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In Malbry, by Red Horse Hill, Maddy’s favourite season had always been summer. Had the question ever been posed to her, though of course it was not, she could have answered quite confidently from the tender age of seven. Old One-Eye’s travels had always brought him through her tiny portion of home during midsummer like clockwork, thus breaking the dreary monotony of her everyday life and giving her the skills to access her power. It was the only time the rust-coloured rune glaring up from her palm had not been treated as a symbol of dark fae spirits lurking in the darkness. The only time someone had ever taken an interest in her; other than Adam Scattergood’s ceaseless dull bullying and the eyes of the Parson which drilled into her with every step through the village.
Had anyone ever bothered to ask Maddy which season she preferred (and once more, no one ever had) she would not by any means have said winter. In Malbry, winter meant several things. Cold beds in which to have no dreams, for of course such things were forbidden – long hours, for of course the folk of Malbry needed serving at the Seven Sleeper’s inn – an ever oppressive darkness in which every shortened day and snow flurry was to be blamed on her cursed existence – and Goblins. The cat-eared little bastards had a taste for the thick, warm casks of ale Mrs Scattergood kept in the cellar below her establishment, and while the tunnelling thieves never much seemed to rest, during the long cold snap they would ramp up the activity to such a degree that once or twice, Maddy had been forced to sleep down there to keep watch.
Here however, she had to admit it was different. Asgard was not a place of want. The sky never darkened too far, lit always by the glowing light of the rainbow bridge, and constellations wished into existence by one of its more fanciful gods. There did not seem to be any shortages of food, the hearths were always roaring, and, with the exception of a recently resurrected Sugar-and-Sack, there were no Goblins. Here, snow fell in silent, crisp flurries from the sky to settle gently upon Maddy’s thick dark hair, crunched beneath her feet and melted away on her tongue. Apparently though, as the man before her was trying to explain, with much wild gesticulation which she wasn’t sure was needed, there was far more to winter than just this.
“Yule?” Maddy raised an eyebrow in an attempt to appear more aloof than interested.
“Yule!” Crowed Loki, with more than enough enthusiasm for the two of them. At Maddy’s unresponsive blink, he stared at her as if she had gone mad. “You know? Yule. Gifts and feasting, parties into the night, you didn’t have that in Malbry?”
“We weren’t even allowed to dream at night in Malbry” She had been meaning to tease but couldn’t help but notice the bitterness for her youth she couldn’t quite shake. “Is this just another reason for you all to drink for days on end until someone breaks Bragi’s lute over his head and Thor threatens to murder you?”
“Absolutely not!” His eyes widened with comedic dismay, “I can’t believe you would question the sanctity of the holiday like that, not to mention besmirching my good name and for another thing-”
“Okay if it gets you to stop talking, I’ll bite. What do you want?” She broke in before he could launch into another tirade about his persistent mistreatment which she had once, and never again, mistaken for a self-aware joke on Loki’s part.
“Yule’s a time for loads of things, some more fun and some err… less so, if you’re me. Seeing loved ones and buying gifts, I can’t abide it all, but well, I thought you could do with seeing that freaky sister of yours!” He slung an arm around her shoulder. Maddy scowled at him.
“That’s a suspiciously thoughtful sentiment.” His returning grin did nothing to reassure her.
----
They touched down in what remained of World’s End just after dusk and Maddy was immediately reminded of just why she hated winter. In amongst the rubble and rebuilding from the war with chaos itself, patches of ice and snow were piling up, caked with dirt and dimmed from the lack of light. Loki’s head swung around as the slipped from the narrow side street and out into where the main market had once lain.
“God’s is this it? No wonder you didn’t understand Yule.” His nose curled up derisively at the sight of patchwork stalls by the docks.
“You lived with humans for hundreds of years Loki,” she reminded him. “I promise you; we weren’t hiding our secret celebrations from you personally. We jut didn’t have them. What cause was there to celebrate in Malbry? What cause is there to celebrate here, after so much tragedy?”
