Chapter 2
//Thor///
….Nornheim…
Loki had decided that they should look, first, in the place the stones were created, and seek clues from the norn sisters themselves, so Thor set his coordinates to Nornheim. Thor can not help but think of one of the last conversations he had with Loki before his failed coronation. He had mentioned Nornheim and the last time they were here. Being with him, here, now, feels like another distant memory.
Thor also can't help but to remember what happened last time he entered a Water of Sight. Being here on the realm that has the first pool, the Well of Wyrd. It won't just be water spirits who speak to him. It will be one of the norns.
He's never been as far as the tree of ash. The battles they fought were beyond the lake and the home of the trolls. Now that they fled to Vanaheim, this realm is almost barren of those giants. After his last battle here with the Marauders, he hadn't been back since. Before then, he hadn't been here for over hundreds of years since the battle Loki had mentioned.
He must admit. Loki was right.
He was nervous that day.
He had sought adventure with his company, back when he was young and the most foolish. It only ended only with them enraging the giants.
And the battle wouldn't have been won without his sorcery. A simple truth, that for whatever reason, he found it hard to admit before. It was an action, Thor realized, that they never thanked him for. The memory of it makes something twist inside him. His actions of his past seem so strange to him now. Perhaps, this is what it means to be lost, he thinks.
Loki and him landed on a plain that stretched between the lake to Yggdrasil and the distant village city of the Rock Trolls. The lake itself is shroud with a thick mist, one where you couldn't possibly see anything five feet in front of you. Thor doesn't remember that mist being there, but he never really paid much attention before.
Nornheims fertility rivals even Asgards. The forest behind them homes squirrels larger than deer and deer larger than bilgesnipe. The waters of the lake that surrounds the tree are rumored to home serpents and fang toothed fish bigger than themselves. Despite its green plains that stretch to this lake, then to the village of the trolls, then to the forest beyond; the realm is inhospitable to outsiders. The Marauders before had not planned accordingly, and were surprised to find that they were not prepared for the native fury that any other army had fallen short of.
Being unable to see on water that could pose many threats for them is not ideal.
"We'll need a boat." Loki said plainly. It was an obvious fact and he said it as such.
"This can not be the well." Thor spoke his thoughts out loud. He knew the answer deep down, but he had never been this far and he never bothered to read the books that described this place.
Loki's head shakes with precision, "No, I believe not. The stories tell that a lake protects the tree, while the well beds within it."
Thor simply nods, internalizing that information as he steps down to the bank. The small ripples by his boots are slow and far between. The water is awfully still. Stiller than Thor had expected. Despite the mist; it's dry. The smell of moss and sulfur overpowers the smell of musk that comes with fog.
"We won't need a boat." He holds his hand as he calls forth Stormbreaker. The familiar smack of the ax causes a smile on his face.
Loki's head tilts, ever so slightly, "I'd rather not be hauled around."
"It's faster this way," Thor gestures to the water, "unless you'd rather risk what lies beneath the surface."
Loki sighs, a reluctant agreement in his eyes. He steps down onto the bank and holds his chin high, "Make this quick."
Thor can't help the smirk that forms.Without another word, Thor wraps his arm around Loki’s waist and pulls his brother hard to his chest. At first Loki holds his composure, but quickly grabs Thor as the ground falls away from them.
Loki says nothing for the whole flight. His eyes are narrowed, face drawn with tension. He hasn’t ceased clutching at Thor, his fingers only gripping harder as time goes on.
Thor can barely make out where he is going, but there is a pull in the air that guides him. It feels like his skin and his muscles are being stretched towards a magnet. A swirling energy in his body and a voice that whispers for him. He has no doubt that it's the tree.
Or maybe a norn sister.
Either way. He puts his trust in that pull. Letting it guide him; trusting it to be his light in this fog.
The closer they get the more powerful that feeling becomes. Soon the roots of the tree become visible and the fog starts to dissipate, slowly revealing the base of the Tree of the World. The hole in the middle is glowing with the torches of its inhabitants, shining where Thor can land.
Round huts made from the fibers of the tree itself and walkways form a small village inside its trunk. The scattering of trolls has Thor's mouth agape. He believed them all to have moved, but it seems they have taken refuge within the tree itself.
As if reading his thoughts- which Thor had always suspected Loki could do-Loki straightens out his clothes, "They didn't want to abandon their home," he says, looking around, "so I inquired if they had a better place in this world where they could inhabit. They did not say where at the time."
Thor had almost forgotten that Loki spent a few years disguised as their late father. "Is this one of the negotiations you had, while you were king." The familiar anger of finding out Loki was alive after so many years. After he held him in his arms, believing he was dead, was slowly resurfacing. Thor told himself that the matter was done. That he was grateful that Loki was alive and well again. That he had his brother back, but still he couldn't help the snide way he spat that out. Loki promised he did not know the nature of how he was back, but it left him weakened; his Seidr weakened. Only to recover it back slowly, but in no way was Loki himself weak.
"It was." He says, smooth as ever, "There was a lot of disorder after the Dark Elves and the lingering effects of the Marauders. It was no different than what Odin would have done." His voice is strained, putting emphasis on his last sentence, the way he does when there is more to be said but he will not say it. He kept it to a whisper, however, as they walked up the branch to the Nornkeep.
