Not Alone
Laufey sighed as he watched Frost Giants and Aesir alike working hard to repair the Bifrost Bridge. This was what an alliance between worlds was about, working together, but it hurt knowing that they were having to work together in order to regain something that both sides had lost. He was too wise to blame anyone for what had happened, to his mind it was an unfortunate accident, no sense blaming anyone else, even the Dark Elves, even though they were at fault, and now all he could feel was worry.
A hand touched his shoulder and he turned, startled, to see Frigga seating herself beside him. He fixed his look of anxiety into a gentler one, although the anxiety still showed in his eyes, and who could blame him for it? Certainly not the woman who had also watched her own son plummet to almost certain doom. Even if Thor and Loki were alive, which of course everyone was praying they were, there was no telling where they could have landed and for all anyone knew they could be in mortal danger even at this very minute.
“I’m sure your son is alright,” Frigga greeted him, gently.
Laufey smiled. He had always liked Frigga, she was very kind and reminded him very much of Farbauti in that respect. He appreciated her gesture. “I’m sure they both are,” he returned. “From what I have seen, Thor is very good at taking care of himself.”
Frigga nodded and then sighed. “He’s too headstrong, though, that’s his trouble, always has been. He lets his heart and his fists lead instead of his head.”
Laufey chuckled in spite of the seriousness of the situation. “Loki can be like that too sometimes,” he replied. “They’ll probably make a good team.”
Repairing the bridge was taking it out of everyone who had magic, and they were all having to stop for frequent rests before ploughing onwards in order to get it working again as quickly as possible. Fandral, who like Sif and his friends, was busily making himself useful elsewhere, had joked that it would probably be quicker if they used manual labour instead of magic to repair the thing and now Laufey was starting to think that he had a point.
He shook his head. “Georgiana must be out of her mind with worry too. They’ve never been parted like this before. I mean, obviously they’ve been apart before but they’ve always known where the other was then, and certainly in the last five years they’ve barely been parted from one another at all.”
Frigga nodded. “The sooner we can find out what has happened to both our sons, the sooner everyone can relax.” She turned to Laufey and smiled, kindly, at him. “I imagine Loki must be missing her very much, and she him.”
Laufey smiled again. “Indeed. Georgiana has been a delight to us all, the People’s Princess we sometimes call her. The second she and Loki met something just told me that they would be right for each other. Everyone loves her.”
“That’s good,” Frigga smiled. “I mean, it must have felt a little unorthodox for your son to have taken a Midgardian for a wife.”
“To some, yes,” replied Laufey, “particularly some of the elders who were a bit stuck in the old ways, you know.” Frigga nodded, understandingly. “But they all came to love her rather quickly. I think they were all surprised, as I was, that Georgiana is so accepting of our culture. Years ago, if a Midgardian saw a Frost Giant in their true form, they would run away screaming in terror, but not Georgiana, nor her Mother either. They are both very open minded considering that their home world is not as advanced in magic as ours.”
Frigga was about to reply when Odin came up to them. His already lined face was looking worn and tired, and Frigga prayed that he wasn’t about to fall into the Odinsleep. That was all they needed at a time like this. “I’ve been speaking to Heimdall,” he said, by way of greeting. “We may finally know what happened. It seems the Malekith is definitely to blame for this; he knocked Thor onto the bridge and that caused the initial breakage.”
“I don’t understand,” Laufey frowned.
Odin very kindly elaborated for him. “With his hammer, Mjölnir; when she hit the bridge like she did, it cracked and as the cracks spread...”
“The bridge caved in,” Laufey finished, nodding.
Odin nodded too. “It seems your son was in the process of saving mine when it happened, which is why they went down together. I’m very sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Laufey smiled, sadly. “You are not to blame for this, and neither is your son. It was an accident.”
Odin was glad that Laufey was thinking like this. Anyone else might blame Thor for what had happened, but it seemed that Frost Giants were more mature than to go around pointing fingers when there were more important matters at hand.
“You look tired,” Frigga pointed out, firmly. “Rest a while. I’m sure they can manage unsupervised for a moment or six.”
“Yes, dear,” Odin muttered, doing as he was told.
Laufey chuckled, a deep rumbling in his throat. “Now you sound like my son.”
Odin smiled. “How is your daughter-in-law faring?”
“She was rather distraught when I last saw her,” Frigga answered. “If you like I can visit her again.”
