"Wow, so this is how gods live, huh?" Carter grinned as she put down her bags.
"Only recently, our old cottage was a lot smaller!" I grinned back as I embraced her. I had always felt a sense of responsibility for the children of the island, and in a small way, I thought of them as mine. Carter was going to be staying with us for as long as she was doing the internship. While the commute back to her student digs in Oxford wouldn't have been too long thanks to Agartha, it was just as easy and we had rooms to spare.
She was wearing skinny jeans and a baggy sweater and her short hair was a tousled mess.
"This place is awesome!" she proclaimed as I showed her around.
"Just wait until you see the control room, the armoury and the study," I smiled.
Loki, who was supposed to have been at the door with me to greet her, was in the study reorganising his shelves for the third time since we moved in.
"Is that a Sov-Tech Paradox Generator?" Carter asked curiously.
Loki looked up, a surprised look on his face.
"It is, from the early forties or so I believe, I acquired it recently in a sale."
Carter dropped her bags and walked over.
"Man, that is ancient! Look at how clunky it is, they make those practically pocket-sized now!"
"It is, but it is far more powerful than the ones you can buy in Ealdwic nowadays. It is terribly anima-inefficient though, which is what I was trying to correct, If you see here..."
Soon both of them were bent over a workbench taking the generator apart, neither of them noticing I was still standing there.
I shrugged with a smile and picked up Carter's bags. Her room was all ready for her, she could unpack when she had time.
A few hours later I brought them tea and biscuits and knocked on Anthony's door as well. Anthony gratefully accepted the refreshments, he was always painfully polite.
"Why don't you have dinner with us tonight, Anthony?" I asked, not for the first time. "Carter is there too so it won't be just family, and we'd love to have you there. It would give the two of you a chance to get to know each other, we'll all be living under the same roof for the next while."
To my surprise, he agreed. As a matter of fact, he had dinner with us the nights after that as well.
It was a full house but often filled with music and laughter, Loki's wonderful cackle and Thor's booming laugh echoing throughout the hold.
Loki was far more patient with Carter, who was bright and often picked up what he showed her right away. Sometimes I even caught her teaching Loki something new instead!
They were often giggling together in the study while tinkering away, and I was delighted Loki got on so well with his new protégé.
"Can you have a word with Carter?" Loki asked while we were doing the dishes together. "I think something is bothering her, but she won't talk to me about it."
I always insisted on all of us having dinner together, but invariably the others had run out of the kitchen the moment dinner was finished, excuses of "I need to do homework assignments,", "Matt is expecting me for a game,", "I've got more translating to do," flying around the moment I mentioned dishes.
"I need to be in another room urgently," hadn't worked for Loki, and he had been handed a tea towel before he could think of a better excuse. I don't know why they all objected, the dishwasher did most of the work anyway.
"She talked to me earlier," I admitted. "She broke up with Danny."
"What?" Loki was as surprised as I had felt. The two of them had been perfect for each other as their friendship had slowly grown into something deeper.
"I just feel like I have no choice but to be with Danny, you know?" Carter had confided in me.
"But I thought you really liked him?"
"I did, I do! But he was the only boy of the same age on the island and I was the only girl because Kyra is so much younger. It wasn't exactly as if we had options. And I think that if I stay with Danny now, I'll always wonder if he's with me because I'm the only one available to him."
"You know that's not true, he cares deeply for you," I argued.
"Perhaps, but it's not like he's had a chance to meet someone better, has he? Nor will he ever."
Carter wasn't wrong of course, as far as the outside world was concerned, the island and the people on it didn't exist anymore.
"I just don't want my first and only relationship ever to be by default."
"You two were dating for a while, what brought this on now?"
"I've had doubts ever since I was admitted to OOU, it isn't easy being able to leave when he has to stay. Danny doesn't want to show it because he was really happy for me when I was admitted, but I think he's a bit jealous.
And then last night we were Facetiming and he asked if I was open to polyamory," she sighed.
