His Dove (Loki Laufeyson)

Part 66 (Birthday)

It took weeks for me to recover from the soul-crushing pains of overtaxing my magic to that degree. In short, I was a weak, moping mess for quite awhile after my 'little show' as Loki liked to call it. It put me on edge, knowing I couldn't use my powers properly afterwards. I was incredibly vulnerable, both physically and magically, and I hated every second of it.

In the end I was okay with it, though, because Odin's favor was worth the pain. Within those weeks, even Loki began to relax with my presence in the palace, now that Odin had began to respect me and the threat was seemingly gone.

I soon realized he believed me to be on the side of Asgard, since I almost died for the queen. From there, I realized he wasn't actually worried about keeping Asgard pure, but instead keeping Fafnir from having children in general.

Dragons would be dangerous threats... Having them on the side of Asgard, however, would be incredibly beneficial. If Vanaheim had a family full of dragons, they may have even surpassed the strength of Asgard, a worry the Allfather knew all too well, though he wouldn't admit that to anyone. To everyone else, Asgard was the strongest of all the realms and would remain that way regardless of any others' advancements.

Loki's warming to me didn't come without complications. I still rarely walked the halls alone, and I was never without him in the presence of the king. Odin had seemed to warm up to Loki as well, though, and I wasn't incredibly sure why. For a father-son relationship that had remained strained for a millennia, it seemed odd that Odin attempted to get along so well with his son now. He had even reinstated family breakfasts in the family dining hall, meaning the two princes now ate breakfast with their parents every morning. Only days after the breakfasts began, my invitation came along with them.

I quickly learned how to get small glimpses of normalcy from Odin, mostly smiles and even a short chuckle this particular morning. He liked Midgard, strangely enough, though his interest was mostly based on the strange beliefs of Midgardians and what technology and other advancements they had made since his last visit, which was hundreds of years prior. He was very stern that a member of house Odin be on the throne at all times, meaning he couldn't leave the realm unless he had his wife or sons to take the throne. I don't think he minded that much, though, as he didn't actually show interest in visiting earth.

After breakfast Loki had walked me to the healing wing, which had become routine for us by now. The other healing girls always whispered and giggled at seeing him walk me to my study, kissing my forehead with a small smile before he'd go to his own. I had heard through whispers that he was never one for affection, especially in public, but he had grown more comfortable as time passed. Sure, the forehead kisses were about as far as he'd go outside the confines of privacy, with the exception of Thor, his mother, and the warriors, but that was leaps and bounds passed how he sounded before.

The day at the healing wing was slow until lunch, when I went to the warrior lounge to eat with Sif and the others. Thor had gone back to Earth two weeks ago, and hadn't come back yet.

According to Loki, he could be gone for quite a long time. He even dared to say the only reason Thor had stayed as much as he had was because I was here, though I suspected his rough patch with Jane was the real issue blocking his desire to go, along with the Avengers breakup.

"Have you heard?" Sif asked as she sat beside me.

"Heard what?" I questioned back.

"House Njord is coming to Asgard for a large feast tonight."

"House Njord?"

"House Freyr and house Freya combined make house Njord."

"Freya is Freyr's twin sister, right?"