“That’s quite alright, thank you, but I’m sure she’s fine,” Laufey answered, touched by her selflessness. “Georgiana may have the body of a woman but she has the courage and bravery of the finest Jotun warriors. If I know her as I think I do, she will be holding up just fine, although of course she’ll still be immensely worried about Loki and the rest of us. But I can rest safe knowing that Jotunheim is in the best of hands until we return.”
“Poor girl, she has so much on her shoulders at the moment,” Odin murmured, sympathetically.
It was true. Not least of her problems was worrying about Loki. Georgiana sighed as she eventually woke up in the glow of morning after a restless night’s sleep. She had hoped that when she did wake up that she would be in Loki’s arms again and that the events of the previous day would have been nothing but a terrible nightmare or hallucination. But she was alone in the bed and though she had long since stopped crying, she felt like a piece of her heart had been cut away and it could only be returned when she was back with her Loki again.
Pushing the covers off herself, she reluctantly clambered to her feet and padded into the bathroom, rubbing sleep out of her eyes. Glancing at herself in the mirror, she groaned, seeing the way her hair was mussed and tangled with sleep and that there were dark circles under her eyes. Then she bit back another round of tears as she reminded herself that if Loki were with her in that moment, he would probably tease her for her appearance, but not in a cruel way. He would probably say something like “Dear me, I thought I was in bed with my wife but now it seems one of those creatures that Midgards call a “panda” has crawled in with me instead,” and then she would let out an indignant laugh and swat at him with an exclamation of “How dare you, Prince Loki?” and he would catch hold of her and swear very sincerely that she was always beautiful in his eyes no matter how terrible she might look first thing in the morning and all would be forgiven. They would kiss and make up, quite literally (in fact in the process of making up, they might do quite a bit more besides) and then bathe together and laugh and talk and everything would seem quite normal.
Shaking her head, she ran her hands through her hair, hissing slightly through gritted teeth as she snagged a few tangles, and then turned her attention to sorting out her bath. That felt lonely too, without Loki, in fact it was only now she was completely on her own in their room that she realised just how much she and Loki were constantly around one another in a typically normal day, and just how much she loved that.
She bathed quickly and then dressed equally as quickly, pulling on a faded old icicle blue gown made of thin cotton over her hose and tugged her favourite emerald green coat lined and trimmed with clack fur and pattered with gold threaded swirls and spirals, like visible bursts of magic, over the top, buttoning it up for extra warmth. Finally yanking on her boots, she ran a brush through her hair, tied it so that it was hanging loose but the majority of it was out of her eyes, and then quickly made her way downstairs.
The palace seemed so empty without everyone else in it too, at least everyone who was absent. Georgiana was used to passing soldiers or warriors on her way to a particular room and they would always greet her politely and respectfully as they went on their way. She could feel a pang of longing burning inside her as she made her way into the dining room alone and seated herself at her usual spot right beside Loki’s chair. Anyone else, she assumed, would seat themselves in the absent King’s chair but she resolved not to do such a thing as it would be disrespectful. Were Laufey to have died in battle, then it would be another matter, but as he was still very much alive, then nothing would change in his absence, at least nothing major. She would be Princess Regent, ruler in command, until he returned and then things would go back to normal again.
She hoped.
Biting back the urge to cry again, she forced herself to eat her breakfast even though her stomach was once again twisting itself into knots at the sight of the food and by the time she had finished she had to admit that she did feel a little better about matters. Pushing her empty plate away from her, she wandered into the courtroom, to find Gunnarr already pouring over some official looking documents. He glanced up as she came in and swiftly bowed to her.
“Your Highness,” he said, curtly.
Georgiana nodded at him. “Good morning, Gunnarr. May we drop formalities and talk freely?”
“Of course, Your Highness,” Gunnarr replied, relaxing at once into an “at ease” pose.
She walked up to him. “You know as well as I do that I now have to take over the duties of running the kingdom until the King returns.”
“Indeed, my Lady.”
“And were you also aware that I have absolutely no idea how to do that?”
Gunnarr smiled, wryly. “I had a feeling you did not, my Lady.”
She returned his smile, briefly, before going back to the matter at hand. “So I can trust you to help me?”
“Of course, Your Highness,” Gunnarr replied. “I am happy to help however I can.”
“Thank you,” Georgiana replied. “So, I take it that you have a report on the state of affairs for the King to hear, which I’ll now have to hear in his place?”
