The Midgard Woman

“We’re dead.”

It was Fandral who broke the pin-drop silence that had followed Georgiana’s revelation. Even Heimdall, who knew of the situation, was struck dumb, finding nothing that could be said. It was only until Fandral spoke that the others remembered that they could too.

“We’re dead,” Fandral repeated, throwing up his hands. “We’ve kidnapped a Jotunheim Princess and now Odin’s going to kill us! We’re dead!”

“And I thought I was supposed to be the ominous one,” Hogun muttered.

Sif roused herself and turned to Georgiana. “But you were serving at dinner; we thought-”

“And have you never offered guests a drink in your own home before?” Georgiana retorted. Now that she had established her position as a member of the Jotunheim Royal Family and had used that status to shame her “kidnappers” into silence, she felt that she could afford to be haughty.

Thor shook his head. “But you were Loki’s prisoner! You winced when he touched you and you were afraid of him!”

“Afraid?” Georgiana laughed. “Sir, you are much mistaken indeed if that is what you think! I have no reason to be afraid of Loki. He would never hurt me.”

“We’re dead,” Fandral started up again. “We’re worse than dead. No, wait, what’s worse than dead? I’ll tell you what’s worse than dead – we are!”

“Put a sock in it, will you?” Volstagg groused.

“He is right,” Heimdall stated, calmly. “You’ve really stirred up a hornet’s nest now, Prince Thor.”

Before Thor could respond, Georgiana marched up to him. “Now that we seem to have things cleared up, I demand that you return me to Jotunheim immediately!”

Thor had never seen a woman look so fierce before in his entire life, not even Sif in the heat of battle. It suddenly struck him that his mistake could bring about a complete collapse of peace between Asgard and Jotunheim. Nevertheless he had been so certain of what he and his friends had witnessed. “You were hurt,” he insisted, in a low voice. “When he touched you.”

Georgiana met his eyes. “I slipped on the steps that day and hurt my hand. It was still aching at dinner; not that my private life is any of your concern.”

“But everyone knows Frost Giants are monsters.”

Whatever Thor had been expecting her reaction to be, it certainly wasn’t that she would slap him. The sound was so loud in the quiet that everyone else, even Heimdall jumped. Fandral winced in sympathy. Sif blinked in surprise. Hogun sighed. Volstagg’s jaw dropped rather comically.

“How dare you?” Georgiana snapped in a fierce whisper. “What gives you the right to call them that when my family have been nothing but generous hosts to you and yours?”

Thor stared at her, surprised that she even had the gall to hit a Prince of Asgard. Georgiana took a deep breath and was all prepared to launch into a heartfelt speech about how Frost Giants were not monsters but gentle beings who preferred solitude to the company of others when suddenly a voice louder than her own rang out over the Bifrost Bridge.

“Thor!”

It was a bark from Odin as he strode up the Bridge to meet them. His good eye was flashing with anger, his cloak billowing regally, as he stopped before his son and their friends, and the woman he knew to be Prince Loki’s wife even if he had never met her personally. Laufey had explained things to him when Odin had noticed the young Midgard woman at dinner and Odin had not thought of the actions that passed between the young couple before they left the room as anything other than romantic teasing, and not as anything untoward.

“What have you done, boy?” Odin raged, the last two words louder and harsher than the rest.

None of the other spoke, they were all waiting for Thor to answer. “Father, I-” Thor began.

“King Odin,” Georgiana cut in, turning to him. “I’m am assuming that you had nothing to do with any of this, so perhaps you would be so kind as to return me to my home? My family will be frantic with worry.”

Odin nodded, glaring angrily at his son. “Of course, your Highness. Heimdall-”

“Yes, of course, Allfather,” Heimdall interrupted, opening the Bifrost.

“We thought we were rescuing her,” Thor tried to explain.

“Rescuing me?” Georgiana scoffed. “Of course! Because people who are perfectly content with their lives are always in dire need of being rescued, aren’t they?”