“Maddy, I lived in a hill infested with Goblins, I’d hardly call that an educational experience of Human seasonal festivities.” They entered the market, and she slapped his hand as it slipped out towards a stall selling some kind of tarts. “Besides, I think a little celebration could bring the mood up.”
“Ah yes,” she smiled up at the god beside her, amusement written plain across her face, “because what you think has always been so well received in the past.” She increased her pace at the sight of a colourful stall glinting under a lamp several rows down, while Loki gave an indignant squark behind her. Truth be told, she was glad to have him, idiot though he often proved himself to be. She may have played an instrumental part in saving Asgard, being one of the three riders after all, but her life there did not come with many fast friends. She was, she supposed, as much an outsider as she had ever been. For all his antics, she wasn’t sure what she’d do without Loki. Perhaps once she had found the perfect olive branch for her twin, she could sneak something small for him too. She didn’t suppose he would find himself inundated with gifts on return to Asgard.
The redhead caught up to her as she perused a layout of beautiful silk scarves. How these had survived destruction, she would never guess. His presence formed on her left side with a frustrating sort of buzz as he hovered impatiently for her to make a choice. Maddy held back a sigh, instead simply blowing a loose lock of hair from her eye.
“Why don’t you go do whatever it is you wanted to down here while I finish shopping?”
“Are you implying I had motives other than the goodness of my own heart for bringing you down here?” She did not turn to look at him. Had he been anyone else, the hurt in his tone would have been almost believable.
“I’m not implying anything, I’m stating.” As she turned to him at last, she saw the beginnings of a grin peak onto his features. “Look, you don’t care what I buy Maggie, and she hates you with all her heart, so you’re better off not coming with me anyway, which you well know. So why don’t you find a way to entertain yourself -without burning half the city down- and I’ll meet you when I’m done talking to Maggie down in the catacombs.” Loki gave a heaved sigh as if she were asking a great task of him and pulled a hand through his hair.
“Well… I’m sure I could find something to do here for a little while,” he trailed off as if in thought, green eyes casting one way and then the other.
“Like buying a gift for your wife perhaps!” Maddy beamed at him, landing a punch to his shoulder before he managed to slip away.
----
An hour later, Maddy had found the perfect attempt at apologising for ruining her sister’s wedding to a possessed arsehole and responding poorly to her reveal that Maggie was pregnant with a being who had once tried to murder Maddy, Loki and Odin, among others.
A silk scarf in a buttery shade of yellow, embroidered with small budding flowers. The colour would bring out the flecks of gold in her sister’s grey eyes. A history of the St Sepulchre she hoped the girl would like, and hadn’t already read down in her subterranean home; and a small box of jam tarts. Those were for Loki, but she supposed she could part with them if Maggie wasn’t enthralled by the existing choices.
Now she found herself pacing outside of the small door to where she knew her estranged twin would be holed up. Having grown up almost alone, the people she had thought to be her father and sister, and in a way, they were she supposed, having mostly ignored her – she wanted this relationship more than anything. Even if Maggie was strait-laced and sharp. Even if she had lived a life of which Maddy understood nothing. Even if she hated the old ways which they had been born into with their blazing runemarks. Even if she had tried to kill Loki once or twice. Truly he probably did deserve it, she smiled. Even if, she stopped her pacing to force a deep breath of frigid air into her tightly clenched lungs, Maggie had fallen for Adam Scattergood and under the sway of Mimir and been furious at all attempts to help until it was too late…
Even then, Maddy wanted to see her. Loki may have had his own stupid reasons for wanting to come down here, but he was right. Seeing her sister, freaky or not, would be good for her. With a determined nod, she wrenched to door to the stairs open and began her way down into the dark.
----
Maggie was pregnant. That was the first thing Maddy noticed when she laid eyes upon her. It had been such a recent discovery, the last time they had spoken, that she had managed to block it out. Maggie wasn’t really pregnant with a baby which would be heir to the untold dark powers of the oracle who’s spirit it unwittingly carried. She must have been mistaken.
