Odin dozes on a bench after the dancing has tapered down. Loki and Sif have snuggled under the great oak on a blanket stolen from Volstagg's cart and no one bothers them as they nuzzle and kiss under the canopy of leaves. Fandral has, as always, found his way to the pile of bodies on one side of the fire that now snores and occasionally giggles. Hogun has vanished with his sun lady and Volstagg's children are trundled off to their beds. Thor and Jenna count early morning shooting stars as the night sky lightens to grey.

When the sun first colours the horizon with tendrils of lavender and crimson, Hogun returns and wakes Fandral, "Say your farewells, friend, for we ride with the rising sun." He leaves as Fandral turns to rouse the leaf-clad man beside him.

He next goes to the oak and shakes Sif's shoulder, "Wake, my friend. We must return to the city."

She swats at him, "Go bother Fandral."

"I already did."

"Then go bother Thor."

"He is still awake."

"And you do not want to be the one to wake the All-Father."

"Correct."

"Fine. But go away."

Hogun chuckles to himself as he walks to the horses. It has been a good night for all of them.

Sif wakes Loki with a kiss, "Mmmm, the first morning kiss from my wife. Do give a second."

She does, and he is eager to continue for a third and fourth, but she gently pushes him back, "Our family waits for us. It is time to return to the city."

"Oh, let them wait a few more moments..."

"No, I think not. It would be quite awkward were your father to come looking for us."

"Hmmm, you are right. I suppose then that we must go willingly." He sits and runs his fingers through his hair, "There are twigs in my hair, Lady. Will you pluck them out?"

"Only if you will do the same."

"As before, yes. I delight in your dark hair."

"You ought, you caused it." She tugs him up and sits behind him, raking her fingers through his hair.

"I should have taken it as an omen then that we would some day find ourselves in this position. The only people in Asgard with hair as the night."

"Did you fancy me then?"

"No. I thought you vain and arrogant, a daughter of the court, beautiful, but an annoyance at best."

"Well then I suppose I have you to thank for my transformation into a shieldmaiden."

"If only I had thought to do it sooner." He dodges as she punches his arm, laughing. He scrambles to his feet and tosses the blanket up as a wall. "Would you believe me if I told you the entire thing was unplanned?"

"Possibly, but not likely." She clambers to her feet and gestures for him to pick the twigs from her braids.

"Unlikely as it seems, it was not. But I like you far better now." He darts in and kisses her cheek.

"I hope so, given that we just married."

"You will have to remind me of that often. I still cannot quite believe it." She retrieves her discarded riding jacket; he takes it and helps her put it on, his hands lingering on her shoulders, "Thank you, Sif. I cannot repeat it enough."

She takes his hand and leads him towards their horses, "It is a choice I was happy to make."

The family rides from the hills quietly, taking in the bright colours of the new day. They are tired, but there is also something invigorating about the bright sun piercing the hills on Midsummer's Day. They dismount at the palace gate and call for servants to take their horses. They amble across the wide courtyard leading up to the palace steps.

"Father?," Jenna asks, "I am hungry. Will you make breakfast?"

Thor smiles, "Of course! I believe pancakes are in order."

"Since when did you learn to cook, Brother?"

"Since my wife taught me. Have I never made you pancakes?"

"No."

"Then we shall celebrate your marriage with breakfast! They will have strawberries, a most celebratory fruit."

A voice from behind interrupts their light mood, "Marriage? Who did he marry?"

Sif tenses.

They turn and there stands her father, "I did not give my blessing."

"You also told me that I could choose you or my husband, one family or the other. You will recall that I made my choice."

"I do. And I think it a ridiculous one."

She clutches Loki's hand, angry, "I don't."

"So you partnered with him anyway."

"No. I married him. A Midsummer's Eve marriage."

"I thought you might run off for this country holiday again. I did not think you would do something as irresponsible as this, though. Do you think nothing of the station your poor mother, rest her, and I secured for you? I should drag you home this instant and knock some sense into you."