“Thor, you could have brought war upon Asgard,” Odin hissed. “You could have severely damaged our friendship with the Jotuns and opened our realms to the horror and desolation of war! What on Asgard were you thinking, boy?”

“Well, it was an easy mistake-” Sif began and then immediately shut up when Odin glared at her.

With a sigh, Georgiana stepped forwards, brushing Thor aside. “Your Majesty, if it was a true accident, then I am willing to let it go. I do not wish for war between us anymore than you do.”

Odin nodded, shooting Thor another dark look. “Permit me to escort you back, Princess,” he said. Thor knew that look only too well. It was his famous “I’ll deal with you later” expression. He knew he was in trouble. “I owe your family an explanation.”

Georgiana nodded, curtly, and then turned politely to Heimdall. “Thank you, Gatekeper,” she said, nodding her head and then allowing the Bifrost to swallow her up. A second later, Odin followed her and they both landed back on the frozen plains of Jotunheim at exactly the same time. At once she found herself wishing for a cloak; her thin cotton nightgown was only enough to keep her warm underneath a bed lined with thick, warm fur and not the piercing chill of Jotunheim that Frost Giants were immune to.

“My Lady, I must apologise on behalf of my idiotic son,” Odin said.

“Perfectly alright,” Georgiana insisted, her teeth chattering as she began to move forwards through the snow.

Meanwhile, as Georgiana was being “kidnapped,” or rather forcibly taken from her home, as she thought of it, Loki had been among the other Frost Giants gathered outside, trying to work out why their home was suddenly under attack, and why there was no sign of their attackers.

A Jotun soldier had just come up to him and Laufey. “My King,” he said, “we have scouted the entire area and there is no sign of any attacking party. But there are footprints in the snow, too small to belong to Frost Giants.”

“The Aesir?” Laufey frowned. “This makes no sense. Our meeting was peaceful. Why should they want to attack us?”

“A rebel group, perhaps, that want to provoke war?” Loki suggested.

Before Laufey could respond, they were alerted to the fact that the Bifrost had been opened, and as they all glanced in the direction of the rainbow lights, a piercing scream reached them and Loki felt his heart lurch in fear. He knew that scream.

“Georgiana!” Feeling it was already too late, he began to run in the direction of the sound. Laufey was able to catch up to him in three large strides. “They’ve taken her!” Loki shouted. “I knew they couldn’t be trusted!”

“Loki, calm down,” Laufey said. “There has to be some logical explanation for this.”

“The logical explanation is that she’s been abducted!” Loki snapped back. His mind was racing with worry and fear. If anything happened to her...

It had only been a few minutes since they had been apart, but to both it felt like hours and Georgiana felt almost ready to collapse with the numbness of her limbs brought on by the freezing cold when she heard her name being called. Weak with relief, she looked up to see Loki running towards her and she stopped, holding up her arms.

“Loki!” she finally gasped as he reached her and she flung her arms around him, burying herself in his embrace. Even the slight bit of warmth that radiated was enough to give her feeling in her body again. Loki was holding her so tightly that she could barely breathe but she didn’t care, she was just glad to be in his arms again.

“What happened?” Loki demanded, glancing at Odin, and then before she could answer, added “Norns, you’re frozen solid!” and draped his own cloak around her shoulders.

“I’m alright,” Georgiana replied, pulling it tightly about her body. “Just a bit shaken, that’s all.”

Odin bowed his head as Laufey approached them. “Laufey, I must apologise for this matter. I’m afraid my son got it into his head that, as a Midgardian, Princess Georgiana was in need of rescuing and didn’t realise that he was in fact dragging her away from home for no reason. I can only offer my sincerest apologies.”

Loki stared at him. “Why on Jotunheim should he think a thing like that?”

“Loki, please,” Georgiana insisted, still shivering. “I don’t want a fuss made.”

