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After the official meeting, Eitri invited Vidar to his personal forge—an honor reserved for very few.
"There's something else," Eitri said as he worked on a piece of metal that glowed with a light of its own. "Something you should perhaps know."
Vidar waited.
"Some years ago, another visitor came. He didn't ask for anything to be forged. He only asked questions. About the Stones. About where they might be."
He plunged the metal into water, creating a cloud of steam.
"He was different from the one who commissioned the gauntlet. This one was… more direct. More brutal. He had purple skin and eyes that seemed empty of all mercy."
Vidar felt his blood run cold.
Thanos. He was already searching.
"What did you tell him?"
"Nothing," Eitri replied firmly. "Dwarves do not reveal the secrets of our clients. But…" he paused, "he didn't seem to need my help. He seemed to know things no one should know. As if he had sources of information beyond the normal."
He looked directly at Vidar.
"If that is the enemy you speak of, Vidar… prepare yourself. Because what I saw in his eyes was not madness. It was absolute conviction. The kind of certainty that moves mountains and destroys worlds."
Vidar nodded gravely.
"That's why I'm preparing alliances now. For when that day comes."
The Bifrost deposited him back in Asgard at dusk. Heimdall was waiting for him, as always.
"Success?" his friend asked.
"As much as I could expect," Vidar replied. "Eitri is an ally. And now I have confirmation of something I feared."
"Thanos?" Heimdall asked softly.
Vidar looked at him in surprise.
"How…?"
"Because I've seen him too," Heimdall said, his expression darkening. "At the edges of my vision. A purple titan with armies that lay waste to worlds. And something about him… prevents me from seeing him clearly. As if there were something shielding him from my sight."
He turned to face Vidar fully.
"Whatever it is you're planning, old friend, do it quickly. Because I can feel that something big is approaching. And I don't know if we're ready."
Vidar placed a hand on his friend's shoulder.
"That's why I need you, Heimdall. Your eyes are our best defense. If you see anything—anything at all—related to Thanos or the Stones…"
"You'll be the first to know," Heimdall promised.
Vidar nodded, grateful.
As he walked back toward the palace, a familiar voice stopped him.
"Vidar."
He turned to see Frigga standing on one of the palace balconies, her presence elegant and serene as always.
"Mother."
"We need to talk," she said, her tone making it clear it was not a request. "In private."
Frigga's personal gardens were an oasis of peace in Asgard—flowers that glowed with their own light, trees whose leaves sang with the wind, and fountains whose waters reflected not only the present but possible futures.
Frigga walked among the flowers, her hands delicately touching the petals. Vidar walked beside her in silence, waiting for her to begin.
"I have been patient," Frigga finally said. "I have watched from the shadows while you change all of Asgard. While you form alliances, while you handle Hela, while you guide Loki through his crisis."
She stopped beside a fountain, looking at her reflection in the water.
"But I can no longer remain silent, my son."
She turned to look at him, and her eyes—normally warm and loving—held an intensity Vidar had rarely seen.
"You are different. You always have been. Since the day you were born."
Vidar tensed slightly, but kept his expression neutral.
"We are all different, Mother."
"Not like this," Frigga said, stepping closer. "I have raised three children. Thor with his nobility and strength. Loki with his cunning and magic. But you…"
She lifted her hand and gently placed it over Vidar's chest, over his heart.
"You have something that neither of them has. Something that not even Odin had. An understanding of the universe that goes beyond normal knowledge. As if you had lived all of this before."
Vidar met his mother's eyes, and for a moment, he considered lying. But this was Frigga. The woman who had raised him. Who had loved him unconditionally.
"What do you see when you look at me, Mother?" he asked softly.
Frigga smiled sadly.
"I see my son. You will always be my son. But I also see… something else. As if two souls inhabit one body. One that was born of me. Another that came from… somewhere else."
She let her hand fall, but kept her gaze fixed on him.
"I don't ask you to explain everything to me. I know you have secrets, and I respect that. But I need to know…" her voice softened, "what you're doing, these changes you're putting in place—are they for the good? Or is there something I should fear?"
Vidar took his mother's hands in his own.
"Mother, everything I do is to protect. To balance. To prevent a future where the universe suffers in unimaginable ways."
His golden eyes shone with sincerity.
"I can't explain how I know. I can't even fully explain what I am. But I promise you this: every decision I make, every alliance I form, every change I implement… is to save lives. To prevent suffering."
Frigga studied his face for a long moment, then slowly nodded.
"I believe you. I see the truth in your eyes, even if I don't understand everything behind them."
She embraced him, and Vidar returned the hug, feeling the love of a mother who accepted what she did not fully understand.
"Just promise me one thing," Frigga murmured against his shoulder. "No matter what happens, take care of your siblings. Thor, Loki, even Hela. They are family. And family is the only thing that truly matters in the end."
"I promise," Vidar replied.
Frigga pulled back, wiping away tears that threatened to fall.
"Good. Then I will do what I can to help. Odin is… not the same. Aged. Weak. But his pride remains intact. He will try to reclaim power if he can."
She looked at Vidar seriously.
"Be careful with him. A fallen king is more dangerous than one on his throne, because he has nothing left to lose."
Vidar nodded, taking the warning seriously.
"Thank you, Mother. For understanding. For trusting me."
Frigga smiled, her usual warmth returning.
"You are my son. I will always trust you."
That night, Vidar was in his chambers, reviewing maps of the Nine Realms and beyond. He had marked locations—where he knew the Infinity Stones were or would be.
The Space Stone in Asgard, in the Tesseract.
The Mind Stone eventually in the scepter Loki would use… but that hadn't happened yet. Where was it now?
The Reality Stone eventually sealed inside Jane Foster, but before that, it was somewhere in Svartalfheim.
The Power Stone in the Orb, somewhere in space, eventually on Morag.
The Time Stone with the sorcerers of Kamar-Taj on Earth, in the Eye of Agamotto.
The Soul Stone on Vormir, guarded by… Red Skull.
Thanos would eventually seek them all. And now Vidar knew that Thanos was already asking questions, already moving pieces.
But Vidar had an advantage: time. And knowledge.
The question was: how to use both in the best possible way?
A knock at his door pulled him from his thoughts.
"Come in."
Hela entered, followed—surprisingly—by Loki.
"Sibling meeting," Hela announced with a smile. "Loki has something to say."
Loki looked nervous but determined.
"I've been practicing. Controlling my transformation. And…" he took a deep breath, "I've decided I want to visit Jotunheim. Not as an invader. Not as a spy. But as… as someone who wants to understand where he comes from."
He looked at Vidar.
"But I want you to come with me. To make sure I don't do something stupid."
Hela smiled.
"And I'm coming too. Because this is going to be interesting to watch."
Vidar looked between his two siblings—Hela with her predatory confidence, Loki with his determined nervousness—and smiled.
"Then let's go. Jotunheim awaits us."