“Yes, my Lady,” Gunnarr replied, clasping his hands officially behind his back. “I can now confirm that after much toiling and tireless effort the Frost Famine is now over and the disease is gone, hopefully for good.”
“Oh, that is good news,” Georgiana breathed in relief. At least that was one less thing for her to worry about, the people of Jotunheim wouldn’t starve in their King’s absence.
“Indeed, Your Highness,” Gunnarr replied, with a nod of his head. “As far as I can see, no one is in need of help or assistance in any way and they all have enough food to last them until their own crops begin to grow again.”
“Well, let it be known that they can always turn to me if they are in need of anything, and I will do my best to help,” Georgiana replied.
Gunnarr bowed his head to her in respect. “It shall be done, my Lady.” Georgiana returned his nod, a signal that he was free to go, but he hesitated, hovering beside the table. “Any word from Asgard at all about our King?”
“I spoke with Queen Frigga last night and she assured me that all is well with our army on Asgard,” Georgiana replied, “but I’ve had no word since. I can only assume that that means everyone is still alright.”
Gunnarr nodded, thoughtfully. “No sense in worrying until it’s necessary, eh, my Lady?”
“Indeed,” Georgiana replied, and she watched him leave. A tiny part of her was disappointed that no one needed her today, because it left her day feeling very empty and unfulfilled. Usually, of course, this wouldn’t be a bother for her, but of course under any normal circumstances, Loki would be with her.
With a sigh, she left the palace, feeling quite useless and knowing that Gunnarr would come and find her if she was really needed for anything. She took her skates and made for the lake, which was, as usual, frozen, deciding that she needed something to take her mind off what had happened with Loki and the Bifrost Bridge. She was surprised to find it deserted, but then, she reflected, it was early in the morning and most of the Jotun children who came skating here were probably still helping their parents with chores or farming or else were in lessons.
She pulled on her skates and moved across the ice, gliding expertly. She had, after all, been skating since she was a child, so it was as easy to her as picking up a book and reading it. Loki had been amazed, she remembered, at how good she was at it. Many children her own age on Midgard had been afraid of the ice because they had heard all sorts of horror stories about people falling through the ice and either drowning or else freezing to death. But this had never worried her, and she knew that she was safe on Jotun ice because it was strong enough all over to hold the weight of many Jotuns all at once, and they certainly weren’t the lightest of beings.
“You’re amazing,” he had told her, watching in awe as she came skating back towards him. “I didn’t know Midgardians could skate so well.”
It was two days after he had revealed his true Jotun form to her, and Georgiana was getting used to his way of using the terms “Midgard” and “Midgardian” instead of “Earth” and “Human.” It was nicer in a way, she decided; to hear someone else refer to her as a “Human” sounded so demeaning and dismissive, as if they were better than her. Being called “Midgardian” made her feel a part of something bigger.
“I don’t think we all can,” Georgiana replied, stopping just in front of him. “But then everyone else here’s scared of the ice.”
Loki laughed. “But ice isn’t scary.”
“Well, not to a Frost Giant, maybe,” Georgiana replied, prodding him teasingly and he swatted at her. She giggled and then became serious. “Are you ever going to...be as big as an actual giant?”
To be perfectly honest, Loki had wondered when that question was going to come, but it still hurt to be reminded of his status as a Frost Giant “runt.” He ducked his head and muttered “No.”
Sensing his discomfort, however, Georgiana reached out and squeezed his hand in her two gloved ones. “So, you’ll be human sized?”
Looking up into her kind eyes, Loki realised that she wasn’t mocking but trying to make him feel better. He swallowed, trying to still the sudden quivering of his heart. “That’s what Father says, yes.”
“Good,” Georgiana smiled, “because otherwise you’d be a lot bigger than me and you’d be teasing me about being small all the time.”
Loki laughed and squeezed her hand back, feeling better already. “I could always carry you, though.”
“Oh, no, you might drop me, and then where would I be?” Georgiana laughed, tugging his hand to pull him onto the ice too. “Come on, don’t let me skate here on my own!”
Loki grinned and gave in to her pulling. “Alright, but I must warn you; I’m very good at skating too.”
“I doubt you can be as good as me,” Georgiana teased.
