Loki sat on the edge of his bed, his feet dangling over the side. Opposite him, his mother had come down on one knee so they were more or less at eye-level. He wasn’t used to seeing her like this and it wasn’t just the matter of the strange shimmer the projection cast over her form. She had traded the finery befitting her rank as queen of Asgard for muddy boots and a plain blue and white dress sewn out of a sturdy fabric. If Loki didn’t know better he could have mistaken his mother for a common working-woman taking a momentary break from her daily tasks.

‘How are you doing, darling?’ his mother said. She shook her head. ‘By your father’s missive, it was a ghastly incident. You and your brother must have been so frightened.’

Loki bit down on his lip in a bid to control his wide grin; projection spells over long distances took a lot out of the caster so he hadn’t expected he would have a chance to talk to his mother face to face until she returned from Adra Taeral. ‘I’m better, mum. It’s not nearly as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Caunas, the healer who’s been looking after me, said the Chief Healer will come by later today; she should clear me to go back to class. It can’t be all that bad at all then, can it?’

This wasn’t quite what Caunas had said. Loki had asked when he would be permitted to return to class with his peers and the healer had replied that he wouldn’t be the one to make that decision. Later, when Caunas was packing up his equipment, he had added that Eir herself would come to have a look at Loki later on. The implication seemed clear enough for Loki.

‘Are you far behind your schoolwork?’ his mother asked. Her hair was swept up in a bun, but a few coils had escaped and they shifted about lightly, stirred up by a breeze that didn’t reach Loki.

‘Not at all. Except for magic and combat training — that’s too taxing apparently. But for the rest of it, Master Frode has been going over the lessons I missed. It’s kind of nice really. He knows so much about everything. He even explained some of the theory behind the experiments Caunas is conducting as part of his work. And there’s no one else here, so I don’t have to sit around waiting while someone wants some silly question answered or the tutor is yelling because people won’t stop talking.’

‘I’m glad you’ve found an upside to this situation.’

‘Yeah, I can finish the lessons quicker this way, just me one on one with someone,’ Loki replied.

The intensity of those lessons had its costs. Loki’s mind was so wrung out by the time Master Frode left, Loki found himself sleeping through most of the afternoon. Two days in a row Thor had ended up waking him up when Thor had finished his classes for the day and dropped by to visit his brother.

Loki considered saying as much but decided that his mother didn’t need to know all that. Instead, he asked, ‘Is it really bad out there where you are?’

‘It’s a tough situation.’ His mother attempted to smooth her skirt, but a good part of the material was caught under the knee she rested against the ground, so the effort was futile. ‘Many of the injured have recovered and are recovering, which is a positive. But the aftershocks continue and there is fear that the area remains unstable. If so, there will be further casualties and destruction.’

‘Can you fix that? Prevent landslides from happening across so wide an area?’

‘Not easily, but a team of sorcerers can achieve much with a touch of creativity and a bit of effort,’ his mother said. She glanced behind her. As the projection showed nothing of her surroundings, Loki had no inkling as to what had drawn her attention, but his mother’s weary sigh suggested it was nothing pleasant. ‘But don’t you worry about what’s going on out here. I just want you healthy again and not making trouble for your father.’

‘I know, mum.’

‘How are you and your father getting along? And what about Asta?’

‘Asta and I are just fine,’ Loki said half-heartedly. ‘Father’s been busy; I haven’t seen him much since I was released from the Medical Wing.’ He caught his mother’s shoulders tensing and not being keen to cause discord between his parents, he quickly added, ‘I mean he still visits me each night, if only for fifteen minutes. And he said yesterday that he, Thor and I will have dinner together tonight.’

Loki personally didn’t hold much stock in that promise. It was a common thing for Thor, Loki and their mother to dine together while Odin had a working dinner with his council staff. At least presently this worked out in Loki’s favour.

‘I wish I could be there and we could all have dinner together. I see all the injured and orphaned children here…’ Her face tightened. Loki wondered if she was about to cry, but she only shook her head and clasped her hands together. ‘I wish I could give you a hug at least. You’re far too pale for my liking.’

‘I’m fine. Though I miss you too,’ Loki muttered.

He sucked on the inside of his cheek. This projection spell was so unfair. His mother looked as if she were right there, but if Loki were to reach out to her, he would just end up grasping after thin air.