"Enough. I married the man I love. If you care only for station, he is a prince and you can fixate on that."

"He is of Jotunheim. Not my prince."

Loki takes her arm and tries to gently urge her away from the argument, "A moment, my love."

Fandral, still a little drunk from the night before, has no qualms about speaking his mind, "Will you please sod off and let us get back to celebrating? We all had a wonderful night. And you'd best watch your tone about the brother of our king. Oh, and by my marvelous silver trousers, if you touch her, I'll challenge you- and I assure you, there will be a line."

Sif's father is livid. Odin steps forward and places a hand on his arm, "Might I give you a bit of advice?" He removes his mask, "Let her be, Arnvid. She is so happy with my son. From one father to another. One who has made the choice to lose a child, stop and think. You will regret this."

Loki has taken Sif a little distance away, "He cannot take you. You are safe. We will assure this."

"I heard Fandral's threat."

"Oh, I think it is more of a promise than a threat. If you wish for me to defend you, I will do so most swiftly."

"I hope it does not come to that."

"As do I. But if it does, you are not alone."

Thor, already partway up the stairs when Sif's father first spoke, steps down beside Loki and Sif, "Come, Brother. Come, Sister. Let our fathers discuss this on their own. We have celebratory breakfast ahead and we will not let this spoil the day."

"I am sorry, Thor, but my father's appearance is dampening my mood. I do not know if even strawberries can lighten it."

Fandral and Hogun join them; Fandral slips between Loki and Sif and puts an arm around each of them, "Do not let him darken this day. It is your wedding day, and we will celebrate most heartily over breakfast...and then sleep most heartily until afternoon."

Hogun gives Sif a small smile, "Remember- your choice. No one can take that from you."

She smiles back, "Thank you." She looks at the family surrounding her, "Thank you all. I feel better." Jenna hugs her.

"Then to breakfast we shall go! Oh how Volstagg must wish he were here!" Thor booms.

"I will eat as he does to make up for it, how does that sound?" Fandral chimes. Loki kisses Sif's cheek, "Oh ho ho...do not think that I have forgotten the kiss jar! It begins!"

"Kiss jar?" Sif asks, her mind still on her father.

"Yes! Do you remember when I brought it out for Thor and Jane? I took you all to the pub after a month."

She rolls her eyes, "You do not really intend to bring that out, do you?"

"Oh yes! I made a fortune then. I anticipate I will make another. You two are adorable together. That means more coin in the jar for me!"

"And what if Sif or I have no coins?"

"I will take collateral. Your fancy gauntlets, a shoe, a piece of jewelry. Perhaps a lock of hair."

He winks and Sif shoves him, "Don't even think it."

"It matters not which, just something to assure you will clink a little something in the jar when you can."

Odin is still speaking to Arnvid, "I spent far too long not thinking about what I sounded like to my children. To my wife. Do not make the same mistake."

"But there are rules for how to go about these things, and I did not permit her to marry the one from Jotunheim."

"The one from Jotunheim is still an Odinson. It would do you well to remember that."

"Our laws say it is not a marriage if the father does not permit it."

"Our laws our wrong. My beloved wife knew that. My sons know this. And on Midsummer's Eve, things are different."

"That does not mean I like what my daughter has done behind my back or that I accept this ridiculous concept of a Midsummer's Eve marriage."

Odin sadly shakes his head, "No. You do not have to. But it will mean that you no longer have a daughter, culled from your family by your own hand. Asgard is no longer ours- we are but old men. It is their turn to lead, and they will change so much in their lifetimes. If you resist, they will leave you behind. My sons walked away from me when I rejected Jenna for her mother from Midgard. For a little while, I had only passing conversations with Thor, a warning of the isolation my intolerance would bring. But the girl's mother was right. Blood or built, family is family. And you do not have to make this choice. You are welcome to join us, to celebrate the union of our children over breakfast and to be a part of this family, if you can accept it as it is. I have learned a new kind of wisdom from Midgard, one I was blind to even after my sacrifice to Mimir."

