Odin wasted no time once the decision had been made. The damage left behind by the battle could not be undone in a matter of hours, but that did not mean the palace had to look as though Asgard had just survived a war when the royal family of Vanaheim arrived. Servants were sent into every corridor, gathering broken pieces of stone and clearing away the shattered remnants of the Bifrost. The damaged pillars were secured, torn banners replaced, and the great hall was swept until there was little left to suggest what had happened there only hours before. Odin knew it was impossible to hide everything. The cracks would remain, and so would the uneasy silence that had settled over the palace, but he wanted Vanaheim to see an Asgard that was standing rather than one on its knees.
Thor watched the preparations from the steps of the throne room, his expression growing increasingly suspicious. "You are expecting them to arrive as though nothing has happened," he said.
Odin turned towards him. "I am expecting them to arrive as our guests."
Thor's jaw tightened. "Father, they should know what Loki did."
"They will know that there was an attack. They do not need to know every detail."
Thor stared at him. "He tried to destroy the Bifrost."
"I am aware."
"And he tried to kill you."
Odin's gaze hardened. "I am also aware of that."
Thor fell silent.
Odin stepped closer, lowering his voice. "You will say nothing about Loki's plans to the princess."
Thor looked at him as though he had misunderstood. "Why?"
"Because she is coming here to see you."
That answer only seemed to confuse him further.
"She has known you since you were children," Odin continued. "You have fought beside her, celebrated beside her, and trusted her when you trusted very few others. After what happened today, you need someone who can stand beside you without treating you as though you have been broken."
Thor looked away. He wanted to argue, but the truth of his father's words sat uncomfortably in his chest. He had spent the entire day fighting Loki, then watching him disappear behind a guarded door. He had not spoken about what it had done to him. Perhaps he did need someone who would understand without asking him to explain every wound.
"But Loki—"
"Loki will remain in his chambers."
Thor's eyes returned to him.
"And he is not to be mentioned until I decide otherwise."
Thor hesitated before giving a reluctant nod.
Far from Asgard, Princess Eirlys of Vanaheim knew none of this. She had been told only that Odin had summoned her with her father to Asgard following the events at the Bifrost. No one had told her that Loki had nearly destroyed it. No one had told her that he had turned against Odin. Most importantly, no one had told her that the king had already begun considering her as the answer to a problem she did not even know existed.
She travelled beneath the assumption that she was going to see an old friend. Thor.
She would tease him about whatever trouble he had managed to find this time. Expecting to hear another exaggerated account of his latest battle. She anticipated the usual noise and warmth of the Asgardian court.
She did not expect the palace to be wounded. And she certainly did not expect that, somewhere above the halls she was about to enter, Loki was sitting alone in his chambers, completely unaware that the woman he had known since childhood was on her way to Asgard and that Odin intended to place her at his side.
Thor had never thought of Eirlys as someone he could lose. That was the problem. She had been part of his life for so long that her presence had become as natural to him as the halls of Asgard themselves. He remembered her sitting beside him during feasts when they were children, laughing at his ridiculous stories and quietly stealing food from his plate when she thought he wasn't looking. He remembered racing her through the forests of Vanaheim, arguing over which of them had won, and the countless evenings when they had sat together long after everyone else had gone, speaking about things neither of them would have said to anyone else.
There had been affection between them long before Thor understood what affection meant. Maybe there had even been something more. He had simply never questioned it. Then he had met Jane.
Jane had been different from everything Thor had known. She belonged to a world without kings, without ancient prophecies or expectations, and with her he had discovered a life he had never imagined for himself. She challenged him, even laughed at him. She made him feel like something other than the future king of Asgard.
He loved her. At least, that was what Thor had always told himself. And he knew he meant it.
Yet when he thought of Eirlys, the feeling that followed was not the same. It was quieter, older, so deeply woven into him that he could hardly separate it from his own memories. She knew the boy he had been before he became Thor Odinson, before the crown and the hammer and the weight of Asgard had been placed upon his shoulders.
Jane knew the man he had chosen to become. Eirlys knew the man he had been. And Thor could not decide which frightened him more. He had never looked at Eirlys and wondered whether she loved him. He had simply assumed she would always be there. That she would return to Vanaheim and he would visit her, that they would grow older as they had grown up, always finding their way back to one another.
But after losing the throne, being cast out, and nearly losing his brother, Thor had begun to understand how fragile those assumptions were. For the first time, he wondered what his life might have looked like if he had ever asked Eirlys to stay. The thought brought an unfamiliar ache to his chest.
Jane had taught him what it meant to choose someone while Eirlys had made him wonder what it meant to have someone you never had to choose because, somehow, they had always been there.
Thor sighed and looked towards the distant doors of the palace. He was glad Eirlys was coming. More glad than he wanted to admit. And perhaps that was something he would have to confront eventually. But not today. Today, she was simply his oldest friend.
His Eirlys. And that was complicated enough.
The Bifrost opened again, and Thor was already waiting. It had been years since he had last seen Eirlys. He remembered a girl with wind-tangled hair, a mischievous smile and a habit of challenging him to races she knew she would win. The woman who stepped out of the light was unmistakably her, yet somehow entirely different.
Eirlys Freyadóttir walked into the palace alone, carrying herself with the quiet confidence of someone who had never needed a crown to remind her who she was. She wore the traditional robes of Vanaheim, a long, flowing dress of deep green and soft gold, embroidered with delicate patterns that seemed almost like vines winding across the fabric. Fine golden ornaments rested against her hair and temples, while a sheer layer of fabric fell gracefully from her shoulders as she walked.
Thor simply stared. She had always been beautiful, but he had never noticed it quite like this.
"Thor?" she called, and there was the faintest smile in her voice.
He finally remembered himself. "Eirlys."
She laughed softly. "You look surprised."
"I haven't seen you in years."
"So you have forgotten what I look like?"
"Never."
Neither of them noticed the figure standing in the shadows above them. Loki had heard the Bifrost open and, against his better judgement, had approached the doorway of his chambers. He had expected to see another group of guards or perhaps some messenger from Vanaheim.
Instead, he saw her. His gaze remained on Eirlys a moment longer than it should have. He remembered her too. Not as clearly as Thor did, perhaps, but enough. She had always been around when they were children, usually beside Thor, usually laughing at something Loki had said or joining in when he teased his brother. Yet he had never really looked at her.
Now he did. And he noticed things Thor seemed too relieved to see. The careful way she carried herself. The small smile she gave the guards as she passed. The faint silver embroidery hidden among the green of her robes. The way her eyes moved around the damaged palace, quietly taking everything in.
Loki frowned, because for someone who had come all this way, she seemed remarkably unaware of what had happened. And for reasons he could not explain, he found himself wondering what she would think when she finally learned the truth.