Through the Glass

“You have not seen him in a century, surely you are curious as to how he is doing?”

“No, Mother. I am not. I wish not to take any part in Loki. Not anymore, not after all the trouble he has caused.” Thor stands at the top of the steps of the throne room, staring down at Frigga.

“Loki has changed, my son. He only wishes to be with the one he loves,” Frigga states and Thor raises an eyebrow.

“The one he loves? Cora? After all he has done to her, Loki thinks she will take him back?”

“She loves him and she has forgiven Loki many times before,” Frigga points out and Thor rolls his eyes.

“Cora is a sweet woman and my friend, but she is a fool. Loki will bring only trouble to Cora’s life.”

“Thor, he has not caused any trouble in-”

“Because Father locked him away!” Thor shouts losing his temper and Frigga looks at Thor with disappointment clear in her eyes. Thor sighs and collapses into his throne, “I cannot free Loki, Mother…I am sorry.”

Frigga nods her head and claps her hands in front of her, “He is still your brother…” Frigga turns on her heels and walks out of the throne room, but she does not miss Xaven hiding behind one of the pillars.

Xaven watches as her grandmother leaves the throne room and she turns her attention onto her Father. She didn’t know that Thor had a brother, yet alone that said brother was locked away underneath the palace or that Cora was in love with him. Grabbing the ends of her skirt, Xaven silently leaves the Throne room and takes off in search of Cora.



Sitting with her back against a tree, Cora loses herself in the text of the book in her lap. The story of two young lovers who are forbidden to be together. So lost in the story, Cora fails to notice Xaven running her way. Cora is startled when Xaven drops down beside her, out of breath. Inspecting Xaven over, Cora raises an eyebrow and with a wave of her hand she produces a goblet of water. “Drink,” Cora orders softly as she holds the goblet out towards Xaven. Xaven takes the goblet and takes a long drink of the water, surprised at how cold it is. Setting the goblet down beside herself, Xaven sighs and smiles. “Better?”

“Thank you,” Xaven giggles and Cora nods her head.

“Something is bothering you. What is it?” Cora urges and Xaven looks down at the ground unsure of how to start the conversation. “Little dove, you have nothing to fear. Anything you wish you tell me will stay between us,” Cora promises and Xaven nibbles on her lower lip. “Has someone hurt you?” Xaven shakes her head. “Are you in love?” Xaven gawks at Cora with large eyes and Cora laughs. “Okay, not in love…then what?”

“I-I overheard something that I shouldn’t have.” Cora watches Xaven, knowing that she is not finished with whatever it is she has to say. “Father and Grandmother were talking in the throne room – and yes I know I shouldn’t have been in there – though they talked about a man…”

“A man?” Cora repeats and Xaven takes a shaky breath, knowing that she is treading on sketchy waters right now.

“Yes, a man. Grandmother said that the man is Father’s brother…” Cora’s eyes widen and Xaven’s notices, but she makes no comment about it. “She said that you and the man were in love…”

“Xaven, what do you ask of me?” Cora’s voice quivers as she speaks, her heart thumping in her chest faster than normal.

Xaven peeks at Cora through her eyelashes, silently observing her body language before she speaks. Xaven lifts her head and stares right into Cora’s brown eyes, “Who is Loki?” The air around Xaven and Cora becomes thin. Xaven keeps a steady gaze, watching Cora’s every movement. Cora keeps a straight face, her eyes locked with Xaven as her mind thinks of a million different ways to answer the loaded question.

Cora opens her mouth and the air returns to normal as the words pass her lips, “Loki is a story best told where others cannot hear.” Before Xaven can comment, Cora waves her hand and Xaven’s eyes widen when she sees that they are now in Cora’s chambers. Cora smirks, proud of herself as she watches Xaven’s reaction to her magic. It has been a long time since Cora used magic around Xaven.

After Xaven gets over the shock of Cora’s magic, she grins and stares at Cora, “You have to teach me how to do that!”

Cora laughs and shakes her head, “Thor would kill me. He does not approve of my magic,” Cora explains and Xaven frowns, but Cora changes the topic. “When you were younger, your Father told me to never tell you about Loki and I promised I would not.” Xaven opens her mouth to protest, but Cora waves her off, “You’re older now and I think you should know about Loki…your Father’s adopted younger brother.” Cora motions for Xaven to follow her and they sit down on the couch facing each other. “What would you like to know about Loki?”

“How did you fall in love? Why is he locked away?” Xaven rattles off some questions and Cora’s eyes crinkle around the edge as she smiles, but it fades as she thinks of the answers.

“My Father worked very closely with your Grandfather, so growing up I would always come to the Palace with him. I was two when I first meant the Princes’. Your Father was five and Loki was three. From what Frigga told me, we got along, but Loki and I were closer with each other. Your Father was too rough and a bit of a bully growing up, he liked to talk with his fists while Loki talked with words. Loki was the complete opposite of your Father in both personality and appearance. The two of them are as different as day and night.”

“What does he look like?” Xaven asks and Cora laughs, surprised that that was not Xaven’s first question.

“Loki is six foot two and slender, but he is fit and has muscle. He has strong facial features, his cheek bones are sharp as razors and jaw is chiseled almost like it’s made out of marble. His skin is pale like power and his hair is the blackest of black. When I last saw Loki his hair touched his shoulders and it was a mixture of waves and flips. He was handsome…”

Xaven smiles and folds her legs underneath her, “What about his eyes? You haven’t said anything about his eyes.”