“Well, we’ll see, won’t we?” Loki grinned. He didn’t let go of her hand, however, the whole time they skated and Georgiana made no move to pull hers free. It was just for balance, he told himself, just in case one of them slipped and fell over, although there seemed little chance of that happening. By the time they had both had their fill of the ice they were both out of breath but happy.
“Your nose is very pink,” Loki pointed out.
“Aw!” Georgiana joked. “I’d rather it was blue. Blue’s better.”
Before he could stop himself, Loki stepped forwards and enveloped her in a tight hug. Georgiana was surprised but she hugged him back, tightly. Maybe, she thought, maybe he just wants a hug. I mean, he seems to like it when I hug him.
“You’re my best friend, you know that?” Loki said, quietly.
Georgiana smiled and hugged him tighter. “You’re my best friend too, Loki. Best friends forever?”
“Best friends forever,” Loki confirmed.
Georgiana was shaken out of her reminiscing as a snowball suddenly landed at her feet. Startled, she whipped around to see several Jotun children she knew having a snowball fight at the edge of the lake. With a smile she skated up to them.
“Sorry, Princess Georgiana,” said one of the boys, Njord, apologetically.
She put her hands on her hips and adopted what she hoped was a friendly and teasingly stern parental tone. “Shouldn’t you lot be in lessons right now?”
Even though the children were all taller than she was, they were still typical young children and as such they all knew that they had to be polite and behave themselves. After all, she was a Princess, not just any young woman who was pretending to scold them.
Kjellfrid spoke up. “We’re on a break, my Lady.”
Georgiana smiled, knowing that Kjellfrid could be trusted to always tell the truth. “I see,” she said, still in her parental tone, even though she was fighting not to laugh. “And you thought that rather than devote your time to private study, you would come out here and have a snowball fight?”
The four children ducked their heads and looked abashed. Kjellfrid actually blushed a darker shade of blue. “Yes, Your Highness,” said Skuld and Tyr nodded in agreement.
“Well, then,” Georgiana said, folding her arms, “it seems that there is only one thing I can do.” And she scooped up a pile of snow and threw it at them. Skuld squealed as it spattered against the front of her sack dress and the others looked at the young Princess in surprise as she grinned at them. “Let battle commence!”
“Alright!” Njord exclaimed in delight, already making another snowball. Soon they were coming left right and centre, and though Georgiana managed to duck most of them and got more than a few in for herself, she was completely outnumbered. By the time Gitte came out to call them all back to their lessons, they were all giggling fit to burst.
“I am so sorry, my Lady, if they’ve been troubling you,” Gitte apologised, coming up to the edge of the lake.
“No trouble at all,” Georgiana replied, truthfully. “We’ve been having a very entertaining time.”
“Well, thank you for keeping an eye on them at any rate,” Gitte smiled, nudging her daughter to echo her words.
Kjellfrid nodded. “Yes, thank you, Princess Georgiana. Everyone said that you were sad but you seem happy now.”
“Kjellfrid!” Gitte hissed.
“Are you sad?” Tyr asked, innocently. “Because Prince Loki is missing?”
“Tyr, that is enough,” Gitte insisted.
Georgiana would have ordinarily crouched down to answer a child’s question, but in this case she had to look up instead to meet the boy’s eyes. “Yes, Tyr,” she replied, calmly. “I am sad, and more than that, I am very worried about him because I don’t know where he is. But I do know that whatever’s happened, he wouldn’t want me to be sad, so I’m glad that you let me be part of your snowball fight. It did cheer me up a little bit, thank you.”
“Alright, now everyone inside,” Gitte ordered, and once the children had all done so, she turned to Georgiana and laid a hand on her shoulder. “You must have faith, my Lady. Prince Loki will return to you soon, I am sure of it.”
Georgiana smiled, reassuringly. “Yes, I know. It’s just the not knowing where he actually is that worries me. I don’t want him getting hurt. But, then, if Prince Thor is with him, then at least he has someone to watch his back for him.”
Gitte nodded, gently. “You know that if you ever need anyone to talk to, the whole of Jotunheim will listen, don’t you, my Lady?”
Feeling a sudden rush of warmth for the first time that day, Georgiana nodded. “Yes, I do, Gitte.” Then, she wrapped her arms around the woman as best as she could given her size.
Gitte frowned in confusion but returned the gesture. “My Lady?”
“Thank you, Gitte,” Georgiana smiled. “For reminding me that I’m not really alone here after all. Thank you.”