Hulda's strong breath blows over Sigyn's face. She hushes the large mare with soft whispers of her sweet voice. She changed into her riding attire. White jocks, long leather boots. A tight bodice with boning and light gold armour with Asgardian patterns. Running gentle hands down her shoulder. Hulda grazes on the fresh hay of her stable as the stable boy saddles up her horse. She brushes a wide combed brush through Hulda's white unruly mane. She does not mind Sigyn in her company.
Vali comes to stand at the stable doors. He leans against the post and tucked his hands into his belt. He admired the mare. "Mother." he said. Sigyn turned her attention to her son, but continued to brush Hulda. "Tell me," he began. "Jotunheim. What is it like? I know you and father have travelled every corner of the Nine Realms before my time."
She motioned at his attire with the brush. "You will need much warmer clothes than that."
"Are the stories of the Jotnar true?"
"Most." she replied. "The Jotun's were once a great race. Entities to torment the mortals and the gods. Giants true by their name. Before your father was born. I think your uncle Thor was just a mere boy - not only a few years of age. Asgard had a balanced but cautious friendship with Jotunheim. Until one day the Giants decided they wanted to enslave Midgard and in turn tried to freeze their realm."
"They started the ice age?" Vali enquired. "I have read their history books."
"They did." said Sigyn. "But this led to bloodshed that lasted no more than a day. Odin and his army pushed back the Jotnar into their realm, defeated them, took their source of power. He left their world in ruins."
"That would explain why they hate us."
Sigyn let out a breath. "Jotunheim is now a dark, cold, barren ice land. Left in ruins. Where once it was a great city. Do yourself a favour, my son. Go to the library, there you will find the books on Jotunheim and I want you to see the illustrations before Asgard laid waste to their home."
Vali pushed off the post. "Do you know what I would do if I was king?" he stepped closer to the horse.
"What would that be?"
"I would restore all the Nine Realms back to their former glory. Starting with Jotunheim."
Sigyn smiled. "Then you would make a great king." she dismissed the stable boy, and took Hulda by her reins. "What is wrong?" she asked when Vali didn't move.
He whispered. "Do you think Heimdall knows we're coming?"
She nodded. "Legend has it Heimdall can see a blade of grass. He knows." then she told him. "Collect your horse, let us be on our way." Sigyn left her stable guiding her mare. Her heavy hooves pounding the pavement behind her. Strutting gracefully.
She see's Lady Sif mounting her horse along side the Warriors Three. She see's Thor on his horse and Vali approaching with his. She does not see her husband.
Sigyn makes her way out of the stables and across the way she spot's her husband speaking urgently with an Einherjar. She called for him. "Loki!" he turned his head upon hearing her voice. He waved at her, said something final to the guard and hurried over.
"I am coming." he jogged by her to his black stallion, where a stable boy waited with the reins.
"What were you saying?" Sigyn hooked her foot into the stirrup and hauled herself onto the white pearl saddle. She slipped on black gloves with white fur rimming at her elbows.
Loki swiftly mounted his horse. "Oh, nothing." he chirped, smiling.
Sigyn did not pursue for she knew he would not say.
On the command of Thor and his mighty cheer, they followed him. Their horses running behind. The sound of a thousand thunder strikes the pavement as they followed the lower roads of Asgard and through the city until they found the rainbow bridge.
They followed the road. It's pure energy siphoning straight into the palace of Asgard. A thousand colours alight the glass bridge, bursting with energy as each hoof hit the bridge.
The closer they get to the observatory, they can see Heimdall himself guarding the entrance. Sword in hand. For Sigyn knew this would happen and she hoped he would not let them pass. He stands firmly before them unwavering. Expecting them.
His bright golden eyes trained on them. Or past them. Constantly seeing everything in the universe at once. There was something always other worldly and comforting about Heimdall, all-eye-seeing, gatekeeper of Asgard. He is stern. He is soft and malleable. Intimidating. Face virtually concealed by his helmet. Something glints beneath his visor like twinkling stars.
The party dismounts their horses and send them back as they have been trained to find their way back home.
Heimdall waits.
Loki cleared his throat stepping beside Thor. "Leave this to me." He was confident in his words. "Good Heimdall..." he greeted with a charming smile.
"You are not dressed warmly enough." he spoke finally. His voice always slowed Sigyn's heart.
Loki titles his head. "I'm sorry?"
"You think you can deceive me?" asked Heimdall. "For I can see every blade of grass."
Vali licked his lips. Sigyn knows he will not let them pass and something inside of her was grateful.
"You must be mistaken."
"Enough!" roared Thor, and overtook his brother. He was not going to beat around the bush or pretend Heimdall has not seen them plot. "Heimdall may we pass?" it was more of an order.
"Never." said Heimdall, firmly. "Has an enemy slipped by my watch; until this day. I wish to know how that happened."
"Then tell no-one of where we have gone until we have returned." Thor strides past Heimdall, and he does not draw his sword or attempt to stop them. He let them all pass.