Quashing down his fury, Loki turned to her. “You need to get inside, now,” he said, putting an arm around her waist and leading her away from the group. Georgiana pressed closer to him, tucking herself into his side for any available warmth. Even when she was relieved to be back inside the palace, the cold remained with her and Loki quickly steered her without delay in the direction of their room. Once inside, met with the heat from the wall stones, Georgiana scrabbled into bed, pulling the furs around her and Loki climbed in beside her, wrapping her in a tight hug, both for warmth and from sheer relief at having her back again.

“What happened?” he asked in a calmer tone. “Tell me everything.”

Georgiana buried her face in his chest. “Well, I know you told me to stay put, and I swear I wasn’t going to leave the palace, but I couldn’t just stay here not knowing what was going on.”

“No, I know, darling,” Loki murmured, kissing the top of her head. “That was asking far too much of you.”

Georgiana gave him a feeble punch on the arm and he chuckled. “I was worried, alright? Anyway, someone grabbed my arm and I thought it was one of the guards, but it was two of Prince Thor’s friends, one standing on top of the other’s shoulders, wearing a long cloak. The next thing I knew, they had grabbed me and pulled me out into the snow, and then the Bifost took us to Asgard.” Her voice took on an edge of irritation. “And then they told me that I was your prisoner; can you believe it? Of all the stupid, thick-headed, unintelligent, dense idiots! How dare they make such an assumption that I’m your prisoner; your whore? How dare they think of you as such a hard-hearted monster that you would do that to anyone?”

“Not everyone is as kind to Frost Giants as you and your mother,” Loki replied, pulling her closer still. Georgiana wrapped her arms around him, feeling warmer again. They were quiet for a moment and then Loki pressed a soft kiss to her temple. “I thought for second I’d lost you, Georgiana.”

“I know,” Georgiana replied, her voice no longer laced with anger or indignation. “I mean, I know it was only for a few minutes but I hated every single second of being away from you.”

“So did I,” Loki murmured into her hairline. “Gods, I was thinking all sorts of things. I was having visions of them hurting you, or worse.”

Georgiana laughed softly. “You think I can’t take care of myself, Loki Laufeyson?”

“No, I know you can, my love,” Loki replied, smiling for the first time that evening, “but you would have been outnumbered, don’t forget.”

Georgiana made a small hum of agreement. “This could seriously damage our relationship with Asgard.”

To be perfectly honest, Loki didn’t care one way or the other if it did. To his mind, Frost Giants didn’t need the protection of Asgard in the heat of battle when they were not only more than capable of holding their own against any attacking race but were also vastly more intelligent, and it was intelligence that won battles after all, tactics and planning, not mere brawn. If they stopped being allies with the Asgardians, it couldn’t make that big a difference.

“You should sleep,” he murmured, unwrapping the cloak from her shoulders and tossing it onto a nearby stool. “You’ve had quite an ordeal.”

Georgiana nodded and lay down, feeling that nothing was nicer in that moment than the feel of the fur-lined pillows, sheet and coverlet. It was comforting, like coming back home. “Stay with me?” she whispered, sliding her hand into Loki’s and intertwining their fingers together.

Loki smiled at her. “Always, love.”

He lay down beside her, wrapping both arms protectively around her. Georgiana snuggled against him. “What was going on out there, anyway?” she asked, realising that she didn’t know. With all that had happened she had forgotten to ask the Asgardians what they had done to the palace to sent everyone running around like that.

“Somehow our Aesir friends,” and Loki couldn’t help saying the word with contempt, “damage the top of the North-West tower and several of the battlements. They’re not too badly ruined, we can easily repair them. I suppose that was meant to serve as a distraction to get us out of the way whilst they snuck in to kidnap you.”

“Well, they thought they were rescuing me,” Georgiana sighed, “and I’m not angry at them for actually taking me away; I’m angry that they just assumed that I was some kind of prisoner or sex slave here.” She nuzzled against his chest. “I hate anyone thinking badly of you and our family.”

