Loki: Sleipnir

[moonshadows]

(AN: This does take place quite some time before the movies. As the horse's parentage is canon for the comics, and the horse is present in the movie 'verse, I assume the parentage is canon as well.)

Laughter crested like a wave as Fandral reached the meat of his tale, arms spread wide in an exaggerated gesture. Thor drained his cup and sighed, grinning. Sif grinned back, and Volstagg’s belly bounced as he chuckled heartily around his mouthful. Hogun did not smile, but the skin around his eyes crinkled in the way that meant he was amused. The feast had ended, for the most part, the companions having eaten their fill with the exception of the ever-hungry Volstagg – and, surprisingly, Loki. While not inhaling food the way the heftier fighter did, he was never the less grazing steadily with no hint that he might stop, and his cup still brimmed with wine.

“Brother, are you feeling well?”

Loki looked up, eyebrows raised, around a mouthful of bread and honey. Hurriedly, he swallowed. “I feel fine.”

“Are you sure? I swear, you’re eating as much as Volstagg.” Thor grinned, but his blue eyes were worried.

“Maybe he wants to put some meat on those skinny bones of his,” Fandral suggested with a laugh. “We all know Loki is as…healthy as a horse.”

Again the table erupted with good-natured laughter, and Loki grinned briefly at the jibe. It hadn’t been a month yet since he’d used his magic to distract the stallion from helping its master, and the idea of a Son of Odin running around as a mare still amused Thor and his companions. Now, however, the joke planted a seed of doubt in Loki’s mind. He knew very well that he’d eaten far more than he normally would have, and his life-energy was swirling oddly. Absently, he tore at the bread and washed it down with a handful of grapes. This would take some careful scrying.

*~*~*~*~*

“Damn.”

The whisper faded into the wind. Here, at the top of the tower he favored for his delicate magic, no one would hear him. No one would know that he, Loki Odinson, was pregnant with what seemed to be a very healthy foal. He had another four or so months before he started to show, at least. That was enough time to figure out how he was going to excuse his absence for six months, and find a trustworthy horse breeder to care for and deliver him.

He was not looking forward to that.

Six months as a horse…

Mind already in action, Loki took the stairs in a rush and swung down to his workroom. He would need to craft an amulet that would lock him in the mare’s shape; his own magic would not allow him to maintain such a spell for more than a day or two, and the idea of housing a half-grown foal inside his own body made him shudder. He absolutely could not let his brother or any of their friends know about this until the entire business was completed, or he’d never live it down.

*~*~*~*~*

Loki gazed at the green fields, ignoring for the moment the horse breeder who was being well-paid for his service and his silence and the beautiful grey mare that was supposedly pregnant with what he’d assured everyone was going to be the most amazing foal ever birthed. One hand drifted to his abdomen; he could feel the bulge beneath his clothes. He wouldn’t be able to put it off for much longer. The mare was pregnant, but her foal would be unremarkable and the magic he intended to work on her would only cause her to produce the healthiest milk a horse had ever produced.

After all, he would need a wet-nurse. He wasn’t going to let his child starve.

“Can I see it now?” the breeder asked tentatively.

Loki grimaced. “May as well.”

The amulet was cold around his neck. Loki invoked its magic, and flowed into the mare’s form he’d taken. The breeder whistled.

“Now, no disrespect m’lord, but I’m just gonna check you over.”

The breeder approached, hands outstretched, and Loki tossed his – her? – mane. “I’m not going to spook,” he snorted. “I would hardly suffer six months as a dumb animal,” he added as the breeder spooked instead. “If I am going to go through this, I intend to be able to communicate with you for the duration.”

“Of course, m’lord.” Briskly, the man ran hands over Loki’s flanks and down his legs, lifting each hoof to check it before peering at his teeth, eyes, nose, and ears. “Well, m’lord, you’re fit as can be and you have fine taste in horseflesh.”

Loki snorted. “So glad you approve.”

*~*~*~*~*

“This is it?” Loki turned away from the large, straw-strewn loose-box to fix the breeder with one huge, pale eye.

“Ayup. This’ll be home for a while. The other mare’ll be in the box across the way. She’ll foal probably a month before you do, m’lord. Assuming nothing goes wrong.”

“And what if it does?” The idea of anything going wrong was not comforting.

“Well, there’s another herd just across that stream. Chances are one of their mares’ll have foaled. You’ve got that bag of healing stones fer yerself, and charms to keep both of you healthy. Honestly, the worst I’m expecting is that you deliver before she does. Most mares don’t panic when they foal, but most mares aren’t able to think and talk.”

“You’re going to be sick of my voice by the time this is over,” Loki warned, tail swishing in a waterfall of ebony against his ivory coat.

