Soulbonds and Fairy Dust

Chapter 16

Sig smiled at Loki's romantic gesture, her expression soft, the light in her eyes warm and full of caring. She appreciated that he cared enough to heal the wound for her. "I can heal others about as well as Mama Frigga can," she paused and remembered that she was an adult now and should probably refer to Frigga in a more appropriate manner "the Allmother," she corrected quickly and she saw Loki's smirk at her correction. "I can't heal myself though, especially not wounds made for blood magic..."

"That makes sense. Though blood magic is a dangerous thing..." it was also illegal on Asgard, but he wasn't calling her on it, not when it had been necessary. And she'd used her own blood for it.

"It is," she agreed. "Unfortunately it's the only way to open or close a door to Underhill without a lot more power than I'm prepared to use right now." It was possible to close the doors in other ways, but it was difficult at best and dangerous at worst.

Loki sighed and nodded in acceptance. "Just try not to use it around the palace. Mother even banned me from learning that type of magic,"

She nodded her agreement quickly. "I'm not surprised the Allmother has banned the learning of blood magic. It is too easily corrupted. Don't worry, I'd never use anyone else's blood and I'm very careful about using it at all. I think even she'll forgive me for using it to close one of the doors to Underhill,"

"After what you told me about what happened to you there, you're probably right." He wouldn't speak for Frigga, but he knew his mother well enough to know how she'd likely react.

"She won't want the possibility of other children being kidnapped, especially not so close to the palace where it's supposed to be safest," Sig reminded him. Frigga was protective of her people, which wasn't surprising at all of Asgard's queen.

Loki nodded his agreement agreement. "It would not be good for more Asgardian children to be taken from their homes," he said sadly. He'd remembered the day that Sig was taken far too well.

"There's other doors on Asgard, but none close enough to be a danger right this moment," she told him as they headed back to the palace. "And strong enough fae can open new ones..." it was a rare skill and only the strongest of the fae could manage it, but it was a possibility that they needed to be aware of.

Loki nodded his understanding again and she could see the concern in his expression. "Should I inform my mother or the Allfather of the possibility of more kidnappings?" Sig noted the distinction between Frigga being called 'my mother' and Odin being called by his title. Things between Odin and Loki were rocky indeed for that to be his term of address. That wasn't surprising with everything that Loki had gone through.

"I'm sure they're aware of the possibility, though it sounds like they might not know about the doorways? That's how the fae slipped past Heimdall all those centuries ago. I don't think he can see the doorways," she told Loki. Heimdall was supposed to be able to see everything, but even he wasn't infallible. Odin and Frigga needed to know there was a weakness in the realm's defenses.

He nodded. "I will inform them of the doorways. They will need to keep an eye on them. If there are any other strong magicians here, they should be able to feel the magic the doorways give off," he told her, trying to sound reassuring.

Sigyn wasn't reassured.

"They can't close them," she reminded him. He seemed to have forgotten that point. Knowing where the doorways were wasn't good enough.

"I know, but they can keep an eye on them. Especially if the fae decide they want to take more asgardian children," he reasoned. Anything was better than nothing until they could figure out how to deal with the portals.

"Do you really expect the Allfather to allow the matter to rest there when I can close them? Especially when no one else here can?" Sig didn't believe for one moment that Odin was going to let her out of this without closing the rest of the doorways, especially any doorways that were too close to the population.

Loki sighed, seeing her point. "No, but he won't argue with Mother once we inform her of what it requires you to do,"

Sig wasn't convinced by that logic. Odin would do anything to keep Asgard safe, including convince his wife that a little blood magic was allowed. Or that overworking the only person who could close the doorways was worth the risk to get the doorways closed. "If I have a map, I can at least pinpoint the locations of the doorways for them," she told Loki softly. She didn't tell him how strong of a fae it took to close the doorways. She figured he didn't know and there was no need to inform him at this juncture.

Loki nodded. "We will do what we can,"

By then the pair had made it back to the palace. Sig paused just inside, trying to determine what the plan was. "Are you telling them about the doorways before or after dinner?" she asked. She'd lost track of how much time they had before dinner, and how much time it had taken to close the doorway.

"After," Loki decided after a small pause to consider. "Let's enjoy dinner before we have to deal with business."