Loki realised, of course, he ought not be whining about missing his mother for a few weeks. He was far too old for that for one. More importantly, her work was vital. He didn’t know in detail what had happened in Adra Taeral, but he had caught snatches: whole communities destroyed, many dead and many trapped under rubble. Some had remained trapped for hours or even days. Having had a recent experience with a heavy object descending on top of him, he appreciated fully the magnitude of the pain involved. And to be trapped for hours and hours like that with no certainty of rescue was nothing short of torture. He had heard too that by the time the rescue teams reached some of the victims, it had been too late to save their shattered limbs.

‘You should go,’ Loki said. ‘The spell you’re using is a hungry one and if you’re attempting to stabilise mountains, you should focus your magic on that.’

‘I suppose you’re right, Loki.’ His mother smiled, but the smile didn’t quite reach her eyes. ‘I’ll be back home soon enough. And I’m sure by then you and Thor will be running through the palace corridors again as if nothing ever happened.’

As the projection dissipated, Loki flopped back onto his bed and groaned. He was growing weary of being asked how he was doing and being assured that he would recover. He wanted to be well today. And he never wanted to hear again that he was “pale”. Of course he was. He wasn’t allowed outside.

‘Yeah, ok. Enough of that,’ he muttered.

Asta jerked up when he threw open the door that connected his bedchamber to his study. She had made herself at home at his desk; the table was piled high with ledgers, invitations and letters.

‘What’s the matter?’ she asked, setting down her pen. ‘I thought you were talking to your mother.’

‘I was. But she is gone now. It’s a difficult spell to keep up for more than a few minutes and she’s busy anyways. She did suggest a book that might be useful for some work Master Frode left for me. I thought I’d just grab it; it’s on the shelves out here.’

‘What’s the title? I’ll help you find it.’

‘Thank you, but no need. I think I know where it is,’ Loki replied.

That satisfied Asta, so she left him to scan the two broad bookshelves of his study until he located the right tome. The title was rather uninspired: A Compendium of Spells for the Young Magic-Wielder, Volume 2. This book, just like the first volume, was a hodgepodge of spells, some common and some profoundly obscure. Every spell was supposed to be thematically linked as being useful to a young person who was still mastering the magic arts, but some of the linkages the author drew to the book’s theme were tenuous.

Loki thought the spells in the volume had a lot of potential. However, he preferred to use the author’s notes on how a spell could be used only as a springboard. For instance, Loki had never been fishing nor intended to go, but the spell that turned dry twigs into meaty earthworms was very useful if you wanted to make a girl shriek.

As entertaining as that had been, today Loki had more subtle spellwork in mind. He flicked through the yellowing pages until he found the right section — a variety of spells that promised better and longer-lasting results than a young magic-wielder could achieve with make-up. Loki had never had cause to examine this section in detail before, but he was fairly certain there was a spell in there that could help a young lady whose natural skin-tone had an unfortunate predilection towards pastiness.

‘Fine work!’ Leifur shouted. He punctuated his words with three slow claps of his hands.

Thor beamed as he helped his opponent, a stocky boy two inches taller than him, up off the ground and thanked him for his efforts. The taller boy seemed no worse for wear, save for a layer of dirt over much of his clothing, but then Thor was scarcely better. They both shook off as much of the dirt as would come off, exchanged quick words that Odin had no hope of hearing and moved off to the edge of the training area in order to give the other students a chance to take centre-stage.

Watching from the doorway of the Chancellery, Odin was loath to interrupt. No other parent would be presumptuous enough to barge in while a class was in progress. But Odin had very little time to spare today and he wanted to deal with Thor before his councillors demanded his attention once more.

Odin relinquished the anonymity the shadowed doorway had given him and strode out into the courtyard. The children fell silent and peered at him with wide eyes. Even Thor stood rigid. No doubt they remembered the last time Odin happened to cross the courtyard during the middle of the lesson; he could have phrased his words better that afternoon.

‘Master Leifur,’ he called out. ‘I beg your forgiveness for my interruption, but might I borrow Thor for a few minutes?’

‘As you wish, your majesty,’ Leifur replied and motioned for Thor to join his father.

Not that Thor needed encouragement. He hurried over to Odin with a broad grin on his face. It pained Odin how overjoyed the boys seemed to be whenever they received a modicum of personal attention from him. Odin’s own father had kept aloof from his children and when Odin brought his first into the world, he had vowed to raise his children differently. It hadn’t worked out with Hela. Of late, he wasn’t sure it was working out with the boys either.

‘What’s going on?’ Thor asked as he fell in step beside his father.

Odin set the course toward the passageway that led through to the stables, but walked slowly to give the impression of a general walk rather than purposeful movement. ‘I would like your opinion on a matter.’

‘Oh? Which is?’

‘Your brother. You have more chance to spend time with him than I do. Do you think he’s recovering well?’

