It will come as no great surprise to you that we set out for Frigga's Well the next day. Loki trusted Doc Lee and his team enough to leave them alone in the hold for a day, and we were all more than a little curious to see what we would find.
"How do we make sure we don't get lost in the forest?" I asked. "None of us is in need of aid."
Loki summoned a dagger and grinned deviously. "I can alter that fact quite easily!"
"Or I can pound your face in with my hammer," Thor threatened back, knowing well enough that I wouldn't be the one on the receiving end of Loki's dagger.
"It was merely a jest, brother," Loki said hastily as the dagger disappeared in thin air. "I can cast a spell that summons a guiding trail to where we need to go. We've both been here before, once the guardians recognise us for who we are we should not be turned away."
Loki concentrated and a green glowing trail of light appeared before us. The forest was beautiful even in winter, and despite the snow on the ground the air felt warm and we could hear birds singing in the trees.
The closer we got to our goal, the warmer the air became, until the snow disappeared and the grass was green instead. Flowers of various shades and hues grew all around us, and I felt a similar sense of contentment as I always got near an Agartha portal.
"It smells like mother," Thor stopped to inhale the scent of the flowers.
"It feels like her too," Loki smiled.
"It's Her son!"
"And Her other son!"
"It's Thor!"
"It's Loki!"
"And they brought us a mortal to play with!"
Suddenly at least a dozen tiny voices came from between the trees, and before I could even begin to ready my magic we were surrounded by a myriad of fairies, their wings iridescent in the sunlight.
"It is alright, they won't hurt you," Loki reassured me. "They are mischievous, but not malicious."
I sighed in relief and let go of the anima I was holding. I hadn't forgotten the Nix and Nixies.
"Fairies! Bah, I hate fairies!" Thor grumbled as he tried to shoo them away with his hands.
The fairies fluttered around us, pulling the band out of my ponytail and started to braid my hair with flowers.
"It's easier to just let them," Loki grinned, his own hair already sporting multiple braids with flowers woven in.
"Leave me alone! Touch my beard and I'll..." Thor was trying to dodge and slap away the fairies around him to no avail.
"Just let them, brother, they just wish to make merry! They are gladdened by your presence!" Loki laughed, but Thor was not listening.
"As a matter of fact, making merry sounds wonderful to me right now, I may just join them," Loki said as he conjured himself a flute and skipped ahead, a flock of fairies dancing around him.
I smiled as I watched him go. I was tempted to join him too but decided to follow him at my own pace so I could keep an eye on Thor. I couldn't imagine any harm befalling Loki in this place.
"Thor, stop that!"
I picked up a fairy that had been zapped by a tiny lightning bolt. The fairy sat in my hand for a moment, shook their head groggily, gave me a tiny kiss as thanks and flew away.
"They are touching my beard!" Thor growled. He turned around. There weren't just flowers and braids in his long blond locks, they decorated his beard as well. I burst out in laughter before I could stop myself.
"I look ridiculous," Thor thundered as more tiny lightning bolts formed around his hand.
"Don't be mean to them, they are just trying to make you feel welcome," I pointed out. It was true, they were absolutely delighted to be visited by Frigga's sons.
Thor just scowled.
"They are your mother's creatures, think about what she would say if she saw you zap them!" I said as inspiration struck. It seemed to work because Thor slowly lowered his hand.
"The next one to touch my beard will get a swat with Mjolnir," he threatened as he stomped along. Together we followed the music of Loki's flute, which we could hear in the distance ahead of us.
A small brook babbled along beside us, there were flowers everywhere and the animals of the forest played and frolicked around us. The fairies played and chattered and danced in the air. There was such a strong sense of peace, love and happiness that it was impossible not to get swept up by it.
Loki was laying down against a tree by a small pond, the water babbling up from the well into it and feeding the brook we had just followed. He was still playing his flute, fairies dancing in the air and joining him with instruments of their own.
"There you are," he smiled as he stopped playing and patted the ground beside him. I smiled back and sat down next to him on a carpet of flowers. Fairies immediately began to unbraid my hair and rebraid it again.
"This place is amazing," I smiled.
"I truly believed it to be gone, without mother's care," Loki admitted. "I can't believe it is still here, the fairies maintained it all the time!"
"The little shits stole my phone!" Thor bellowed as he ran after a flock of fairies into the forest. I got up to chase after him but Loki pulled me back down again.
"No harm will come to him here, let him wear himself out a bit. These are our mother's chosen ones and they love him as much as if he was their own child."
I sat back down again. The fairies brought us a goblet each they had filled with water from the well. I looked at Loki before drinking from it.
"It's perfectly safe," he reassured me as he took a sip of his own. The water was cool and tasted fresh and sweet.
The fairies tittered to each other in a small huddle, and then finally the bravest one flew over to Loki.
"Who's the pretty lady?" They asked curiously.
"My wife, princess Sorcha," Loki smiled.
