“The only thing more beautiful than two people in love is three people in love. Maybe four.”
—Lofn - The Shape of Love
I’d never stepped foot inside Lofn’s hall. I knew of her. I’d seen her a few times a year in Valhalla or in the streets, but she was a solitary goddess. She was rarely home in the warm months and was so far removed from the games and politics of Asgard that no one really bothered with her. Now it felt odd to ask a favour of someone who had never crossed my mind.
Loki and I were bundled up to our necks, hoods drawn around our faces as the crisp wind whipped at our clothes, tossing snow around our feet. It had come down in droves overnight, white drifts leaning against houses, paths dug out through the streets by plough horses pushing steel plates. As we approached Lofn’s humble home, there were boot prints in the snow, heading toward the door. Perhaps we were in luck.
Loki knocked. Something rustled inside, and a voice called, “Just a moment!”
The door flew open, stirring up a wisp of snow. On the other side was a tall, bright-eyed woman with an enthusiastic smile on her face. Her skin was still sun-kissed, despite the cold. Her brown hair was parted into locks that wound into a bun at the back of her head. Ribbons, beads, and other oddities were woven in, some of them distinctly not from Asgard.
Lofn threw her arms around Loki, squealing. “I heard you were back! Why didn’t you come to see me?”
“I did!” Loki returned the hug, lifting her from the ground. “You’re never here!”
Lofn let him go and brushed some snow off the shoulder of his cloak. “I suppose. I only got back this month, and I’ve been up to my ears in bureaucracy from the Allfather. ‘Where have you been? What did you find? How can it benefit Asgard?’ He never stops. And did you know we’re going to have a wall now? What’s that about?”
Loki laughed. “Let us in, and I’ll tell you.”
Lofn turned to me for the first time. “Sigyn, welcome. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude. I get a bit overzealous with old friends.” She took my gloved hand and kissed the knuckles, a flirtatious look in her eyes. I blushed, and she smiled. “Come in, and I’ll make us something hot to drink.”
The front room was a cosy study. In the centre was a small table with four chairs around it. At the back was an enormous oak desk, cluttered with maps and books, some with writing that vastly differed from our runes. There was a crackling fire in the hearth, and the wood walls were lined with shelves full of statues, clay vases, metal works, and dozens of things I had no name for. A good many of them were of round, ample women, or phallic depictions of men.
I waited until Loki had finished telling her about the wall. As Lofn put water over the fire to boil, I pointed up at the odd collection. “What are all these things?”
“Oh, those are from my travels.” She picked one up and handed it to me. It was a foreign, translucent green stone of two people contorted in a very intimate position. She laughed at my surprise. “Sorry, I love to see the shock on people’s faces. You know what I do, yes?”
“You’re the Goddess of Forbidden Love?”
“Correct. But forbidden love takes a lot of shapes. Perhaps someone’s father doesn’t care for their betrothed, or there’s bad blood between families. These things are precarious but straight forward. Other loves are forbidden because of the things we believe. Every society in the nine realms seems to believe something else, so how do I begin to know anything about who should really marry?”
Lofn took the contorted couple out of my hands and pointed at a round stone statue of a man with a protruding belly and no trousers on. “This comes from Jotunheim. It’s a carving of a man carrying his first child, placed at the head of the child’s bed for protection.”
She moved to a carving that looked to be bone. “This is from a tribe of people who believe that your spirit can be both male and female, and that those people have special connections to their gods. Others believe that they transcend their physical form, or they slip between male and female at will. Not unlike our Loki, hmm?” She winked.
Loki sat down on Lofn’s desk, grinning from ear to ear. “It’s not my fault if everyone wants to be more like me.”
Lofn laughed and tossed a wooden statue at me. I scrambled to catch it. “Recognize this?”
It was a statue of Frey commonly found in the homes of people from Midgard, his engorged manhood front and centre. I cringed and tossed it back. “I wish I didn’t.”
“All these things, all these people I speak with or traditions I witness, they help me learn the boundaries and limits of love. Where one place forbids two men to marry, another welcomes it. Where one land celebrates the feminine, another destroys it. There are such heights and depths to love.”
The water had boiled, so Lofn fixed some tea and brought it to the little table in the centre of the room. Loki and I followed, the scent of mint already filling the room.
She spoke as she cleared a few stray books from the table. “In the interest of full disclosure, Loki has told you, I assume?”
If I’d ever thought myself straight forward, Lofn was doubly so. “Yes, last night.”
