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Ida didn't claim to be an all knowing woman. Truthfully, there was a lot that she didn't know, such was the nature of the world. But some things were so obvious and clear as day that they didn't need an all-knowing genius to figure them out. An example of this being what bruises in the shape of a hand print looked like on a child's arm, and what it looked like when a cheek swelled into a bruise under the force of a slap.
Which were exactly the marks Loki was wearing when he entered her bar one fine morning when Harald was set to arrive back on the island after months away on a diplomatic mission overseas.
The kid arrived as he would most any other day, with a loud declaration of his appearance and the sounds of fighting breaking out just outside of her bar. She huffed out fondly and rolled her eyes. The boys had been doing a terrible job at getting along ever since they were first introduced to each other, but there wasn't much she could think of to do to better their relationship. They were both just the cutest little things in the world, but their issues were greater than what she was equipped to handle.
Hajrudin, her cute little man, was just too stubborn and hell-bent on not seeing Loki as a brother from the very start no matter how much prodding he received from her. His mind was poisoned by the nasty words that had been thrown at him by the blood elitists that plagued this country since he was just a little boy. He had viewed Loki as competition before he was even born.
Loki, on the other hand, had been labeled a curse from the moment he was born. She didn't think the little sweetie had ever had any real friends before because of this, or anyone to spend time with that wasn't a stuffy, bigoted adult that was planting seeds of hate into his young mind. She dreaded to think what that would do to anyone's mental health, let alone someone as young as him. It also seemed like violence and bitter words were the only language he knew.
It was inevitable that the two of them would clash heads more often than not, but she prayed with everything in her heart and soul that they would eventually learn to love each other, or at the very least come to care for each other in some capacity. They didn't know it yet, but there might just come a day that they'll need to lean on each other.
The door to the bar flew open and her little Hajrudin stomped inside, his face a stormy, angry mess as the firm, wooden door slammed against the wall beside it. The foundation shook and several of the customers flinched or let out exclamations of surprise. Ida herself made a face. That darn cutie is going to put a hole in the wall one of these days.
"Baby, I told you not to treat the doors like that." She gently scolded as he threw himself onto the floor with his back against the wall directly across from her.
"Sorry, momma…" He grumbled in that cute way of his, crossing his arms and slouching down against the wall.
She resisted the urge to sigh in annoyance as the door once again flew open and slammed against the wall, this time with much more force than before. Some of the mugs hanging behind her clattered to the floor, a few pitchers turning over onto their sides. This time, there really was a new hole in the wall, damnit.
In strode Loki, his club over his shoulder and a wide grin on his bandaged face.
"Club by the door, Loki." She said, tone light but firm. He scoffed at her and took the club off of his shoulder, swinging it around mockingly and without care. the customers flinched away from him, nervous and frightened looks on their drunk faces. Ida rolled her eyes at them; he was just a little kid!
"Don't tell me what to do, you hag. I'm the prince, I can take my club wherever I want whenever I want." He gloated. Ida shook her head fondly at the silly boy.
"Hey-!" Hajrudin went to start another fight with him but a look from her cut him off. As much as she appreciated him fighting for her honour, it really wasn't necessary. Not when it was just a little kid trying to get a rise out of her.
"Loki, club by the door and I'll get you some juice." She bribed in a sing-song voice, knowing the boys weakness to the overly sugary grape juice that she kept at the bar for the kids who hung around.
Loki froze his motion with the club and glared at her, indicated by the deepening of his frown and the way his face tightened behind the bandages. His bottom lip jutted out in a pout and then he finally did as she told him, albeit a little more forcefully that needed. She considered it a win, even if the wall by the door did have a dent in it from the club now, as well as from the door. She would take her small victories were she could get them.
Loki stomped over to the bar with his arms crossed and the pout going strong. He threw himself down onto one of the barstools, grabbing the counter to stop himself from spinning around before sticking his hands out expectantly for the juice he was promised.
She giggled, finding the bossy display just the cutest thing ever. She turned to the pitcher of juice that had somehow survived the door slamming fiasco, grabbed one of the adult sizes mugs from one of the hanging hooks, and poured him a nice big mug of the way too sweet concoction. She set it down on the bar top and slid it over to him.
He wore a bright smile as he caught the mug, immediately picking it up and gulping down half of it's contents in one go as Ida looked on with a smile.
That was when she noticed them, with a furrow of her brows and a tilt of her head.
Bruises, large ones, all over the kids body. The big braids that framed his face, as well as the bandages, had been partially obscuring the one on his face before now, while she had just somehow glossed over the massive one on his arm. She gasped in horror as she leaned in to get a better look at them. No child should ever have those horrific shades of black, purple, and blue on their body. The edges were yellowing, suggesting either that the injuries were old and deep, or that they were layered on top of older ones.
