[Child adventures!] Ancient times

[st_ratagem]

They weren’t actually supposed to be outside of the palace grounds. Father and Mother both agreed, nine was too young, and Thor had only just started arms training. But Thor had wanted to ‘test his courage’ and apparently that didn’t just mean ‘leave the palace’, it had meant ‘leave the palace, take a skiff, go to island ruin with a door in it, far enough away that you could barely see the spires’.

It was exciting, yes! Still Loki was in trouble much more often than Thor, and he was deeply complicit in the escape thanks to a lot of illusions, was still nervous. Mostly about being blamed if something went wrong. “Did one of the guards tell you about this place?”

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[st_ratagem]

“I know, you’ve said that already.” Or Loki had, he wasn’t completely sure. Either way, Thor would probably definitely die if he came back to the run by himself. He’d run into another trap and not stagger out again. At least he’d have help out if the brothers were together. “I’m making a list of things to bring along.”

[st_ormbreaker]

"What else do you think we need?" There's a hint of typical Thor you-don't-think-we're-good-enough attitude injected into that question.

[st_ratagem]

“Rope. Paint for marking. Bandages. Some kind of healing salve. Needle and thread. Maybe a torch or two.” Maybe paper for drawing a map, or making rubbings if there were writings...? No, that wouldn’t interest Thor. Loki stuck with the practical ‘this will help us not have to turn around next time’ list.

[st_ormbreaker]

Which leads them left to figure out how there would be a next time when they finally left.

"What are we going to tell mother and father?" he asks. "If either of them see me hurt like this, we'll have to tell them a story."

A beat, and then a moment of realization:

"You don't think Heimdall will tell them, do you?"

[st_ratagem]

“Probably.” Heimdall was like that: no fun whatsoever. He’d probably wait to see if they told the truth on their own, and then tattle if they didn’t. Or when they didn’t. Because honor or or duty or some other nonsense.

“I thought I’d try to sell giant poisonous porcupine. That disappeared after shredding you.” He had thought that! For like a second. Even if it would be a really fun lie to tell. “Or a giant mean squirrel dropped out of a tree and called you a lot of names, so you fought it until it ran away. You know. Rough drafts.”

[st_ormbreaker]

"Do you really think they'll believe it?" Thor's voice is laced with skepticism. "If I'm not poisoned --" and he hopes he isn't "-- then we'll be caught in the lie. And what if they ask to see one of the quills?"

Thor would fight a squirrel, though. Especially if it were calling him or his brother names.

[st_ratagem]

“You’ve got a very strong constitution, your body sucked in all the quills and digested them to heal the poison. You’re just so tough we don’t have any quills to show.” No, of course they wouldn’t believe it, but it would be fun to try. “You think ‘giant mean squirrel’ is better?”

[st_ormbreaker]

"I don't know," Thor says. "What if they attempt to hunt down the squirrel after that and don't find one? Then what?"

[st_ratagem]

“It... lives in Yggdrasil and spends all its time running around all the Realms, up and down the tree, being mean. Of course no one’s going to catch it, it’s too good at running away because everyone wants to kick it. Or cry, I guess, because it’s a very mean squirrel.” Yes, Loki could do this all day. Stories were easy.

[st_ormbreaker]

Soon enough, they reach the entrance.

"You're telling the story, then," Thor says. "You're a much better liar than I am."

Something they're probably both cognizant of.

[st_ratagem]

Loki grinned at his brother. “Of course! I don’t think anyone’ll believe it, but it’ll be a good story. You really think mean squirrel is better?”

[st_ormbreaker]

"Better than the porcupine," Thor says, smiling back.

[st_ratagem]

“All right then. You were very brave. It bit you a lot and clawed you with needle claws, it you got between it and me, that’s why I don’t have any wounds.” Possibly the mean squirrel would be a useful story long term, if he could convince anyone this time....

[st_ormbreaker]

"I would really protect you, you know," Thor says. He likes the story, particularly because it makes him sound heroic instead of dumb and foolhardy.

[st_ratagem]

“Yes, that’s why it’s a good lie. You’d do that, and you’ve got the injuries to prove you did do that.” Loki nodded. “What do you think the squirrel wanted?”

[st_ormbreaker]

"To defeat the sons of Odin," Thor says easily as they continue their journey home. Thor is still leaning on his brother, though his bloody wounds had begun to scab over. "He had heard of the both of us."

[st_ratagem]

Loki nodded slowly. “That works. The other creatures living in Yggdrasil stopped listening to it, told it ‘why should we care what you say? you can’t even defeat two small children’. It made the squirrel mad, so it had to prove it could, too, beat us. But it couldn’t.” It was a good story, the kind of epic thing people would want to believe, especially since it was about Thor.

Father wouldn’t be fooled, for sure. But if the story was good enough he might let it go?

[st_ormbreaker]

"I like it," Thor says, grinning. "It might be better if we could sneak in, though. I'm sure I'll be fine in a few hours, right?"

Thor looks down at himself to assess the damage.

[st_ratagem]

“Maybe!” He was already a little better, wasn’t he? Not bleeding so much. “And we should sneak in. But if we don’t own up, Heimdall will tell on us. Which is fine, it’s later instead of now, but we should both know the story for later.” Because Heimdall didn’t understand fun.

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor nods. "Okay, I think I got it." A beat. "You're sure Heimdall would tell on us? Maybe he won't. He has all the universe to look after."

[st_ratagem]

Loki made a face. “Heimdall always tells. He hates fun.” Or at least he hated Loki’s definition of fun.

[st_ormbreaker]

"But we've never asked him not to tell!"

[st_ratagem]

“Oh, he’d tell right away if you did that!” That’s how people worked, especially kill-joys. “As soon as he knows you want him to keep his mouth shut, he’ll decide we’re keeping secrets. Which we are, and he’ll tell Father. Because duty or honor or he thinks I’m going to kill you.”

[st_ormbreaker]

"If he sees all, he knows that isn't true," Thor protests.

[st_ratagem]

“Seeing isn’t knowing. It’s just seeing.” Loki shrugged as best he could without digging into any wounds or jostling Thor too much. That’s what illusions were about, a lot of the time. Give someone something to see or not see, so they’d know things that weren’t true. Or wouldn’t know things that were.

There had to be ways around Heimdall. Someday he’d find them. “People see things and learn what they want from them.”