Truths, Lies and Bilgesnipes [Complete]

Chapter 2

For the vast majority of their lives, Loki and Thor had slept in rooms within Odin and Frigga's suite. a had fairly recently moved into small suites of their own across the hall. It had been a decision all parties concerned had embraced. Both boys relished the sense of independence their new accommodations had brought them; Odin and Frigga enjoyed the quieter atmosphere and in what felt like millennia, something that approached privacy.

But when Odin peered into Thor's rooms, he was hardly surprised they stood empty. He instead found Thor seated at the broad dining table in Odin and Frigga's suite. Several bowls filled with food were set out on the table; Thor wasn't interested in any of it. He had pushed his plate away and sat with his elbows anchored against the tabletop and chin sunk into his hands.

Asta hovered over him, speaking animatedly. She was technically one of Frigga's attendants — the boys were too old for a nanny, but she spent as much time corralling Thor and Loki as she did on managing Frigga's correspondence and public engagements. As Odin strode in, he got the impression she had been cajoling Thor into eating, but she had been speaking too softly for Odin to hear and when she saw him, she fell silent altogether.

'I'll take it from here, Asta. Thank you,' he said.

'Of course, sire,' she replied inclining her head lightly in his direction. 'I hope the night is not as eventful as the day has been, for any of us.'

Thor lifted his head and his eyes followed the path of her departure, his expression growing more uncertain with every step she took. 'Is Loki —'

'He will recover,' Odin said. 'You'll be able to visit him tomorrow or the day after.'

'Oh, that's good! I thought... well, everyone looked so very worried.'

Despite the smile that had broached Thor's face, he remained ill at ease. He wore fresh clothing now and his hair was damp. Likely Asta had ordered him into a bath the moment she saw him. Hot water and what had probably been a generous amount of scrubbing had revealed a dark bruise across the line of his jaw. The bruise would be gone by the morning, but it did remind Odin that he had more than one traumatised child on his hands tonight. With a weary sigh, he sat himself down next to Thor — the seat Loki usually sat in when they dined as a family.

'Can you tell me what happened today?' Odin said in as even a tone as he could manage.

Thor balled his hands. 'I'm really sorry,' he muttered. 'I know we shouldn't have done it!'

'Thor, start at the beginning.'

'Sorry,' Thor said. 'The beginning? Um. Our history class was cancelled today — the tutor was sick. We were bored and even Loki agreed that the work we had from the other tutors was really dull. We ended up just talking about how the Valkyries used to hunt bilgesnipes for training. So we thought we should try that too. But then we found one and it was so much bigger than I thought it'd be. It was chasing me until Loki distracted it. But then his horse panicked and he was thrown off, so he ended up on foot. I brought a bow with me and I hit it with two arrows, but when I did, the beast fell on top of Loki.'

'Did you kill it?' Odin asked.

'No, I-I don't think so. It rolled over and sort of slunk off. I wasn't sure if it was going to come back, so I dragged Loki away as quickly as I could.' Thor winced. 'Loki was screaming really loud then.'

Bilgesnipes had thick hides; Odin was rather surprised Thor's practice arrows had inflicted sufficient injury to bring the creature down even briefly. But then Thor and Loki had snuck off into the forest to hunt bilgesnipe; you didn't bring blunted arrowheads and wooden swords on a hunt.