"What?" Loki's reaction was the same as mine when I told him. "What possessed him to ask that? Not that I object to the concept as such, as long as everyone is a consenting adult people should do what makes them happy, but what made him suggest that?"
"He feels guilty that he and Carter are together, and Kyra will have no one when she grows up," I shook my head. "Danny doesn't see Kyra in that way at all and she is way too young, but he wonders if it is his responsibility since all the other men on the island are far older."
Loki ran a hand through his hair and shook his head.
"The halfwitted dolt, how did he think that would go?"
"He's trying to do the right thing, to look after the girls I suppose," I defended Danny. I knew it hadn't been the wisest suggestion, but I could see his heart was in the right place when he made it. I could also see why it had led Carter to break up with him, she must have wondered if he was with her for the same reason.
"He should have been less worried about his responsibilities and more about Anthony Ryan," Loki muttered.
"Anthony?" it was my turn to sound surprised.
"Haven't you seen the doe-eyes he and Carter are making at each other? And he's been having dinner with us every night since she arrived, before that he preferred to dine alone."
"Poor Danny," I said softly. "With his father gone, he doesn't really have anyone to talk to him or give him advice about things like this."
Loki was quiet, a frown on his face, as we continued to do the dishes in silence.
"I think I might stop by the island tonight," he said suddenly, "check on the wards."
I hid a smile, I knew very well that wasn't what he was going to the island for.
He put on his long black coat and pulled me in for a kiss.
"Don't wait up, I might need all night."
"I'll get the ice cream and a romcom out for Carter," I smiled. "Say hi to Danny for me."
Loki smiled back and winked, then stepped out into the cold. Underneath that arrogant and callous exterior of his lay a kind heart, something only very few were privileged enough to see.
Life was good, and we were happy.
Carter and Danny stayed broken up, but whatever Loki had said seemed to have helped Danny, and Carter and Anthony were regularly spending evenings watching Netflix in Carter's room. (Or at least that's what I liked to believe they were doing but it was none of my business.)
Jessie was getting used to the new home, Loki still had his nightmares but was sleeping better besides that, and Thor was still a bit homesick but happier now he knew Sif was alright.
The waning of magic had become background noise to our lives, something that we knew was happening but could do very little about. It was worrisome, but not enough to ruin the contentment we felt with our lives together.
Little did we know, it was merely the calm before the storm.
It was a quiet day.
Carter had a meeting with a professor, Jessie was at university, Anthony was in his room buried under a pile of Jotunn tablets or so I assumed, and Thor was practising in the training room. Loki had programmed the golems to see Thor as a non-hostile entity. This hadn't been easy with Thor being Asgardian, and the only way he could find to do it was to have the golems acknowledge Thor as a slave, to Thor's great chagrin. At least it meant we could keep the security on without them flying out every time he set foot in the hold.
Loki was tinkering with the remains of one of the portals, the broken parts spread out over various workbenches.
"You know, if I can fathom how these were supposed to work, I might be able to recreate them. We could place a portal here and one back at the cottage, that way we could instantly travel between both homes," Loki mused.
I looked up from the report I was writing and smiled at him.
"That would be brilliant! Not having to lug groceries through Agartha would be handy for a start."
Loki smiled back. He was wearing jeans and a t-shirt, his hair tucked behind his ears with one stubborn strand falling into his face no matter how often he wiped it back in place.
I loved how happy and content he looked, he had come so far from the angry, embittered and lonely person he was when we first met.
We both jumped as the alarm went off, Loki was already halfway out of the room before I even left my chair. He bounded ahead on his long legs and had pulled up the view of the entrance of the hold before I even entered the control room.
The large projection showed a lone rider on a snowmobile, clad from top to toe in black leather, not snow gear but the kind a biker would wear. The black jacket had big white wings on it, "Valhalla's Angels" in bold letters printed under them. A shotgun was strapped to their back.
Halja was the first person to come to my mind, but despite the rider being just as tall, it didn't seem quite right.
"Oh by Ymir's ingrown toenails, now what?" Loki swore in annoyance.
