Random Norse Bullshit

Chapter 5: When Fire Met Wisdom

Muninn disappears in a storm. Her wing was hurt, so Odin is very worried. Loki found her, patched her up, and broke into Odin's bedroom to return her. Odin at first tries to attack the stranger, leading to Loki balancing on an intangible point midair to avoid him, but Muninn tells him what the trickster did.

Loki claims to have fought some Jotunn to save her, a lie which she corrects (though her annoyance is somewhat fond), and Loki asks the king of the gods who he believes more: some bird who couldn't even figure out how to fly through a storm, or a man so clever as to break into the Allfather's bedroom?

Muninn reminds him that she told him how to get in. Loki feigns concern, saying she must have a concussion to be misremembering such things. She flatly retorts that her name literally means memory. He claims that she must be misnamed then, because it was obviously his own cleverness that let him get in...

"Do you always lie like this?" Odin asked, amused.

"Oh no, normally my lies are much more believable," the man declared without the slightest trace of shame. "But you'll excuse me if I'm not up to my usual standard, I'm afraid I'm a tad tired from taking care of your diva of a bird all week."

Muninn squawked in outrage. Odin, on the other hand, cackled.

"Oh, you're fun," the strange man breathed, eyes lit up and grin wide. He hopped down from his midair crouch, landing on the floor with far more grace than one might've guessed him capable of, his hand stretched out. "Loki, son of Laufey."

Wasn't Laufey a women's name? It wasn't common that Odin met one who went by their mother's name.

"Odin, son of Bor." He shook Loki's hand. It was warm to the touch, nearly burning.

The moment their skin met, Odin saw fire.

Tales spun by campfires, dances lit by bonfires, children reading by candlelight.

People running from wildfires, volcanoes burying whole villages in ash, weary travelers led astray by wisps.

The world itself dissolving into flame, or perhaps being born from it.

Singing and screaming and laughing and burning.

Burning, burning, burning.

Always burning.

The vision ended, but still Odin saw fire, burning in the green of Loki's eyes. The man was much more than he seemed. Much more interesting. Much more dangerous.

Cuddling together on the bed, Muninn and Huginn looked up at their Æsir and the guest, looking inexplicably amused. They spoke together, not in the language of birds but in the mindspeak that only Odin could hear. "We're keeping him," they announced, not a trace of request or doubt within the statement, and went back to preening each other.

Yes, Odin silently agreed, reflecting the man's wide smile with his own, we are.