Deceiver Unmasked
For a time, it had seemed that Odin had recovered from his grief. His reconciliation with Loki was cause for concern among many in Asgard, but Eir remained hopeful that with Thor on Midgard, Loki's presence might ease the pain left by Frigga's death. Indeed, when the Allfather's health took another turn for the worse, Loki took a special interest in caring for his adopted father, but Odin's health continued to decline.
The hour was late when Eir, arms full of vials and tools, strode through the nearly empty halls and entered the old man's private healing chamber, where he usually spent the duration of his Odinsleep. She brought up some low lights and arranged her medical supplies on the bedside table, keeping her movements slow and quiet, setting things down gently to avoid disturbing her sleeping patient. Most of her testing and treatment could be done while he slept and she wanted to ensure he was as rested as possible.
She began with a tablet that monitored the usual system functions: respiratory, cardiac, temperature and so forth. Everything seemed fairly healthy, though lower and slower than usual. She noted his levels and switched to a hand held device that functioned in a similar fashion to a small scale Soulforge, bringing up a three dimensional image that allowed her to track his various energy signatures. Again, everything seemed normal, but just before she moved on from the current display, one of the energy signals caught her attention. There wavelengths were far too average to belong to Odin.
The signature was far too regular, she noticed upon further inspection, to belong to any Aesir. Someone must be projecting the signal to hide an original one. Setting down the forge, she recalled a charm, usually used for diagnostic purposes, but which, with a little tweaking, might reveal the true nature of her patient. Concentrating, she sent out ribbon of her own, pale lavender energy, but as it met with the old man's skin she felt a repelling force and sparks of gold and green flared up at the sight. Recoiling in alarm, Eir's hands clenched into fists, extinguishing their purple glow as the image of Odin dissolved from beneath the covers in a green haze.
Realizing the significance of her discovery, the healer reeled around toward the door, but halted suddenly as she was met by the imposing figure of Asgard's heir-apparent.
"What have you done, Loki? Where is the king?"
