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The flowers are a deep red, with a velvety texture to the petals and leaves. When Thor touches them, they reach for his hand, a soft purring-trilling sound coming from the cluster of plants on the little hill above New Asgard.
“Loki, look.” Thor knows his brother is there, standing by the copse of trees off to his right, sulking. “Aren’t they marvelous?”
“They’re just flowers.”
“They have a rudimentary intelligence.”
“It’s a response to stimulus.” Loki sighs. “They’re the same color as your cloak. They probably think you’re just a great big flower too.”
“All of this group here must share a root system. A group intelligence.” Thor touches another petal with one finger, thrilling at how the whole bloom shivers in response. “I wonder how many individual stems it takes to start that? We need a botanist. Did any botanists survive?”
“I don’t know. Ask Heimdall.”
Thor nods and turns his palm sideways so more blooms can rub against it front and back. “Heimdall has done a wonderful job. We should reward him.”
“With what, exactly?” Loki sounds particularly petulant. “We’re on an empty planet building a city out of logs like the most primitive of… of humans.”
“Only for the moment, until we get some equipment up and running. And it’s hardly empty. The plant and animal life is amazing. Even if you’re not impressed by the flowers, Loki, you can’t tell me you didn’t admire those beasts we saw last night.”
“Which ones, the sort-of bear or the sort-of moose?”
“All of them.” Thor sighs and sits back on his heels. “This planet is perfect for our people. Space for adventure, plenty of natural beauty, resources to sustain them.”
“But it’s only one planet.” Loki frowns at the crowning glory of the trees. “No Bifrost. They’re all trapped here forever. We’re all trapped here forever.”
“Oh, no we’re not.” Thor waves his hand dismissively, making the flowers dance. “We have the shuttles from the Grandmaster’s ship. We can go off whenever we want. And I think Heimdall is growing a new Bifrost, anyway.”
Loki stops frowning and stares at him. “Growing one?”
“Mm.” Thor lies down on his back and lets the flowers weave a blanket over him. “Some crystals from it were caught in the hilt of the sword. He put them in a jar with some water.”
“Bifrost grows from crystals?”
“Apparently it can.”
“I thought Father built it.”
Thor blinks up at him through the flowers. “Hasn’t it been made fairly clear by now that Father lied to us rather a lot?”
“I suppose so.” Loki sits down on the grass nearby, carefully out of reach of the flowers. “You’re really content just to stay here until the people are settled? You’re not bored?”
Thor thinks for a moment, wiggling his toes in the soft grasses. “It’s my duty to care for the people, Loki. Your duty, too, for that matter, as a prince, but I suppose I’ll give you a pass. Constancy is not in your nature, after all.”
Loki’s eyes narrow. “You’re getting a bit condescending with that.”
“Would you prefer that I keep pretending that you have a heart of gold? Or that you’ll ever change?”
“No, but you don’t have to be rude about it!” Loki’s quiet for a moment. “I did notice that you didn’t say you’re not bored.”
Thor can’t bring himself to lie; that’s not in his nature. “Not yet. Give it another three or four days. Val and I at least want a chance to hunt the bear-things and the moose-things.”
“Excuse me?” Loki sits up straight. “Val?”
“Well, she’s the last of the Valkyries, so we could just call her Valkyrie, but that’s a bit formal, isn’t it? So, Val. She doesn’t mind. Says it’s better than Scrapper.”
“And you and… Val are going hunting together.”
“Yes, we’ve plans to. Would you like to come?”
“No, Thor. I would not like to come.”
“Probably just as well.” Thor closes his eyes. The flowers promptly form a gentle mask over them. So considerate. “You would hardly be able to keep up with the two of us.”
Loki sputters. “Are you--you are deliberately trying to bait me into going hunting with you. It won’t work.”
“I’m not baiting anything, brother. Val and I are seasoned fighters and enjoy physical, outdoor activities.”
“I’m a fighter! I enjoy… Thor! Stop trying to manipulate me.”
Thor grins from underneath the flowers. “Go back to the city, then.”
“I will!” It’s amazing that someone can make a sound stomping off when the stomping takes place over impossibly soft grasses and virgin ground, but Loki manages it.
Thor settles back deeper among the flowers. Loki is great fun. He’ll miss him when, inevitably, he’s gone again.
**
The hunts are wildly successful. Thor and Val each claim a tuft of fur from a bear-thing’s head before evading their anger and letting them run off into the forest again. They agree on a higher level of difficulty for the moose-things, and so by the end of the afternoon two of the creatures continue their way through life with a distinct T and V etched into their antler racks.
“Your mark was tidier,” Thor tells Val as they walk back toward New Asgard. “I’ve spent too much time with the hammer, I suppose, and not enough on knifework.”
“We can spar together.” Val brushes a strand of hair off her face and squints up at the sky. “I’m supposed to go a few rounds with the green boy tomorrow, but the day after is free.”
“We should practice some two-on-ones against him.” Thor can just picture it, the glorious victory of knocking the Hulk flat on his behind. “Maybe three-on-ones if we can get Heimdall to join.”
“Have you seen his baby Bifrost? It’s growing well, he’s so proud of it.”
“Not for a few days. I’ll have to go back and look again.” They reach the crest of a hill and Thor pauses, looking down at the landscape unrolled before them. “Our people will be happy here, don’t you think?”
“It’s beautiful.” Val squats down, the muscles of her thighs flexing to easily keep her balance. Her body is admirable, Thor thinks; a work of art, kept that way by constant craft. “Life won’t ever be as easy as it was on Asgard, though.”
“That’s certainly true.” Thor finds the little cluster of buildings in the shadow of the Grandmaster’s spaceship and bites back a sigh. “Loki and I aren’t strong enough to create the things Father did for the people.”
“Well, he didn’t conjure those up from sheer will, remember.” She closes one eye and sights down her arm before throwing an acorn in the direction of the village. “He and Hela and Frigga took what they wanted from the other eight Realms to build it.”
“I suppose so.” He allows himself to sigh this time. “It’s difficult to give up the idea that Father could do whatever he wanted just by waving his hand.”
“You’ll get used to it.”
Life as a scrapper didn’t nurture the virtue of sympathy, as far as Thor could tell. “What do you want to do once the people are settled? Are you going to stay here with them?”
Val looks up. “Stay here? On this planet?”
“Your wisdom could be a great gift to New Asgard.”
“No offense, Thor, but I would rather rebuild the Grandmaster’s arena personally, and fight in the inaugural grand melee.”
“Ah. Yes.” He nods and looks at the little village again. The evening is descending on the valley, and the fires are coming to life. It’s charming and rustic and breathes out the concept of home. “By all the Realms, me too.”
She laughs softly and starts off again down the slope of the hill. “I thought so. You were raised to be a king, but you’re not suited for it. You’re a warrior through and through.”
Thor falls in step behind her. “Sometimes I suspect Father never really wanted to pass power on to either of us, so he ruined us for leadership each in our own way.”
“And how does meeting Hela fit with that theory?”
“Confirms it. Easily.”
She glances back over her shoulder at him, grinning. “So who’s going to be in charge here, then? You’re not going to rule, and I know you won’t let Loki do it, so who does that leave?”
“Oh, well.” Thor lengthens his strides so he can walk alongside her instead of behind. “I thought we could appoint Heimdall, but honestly, Korg is pretty set on establishing a parliamentary democracy and he’s mostly sold me on it.”
“Parliamentary democracy.” She walks in silence for a moment, her brow furrowed. “Well, that’s something new.”
“He’s been doing grassroots work with the Asgardians, talking to them about it. Apparently there’s considerable excitement among the young people.”
“Well, I hope that works out for them.” She veers closer and bumps her shoulder against his. “It won’t leave you much of a place to come back to, though.”
“I’ve thought about that.” He places a hand on her shoulder to steady himself as he vaults a tree root. “Really, this can’t be home to me. It’s not Asgard and can’t become Asgard. So it’s probably really for the best to make a clean break.”
She pauses for a beat, runs at a rock pushing up through the turf, and vaults it with a clean forward flip. “So you’re going to roam the universe from now on?”
“Well, I have to put in some time on Earth fairly regularly. The Avengers need me, you know.” They’ve reached the edge of the space around the village that’s illuminated by the Grandmaster’s ship’s emergency lights. “And I would hope I’ll be able to find a companion for my roaming. There’s seldom a good reason to travel alone.”
She flashes him a little smile as she steps from the dark to the light. “You don’t think so? I’m not sure I agree with that, Thor.”