Loki said nothing, just played absently with a strand of her hair, and Georgiana left him to his private thoughts. After all, with everything that had happened tonight and what with being rather rudely woken in the middle of the night anyway by the sound of her home being wrecked, she was feeling quite tired and so she closed her eyes and quickly fell asleep, lulled by the warmth of being home and being in Loki’s arms again. Loki, however, lay awake for a while, thinking bitter thoughts about the Asgardians and praying to all the Gods and Norns and other deities out there that he would never ever have anything to do with Prince Thor ever again.

Because due to what had just happened, in spite of it having been a genuine mistake, Loki couldn’t help but hate him in that moment.

Meanwhile, as he watched his son and daughter-in-law hurry ing back towards the palace, Laufey felt a mixture of emotions fill him. The first was relief at having Georgiana back, for in the years he had known her he had come to love her as if she was his own daughter and not just his son’s wife, and he had always regarded her as part of the family. In some ways she reminded him very much of his dear Farbauti and he was grateful to the Gods for sending such a woman into his son’s life. The second emotion, however, was a combination of confusion and pain, and he turned back to Odin with a grave expression on his face.

“Am I to understand it that your son thought mine so callous as to truly believe that we were keeping a Midgardian woman prisoner under our control? After meeting us and seeing that we are not the monsters everyone else calls us?” he asked. “Does he really believe we are so savage and low?”

Odin looked genuinely apologetic. “I am afraid that the only explanation I can give for his actions, Laufey, is that Thor has grown up believing in the stories spread by the Dark Elves and their kin and taken them to heart as the truth instead of looking for the plain facts. I wish I could offer anything but my apologies, but they are all I have. I am not trying to excuse my son’s actions, but merely state the facts. Thor is not the kind of man who would abduct a woman unless he truly believed his intentions were good. He made an honest mistake. I can only ask that this not affect our political alliance in any way.”

“I don’t see how it cannot, Odin,” Laufey replied, calmly. “Whilst I may not perceive this action as a threat, I cannot speak for my son. After all, he loves Georgiana the most of anyone here, and if it was your wife who had been taken, even by accident, how would you feel about this?”

“I understand your feelings,” Odin replied, “but it is vital that we do not allow this incident to cause a rift between our realms. If that happens, then either one of us is vulnerable to attack. Believe me when I say that I regret that this has happened and I regret even more that it has happened at the hands of my son. I will speak to him.”

Laufey nodded. “I will speak to mine too. Not just now, though; Georgiana needs him. But you are right, of course. We cannot let this matter tear a wound in our alliance.”

Odin nodded too. “Then it still stands?”

One of the Jotun soldiers made an indignant grunt. “My King, you cannot let such a thing pass! The Princess was abducted!”

“And she was also returned, do you forget that, Captain?” Laufey replied, his tone testy.

His Captain of the Guards bowed his head and said nothing. Laufey turned back to Odin. “Our alliance still stands Odin.”

Odin smiled. “Once again, I am sorry that this happened.”

Laufey nodded. “So am I, Odin,” he said. “So am I.”

Odin could not have been more angry as he made his way via Bifrost back Asgard. Thor and his friends hadn’t moved from where he had left them standing. After Odin had gone after Georgiana into Jotunheim, they had stood for a moment, watching the spot where he had disappeared from and once again it had been Fandral who had broken the silence with a half-hearted “Well, that could have gone worse.” Since then, none of them had uttered a word.

They all looked up when Odin reappeared before them. “You’re dismissed,” he said to Sif and the Warriors Three, and they all shot Thor apologetic looks as they left, clearly wanting to be with him throughout his scolding. Thor just shrugged at them and waited until they had gone before attempting to speak again. “Father-”

“Do you have any idea what you could have done?” Odin interrupted, tersely.

Thor sighed. If there was one thing he hated, it was being told off and if there was another thing he hated, well, it was admitting that he was wrong. He said nothing, unsure of whether or not the question was rhetorical. At any rate, his Father wasn’t finished yet.

“Don’t you realise what could have happened if the Jotuns had decided to break our alliance? What were you thinking of, boy?” Thor winced, hating being referred to as such when he was clearly a man now. “Taking an innocent young woman from her home-?”