"Princess ?" I asked.
"To them, your title of princess by marriage to a prince of Asgard takes precedence over your title as Queen of Jotunnheim," Loki explained.
I was sure there was logic to it but I decided not to ask any further. All those titles I had suddenly come to bear made my head hurt at times.
For a while we sat by the water, watching the fairies frolic as Loki played his flute. Frigga's Well was one of the most beautiful places I had ever seen, and once again it struck me how truly blessed I was the day I got my Bee. Without it I would never even have known places like this existed, nor would I have met the amazing god by my side.
I looked at Loki. Playing his flute with the braids and flowers in his hair he looked every inch the pagan god of Mischief he was. He smiled as I moved a bit closer and kissed him.
"What did I do to deserve that?" he asked curiously.
"Just you being yourself, perfect in every way," I kissed him again. Forgetting we weren't alone, we kissed and cuddled until the fairies started pestering us and Loki started to play his flute again. I lay down with my head in his lap and listened, while the fairies danced around us.
I could feel the anima in the air, so thick I could almost taste it.
"So is the anima diminished here too?" I asked Loki.
He stopped playing. "A little, not as much as some other places."
"So what does that mean?"
"I don't know," Loki admitted with a frown. "So far there has been no rhyme or reason to which places are losing anima more rapidly than others. It is baffling even to me, I simply can't see the bigger picture."
"You'll work it out, I'm sure," I gave his hand a squeeze.
"Perhaps," Loki didn't seem convinced, "But for now it seems all our effort has been for nought."
"It was a good idea," I tried to console him.
"It was," Loki suddenly grinned, "and this place is too beautiful and the company too alluring to just sit here and be morose!"
"Come," he said as he stood up and bowed before me. "May I have this dance?"
I grinned and took his hand as he helped me to my feet.
The fairies changed their tune to a cheerful Asgardian ditty, and soon I found myself twirling through the glade. I didn't know the steps but following Loki's lead, they were easy enough to learn.
"I could dance here forever with you in my arms," Loki's eyes sparkled underneath the crown of white and golden flowers the fairies had placed on his brow. I smiled back, understanding fully how he felt, and let myself be swept away by the music in his strong arms.
"Got my phone back," Thor returned triumphantly. "Hey Loki, did you know there's a statue of Mother further on in a little clearing? It has her favourite kind of roses growing all around it, we should have a closer look!"
Loki stopped dancing, both of us slightly out of breath.
"I know where it is, you go ahead, we'll follow," Loki agreed.
Loki took my hand in his as we followed Thor into the trees.
"I had hoped to avoid visiting the statue, it is rather too lifelike for my taste. But I suppose we should at least go and pay our respects."
Loki's mood had changed instantly, as it so often did, and he frowned with a haunted look in his eyes.
It wasn't far and as we got closer I eyed the white marble statue standing in a beautifully maintained rose garden curiously.
Frigga had been tall, graceful, and breathtakingly beautiful, her long hair intricately braided and draped over one shoulder, the marble showing every small detail of her elaborate dress.
"Hello, mother," Loki whispered softly.
The statue was holding up one hand as if inviting the birds of the forest to perch on it. Something was dangling from her hand. Thor reached up and took it, an odd expression on his face.
"Loki..." his voice was strangely distant as he held up what was in his hand.
"Oh, dear..." Loki sighed, obviously either recognising or guessing what it was.
As Thor came closer I could see he held a necklace in his hand. It was a simple leather string with a stylised winged horse made of bronze dangling from it. It was well-made but far too simple and crude to match the elegance of the statue.
Loki patted Thor on his shoulder, his face sympathetic.
"You recognise it too, right?" Thor asked.
Loki nodded. "It's the necklace that you gave to Sif when we were children. I thought she lost it centuries ago."
"She didn't lose it, she threw it back in my face after a fight over my womanizing. She said she could wear it no longer while watching me dandle yet another lass on my knee every night.
I kept it and gave it back to her centuries later when I proposed.
Do you have any idea what it could be doing here?"
"Sif must have left it here as a message to you, she must have thought you'd visit this place during your stay on Midgard."
"That means she knows I'm here," Thor realised. "If she does, why didn't she come and seek me out?"
"I have no idea," Loki admitted. "Perhaps Odin forbade it, or her own mission is of such importance it takes precedence. But surely there is a significance to her leaving the necklace here? Is it a message you two agreed upon in the past perchance?"
Thor sadly shook his head.
Loki looked around for a moment and called over one of the fairies that were hovering nearby.
"The woman who left this necklace, Lady... I mean Princess Sif," Loki corrected himself, "did she leave a message as well?"
The fairy flew back to the others and for a while, they tittered in their tiny voices, until they admitted:
"She left a message!"
"We forgot!"
"We were too happy to have visitors!"
"Pretty sons!"
"With pretty hair!"
"And pretty music!"