Before he can find a proper reply, she walks away into the village, toward the dormitory tucked against the belly of the spaceship. As royalty, Thor and Loki were given their own quarters on the ship itself, leaving him without a reason to follow her, no matter how much he might wish for one.
**
Loki accosts him the next morning as Thor tries to leave the dining hall. The hall was the first building raised for the new settlement, as was right and proper for an Asgardian community. They had already started brewing beer and mead, as well. Thor loves his people endlessly, even if he can’t stand the thought of staying here with them.
“Where are you going?” Loki asks, bouncing on his toes in the impatient way he has that now reminds Thor of the small dogs on Earth. The fluffy ones with bows that young women carry in bags.
“Val and the Hulk are sparring this morning. I’d planned to watch them.” He claps Loki on the shoulder and moves him to the side of the hall entrance. “You should try the limpa that Young Gudrun is making. Truly remarkable.”
Loki frowns. “Young Gudrun? I thought there was Old Gudrun and her mother.”
“Old Gudrun and Mother Gudrun, yes. Young Gudrun is Old Gudrun’s daughter.”
“Doesn’t that make Old Gundrun Mother Gudrun and Mother Gudrun Oldest Gudrun? Or…” Loki shakes his head. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter.”
“It certainly doesn’t. Enjoy the limpa.”
“I don’t want limpa! Thor! Stop trying to walk away from me.”
Thor obediently stops. “There’s no reason to shout, brother. If you want to talk, you can come to the sparring ground with me.”
“Where is the sparring ground? Why do we even have a sparring ground?”
“Well, it didn’t start off as one.” Thor starts walking again, checking his stride until Loki falls in step with him. “It was just an area with fewer trees, and then the Hulk knocked down the trees that were there, so now it’s an empty space that can be used for sparring, or other things.”
“That’s bizarre, Thor.”
“Yes, well. Are you coming along, or not?”
Loki does follow along, muttering complaints all the way. Thor tunes him out, concentrating on the walk up the incline to the best view over the sparring area. The Hulk and Val would be warmed up and well settled into things by now. That was always a good show.
Sure enough, just as Thor reaches the top of the hill, the Hulk bellows and throws a rock at Valkyrie. She dodges it, hitting the ground running, and propels herself into the air with a triple flip and a twist that ends with a kick directly to the center of the Hulk’s forehead.
“Bravo!” Thor shouts as he finds a seat on a handy tree stump, left by the Hulk razing everything in the area flat or close to it. “Good form, there!”
The Hulk shouts something rude, but Thor ignores him, shaking his cloak out around himself and nodding at another nearby stump for Loki. “Make yourself comfortable, brother, this should be a good show.”
“Yes, well, I’m not really here for the show.” Loki sighs and drags his hand through his hair, frowning as the Hulk joyfully swats Val out of another leap. “But that had to hurt. Anyway. I wanted to talk to you.”
“Of course!” Thor gazes at him, trying to convey as much sincerity as he feels. “You can talk to me about anything.”
“Hm.” Loki makes what’s probably meant as an approximation of a smile. “Thank you. The thing is. Well. Asgard is gone.”
Thor’s sincerity twists into a sincere pain. “Yes, it is. We’ll begin again, though, don’t worry. Asgard is in the people. In our hearts.”
“Right. That. But Asgard… the real Asgard is gone. For good. There can be a New Asgard, but it’s not the one you and I grew up in. Not the one we swore to protect. Not the one that, you know. Had a royal family and all that.”
Thor looks away from him, back to where Val is throwing knives and the Hulk is plucking them out of the air like delicate birds. “I suppose so.”
“Since we’ve no longer that common responsibility, that common bond…” Loki trails off for a moment, then draws himself up and square his shoulders. “Well, there’s nothing more holding us together, is there?”
“Pardon?”
“Our brotherhood is, effectively, dissolved, isn’t it? Given that our family bond was predicated on being the royal house of Asgard, and there isn’t either a house or an Asgard anymore.”
“Loki!” Thor is nearly too stunned to speak, at least for a moment. “Loki, we are brothers! That can’t just be undone!”
Loki squirms on his stump. “Adopted.”
“What even put this in your head? What are you… ohhh.” Thor points at him. “Are you looking for some sort of rationale to stab me in the back again, or imprison me in another dimension, or get me out of the way so you can conquer a planet without interference? Because if that’s what you’re doing, that is very rude.”
“No! Not that. Not specifically. Just.” Loki glares at the ground for a moment. “More like wouldn’t it be better if we didn’t see each other anymore. If we could go off in our own directions and have our own lives without constantly trying to measure up to each other in one way or another? Wouldn’t that be nice?”
Thor shakes his head. “It would be awful. We’re brothers, Loki. No matter what. We’re family, and family doesn’t abandon each other like you’re saying. Absolutely not. That’s awful.”
Loki gives a thin smile. “I suppose you’re right. You’re always right.”
Thor can’t argue with that. “Put it out of your head and watch the sparring, hm? They’re about to joust. See, Valkyrie has a sapling, and the Hulk has a full-grown tree.”
“Thrilling,” Loki murmurs, but he lets Thor put an arm around his shoulder, and turns to watch the valley below.
**
Of course, the next morning Loki is gone, along with one of the Grandmaster’s ship’s shuttles and a significant supply of limpa.
“I knew he would,” Thor sighs, looking over the scorched ground where the shuttle separated from the main ship and fought its way past gravity. “Oh, Loki.”
Heimdall grunts. “I saw him go. Could’ve woken you, but it didn’t seem worth the effort, honestly. You never could tell him what to do when he had an idea in his head.”
“It’s true.” Thor bumps his shoulder against Heimdall’s. “At least he didn’t try to steal the Bifrost, eh, old friend?”
“He hardly could.” Heimdall touches the leather bag over his shoulder tenderly; the glass jar containing the Bifrost is tucked away safely within. “I sleep with it between my neck and the pillow.”
“They’ll sing songs of your dedication,” Thor says. “How is it growing? You’ll need something larger for it soon, won’t you? Maybe a bucket?”
“We’re piecing together a barrel.” Heimdall’s smile is faint, but genuine. “I’m looking forward to it. Once it’s a few feet long and a little more sturdy I’ll start looking into rebuilding the lock the sword fits into, to guard the portal end. Going to take quite a while to get that right.”
“I have full confidence in you. Like my father before me.”
“As long as you also have fewer crazy ideas than he did, that’s very reassuring.” Heimdall sighs and adjusts the sheath holding the mighty sword over his other shoulder. “Well, we might as well take an inventory of everything on the ship, figure out if he borrowed anything else for his run at independence. You want to help?”
Thor doesn’t, at all. “Ah, I’m afraid Val and the Hulk and I have plans to investigate the south side of the mountain range today. In case there are any dangerous native beasts there. You know how it is, Heimdall.”
“Indeed,” Heimdall says flatly. “I know very well.”
Thor can’t shake the suspicion that that was a dig at him. Of course, it was also a dismissal, which was what he wanted, and beggars mustn’t choose. With a clap on the shoulder and a friendly wave, he leaves Heimdall to his work and goes looking for the Valkyrie and her great green friend, who are well-nigh inseparable these days.
**
Exploring the mountain range quickly turns into free-climbing the highest peak in the range, with honors going to the one who reaches the top first. The Hulk’s height advantage lets him win easily, so Thor and Val promptly disqualify him and focus on competing between themselves.
Val wins, giving a cheerful whoop at the sky before she offers him a hand up the last body-length of the wall. He accepts it and collapses on the summit, stretching out on his back and groaning. “Next time, I’ll win.”
“It’s possible.” She settles cross-legged nearby and grins at him. “You might get lucky. Or I might pull a muscle. Stranger things have happened.”
“Cruel woman.” He closes his eyes and enjoys the feeling of the sun pounding on his body. Unimaginable levels of raging solar radiation, and it reaches him as a gentle, pleasant pressure that acts as a reminder of how good it is to be alive. The universe’s greatest glories are its simple ones. “I suppose you’ll be the next one stealing a shuttle and taking off?”
Her brow furrows. “Why would I do that?”
“You said yourself you’ll get bored here.”
“Well, yes. But I’m not yet.” She scoops up a handful of pebbles and starts tossing them over the edge, one by one. “And besides, I wouldn’t steal a shuttle. I’d discuss it with you and Heimdall and the People’s Republic first. Negotiate in good faith.”
“Oh, is it a People’s Republic now?” Thor sits up and gathers his own handful of pebbles. “Good for Korg.”