“I didn’t know!” Thor’s temper had finally boiled over. Why could no one see his side of the story? “I didn’t know that she was the Princess of Jotunheim! I didn’t even know that they had a Princess in Jotunheim! And even if I had, can you blame me for my mistake? The woman is from Midgard; what was I meant to think?”

Odin was quiet a moment. “What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked, eventually.

“It means,” Thor replied, breathlessly, “that if someone were to tell me that the Jotun Prince had taken a Midgard woman for a wife, I would not have believed that even if I had seen it with my own eyes!”

“And why not?” Odin snapped back. “It is not unheard of for a Midgardian to learn of the existence of the Nine Realms and to engage in a relationship with one race or another. Uncommon, perhaps, but not unheard of. Plenty enough people here in Asgard have had Midgardian lovers; your own friend Volstagg is one such-”

“That’s different!” Thor snapped.

Again, Odin was silent a while before responding. “How? How is it different?”

“Because Volstagg is Volstagg,” Thor replied. “He at least looks human.”

“Thor-”

“How can a Midgardian fall in love with a Frost Giant? It’s impossible!”

Odin couldn’t have looked more stunned if his son had punched him. “I didn’t bring you up to be like this,” he said, a harsh quality in his voice. “I brought you up to have a respect for all races within the Nine Realms.”

“And I do,” Thor began.

“Then where does this racist attitude towards Frost Giants suddenly spring from?” Odin asked, hardly able to believe that his son had said such a thing.

“Forgive me if I find the idea of a marriage between a human woman and a Frost Giant strange,” Thor tried to start again, “but-”

“It is not your place to question!” Odin snapped. “Nor is it your place to judge another race by its actions, especially when that race is not your own! I only thank the Gods that the Jotuns aren’t planning to wage war against us in revenge; or to abandon us in the heat of war. You could have ruined our alliance for good, and all because of your thoughtlessness.”

Thor took a deep breath. “I made a mistake, I admit it-”

“It was not down to you to get involved,” Odin interrupted. “Even if the woman was a prisoner, or the Prince’s whore, it was not your place to attempt to liberate her.”

“So, I am supposed to just stand by and watch whilst such things happen right in front of me and not do anything about them?” Thor demanded.

“When they are not happening within the borders of your own realm, yes!” Odin snapped. “Did you not listen when your Mother told you to respect the Jotun in whatever they do? Did those words mean nothing to you?”

“I didn’t think they applied to captive Midgardians!” Thor retorted.

“Be that as it may, the fact still remains that the woman was not a captive of theirs, and you could have-!”

“I know, brought war upon Asgard and damaged our relationship with Jotunheim!” Thor interrupted, hotly. “I made a mistake! But from the way he looked to be treating her-!”

“So a man may not be allowed to tease his wife from now on in case someone from another realm mistakes it for some sinister form of treatment,” Odin cut in.

“He grabbed her hand and she looked to be in pain!” Thor responded, feeling that it was an effort to try and make his Father see sense now. “I didn’t know that she was already in pain and that it was an accident; it looked like he was hurting her on purpose!”

“But even if he was, it is not for you to say how a Jotun may treat another person!” Odin shouted, and then he shook his head, regretfully. “No, forget it. No matter how much I shout at you, I can’t make it sink in. You’ve been manipulated by all those horror stories you heard as a child so you fail to see what is in front of you.”

Thor looked at his feet. “Frost Giants are monsters.”

“Why? Because they are not like us?” Odin challenged. “We are all different throughout the Nine Realms, Loki, but we are all the same underneath, and until you realise that, then I’m afraid I cannot forgive you your mistake this time.”

Thor jerked his head up at once. “Father-!”

“No!” Odin snapped, striding past him. “You have no excuse for it, but pure pig-headed thoughtlessness! It would do you good to spend some more time with Frost Giants; then perhaps you would forget these xenophobic objections you have towards their kind and learn to appreciate all those lessons I have tried to insert into your head all your life! Now it seems I have failed!” He turned to face his son and Thor was surprised to see that his Father looked not angry but pained. “I’m disappointed in you, Thor. I thought you would grow up to be a great King someday. But it seems you still have a long way to go before you’re ready for that.”

