Choices

Chapter 85
"Are you sure you're happy here?" Cephera asked after a long trek up the mountains to see Fenrir. In such a short amount of years Fenrir was now towering over her by at least 8 feet or more. His body long and round, but not chubby. The mountains made for plenty of running room and hunting.
"I am, I have a purpose." Fenrir, whose voice had chance dramatically since he was a pup, replied with a soft hum to his tone that told her he was content. He worked with the Valkyrie now, protecting Asgard from the outside.
"I miss my playful puppy." Cephera admitted.
"We will see more of eachother soon enough." He chuckled and looked toward the outside of his cave.
In anticipation for his impending arrival 11 years back, Brunhilda had the old Centipedes valley and cave gutted and cleaned of all debris and made it the perfect shelter for Fenrir.
Outside to the left stood a round pedestal and around it pillars with crystals on top. This waypoints was to be connected to Asgard. Loki was working on connecting it so that they could use a waystone to teleport there quickly instead of taking the mountain path.
It was currently still under construction as it took powerful enchants to work it properly. Loki had already found himself over in Vanaheim with no way home, until Heimdall finally heard him calling.
Heimdall had great gifts, there was no questioning it, but unless he was paying attention, he didn't catch everything.
"Yes, your father is working very hard." Cephera greed.
"How's Jör?" Fenrir asked. He hadn't seen his brother for a long time. He'd missed Hela when she left, and everyone knew they'd never see her again. Now he would be serperated from Jör until Loki found a way to reunite them all.
"The news of his new home has been rough. Hela has her own realm, you have your purpose protecting Asgard's borders, but Jör hasn't a purpose or place." Cephera frowned.
The only place they felt was vast enough, plentiful enough with food and safe enough was Midgard. Their oceans held creatures that couldn't harm Jör. It was true that Jör himself was more than huge, but after checking the geography of many places, most hadn't the sufficient food source to feed something his size. Not to mention some places had creatures who could make a small snack of Jör.
So the decision was made to teleport Jör to earth.
Cephera had been pushing Loki to finish the waypoint soon. She wanted a second connection somewhere on Earth so that Fenrir and Jör could be together when they wanted. Loki's concern was making sure the Waypoint was secure and only those with the properly inscribed waystones could pass through them.
The mechanics involved, Cephera knew nothing about, but she was patient when Loki explained them, not so patient while she waited for the end result.
"He'll find a purpose," Fenrir said.
"I hope so," Cephera sighed.
***
"He's crazy!" Loki yelled, throwing his hands in the air. When Cephera returned, Loki was fuming. He immediately began to tell her all about his long day off with Thor.
"Calm down, my love," Cephera tried to talk him off his angry mantle, but he wouldn't have it.
"He could have killed us! Could have put Asgard into a state of war."
Apparently, Thor had taken them all to Muspelheim to see if his and Sif's hard work had been completely demolished by the fire demons and when they found it in shambles and the Fire Giants scattered, Thor had marched on ahead and began to pick a fight with the demons.
Teasing them at their lost battle to Odins army and who knows what else he said. Loki had been so worked up he couldn't recount it all.
"He said it was all just a little fun!" Loki exclaimed. "Fun! He thinks war is fun." Loki wondered, bewildered a moment before he went back to his anger.
"What did your father say?" She was afraid to ask.
"That Thor needs to learn to pick his battles better if he must pick any at all, though he cautioned him to work for peace, not war. A mere slap on the wrist if you ask me. What if the Demons decide to invade? How many lives might be lost because Thor wanted to have fun?"
"And the Warriors three couldn't talk him out of it? Sif even?"
"Bah," loki growled, "they are no better. Fandral was aching to battle again. His fatherly duties had kept him away for so long. Hogun was silent as the grave and Volstagg had been stuffing his face. Sif recokened that the demons could use a good reality check after what they'd done to the Giants. She's no better, not since she and Thor have put aside their past." Loki fumed and fumed.
"You went," Cephera frowned wondering why Loki had gone at all.
"Someone had to chase him down and talk him off his high horse." Loki insisted glaring at her implication. She hadn't meant it that way. "Of course he called me a coward," the amount of hurt in Loki's tone then broke Cephera heart.
"He didn't mean it." Cephera tried to assure her husband, but he wanted to hear none of it. He shrugged off her light touch, refusing to be calmed nor soothed by it.
"Thor and his mighty hammer. He goes around swinging it about after a day in the gladiatorial ring. Making the crowds cheer to stroke his ego." Cephera relented and flopped onto the bed. This side of Loki could last for days.
She was not fond of brooding Loki.
"I swear each passing decade he gets worse not better. Sometimes I wonder if that emotion enchantment had caused permanent damage."
"You know it never," Cephera reminded.
"Quiet woman, I don't need chiding from you." He growled. Cephera sat up and shot Loki a, 'don't talk to me that way' glare. He knew that behavious didn't fly with her. It wouldn't be the first time he'd snapped at her when he was in a bad mood.
