Chapter 15
ASGARD
The big day had finally arrived. A Friday. Weddings always happened in Asgard on Fridays. The runner leading to the throne had been removed and replaced with thousands of flower petals carefully laid to form a path. On either side of this trail of flowers, a series of Einherjar had been selected, their armor shined to gleaming perfection and armed with sheathed swords. They were there to act as a barrier between the guests and those in the wedding party. They would also act as the traditional arch after the couple was wed.
The throne room double doors had been opened to allow the guests to enter and take their previously appointed places. People were doing so casually, holding candles they been given before they entered. They were speaking quietly to one another and observing the decorations.
In his old rooms of the royal wing, since it would be the last day he would use them, Loki was finishing getting his formal armor in place. It was tradition, after all, in a society wedding for him to wear it. After today, all of his possessions would be moved to the suite of rooms Sigyn already occupied.
The only addition to his formal armor was the fur lined collar attached to his emerald cape. His weapons including his sword were already in place.
Tony was sitting in a sprawl near him, watching. He was wearing a tuxedo, which Loki hadn’t objected to although it would scandalize the nobles. Which is mostly why he hadn’t objected. “Nervous?”
Loki didn’t even turn in his direction as a buffed out a small speck on his armor with a wisp of magic. “Why would I be?”
The inventor gave him a funny look. “Marriage. Big day. I have to spell this out?”
Retorting immediately, “Bonded. Hand-fasted. Do I have to spell this out?”
Rolling his eyes good naturedly. “You’re so weird.”
Turning away from the mirror, staying on his feet since it was quite uncomfortable to sit in formal armor. “If positions were reversed between us, you might understand.”
Making a come hither gesture with his fingers. “Try me.”
“No.”
Pointing out, “You brought it up.”
That dark eyebrow slowly lifted. “That does not mean I intend to expand upon the topic.”
A casual shrug this time from the inventor. “Why? What’s the big deal?” He figured he and Loki were at a level of their bromance where they didn’t need to keep things from each other anymore.
Muttering as he turned to look around in his old rooms for something to preoccupy himself. “…perhaps I am not drunk enough for such a topic.”
“Dude, it’s just you and me here.”
The inventor did have a small point. And Tony was privy to more about him than pretty much anyone else except Sigyn and his mother. Loki froze for a moment, tension radiating through his body before he sighed and released it. “I spent more than a thousand years trying to be something I could never be. I was never a proper prince. Everyone knew it and the…disappointment…imagined or not, I felt most keenly from my father and my brother.”
“Bet you didn’t disappoint your mom.” While Tony may not know Frigga that well, considering Loki practically worshipped his mother he figured their relationship was solid.
Mentally Loki winced. Not in that way, he hadn’t. But he knew that in other ways she probably had been if not disappointed then let down might be more accurate. “Being a habitual liar and one of the reasons the family was not in harmony was pretty much my fault, though—”
“What in Ymir’s name did I walk into?” came the shocked, female voice.
Loki stiffened. There were very, very few people he shared his inner thoughts with. Snarling in defensive warning, “Do you knock?”
Angrboda studied the door she’d opened for a moment before shrugging. “Subjects get changed when I do that.”
Tony snorted sharply enough he started coughing.
Gritting his teeth. “Shouldn’t you be in the audience, Angrboda?”
She ignored the attitude and the way that Tony jumped to his feet a second later with a glare at her of his own. Instead she shrugged. “Maybe. Or maybe I am waiting to hear the end.”
After a few assessing moments Tony turned his attention back on the mage. “Ignore the strange one, Locks. I know you had a point.”
Angrboda rolled her eyes.
Invisible hackles rose. He liked Angrboda a great deal, but he didn’t know her nearly well enough to continue what he had been going to say. He looked back to the mirror. “I have a mate and children who want me to just be me.” He no longer lamented what is and cringed at what will be. No longer would he scramble to try to mold the pending future into something tolerable. After more than a thousand years… “I look forward to what is to come.”
Tony shrugged easily, not unaware that he had heard the edited version of what Loki had been going to say. But he didn’t press, knowing Loki wasn’t going to say more about it in mixed company. “Okay, maybe I can see why you wouldn’t be nervous.”
“Unlike you.”
Both men turned to stare at Angrboda.
After sharing a look Tony felt brave enough to ask, “What unlike me?”
Angrboda had this knowing little smile, her eyes slightly distant. “You will be so nervous at your wedding you will be falling down drunk—”
Loki burst out laughing at that mental image while Tony protested, “Hey! Spoilers!!”