"Hajrudin!" She exclaimed.
The older of her sons jumped, not expecting to be on the receiving end of his mother's ire so suddenly. Loki, as well jumped a little, spilling some juice down his front with a little choking sound as he slammed his mug back down on the bar top to see what was going on for himself.
She gently grabbed Loki's arm, surprised at all that he let her and raised it up. She turned the arm slightly to her other son.
"Did you do this?" She asked firmly with a disappointed frown on her face.
She wasn't a fool. The boy got physical with each other all the time, it was basically part of their routine at this point to shove or hit each other while they fought. It also was not odd for one or both of them to come out of it with cuts, bruises, or missing teeth, either. It was something she was slowly working on with them. But they had never once hurt each other this badly. In fact, she wasn't sure she had ever seen bruises this bad before in her life. If there was one thing she wanted to believe about the two of them it was that they didn't really want to hurt each other, not this badly anyway, or she would have stepped in more than she already did a long time ago.
"What?! No! He had those when he showed up!" Hajrudin answered hastily, voice going squeaky with the frantic need to defend himself. He hated disappointing his mom more than anything.
"You think a weakling like him could give me any significant bruising? Ha! I didn't know you were such a funny woman, hag." Loki laughed, though it sounded hollow. He tugged his arm, trying to pull it away from her. The fact that it didn't budge from her grip, though, told her that he didn't truly want to hide the bruises away. He was much, much stronger than her. He could break free if he wanted to.
She tightened her jaw, turning away from Hajrudin. She believed him. Her son was no liar, she didn't raise him like that. But that just left the question of how Loki got them. She looked at the bruise on his arm closer and her face paled rapidly when she realized that the bruises were in the shape of fingerprints, but not just any fingerprints, an adult's fingerprints.
"Loki, baby, where did you get these?" She asked gently, turning her soft, concerned gaze towards her stepson.
Loki appeared as though he wasn't quite sure how to answer. He opened his mouth but no words came out, only a hesitant croak. It was like he wanted to say something but couldn't. She slid her hand down from his wrist and onto the palm of his hand, which was slightly sticky from a combination of sweat and juice. She then clasped her other hand over the top of his, caging it gently between the two of hers in a comforting gesture.
"Why are you so worked up over this? I can take a few puny bruises." Loki asserted with his chin held high, though his voice carried none of the same bravado from before. He nervously glanced to the side where the bar patrons still lingered at their tables and stools, nursing their ale and snacking on the complimentary nuts. Then his head twitched in the direction of Hajrudin and he bit his lip. Something was holding him back from telling her the truth.
Ida made a choice in that moment.
Her expression steeled as she released his hand and turned towards her customer. She planted her hands on her hips and shouted for the whole bar to hear.
"We're closin' early today! Wrap it up, you all gotta go!" She told them. The customers turned to look at her with surprise written all over their faces.
"It's not even midday-" One tried to argue weakly.
"Don't care, we're closin' early. Family business, I hope you understand. Now up and at 'em! Out with you all!" She repeated, making a shooing motion with her arms as though she were talking to wild animals instead of full grown adults.
"But I haven't even finished my ale yet!" Another man complained.
"Take it with you then! I don't care, just leave. Everyone, leave." She insisted.
The bar goers gave her looks that ranged from confused, concerned, annoyed, and some even out right angry. She knew this might affect local business in some way but she didn't care. She had something, no someone, far more important to worry about right now.
"You too, Hajrudin, please. Go wait outside for a moment, alright? Can you do that for me, sweetie?" She asked her oldest son.
"Okay…" Although he wasn't questioning her, she knew he was just as weirded out as the rest of the people she had just kicked out. He rose to his feet hesitantly and left through the front door. Only when the door closed fully behind him did she turn her attention back to Loki.
The kid looked positively on edge, his whole body tense and ready to flee any moment now. Her heart ached for him.
"Can you tell me now, where you got these bruises?" Ida asked softly.
"... They're just bruises. You're acting so stupid." He muttered, turning away from her.
"I don't think it's stupid to care." She argued. He scoffed at her again, of course.
There was a tense few minutes of silence between the two of them that felt like it would never end. That was okay, Ida was willing to wait however long he needed. Loki looked so viscerally uncomfortable, but for some reason he stayed and he didn't lash out. Something told her that he wanted her to know who left the bruises, like it was some big secret he has been holding onto for quite some time now.
"I-..." Loki cut himself off. And then muttered under his breath. "You'll think I'm weak..."
"I could never find you weak. You're one of the toughest guys I know!" She exclaimed, making a muscle gesture to try and get him to laugh. When it receive nothing she sighed and dropped her arms to her side. "Loki, I really don't care how you got them, I won't think any less of you. I just want to help."
Suddenly his anger was back. "Help? You want to help? You really expect me to believe that? No one has ever just wanted to help before!"