“Maybe so, m’lord, but it’ll be a unique experience to see what the mares aren’t telling us. Now, the door’s rigged so you can come and go. The other mare, I’ll bring her in at night and muck her stall as normal, but you can do as you please and I doubt you’d want to let fly where you’ll be sleeping.”

“Certainly not, and especially not with this nose.”

“That’s what I thought. Here, follow me and I’ll brush you.”

*~*~*~*~*

“Oh,” Loki sighed. “Oh, I think I shall miss this.”

The breeder smiled as Loki leaned into the currycomb. “That good, eh m’lord?”

“The most skillful masseuse in the nine realms will feel like she has hands made of wood after this.”

*~*~*~*~*

The days dragged on, each blending into the next, and only the swelling of the unborn foal reminded Loki of how long it had been. To his surprise, the endless days of doing nothing didn’t grate on his nerves as much as he thought they would. He supposed his assumed form was adding to the contentment; certainly it had altered his palette. The grass of this field was delicious, outdone only by the nightly servings of grain, and grazing for most of the day was pleasure enough that Loki suspected this was how Volstagg spent most of his waking hours.

*~*~*~*~*

“You sure you’re not carrying twins, m’lord?”

Loki craned his head around to look at the breeder expertly feeling the unborn foal inside him. “Very sure. What makes you say that?”

“Well, it seems healthy enough, it’s just…there’s too many legs.”

Hooves scrambling, Loki lurched to his feet. “What?”

“Calm down, m’lord.” The breeder backed away, hands held up soothingly. “The foal’s healthy. You being such a magical person, well, there’s no telling what marvel’s growing in there.”

Loki snorted. “How long until I’m ready?”

“Just another few weeks, if you’re sure of the date.”

“Oh, I’m sure of it.”

“Your companion there should be foaling any day now. I’ll keep an eye on her, but you make sure you tell me if anything starts to feel different.”

“I will.”

 *~*~*~*~*

“Well, it’s a fine little filly,” the breeder said, watching the wobbly foal nurse. “Mare’s udders are filled to bursting; whatever magic you worked on her seems to’ve gone well. How do you feel, m’lord?”

“If I could cross my legs,” Loki said dryly, “I would. When I return home, I am going to thank my mother for bearing me.” He watched the filly nurse for a moment. “She does have nice, clean lines, doesn’t she?”

“Aye, m’lord. She’s not quite the finest in nine realms, but she’s good enough for royalty. Whatever stud you bred her to, you got your money’s worth.”

“Do you think she’ll make a fitting gift for my mother?”

“For the queen? Aye, if her color keeps. Never seen a silver horse with a gold-flecked coat before.”

 *~*~*~*~*

“Feeling restless, m’lord?”

Loki strolled back into his loose-box after emptying his bowels for what seemed to be the twelfth time in an hour. “You could say that.”

“Think it’s your time, then?”

Awkwardly, Loki lay down, then stood back up a minute later. “I certainly hope so; I can’t seem to get comfortable.”

“Yell if you need me, m’lord. I’m going to bring Cloud and Starshine in.”

“You do that,” Loki replied absently, pacing and pawing at the straw. He barely glanced as the breeder led the wet-nurse mare and her filly to the other box.

Pace. Paw. Lie down. Stand up. His insides felt weird, and he yearned for the days when the foal was too small to feel. Finally, in a fit of frustration, he lay down and started straining to expel his foal. The breeder watched silently as four hooves emerged, encased in placenta, followed quickly by head, chest, and belly. Loki panted, head on the clean, soft straw, not wanting to take the effort to finish the job just yet.

“Just rest, m’lord,” the breeder said soothingly. “Cord’s still pulsing. Stand up now, and the foal won’t live to see dawn."

“What…what does it look like?” Loki panted.

“Tore the bag nicely; of course, four legs will do that. Breathing nice and strong. What I can see of the lines are amazing. Oh – cord’s stopped pulsing, you can-”

The breeder broke off as Loki’s body expelled the foal’s hind legs of its own accord.

“I don’t care what I can, I intend to lay here for a bit longer. That was not as easy as Cloud made it look.”

“May I clean the foal, m’lord?”

Sudden possessive rage flooded Loki as the breeder stepped inside the loose-box and he heaved himself tiredly to his feet, uncaring of the odd sound of the umbilical cord snapping, or the equally odd feel of placenta and membranes being discharged. He bared his teeth in an equine snarl, and the breeder backed away, hands raised.

