For the vast majority of their lives, Loki and Thor had slept in rooms within Odin and Frigga’s suite. They had fairly recently moved into small suites of their own across the hall. It had been a decision all parties concerned had embraced. Both boys relished the sense of independence their new accommodations had brought them; Odin and Frigga enjoyed the quieter atmosphere and in what felt like millennia, something that approached privacy.

But when Odin peered into Thor’s rooms, he was hardly surprised they stood empty. He instead found Thor seated at the broad dining table in Odin and Frigga’s suite. Several bowls filled with food were set out on the table; Thor wasn’t interested in any of it. He had pushed his plate away and sat with his elbows anchored against the tabletop and chin sunk into his hands.

Asta hovered over him, speaking animatedly. She was technically one of Frigga’s attendants — the boys were too old for a nanny, but she spent as much time corralling Thor and Loki as she did on managing Frigga’s correspondence and public engagements. As Odin strode in, he got the impression she had been cajoling Thor into eating, but she had been speaking too softly for Odin to hear and when she saw him, she fell silent altogether.

‘I’ll take it from here, Asta. Thank you,’ he said.

‘Of course, sire,’ she replied inclining her head lightly in his direction. ‘I hope the night is not as eventful as the day has been, for any of us.’

Thor lifted his head and his eyes followed the path of her departure, his expression growing more uncertain with every step she took. ‘Is Loki —’

‘He will recover,’ Odin said. ‘You’ll be able to visit him tomorrow or the day after.’

‘Oh, that’s good! I thought… well, everyone looked so very worried.’

Despite the smile that had broached Thor’s face, he remained ill at ease. He wore fresh clothing now and his hair was damp. Likely Asta had ordered him into a bath the moment she saw him. Hot water and what had probably been a generous amount of scrubbing had revealed a dark bruise across the line of his jaw. The bruise would be gone by the morning, but it did remind Odin that he had more than one traumatised child on his hands tonight. With a weary sigh, he sat himself down next to Thor — the seat Loki usually sat in when they dined as a family.

‘Can you tell me what happened today?’ Odin said in as even a tone as he could manage.

Thor balled his hands. ‘I’m really sorry,’ he muttered. ‘I know we shouldn’t have done it!’

‘Thor, start at the beginning.’

‘Sorry,’ Thor said. ‘The beginning? Um. Our history class was cancelled today — the tutor was sick. We were bored and even Loki agreed that the work we had from the other tutors was really dull. We ended up just talking about how the Valkyries used to hunt bilgesnipes for training. So we thought we should try that too. But then we found one and it was so much bigger than I thought it’d be. It was chasing me until Loki distracted it. But then his horse panicked and he was thrown off, so he ended up on foot. I brought a bow with me and I hit it with two arrows, but when I did, the beast fell on top of Loki.’

‘Did you kill it?’ Odin asked.

‘No, I-I don’t think so. It rolled over and sort of slunk off. I wasn’t sure if it was going to come back, so I dragged Loki away as quickly as I could.’ Thor winced. ‘Loki was screaming really loud then.’

Bilgesnipes had thick hides; Odin was rather surprised Thor’s practice arrows had inflicted sufficient injury to bring the creature down even briefly. But then Thor and Loki had snuck off into the forest to hunt bilgesnipe; you didn’t bring blunted arrowheads and wooden swords on a hunt.

‘Is he really going to be ok?’ Thor asked and after a momentary pause, went on, ‘I don’t know what happened to his horse. I couldn’t see it and I didn’t want to stay in the forest any longer, not with the chance the bilgesnipe might return. There’s probably more than one bilgesnipe in that forest too.’

‘There is a reason everyone in Asgard knows to avoid travelling through the forests in the foothills, especially during these months of the year,’ Odin replied.

Thor blushed. ‘It was a silly thing to do, I realise that.’

‘It was, very silly in fact. So whose idea was it? Yours? Or Loki’s?’

