Dead Box

"But what is the box, father?"

Odin looked down on his eager, bright-eyed son and smiled. Loki was the one who always questioned everything. Thor was just as smart, throwing himself into his studies with exhuberance and joy, but he tended just to smile and nod and say 'all right, father' - never why, or how, or - indeed - what.

"The box is not the interesting thing," he told the Loki, stroking the boy's raven hair. "The power rests inside of it."

"So the box is dead?"

"If you like, yes."

"What's inside?" His eyes gleamed, and for a moment, Odin wondered.