And he did this for hours at a time, twice?" said Eir, appalled.
"Yes," said Brunnhilde. Brief glances in the direction of the queen indicated that the other woman would have gladly torn Ebony Maw limb from limb had he still lived. "There was no blood, but Prince Loki had no strength afterward and could barely move, and the ship…" She trailed off with an involuntary shudder. "It felt wrong. I don't have any talent for seidr myself and being on board was bad enough for me. He was trying not to show it, but I think it was much worse for him, particularly when he tried to do magic. We were also never fed the entire time we were Maw's prisoners."
"When did the prince use his frjosleikr?" said the blonde elf. "His ice powers, that is," she elaborated.
"Maw dragged us out of the brig so that he could force Loki to watch him use the ship's weapons against Thor down on the ground. Loki must've thought there was a chance that the ship wouldn't affect his Jotun abilities the way it did his seidr. He transformed and attacked. His form was awkward, but it got the job done. Maw didn't have a chance to fire off so much as a single shot, and the ice crippled the ship's power source."
Frigga bent and kissed Loki's forehead and continued stroking his hair, her eyes shining with pride. Brunnhilde had to concede that the queen, at least, was sincere in considering him her child, but maybe that was a given for the Goddess of Motherhood. She was less willing to grant the same to Odin, despite the affecting scene she'd witnessed upon arriving at the healing room. Frigga caught her gaze before she could look away. "Were you only an observer in all this, my dear?" she said.
Brunnhilde shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "I took out the Sakaaran soldiers Maw had with him on the bridge. Their attention was on Loki, but they never had the chance to attack."
There was a knowing look in Frigga's eye that made Brunnhilde's stomach squirm. The way she felt about Loki—if she felt anything about Loki, which she was trying not to dwell on—was private, and there was no point examining it further in light of the confrontation about to take place in the throne room.
"Thank you," said Frigga, inclining her head. "You have Asgard's gratitude for the life of its prince, and you have a mother's gratitude for having her son safely returned to her."
A rustle from the windowsill closest to Loki drew Brunnhilde's gaze, and she caught a glimpse of black tail feathers before the bird could fly completely out of sight. "Yeah, well," she said, the squirming feeling intensifying. "He saved my life first."
After she had answered Eir, Frigga, and the elf lady's questions to their satisfaction, she turned to go. One of the apprentice healers took the opportunity to hurry up to her and politely but firmly hint that she should take the remainder of the time given her by the king to wash up and make herself presentable. A palace servant joined in and suggested she check the palace armory to see if they had something more suitable for her to wear for an audience with the Allfather.
She brushed them both off, but as soon as she was sure she was out of their line of sight, she did head for the armory.
Her first instinct had been to force Scrapper 142 upon Asgard, complete with the powerful aroma of Sakaar (not that she'd been able to smell it for several centuries), and watch them all squirm to see how far one of their own could fall. She'd changed her mind. If Odin wanted to put her on trial, perhaps for desertion as Loki had suggested, then he would have to pronounce his sentence upon Commander Brunnhilde Sigursdottir of the Second Wing.
X
"So quick to praise your friends," said Odin when Thor paused for breath after a thorough explanation of the crucial reconnaissance Barton and Romanoff had done to make their final operation on Sakaar possible. "The Thor of a month ago would have done little but boast of his own achievements. Are you so changed, or were you merely a bystander to the mortals' endeavors?"
Thor grimaced, both at the memory of his arrogant younger self and at the several ways he had proven more of a hindrance than a help on Sakaar. "I was a fool," he said. "If it hadn't been for Loki and my friends—and the second transporter catching up to us when we needed reinforcements most—I doubt I could have salvaged our quest from my own mistakes. I placed too much value in my previous experiences on Sakaar. I gave no thought to the resources we might need or how we would acquire them, it didn't occur to me that the strange flow of time on Sakaar could impact our plans, and I forgot that the people of Earth have no magic or technology that permits easy communication with speakers of foreign tongues."
"Your humility and recognition of your own errors do you great credit, my boy," said Odin, laying a hand on Thor's shoulder. "These are qualities a wise king needs, but that does not mean your triumphs should count for nothing. Come, you already told us in the healing room that you won the battle that gave you that wound. Tell me more."