‘Loki’s!’ Thor responded quickly. Too quickly for Odin’s liking.

‘Is that so?’ he pressed.

Thor sucked in a breath then nodded emphatically. ‘Loki suggested it.’

‘Ah, I see,’ Odin said. Resolving to continue this discussion another day, he surveyed the food growing cold on the dining table. Thor had, in fact, eaten his fair share, except where the salad was concerned. There really was far more there than a child could eat; Asta must have hoped Odin would arrive in time to dine with Thor. ‘It’s time for bed now, I think. But let me guess, you haven’t completed your assignments, have you?

‘We didn’t, no.’

‘All right. I’ll have a note sent to your tutors explaining the circumstances and ask them to give you a day’s extension. When your work is done tomorrow afternoon and if Loki is feeling well enough, you may be permitted to visit him briefly. I will leave that to the healers’ discretion.’

‘Thank you, father,’ Thor said. ‘Good night then.’

As Thor pushed his chair back, Odin tapped his fingers against the mahogany tabletop. The boy wasn’t about to receive the reprieve he was hoping for.

‘One more thing,’ Odin said. ‘From now on, neither you nor Loki is to step outside this palace without my permission. I don’t even want you out in the courtyard unless you are at your lessons and under your teachers’ supervision.’

Thor nodded, then in a hesitant tone asked, ‘Just the one thing?’

‘For now. But don’t think this is the last you’ll be hearing about your deeds today. I want to speak with Loki before I decide whether this incident merits further punishment and what form that should take.’

Thor’s eyes made a jerky sweep of the room before settling on the floor. Odin bit back several choice comments. Thor’s behaviour didn’t impress, but it seemed premature to make the correction now. He would let Thor squirm with his guilty conscience for a while and see how events played out. Children could come to the right conclusion without interference. And if paternal interference was required, Thor would find this escapade with bilgesnipe hunting very instructive.

Odin stopped briefly by Loki’s bedchamber, then headed back to the Medical Wing. It was much quieter there now. The assistant healers and trainees had dispersed; Eir stood alone by the Med Cradle. She was carefully washing away remnants of dirt and blood from Loki’s face.

‘He continues to do just fine,’ she said with a warm smile.

Odin had known Loki wasn’t in danger; he had stayed in the Medical Wing until Eir and her assistants had finished the bulk of their work. Still, Eir’s words seemed to lift a weight off his shoulders.

Or, some of the weight at least.

Eir, or one of her staff, had covered the lower half of Loki’s body with a soft woollen blanket, but his shirt had been taken off so Eir could clean him up. As he inhaled and exhaled, the lines of his chest bones were clearly visible beneath his pale skin. An encounter with a bilgesnipe was no minor incident for a grown man; it was far more serious for a child of Loki’s age and relatively delicate stature.

‘I brought up one of his night-shirts,’ Odin said. ‘I thought he would feel better if he is in something familiar when he wakes up.’

‘A good idea,’ Eir replied as she gently patted Loki’s chin dry with a towel. ‘It’ll be easiest if you can hold him up while I get him dressed.’

Odin nodded, he rarely had to dress a sleeping child, but he had experience enough to know how cumbersome it could be to do so unassisted. He had also brought over a book Loki had sitting on his bedside table. He set it down on one of the trays by the Med Cradle, then put one hand behind Loki’s head and slipped the other under the boy’s lower back. It was only then that he noticed a clear wire running from under a bandage over the crook of Loki’s right arm up to a semi-rigid canister suspended in the air beside Eir. The canister was half-filled with a clear substance that seemed to be dripping into the wire.

‘What purpose does this serve?’ Odin motioned to the spot where the wire met Loki’s air.

Eir slipped Loki’s indigo nightshirt over the boy’s head and manoeuvred his left arm through the sleeve. ‘He lost a considerable amount of blood today. I can’t give him anything from our supplies; this is an alternate way to replenish his system. The drip slows the delivery; his body would be overwhelmed if the entire quantity is sent into his bloodstream all at once.’