“He asked me to sign his petition for a referendum this morning at the dining hall.”
Thor pauses, a stone between his fingers. “Who is he petitioning, exactly? Since no one’s in charge at the moment.”
“I’m not sure. I think they’re just going to read it aloud in the sparring ground and then take a vote.”
“Sensible enough.” He tosses the stone over the edge. “Where would you go, if you left here?”
“I’m not sure. I think I might look in on that planet you and Loki talk so much about, and our green boy, too. Earth, right? Earth.” She nods thoughtfully. “It sounds like it might be fun.”
“It is!” Thor grins, levering himself to his feet. “The people there are so odd, but so endearing. Full of energy, and enthusiasm for the strangest things. It’s delightful. You should see what they’ve done with dogs! And they have coffee! Some of the clothes they have, the styles, you would look magnificent.”
She’s laughing, but it feels more with him than at him. “So clothes, coffee, and dogs? What else should I look for if I make it to Earth?”
“Motorcycles,” he says promptly. “You would have a wonderful time on a motorcycle.”
“All right. I’ve got my list.” She leans on her hands, smiling up at him. “Will you or the Hulk come along to show me around?”
“Well, the Hulk isn’t terribly welcome there, I’m afraid. People are sort of terrified of him.” He shrugs at her skeptical look. “It’s not like on Sakaar, you know? He’s not, ah. Contained. So when he smashes things, they’re homes and workplaces and transport and, you know. People.”
“But it’s his homeworld. Aren’t they used to him? Don’t they all turn into giant green warriors sometimes?”
“No, actually! It’s an amazing thing. A very long story, but wonderful. Really, someone ought to tell it as a saga.”
“Take a skald along, next time you go.” She swings one foot over to nudge at his ankle. “So if he can’t be my guide, does that mean you’ll come along?”
“Absolutely. I have professional obligations there as it is.” He looks around the mixture of stone, dirt, and scrubby alpine brush clinging to the mountain summit. “We should have brought along a picnic or something.”
“Some of Gudrun’s limpa.” Val sighs dramatically. “You’ve tried it, right?”
“Of course! Young Gudrun has a true gift.”
“I’m trying to talk her into making rummerbrod once things are a bit more settled. It’s been decades since I’ve had rummerbrod.” Her brow furrows a bit. “No, it must be centuries. Time is strange when you’re popping in and out of dimensions.”
“It certainly is.” Thor gazes off the mountain into the distance, deliberately choosing to believe he can’t hear the Hulk stomping around in the forest downslope. “And I’m sure Gudrun’s rummerbrod is delectable.”
Val burst out laughing, the sound soaring over the peak like a flock of eagles. “You made that sound awfully dirty, Odinson.”
Thor grins at her. “If she demonstrated an interest, I would not decline.”
“Neither would I. Beautiful skin, a gorgeous bosom, and she can cook? That’s one to settle down with.”
“If you happen to be the settling-down kind.” It’s no longer possible to pretend that the crashing sounds of the Hulk aren’t coming in their direction. “Which you are not. Hello, Hulk, watch out for that rock.”
It’s really more of a boulder, and the Hulk does not watch out for it. He trips over it, glares at it in baffled fury, and then kicks it off the mountain. “Stupid rock.”
“Indeed.” Thor nods and gestures past Hulk at the trail of mild destruction behind him. “Did you have a nice walk?”
“Okay.”
“Did you eat any wild animals, and did they taste good? We should try to bring something back to the settlement to apologize for not helping with inventory, I think.”
“I saw some things resembling trout when we forded that river,” Val says. “How many millennia has it been since you last tickled trout, hm?”
Thor pulls together as much dignity as he can muster, to keep from clapping his hands like a child. “Not as long as you might think. It’s a wonderful trick, isn’t it? Loki never had the patience to do it.”
“I’m not surprised.” She looks up at the Hulk. “What do you think? You have the patience for it?”
The wide green face looks as doubtful as Thor feels at the question, but the Hulk nods agreeably and offers his hand to help Valkyrie up from the ground.
“Why, thank you.” She shoots Thor a mocking look. “At least there’s one gentleman around here.”
“If I’d tried to help you up you would have kicked me and don’t pretend otherwise!”
“Of course I would have.” She dusts off her trousers and starts toward the trail the Hulk made down the slope. “But you still should offer. Didn’t Frigga teach you royal puppies anything at all?”
**
The trout-things are as long as Thor’s leg and as thick around as his waist. The Hulk eventually agrees to quit stomping around in the shallows and carry their catch back to New Asgard while Val and Thor follow along, enjoying the late afternoon sun as it mellows into the leading edge of twilight.
“This is growing out a bit,” Val says, tugging at where his hair is beginning to curl around his ears and at the nape of his neck. “You’ll be back to long and lovely locks in no time.”
“I’m afraid it will feel rather strange. I’ve gotten used to this already.”
She touches one of the V’s that the old man cut into the sides, off his temples. “Both ways suit you.”
“Thank you.” He studies her face for a moment, picturing different things. “I think a short crop would suit you, too, if you ever wanted to try it.”
“If I ever find my way back to Sakaar and the old man is still in business.” She says it solemnly, but her eyes are dancing, and Thor is hit with a sudden realization of how much he likes this woman, despite the short time he’s known her and their unfortunate first meeting. First several meetings. Half the time he’s known her was unfortunate, but now he can’t properly imagine going about things without her at his side. He hasn’t felt anything like that since Jane, and while he wasn’t so foolish to think he’d never feel it again--he was going to live for a long time, after all, love would come and go like the blooming and fading of flowers--he wasn’t expecting it again so soon, or to grow so quickly.
It’s strange and perhaps it ought to be alarming, but Thor’s never been one for being alarmed by his instincts. They’re there for a reason, after all. He ought to trust them.
“Tonight,” he says, touching her shoulder lightly. “After the feasting.”
She frowns. “It’s hardly going to be feasting. Fish, limpa, probably some mushrooms, that’s not really--”
“After the meal, then. Will you come find me?”
Her frown deepens. “What for? Is something wrong?”
“No, no! And nothing improper!” Best to make that clear before she goes for her knives again. “I just thought maybe we could continue our talk. I enjoy talking with you. That’s all.”
She still looks suspicious, but the frown eases. “All right. That’s fine, of course. You just got all mysterious about it.”
“Sorry. It’s a royalty thing, I suppose.”
“Maybe this would be a good time for you to start practicing not being royalty anymore.” She jogs off to catch up with the Hulk, leaving Thor to walk the rest of the way to New Asgard with only his thoughts for company.
The night’s kitchen crew quickly relieves him of the burden of brooding by asking if he can help stoke the fires to grill the fish. He can’t turn away the needs of his people, and so he throws himself into the work, hauling wood from the great piles at the edge of the forest.
It isn’t long before he finds Heimdall walking along with him, a basket of kindling over one arm. “Was this all a setup?” Thor asks. “You know you can just find me and tell me you want to talk.”
Heimdall sniffs, his eyes fixed on something far distant. “I like to see you working. It’s a special occurrence.”
“Unfair!”
“At least you’re making more of an effort than your brother. You haven’t cut and run yet.” Heimdall lifts his chin slightly, like he’s trying to move closer to whatever he’s looking at. “I assume you’ll be leaving in the morning?”
“No, no.” Thor shakes his head and stops, shifting the firewood in his arms. “At least three more days, I’m sure. I want to be certain everything is stable before I go.”
Heimdall keeps walking. “I won’t try to convince you to stay. It’s probably right for you to go. But the people may take it hard.”
Thor winces slightly and falls into step again. “I know. I have thought on it, I’m not shirking my duty lightly. But you know as well as I do that Ragnarok isn’t just supposed to end Asgard and Odin. It’s supposed to be the death of all of the gods. Loki and I dodged our fates. I don’t think we can dodge the metaphor, though. We have to lose our status. We have to go away.”
Heimdall hums softly under his breath. “I wondered how long it would take you to figure that out.”
“Fairly quickly, yes?” Thor grins at him, but Heimdall’s still gazing off at something worlds and worlds away.
“Faster than I expected, absolutely.” Heimdall stops this time and closes his eyes for a moment. “Loki still hasn’t. He’s just running, for the sake of running itself and because it lets him avoid feeling what he feels.”
Thor shakes his head. “Loki feels very little. It’s part of who he is, the ability to shrug off emotions the way he does.”
“And it’s part of who you are to be very empathetic about some things and utterly ignorant of others.” Heimdall draws a deep breath. “All right, listen to me, Thor. There’s one thing I have to tell you, before you go.”
