glancing at Fandral confused. "Yes dear," Loki said, his voice a pitch too high to truly cover his panic as he gestured to the softer sitting arrangement in the corner, "why don't you two rest while I have a word with Fandral here." He quickly dragged Fandral to the other end of the room, giving them as much privacy as he could.

"Loki!" Fandral said, his voice barely whispered. "This is very serious! This is treason! This is-" Loki covered up his mouth again, his own face contorting into a grimace. "No! No, it's not! Because I knew that they would not get far and that they would not be able to grab anything before being apprehended or you know..." He looked to Nix and then back to Fandral, "ending up the way they did."

Fandral eyes darted to Nix before returning to Loki, somehow getting even wider than before as he seemed to realize the need to still be quiet. "What were you thinking?!" He hissed in a whisper. "You may have pulled some not-so-harmless pranks before, but this is crossing the line! No, this is more than just crossing it!" Fendral's hands went into his hair as he grabbed his head, shaking slightly as his breathing sped up, making his words come out faster. "This is leaping over it like it's the finish line of a race. You could have started a war! This can still start a war, unless..." He paused, his shaking body freezing in place as his eyes slowly moved to look at Nix once more before looking back at Loki. "Was this your plan?! To use this to start diplomatic ties with Jotunheim?! By getting some of their people kil-"

Loki covered Fandral's mouth again, and from the look in Fandral's eyes was honestly scared he might get bitten, but still kept it there. "No! It was the truth when before I said I alerted the guards! That we were never supposed to make it to Jotunheim! And once we did I tried everything in my power to get us out of there safely WITHOUT starting a war!" He waited a second to make sure Fendral would not start screaming before moving his hand, flinching slightly at the scowl he revealed.

Once his hands were free, Loki started fidgeting nervously while he continued. "I knew Thor was hot-headed, but I didn't think he was dumb enough to almost start a war! But I guess that is on me, I should have known my brother better!" He shook his head, and then looked away from Fandral, "I am truly sorry that my actions brought us all into danger, but what I did was no more treason than what Thor did!"

"... Why did you do it?" Fandral asked, looking less nervous now, but still not calm. He seemed to be able to tell that Loki was sincere, and was giving him a chance to explain himself.