“It’s nothing to worry about, I assure you. Our time was…an experiment. I’m not the type to settle down with anyone, and he’s been more valuable as a friend than a lover.”
Loki scoffed. “I think I should take offense to that.”
“It was hardly forgettable, Silvertongue, don’t worry.” Lofn passed us each a cup. “I was a bit surprised to hear the rumours, though. The most notoriously by-the-book goddess in Asgard not only bringing the Trickster back from exile against Odin’s will but falling in love with him as well? They’ll be writing tales about it for centuries.”
The blush rose to my cheeks instantly. “I don’t know about that.”
“Please, I’ve heard this story a thousand times. A caged bird can’t help but fall in love with freedom. And little wonder you did, with Odin so hel-bent on keeping you under his thumb.”
“I didn’t think anyone had noticed.” I blew on the warm drink, trying not to look her in the eyes.
“Lots of people noticed. Most of them kept their mouths shut.” Lofn opened a little cabinet and brought out a jar of sun-dried fruit before she finally sat down. “But I get the impression that this isn’t just a social call.” She turned to Loki, a playful frown on her face. “Shame on you.”
Loki hesitated, his grin both guilty and full of mirth. “I swear I’ll visit.”
“All this time in exile. You must have stories for me.”
He bit his lip and stared at the ceiling as if pushing down the need to dive right into whatever debauchery he had to tell. “Mmm, yes. Yes, I do. Now focus.”
Both their eyes were on me. It was clear they were going to let me tell this tale. I took a deep breath. “Odin is decidedly not supportive of Loki and I being together. I could live with that, but there’s been an unexpected turn of events. We’re expecting a child.”
Lofn’s eyes lit up. “This is wonderful news!” She reached across the table and took both of our hands. “Congratulations, truly. You’ll make such good parents. One to balance out the other.”
The comment drew a smile from me. Though I wasn’t quite sure how to take her, I could see why Loki liked her. “We’d like to be married.”
“Well, of course you would! You’re both stunning to look at, truly. Your child will be so beautiful, people will drop dead in the streets just for looking at them.” She gave Loki a wink and slapped a hand on the table before standing up. She went to her desk and rustled through the papers.
“Can you do it?” I asked.
“Of course I can. Has he ever expressly forbidden you to marry?”
“He hasn’t said ‘No, Loki, you may not marry my daughter.’ But I do hope he lies awake at night thinking about it.” Loki kicked his feet up onto Lofn’s empty chair. I gave him a shove, and he just grinned.
“We’re walking a bit of a fine line in this case. Normally, I deal with two or more people who wish to be married but a person or circumstance has come between them, not because of something as foreboding as the Allfather. He’ll be absolutely outraged when he finds out, but because he technically never forbade it, it will legally be just another marriage ceremony.”
She came back to the table with some parchment, ink, and an oddly feathered quill. She jotted down a few lines and passed the paper and quill to me. “Sign the bottom. It’s a statement for my records that you’re here of your own free will and that you wish to be married to the intended party. In my less experienced days, I had a problem with a marriage that turned out to be a kidnapping. Now I’m more careful.”
I quickly read the runes and signed below. Loki followed suit.
“When would you want the ceremony?”
Loki and I looked at each other. “Soon,” I said. “With Frigg’s clairvoyance, Odin’s tower, the ravens…it’s a wonder they’re not breaking down your door already to stop us.”
Lofn took the paper, blew on the ink, and set it aside. “We could do it today, but with this weather, I’d recommend tomorrow morning. You’ll need a witness.”
Tomorrow. Married tomorrow. My stomach was churning with butterflies.
Loki scratched the back of his head. “Idunn. She’s going to be livid that we didn’t tell her sooner.”
“Hod as well. He’d want to be there.”
“Thor?” Loki’s eyebrow raised as we both contemplated it.
“He can’t keep a secret.”
“No, he can’t. That’s it then. Hod and Idunn.”
“And Bragi.” Lofn looked up from the paper as she made a few more notations. “He came home last week.”
“Well, that explains why we haven’t seen her.” Loki nudged me with his elbow. “They’ve probably forgotten how to put their clothes on.”
I made a face, trying to force that mental image from my mind. “You can ask her, and I’ll go to Hod. I don’t need to see anything I can’t unsee.”
Loki reached for my hand, the look on his face as content as I’d ever seen him. “I’m glad we’re doing this.”
I gave his hand a squeeze. “Me too.”