Nanna stepped into the grand hall of Asgard, cradling Lachlan in her arms. Her steps were measured, her gaze sharp, as she made her way to the kitchen where she knew Frigg, her husband's mother, would be. Without so much as knocking, she pushed the door open—a silent assertion of her status as the wife of Odin's favored son.
Frigg looked up from her dinner preparations, her face softening with surprise and relief. "Nanna! You've returned! We thought we had lost you for good."
"I wasn't exactly welcomed back with open arms," Nanna replied, her tone cool. This, Frigg thought, was typical of her—always so entitled, so quick to find fault.
Yet something about her felt… different.
"I'm sorry," Frigg said cautiously. "You returned so suddenly, even Heimdall didn't foresee it. Did you come through some other path, rather than the Bifröst?"
"Never mind how I came back." Nanna shifted Lachlan in her arms, her grip on him almost protective, drawing Frigg's attention to the baby. "I have a question for you."
Frigg's expression softened further as she focused on the child. "That poor baby. He's been passed around so much—I fear he will grow to resent his life. Are you planning to reject him, too?"
"It seems every parent he's ever had dies," Nanna said flatly with pity for the boy, detached, almost devoid of emotion.
Frigg reached out to take the child, a gentle smile on her lips. "Oh, but he's sweet. He just needs care and a good meal." She rummaged through the cupboard, retrieving jars of baby food meant for Forseti and a loaf of steak to warm up. "Besides," she added, "both of your sons are children of a wolf mother."
"I gave away my wolf," Nanna snapped. Her reaction was immediate, almost defensive, as if the subject struck a deeper nerve than expected. "Forseti doesn't have one."
Frigg sighed as she worked. "Mani and Odin have been determined to sever the bond between humans and familiars. I always thought werewolves were beautiful creatures. It's Alastor who poisons their minds with rebellion after death. Without him, werewolves would be as enchanting as the Greek nymphs.
"Wolves eat people—and nymphs, perhaps I would believe you feel that way if you ignored the teeth and claws." Nanna said, her words clipped but her tone unusual.
"Besides, I want to be a goddess now, and my son will be a god. He doesn't need to be tied to… beasts." She hesitated, just for a moment, before adding, "He's named the god of justice, remember? Justice has no room for sentiment."
Frigg knew these to be the words of her daughter in law though she detected a sort of regret in her demeanor that betrayed her words almost as if she missed her wolf or didn't really hate the familiar beasts in truth.
A bit of unease went down her spine. She got a slight idea of who she was talking to and this wasn't Nanna.
"You seek power I understand." Frigg said. "That is why I cannot answer your question you've come to me for."
"What? How did you know that I came to ask about the woman who will kill my husband someday?"
Lachlan shifted into a small wolf cub and began scarfing down the food as Frigg set the plate on the floor.
"That's not how I would expect you to feed him." Nanna added, losing her train of thought for a moment as Frigg had nonchalantly treated the young alpha like a simple dog.
"I mean no disrespect, he's a cub he likes to eat his own way."
Nanna picked them up and grabbed a spoon for the baby. "If he is raised by me he will lose his wolf, so he should learn to be human, you should have thought of that when you gave him to me." Nanna said in a cruel demeanor.
Frigg sighed, "the woman you should make sure Baldur avoids is none other than mistletoe. She is a forest entity, she was in the form of a plant when he was promised to by the realms so we hadn't thought to invite her. She isn't the one who will kill him, nobody will, it's just not safe for her to exist because she hasn't promised."
Nanna frowned. "She is locked up without a cause then. Thank you for that information."
"I'm serious." Frigg said, "do not tell a soul."
"Tell a soul what?" Hodr came into the room asking.
"Of who mistletoe is." Nanna said, breaking her promise immediately.
Frigg gasped. "How dare you!"
"What will you do to me Queen? My husband will not allow you to harm me."
Frigg's face went red. "I am ashamed at you! I trusted you with that information! You know how hodr is jealous of his brother's fortune!"
"I am right here." Hodr reminded them angrily.
Lachlan finished lapping up his dinner and Nanna gave Frigg a challenging look before putting more of the baby food jars in her bag and grabbing the jug of milk.
"I will take care of the baby for you, since you asked. I thought you would raise him but I guess your days of fostering and doing what is best for your kids are over aren't they?
That ended the day your husband ordered killed Loki's children.
"I tell you what you want to hear mother, I just needed to know what side you are on, the beast's or your husband's. So if not the beasts then I will not give Lachlan to you afterall."
Frigg scowled. "I thought you would be glad to be back."
Hodr came and put his arm around Nanna's waist, but Frigg smacked it away and looked at her blind son sternly. " I do what I must as a parent. Sometimes I have to tell my children no."
"No to your son having a legacy? Joy? His children?!"
Nanna slammed her hand down on the countertop enraged. You have ordered killed all of his children except the ones you have encarcerated and for what? A simple rebellion to the injustices of the Aesir towards my race?!
Frigg looked at Nanna and suddenly it dawned on her that the woman before her was a broken man.
"Loki…." She broke character suddenly.. "Loki you shouldn't be here."
"I do what I want!" He said shifting out of his appearance of Nanna. "By the way, Nanna is dead but she had better stay that way! That creature encourages the extinction of her race and of other realms."
He glared at his so called mother with fury. "I couldn't even pretend to be Nanna when you chose to give the baby to HER when I entrusted him with YOU!!
"Frigg nearly cried out in anguish at the words of accusation by her closest son.
"Leave this place!" Hodr yelled in his direction. He glared with his dead eyes and yelled, "you break my mother's heart Loki!"
Loki picked up Lachlan. "Baldur will die. And it's because you killed my firstborn too. Jormungander, Hel, and all the others didn't deserve what so called father has done to them! Mark my words, Baldur will die!" Loki yelled. His emotional state matching the vulnerable emotionally charged personality that he had given to his children and his grandchildren. It was multi generational trauma and Frigg sobbed as her son disappeared with the baby.
Frigg collapsed onto the cold stone floor, her hands trembling. She had heard Loki's accusations before, but this time, they struck a truth she could no longer deny. She had done nothing to stop her husband from the hurt he had inflicted on Loki.