Chapter Text
Introduction:
Everyone knows who the Father of Gifts is, even if they all call him by different names and make up different stories about him. On Midgard he is Father Christmas, Santa Claus, or Père Noël; but in the rest of the Nine Realms they just call him Jolnir and he is happy with this.
Jolnir is the Father of Gifts, the Great Gift Giver, the Compassionate One, and Friend of all Children, and he will be there for them on the night of every great celebration, to bestow his gifts upon them. Every world in the Nine Realms has one.
On Midgard, it is Christmas, the most important of days for so many people.
For Asgard, it is the Winter Solstice – the Night of Ice and Fire – when winged longboats are set alight and sailed off the edge of the world.
The Seven Nights of Light is the height of the calendar year for Alfheim, land of the Ice Elves and Jolnir's home.
The children of Nidavellir celebrate the the Great Star's Birth, which keeps the forge lit, by hammering out tiny suns of their own from lumps of luminous crystal and throwing them at each other. It is a good game.
Once a year, Jotunheim remembers Ymir, the greatest of all the giants, whose decaying body feeds the roots of Yggdrasil, the World Tree, and gives it life.
For Vananheim, the Day of Peace, when the war ended between their world and Asgard, is considered to be the best of days in their history. It might be political.
Niflheim, world of fog and mists, is a mysterious place. Few people live there, but Jolnir never forgets the children there.
Svartalfheim is where the Dark Elves reside. There are few of them left, but those that remain still mark the day when their ancestors split from the Light Elves and found their own home.
Meanwhile, on Muspelheim, they celebrate the coming of Ragnarök, end of the gods when Asgard shall burn. They wait patiently for this day of destiny to arrive, for fire and death is a part of the great cycle of existence, just as much as light and birth is.
Jolnir is tall and round with a bushy, white beard, just as the mortals on Midgard depict him, and he wears a red coat just to please them, but he is no mere man. He has the chilly blood of Ice Elves in him as well Frost Giant. His skin is blue and his eyes are grey like the colour of thick ice. That busy beard of his is jagged and sharp like icicles. He is kind, but he is not jolly.
And as for magic, he has enough magic in him to deliver the toys he makes at impossible speeds, but he requires the Tesseract to allow him to move between the nine worlds in a blink of an eye.
He has a daughter, Sigyn, the Loyal One. And he has a son-in-law, Loki, the Mischievous One. They help Jolnir with his never ending mission to make every child of the Nine Realms feel valued and remembered at least once a year. Sometimes things go wrong. This is especially true where Loki is concerned.
Here are some of their stories, told in no particular order.
Let's start with Jolnir.
Chapter One: How Jolnir Came By The Tesseract
A long, long, time ago Asgard was at war with Jotuneheim, and not for the first time.
Jolnir, who was half Frost Giant, of course knew about the war. How could he not? He was always travelling across the Nine Realms and like Heimdall saw everything that went on. But for the sake of the children he stayed away from the war, refusing to make it his business, even though it hurt him to do so.
Back in those days, Jolnir would travel through space in his sleigh pulled by a team of reindeer, just as he does now, but the journeys he had to make was so much more time consuming, dangerous and a greater drain on his powers. He knew that he had to find a better way, but like Odin he was wise and knew that he only had to wait for the right opportunity.
Odin took three things from the Frost Giants: their power, their means of teleporting across the Nine Realms, and their newly born prince, who had been abandoned and left to die, so was hardly valuable to them. They were the Casket of Ancient Winters, the Tesseract, and Loki, who had at that point not been named, but would be later by Frigga.
The Casket and the Tesseract went straight into the Vault, the baby into the arms of Frigga, who was not too pleased with her husband, but too kind not to care for the small infant.
The baby was weak and the baby would not feed.
The night of the Winter Solstice arrived a few days later, and just as he always did, Jolnir delivered a gift to every child on Asgard, including the baby Loki.
Odin was waiting in the nursery for him.
Never before had anyone been able to interrupt Jolnir's spell of speed and intercept him during his work, but, then again, Odin had never desired to do so up until now.
'The baby is dying,' the Allfather said, in his usual blunt tone of voice. 'You must help him.'
Jolnir left the light blue blanket, made of finest Alfheim silk, folded at the end of the crib.
'Must I?' his voice was low, but light, and as delicate as the patterns of frost over the window panes, and at odds with his bulky figure.
'Every healing spell my Healers try only cause to him to cry loudly,' said Odin, sounding frustrated, maybe even a little desperate. 'And the queen, who is a skilled sorceress, does not know what to do.'
'And nor do you, it seems, Odin One-Eye.'
'I knew to make an appeal to you. You are from a line of Jotuns. You share the same blood. Healing magic received from you will not be rejected by his flesh.'
Jolnir looked to the sleeping baby, looking so tiny and pale, almost lost beneath the blankets. He lightly ran a chunky finger over the delicate carvings at the end of the crib, leaving a light trail of frost behind. 'And what will my payment be?'
For a moment Odin was so shocked that he was lost for words and then he regained some of his regal haughtiness.
'The Father of Gifts demanding payment? And I thought your tender heart would be more than willing to assist a helpless babe, especially the prince of your mother's people.'
Jolnir shrugged.
'More of a charitable donation, then. A sponsorship to allow me to continue my good work.'
'Gold? A fleet of flying ships? You shall have the swiftest that we have to offer.'
Jolnir's hand dropped to his side as he stared hard into Odin's golden eye.
'The Tesseract, Allfather. I need the Tesseract. Promise it to me and I shall heal your son, for he is yours, I can see how much he is yours, even though you stole him away from his home.'
Odin scoffed. 'You would bargain with a child's life? That is cold. Your reputation for compassion is a false one.'
Odin's one eye locked with Jolnir's grey ones. Jolnir looked away first.
Gently, he picked Loki up out of the crib and held him close. The infant whimpered, but otherwise did not react. He was very light and lay limply in Jolnir's arms.
'I had hoped, Allfather, that you would see the value of my work, it's triumphs as well as its failures,' said Jolnir, wrapping Loki up in the blanket of blue silk. 'I am not all powerful and I cannot save every child who suffers. And yet there are times when I do choose to intervene, although it may be folly in the grand scheme of life to do so. The Tesseract would be of great use to me.'
He raised Loki up and breathed on his face, it was like a breeze moving over a frozen lake.
Loki stirred in his arms. He made a soft snuffling sound that turned into a whimper, that turned into a wail as loud as that of any healthy Asgardian child.
'He is hungry,' Jolnir said simply, handing him over to Odin. 'Feed him.'
'And you must take your payment,' said the voice of Frigga.
The queen was standing in the doorway, Tesseract in her hands, just as Jolnir knew she would be. The blue glow of the cube highlighted the relief and gratitude on her face.
Odin's face was unreadable as Frigga swept around him to hand over the Tesseract to Jolnir.
Frigga turned to face Odin, saying, 'We have treasures aplenty. And more than enough weapons. The Tesseract was taken as a spoil of war, but I say we should let it remain in the safekeeping of one who is half Jotun. And then one day when this little one is grown and ready to sit on the throne of Jotunheim he can have his treasures back.'
Jolnir said nothing. Little Loki was going to be a terror, he could sense it.
He activated the Tesseract and teleported away, but only to the next room to deliver his gift to young Thor. He left with the image of Odin and Frigga fussing over their screaming adopted son.