It was only when his Father reached the end of the Bifrost that Thor felt he was able to call out “Father!” Odin stopped but didn’t turn around. Thor felt his shoulders slump. He had brought shame on his Father. “I’m sorry.”

Odin half-turned to him. “So am I, boy. So am I.”

Thankfully, the rest of the night in Jotunheim passed without further incident and Georgiana was surprised when she woke up in the morning and found that she was alone in her bed.

“Loki?” she murmured, pushing herself up and rubbing her eyes. There was no sign of him in the room, but then her eyes fell on a small crystal vase by the bed filled with dozens of Eisblumen and beside them a small note written on cream paper with green ink. She smiled and leaned forwards to retrieve it.

“Georgiana,” it ran, “Father knocked this morning, wanting to speak to me in private, and I didn’t want to wake you up, so don’t worry if you do wake up and find me gone. I will be back as soon as possible, cross my heart. In the meantime, please accept my apologies for not being able to wake up with you and these Eisblumen as an apology gift. All my love, Loki.”

She smiled and plucked one of the flowers from the vase, breathing in its heavenly scent and remembering the first time she had done so. Loki was so spontaneously romantic when it came to showing his affection towards her and she loved him for that. Already she felt a little better after what had happened the night before. Swinging her legs out of bed, she slipped on her fur-lined slippers and padded into the bathroom. In spite of it being icy cold outside and the fact that many Frost Giants bathed in cold water, the room was always magically stocked with hot water for her convenience. It had been Laufey’s idea, something of a wedding gift to her, and she was always grateful that he had thought like this, changing certain aspects of the palace to suit both her and the Frost Giants who inhabited it so that there were no complaints. He was very wise that way, she reflected, no wonder he made for such a good King.

She bathed quickly and dressed in one of her favourite fur-lined green tunics, threaded with gold, over fur-lined black hose and her boots, and quickly tied her hair back in a loose, low ponytail with a black ribbon before making her way towards the window balcony, one of the flowers still twirling in her hands. The room they occupied looked out over the whole of Jotunheim and she was in time to see the final minutes of the sunrise as it lit the whole realm in bright dazzling white and icy-cold blue. She smiled. This was her home. If she was perfectly honest, she had always felt like something of an outside back on Midgard, but here in Jotunheim, she felt like she fitted in, even if she was not Jotun-born herself. The other Frost Giants had, like her Mother, been surprised when she had married Loki, but they had soon come to admire and love her, and accept her as their Jotunheim Princess. Of course, life here had its ups and downs, such as slipping on an icy patch on the stairs the other night, for example, but she was still happy to be living there.

Even if stupid Asgardians did mistake her for a prisoner once in a while.

The door opened behind her and she turned from her spot leaning on the balcony to see Loki enter the room. She smiled, with mock coyness. “Why, good morning, my Prince,” she teased, turning to him fully with the flower still in her hand.

Loki smiled. “Good morning, my Princess,” he replied, cupping her face and kissing her.

Georgiana giggled as he finally pulled away from her and brushed the tip of his nose with the flower petals. “The first present you ever gave me,” she reminded him, smiling. “You’re so romantic, you know?”

“I try,” Loki teased, spinning her about in his arms and kissing her neck.

Georgiana closed her eyes and reached up a hand to stroke his hair. “So, what did your Father want?”

“To talk to me about what happened last night,” Loki replied, nuzzling her skin for a second. “Apparently we’re still allies with Asgard.”

“Oh, good,” Georgiana sighed, with relief. “I wouldn’t want two realms to start a war because of me. After all, the battle of Troy happened because of a woman.”

Loki looked up at her in surprise. “The battle of what?”

Georgiana smiled, turned and slipped her arms around his neck. “I’ll explain it to you some time, my love,” she murmured, before capturing his lips in a kiss that would have put the sun to shame.