The rider stopped, got off the bike and took off their helmet. Long auburn hair (proper auburn, not mousy like mine) tumbled down from a high ponytail. The woman was tall and broad-shouldered, and incredibly beautiful. She exuded confidence and power, but certainly wasn't Halja.
I watched in horrid fascination as she unstrapped something from the side of the snowmobile, and lifted it up on her shoulder.
"Is that... a portable rocket launcher?" I asked as the woman took aim right at the doors of the hold.
Loki didn't answer. As a matter of fact, he had gone awfully quiet the moment the woman had taken her helmet off.
"Loki?" I turned around to see Loki standing behind me; his eyes wide with horror, his face pale. "Loki?"
Thor came barging in from the training room, just as the first rocket hit the doors, the explosion causing a resounding boom. The doors held, sturdy enough to withstand almost anything.
"What is happening?" Thor asked breathlessly.
"We're under attack by some crazy woman," I said. "I think Loki knows her."
Thor's reaction to the woman on the projection was very different from Loki's. His face beamed with the widest smile I had ever seen, and his eyes lit up like stars.
"Open the doors, Loki," he shouted at his brother.
"No, nononononono..." Loki mumbled while shaking his head.
"LOKI!" Thor roared, "open the doors!"
"That is a bad idea, a terrible, terrible idea..." Loki's eyes pleaded with Thor.
"I'm with Loki here," I yelled over the sound of yet another explosion hitting the doors. "Whoever that insane person is, she's trying to blow us all up!"
"OPEN THE DOOR LOKI, AND LET ME GREET MY WIFE!" Thor thundered so loudly that everything in the room that wasn't nailed to the floor shook.
Oh. I suddenly felt rather foolish, I hadn't considered that option.
Quickly I disabled the alarm.
"Thor, you better make sure she doesn't bring that thing in the house, and that she doesn't attack Loki!" I said, but Thor was already out of the room before I finished talking. 'No portable rocket launchers in the house' wasn't a rule I had ever thought I needed to make, and yet here we were.
I ran after Thor who was already opening the doors.
"Loki Serpent-Tongue, show yourself so I can blow your head off!" Sif's voice boomed almost as powerful as Thor's.
Thor stepped out. "Sif, it's me!"
Another explosion hit the side of the hold.
"Enough games, think I'd fall for that old trick again?" Sif scoffed.
"The next one won't miss," she warned as she loaded another rocket into the launcher.
"Flowerpetal, it's me, it is really me," Thor pleaded with his wife, holding up his hands, "It's me, Thor, your honey-bear!"
"Honey-bear?" Sif's eyes lit up at the ridiculous nickname.
"Flowerpetal!" Thor sounded overjoyed.
I stuffed my fist in my mouth trying not to laugh. Flowerpetal? Honey-bear? And Thor had dared to make fun of us calling each other darling and love!
"Who's that behind you? Is that you, Loki? Show yourself!"
I came out from behind Thor and gave a little wave. I was in my pyjama trousers, my bunny slippers and a fluffy fleece hoodie, not the most impressive of sights.
Sif frowned in confusion.
"This is Sorcha, my sister, my Chosen, my fellow Worthy of Mjolnir!" Thor announced proudly.
"Your sister? Are you under one of Loki's spells?" Sif asked suspiciously.
"No, no, she's my sister-in-law, our sister-in-law! She's married to Loki!"
"So he is here then?" Sif asked.
She pointed the rocket launcher at me without waiting for an answer.
"Loki, show yourself or the next rocket will be blowing your wife to pieces!"
I readied my magic, shards of frost forming around my hands. But Loki was faster as he dropped his invisibility spell and revealed himself beside me.
"I'm here Sif, no need to threaten anyone else."
"Good, it was about time. I have no idea what magic hold you have over these two, and quite frankly I don't care. Your spells will fade soon enough once you are dead. Before I kill you, I have one question though."
She lowered her rocket launcher and aimed her shotgun at Loki instead. I could feel the anima emanating from it, the ammo was magical and well able to hurt even a god.
"I've been hunting your kind down for quite some time now.
Which Loki are you?"