Emma Joan Tallis

chapter twenty-nine: Friends Trust

"Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life."
~ Mark Twain

~*~

"Odin continues to bring me new friends," Loki drawled when I joined Frigga in speaking with him. "How thoughtful."

"I'm guessing you found my father's poetry tedious," I said with a smirk.

"Tedious is putting it nicely," Loki grumbled. 

"The books I sent, do they not interest you?" Frigga asked. 

"Is that how I'm to while away eternity, reading?" Loki asked. 

"There are worse things," I told him. 

"I've done everything in my power to make you comfortable, Loki," Frigga said. 

"Have you? Does Odin share your concern? Does Thor?" Loki asked. "It must be so inconvenient them asking after me day and night."

"You know full well it was your actions that brought you here," Frigga replied, ignoring his sarcasm. 

"My actions," Loki mused with a chuckle. "I was merely giving truth to the lie that I had been fed my entire life, that I was born to be a king."

"A king?" I asked crossing my arms. "A true king admits his faults. What of the lives you took on Earth?"

"A mere handful compared to the number that Odin has taken himself," Loki replied, and I had to admit he had a point. Odin was not the best example. 

"Your father..."

"He's not my father!" Loki shouted as he jumped up. 

"Then am I not your mother?" Frigga asked. 

Loki hesitated for a moment before answering, "you're not."

"Always so perceptive about everyone but yourself," Frigga said with tears in her eyes as she took a step forward. I sighed as she held out a hand, and Loki went to touch her, but she vanished. 

"I am surprised you returned," Loki said.

"The Bifrost is repaired. I figured I should check in on my parents," I told him. "I was also concerned about you."

"Your concern is flattering," Loki said.

"I thought Odin might just execute you," I added with a shrug, and Loki glared at me. "I think its a far greater punishment to lock you in a cell. However, you inflict even more punishment on yourself by pushing your mother away."

"She's not my mother," Loki snapped.

"Just because she didn't physically give birth to you, doesn't mean she isn't your mother," I replied. "Frigga gave you love and affection. You returned those gifts by spreading chaos and hate." 

"You're channeling your father," Loki mocked. "You almost sound like a poet."

"Do you regret any of what you did?" I asked.

"Failing," Loki said before turning his back on me. 

I sighed, "I think you regret more than that." Loki didn't say anything, but I knew I was right. 

"Why are you here?" Loki asked.

"I guess to see if I could help you," I said sadly. "But I see now you don't want help, you're not ready for it. You just want to pity yourself and blame others."

"You did the same thing for a decade," Loki retaliated. 

"I lost my children," I replied flatly. "I finally had another chance at happiness, at love, and I lost that too. You had your family, you could have made a life for yourself. Instead, you threw that all away."