‘What’s wrong with your supplies?’

‘The blood replenishers we have use Asgardian blood as a base. I don’t even have anything suitable to create one appropriate for Loki, let alone stock on hand.’

She let Loki’s head rest in Odin’s palm as she disconnected the wire, slipped Loki’s right arm into the sleeve and reconnected the drip. Once they lay Loki back down Odin thought indigo hadn’t been the best choice, it contrasted too heavily with the colourlessness of Loki’s skin and highlighted the heavy bags under Loki’s eyes.

‘Why not use his own blood as a base?’

‘His blood is laced with venom. It’d take two days of work to eliminate all traces of the venom from any sample I could collect today.’

‘Right, of course.’ Odin sighed. ‘Are you certain he will recover without blood replenishment?’

Eir offered him a dark look as she pulled over a wheeled bed. ‘Somewhat more slowly, but it won’t affect the outcomes long term.’

She left unsaid what had to be her next thought: What would you do about it if his life were in danger? Eir was one of the few on Asgard who knew. Odin and Frigga had little notion about how to care for a frost giant baby, especially one who had been left out exposed to the cold for many hours and had developed a severe lung infection by the time Odin had brought him to Asgard. If not for Eir, Loki likely wouldn’t have survived another week. But she had always her opinions about the way Loki had been brought into the royal family — opinions Odin was in no mood to listen to tonight.

‘Frigga’ll be beside herself when she hears about this,’ he said. ‘Although I do wish she were here. Loki and Frigga are so close, I’m sure he would be more comforted by her presence than mine.’

‘You did just fine earlier. Will you help me move him?’

Odin nodded. Loki barely weighed anything. If it was merely a matter of weight, Eir would have had no trouble moving Loki on her own. But when she pulled off the blanket off Loki, she exposed the semi-rigid braces that ran along the length of Loki’s legs. As, with Odin’s assistance, she gently manoeuvred Loki into the wheeled bed, she must have seen something in his face.

‘It’s not as dire as you’re no envisioning,’ she said. ‘Healed bones take time to fully harden and the ligaments and tendons to find their proper shape. There is still a great deal of swelling throughout too. The braces will protect from any further damage, especially when he finds some energy again.’

Odin drew the blanket back over Loki, pulling it all the way up to the boy’s chin. ‘How long will he have to wear these? Or is there always going to be some damage?’

‘I believe some scars will remain. A wound touched by venom seldom heals fully. The braces will only be for a week or two. There may be lingering stiffness for some further weeks afterwards.’

‘But he’ll walk and run and –-’

‘If some patience is had for the recovery process to complete,’ Eir replied and Odin had the suspicion he, Frigga and Loki would be hearing echoes of these words over the coming weeks and possibly months. She raised the side railings on the bed. Odin, meanwhile, moved Loki’s book from the medical tray to the bed. ‘I think it’ll be better if he stays in a room in the adult ward, not the children’s one.’

The Medical Wing at the palace was fully equipped to treat every sort of injury, but it was not a proper hospital. When there were serious, long-term cases, once they were stabilised, patients were typically transferred to the public hospital in the city. But most of Eir’s patients could receive follow-on treatment in their own quarters in the palace. The wing, therefore, had little permanent space dedicated for in-patient beds — two rooms for adults and one for children, all capable of accommodating four beds each.

‘Why not the children’s?’ Odin asked, careful not to let the bed slip out of his control while they rounded a corner.

‘I have two girls in there with the pox.’

‘Loki’s had it, there’s no reason to worry about him catching it.’

Eir pointed to one of the doors further down the corridor. ‘I remember,’ she said. ‘It’s more that the girls are quite high-spirited even while ill. I don’t think Loki would appreciate their company.’

‘Likely you’re right.’