“I’m listening.” His feelings are hurt, but he is listening. Heimdall deserves all possible respect, and besides, he’s earned the right to an insult or two.
“The last time you asked me for help, you were on a world surrounded by doors. This time, there’s only one door. It’s the same one Loki went through, so that part will be easy.”
“I’m not following Loki,” Thor interrupts.
Heimdall takes a piece of kindling from his basket and throws it at Thor’s head. “Go through the door, and then forget what you think you know.”
Thor rubs at his forehead and glares at him. “That doesn’t make any damn sense, Heimdall.”
“You should be used to that by now.” Heimdall sets off for the far end of the dining hall, where people are trying to coax the great hall fire back to life. “Get those logs to the kitchen, now, do you think the fish will cook themselves? You’re the god of thunder, not cooking fires, you know.”
An awful lot of people had opinions about what Thor was god of, these days, he thinks as he carries the logs. None of them were a damn bit funny.
**
Valkyrie finds him in a shadowy corner of the hall when the meal ends, as far from the great fire as he can get. “Hiding, are we?”
“Just taking a few minutes for myself. Thinking a bit.”
She nods, resting her hands on her hips. “Did you still want to talk?”
“Yes, I do.” He gets to his feet, glancing across the hall at where Heimdall sits surrounded by the young ones. Thor can remember being a child at Heimdall’s feet, listening to him tell stories from all across the cosmos. It brings warmth inside his chest to know that the small things like this will carry on; it proves the notion of Asgard being the people, not the place, more than anything else that has happened so far.
He walks with Valkyrie out into the night, past where the Hulk is sleeping, stretched out in front of the shuttle access vault on the Grandmaster’s ship. It’s his new self-appointed watchpoint to keep anyone else from making off with one, though without Loki around, Thor can’t think of anyone else who would. He intends to leave with clear communication all around, maybe even some pomp and ceremony if the people are up to it.
Without speaking, they walk directly to the path to the sparring ground. The moon is high and full over the flat basin, and Thor lays his cloak over the ground at its center before taking a seat. “Join me?”
She sits down beside him and hugs her knees to her chest. “You’re leaving in the morning, right? That’s what the serious face and brooding nonsense is about?”
“Not the morning, no. Why does everyone expect me to run off in the night like Loki?”
“So you’re going to say proper goodbyes first, before you go.”
“Yes. I expect in three day’s time.”
She smiles and shakes her head. “You’ve got a lot in common with him at heart, but you try to consider what others will feel before you run off and do exactly what you want.”
“That’s a terrible thing to say!”
“Is it? It might be.” She leans back on her elbows, looking up at the gleaming green moon. “I appreciate the advance notice.”
“I was actually hoping you would come with me.”
“Come with you?” She turns her gaze from the moon to his face and raises her eyebrows. “You think I’ll jump at the chance to help you follow along behind Loki?”
“I’m not following Loki! Why does everyone think I’m following Loki? I’m not! I’m going on a hero’s journey that is entirely my own.”
From the twist of her mouth, she doesn’t entirely believe that. She’s as bad as Heimdall. “All right, then. Where are you journeying, and what heroics are on deck?”
He points up into the sky, at the great starry outline of Yggdrasil connecting the Nine Realms. “Surtur blew up a planet next to one of the roots off the World Tree back there. I want to check on the other two.”
Val falls flat on her back and claps her hands over her chest. “I have to admit, I did not expect that.”
“So you’ll come with me? Visit Mímisbrunnr and Hvergelmir, make sure Nidhogg and Ratatoskr are minding their business, steal a drink or two from some sacred waters of wisdom?”
She covers her face with her hands, but she’s smiling. “Your father had to give up an eye to drink from Mímisbrunnr, what are you planning to toss in?”
“Oh, a finger or a toe, I suppose.” He lies down next to her, resting his head on folded hands. “What do you say? Will you voyage with me, as a sworn companion?”
She clicks her tongue thoughtfully. “Are we bringing Hulk with us?”
A concept that genuinely had not crossed his mind at all. “Why would we do that?”
“Well, he’s going to be both sad and furious if we leave without him.”
“We’ll come back!”
That gets a raised eyebrow. “We will?”
“Of course! If I go back to Earth without him, Stark and Romanov and the rest of them will never let me hear the end of it. This quest is for my honor and my people, and a really good adventure, and then I’ll take him home and see how much of a mess the Avengers are in without me.”
“Am I invited on that trip, too, or just this first one?”
He turns on his side and props himself up on his elbow, meeting her eyes so he gives as serious an answer as he feels. “My dear friend, most honored of Valkyries, I would never decline your companionship on a journey, were you so gracious as to offer it.”
She lies still for a moment, her mouth open slightly like words have abandoned her, then quickly sits up, dusting her hands on her thighs. “Last existing of the Valkyries, remember, so it’s not hard to be the most honored.”
“It was not my intention to remind you of that.” He sits up as well. “My apologies.”
“I’m not upset with you. Just. You talk to me like I’m still a sworn protector of the crown, and I’m not that at all, I haven’t been that for a very long time.”
“I see.” He leans forward a little, trying to catch her gaze. “How would you prefer I address you?”
“Just like you did before, please. Like a scrapper who found you in a net in a trash heap. That’s all I want. That’s all I am.”
“I disagree.” He bumps his knee against her. “But I will respect your wishes, of course.”
She laughs, a sharp little sound, and bumps him back. “You know, when I found you in that trash heap, and you introduced yourself as Thor, son of Odin… if I had been just a little less drunk I probably would’ve thrown you back to the scavengers and told them you were definitely food.”
“I’m glad you didn’t.”
“I just said it wasn’t out of any goodness of my heart, it was out of a bottle of the Grandmaster’s most disgusting swill.”
“I take what I can get.” He bumps her again, grinning when she mock-glares at him. He sees the slight narrowing of her eyes just before she pounces, and deliberately doesn’t resist, letting her ride him down to flat on his back again, with her straddling his waist.
He settles his hands on her hips. “Hello there.”
“Hello.” Her eyes are still narrowed, focused thoughtfully on his mouth. “Tell me, how long has it been since you’ve had a proper ride?”
“A proper one?” He lets himself think for a moment, until her knees tighten against his ribs in warning. “It would be ungentlemanly to tell.”
“Are you interested in one now?”
He lets his hands slide from her hips to palming her thighs. “Absolutely.”
“Oh, good.” She laughs, a different laugh than he’s heard from her before, this one low and hot and dizzying. “It’s been a long fucking time.”
“Really?” He sits up enough to tug his shirt off over his head. “I would have thought you would be popular on Sakaar.”
“Oh, I was.” She shrugs out of her own shirt and starts on the lacing of her underclothes. “But I got a little bored with the seedy stuff after a while. I was taking a break when you showed up, really focusing on my drinking. With the time distortion on Sakaar, it might have been fifty years or so since I last had a lay.”
“An injustice!” Thor lifts his hips and pushes his trousers down. “I’m glad to be of help and remedy.”
“Thank you for not saying glad to be of service.” She grabs his hand and guides it to the front of her trousers, where she’s undone the buttons. “Could use a little help here, specifically.”
Thor has always enjoyed the company of women who are vocal and enthusiastic in their pleasure, and Valkyrie definitely fits in that category. She talks him through what she wants, and how fast, in what direction, with how much pressure and spit, when he should stop or change or go again, until she’s wet and pulsing hot around his fingers.
“All right,” she says, her voice thick and unsteady, drawing herself up higher on her knees and then standing so she can kick out of her trousers. “Ready for the rest of you now, if you are.”
“Very ready.” He lies back on his cloak, holding the base of his cock to steady himself for her. “Extremely ready, even. Feel free, at any time.”
“I hear you, stop talking.” She slides down onto him slowly, her fingertips pressing into her own thighs and her arm muscles tensing as she holds herself back until she’s seated deep. Then she rests her palms on his chest, tilting her head back with a shudder.
He settles his hands on her knees, pressing his thumbs in slow, careful circles. “Good?”
“Mmm.” She presses her teeth into her lower lip, then blinks slowly and looks down at him, mouth widening into a satisfied smile. “Very good. I should’ve been nicer to you on Sakaar.”
“Probably better here. No piles of trash, don’t have to worry about the Grandmaster spying on us.”
She flexes her fingers, digging into his chest, then rolls her hips slowly. “Don’t ruin the moment, Thor.”
His eyes flutter closed as she rolls her hips again, then clenches her inner muscles. “Right. Please, just… keep doing that.”