Thor described the plans they'd made with Korg, the rousing speech he made to the people using the nameless tongue, and the way he took as long as he could in the battle to give Barton and Romanoff enough time to free the slaves. Then he spoke about the full-blown battle, Maw's ship falling from the sky, and retrieving Loki, the Valkyrie, and Maw's kinsmen from it.
"I'll arrange for quarters for our new guests," said Odin. "It seems Maw forced them into quite the harrowing ordeal. We'll let them settle in before questioning them about Thanos."
"Agreed," said Thor. He teetered on the verge of keeping his thoughts to himself, but he had to ask the question that had been eating at him since this discussion began. "Why did you call Brunnhilde to the throne room?"
"How else am I to proceed when one of my top military officers returns after being presumed dead for a millennium?" said Odin. He then firmly changed the subject before Thor could ask anything else. "Now, this victory should be marked with a feast. We'll open the palace to the public, of course. I still need to discuss Thanos with the Council before bringing the matter to the people, but I do think this will be the perfect occasion to formalize our closer ties to Midgard."
"Wha—really?" said Thor.
"I was skeptical before, but Agents Barton and Romanoff have displayed remarkable resourcefulness, intelligence, and adaptability that more than offset their mortal limitations, just as the band of scientists have brought fresh perspective and ingenuity in their work with our smiths and engineers. With minds and talents like these at its disposal, it will not be long before Midgard finds its own way out of isolation. Asgard should not miss this opportunity to be the hand that guides it there."
It was possible that his father was imagining that hand to be less friendly and more controlling, but Thor still considered it an improvement over his dismissive attitude during the Convergence.
"Now go clean yourself up," said Odin, giving Thor's shoulder a slap. "You smell worse than a bilgesnipe den at high summer."
X
Brunnhilde walked into the throne room in full Valkyrie armor, her hair braided in Valkyrie battle style, her Dragonfang sheathed on her back. It was almost like the last thousand years had been a dream, and she was merely off to the Council chambers to discuss strategy for defending Vanaheim from raiders.
She expected to find guards waiting at the door and standing by every column when she reached the throne room. She expected to be made to hand over her weapons. However, no one greeted her at the high doors, and when she stepped inside, her footsteps echoed across a deserted hall.
At first, she thought nothing had changed here either, but that wasn't entirely true.
When she glanced up at the ceiling, she saw that the painting of Odin and Frigga's wedding was now a family portrait that included their adult sons. The figures in the celebration scenes had also changed to include the four who'd been on Sakaar for the battle. The only ones that were the same were Gladsheim and the Bifrost, Odin with his arms encompassing nine spheres that represented the nine realms, and the one that had only been freshly painted the last time she was here: Odin and Laufey signing the truce to end the Aesir-Jotnar war.
She walked to the bottom of the golden stairs leading to Hlidskjalf, where Odin sat, Gungnir in hand. His attention was on the raven perched on the left armrest, whose feathers he was affectionately stroking. It croaked and took flight when she came to a halt. Odin followed its progress for a moment before finally looking at her.
She didn't bow. It was the third time she had failed to do so, but still he made no comment about it.
"What, no audience for my trial?" she said.
"You think this is a trial?"
She shrugged. "Aren't I a deserter? An oathbreaker?"
"At first glance, perhaps, though I have it on good authority that you saved my son's life on Sakaar."
Damn nosy birds. "That wasn't about an oath," she muttered gruffly. She didn't need him starting up with that too. This was exactly why she always tried not to meet the parents of anyone she fancied.
"Even so, if I had let you and your shield-sisters do the same a thousand years ago, they would likely still be here."
Brunnhilde stared at him, incredulous. He was admitting it?
He offered a thin, wry smile. "No, your ears do not deceive you, Brunnhilde Sigursdottir. You see, it is not you who has much to answer for this day. Speak your mind."
"You would not like what's in my mind."
"A king who can only hear that which pleases him is a fool."
Brunnhilde's eyes flared. He could spout a proverb like that with a straight face when he was the reason his own people had pleasant lies for memories?
She wanted to lunge at him where he sat, press her Dragonfang into his throat, and scream at him. "And what if speaking wouldn't be enough?" she said.
"Perhaps that is what I deserve," said Odin.