Angrboda just shrugged innocently. “Your girl will be worth it.”
The inventor froze and stared at her. She wasn’t talking about Pepper. With a mysterious little smile Angrboda left as randomly as she arrived.
Hoarsely speaking, “You make strange friends, Locks.”
Lifting an eyebrow as he regarded the inventor. “I am aware of that.” After all, he’d made friends with this strange little mortal. He hadn’t checked any last minute additions to the guest list so he asked, “Did the little spider arrive?”
Tony grew serious quickly and shook his head. “Nope. No word.”
Sighing in mock-irritation. “I suppose a trip to Midgard is in order.”
“Tomorrow?” Tony looked just a bit too hopeful. Not that it was entirely due to searching for Natasha.
Loki gave him a look. “Do not be ridiculous. To Asgard I shall be wed today. The gossiping whores of the realm would run amuck if I left my new bride so abruptly for any reason other than war.”
Nodding since it made sense. “A week?”
About to say one thing, Loki paused to organize how he wanted to relay this. “A word of warning. I am not an Avenger. Nor do I answer to SHIELD.”
Rolling his eyes. “I think the word is duh, Locks.”
Since he received some form of acknowledgement he continued, “I am not acting to retrieve the Director’s asset. If the spider has vanished of her own accord, my assistance ends.” He met Tony’s eyes. “I agree that the timing is suspicious but sometimes timing is merely perfect. If she needs help I will lend it. If not…”
Tony held up his own hands. “Hey, if it turns out Nat’s dramatically quit SHIELD I’ll back off, too.”
Loki nodded slowly. It would be nice to give him an exact time frame, but that wasn’t the way matters were going to play out this time. “You are aware there are more than just nine recognized planets?”
“Yup. Nice topic shift, btw.”
Tipping his slightly at the compliment, Loki allowed a small smile and continued the lesson. “We call these planets lesser realms.”
Tony was listening carefully now. How often could any human boast they were getting tips and lessons on how the universe really worked? “Mortals?”
“Not all of them. Some are closed realms like your own, many more are not. After the wedding and a sufficient pause in my duties, father wishes me to oversee negotiations with one of those realms. I will go there with the men who are normally assigned such tasks and accompany the convoy back.”
Frowning a bit as he thought of that. “As a flashy bodyguard?” Sounded rather redundant, otherwise.
Loki lifted an eyebrow after glancing down at his own profile. “I think, man of iron, you wear more flashy metal than I do.”
“Uh huh. I wear, what, full body armor 10% of the year. Even your casual clothes are armor. When you sleep, you probably wear armor.”
“Wrong. I sleep nude.” Tony froze at that enticing mental image, then shook himself a second later. Giving the other man a look since he knew where the man’s mind had lingered. “Moving on. I will be assisting in the negotiations.”
Tony realized this was the reason he might be delayed in helping find Romanov. “If somebody else already has this job…why?”
With an aloof sniff, “As a prince it is not my standard duty to negotiate, but I am excellent at it. He wants me to accompany those that already have the job with a few choices of my own.”
Smirking. “Ah, you’re checking if these guys can cut it.”
Loki shrugged with a slight shift of his shoulders, about all he could do in formal armor. “It would be a good platform to establish my role as Viceroy.” Particularly if he had the freedom to put a few of his own choices in key positions.
Tony blinked in surprise. “He said that?” Didn’t really sound like Odin.
The prince rolled his eyes. “Of course not. I have not officially accepted being Viceroy. He shall not until I do. But he, like I, do things for more than one reason.”
The doors opened and the kids piled inside. Those beaming, excited faces stared up at him and he found himself smiling in return. They both tabled the conversation as the doors opened wider for a broadly smiling Thor to follow the children inside.
***
Sigyn, Veilya, Pepper and Anya were all sitting together in her rooms, speaking softly. There was still a bit of time before the wedding ceremony, so they were all relaxing during a last minute lull. Sigyn was wearing a flowing silver dress with sewn in clear crystals that twinkled in the light. She wore a flower crown, an Aesir tradition, and her hair was in a series of intricate braids. The three ladies with her had agreed to be her bridesmaids and would carry her train.
When Frigga entered the room they all stood up. “Queen Frigga,” Sigyn greeted.
Frigga smiled softly. “We are family, my dear. No need for such titles.”
Sigyn offered a small smile in return. “That we are.”