It’s a proper ride, as promised, ending with both of them flopped sweaty and sticky on the ground, breathing hard and staring up at the sky. Thor traces the great outline of Yggdrasil in the stars, down to the three roots. From here, he can’t see the empty space where Asgard used to be, but he knows it’s there, nothing but a rapidly-dispersing cloud of debris and energy now. Probably bits of Hela and Surdur floating along, that can be resurrected with the right combination of magic and science and luck; if Thor’s learned anything in his life, it’s that someone’s always going to come around to try a resurrection, probably when it’s least expected and least convenient.
“Hey.” Val pokes him in the ribs. “What are you going all mopey for?”
“I’m not moping! Just thinking.”
She pokes him again. “That’s a bit insulting to all my hard work, that you’re still capable of thinking.”
“No offense intended to you! Just.” He points at the sky. “Asgard. Home. Gone.”
“Oh.” She sighs, settling on her back again, her hand finding his in the dark and squeezing gently. “I suppose I made my peace with that a long time ago, but I remember the feeling.”
“It’s sad.” He feels like he should make a great speech, something properly royal that could be repeated by the skalds and remembered forever, but he doesn’t have any further words. It’s sad. It’s a sad, sinking weight in his chest, and it will be for some time, and the feeling will be called back by memory forever.
Val squeezes his hand again, and he squeezes back. “Thank you for not telling me that I sounded like the Hulk, there.”
“It was an emotional moment. I’ll save making fun of you for lighter times.”
“I appreciate that.” They both chuckle softly in the dark. “We should get back soon, I suppose. Tomorrow we should explain things to the Hulk, and make sure the Commodore is flight-ready.”
“Did anyone ever clean it?”
“No.” Thor sighs. “We’ll have to do that, too.”
“So maybe we should stay out here a bit longer. Put that off. I could tell you some Sakaar stories that will curl your hair.”
He laughs out loud, the sound echoing out to fill the space of the sparring ground. “Yes, please. I want to hear everything.”
**
At Korg’s request, Thor summons all of the people together before he and Valkyrie leave on their quest. The most feasible places for speechmaking are the dining hall or the sparring grounds, and Thor chooses the latter, because he wants to set up a tradition before he goes, and with any luck the dining hall will soon be outgrown.
“People of Asgard!” he calls, standing at the center of the grounds, his arm held aloft as if he still had Mjolnir. “I have called you here today for a gathering of the people, an Althing, as the gods used to gather at Yggdrasil.”
There’s a bit of scattered applause, but in general the people look more wary than enthusiastic. Probably he shouldn’t blame them; they’ve been through a lot lately, at the hands of his family.
“I have called this Althing at Korg’s request,” he goes on, and that gets smiles and applause. He would be offended if it didn’t warm his heart to see them happy. “I understand that he has been speaking to you all about the potential for a parliamentary democracy here in New Asgard.”
This time the applause is mixed with cheers. Thor gestures at Korg to join him at the center, and Korg does, waving both hands at the crowd and speaking cheerful nonsense that they couldn’t possibly hear, but would know was coming from him anyway.
“I think Korg’s idea is wise,” Thor says after a moment, when the cheering has settled. “I propose that I leave you, my people, and let you work with him to implement it as best suits you. I would suggest holding on to the idea of Althings, it seems to work out fairly well.”
“We should vote on that,” Korg says. “Begin as we mean to go on, and whatnot.”
Thor frowns at him. “Vote on what, exactly?”
“Letting you step down and leave.”
“Well, I’m leaving regardless, I don’t need permission for that.”
“All right, fair enough, but they should get to vote on if you’re stepping down and going with a blessing, or being a kind of a shit who’s running away from his responsibilities, don’t you think?”
Thor can’t think of a good answer to that for a moment. That’s more than long enough for the people standing close enough to overhear to spread the message all throughout the crowd.
“Vote!” someone shouts, and others join in until it’s a roaring chant all around them. “Vote! Vote! Let us vote!”
“Is democracy always this noisy?” Thor asks Korg, who shrugs in his usual slow rolling of rocks gesture.
“I don’t know! I’ve never seen it actually done. Should be an adventure, I think!”
“Fine.” Thor sighs and looks at the crowd again. “All right, all right! We don’t have anything for a secret ballot, so it’s just going to have to be hands up and down! Hands up, everyone who accepts my abdication of the rule of New Asgard!”
The whole crowd raises their hands, even Heimdall, which--well, it’s not completely unexpected, but it’s a little hurtful, nonetheless. Thor looks at him with an expression he hopes conveys that.
Heimdall meets his gaze unapologetically. “You would be a good king if you had to, Thor, but you have too much wanderlust to be one of your own free will. Besides, it’s after Ragnarok. Things need to change.”
It’s hard to tell if the ache in his chest is sorrow or relief. Perhaps both, all mixed up together. “You’re wise as ever, my friend.” He turns his attention and his voice back to the crowd. “All right! Your will is clear! But--ah, could you just…” He can’t help it. “Hands up if it’s all right for me to come back and visit once in a while?”
This vote is the same, right down to Heimdall, who smiles as he raises his hand. That’s something. That’s… that’s pretty all right.
“Thank you,” Thor calls to the crowd. “Thank you, my people. With all my love, and with you in my heart always, I hereby renounce my leadership of Asgard, and any right to claim it ever again.”
He feels it, when the words finish echoing out over the crowd--a low thud in his chest, like an extra-hard heartbeat, like a door falling closed. Royal blood and god-blood are magic even when no spell is cast, his mother told him once; of course he only remembers now, after the oath is spoken, once it can’t be taken back again.
He’s well and truly free, now, his obligations severed. It’s terrifying, and exhilarating, and he wants nothing more than to climb into the Commodore and leave with Valkyrie, right now.
Of course, there’s still the matter of the Hulk to deal with.
**
Val suggests that they take the Hulk somewhere quiet and peaceful to talk about this, and Thor knows the perfect place.
“Look!” He bends and holds both hands out to the flowers, and they immediately reach for him, rubbing their petals against him. When he kneels down, the whole patch of flowers clusters around his body, trilling and petting him all over and leaving him streaked with pollen. “Aren’t they wonderful?”
Val kneels down beside him, spurring half of the cluster to bend away from him and toward her. “They’re precious. Listen to them!”
“It’s like a pack of kittens, isn’t it? I’ve been calling them the kittenflowers, to myself.” Thor looks up at the Hulk and smiles. “What do you think, big guy?”
Hulk’s brow furrows as he reaches down to poke one finger into another cluster of the flowers. They purr ecstatically and reach for him. “Soft.”
“Yes, very soft! Sit down, let them cuddle with you.”
Hulk looks at him with tragic eyes. “Squish them?”
“Oh, well…” He is quite a bit heavier than Thor or Val, he might well squish them. “Sit down on the grass, there, next to them. You can still pet them from there.”
Hulk sits down slowly and carefully, still holding his hand out to the flowers. “Nice things.”
“Yes, they are. Very nice.” Thor smiles encouragingly at him, while Val lies down on her stomach and laughs as the flowers wind their way around her. “Now, Hulk, we have something we need to tell you.”
Hulk snorts and turns his back to both of them. “Going away. Hulk know.”
“How did you know that! Who told you!”
Another snort. “Thor talked about it loud. Everyone there. Hulk notice.”
Ah. Yes. Probably he should have made the Althing a bit more subtle.
“And Korg tell Hulk.”
Probably he should have left Korg on Sakaar.
“We’re going to come back,” Thor says firmly. “Tell him, Val.”
“That’s right.” She doesn’t disentangle herself from the flowers. “We’re going on a little hero quest because Thor is bored, but then we’re going to come back and get you and take you to whatever Midgard thing that Thor’s so interested in.”
“They call it Earth, not Midgard,” Thor reminds her.
She lifts her head just enough to roll her eyes at him. “I don’t care.”
“Right.” He turns back to the Hulk. “We’ll just be gone for a bit, then come back and get you, and then we’ll go to Earth and meet up with the Avengers.”
“Earth hate Hulk. Avengers hate Hulk.”
“Of course the Avengers don’t hate Hulk. Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Thor ridiculous!”
Thor glares at him. “Don’t be difficult, now. There’s no reason for that.”
“Thor ridiculous. Thor stupid.”
“Valkyrie. Help.”
Val lifts her head again to look at the Hulk. “Can you look after the flowers, and the people, and Korg for us? While we’re gone?”
“Korg look after himself,” the Hulk mutters sullenly.