The door Eir had pointed to opened to an empty dormitory intended for sick adult residents of the palace. Odin himself had spent a night here once or twice. They decided to let Loki have the bed next to the window, in part because there was already an armchair there that Odin thought looked comfortable enough to be sat in for a few hours at a time.

‘Are you sedating him through the night?’ he asked.

Eir shook her head. ‘I’m hoping the sedation will wear off soon and then we can persuade him to sleep on until morning on his own. Natural sleep is more beneficial than one derived from anaesthetics. He should come around in an hour so. Do you want to sit by him meanwhile?’

‘I will.’

‘I’ll be in and out to check on the two of you.’

She dimmed the lights and left Odin to watch over Loki by himself. The room lacked a clock and heavy clouds dominated the sky, so there was no hope of telling the time of the night from the position of the stars. Odin fretted in his seat, adjusting the blanket around Loki and his thoughts jumping from the diplomatic negotiations he had abandoned, to Frigga’s absence, to Thor and inexorably, back to anxious fears about Loki’s welfare.

In an attempt to stop the chaotic roiling of his mind, Odin picked up Loki’s book and opened it up. The book was old, some of the ink fading and the pages yellowing around the edges. It was one of those adventure stories popular among Asgardian boys — full of warriors fighting dangerous beasts and competing for the hearts of fair women. Flicking through the pages, Odin had the inkling that he too must have read it in his youth, although he couldn’t remember much of the storyline. But Loki must have found it quite entertaining; he had left a bookmark tucked in three chapters from the end.

Loki rolled his head to the side. Odin closed the book and set it aside, but his son wasn’t yet ready to join the world of the woken. Loki emerged from the sedation slowly, for many minutes only the occasional small movement of his arms or head suggested that he was verging on consciousness. To Odin’s elation, however, eventually Loki’s eyelids did flicker open.

‘Hello there,’ he said softly.

‘Father?’ Loki responded. His voice came out raspy and his eyes were still bleary as he looked around the shadowed room. His shoulders stiffened. ‘Where am I?’

‘You’re in the palace Medical Wing. Do you remember what happened?’

Loki was silent for a long while, his eyes not quite focused on anything solid, then he nodded. ‘We went out to the forest and there was a bilgesnipe. Thor brought me back to the palace.’ He tucked his chin down almost to his chest and when he continued, Odin could barely make out what he was saying. ‘The healers had to get the spurs out and I — You must be very angry with me.’

‘I certainly have no cause to be pleased with you or your brother.’

Odin had quite a few words on his mind about the matter, but he left him for another day — Eir had returned and seeing that Loki was awake, she hurried over to his bed. ‘Now look at that, our young prince is with us again. I’ve missed those big green eyes of yours. How are you feeling, Loki?’

‘Tired, I guess,’ he replied hesitantly. ‘It doesn’t hurt as much now.’

‘But it still hurts,’ Odin said.

‘Not that much. It’s fine. I’ll be fine,’ Loki replied and it was clear that he was forcing certainty into his words that he didn’t necessarily feel. Gritting his teeth, he propped himself up on his elbows.

Odin tried to catch Eir’s eye and give her a meaningful look in regards to a new dose of pain relief for Loki, but the woman was preoccupied with pulling up a screen above Loki’s bed. The screen showed a great many words and numbers that remained incomprehensible no matter how hard Odin tried reading into them. Eir, however, found something in that information that left her frowning.

‘Lie back down, darling,’ she said. ‘Your heart is still working very hard. I want you to rest as much as you can now and I don’t think you’ll be resting well if your body is aching. So I’m going to give you something to help with that and after, your father and I will leave you alone so you can get back to sleep. It’s very late in the evening. Well past your bedtime I expect.’

‘Yes, ma’am,’ Loki mumbled.

Odin had to rein in a sigh. Loki’s quick acquiescence was a testament to his exhaustion — he wasn’t one to quietly go to bed when told.