Her blue eyes moved over her son’s wife. Her assessment over as quickly as it began, “You are a beautiful, strong woman. But most importantly, you make him happy. You are everything I wanted for my son.”
Sigyn tipped her head towards Frigga in lieu of responding.
Taking Sigyn’s hands in her own, her words offered with care. As if every word was being carefully measured. “Marriage will bring with it both sorrow and joy. Strife and peace. The strength of the love the two of you share will overcome all obstacles, even if danger is lurking around the corner.”
Veilya and Anya silently stiffened. Pepper’s face silently expressed her confusion as to why.
A last smile. A gentle touch of a hand to Sigyn’s cheek, and Frigga was gone.
Sigyn sat back down, her expression thoughtful.
A frown slowly deepened on Pepper’s face. “What was that?”
The elven queen’s own expression reflected a thoughtful assessment. “A warning.”
Veilya slowly nodded in agreement. She hadn’t received any warning or inspiration of eminent trouble, but being a priestess didn’t mean she would be privy to everything.
Pepper looked baffled.
Anya explained softly. “The Queen is a seer and, while the specifics of a vision are almost never shared, it is always wise to heed a warning from her.”
Sputtering. “A vague warning is the best she can do??”
Shrugging with easy acceptance. “Sometimes that is all a seer receives.”
“Not all that we see is a view of a moment of doom.” Veilya nodded. “Visions can be abstract and up for interpretation. But sometimes a seer is only given a feeling.”
Sigyn smiled a little to herself. “And one can never forget that what is seen may not happen. It is the mostly likely result, but not always.”
Pepper just shook her head silently.
Anya studied her hands. “If there was danger to a member of her family, I doubt Queen Frigga would do less than her best to protect them if she could.”
Sigyn nodded her head in agreement.
Eyes moving to each woman before asking, “How is this normal?”
“What?”
“This!” Gesturing at the air in front of her.
Sigyn was suddenly feeling amused. “You are courting a self-described superhero. You live on a realm filled with people with extraordinary talents…why would the existence of seers be strange?”
Shaking her head with a sigh. “I don’t mean that.” Pepper slouched a little, looking a bit overwhelmed. “I mean being emersed in a life where it is just a series of potential disasters around every corner.”
Waving a dismissive hand. “Oh this is nothing.”
Pepper blinked. She glanced at the other women who were both nodding.
She looked back at Sigyn and blinked again.
Sigyn shrugged lightly. “A small cloud of potential rain in the sky of life.”
“Compared to what?” Pepper regretted asking the moment the question came out.
Because Sigyn didn’t hesitate to say, “There was that Sky Fairy migration.”
Everyone else had schooled expressions.
Weakly Pepper asked, “A what?”
“Mmm, the Sky Fairies are a type of fae that live in outer space. Bright and twinkling, but not small. In fact, they are large enough and bright enough to be seen from the ground. Hence their name. This event was a couple of centuries ago before Loki and I were together. Apparently a mass migration had never been witnessed.” Rolling her eyes with a mournful shake of her head. “Some bright spark decided it was a series of stars getting pulled out of alignment and sucked into a travelling and yet unidentified black hole. If that were the case, then any world within the vicinity was a risk. Realms from all over panicked. It was quite the undertaking to contain that panic to prevent civilization from collapsing.”
“You…” Pepper trailed off and struggled for words. “You made that up.”
A shake of her head. “No, I did not.”
Pepper gauged her expression before slowly narrowing her eyes and took an educated guess. “Loki made that up.”
Sigyn uncharacteristically gave Pepper a bright, bright smile. Anya and Veilya started giggling.
“…why?” Again, why was she asking questions she didn’t want the answers to?
Waving a hand loosely. “Thor. He was told about the unidentified black hole by Loki because he felt like tormenting his older brother a little. It happened to coincide with a meteor shower. Thor originated much of the Aesir panic when he went running through the palace halls screaming about it. From what was described, the results were…humorous. The story twisted a bit over time and retelling into this current version.”
Pepper noticed a lot of circumstances did seem to revolve around Thor and Loki. “Ah.”
A tap on the doors to alert them all it was time.
***
At the appropriate hour all sound in the throne room ceased. There was only a silent hum of anticipation in the air now. But a wedding in Asgard was choreographed to the finest detail, with every participant given instructions on precisely what to do.
A path was cleared for Odin and Frigga to regally walk forward and take their places on and next to the throne. Heads of those present were bowed in deference to the two monarchs. Three taps from Gungnir had everyone raising their heads once more.
