A Bang and a Whimper

17

Jenna is exhausted. She sleeps late most days and goes to bed early. She avoids the halls so that she might avoid Odin. She does not know whether to refer to him as her grandfather or to do as Loki does and call him by his name. So she instead avoids talking about him at all.

Thor is worried about his daughter. She has retreated to her room. There are times she does not leave for hours and refuses to join him for meals. She rarely eats breakfast at all. Loki is concerned as well. She does not join him for reading very often. They have still not finished "Neverwhere" and there are many books left in the pile that he wishes to read out loud with her, playing with dialogue, refining her narrative skills. But she is not interested and the few times he has been able to get her to converse, she has kept her answers short and reiterated that she would rather live in the royal hunting cabin than in the palace.

While Thor attempts to coax her out of her room on Midsummer's Eve, Loki seeks out Odin, "You have to end this."

"End what?"

"This ridiculous notion that Jenna is not your family."

"And why must I do that?"

"You did spend time with her, correct?"

"Yes."

"Do you remember what she was like?"

"Energetic. Curious. And often full of questions. Why?"

"Because she is listless and quiet and she does not wish to leave her room. She often does not eat. She sleeps most of the day. She has not read with me in a week and last she did, she barely followed the story. This is wrong, Odin. So very wrong."

"And what do you wish me to do about it?"

"To use a Midgardian phrase Thor learned from Jane, 'grow a pair and man up'- this is the behaviour of a child in a tantrum, not behaviour worthy of the man who was once king."

"You? You tell me that my behaviour is inappropriate? You assassinated Jotunheim's king, threw yourself into the Void, attempted to destroy Midgard, and stole this throne all in response to finding out you were adopted!"

"And I was a fool to let that bother me, but at least my initial reaction had a rational basis. I was taught to hate what I am. So I responded by trying to prove I was not one of them. That I was as good as you, possibly better, able to defeat that in me and destroy what you could not. And I heard only rejection from you on the Bifrost. Pain, Odin, causes people to do incredibly horrible things. And it is destroying your granddaughter, whether you name her that or not."

"I do not want a lecture from you."

Loki rises to leave, "What you want and what you need to hear are two very different things."

"If things are so horrible for Jenna, why does my son not come speak to me? Why did he send you?"

"He did not send me. I chose this. He does not come because he is trying to reach her, a far more important use of his time than trying to convince you of the obvious."

"Which is?"

"She is a beautiful and worthy young lady and you are a fool to reject her." Loki slams the door as he leaves. He is tired of this. It is exhausting to fight such prejudice, but he knows he must. If he does not, it will be up to Thor to do it alone and Jenna will not have her father beside her. He returns to his chambers for a nap. Thor will come to him later in the day. He will tell him of his conversation then. For now, he rests so he can be at his best when Jenna needs him next.

********

That evening, there is a knock on his door. He drags himself from his nap on the couch and answers. The knock is not a familiar one and he is wary of letting someone unknown in to his sanctuary. When he opens the door, Sif smiles back at him.