Unbroken

Chapter 49

The night of the celebration was approaching, and loki discovered that Frigga had had special armor made up for him. Frigga explained that The armor was only made to be ceremonial, but it was meant to represent the strength of the individual. Loki hesitantly agreed to wear the armor, but once he saw it he changed his mind. It was far to extravagant for him; it was all polished gold that glistened anywhere that it caught the light. There were four smaller pieces, two for both of his forearms and two for his upper arms, the main piece was a breastplate that would cover the front of his entire upper torso, there was also a cape that was much like Thor's except for the color (Loki's was green, Thor's was red), and to top everything off, he was expected to wear a helmet that was decorated with horns that extended upward and then curled backwards. Maybe capes and horned helmets were normal for royalty on Asgard, Loki wouldn't know, but he would feel much to present if he were to wear all that, and right now, his goal was still to not attract so much attention to himself. Thankfully, Loki didn't need to tell Frigga that he'd changed his mind, once he saw it she saw the look on his face. She told him that she'd just have some formal clothes made that he could wear.
So the night of the celebration came, it was about an hour before people would start flooding the palace and Loki was getting ready to go collect Trinity. He had just gotten dressed and was trying to get used to being in such heavy clothes. The tunic he was wearing was leather from the chest down, but the leather was woven in a  crisscross pattern over his stomach that ended at his hips, and then continued down (without the crisscrossing) at an angle from his right hip to his left knee. The coat he wore was much like a vest on top, with shoulder pieces that extended past his shoulders a little bit. then at the hips the coat broke off into six tails that came to his ankles. It was also leather but was lined with the same green that the rejected cape had been made out of. Frigga had been able to talk Loki into a little bit of armor, but it was much more subtle now; he now had a chest plate that only covered the top part of his chest, and it was black instead of shiny gold, he had a piece on one shoulder that had a belt woven through it that crossed around him, and on the front of the belt there was a rectangular plate that crossed his chest. And he had even agreed to a bit of armor on his forearms. Most of the new armor was still gold, but it wasn't so polished, so it wouldn't draw much attention to him. There were also tiny pieces of gold rimming the coat he wore, and so he decided that Frigga must just really wanted him to wear a lot of gold for some reason, Even his leather pants had small squares of gold covering his outer thighs. He didn't really mind though, this was much less attention grabbing than what had previously been suggested, and he didn't have the helmet now.
Loki finished getting himself ready, then put on his boots and left his room. He told the guards where he was going, and then left to go get Trinity.
It was about four in the afternoon now, and Loki knew that this party would be going on all night and probably into the early morning. He hoped that he didn't get overwhelmed.
After a little while he got to Trinity's house and went up to the door before knocking. After a minute, the door opened and there was Trinity.
She was wearing a green strapless gown that was studded with black crystals around the fitted bodice, then the crystals trickled down the loosely hanging skirt. When the crystals caught the afternoon sun it looked like the reflection of a waterfall. She left her dark hair -which just reached past her jaw- to hang in her loose natural curls, and the only piece of jewelry that she wore was a gold necklace in the shape of a crescent moon.
"I'm not stalking you, I asked the queen what colors I should wear" Trinity said after Loki had been quiet for a minute.
"You look beautiful" he said, and he had a level of adoration in his eyes that no one had ever looked at Trinity with before.
She smiled warmly and there was a moment of silence between the two of them, and then Loki offered her his arm.
"Shall we go?" He asked. Her smile widened and she linked her arm with his and they walked back to the palace.
By the time they got back to the palace, tons of people were already there. Loki and Trinity entered and she already looked happy. As a healer, she didn't usually get to attend these celebrations.
They entered the palace and they walked together as they enjoyed the celebration. They ate a bit of the food that was already out, they had a drink together, and they were both very much enjoying talking with each other. Trinity even got Loki to laugh, and she decided that it was one of her new favorite sounds. Their evening wasn't interrupted until about seven o'clock, when Loki heard Thor from behind him
"Loki, there you are" He then felt Thor's heavy hand come down on his shoulder. "I've been looking for you" Thor said.
Loki turned around.
"Thor, this is Trinity" Loki said as he gestured to her. Thor smiled a bit.
"Trinity, wonderful to finally meet you in person" he said as he took her hand and kissed the back of it. Trinity smiled and bowed her head a bit to him.
"There is someone who wants to meet you if you wouldn't mind" Thor told loki. Loki wasn't sure who wanted to meet him or why, but he immediately felt defensive.
"I can come up with an excuse for you" Thor offered, giving Loki a way out.
"No... no it's fine, I can take a few minutes to meet him or her" he said, then looked to Trinity "if that's alright" he added. She nodded.
