And so I went through fatherhood like a grain of wheat through a goose, unscathed and unremembered. And if there ever was a time when I wondered what it might have been like to play a game of catch with my sons, or teach them to fly, or shift Aspects, or educate them in such essential life skills as lying, cheating and treachery, I wisely kept the thought to myself. And yet, I was conscious that something had changed. Something inside me had shifted. The knot of barbed wire inside my heart was suddenly less intrusive. I could spend whole weeks and months without even thinking about revenge. One day, I flew into Asgard from one of my jaunts in hawk Aspect and saw my sons, aged seven or eight, playing on the battlements. And just for a moment, I almost felt . . .

Yes. I almost felt happy.

I should have known there was something wrong. Face it, it wasn’t natural. But after years of trying, at last, Odin had corrupted me. No, it wasn’t love, of course, but it was a kind of contentment. Suddenly, I wasn’t alone. Suddenly, I had people. And suddenly, the End of the Worlds couldn’t be too far away, as I looked at my sons from afar and thought: Perhaps this was what I was missing. Perhaps I belong here after all . . .

Lesson 6 Bridesmaids

LESSON 6

Bridesmaids

Something borrowed, something blue.

Lokabrenna

AFTER THAT there came a stretch of generally crisis-free existence. Not that I was slowing down, but it was Asgard’s summertime, and all of us felt the sunshine. We were at our zenith then; worshipped throughout the Middle Worlds. Anything we wanted, we had. Gold, weapons, wine, women. Odin and Thor were the popular ones – along with Golden Boy, of course – but even Yours Truly had his share of songs and sacrifices. Ice Folk and Rock Folk were both at peace; Frey was happy with his bride and Skadi was on one of her trips to the North, meaning that there was no one there to cast a damper on the festivities.

Something, sometime, was bound to go wrong. We had all become far too complacent. Suspicion and Survival are twins – lose one, and the other soon follows.

One morning after a drunken night, Thor awoke in his empty hall to find that his hammer was missing. For a while he assumed that Sif had tidied it away, then that one of the others had maybe hidden it for a joke, but when everyone denied knowledge and finally, Yours Truly was called and accused of having stolen it, we realized we had a problem.

‘What in Hel’s name would I want with your hammer?’ I said.

Thor shrugged. ‘I dunno, I thought—’