He turns to follow his family up the steps and does not look back.

Standing alone in the courtyard, Arnvid thinks. Then he walks toward the gate.

Jenna's laughter rings through the crisp morning air, the sound almost visible, glistening off the gleaming edifice.

Loki dramatically sweeps his arm around Sif's waist, turns and dips her low, and kisses her on the steps, an answer to a teasing question from his brother.

Fandral shouts, "Kiss jar!"

"Do not tell me you have it with you?" Loki mocks.

He pulls a small glass from his satchel, "No, but I have a miniature kiss jar!"

"You stole a glass!" Jenna says, giggling.

"No, I did not. I accidentally walked off with the glass many years ago and have used it every Midsummer's Eve since."

"How is that not stealing it?"

"Why dear girl, I bring it back every year."

She erupts in another fit of giggles. Odin catches up and Thor calls for them to follow him merrily, for there will be a feast of pancakes, and hoists Jenna onto his shoulders.

At the gate, Arnvid stops. He looks back to see his daughter playfully push her new husband aside after a kiss, then grab his hand and skip up the steps, a laughing child on the king's shoulders leading the little parade. Fandral has dropped something in a small cup and is jingling it as they walk, creating a crude music that they dance to, exhausted but happy.

He sighs. The old way of thinking about things is so draining. But they are what he is certain is right. He looks between the gate and the revelers staggering into the palace. They look so happy. Truly like a family. And he has only an empty house waiting for him. But according to everything he knows, this is wrong. This is some kind of violation of decorum and it may well bring down Aesir society. But at the same time...if pure joy brings down Asgard, will it be so bad? And there is the crack in his resolve. A moment of fracture. The choice is simple. Old ideas or what he sees right in front of him. Join the band or be left behind when they dance past him. Stubbornness or love.

He turns abruptly and strides to the stairs.

Odin glances over his shoulder and sees him coming. He calls for his children to wait a moment as they enter the palace. Odin lingers outside the great doors. When Arnvid meets him, he gestures for him to enter with him. The friends fall silent.

He does not know what to say, so he bows his head and extends a hand towards his daughter, "The All-Father is right. You are so happy. And I am alone. Will you forgive my inability to see that your joy and love is more important than the formalities I learned at my father's knee?"

Sif hesitantly takes his hand, "Yes. But you cannot leave it simply at words."

"I will not."

"Do you promise this?"

"I will do my best."

"I will be wary, Father, but we will start anew." She places his hand in Loki's, "And you can begin by accepting that my husband is who he is, and I love him dearly."

He stares at Loki's hand and his mind is screaming to let go, to hiss out insults and to wipe off the touch of Jotunheim, but he shoves those thoughts aside and takes a long breath, "I will. Despite all I have been taught."

Odin pats his shoulder, "Loki is still who he has always been. Jotunheim is just another facet."

"This will take time."

Loki takes a step closer to him, "I understand. It took me years and the love of my dear niece to see it for myself. But for the sake of your daughter, try."

He nods, then shakes Loki's hand, "Yes. I will."

There is a moment of uncomfortable silence before Thor claps once and then says, "So, to breakfast! Pancakes for all!"

Fandral cheers, jingling his cup, and takes Sif by the arm, "Yes, pancakes!" She laughs and shoves him off as he tries to dance with her down the hallway. Loki swoops in and twirls with her after Thor, Jenna skipping alongside them.

Odin and Hogun walk with Arnvid; Odin speaks, "Welcome to this family. We are, apparently, a bit odd. But very merry."

"I have much to get used to. We are old men, Odin. How can we change so much that we can live in this new world our children are making?"

"We do because we must."

"But how?"

Odin shrugs, "We just do."

Arnvid thinks on this. If the All-Father, one of the oldest of the Aesir, can accept this as truth, he has hope for himself. He watches the young people ahead of him as they laugh and play while walking the hall. He knows that things will be different from this day forward. Sometimes difficult. But he hears Jenna singing something that makes it all seem possible.

"Love wins! Love wins!"

-End-