The immediate family from Vanaheim entered next, avoiding the flower petal path to be on either side of it and closest to the area before the throne. Thor entered with Martina trailing behind him. Hrik, Sven, and Fandral, the three assigned by the King as his Warrior Companions, followed behind them. Basil and his brothers as well, as Sigyn’s closest ties.
In unison, Frigga and Odin looked to the right. The crowd parted for Loki to walk forward with stiff, formal pride, his emerald cape flowing behind him. Tony and Willow trailed on either side of him. At a certain point they stopped and Loki made those last few steps unaccompanied.
As the monarchs gazes moved once again the guests did as well. A slight break in tradition since they each had children on both sides of their union, the young ones walked the petal path first. Bragi was first, his little face solemn…but only until Loki’s mouth quirked. Then he grinned and ran the remaining distance to him. There were a few stifled chuckles from the audience. Talia and Melody were hand in hand as they skipped the entire way. El followed behind them, happy she was able to wear a spruced up version of her Asgardian outfit instead of a girly dress.
Loki’s attention moved from them and his breath caught in his throat. Sigyn moved slowly up the path with almost ethereal grace. Her deep blue eyes were focused upon him. Behind her Anya, Veilya, and Pepper carried the bridal train, but the couple only had eyes for one another. Sigyn reached his side, the three ladies backing away just enough for the children to cluster around their parents.
Sigyn reached up to brush her thumb lightly along his cheekbone. A move simply because she desired to do so. He caught her hand and softly kissed her palm. The three ladies who had followed Sigyn melted.
At the slightest of moves from Odin, Frigga stepped partially down the throne steps. She still stood above them, a gentle smile gracing her face. “It is the privilege of the Queen of Asgard to facilitate this union. A day of joy that will not just be remembered for the marriage of my son. But also the welcoming of a daughter into the royal family and the next generation of a prince and princesses.”
El silently wrinkled her nose a bit at being a princess now. To her the title meant dresses and damsel in distress…so not her. The rest of the kids were all excited. Loki winked in El’s direction, as if reading her thoughts and silently conveying that he wasn’t going to allow any of them to be forced to be something they weren’t.
Frigga raised in her hands a series of the traditional braided ribbons. They were in a multitude of different colors, each one to symbolize a particular aspect of love, family, and marriage. At her behest Loki and Sigyn joined hands. The glowing rings of their bond flared to life, but only those closest to the couple could see them. With small twitches of her fingers Frigga guides the ribbons to tie around and over their joined fists.
In the old tongue she sang the ceremony words. Even Tony was rendered speechless, just watching.
Odin stood. Typically ceremonies of marriage were Frigga’s domain. But this was more than just a man and a woman being wed. This was a prince of Asgard being wed. This was also the passing of titles. The petty could see his lack of participation as a social cut against the children or their new mother. “Asgard. Witness the union of two people, but also the union of two great realms.”
Faurete and Angrboda shared a look before muttering “three” under their breaths.
Odin continued, “Loki Odinson, a prince of Asgard. Sigyn, the Et’ana of Alfheim.” His gaze swept over those present. “Loki, the destroyer of multiple members of the Black Order…” Eyes widened in surprise at that revelation. “…Sigyn, the defeater of Thanos. I do hereby acknowledge and rejoice for the inclusion of Prince Loki and Princess Sigyn among us.” Sigyn blinked at him in silent surprise. His statement didn’t detract from her standing on Alfheim. It just meant she was also bequeathed an Asgardian title. “This union shall expand the royal family, the addition of a prince and three princesses.”
Since almost anything that Odin did was for court record he didn’t say the names of the children. By marriage they were now titled. Once past the age of their proving ground there would be a formal ceremony for such public acknowledgement.
Frigga raised her hands into the air. “Witnessed by the Norns and Yggdrasil, they are hereby wed.”
Loki and Sigyn leaned towards one another over their joined hands to share a kiss. As soon as their lips touched, the braided ribbons burst into a sprinkling of confetti. Melody pointed, looking delighted.
In silent unison the Einherjar standing along the petal path unsheathed their swords and raised them to act as a bladed arch for the couple to walk under. The audience members all lit their candles and raised them into the air.
The couple slowly pulled back a little, sharing looks of both pleasure and amusement. Loki’s eyebrow quirked as he murmured. “Ready?”
She mirrored the gesture. “To begin the rest of eternity together? Yes.”
Turning, the fingers of his right hand threading through her left, Loki and Sigyn led the wedding party away from the throne. There was a feast being held after all and the celebration would carry on late into the night.