“But the flowers appreciate the attention, and the people need a champion looking out for them.”
“Asgard people hate Hulk too.”
“No, they don’t. You helped rescue them from Fenris, and the undead army, and all… that. You helped them. They don’t forget things like that.”
The Hulk sits still for a moment, letting five flowers rub against his thumb. “Give Hulk tasty bread.”
“See? They love you.” Val rolls onto her back and winks at Thor.
“Okay,” the Hulk says finally. “Hulk stay. Take care. Girl and Thor come back!”
“We will come back,” Thor says. “I promise. I’ll swear it on whatever you like.”
Hulk eyes him. “Swear on hammer.”
“I can’t do that, my hammer is gone.” It’s still a painful fact to have to keep saying over and over, especially to people who already know perfectly well.
Hulk reaches over and takes Thor’s hand between two of his massive fingers. “Swear! Hulk crush hand if Thor lie.”
“I’m not lying! Let go of me!”
“He swears,” Val says, reaching for Hulk’s arm. “I swear, he swears. If either of us tries not to come back, the other one will punch their lights out. All right?”
Hulk thinks for a moment, then shrugs and drops Thor’s hand. “Hulk trust girl.”
Thor shakes out his hand painfully. “You’re so rude. I’m an Avenger! We’re teammates!”
Hulk shrugs and turns his back again. “Girl nice. Girl strong.”
Thor sits down in the flowers again. “Well I certainly can’t argue with that.”
Val grins at him and stretches her leg out to nudge his thigh. “Good answer! I’ll remember that.”
**
The Commodore is tight space to share, but they make it work. Given its original purpose, there aren’t individual bunks, just a single large, soft circular bed that slides out from a bulkhead. They’re skeptical of the bedding at first, but apparently the ship’s linens were stripped and replaced after every flight. The Grandmaster was a bizarre creature, but his support staff were thorough.
It’s a decently long flight from New Asgard to the star that marks the tip of the second root of Yggdrasil. Their goal is the fourth planet in orbit of that star, where the well Mímisbrunnr stood endlessly, immune to time.
“We’ll make sure everything’s where it’s supposed to be,” Thor says on their fifth day of travel or so. The days so far have mostly been spent playing with the ship’s capabilities to see if there was anything they’d missed (there is, plenty, much of it obscene), sleeping, and playing knife-tossing and rune-throwing games. Val is a wicked shark at both and if they were playing for wagers, Thor would be ruined. It’s marvelous. He’s so awed by her.
Val gives him a skeptical look. “Star. Planet. Well. What else is there?”
“Evil beings could have tried to block up or damage the well! Or do something to the planet! And anyway, there’s Mímir’s head to worry about.”
“Mímir’s head?” Val frowns. “I thought Odin cut his head off and carried it around with him to tell him secrets.”
“He did. But eventually he got tired of it, you know? Mímir is an asshole, and he always had something to say, about everything. He criticized everything in the palace, including Mother’s decorating. So he had to go.”
“And Odin took his head back to the well? He didn’t just throw it down a mine shaft or something?”
“Oh, he considered it! They bickered for days, Father shouting at the head and Mímir yelling back that it was hardly his fault, Father was the one who decapitated him and took him away from his home and never let him have a moment’s peace from all the questions. Loki and I thought it was wonderful, we never saw anyone talk back to Father like that. But Mother intervened eventually. ‘Odin! Just put that thing back where you found it, like we tell the boys!’” Thor laughs, ending in a long sigh. “Ah, I miss her.”
“She was a good queen.” Val stretches out on the bed. “All of the Valkyries liked her best, honestly. We invited both of them to the ceremonial occasions, of course, but she was the only one who got to come to the afterparties.”
“Ha! Really?” Thor smiles. “That’s wonderful.”
“She officiated my wedding, actually.” Val folds her hands under her head, staring up at the mirror on the ceiling. “We were just going to have the head of the Valkyries do it, but Frigga found out and insisted that it would be her pleasure. She did a beautiful job, it was a great honor.”
Thor sits down on the edge of the bed. “You were married?”
“Mm.” Her eyes don’t leave the mirror. “To a fellow Valkyrie. Her name was Agneta. We met during training, and we were inseparable. First love, you know? Neither of us even knew we could feel that happy.”
Thor nods, careful to give her a moment of silence and space before he speaks. “I’m glad you had that.”
“So am I.” Her voice is fierce, defiant, as if he had tried to pick a fight. “Losing her was horrible, but I wouldn’t trade the time we had together for anything in the universe.”
“Of course. I can’t imagine the pain, but we’re not given pain to punish us for joy. They’re separate things.”
She looks at him out of the corner of her eye for a moment, silent, but some of the tension goes out of her shoulders. “She died in the fight against Hela.”
“I thought as much.” Thor allows himself a long, slow exhale. “My father made a great many mistakes. His choices about Hela were perhaps the gravest.”
“I agree.” She falls quiet for a moment, then sits up and runs her hands over her hair. “Well. That’s all in the past, anyway. Our ghosts won’t be waiting for us at Mímir’s well.”
“I certainly hope not. Just some good water and the severed head of Mímir.”
Val levers herself off the bed and goes to poke through the Commodore’s liquor cabinet. Thor is fairly sure that the cabinet’s contents won’t last all the way to Mímisbrunnr. “He won’t ask us riddles, will he? I hate riddles.”
“I don’t think so. We’re not making a bargain with him for wisdom, just checking in on things.”
“Good.” She selects a bottle and pops the cap off with her knife. “Come drink with me, Thor. I’ve stirred up feelings that are better left settled, and I hate it, and I want to drink and fuck, if you’re willing.”
“Entirely,” he says, moving to join her. “Can I hold you afterward?”
“Spooning or face to face?”
“Whichever you’re more comfortable with.”
She nods slowly and takes a drink, then hands him the bottle. “You’re so good, Thor. How do you stand yourself?”
“Just lucky, I guess.” He sips and passes the bottle back, careful to match every two of her swallows with only one of his own, until she’s pushed her sorrows back again to her own satisfaction.
**
Severed heads don’t age the same as intact beings, so Thor can’t properly say that Mímir is a surly old son of a bitch, but a surly son of a bitch he absolutely is.
“Odinson,” the head sneers from its place near the well. Someone at some point set up a nice little platform of rocks with a padded cushion and an angled slate roof, so Mímir’s head can stay dry and comfortable while it heckles and abuses passers-by. “I wish I could say you’ve grown up well.”
“Mímir’s severed head.” Thor salutes it gravely. “I know you don’t wish that at all, but thank you for lying, it’s very kind of you.”
“The other Odinson has aged just as poorly.” Mímir scowls, then turns his attention to Val. “This one is new, though. Hello, lady of Asgard.”
“Hardly a lady.” She offers a brief salute of her own. “Greetings, Mímir.”
“What remains of Mímir,” it mutters sourly, rocking back and forth to shift itself on its cushion. “Well, Odinson, what is it you want? It can’t be to chop me up again in search of more wisdom. Your father used that option up without so much as an apology. What is the old man up to, anyway? Decapitating other beings on the basis of a feeble legend?”
“He’s dead,” Thor says, made blunt by distraction. “Did you say that you saw the other Odinson? When was that exactly?”
“Dead!” Mímir rocks back and forth with even more energy. “Why, I should have known! Damn me to the farthest corner of Niflheim! Odin, dead!”
“Yes, quite dead, very much so. Hela returned. Ragnarok came, Surtur rose again, Asgard fell. It was all very…” Thor can’t really find a word to describe it. “But really I need to know what you meant when you brought up the other Odinson.”
“The dark-haired one,” Mímir says flatly. “The sulky sourpuss who never laughed at my jokes. You said Asgard fell? I missed Ragnarok? I was looking forward to it! The idea of seeing your father fall has been the only thing keeping me going for quite some time now!”
“Yes, well.” Thor stares at the head for a moment. “I don’t know what to tell you. I’m not an expert on these things.”
“Of course not.” The head bounces in place and sneers at him. “Why would one of the princes of Asgard bother to know what’s going on and keep the rest of us informed. You spoiled ponce.”
“Mímir, I’m warning you, insult me again and I will throw you into your own well.”
The head bristles and shouts. “You’re welcome to try! Hey! Ho! I’ll bite your ears off!”
Val elbows Thor sharply in the ribs before he can move. “You said Loki was here. When was that?”
Mímir settles sullenly on his cushion again. “I don’t know. Not long. A bit ago. Time moves strangely here by the well. But it wasn’t long. He certainly didn’t mention anything about Asgard falling, though!”
