A Gods Favor

A Not So Warm Welcome

Yrsa and Thor stood on either side of Loki, the tesseract in a mechanism held between them, when Tony approached her.

"Once you use that to fix your magic bridge," he gestured to the cube. "If you'd be interested I'd love to take you out to dinner. I know of a great Pho place. Very classy, if you're into that sort of thing."

Yrsa smiled as she looked down at him speaking just before Thor turned the mechanism. "Until next time, Stark."

-

Elora had returned to the city in time to see the god of lies brought back in chains. Heimdall had reached out to her the evening before to let her know Yrsa and Thor would be returning having completed their mission and she thanked him for the information before quickly mounting a horse and riding all night.

Now she stood in the throne room behind Frigga, cloaked from all eyes as Loki was led in in clanking chains.

"Loki," Frigga's voice was low and soft as if she were holding back tears.

"Hello, mother," he turned, indignation oozing from him. "Have I made you proud?"

"Please" Frigga begged. "Don't make this worse."

"Define worse." He leaned in slightly, sharp gaze narrowing before Odin spoke.

"Enough." Odin called out. "I will speak to the prisoner alone."

Elora stood stone still as she watched Frigga go until the sound of Loki's chains brought her attention back to the center of the room. She only half listened to Odin and Loki spar as she studied the prince. His hair had grown past his shoulders and his face had taken on harsh lines of rage. Despite that though he laughed and made light of everything he had done and Elora felt her own anger grow and bubble up in the giant hole she'd had in her soul for the last year.

"YOUR BIRTHRIGHT WAS TO DIE!" The king's sharp words made her head snap toward him. "As a child. Cast out onto a frozen rock. If I had not taken you in, you would not be here now to hate me."

Loki stepped forward, exasperated with his fathers words. "If I am for the axe, then for mercy's sake, just swing it."

-

"Well?" Frigga asked when Elora entered her chambers.

"Nothing I suspect you don't already know. He will live out his days in the dungeons and you are not permitted to see him."

Frigga waved her hands as she came up to Elora. "Yes, yes, but did he seem remorseful, did he say anything that might have Odin reconsider in time?"

"No," Elora met the queen's eyes. "In fact he told Odin if he was meant for the axe then to swing it."

-

Elora entered the great hall for dinner that night and was met with a chorus of claps and whistles from her friends.

"Ellie!" Volstagg stood and pulled her into a tight hug. "So glad you've decided to leave the depths of the forest and grace us with your presence."

"Yes, well, I had to congratulate the prince and princess on their success in retrieving the tesseract." Elora walked over to Yrsa, who waited with a broad smile, and hugged her before sitting. "Now the bridge can be mended and then the realms will soon follow."

"Will you return to Freyja and the witches or are you going to join us on our campaign for peace?" Sif asked before sipping at her wine. "We've heard you've grown quite formidable with your magic and it could be helpful."

Elora paused for a moment, eyes dropping to the table. When the bridge was destroyed and she lost her healing power she thought it better that she couldn't return to the other realms, unable to help as she once had. But with the option soon to be available again did she want to go? "I suppose we will see when the time comes. I'm here for now and I am glad that Thor and Yrsa have returned safe and sound."

"I do wish you had been here when we left." Yrsa confided with a mischievous smile that reminded Elora of the one Loki had given his mother earlier that day and she thought it strange that they shared no blood between them. The princess shared Thor's coloring and build but wit and charms were those of Loki. "I would have liked for you to have come with us. I met the metal man you told me about."

"I may not have been there in the flesh but I was there. I saw every attempt he made at wooing you, even some that you didn't." Elora had scried on her friends almost the entire four days they had been on Midgard and had witnessed the many, many not so subtle passes the brown haired man had made on the princess. "I think he fell in love the moment you put him through a tree."

Yrsa let out a deep laugh. "Well I am magnificent, who can blame him?"

-

Loki settled into his cell, furnished most likely at the insistence of Frigga. As the hours passed in boredom he felt himself begin to grow tired, there was no way to tell what hour of the day it was just that large chunks of time passed as guards rotated out, and he slipped into the tiny bed he'd been provided. When his eyelids grew heavy though, the black shadow from the glass cage began to appear at the edge of his vision again keeping him up for what he assumed was most of the night.