He was quiet a moment, staring at her giving him that warning look and then he turned away. "I need a bath." He announced in irritation and left the room.
Cephera fell back to lie down. She didn't agree with the way Thor acted, but sometimes Loki was over the top too. The only difference tended to be how their father handled it and that's what sparked Loki.
(Present Cephera)
Who knew that it was only the beginning of Thor's idiocies. Not to mention Loki's choices. She still couldn't wrap her head around the reason Loki had let Frost Giants into the palace during Thor's coronation.
Cephera had stopped pacing the floor and grabbed the waystone from the side of the bed. It had taken a few years to get things going, but the stones worked perfectly.
She left her room and headed to the waypoint tower. Inside were two active pedestals. One would take her to Jör and the other to Fenrir. She stepped on the one to Midgard and disappeared.
When she arrived Jör was curled in a ball in his underground cavern. She could hear the running water from the waterfall at the face of the cliff where he entered from the ocean.
"Jör," Cephera said alerting him to her presence. His massive head came up and a fond look entered his eyes.
"Mother," he replied inching forward to allow her to stroke the side of his snout. "How's father?" He asked, concerned.
"He's locked away for eternity, or so Odin had proclaimed." Cephera had been assured by Frigga that Odin must have a purpose in mind for Loki and that he would not condemn him forever. "And to make matters worse he wishes to dissolve our marriage."
"He cannot do that," Jör said.
"He is the all-father, he can do what he likes." Cephera reminded him.
"That is not what I mean. Marriage is not just because someone has deemed it so. It's love, commitment. No one person had the validity to take that away. The choice to end a marriage is between the two people who are bond together, not the one who did the binding." Cephera pondered his words. Jör turned out to be a thinker, a word of wisdom.
"I suppose so." Cephera still frowned. "In the eyes of Asgard we won't be wed."
"Then when he is free leave it. Why is it so important to remain under Odin's roof? Make a home of your own elsewhere." Again Cephera thought it over.
"Perhaps, it is time to get away from it all. It seems all our lives has been nothing but heartache. Being separated from my children, then thinking my husband was dead, and then to have him back only to be pulled apart again. Maybe getting him away from his old life and beginning a new one would be best." The thought was tempting, but she didn't know where they would go.
They could always go to Mechanova, but for some reason Cephera felt Loki wouldn't want that. She would just have to wait and see what the future would bring. Until Loki got out of prison she had no plans to make.
"What have I missed?" Fenrir's voice echoed off the walls. He'd just stepped from his own Waypoint from the very back of the massive cavern.
"Talking about your father." Cephera told him. He looked wide-eyed and ready to fight.
"I'll go to Odin myself and make him release him." Apparently Fenrir already knew about his father's predicament. Some Valkyrie probably told him which annoyed Cephera. She should have been the one to deliver the news, and had planned to once she was finished with Jör.
"That will do your father no good, besides your father deserves to be punished for his crimes, the verdict is not something I completely agree with mind you." Cephera sighed and scratched as far up Fenrir's paw as possible.
"It's all true then?" Fenrir asked sucking in a breath.
"What's true?" Jör asked. He had heard their father was alive but Cephera had planned to let them know as easily as possible about the circumstances.
"Nothing is certain yet as to why he did what he did." Cephera reminded Fenrir, who looked far too shocked and sad to ignore his question. Cephera turned to Jör and explained all she knew.
"Cold bloodied murder," Jör's snout turned down his two front fangs showing, which Cephera knew was a deep frown.
"We are not sure. We know when Loki came to Midgard he was met with resistance." She replied.
"By people and weapons not meant to outmatch an Asgardians strength." Jör sounded very disappointed in his father.
"Your father isn't Asgardian, rememeber." Jör nodded, he had forgotten, it was easy to forget. They'd all lived the same lie for centuries. She still couldn't imagine just how it felt for Loki to find out the truth.
"Still, an alien against humans is completely unfair. It's like bringing a canon to a fist fight. He could have incapacitated them, he didn't have to kill them."
"Maybe he did! What if they knew how to kill an alien. What would you know about the humans?" Fenrir cried defensively. Desperate to hold on to hope that their father hadn't done the horrible things he'd been charged for.
"I know much more than you." Jör hissed.
"Stop it, both of. Our family is torn apart enough. I don't need to have you both fighting as well." Cephera was stern with her words and had both her children backing off each other instantly.
"Sorry, mother," Fenrir apologized his ears flat to his head. "I want this all to end."
"Me too," Cephera told them both sitting down. Fenrir lay beside her so she could scratch his jaw and Jör lay his face upon the stone at her other side where she could also stroke his shimmering scales along his neck. She must look like a tiny Barbie between them, they'd grown so large.
They were all she had now, until Loki was released..., if he was ever released.

Notes