"But it wasn't Father who did it." Thor protests.
One glance over at Loki showed he had pulled his lips into a tight line. "Need I remind you I ever so kindly offered you the throne. You were the one who walked away," Loki matched Thor's gaze, his voice strained to contain his own frustration.
Suddenly, Thor felt tired. He felt it in his whole being. They had already been through this. Time and time again. Thor spent the last five years trying to understand. He knew, too, deep down that Loki was not the cause of Odin's death, nor was he wrong about Thor's own actions either. There is much he doesn't understand about his brother, but he understands, as much as he can, why Loki did what he did. The fighting and circles they chased are too exhausting now.
Thor sighed, "I do not want to dwell on the past," Thor's voice softens, "I want us to move forward. To be here, in the present. And look towards the future." There is a slight amount of shock on Loki's face, but it's quickly hidden.
Loki seems to take a moment to think before he speaks again, this time his voice is more calm, "Very well, brother. I also agree that's best."
Thor nods in agreement. Thor wants the sun to shine on them again. Just as Loki said before he thought he lost him. The only way that can happen is if Thor approaches his brother differently than he has before. Despite all his ignorance, he understands that now.
"I must say, this new Thor is quite the diplomat. Do you no longer feel the need to use your fists before you use your brain?" Loki says, his voice tinged with amusement.
A small smile forms, "Perhaps I'm changing."
They pass by trolls, who don't bother to give them a second glance. It's as if they already expected their arrival. Do they have a connection to the norns now that they live by the keep and within the trees sanctuary? They act as if Loki and Thor aren't there; going about their business in a lazy manner.
"And have I stayed the same?" Loki lets out a chuckle from his nose. Thor knows what conversation he's referring to. Thor didn't easily forget it. It was clear after the years that he got it all wrong.
"No, brother," he rests a hand on Loki's tense shoulder, "it has been me who has been unchanging." If Loki is affected by those words it doesn't show, other than the unfocused stare he has towards the trail and the even tighter muscles in his shoulder. Thor puts his hand back to his side and picks up his pace.
The Nornkeep is the highest and tallest structure within the tree. Embedded deep within its roots and off the trails made for the village. The closer they got the more Thor's hair stood on end. The overwhelming feeling of being watched only increases the closer they get. He swore that even the roots were watching him, judging his movements.
He tried to keep his wits about him, raising his chin and trudging on quicker. There weren't any doors, just one big entryway. A dark hall beckons them within, but at the end a soft bluish glow whispers to him.
He steps inside, his muscles tense with apprehension. It's deathly still, quiet like an empty plain. Each step made no noise, it was as if they were flying instead. The closer they got to the bluish light, the more it was revealed to be a body of glowing water.
A mass of thick black smoke, a bundle of mass, forms beyond the well. It shifts and molds until three undistinguishable faces emerge.
"Thor Odinson" The voice is young and monotonous.
"Loki of Asgard." A hoarse voice, like that of an older woman.
"Laufeyson." Childish, higher in pitch.
"Odinson." The young one said.
"We know what you seek." The crone said.
“We would not tell you your own fate." The child says, but none of them reveal any emotions behind their words.
"If you know what we seek, then you know we are looking for the Norn Stones." He said. "The stones created by Karnilla"
One of the faces smiles knowingly, a crooked grin like a raven. "The stones were hidden."
"To protect them from aesir," the one on the far left said, the younger.
Thors brows narrow, "From us? Why?"
They all seem to snicker at the same time, as if Thor had made a joke. Or was the joke.
"Is Thor, a former king," the one in the middle -the crone- said, "Still under Odin's charm?"
Thor swallowed. He could only think of one thing that could mean. He knows deep down his father was a liar, there is no way he can escape that fact, but that didn't mean Odin was unforgivable.
"I am not." He said confidently.
One of them seems to hiss, which one he is unsure of. "Lies."
One points to Loki, "This one isn't."
"This one's fate-"
"As is another." The child chimes in.
"Is tied to the stones."
"But we can speak no more."
"Only he can find the stones."
"Hidden."
"But not lost." They also say in unison, before their image starts to fade.
Thor reaches out to them, panic settling in, "Wait!" They are gone before he takes a step forward, leaving both of them standing there stunned. Despite Loki's mastery when it comes to that disguise he wears, even now it has a crack in it. He looks nearly, or more confused than Thor. Loki stands there, his mouth pursed and his fist balled as his sides.
Thor closes his fists, the tingling of electricity tickles his fingers. "Damn it!" He came here for answers, but he has even more questions than he did before. He wanted to know where the stones were and instead they were given riddles.
Thor whips around to Loki, "Perhaps if I entered the well," his breathing swallows, "perhaps then I can see a vision."
Loki blinks and he gains his composure again, "No," he shakes his head, "The norns would not allow it."
Thor huffs a disbelieving laugh, then groans in vexation. He takes the moments of silence to calm down the tensing rage, so he can better collect his thoughts.
It's Loki's sigh that catches his attention and breaks the tension. "What now?"