The Light that Shines Within

Later that day I lost it, again...

Roland gave me some crash courses in Asgardian etiquette and I found out it was much like the courts I had been in when I was young. Nothing too different. I could totally manage that part of the stay flawlessly. I was confident in that part. Then we decided it was best I go and introduce myself to the court during public audience time with the king, Odin. I was led through a side door into the great hall of the palace, large, expansive and yes, golden. I was standing in a nice, shadowy corner of the room, which was just fine with me. Roland was by my side the entire time, telling me who people were and such. It was nice to have my own personal guide into this court, seeing as I had next to nothing about it as a real place. Odin sat impressively on his golden throne, looking pretty intimidating to me. But he also resembled a huge golden pirate in a way too... I saw Frigga there. Loki and Thor's mother. And she was giving looks of inner nervousness whenever her husband wasn't looking her way. A mother caught between love for her husband and love for her child. It was very clear that she saw Loki as her own child, not an adopted monster as he thought.

It was painful to see.

People began to file out as they had their audience with the king and queen. My guard left sometime after that to get us some lunch sent to our room not before saying he would return soon. I was left alone in my comfortable corner of shadows. There's a great thing about being a creature of darkness. You can literally stand in a dark corner, unnoticed for hours and overhear and see things nobody else does. I was actually beginning to enjoy myself here, hearing about some lord's affair with his servant girlfriend and how a certain royal lady had run off with some guy from another planet for love, and two guards talking smack about Thor. I began to calm down.

That's when they brought Loki in.

Thank the gods they had gotten rid of that annoying muzzle on his face. His hands were in a pair of shackles of some sort and guards held him steady as he approached the throne of the king. Frigga ran down the steps and took her son into her arms, saying something inaudible. But whatever it was, it was important for her. I could see that on her face clear as day as I watched the scene play out from my corner. Odin withdrew her after a moment and couldn't really hear what was being said over there. I had my super hearing and I knew somebody had magicked the grand hall so things at the throne couldn't be overheard at low tones. Smart people, I thought to myself. That was until Loki began to raise his voice in anger. I rolled my eyes at his volume. His damn temper was going to get him thrown into a cell before I could get my defence heard. Maybe they should have kept that muzzle on after all. I sighed. 

"So you're going to allow Thor to rule?" he said. "When he is clearly unfit for the throne?" 

Odin nodded and Loki scoffed in mixed anger and surprise. His voice was calm, cool, and talking to my best friend like he was three years old in need of reassurance that Santa existed. 

"Because he is my son." 

"It was my birthright!" Loki spoke in haste, clearly getting upset by this news about who was going to take over the throne after Odin died. He loved his people in his own way, and I couldn't understand why his father didn't see that in his son's voice. It hurt to see and hear this conversation. My heart began to bang in my chest in mixed emotions. Anger, sadness, fear for my friend and just plain confused as to why his own father didn't understand that all his son ever wanted was a chance for him to see he could rule just as well, if not better than his blonde brother. Also, Thor was a huge idiot in ruling a nation! I could see where Loki was coming from...

"Your birthright,"  Odin said with an emphasis on the letter 'T'. Leaning forward in his seat to peer at Loki with a look of contempt on his features, anger was evident in Odin's one good eye. I held my breath, knowing whatever came next wasn't going to be good at all for Loki to hear. "Was to DIE!" His voice echoed eerily in the huge hallway. Nobody seemed to even breathe after the king spoke so rude and harshly to his own son. My heart gave a very painful, sad and angry lurch. "Cold... alone, left on a rock to perish! We took you in... and you betrayed us all." He spoke so coolly and calm, I wasn't sure how long I could keep quiet. For a good moment, I just stood there, stunned and feeling everything Loki probably was. After that, I was seeing red, literally. Before I knew it, I had opened my big mouth to talk, but Loki did so too at the same time and I caught myself before I was heard.