"Well I do!" She asserted, fists once again planted on her hips.
"No you don't!" He argued.
"You can't tell me what I do and don't want to do!" She argued back childishly. Loki was momentarily caught off guard by it and his jaw went slack before tightening back into a frown.
"What do you even think you can do against my uncle? He has way more power than you!" Loki ranted before freezing, seeming to have realized he let slip something he hadn't meant to.
Ida felt her heart sink, dread and sadness breaking onto her face. His own uncle had…? She expected it to have been someone from one of the villages. She thought it would be easy to just go and beat them up and lecture them about the force that was appropriate to use against children, even those who were lashing out in the often violent ways that Loki did. She never thought it would be his own family member.
"Don't look at me like that!" He yelled somewhat hysterically, his face full of some kind of desperate emotion she didn't know the name of. "I don't need your pity, you weak hag!"
A million thoughts raced through her head in that moment, mostly about how in the hell she was supposed to remedy this situation, how was she supposed to help this hurting little boy in front of her? What could she do to make it all better? How could she make the pain go away? Only one thing seemed to make the most sense in her head. She ignored his words and let a genuine, kind smile take over the previous sadness.
"Why don't you come live with us?" She suggested brightly.
His face went through a multitude of different emotions before eventually landing on anger, which seemed to be his default emotion when it wasn't smugness.
"This again? You're just trying to win me over so you can worm your way into the royal family, aren't you? That's what all of this was about in the first place, wasn't it, you gold digger?!" Loki lashed out, his hands coming down to slam on top of the bar. His half full mug of juice toppled over, spilling onto the floor. The only sound in the empty bar was the drip, drip, drip of the juice hitting the floor and Loki's heavy, shaky breathing.
Her smile dropped from her face and she looked at him, heaving for breath and seething with betrayal and anger, before sighing deeply. She walked around the bar top, movements light, and dropped herself down onto the bar stool closest to him.
"Listen, Loki. I don't care about riches, or status, or fame, or any of that other useless crap. What I care about is you, and getting you out if a situation that I don't think is good for you." She said tersely, her hands coming to plant themselves on his shoulders.
Loki was at a loss for words again before responding in a strained, angry tone. "And you think living with you will make my 'situation' any better? Your stupid son and I hate each other's guts! Face it, there's nowhere on this island that wants me that isn't literal hell!"
"Isn't it enough that I want you?" She asked. Tears began to run down his face at her words, quickly soiling the bandages over his eyes. "I'd make sure you and Hajrudin didn't tear each other's heads off, I'd help you two work through your differences, or I'd keep you away from each other if that's what needs to happen. I would make damn sure that no one ever has the audacity to lay their hands on you like this ever again. We can all start over just like new. A fresh beginning. So, what do you say? Will you come live with us? Will you let me help you?"
Loki hiccupped, frantically trying to stop the tears that seemed never ending.
"Why?" He asked, a hint of desperation marring his tear sodden words as he hung his head. "Why the hell do you care so much about what happens to me?"
"You just said it yourself, Loki, it's because I care about you ." She said earnestly. She moved one hand away from his shoulders to cup his face, forcing him to meet her eyes. She rubbed her thumb under the seam of the bandages to catch a few stray tears. "I may not be your mom, but I still consider you my son. I love you, Loki, as if you were my own."
That only made him cry harder, genuine wails now leaving his throat as the tears multiplied and doubled in force. Then, he did something that shocked her to her very core. He dove towards her, burying his face in her stomach and gripping the back of her dress tightly.
She froze for a moment, trying to figure out if this was real or if she was dreaming. His shoulders rose and fell with the force of his sobs and she could feel the front of her apron and dress becoming soaked through with tears and snot. His horns dug into the bottom of her ribs in an uncomfortable, almost painful way. None of it mattered. She didn't care. Not one single bit.
Tears of her own pricked in the corners of his eyes as she leaned down, wrapping one arm around his shoulders as her opposite hand came down to rub gentle circles into his back.
"Do you mean it?" He asked, voice warbling where it was muffled against her stomach. "Can I really stay with you? Do you- do you really lo-love me?"
"I really, really, really mean it. All of it. You're more than welcome to come live with us if you want to, and I really, truly do love you." She said, her own voice thick with tears.
Loki hiccupped and continued to cry, his grip on her tightening impossibly further. Despite the tears in her eyes, she smiled, leaning down to rest her cheek on top of Loki's head, careful to avoid his horns.
Later, she would worry about breaking the news to Hajrudin and dealing with the fallout that would inevitably bring. Later, she would think about how to deal with Loki's awful uncle. Later, she would worry about actually making her promise a reality that she could follow through on.
Right now, though, she focused all of her attention into being there for the hurt, crying boy in her lap. Nothing else mattered in that moment.