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….
Thor had never been one for gloomy introspection. It simply wasn't in his nature. Usually, he'd just chase the shadows away, find something active to throw himself into. Preferably a glorious battle to wash the bitter aftertaste from his soul.
But right now, he didn't want to turn his brain off. Besides, glorious battles were off the table for the foreseeable future. Which meant all he had left was to sit here and think, exactly as his brother had commanded.
Loki had dumped a staggering amount of information on him lately... No, Thor wasn't an idiot, even if he freely admitted he could act a bit too hastily and recklessly sometimes. Alright, more than sometimes. Often. But he still knew the theory of how a King should maintain order across the Nine Realms.
Sure, the tutors' lessons used to put him to sleep, but Mother would never have allowed him to remain an uneducated brute. Not that he made her job easy, but he never stood a chance in that particular war of wills.
Plus, he'd had to learn just to defend himself against Loki's verbal traps, otherwise, you wouldn't even realize you were being mocked until a day later, using words that seemed simple but carried completely baffling double meanings.
But what his brother had shared this time wasn't a prank. It was deadly serious. The Mad Titan Thanos, Malekith's Dark Elves, the Infinity Stones, their terrifying powers and approximate locations...
He hadn't been joking when he spoke of a threat to the entire galaxy.
As insane as it sounded, the day might actually come when Aesir and Vanir would have to fight shoulder-to-shoulder with Frost Giants.
That was exactly why Heimdall was currently peering into the darkest, most distant corners of the cosmos, and why Asgard's planetary defense systems were quietly being prepped for their first major overhaul in millennia.
So many events, so many revelations and upheavals... Thor genuinely felt that just a couple of weeks ago, he had been living in a completely different world. Hell, he had been a completely different person. It was a strange... and very unfamiliar feeling.
"He is gone..." Mother's soft voice pulled Thor from the depths of his reverie.
He had been so lost in his own head that he hadn't heard her footsteps, nor had he noticed when the brilliant beam of the Rainbow Bridge had finally faded from the sky.
"Yes," the God of Thunder confirmed, turning half-around to face the woman standing just a couple of steps away, looking up at him with maternal warmth and concern.
"But this time... this time, his tremendous deed will not be brushed aside and forgotten as if it were some trivial thing. It is the very least I can do for him." Turning his gaze back toward the distant spire of the Bifrost observatory, Thor clenched his fists.
"And you will not harbor anger that he is King, while you are his Viceroy?" the Queen asked, voicing a question she must have been holding onto for a while.
"They are only titles," the blond god replied heavily, resting his forearms against the balcony railing. "And... right now, he is far more worthy to be called King of Asgard than I am. I will have to put in a massive amount of effort just to catch up to him."
Forcing that confession out of his mouth turned out to be unexpectedly difficult, but... once the necessary words left his lips, the Thunderer felt a profound, strange relief.
It was laced with the bitter taste of shame and envy, perhaps not the noblest kind of envy, but it still made his soul feel lighter, somehow cleaner.
And the envy... well, the envy was useful. It would keep him hungry. It would remind him of the standard he now had to strive for.
"These days are truly worthy of our memory," Frigga smiled warmly. "I saw how Loki grew and matured, and I am so glad to see that my eldest boy is also rapidly becoming a true man. To think, not even a year has passed, and you both have changed so drastically."
"I'm afraid my changes have only just begun, Mother," the blond sighed.
"Oh, my son," the woman gently stroked his arm, gracing him with one of the most tender, purely maternal smiles she possessed.
"The Thor I knew a year ago would never have admitted such a thing to himself. That alone proves better than any words just how much you have grown."
"But Loki..." the Thunderer tried to object, not even entirely sure why himself, but he was gently cut off.
"Loki also has a very long path ahead of him before he overcomes his own childish habits. Perhaps an even longer path than the one laid out for you."
"Really?" the man asked, genuinely surprised.
"When I finally tracked him down, he thought of nothing better than to scare me half to death by announcing he had a child," the Queen lamented, her expression conveying exactly what she thought of that absolute absurdity.
"Everything was cleared up quickly, of course, but to this day he completely fails to curb his boyish, theatrical impulses, and I fear he doesn't even want to try. The child craving attention is still very strong within him..." The woman trailed off, shifting her gaze to the gleaming spires of the Golden City.
"I saw that girl. She behaves a bit strangely around Loki," Thor offered, deciding to break the silence.
In truth, he had been too consumed by his own inner turmoil these past few days to pay much attention to his brother's mortal guests.
Naturally, he hadn't ignored the news entirely, and he had certainly been surprised by his brother's willingness to let a human child shadow him all over the palace, but there had just been too many other overwhelming impressions for him to fixate on mortals he hadn't even properly spoken to.
"You noticed too..." Frigga smiled at some private thought. "I spoke with her. She is a remarkably strong girl, and they really do have an unusual dynamic. I don't know exactly how it happened, but Loki values her. You know..." the goddess looked up at him, her eyes dancing with amusement, "he actually listens to her opinion."
"Oh..." Thor found himself entirely at a loss for words on that one.
"And since we are on the subject of guests," the Queen continued seamlessly, her soft but firm tone heavily implying that she was very interested in this next topic, "won't you tell me about yours? Especially about Lady Jane, whom my second son stubbornly insists on calling 'Padmé,' which baffles everyone. We haven't actually sat down and talked about your life in Midgard since you returned."
"But I have no idea why he calls her that either!"
"Tell me everything," the goddess smiled radiantly. "And we will try to solve this little mystery together."
In response, Thor let out a heavy sigh... mentally, at least, because he had no desire to offend his mother. Whatever Loki might say, Thor wasn't an idiot. He knew perfectly well that a conversation revolving around "tell your mother all about the pretty young lady you brought home" was going to drag on for a very, very long time.
And even though the Thunderer had absolutely nothing to be ashamed of, he certainly hadn't done anything dishonorable toward Jane or her friends, there was still something deeply awkward about it, making even Asgard's bravest warrior feel like a squirming teenager.
And after this, he still had to go sort through the mountain of cryptic hints and administrative headaches his brother had left for him in the Throne's databanks...
….
If you want to read ahead by 20+ chapters from here you can visit my Patre-on.
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