"What if...."Frigga Stayed

A Walk to Remember

"Get up!"

Loki woke to the guard pulling him out of his bed and was quite surprised to see he wasn't in his cell. Then he remembered.

"You have been summoned to the dining hall. You have 5 minutes" Loki nodded wearily, still not fully awake. The guard exited the room with Loki watching as he left. As soon as he was gone, he went to his closet and picked out a simple olive tunic and an overcoat along with his favorite pair of boots. A wave of warmth washed over him as he slipped into his garments. He finally felt a little more like himself again.

The guard burst in yet again and roughly grabbed his shoulder. "Come along." He winced as the coarse hand squeezed his unhealed shoulder.

So much for formalities, Loki thought bitterly.

The guard practically dragged him to the dining halls like a child. When they got there, the hand on his shoulder released. Thank the Norns. There was a healer in front of the door, who very carefully took the muzzle off. He gave her a grateful nod and the guards opened the doors to the hall. 

Shit.

His mother was sitting at the table with Odin at her right hand. And to Odin's right was...sigh...

Thor.

Whatever conversation was being held come to an abrupt halt as Thor saw who it was that was entering. 

"How did you escape?!" Thor demanded. Loki rolled his eyes, of course, they didn't tell him.

"I didn't," Loki said bitterly, his voice sounding scratchy from the muzzle and the previous day's events.

Thor looked to his father and Odin explained, "His sentence was changed yesterday."

"Why?"

"I will tell you after," Frigga answered, not wanting Loki to become uncomfortable. He'd had enough stress these past months. 

Thor glared at Loki before he sat back down. Loki crossed the room and sat down at his mother's side. 

"How did you sleep last night?"

Loki glanced up at his mother. "Well enough."

Silence.

The food was brought in, cutting the quiet like a knife. Loki found he wasn't that hungry but after a small smile from his mother, he began eating some smaller bites. Odin and Thor started a conversation, pointedly not acknowledging Loki, who silently ate his meal. 

Why did they even invite me here, it is not like I couldn't have eaten in my room. I can't wait for this to just be over. The only good part about this is that that damned mask was taken off.

Frigga saw how wound up her son was. Maybe it was too soon to invite him to a family meal. He needed more time to process everything. She thought back to the days when he would play tricks at the dinner-table, turning Thor's food into frogs, how he would excitedly show her a new spell he learned in the gardens and how they would go on picnics in the forest. She missed those times, but she knew they would be impossible now. Unless...

"I was planning on going for a walk later in the gardens, would you wish to accompany me?" she asked Loki.

He looked at her and nodded with a soft smile on his face.

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"I am sorry for making you come to this morning's meal."

Loki nodded in a way that said "It's alright." 

He hated how he couldn't talk. All he wished for in that moment was to have a gentle conversation with his mother, to pretend that everything was alright, to pretend he wasn't an animal in a gilded cage. Though at least with the "freedom" he was given, he could put his plan into motion. 

"Are you alright?"

His mother's words snapped him back into reality. He nodded, a lie, but it is what she would want to hear, or more, see.

"Oh look!"

He followed her gaze to the blooming fairy lilies. They were one of his favorite plants in the garden. 

"They must have bloomed this morning. " She smiled as the two sat down on the bench across from the lilies. Loki leaned against his mother's frame as she wrapped her arm around his shoulders. 

He wished he could freeze the moment forever. No worrying, no guards, nothing to interfere. He gazed at the flowers, how delicate they were, yet how strong and beautiful. The vines wrapped around the columns, engulfing them in the blush flowers and leaves. The magic of Alfheim practically dripped off them, reminding him of his summer trips.

Every summer, he and his mother would go to Alfheim and stay at a cottage on Mirror Lake. They would ride through the enchanted forests and watch the sunsets from the hills. Once, he went out early in the morning to climb Queen's crag, on his way back he encountered the Good Fae having their solstice celebration. They invited him to join and when the celebration concluded, they gave him a silver ring with a Mithril Rose in it. They said it would protect him in their lands and made him an ambassador of the Fae.

He brushed his fingertips along the ring. He had worn it every day since. He let the good memories float through his mind as he closed his eyes and cuddled into his mother's arms.

"My queen." Loki opened his eyes to see a guard standing above them. "The Prince wishes to speak with you, he said it was urgent." 

Frigga looked at her son. "Would you mind staying here until I come back? I shouldn't be long." Loki nodded and his mother left with the guard.

Not long after she left, he heard a girl's scream. He looked around and saw no one. I must have imagined it. 

She screamed again.

It was coming from just outside the gardens. He ran to where he heard the scream and saw a brutal-looking einherjar hovering over a cowering young girl. She looked no older than 10 Midgardian years. She was wearing what seemed to be a torn servant's frock. He looked at her arms and legs and saw blood dripping from them. 

He then saw the whip in the guard's hand. 

You messed with the wrong servant.

Loki strode between her and the angry einherjar and caught the striking hand before it could land another blow. He pushed the guard back, not enough to hurt him, but just to get him away from the girl. The einherjar stumbled backward into a column. Loki turned to the girl and offered her his hand.

It will be okay.

She took it and without a word, ran.

Loki turned back to the gardens to see about a dozen einherjar, along with the one he pushed staring back at him, and a furious looking old man, who just happened to be the king.