But now it was impossible to ignore, and Maddy felt her sister’s eyes harden on her as she forced herself to tear her gaze away from the bump under the girl’s dress.
“Hello.” She offered, as she plastered an awkward smile to her face.
“What do you want?” God’s Maggie sounded tired. Pity clawed up Maddy’s throat at the horrifying thought of being widowed on her wedding day and carving out a living down here. Alone, pregnant and living in a catacomb, away from a world which still hated people like them.
“It’s uhhh, it’s Yule.” Maddy offered by way of explanation, and at Maggie’s confused blink she added, “it’s a erm… feast day I suppose. In midwinter. You eat and drink and dance,”
“I don’t drink.” Maggie cut in “not that I can at the moment, but by the rules of the Order, women shouldn’t touch such drinks.” Maddy wanted to stamp her foot with frustration. Here she stood, trying desperately to reach out, and all her sister could do was spout the laws of the now non-existent Order to which she had once devoted herself.
“It’s also a day of giving. A day of family.” She hoped to see connection, but watched with bile in her throat as her sister’s hand came to rest gently on her stomach and a soft smile warmed her features. “So, I brought you these!” her hands splayed out before her, book and scarf clutched firmly in her fingers. Maddy was not nervous by nature. She was bull-headed and fast to action. Charm and tact were less in her nature than she wished. But now she was swamped by a nervousness that Maggie would respond poorly to her offerings. But as she opened her eyes and refocussed them on the girl before her, she saw true joy.
Maggie was a young woman transformed. She radiated a kind of sunlight from her features more beautiful than Freya could ever hope to be. Her grey-gold eyes danced between the fabric and the text with increasing excitement as she reached out to run delicate, uncalloused fingers over the headscarf before her.
“I hope you haven’t already read this,” Maddy began, her voice steady even as hopeful nerves drove her speech. “And I’d hoped you were still wearing these even after your hair had grown back because this was such a pretty colour, I mean at least as far as I can tell, and I thought it would suit you…” Maggie’s face had closed off a little during her babbling.
“Of course, I still wear them. I’m a married woman after all.” Her tone booked no argument. Maddy decided against ruining the moment further by thinking of the man whom her sister had called husband. “I’m sorry,” Maggie added. “I don’t have anything for you.”
“Oh, don’t worry, I didn’t know all the details of the holiday until today, we didn’t celebrate it back north either. I’m not even sure gifts are the main point. I just…” Now or never to admit it she supposed. “I just wanted to see you. I wanted to say I was sorry for how we left things, and I wanted to make sure you were okay. I know you’ll never come with me, would never leave what’s left of Midgard. But still, I want us to be sisters. Whatever that means to you.” Maddy could feel her palms growing sticky, her back prickling. God’s she was not good at this.
“This is one of their holidays?” Were the first words Maggie spoke after a long silence between them. Maddy winced. Her sister’s lips pursed for a moment before she stepped forwards to take the gifts from Maddy’s fingers. She set them aside and stepped closer once more. Long, thin arms encircled her shoulders, as her sister pulled her into an embrace. Maddy stood, stunned, for a moment before she hugged back with a ferocity that made Maggie squeak as her feet lifted momentarily from the dusty floor beneath them. “Thank you.” There was something there, deep and choking, in her sister’s blunt statement. A gratefulness she would likely never be able to put into words. Maddy could not help but beam.
“Maddy!” A voice echoed down the stair from above them. At the mere sound of it, Maggie responded as most people did, with a deep sigh of frustration. If she didn’t fear that one day her twin would follow up on her threat to murder him, Maddy would have respected her distrustfulness of Loki, normally borne of many years of experience. There was a strange scuffling behind her as if her friend was struggling to walk, before he dropped beside her, seemingly out of nowhere, in a crumpled heap of bony limbs and flaming hair.
“I hope you broke something.” Maggie deadpanned as she moved away. Maddy felt the loss of her touch like a knife. Still, she snorted at the comment. Loki made an odd whine, and when she looked down, he was pouting from the sitting position he had crawled into.
