He left the implication hanging in the air.
Loki remained silent, processing. Vidar could see his mind at work—calculating, considering, imagining.
"It would be poetic," Loki finally murmured. "The abandoned son returning to take the throne that was denied to him by his father's abandonment."
"It would be justice for you, brother," Vidar corrected. "And more than that, it would be an opportunity to heal ancient wounds left by Odin, and to show that the Jotun and the Asgardians do not have to be enemies."
He looked Loki seriously in the eyes.
"You have the ambition. You have the intelligence. You have the cunning to rule. And now…" he gestured to where Loki had been blue moments earlier, "you have the bloodright to take power over this realm."
Loki looked at him with a mixture of hope and caution.
"And Hela? Thor? Would they agree to this?"
"Hela understands the politics of power. She will see the strategic advantage of having Jotunheim ruled by someone allied with us," Vidar replied. "And Thor…" he sighed, "Thor will have to learn that the world is not as simple as he believed."
Loki nodded slowly.
"This would require that I… that I accept what I am. That I accept my Jotun heritage."
"Yes," Vidar said. "You cannot rule a people you deny being part of."
Loki looked at his hands again—now Asgardian in appearance, but knowing that beneath that illusion, they were blue.
"I don't know if I can do that," he admitted quietly. "All my life I have hated the Jotun. I have seen them as monsters. How do I accept that I am one of them?"
Vidar placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Step by step. Day by day. And you are not alone in this, Loki. I will support you. Hela, in her own way, will too. Even Frigga—our mother loves you regardless of your origin."
Loki blinked, tears threatening to return.
"She knows?"
"She has known from the beginning," Vidar confirmed. "It was she who placed the magic that gave you an Asgardian appearance. To protect you from those who might harm you if they knew."
Loki closed his eyes, absorbing that.
"So she knew. All this time, she knew and never told me."
"Because Odin forbade her," Vidar said. "And because she hoped the right moment would come."
Loki moved slowly, processing all this information.
"I need… I need time to think about all of this," he finally said.
"I understand," Vidar replied. "Take all the time you need. But Loki…"
He waited until his brother looked at him.
"Remember, you are my brother. You will always be my brother. Nothing will change that. Not your origin, not your future destiny, not the lies of the past. That is the only thing you need to know for certain."
Loki looked at him for a long moment, then nodded.
"Thank you, Vidar. For… for not lying to me. For not treating me like I was broken. For seeing potential where others only saw a problem."
"You are my brother," Vidar repeated simply. "What else would I do?"
Loki smiled faintly—a small, sad, but genuine smile.
"Most would have kept the secret forever. Or revealed it in the worst possible way."
"I am not most," Vidar replied.
"No," Loki agreed. "You truly aren't. I truly thank you, brother."