The armor and the hair felt like such a lie all of a sudden. She might look the part of a respected commander of the Valkyrior again, but she wasn't. That woman could have come down upon Odin in righteous fury, but her fallen sisters couldn't have had a worse representative in the person she'd become—a person who would sell weaker, innocent beings into slavery just to keep the liquor flowing. To keep the Grandmaster happy enough that he didn't decide to trade his brother's "gift" for a different one.
She never would have become that person if it hadn't been for Odin, but it didn't change the fact that she had.
"Why did you send us there?" she asked.
The years might not have touched her on Sakaar, but they had taken more than their usual toll on the Allfather. He seemed to crumple in on himself. "That order," he said, "was the gravest tactical error of my entire reign."
"If you know that, then why did you give it?" The question had tormented her in the early years, before she had drowned it in alcohol. Now she found that it was still there, and surprisingly strong. Images from that battle, which she had kept buried for so long, were trying to creep up on her now. They'd thought they were prepared. They'd known what Hela could do, but she was alone and limited to battling on foot. They could surround her by air as well as on the ground. Brunnhilde forced the memories back down. She didn't want to watch them die again. "We didn't stand a chance against Hela, so why did you send us to fight her? Clearly you were capable of defeating her, if you're still here and she's not. Why didn't you fight with us?"
Her chest heaved and angry tears blurred her view of Odin. She brushed them impatiently aside. She wanted to see his face.
"I stayed on Asgard," said Odin, "because Hela's supporters had already killed one of my sons, and they weren't going to stop there."
Brunnhilde's next accusing question died on her lips.
Odin swallowed. He looked like he was in terrible pain, and she was too shocked to be glad over it. "They infiltrated the ranks of our trusted servants during the war with Jotunheim. They poisoned him gradually while Frigga was still pregnant."
"Then…," she began slowly. "Then there was another child." She had wondered how Thor seemed to only have one younger sibling when all of Asgard had known of Frigga's second pregnancy and celebrated the prospect of the coming prince or princess as the war drew to a close. Loki was obviously a full-blooded Jotun, so, she reasoned, either the entire pregnancy had been a ruse, or...
Odin's features creased with an old grief. "It was cleverly done," he said. "They used the extract of a rare strain of mistletoe. Barely an inconvenience to an adult, untraceable if administered in small enough doses. Frigga never realized anything was amiss until the birth. Even Eir believed our little Baldur died of natural causes."
"You didn't tell anyone," Brunnhilde realized. "You just pretended that baby was Loki all along, which would have made the conspirators think their plan had failed."
He nodded. "They were much more reckless on their second attempt. They might have succeeded had Frigga not gone to the nursery in the middle of the night and found the traitorous servant there, holding a dagger."
"You didn't know who else might be an operative for Hela," said Brunnhilde hollowly. "You stayed behind to protect your sons." She'd known about the assassination attempt on the princes, of course. Everyone had. But they'd assumed that was the first and only attempt. When the Hela loyalists moved into the open, it all happened so fast that she had never known where it started.
"Yes," said Odin. "There were palace guards involved as well, and high-ranking Einherjar who once fought under Hela's command. They attacked the royal quarters with as much force as they guarded the sorcerers opening the shadow gate."
"You could have set us to protect your family," said Brunnhilde, her anger flaring up again. "We would have fought to the death to keep them safe, and it actually would have meant something!"
"I know," said Odin. He looked older than ever. "The Valkyrior opposed Hela's vision for Asgard before I did, when speaking out against her was dangerous. It was never a question of your loyalty—or your capabilities. I simply miscalculated. I thought I severed Hela from the power of my line when I exiled her to Niflheim, but I underestimated how much of that power comes from the support of the people, not merely Asgard as a physical place. With those people in open rebellion, her power was at its peak."
Then Odin had not coldly and knowingly sent them to their deaths. A piece of the betrayal and resentment she had carried with her all this time splintered off and fell away, but there was still the lie he had told to smooth all of this over. And she realized something else, too. "She's still alive, isn't she? After all that, you still didn't kill her."
"I meant to. If she'd had any part in Baldur's death or the assassination attempt on Thor and Loki, I may have gone through with it."
"So instead you made everyone forget about her."
"In one move, I broke her power and wiped away the unrest on Asgard. All for the price of setting up her supporters as martyrs alongside your sisters and vilifying my new son's already defeated kin."
There was a bitter taste in Brunnhilde's mouth. "Was it worth it?"
"To avoid civil war and prevent Hela's escape?" said Odin. "Yes."