“You wound me.” He told her.
“Good.” Maddy and Maggie spoke at once, voices intertwining in the echoing cavern they stood in. Loki’s face twisted at the sound.
Maggie took several more steps backwards. “I don’t particularly want drunken demons in my home, if you dont mind.” Her tone was clipped.
“And what a lovely home it is!” Now he was trying to form longer sentences, Loki’s words were slurring over another. Maddy bit her cheek to keep from kicking him. With an apologetic flash of a smile to Maggie, she leaned down and hauled him to his feet. As she pushed him towards the stairs, he turned once more, an accusatory finger waving towards Maggie’s disgusted face. “I’m only halfway a demon by the way!” Maddy gave him another shove. “The rest of me is this stupid Aesir rune.” He waved the arm emblazoned with the streak of purple haphazardly until he stuck a wall. With a kick from Maddy he continued up and away from the catacombs.
“You’re all demons to me.” Maggie’s voice was cold and closed. It broke Maddy’s heart. She turned to face her sister for one final second before she too ascended into the night and flashed a sad smile. Maggie was not looking at her. Instead, the fingers she should have been using to practice spells were working with great care over the corner of the scarf Maddy had given her.
----
“So, what have you been doing the last hour or so?”
“Introducing the people of World’s End to on of the finer Yule traditions.”
Maddy’s lip curled. “Drinking until you can’t see straight?”
“Precisely!” His green eyes blazed in the dark. They had moved away from the door to her sister, and Loki had, perhaps wisely, decided against asking her how it went.
“You couldn’t have done that back in Asgard? Why did you need to come down here?”
“Humans are more fun,” He grinned conspiratorially at her. “Besides, Thor isn’t down here threatening to wring my neck every few seconds, is he? Preferable drinking environment already.”
Maddy could not help but wonder if perhaps the thunder god should be here. Loki may be in less of a state at least. Though if history told her anything, it was that he would likely be just as inebriated but also covered in his own blood, so perhaps this was preferable.
“Come on,” Loki slung a warm arm across her shoulders and pulled her to his side. She could not see his face from her new angle, but she could hear the smile in his voice. “I’ll buy you a drink.” They swayed back to the street with the lights, where she had left him. Too tired of the day to do anything else, Maddy sank against him with a disgruntled hum as they moved.
“You’ve never bought a drink in your life.” She told him. A half-hearted chastisement at best.
“Of course,” he pulled away slightly to direct his crooked grin at her. “Though it makes sense – I’m hardly the type to give something for nothing, generous though I am.” She dug her elbow into his ribs. “I can’t be paying for a drink and getting nothing in return.” At her silence her frowned. “Oh, don’t tell me I’ve missed some morals of yours that forbid free drinks?”
He had, though it did not matter in the moment. Maddy had something for him, she remembered. Unsure of how her meeting with Maggie had gone, at least she knew she could make someone happy. Her fingers slipped into her bag and under his watchful stare, she pulled out the box of tarts with a practiced flourish.
“Looks like you have to pay now.” She crowed, triumphant, even as Loki let out a fantastically girlish squeal at the sight of his favourite treat.
“You’re my favourite friend Maddy, have I ever told you that?”
“I’m your only friend.”
“So you are, depending on old Odin’s mood.” He tugged her along towards a well lit building which could only have been a tavern. “As such, it’s really your responsibility to keep an eye on me. Share a drink. You don’t know what I could get up to without supervision.”
Maddy paused. She wasn’t sure she knew why.
“You’re thing with your freaky twin,” Loki paused to shudder, “It’ll work itself out. I’m not enough to ruin all that sappy shit you were spouting before I came down.”
“You were listening?” She gave an incredulous cry. He had seemed too drunk to have snuck up on them. It had been an act. An hour wasn’t long enough for him to get so shit-faced. She’d been duped. Maybe he really did owe her that drink.
Loki held open to door with an overly dramatic bow.
“It’s Yule.” He offered, as a final persuasion. As if she did not already know.
Maddy rolled her eyes at him and stepped though the door.