“What didhe say?” Thor takes a step closer.
“The usual.” Mímir nods at the well. “Tried to talk me into letting him have a drink without paying anything or even solving a riddle. I told him to piss off. He threatened to seal me up in stone forever, or in lava at the heart of a volcano, or tie a brick to me and let me sink to the bottom of the sea. Ha! As if I would stay where he put me! I’m Mímir, the Wise One! I would find a solution, and call help to me, and rise again to find him and chop his ears off!”
“What’s the fixation on ears? Are your own bothering you?” Thor reaches out to touch Mímir’s left ear, then jerks his hand back as the head tries to bite him. “Damn! Val, grab him!”
“I’m not touching him!”
“Val?” The head goes still again, eyes narrowing. “That’s not your name.”
Val stands her ground, one hand moving to the hilt of her dagger. “It serves as one.”
“Ahhh.” Mímir widens his eyes again. “I see. You think that living without a name sanctifies your grief. It becomes something you sacrificed. It makes it holy. I see, I see. Hmm.”
“It’s none of your business, old man.”
“Never a man, nameless one. Once a being, now a head. At least the well allowed me to keep both my eyes. The better to see.” It turns its attention back to Thor. “What did you give your eye up for, anyway? Something pretty? You might have done better to save it for a drink at my well, here.”
Thor reaches up to touch the eyepatch. The pain is gone, but he’s still not used to the feel of it. “I didn’t trade it. It was taken from me.”
“Your brother? It seems like the sort of thing he would do.”
“No.” For all Loki’s faults, Thor can’t imagine him doing that. “Our sister. Hela.”
The head actually seems abashed for a moment. “Oh. Yes, well. That one. Odinsdottir always did have a vicious streak in her. I wasn’t fond.”
“I don’t think anyone was.” Thor takes a deep breath. “Please, Mímir. Was my brother all right, when you saw him?”
“He was fine. Surly, unpleasant, but he didn’t act on any of his threats toward me, obviously. Just shouted a lot and then went off to talk to the frost giants, I suppose. In that direction, anyway.”
“Ah.” Thor’s shoulders slump. “The frost giants. Well.”
“But he didn’t do anything terrible, and he didn’t take any of my water. So there’s that.”
“I suppose that is something.” Thor looks at the sky for a moment, then at Val, then back to Mímir. “All is well, here? No signs of more universe-imperiling doom?”
“Not that I’ve seen.” The head rocks experimentally again, then settles down on its cushion, Mímir’s face suddenly drooping with exhaustion. “But if any should appear, you’re the first hero I’ll try to reach, I promise.”
Thor is touched despite himself. “Thank you, Mímir.”
“You’re the only hero I know of in these degenerate times.”
Right. That’s more like it. “Goodbye, Mímir. Come on, Val, we’ve still got another root to check on.”
“Who’s guarding that one these days?” she asks, stepping back from the well with a nod to Mímir.
“The last time I checked, there was nothing there at all, just the spring Hvergelmir running through the ice and ashes of Niflheim.”
“Ha!” comes Mímir’s voice behind them as they walk away. “Oh, my dear Odinson. Hear me. Things have changed.”
**
Damn Mímir and his lack of specificity.
Thor stomps his feet slowly in the icy slush of Niflheim, staring at the not-quite-a-city that has sprung up on one side of the spring Hvergelmir. It’s as if a city were built starting with the district of the most questionable clubs and bars, and then abandoned before going any further.
“So none of this was here before?” Val kicks at some of the slush. “I wonder why they built it? This isn’t exactly a vacation destination.”
“And these aren’t even waters of wisdom.” Thor walks a few feet along the spring. The waters are still flowing clear and unimpeded; good. They’re the source of all waters, according to the great tales, so polluting or blocking them would be a terrible idea. “I’ve no idea what’s going on.”
“Well, we can either investigate first or look for your friends.” Val shrugs easily and tilts her head back to watch the view over the mountains in the distance, where the cold of Niflheim met the heat of Muspelheim and produced the steam that gave rise to all creation.
“We don’t have to look far. Nidhogg is right over there.” He points to a long, dark shape a hundred meters or so from the spring, curled around itself like an old rock formation wearing down with endless time. Val squints at it, then gasps softly, and Thor nods in understanding--the sheer size of the dragon is startling, along with its utter stillness.
“He’s been there since the beginning of time, give or take an eon,” Thor explains as they walk toward the great dark hulk. “So he’s slowed down quite a bit. When Father was young, Nidhogg still moved around a bit, even flapped his wings and caused chaos through all Nine Realms, or so Father said. I’ve never seen him move, though. Ho, Nidhogg! Greetings!”
An outcropping of stone shifts slowly, until it’s revealed to be lids parting over a great golden eye, the size of Thor’s chest. “Who speaks?” comes a rumbling whisper.
“I am Thor, son of Odin, called Lord of Thunder.” Thor holds his fist against his chest and bows respectfully. “My companion calls herself Valkyrie, no other name.”
A slow, weary sigh, brushing past them like a warm spring breeze in this cold place. “Son of Odin.”
“We don’t mean to bother you. Just checking in that all is well, and you and Ratatoskr continue your conversations.”
“Hmm.” Another sigh. “It has been a while since I saw him last. But he continues, yes. I would feel it if he were gone.”
Thor nods. “I suppose he’s simply slowed down a bit over time, too.”
“Perhaps.” The great dragon sounds utterly indifferent. “He will return when he wishes to.”
“Thank you.” Thor bows again. “Please, forgive us for interrupting you.”
“Hmm.” The dragon’s eye is already drifting closed again. As Thor and Val walk back toward the spring and the non-city, the tip of Nidhogg’s tail twitches, exploding three boulders and a small stand of trees.
“He’s impressive, isn’t he?” Thor sighs. “Ah, to have lived when the universe was young and he took flight.”
Val shakes her head. “I can’t imagine seeing that much time. It would be too much to cope with.”
“That’s why he sleeps, I suppose.” Thor looks back over his shoulder. “I wish Ratatoskr was here, though, I’ve never properly met him. Only heard Father’s stories.”
“How does he travel?” Val bends to pick up a rock and skips it down the length of the spring. “The legends say he’s a squirrel that runs from root to crown of Yggdrasil. What was that story before it grew up?”
“Oh, he is a squirrel, yes.” Thor smiles, thinking back to the beautiful illusions that Frigga used to cast while Odin told his tales. “A squirrel with a small spaceship. He flies from here to the star at the very tip of the crown, where there’s a great nebula in the shape of an eagle. He rests there and thinks of all kinds of insults, then flies back and bickers with Nidhogg for an eon or two. Then he’s off again.”
“Amazing.” Val shakes her head. “Well, we’ve finished your tasks, Thor. Should we go back to New Asgard? Or should we get a drink first?” She holds up her hand before he can respond. “It’s not actually a question. But I’ll let you pick the bar.”
“That seems fair.” Thor follows her across the ford of the spring, and down the single street, lined on both sides with havens of alcohol, vice, and song. One draws his eye more than any of the others; in fact, as soon as he sees its sign, his heart gives a jump that he knows well.
“Sleipnir’s,” he reads aloud, pointing at the tacky mess of green neon on the roof that approximates the shape of a great horse with eight legs. “I think we should go there.”
“Oh?” Val appraises it skeptically. “Why that one?”
“Just a feeling.” He starts toward it, checking his stride so she can keep up. “I hope you have some money, because I have nothing. Gods aren’t usually expected to pay.”
“I thought you’d decided not to be a god anymore. Or not properly a god, anyway. Whatever it is you decided.”
“I’m not very good at it yet. I need some time to get settled in. Cut me some slack.”
She snorts and pushes the door open. “Easy for you to say when I’m the one buying.”
**
It takes him a few moments to find Loki in the dim light of the bar. But for all his resolve to separate their paths and sever his ties to his brother, they’re bound at some absurd level of heart and mind.
His heart always finds Loki, even when he doesn’t want to.
Loki’s standing at the far end of the bar, talking to a trio of tentacle-headed Luvulians. He’s wearing the black suit, shirt, and tie he wore on their trip to Earth to look for Odin, his hair slicked back in its customary way, and he’s laughing. Thor wants to hug him, then punch his teeth out, then hug him again. It’s awful.
Val follows his gaze and sighs. “Oh, no. Right. I’m going to start drinking.”
Thor follows her to the bar. “I swear, I didn’t set out to follow him! This is a complete accident.”