Cora looks at Xaven and nods her head, “Right, his eyes…He had beautiful eyes. The kind of eyes you could get lost in and…I guess I did,” Cora smiles fondly as she thinks of Loki and Xaven watches Cora fully intrigued. “They were a deep emerald color, but some days they were blue like the sky right after a storm. If Loki had a bad day his eyes would be blue and green. It always made me think of our field, where the water touches the land.”

“You loved him?”

Cora laughs, “I still do. I loved Loki ever since I was nineteen and before that he was my best friend, my other half. We hardly did anything without each other and when we did, we made sure to tell each other what the other missed.”

“So what happened? I mean if you loved each other why did Odin lock Loki away?”

Cora purses her lips and laces her fingers together, “I told you that Loki is adopted, but that’s not quit the right term. You see when Odin was King, there was a great war between Asgard and Jotunheim. During the war Odin found Loki abandoned in the palace because he was a runt. Odin took him in because he could pass for an Asgardian child. I-”

“But if he was found in the Palace wouldn’t that make him some king of royalty?”

“Yes, he is Laufey’s son. Meaning that Loki is the Prince of Jotunheim.”

“A Frost Giant…but I thought Frost Giants were-”

“I cannot say what is and what is not of a race I know nothing about. As children we were told tales of Frost Giants to scare us, they were tales to keep us from misbehaving. I can tell you that Loki is nothing like the stories. Loki is...well Loki is Loki. There is not correct way to describe him,” Cora laughs and runs a hand through her hair. “As we got older Thor and Loki started to grow apart. Odin favored Thor a lot more because Thor was just like Odin and Loki…Loki was more like my Father than anything, well in combat that is. As a person, Loki was a nightmare. He liked to pull pranks on everyone and that’s how he got his title. Loki the God of Mischief and Lies.”

“Lies? That’s not a grand title at all,” Xaven says and Cora shrugs her shoulders.

“It fit Loki and he was proud of it, as was I. It wasn’t meant to be taken as a negative, but that is just what everyone did. Loki lied, but never about anything important. He lied about being involved with pranks or he would tell a lie that was a prank by its self,” Cora explains and Xaven nods her head understanding.

“So he was disliked for being different?”

Cora shakes her hand and makes a face, “It is difficult to fully explain. You see no one other than Odin and Frigga knew of Loki’s true parentage, but it was easy to see that Loki didn’t fit in very well. I guess you can say his mindset was not of the average Asguardian’s and people hated that. People are afraid of the unknown and no one took the time to get to know Loki, not even your Father’s friends. I remember on many occasions Loki and I would walk in on the Warrior’s Three as well as your Mother, Lady Sif bad mouthing Loki; though they did it in good manner just jesting. However, others were not so kind and meant every word they said.”

“If Loki was hated so much, why did you stay with him?”

“I knew the real Loki. I knew why he pranked certain people and why he chose to read and learn magic rather than fight.”

Xaven gazes at Cora and tilts her head to the side, “None of this explains why Odin locked him away.”

Cora pulls her legs up and underneath her before she answers Xaven’s question. “You understand the back story yes?” Xaven nods her head. “All right, let me think where to start from there…oh. As I said before only Odin and Frigga knew about Loki being a Frost Giant, when he found out, Loki was inconsolable and when it was announced that Thor would be King, Loki got worse. I think it all just came too fast, one punch after another and in the end, Loki couldn’t handle it. I don’t know the full extent of his crimes, but Loki hurt a lot of people and he had to be punished. From what I understand he should have been put to death, but Odin showed mercy and had Loki be imprisoned for eternity.”

“And you still love him?”

“Yes.”

“After all this time?” Xaven questions and Cora nods her head.

“Always.” Cora pulls the ring Loki gave her off her finger and hands it to Xaven. “Loki gave me that ring when I turned eighteen. He told me that is was not an engagement ring, but simple a promise ring. He promised to always be my friend, to love me and to protect me. I use to wear it around my neck and then I started wearing it on my right hand. Now I wear it on my left, do you know why?” Cora asks and Xaven shakes her head. “Loki came home when you were two years old. I had not seen him for three years, I thought he was dead, we all thought he was dead. When I saw him, I was filled with…hope. I thought that maybe we could finally have a second chance at us. I ran into his arms against all warnings and I remember being the happiest I have ever been in those three years.” Tears blur Cora’s vision and she smiles sadly as she speaks.

“I had Loki back and I was in his arms again. That’s all I had ever wanted, just to be in his arms again, but I couldn’t stay there. I had to leave Loki at the mercy of Odin and all at once, summer collapsed into fall…” Xaven grabs hold of Cora’s hands, tears freely falling from her brown eyes. “A month after Loki was sent to the dungeons, I received a letter from him and he told me why he did what he did. I forgave him and I made a vow to love him and to never stop loving him. So I wear the on my left hand to show everyone that I am madly and deeply in love with Loki and that I’ll never stop.” Xaven sniffles and Cora’s eyes come back to focus. When she sees that Xaven is crying, Cora pulls the young girl into her arms and they cry together. Xaven pulls away and slips Loki’s ring onto Cora’s ring finger and she kisses Cora’s hand.

“He will be set free, I swear it. Loki will be set free,” Xaven vows and Cora says nothing before she hugs Xaven tightly.