OOC: Takes place shortly after Hel and her siblings are removed from Asgard in their various ways.

Loki fully expected to returned to Asgard, to come home after some time away -not even as long as it could have been, to find that there had been trouble. He would have been far more surprised to return home and find out that there hadn't been trouble. It wasn't like his sons weren't genetically predisposed to causing trouble when they were bored. Even though he had given them what seemed like an extremely simple task: watch their sister and keep her safe.

It had seemed simple enough. And yet, he arrived home and his children were no where to be found. His first response was not alarm. All three of them were extremely independent and often did things they knew they were not supposed to. Though, Loki had to admit there was something a bit unsettling about the look Heimdall gave him on his way back into Asgard. It almost seemed... maliciously amused. It could have been anything. They hated each other. It was nothing new.

No one else that he passed seemed to have been willing to meet his eyes or answer his greetings, ( which was more than just a little unusual. )

This was not something Odin had anticipated. It wasn't even in the realm of reasonable expectations.

Laying there beside Frigg, he had come to one rather astonishing conclusion- he didn't want her to leave. Not in terms of wanting further companionship for the night, but in the long-term view of not wanting her to leave ever.

( How had she done that? )

It was almost time.

Odin had spent a great deal of time in the area, reminding people of the old ways. More importantly, of the old gods. Perhaps Bragi would have been the better choice, but Odin had wanted to handle this on his own. The lower classes, those closest connected to the earth and simpler ways, had been easy. The nobility took a little more effort, but it paid off. The province had officially denounced the new Christian religion. New, to Odin's mind, at least, and in the overall scheme of things.

( But Sigurd Magnusson had heard. )

Odin's inspection of the new worlds had pleased him greatly. He'd taken a trip around them all, wanting to see if what he and his brothers had created was meeting their expectations. It was all they wanted and more. They had enemies, it was true, as he'd discovered when he traveled a few of them, but overall they were amazing. The mortals were thriving, and already his progeny were showing great promise. Which was part of what brought him back to his wife's home.

His mortal offspring were all well and good, infants that they were, and it pleased him to know they would become great kings and heroes if they continued down the right path. Yet it would be his divine children that would mean the most to the future of those worlds- Asgard and Midgard in particular. The mortals could only do so much, and Odin's concern for the future weighed heavily on his mind at times.

( He had been slowly formulating a plan... )

Thoth looked at the Rainbow Bridge before him with fascination. There was no other way to describe it other than fascinating. A bridge... made of a rainbow. It was the way to the lands of the gods of the Scandinavian people. Not known for being particularly cautious, preferring instead to plow forward and adjust as the wind required it, Wisdom did toe at the edge of the bridge to be sure it was solid.

It wasn't as if the old Egyptian was particularly worried about falling and hurting himself. It was more of disbelief. Rainbows simply weren't solid objects. They were formed by the way the light moved through the moisture in the air and... yeah. But this, he realized as he put one foot down, was solid enough to walk upon. It obviously wasn't something the mortals could see or they would be forever climbing to the realms of their gods.

Nodding his head once, Thoth pressed onward and started walking toward the mythical land of Asgard. It was quite a journey, mysterious and rather epic when one thought about it, but he was determined to learn more about these young gods from the north right from their own mouths. He'd done some minor reading on the pantheon, enough to make him wonder what was factual and what was not. Obviously, the Rainbow Biforst Bridge was fact and not embellished fiction.

( Fascinating. )

After listening to Loki go on and on about his future bride, Odin felt it was time to check her out for himself. He was delighted to find she was everything Loki said and more- she was bright, beautiful, and incredibly unique as the women of Asgard went. This one didn't conform to their standards, but found her own path and her own joys.

( cont... )

The Valfather felt old. Older than he had ever felt in his already long life. Too much sorrow was weighing heavy upon his heart. He had lost not one, but two sons, one a favored among his children. Now, he was about to lose someone else, someone who was once more than a friend. His blood-brother. ( The end of the line had come for Loki )

Odin shooed the handmaiden aside, not wishing to disturb Frigg. As a matter of fact, he was hoping to avoid her altogether. "No need to announce me. I'm here to see my son. I'll find him myself." At least he assumed he would. If Hermod wasn't at Fensalir, he wasn't sure where he would find the boy. He supposed he could wait for one of the ravens to return, but he didn't want to put this off. And really, if he couldn't find one young man in Asgard, he didn't deserve to be king.

The problem with Hermod was that the young god didn't seem to Odin to have any real direction in his life. He was old enough now that he should have found his place, yet he seemed to stumble around that as much as his tongue did around the maidens that graced his wife's hall. It was no secret that Hermod had somehow missed out on that particular trait of his father's. But it was high time he found his place among the gods of Asgard.

( Odin was here strictly for that purpose. )