“Is it?” She signals the bartender and takes the first bottle he offers her. “I’m not sure about that.”
“I swear, Val, I didn’t expect this!”
“I believe you.” She takes a long drink. “But that doesn’t mean it’s a complete accident.”
He stares at her for a moment, first trying to understand and then distracted by the line of her throat. “What do you mean?”
“Destiny. Cosmic forces. All that kind of thing.” She shrugs and boosts herself up onto one of the barstools. “You don’t always get to choose who you’re bound to.”
“Our paths diverged.” Thor shakes his head and accepts a bottle from the bartender. “I told him that, on Sakaar, that I had accepted that.”
“You can accept it all you want. If the universe decides those divergent paths are going to cross now and again, well, not much you can do about it.” She shrugs again. “And just because you accepted that the two of you aren’t going to go through life side by side doesn’t mean you don’t want to see him occasionally. Doesn’t mean you don’t love him.”
“I do love him. That’s true.” Thor stares into his drink. “Even when he’s incredibly annoying. Or trying to conquer planets. Or letting me be enslaved in the fighting pits.”
“Mm. He’s a delight.” She drinks again, then reaches over and puts her hand on his. “Look. You’ll stop his plans when you can, and you’ll knock him around a bit when you have to, but you’re not going to kill him, and you’ll always love him. That’s what I’m hearing right now. Yes?”
He nods and turns his hand so they’re palm to palm on the bar. “He can’t help it, you know. It’s his nature. A trickster has to be selfish and scheming. If he was anything else, he wouldn’t be… well, he would be someone else. He can’t be who he is without being who he is. If that makes any sense.”
“It doesn’t.” She threads their fingers together and squeezes gently. “But you balance him, yeah? And he keeps you from getting stuffy and boring. Cosmic balance. The universe knows what it’s doing with you two.”
Thor gazes at her in awe. “You’re incredible. So wise. I don’t… did you drink from Mímisbrunnr when I wasn’t looking?”
“No. I’m just naturally this smart.” She finishes her bottle and tosses it in the air, catching it before it falls to the bar. “Now. Go say hello to your brother. I want to see the look on his face. I bet it basically looks like he chokes on his own tongue.”
**
Val’s guess is very good; not only does Loki appear to choke, he also puffs up like a cat. “What are you doing here?”
Thor pulls him into a hug, pounding his back solidly. “Val and I were in the neighborhood.”
“Why?”
“Visiting the local sites. This is quite a place you’ve put together. Do you own just this bar, or the whole street?”
“Most of the street.”
One of the Luvulians giggles, zir tentacles waving and curling. “Most of the town!”
“Of course.” Thor chuckles and squeezes Loki tighter. “Take care you don’t annoy Nidhogg, brother, he’s older and stronger than either of us, and I can’t spend all of my time rescuing you.”
“I don’t require rescuing!” Loki jerks away and straightens his suit. “Why are you here, anyway? On Niflheim in general.”
“Checking on things. Making sure the various parts of Yggdrasil are still where they belong.”
“Well, they are. I had the same idea, obviously.” Loki huffs and turns to the bar, snapping his finger at the bartender. “More of the blue, please.”
“You abandoned your guests,” Thor points out, looking over at the Luvulians.
“Oh, they can entertain themselves.” Loki sighs. “I can’t believe you showed up here. I thought we were free of each other at last.”
“Yes, well.” Thor thumps him across the shoulder blades. “Val pointed out that the universe might have other ideas, and there’s nothing we can do about that.”
“The universe wants you to bother me and spoil everything I do, through eternity?”
“So it seems.” The bartender brings Loki’s drink, and Thor raises his bottle to him in a toast. “I keep you from ruining everything, you keep me from getting boring, we’re both happy.”
“That idea doesn’t make me happy at all, Thor.”
“I’m not in charge of these things and neither are you.” Thor lifts his hand and signals to Val, who rolls her eyes and makes her way down the bar to join them. “Now. I assume you can put us up for the night?”
“Why would you assume that?” Loki puts on a smile that’s particularly sharp and vicious, one Thor knows well. He’s seen it every so often since they were children, after all, including the incident with the snake. “Hello, the Valkyrie.”
“Loki.” She tilts her head. “What’s that look for?”
“I just want you to know that I will find your name. It’s going to take some doing, and probably some time-travel, since Asgard is gone and there was never really any reason to back up the Valkyrie records anywhere else. But I will find it. And I, being what I am, know the power of a name.”
Val rolls her eyes and takes a drink. “It’s Brunnhilde. Or, well. It was. It’s not my name anymore.”
Loki flexes his fingers slowly, the slightest green glow beginning to gather around them. “It still holds power.”
“It doesn’t, though.” She reaches over and drags her fingertips through the glow, watching it as it pulls back from her skin and dissipates into nothing. “See? Your spell doesn’t know me. I gave up the name a long time ago. It’s not mine.”
“Dammit.” Loki sighs and reaches for his drink. “You’re both the worst.”
Thor can’t stop smiling. It’s too perfect, all of it. “So you will put us up tonight, then, hm? There must be an apartment over the bar or something?”
“There is, but I’m staying there, so I’m afraid you’ll have to--”
“Bunk a bit closely? That’s fine.” Thor finishes his own drink and claps his hands. “Let’s enjoy the rest of our evening. We’ve all got things to do tomorrow.”
**
Thor wakes up and can’t say why, at first; he’s warm, with Valkyrie spooned up to his back and the blankets tangled around his legs. It takes a moment to see the swirling lights at the far end of the room, by the window overlooking the street, where Loki’s sitting and weaving glowing colors with his fingers.
Thor eases from the bed and walks over to sit beside him. “I hope you’re not trying to interfere with us again, brother.”
“Ha. No.” Loki moves his right hand like he’s turning a crank, and the lights pooled in his left palm change obediently. “Just scrying a bit. Deciding what I want to do next.”
“Not coming back to earth with us?”
One eyebrow goes up, but Loki doesn’t look away from his hands. “Why would I do that?”
“See if there’s anything left of Father’s aura that you could use. Petty vengeance on that Stephen Strange fellow. Apologizing to the Avengers so you can try to put one over on them again. Maybe you met a nice girl, or boy, or pony. I could go on.”
“Shut up.” Loki sighs and drops his hands, dismissing his spell. “I can’t imagine your girl will want me along.”
“She’s not my girl.”
“Right, yes, you’re opposed to possessives or whatever thing it is you came up with.”
Thor shakes his head, smiling. “She’s a warrior, Loki. She has her own destiny, her own tasks to achieve. I believe she’ll stun us all by the time she’s done.”
“How nauseating.”
Thor narrows his eyes a bit, then punches Loki’s shoulder. “Are you jealous?”
“Of course not.”
“Are you afraid I like her better than you?”
“No!” Loki’s lips peel back from his teeth in a petulant sneer. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Because obviously I like her better than you, Loki, you’re a ridiculous brat and you keep trying to have me killed.” He sighs and claps his hand over where he punched before. “But I love you, as a brother. And your destiny and mine are intertwined as mine and hers can never be.”
“You don’t even know that,” Loki mutters. He doesn’t shrug Thor’s hand away, though. “It’s just some self-soothing nonsense you made up.”
“Val made it up. But I like it, so I’m keeping it.”
Loki sighs. “You’re both ridiculous.”
“Mm-hmm. Part of the charm.” Thor gets to his feet and offers his hand. “Come on, brother. Let’s get a bit more sleep before facing the dawn. It’s a long way back to New Asgard, and longer than that to Earth.”
Loki doesn’t take his hand, but slowly follows him back to the bed. “I’ll likely be gone in the morning, you know. Well before you and the Valkyrie wake up.”
“That’s fine.” Thor gets in bed and holds the blanket up for him. “We’ll run into you again sooner or later. I’ll ruin your plans or you’ll ruin mine.”
“I think next time I’ll trap you in the core of a moon,” Loki mutters, lying stiff as a board while Thor tucks the blanket around both of them. “Or tell Nidhogg you did something awful and he should rise and fight you.”
“Good luck with that.” Thor wraps his arm around Loki’s waist and pulls him close against him, then inches back bit by bit until he feels Valkyrie’s warmth behind him. Good. “Now go to sleep.”
He doesn’t know what he’ll find in the morning; maybe the whole not-quite-a-town will be ablaze around him when he opens his eyes. But he has confidence in the future.
He’s no seer and he hasn’t drunk from the well of wisdom, but he has his own plans and dreams and visions, and he’ll never walk alone.