Seph smiled lightly and introduced himself. "My name is Seph. And I am here to question your as, Odin, Frigga... Maybe it's been far too long since you've beeioned, hasn't it? You, who have ruled as gods but rarely as parents. You look at your children now and wonder how things went wrong, but do you truly uand why?"

  Odin's eyes narrowed, though he kept his voice trolled. "Seph, right? You came here to question my as, but who are you to question my as? I did what was necessary. Asgard required strength. My children learned what they o survive."

  "But at what cost, Odin?" Seph's tone was unwavering. "Strength is only one part of what it takes to lead. Just look at your children and tell me whie among them is worthy to bee the King of Asgard... You taught your elder son, Thor to be proud, but you aught him when to be humble. You pushed him to seek glory, and now he gs to it like a mantle of his worth. He wasn't raised to rule a people—he was raised to quer. Do you truly think that has served him?"

  Odin's silence was heavy, though a flicker ret touched his face. Frigga's expression was somber as she silently caressed her husband's arm.

  "You gave Thor the ons and power of a king," Seph tinued, "But you withheld the lessons that would teach him to uand his own people, or his ow. You let him bask in the admiration of Asgard without ever challenging him to see past his own refle."

  Frigga's voice broke the tension, soft but steady. "Perhaps we could have done more, Seph. But our ways… we did what we thought was best."

  Seph turo her, a trace of passion softening his stern gaze. "Frigga, you wanted peace, I know. And I know that much of the wisdom Thor does have es from you. But you've always been silent, letting Odin's word dictate everything. And because of that, Thor never had to face his weaknesses, only his strengths."

  Frigga lowered her gaze, guilt pin in her eyes, while Odin's jaw tightened.

  "You speak as though I raised him with arrogance alone," Odin said, his voice steely. "But war on us. The throne needed heirs who could fight and protect Asgard."

  "Thor wasn't the only heir you failed, Odin," Seph replied, his voice darkening as he tinued. "Let's talk about Loki. You call him a schemer, a trickster—but who created him that way? You raised him in Thor's shadow, never aowledging the intelligehe resourcefulness, the resilience he had. You saw his ambition and, instead of nurturing it, treated it like a threat. So he became what you feared—a man forced to seek power and respect through deceit because he was de through worth."

  Odin's face grew dark. "Loki chose his own path."

  "No, Odin," Seph said coldly, his gaze pierg. "Loki took the path he thought he had to. He wanted approval, to be seen by you, but when all he received was suspi and parison to Thor, he learo manipute, to charm, to deceive. You taught him those things by denying him anything else."

  Frigga looked at Seph, pain flickering in her eyes. "We tried… I tried to help Loki see he was loved. That he had a pce here. Perhaps I was not strong enough to show it, but I tried."

  "Trying wasn't enough, Frigga," Seph said gently but firmly. "It takes more thaures to raise a child. It takes guida takes presence. Loki o be shown that he had value, just as much as Thor, and in different ways. You both made him feel lesser, and he grew up resenting all of Asgard—and ultimately himself—for it."

  Odin's voice was low, defensive. "You ot know what it means to bear the burden of the , Seph. You speak of a father's failings, but Asgard's legacy demarength."

  "And because you prioritized that strength," Seph said sharply, "You abahe very essence of fatherhood. You raised warriors, Odin, not sons and daughter."

  He poi He and said. "Just look at He, your firstborn. She was trai your side, refleg yht, your ambition. But when she grew powerful enough to seek her own path, you deemed her unworthy. You locked her away because you feared her as you never feared yourself."

  Odin wi that, the words striking true. Frigga's face ained as if the weight of her husband's as had finally settled upon her shoulders.

  "You wao see yourself in her, Odin," Seph tinued. "And wherayed from your vision, you ned her. Just like you hor to live only by his pride, and Loki to survive only by his ing."

  The silehat followed was thick, punctuated only by the soft rustling a's dress as she folded her hands, head bowed. Odin seemed to age, his posture slumping ever so slightly under Seph's words.

  "What would you have us do, Seph?" Frigga asked quietly, her voice almost a whisper. "If we have failed them, what we do now?"

  Seph regarded her, his gaze softening just slightly. "You start by letting them be the people they are, not the heirs you wahem to be. Let Thor learn without his hammer to guide him, a Loki be trusted, rather thaed like an enemy in his own home. And if He returns… if she is to rule, show her what it means to care for the realm, not just trol it."

  Odin's gaze was distant, yet ptive as if Seph's words had pierced through the turies of his unchallenged rule.

  For a moment, the All-Father was simply a father, refleg upon the wreckage of his legacy.

  "Perhaps… it's too te for He," Odin muttered, his voice heavy with regret.

  "Maybe it is," Seph said. "Or maybe it's not. But you won't know unless you try. You have spent too long fearing your children, Odin. It's time you trust them."

  With that, Seph closed his mouth and did not speak any further, letting his words sink in.

  The weight of turies, rets, and of deade from the heights of a throne, pressed down upon Odin and Frigga as they sat, silent and humbled in the wake of Seph's frontation.

  --- ? ? ? ---

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