Satisfied, Loki turned to his newborn offspring and nuzzled at it. Weakly, the colt – for boy it was – nuzzled back. Gently, carefully, he cleaned the remaining placenta and freed his son’s four hind legs. His udders ached. Calling softly, wordlessly, he backed away to give his colt room to stand. Starshine had been awkward enough scrambling to her hooves for the first time; eight legs made it both easier and harder for the colt who pushed himself to his feet, only to get tangled up and fall again. He had it figured out soon enough, and Loki nearly groaned aloud as he began to suckle.

“Grain and water, m’lord?” the breeder asked cautiously.

Suddenly, Loki was famished. “Yes. Both, if you please. And you may clean him.”

“And give you a good brushing, eh? You were sweating pretty hard.”

Loki’s skin twitched. “Thank you so very much for reminding me. Now that it’s over, I itch badly.”

“Well, here.”

The breeder set buckets of grain and water within easy reach and Loki plunged his muzzle into each in turn, feeding as hungrily as his newborn son. The satisfaction of nursing, being brushed, and slaking both hunger and thirst was indescribable.

“He’ll be a fine stallion,” the breeder said, admiring the lines of the still-wobbly colt. He reached out with a soft cloth, but the colt sidled away on his eight legs, the motion so smooth it was nearly a glide. “Slippery little fellow, isn’t he?”

Loki watched with pride as the colt slid around to his other side and resumed nursing. “Sleipnir,” he announced. “That shall be his name.”

“Good name,” the man agreed. “We’ll let him nurse you dry tonight, and in the morning we’ll have him start nursing from Cloud. Are you looking forward to being a man again, m’lord?”

Loki swished his tail. “I’m looking forward to having hands again, I’ll tell you that much.”

 *~*~*~*~*

Glorious in green and black, Loki Odinson strode towards the small crowd by the royal stables. Behind him, the faithful horse breeder led Cloud while Starshine and Sleipnir crowded her flanks. It had been a bit disappointing to see his colt take to his foster mother so easily, but Loki was absolutely not going to wear that amulet again if he could help it. He stopped a few yards away, the breeder positioning Cloud so that the foals were hidden behind her.

“Father.” Loki bowed, then inclined his head to Frigga. “Mother. Brother, and friends. Let me present to you the most amazing horse born in nine realms.”

The breeder turned Cloud, revealing Starshine, but Sleipnir sidled around quickly enough to remain hidden.

“She’s a fine filly, brother,” Thor said doubtfully, “but…”

“Oh, that’s not the one. Mother, her name is Starshine. She is a gift to you.”

“She’s lovely, Loki,” Frigga said warmly.

“Sleipnir,” Loki called gently, one hand out.

A grey muzzle peeked out from behind the mare, then a head with clean, strong lines that earned a murmur of appreciation. Loki whickered, and the colt glided out to have his nose petted and a collective gasp went up from all assembled.

Odin stepped forward carefully, letting the colt sniff his hand before giving pettings of his own. “Loki, how did you manage to breed such an astounding horse?”

Hogun’s sharp eyes caught Loki’s wince. “It was that stallion, was it not?”

It took Thor and his companions a moment to catch the meaning of the question.

“Loki?” Thor asked, incredulous. “You…?” He smirked. “You…”

“Ah-ah-ah.” Loki smirked right back. “Be careful how you talk about your nephew, brother.”

Fandral and Volstagg exchanged grins with Sif.

“Well, well,” the blonde swordsman teased, one arm thrown over Thor’s shoulders. “It seems your brother isn’t as pure as we’d thought. The question is, can we say this has made him a man?”

Volstagg chuckled. “Or perhaps a woman!”

“He’s almost pretty enough,” Fandral agreed. “And he dances better than Sif.”

“Hey!”

“Now, now,” Loki said soothingly. “There’s no shame in being jealous that I make a better woman than any of you. Aside from you, Mother,” he added hastily.

“Congratulations on your son,” Hogun said solemnly. “He is truly a marvel to behold.”

“Thank you.” Loki bowed, accepting the sincere praise. “Father…I hope that when he is old enough, he will make a worthy mount for you.”

Odin left off petting the colt and swept his son into a fierce embrace. “I will see to it that he is given the very best training. He will be the finest horse in the nine realms; this is a priceless gift you are bestowing on me, and I thank you.”

“Now we just have to find you a nice stallion, Thor,” Fandral joked. “Or maybe a mare?”

Thor growled. “There is no shame in giving myself fully to my future wife, whoever she may be.”

“No risk of bastards that way, either,” Volstagg added with a snigger. “Or…colts.”

“Ah-ah-ah. I birthed the most amazing horse in the nine realms,” Loki said firmly. “When something half so magnificent has sprung from your loins, you may tease me about it.”

Sif snickered.