"If you've no protest," Loki replied. His memories and his view of his mother always involved her regal bearing, queenly mannerisms, and the steel that ran underneath. But she had never seemed distant from the world around her, like she was too good to be in it. She was often in the city, in the gardens, all through the grounds. If there was one thing the royalty of Asgard could not be accused of, it was an unwillingness to get their hands dirty. Most of the time, that meant war and training; but sometimes it meant working with the earth.

"Does anything here bear the work of your hands, yet?" he asked. "Idleness is the terrible curse of this place."