The Boy? That provokes a spike of worry in Thor, an anxious twist in his belly that has little to do with his own guilt, for once. Which boy? What did Loki do?

There's only so much worry he can take at once. Only so much energy to use day by day, even though it's more than it once was. Whatever Loki did or didn't do, Thor knows one thing in his heart, and it's that his brother did not fail on purpose. Even if he sometimes struggles to apply these thoughts to himself, he has little trouble giving them right back to Loki.

"Sometimes we can't see what comes of our actions," he says, and even as the magpie preens at the grumpy raven chick in his arms, he reaches down to give the older bird a gentle stroke at the back of his neck. "But what matters is that we try. And learn from our mistakes."