"Yes, yes," Loki interrupted impatiently, "But what was the message? Please tell me you haven't forgotten?"
"She wrote it down!"
"There's a letter!"
"She gave us a letter!"
"We forgot about the letter!"
Loki rolled his eyes and sighed.
"And perhaps one of you could be so kind to go and get this letter? NOW?"
He shook his head as several of the fairies flew off, arguing over where the letter was kept.
"Mother truly had the patience of a goddess," Loki was forced to admit.
Eventually, they returned with the letter. I took Loki by the arm and we walked back to the well, giving Thor some privacy to read it.
"What was she like, your mother?" I asked, hoping Loki would be in the right mood to answer. By now I knew quite a bit about Odin, and of course about Thor too. But Frigga was still a mystery to me, Loki rarely mentioned her. As Loki started talking, I realised I was in luck.
"Most people who knew her would mention her kindness, her beauty, her elegance and her grace. They would tell you about her wisdom, or about her powerful witchcraft that could both heal and harm.
But that is not what I remember the most. The first thing that comes to my mind when I think about mother, is her laugh."
Loki sat down, pulling me beside him. His brow was furrowed in sadness, but on his lips played a small smile.
"Not many people knew this about her, her duties as the queen did not allow for much indulgence in that side of her, but she had a wicked sense of humour that showed to those who knew her even when she took great efforts to hide it.
More than once she would stand by Father's side as he would berate Thor and me for our antics, but her eyes would sparkle as she tried not to laugh."
Loki grinned.
"And when we were alone she would at times mock those she felt were deserving mercilessly! She could do amazing impressions of dignitaries that had visited, copying their behaviour and speech patterns with a devastating accuracy that would make even Father smile."
I listened in surprise, the little I knew about Frigga had done nothing to prepare me for that side of her.
"Mother's laughter could often be heard ringing from one side of the palace to the other, and it never failed to make those who heard it smile."
For a moment Loki fell silent as his mind dwelled upon the past.
"She was an amazing mother, warm, caring and always there when we needed her. Like you are with Jessie."
Loki's eyes met mine.
"You remind me so much of her."
I didn't really know what to say. Loki had always been generous with his compliments toward me, but I knew him well enough to know that no flowery words or beautiful prose could have been a bigger compliment than those simple words.
"And just like Jessie and you are doing now, she and I grew closer as I grew up, not more distant as so many parents and their children do.
We took genuine pleasure in each other's company and we shared so many interests. We both loved reading the same books and loved the same music, poetry, and plays. We could spend hours discussing theories concerning the arcane.
We had a kinship that went beyond blood, a friendship that was as close and as true as could be.
And just like I am prone to do with you, I found myself often telling her far more than I meant to, found myself confiding my greatest self-doubts and my deepest fears."
Loki looked unseeing into the distance, his eyes filled with an ancient hurt that time had failed to dull.
"She was more than my mother, she was my best friend."
He sighed.
"And all those years, she lied to me. She knew who I truly was, what I truly was. And perhaps that may not have mattered to her, perhaps it truly didn't.
But it mattered to me."
I leaned my head against his shoulder.
There was so much that I could say, about how much Frigga had seemed to love him, how there are so many parents who love their adopted children just as much as their own.
But no words of mine could take away the sense of betrayal Loki felt at the lie she had helped to uphold, and his feelings and his pain were real and valid and I didn't want to invalidate them.
So I just listened and let him talk instead.
"I don't think I will ever be able to forgive Odin, but I wish I could find it in my heart to forgive her. Perhaps her loss would hurt less if I could."
Loki rested his cheek against my head. I took his hand in mine as we sat together in silence, and all I could do was hope that the simple presence of my company made the pain more bearable for Loki as he mourned.
It took a long time for Thor to return, his big handsome face looking sad.
"Everything okay?" I asked him, although the answer was clearly written on his face.
Thor shook his head.
"She didn't write where she is or how to find her. But she is here on a mission for Father, chasing after an old enemy of hers that needs to be stopped before it is too late.
The rest of her words were for my eyes only," Thor's voice was hoarse as if he had cried.
"Than perhaps we should leave before night sets, we've all had our fill of this place by now I'm sure," Loki's words were matter-of-fact but his voice was equally rough.
"There was one thing," Thor looked at Loki as if he was trying to read his reaction, "Sif warned me to stick to my own mission, and not to be fooled. 'Do not trust Loki, he is not what he seems.' It seems oddly phrased to me, do you have any idea what it means?"
Loki raised his eyebrows, pursing his lips in surprise.
"I have no idea, probably just not to trust me. We both know Sif doesn't like me. Let's go home."
But for a moment there had been a flicker of fear in his eyes. I wasn't certain if Thor had seen it, I didn't think he had, but I did.
There was no use in questioning Loki though. All I could do was hope he'd confide in me before it was too late, so I could be prepared to have his back the moment Loki's past would come back to haunt us yet again.