You had been to Odin's studies a hand full of times in your life. Mainly while being the active apprentice of Tyr.

Back in the day Odin had appreciated your master's knowledge, especially whenever he had needed advice. Tyr had helped his father out of trouble once or twice too many times, in your opinion. But he was the king of gods and denying him wasn't in your range of possibilities.

So you stood obediently in silence in front of his table, on which Odin had spread out a huge map of all nine realms, waiting to be addressed.

Heimdall stood beside him like a dog.

But the Allfather had not given the order to bark. Not yet.

Muttering softly to himself, Odin was bent over the map.

It only took one look from you to know that he was trying to destroy the bridge between Helheim and Asgard.

In his version of the prophecy, Ragnarok would occur as soon as Gram, the dog of Hel, was freed. The beast could cause rifts between the worlds. And since it could not be killed, the Allfather had to find another way to keep the danger away.

You knew from experience that Odin had already tried several times to render Gram harmless.

But he had always returned.

It reassured you to know that even the king of the gods had his limits. But that did not help you in your task.

A deep breath made your chest quiver.

If only Tyr had told you more before he disappeared.

No, he wasn't gone. Odin had made him harmless.

Whether he was dead or alive, Tyr had known his time had come and had prepared for it.

But why had he chosen you of all people to be his prophet?

He could have won over any being of all nine realms. His tongue had been skilled and his mind so sharp that his words alone were so powerful he could have dissolved wars.

And yet he had chosen to leave everything to you.

So now you stood there, the burden of destiny on your shoulders, having to pretend before the god of foresight.

It was a bad joke to try to mislead Heimdall. He could read minds. He was the man who knew everything. His mere presence made you nervous.

You could have lied to the Allfather. Maybe not with ease, but it could have been done.

Odin was a wise man, but he had one great weakness and that was his easy contentment. You only had to say what he wanted to hear and he gave you the benefit of the doubt.

Heimdall was also like his father and liked to be told things that flattered him. But unlike the Allfather, he had been blessed with the gift of reading minds. Even if he wanted to believe your words, he would have known the truth. And there was no getting around that.

So you had to use his weakness and deceive his intuition. Otherwise your mission would have failed before it had even begun.

"What are you sighing about?", Heimdall asked with a biting undertone.

Your eyes opened a crack.

You knew that Odin did not like to be stared at. Tyr had taught you to behave a certain way in the Allfather's presence to please him. So he was less likely to try to find anything wrong with you.

Likewise, you had your arms crossed behind your back and did not carry weapons openly on your body. Only his sons had the privilege of being armed in his presence.

And also those chosen whom he considered useful. But only until he was finished with them. Then he used their own weapons against them.

"The Allfather worries me.", you said in a calm tone and met his magically shimmering gaze.

You didn't know if it had been like this since his birth, but Heimdall had a pair of eyes that sparkled in a pink glow.

Your assumption was that Odin had cast a spell on him that made him irrevocably loyal. Only this was a logical explanation for his approval to everything and obeying every command, no matter how humiliating or useless the task.

Secretly you wondered what natural eye colour he had, if the theory about the spell was indeed true.

According to the legends, Heimdall had nine mothers. Whether they all had the same eye colour was questionable, so he must have either inherited Odin's eyes or possessed nine different colours.

The thought actually aroused a little interest in you.

Was such a thing even possible?

Even though he was of godly heritage there must have been some genetic restrictions.

Yet again, all children of the Allfather seemed to disobey logic and the law of genetics.

While Thor was not only a gaudy redhead of huge proportions, Heimdall had a similar stature to his father and hair so blond it almost looked like braided gold.

Baldur had also been slender but much shorter, even though his mother, Freya, had been a woman of impressive size.

Tyr had been the tallest of all Odin's sons and had shown the most signs of his half-giant ancestry. In return, he had not been at all like the others in spirit.

Baldur as well as Heimdall and Thor were all hotheads with a destructive and slightly sadistic temperament. Tyr, on the other hand, had been calm and had only ever seen violence as a last resort. Not because he was afraid of conflict but because he found it unnecessary.

According to him, there were always better ways than spilling blood. They were just not that easy.

And that was exactly what the descendants of Odin had mastered. If there was an easy way, they took it.

You knew that all too well.

And once again, Thor crossed your mind.

You frowned.

Why had you been thinking about him so much lately?

For decades you had banished his face out of your mind and now it appeared whenever it wasn't supposed to.

"My brother won't help you now.", Heimdall said.

You looked up.

"Why would I want Thor's help?", you asked. "This is between me and the Allfather."

"He has always been your watchdog."

"I never asked him to protect me."

"And yet he always jumped when you called."

Bitterness spread across your tongue.

You could feel the hatred for Heimdall spreading in your stomach.

For a moment you thought about just punching him in the face.

How dare he look down on you just because he saw himself as the best son of Odin?

"Enough now, Heimdall.", Odin suddenly raised his head to gift you a welcoming smile. "It's been a long time since we've seen each other, child. How are you?"