Chapter Text
The thing about the Asgard-Vanaheim war was that neither side actually wanted it. The two realms had been close for millennia, and had fairly good relations. They traded art, knowledge, and luxuries. There were many from either realm living in the other, through work or marriage – including Asgard’s queen.
But at some point, resentments over unfair deals on both sides grew too big. Differences were emphasized and similarities ignored. After centuries of grumbling and sniping and having to stretch further and further not to turn to arms, the war came despite the fact that no-one really wanted it. Like the oppressive atmosphere before a storm, the feelings of two immortal races kept building and pressing everyone down, until, like a storm, it broke free.
And for one young Ás warrior who brought storms, it was enough that he swore never to use rain offensively again.
*************************40 years later*****************************
Night in Asgard was never entirely dark, but in this part of the library there were no windows. An artificial light was the only illumination as Loki thumbed his way through volumes he wasn’t supposed to read. He’d had a recurring nightmare, and decided that since he was reluctant to go back to sleep, he’d spend the time productively.
A caw broke his concentration, and he looked up in annoyance. “Be gone, pesky raven,” he whispered - but he froze when he recognised the bird.
The raven spread huge wings to fly the short distance over the shoulder of the Allfather.
Loki grinned nervously. “Hello, Father.”
Odin scowled. “Loki. You are not supposed to be here.”
“Well, why not?” Loki protested. “I am clever enough to understand what is in these books – and it isn’t as though I’m not old enough. You have allowed others here when they were younger.”
Odin sighed. “I have told you this. I cannot help but doubt that you’re ready.”
“Well, what do I have to do to BE ready?” Loki asked harshly. He was on his feet now, glaring at his father. “What are your criteria? It is hardly fair not to tell me.”
“Loki. I don’t doubt your intelligence. It is simply that you rarely look at the consequences of what you do, and tend to panic when something happens unlike what you expected…Loki! Do not walk away from me!”
“It’s past my bedtime!” Loki snapped. “If you persist in treating me as a child, then I shall act like one!”
He ignored Odin’s angry voice commanding him to return. He stalked through the corridors back to his chambers, upset enough not to notice someone falling into step with him until a deep, warm voice asked: “Well, what has you in a huff?”
Loki paused for a second before continuing, ignoring Thor, who looked at him with bemusement.
“Loki! Are you so upset that you cannot welcome me back?”
“Oh, you were gone? I hadn’t noticed,” Loki replied.
Thor’s mouth drooped in hurt confusion. “Lokiiiiiiiiiii,” he whined.
“You have some nerve, coming here after four decades with barely any letters and expecting to be welcomed back with open arms,” Loki snarled.
“Mother and Father were happy to see me,” Thor replied in a rather sulking tone. “And our new baby brother. I’m glad they reconciled enough to create him.” They walked in silence for a few moments before Thor ventured, “so which is it? Are you upset that I have been gone for a long time, or have you not noticed?”
“Why did you stay behind so long in Vanaheim anyway?” Loki whined. “What reason could you possibly have, right after we went to war against them?”
Thor sighed. “I told you at the time. I caused too much damage – two floods and a drought. I had to stay behind and clean up their weather patterns.”
“And this took you forty years?”
“No, only six months,” Thor admitted. “Alas, enough damage was done that I felt I ought stay behind and help set their farms to rights – and then I travelled for some time.” They had arrived at Loki’s chambers now, and both entered without even thinking that Loki could deny Thor entry.
“I did send some letters,” Thor ventured after the silence had grown uncomfortable.
Loki snorted. “Yes, a grand total of nine of them. For forty years.” He demonstratively turned his back to Thor and began rearranging the rocks adorning one of the shelves running from one end of the room to the other.
Thor sighed. “I suppose this means you have no desire to receive your present?”
Loki turned to him, suddenly eager. “Present?”
Grinning at his sudden enthusiasm, Thor reached into a pocket and pulled out…
…a stone figurine. The craftsmanship was exquisite, and the delicate figure looked almost alive, but it was not something Loki normally had any interest in. “Oh,” he said, making no effort to hide his disappointment.
As Loki was contemplating the figurine, trying to figure out what he should do with it, Thor cleared his throat and pulled two books out from under his cape. Loki grabbed them both eagerly.
“If you have lost interest in the subject, you can go try to have them exchanged – but I had to toil for the Lady Freya for a year for each of those, so these you had better appreciate,” Thor said, but he was smiling. Loki grinned up at him.
“Welcome back, brother,” he said.
As they sat there, getting back into the comfortable rhythm of being around each other, the topic of Loki’s upsetting conversation with Odin came up.
“It is as though he doesn’t trust me not to rip the world to pieces around me,” Loki complained.
Thor pondered that for a moment, finishing off the last of the dark cherries that Loki had found for them. “Well, he’s our father. What do you expect?” Loki looked at him quizzically, and Thor smiled at him. “After all, if you were to rip apart the world around you, you would be right there in the middle.”
“Do you never feel as though he’s smothering us?” Loki asked, fiddling with the blanket on his bed.
Thor sighed. “It was not only guilt that kept me away from home for forty years,” he replied. “I also needed some space. Being my own master was really rather satisfying.” He grinned and reached out to ruffle Loki’s hair. “And yet, I found that I missed my darling little brother too much to stay away any longer.
Loki grinned at him. “So, you came home because you missed me? I’m flattered.”
Thor grinned back. “That, and I found that I am ready to begin building. You remember the plot I bought in Trudvang? I learned some new construction techniques, and…”
“You’re moving out?” Loki objected. “But Fensal has more than enough space!”
“That is not the point,” Thor replied patiently. “I simply wish for a place of my own.”
“Well, what are you waiting for?” Loki snapped, jumping to his feet and turning his back on him. “Go, then!”
Thor looked at him for a long moment, before sighing. “I suppose this means you will have no input on the design of your rooms?”
Loki spun around. “My rooms?”
“In case you wish to come visit,” Thor replied, and only someone who knew him well could detect the nervousness in his voice.
Loki smiled for himself. “May I have a sleeping room, an entertaining room, and a study?”
“A three-room suite?”
“Yes.”
Thor laughed in relief. “Brother, you may have three entire floors if you so desire.”
Loki returned the laugh. “Oh no, I would not be so greedy. Two floors are enough.”