"What happened?" Volstagg said, as he passed Loki. "Silver tongue turned to lead?" he chuckled, continuing into the observatory. Loki glaring at the back of his head.
"Come now, get me off this bridge before it collapses under your girth." he spit back, harshly.
Volstagg laughed.
Sigyn comes to her husbands side and puts her hand to his elbow. Squeezing. She gives him a sullen look. Their son was already inside taken to his uncles side, hardened and battle ready. She guides him past Heimdall and into the observatory.
Heimdall followed. He claimed the large control apparatus at the centre of the observatory. He lifts his mighty sword and slides it into the pedestal and twisted it to the left. Energy in the form of electricity spurted out of the pedestal hitting every large and small cog around them. Dancing and spitting from one to the next. The observatory comes to life around them.
Rumbling trough their feet and the dome began to turn. Machinery below the floor grinded into place and clicked together.
The dome began to spin faster and faster and faster.
The observatory's turret swings around and falls into place, aiming into a section of space. The turret winds up and fires shooting a stream of energy straight into the fabrics of space itself. Sigyn can feel the pull from where she stands. Any loose pieces of clothing is straining toward the stream.
"Be warned." Heimdall's deep voice said, aloud. "I will honour my sworn oath to protect this realm as its gatekeeper!" he speaks effortlessly over the noise. "If your return threatens the safety of Asgard, the Bifrost will remain closed. And you will be left to die on the cold wastes of Jotunheim."
Vali perked his brows. "Sounds delightful."
"Couldn't you just leave the bridge open for us?" Volstagg shouts.
"To keep this bridge open would unleash the full power of the bifrost and destroy Jotunheim with you upon it."
"I have no plan to die today!" Thor shouts back. Looking into the deep of space pulling at his form, desperate to have him.
"Good." said Heimdall. "Now go." he pushed his sword further down into the panel.
Their bodies stretch towards the maelstrom. Changing form as if every atom of their being is elongated by the pull of it. In that instant they are jerked off the platform and into the vortex. They are shot through space and time at the speed of light.
Thor at the front.
Vali behind him. His arms are stretched out, hands dipping into the stream and like glitter of seidr the bifrost dusts away like a boat carving through the sea. Stars glint past them. Deep pockets of black space. Bright galaxies. Swirls of light and space dust. They are formless. Energies. Light as the feather of a bird. The bifrost carves its way through space like a skilled butcher.
A hole is ripped open in the skies above Jotunheim. The bifrost thunders through and crashed into the ice. Snow flurries from the impact and the bifrost retreats. The bitter coldness hits their warm bodies and it comes as a shock at first.
A shiver runs down Sigyn's spine and she brings her arms into her chest. Their breath can be seen on the wind. The cold. It is harsh. Jabbing at them eager to find a weak point. Caressing their rosey cheeks drawing blood to the tips of their noses. Icicles are already forming on parts of their clothes.
Jotunheim. A icy waste land of large mounds of ice and what was once a great civilisation. There is proof of giant houses and towers around them. Now left to ruins and pieces.
Vali shrugged his shoulders and a black fur coat appeared around him. He pulled it tight, hugging his chest. He looked around them. The winds of winter wail and scream through cracks and deep crevices. Screams of long forgotten pain and desolation.
It seems deserted.
"Welcome to Jotunheim, young prince." Fandral says, teeth chattering. "Where it is cold all year 'round."
"I did not notice." sarcasm rolls off his tongue as naturally as it comes to his father, Loki. "I came in the hopes the sun would be shining." he gestures to the rolls of dark, hazy clouds overhead. Bits of hard snow fall around them.
Sigyn's eyes fall to her husband. He stands with no regard to the harsh coldness bitting them. But instead intently looking around for hidden Jotnar. He knows they have been alerted to their arrival. "Are you not cold, my love?"
Loki looked at her. Then shivered. "Of course. I am freezing." he replied, as if that knowledge should already be known. His breath fluffing outwards. A gush of icy wind screams from up side the cliff they landed on. Sigyn's white hair blows around her face and she hugs herself closer.
Vali's feet crunched across the snow and he dares look over. "It's a long way down." he stated. Nothing put a deep black crevice stared back up at him. "Looks like it pierces the centre of this world. I wonder what happened..."
"Asgard happened." Loki answered.
Vali stepped away from the edge. "It is not as cold as I was expecting."
"How can you say that?" said Lady Sif. "It is freezing worse than the winters on Asgard."
"I hear the winds of Helheim hath no competition to the winters of Jotunheim." Vali takes his coat from his shoulder. "Would you like my coat, Lady Sif? I have no need for it. I can fashion another." he puts it around her shoulders and she thanks him kindly.
Something somewhere cracks and crashes down shattering like a thousand mirrors. The world of Jotunheim is crumbling around them. Doomed for eternity. And ahead of them lay the ruins of a city.