Thor seemed taken aback by the question. ‘I suppose I’d have to say that I think he’s not as recovered yet as he’s making it out he is.’

‘Is that so,’ Odin replied.

In truth, Thor’s opinion interested him little — it was the healers’ job, and Asta’s too to watch over Loki. Thor wasn’t his keeper. But the question made for a good opening for Odin’s next point. Past the passageway, he led Thor to the training yard where an Einherjari squadron was warming up their horses. They followed the line of the wooden fence while the soldiers put their mounts through their paces under the stern direction of their commander.

Odin waited for a pause in the commander’s hollering before he spoke. ‘I have some news for Loki that I fear he will take badly. His horse has been found. Nieven, that was the name, was it not? Well, Nieven fell prey to the wolves. From what the rangers could make out from the remains, Nieven had a badly injured hind leg and couldn’t move fast enough to escape the predators in the forest.’

‘Nieven is dead?’ Thor replied as his eyes grew wide. ‘But Nieven was such a good mount! Loki really liked her.’

‘It seems to me the Norns have decided it is time for Loki to learn the price of foolish arrogance. His injuries, his horse… all are fair exchanges for the brainless scheme he devised for this so-called bilgesnipe hunt.’ Odin cocked his head as he watched the Einherjari soldiers canter across the sandy ground of the training yard. At the last moment, before they crashed into the fence, they made their horses rear and turned them around only to break into a canter once more. ‘Meanwhile, I await his recovery so I hand him my punishment.’

‘Isn’t this punishment enough?’ Thor asked uncertainly.

‘No, I don’t believe it to be so.’

‘He pretty much saved my life though.’

‘A good thing he did. Your life was in his hands from the moment he decided to persuade you to go with him.’ Odin grasped Thor’s shoulder and turned the boy so they faced each other. ‘You think I’m being too harsh. Why? He put your life in jeopardy, does that count for nothing with you?’

Thor’s brows drew together and he shook his head. ‘It wasn’t Loki’s fault.’

‘Then who was responsible?’ Odin said in what he hoped was a casual, non-judgemental tone. But Thor only shrunk into himself and made a valiant effort not to meet his father’s eyes. Odin cupped the boy’s chin and tilted his head up so Thor couldn’t avoid eye-contact. ‘I’d like to hear the truth, Thor. There’s no place for lies in our house.’

‘The idea was mine.’ Thor sighed. ‘Loki said it was too dangerous for us to go alone, but I talked him into it. Turns out he was right. As always.’

‘Why did you lie to me?’

Thor’s face drained of colour. ‘I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that. I thought with Loki being injured, you’d be less stern with him. I just —’

‘I think you owe your brother an apology,’ Odin said.

‘I guess I do,’ Thor mumbled.

That had been easy enough; dealing with Thor usually was. One only needed to line up the right pressure points. Only one more matter remained before Odin could return to coaxing the elves into cooperation.

Except Odin found himself rather more vexed than he was accustomed to being. In the grand scheme of things, Loki was correct — it didn’t matter who had come up with that bilgesnipe hunt stupidity; both boys had been foolish and got a good fright as a result. Odin was content to let the matter go. The lying, on the other hand, had to be addressed.

But what form was that punishment to take? He couldn’t well snatch away Thor’s toy soldiers as punishment; Thor was fast growing out of the age where toys mattered. He had already restricted both boys to the palace; confining them to their suites would only leave them idle for long hours and give them more opportunity to come up with mischief. What else was there? There seemed little sense in making Thor write an essay or something of that sort; books seemed to make little impression on the boy.

There was one obvious thing Thor would count as a loss — Odin could ban him from combat lessons for a length of time. Had he been a tailor’s son, Odin would have had no qualms about doing precisely that. But Thor wasn’t a tailor’s son and the universe he was born into was a vast and unruly chasm, full of powerful beings eager to gather further power and glory. It was only a matter of time until someone's ambitions turned to Asgard and its riches. When that day came, the House of Odin would be at the forefront of the struggle to defend Asgard. Thus, as a prince of Asgard, there was no question of Thor missing out on his lessons.

‘You will apologise to your brother for attempting to use his injuries to your advantage,’ Odin said. ‘Injuries, it pains me to add, that he sustained trying to protect you. We will all dine together tonight; you will give your apology then. In addition, for the next six months, you will spend two hours every day helping the staff in the palace kitchen.’

‘Six months?’ Thor groaned.

‘And if I hear so much as a complaint about your slacking on the tasks the staff in the kitchen assign you, I’ll make it ten months.’

Thor bristled. ‘Yes, father.’