"Of course it is" she said. Thor nodded and led Loki and Trinity to the person who wanted to meet him. The man did not look like a nice guy at all, and he already smelled like alcohol.
"Loki, this is sir Jalil. He is a member of he royal council" Thor said to Loki, he then turned to Jalil "sir Jalil, this is my brother Loki" he said. Loki was surprised to hear Thor introduce him that way, but he didn't take time to think about it.
"It's an honor to meet you sir" Loki said as he extended his hand. Frigga had gone over introductions with him.
Jalil shook Loki's hand.
"So, you're the adopted frost giant" Jalil said. Loki was quiet. "What did you do to earn a place in the palace?" Jalil asked, his tone making it clear that he didn't think Loki should be here, and that if he hadn't done something to earn his place then he should leave. Loki was quiet for a minute, trying to decide how he should respond.
"Absolutely nothing" Loki said "I didn't earn my place here, it was the kindness of Odin and Frigga that gave me a home. I hope to be able to repay them" Loki replied with a surprisingly dignified tone. Jalil looked slightly annoyed.
"Excuse me, I forgot someone else who wished to meet with me" Jalil said as he walked away from Thor, Loki, and Trinity. But they all knew he was lying, they saw him walk to the bar. Thor put a hand on Loki's shoulder as a silent apology, then left so that Loki and Trinity could enjoy their time together.
"You handled that well" Trinity said as she looked up at Loki. Loki took a deep breath.
"I tried" he said.
"And you succeeded" she told him, but she decided that the best thing to do would be to change the subject.
"So, how have you been enjoying the party so far?" She asked "I assume this is your first time attending one" she added.
"Well, its the first time I haven't been a servant at one" he told her. "I like it" he added.
They continued to walk around (both inside and out) and make small talk, Trinity wanted to know him more, but she didn't want him to tell her facts that you could read in a textbook, she wanted to know the small, seemingly insignificant things that make a person special. She didn't want him to feel like he was being interviewed, so she suggested that they take turns asking each other things so they could both get to know the other on a more personal level.
"What's your favorite color?" She asked after a while. They'd been doing it for about half an hour now, though normally their answers led to further conversations.
"Well.... green is growing on me" Loki said with a slight smirk. "I never thought about it before, but I like green" he told her. She laughed a little bit but nodded.
"Well I guess that makes sense. If-"
But she was interrupted by the sound of glass shattering. Trinity jumped at the sound, it was coming from the next room and shouting was now heard as well.
"Someone's drunk" Loki mumbled under his breath after hearing all the commotion coming from the next room.
"Ill be right back." He said as he lightly touched her shoulder before entering the next room.
"Loki, be careful" Trinity said as she walked after him. She knew people got crazy when they were intoxicated.
Loki made it to the next room and saw that it was Jalil who had gotten himself drunk. He was now shouting at one of the maids, and everyone else was trying to politely talk him down, but he wasn't listening. Jalil continued to shout and scream at the young woman who was starting to look very fearful, a few of the guards tried to get involved but Jalil ordered them to back off, and Loki didn't see Thor or Odin anywhere (the two people who could give Jalil orders). Loki told Trinity to wait at the doors, and then he approached Jalil from behind, he didn't know what he would do, but he wasn't going to let this man keep yelling at the maid, he knew what that felt like and he wouldn't put up with it.
"Jalil" Loki said as he walked up behind him. But Jalil ignored him.
"You incompetent woman!" Jalil yelled at the maid.
"That's enough" Loki said, putting his hand on Jalil's shoulder.
"Don't you think of making that mistake again!" Jalil shouted at the maid, he raised his hand to slap her and something in Loki's snapped. He didn't take time to think, but as soon as Jalil raised his hand Loki grabbed his wrist, preventing him form striking the young woman.
"I said that's enough" Loki said again, his voice carrying more authority. "Whatever happened was an accident I'm sure" he added. Then nodded to the maid so she'd leave and get somewhere away from Jalil. She left immediately.
"She isn't paid to make mistakes!" Jalil shouted at Loki as he ripped his hand free and turned to face Loki. Jalil' face was red with rage.
"And you weren't invited here to abuse the maids" Loki said back. By now, everyone in the room was just watching as the scene played out. Loki lowered his voice so that only Jalil could hear him "Sir, you've had too much to drink, for everyone's sake, please try to calm-" but Jalil wasn't going to be ordered around by Loki. before Loki could finish his sentence, Jalil made a fist and punched Loki across the face. Loki stumbled back a few steps and Jalil advanced on him again, punching him for a second time, Loki stumbled again but stayed on his feet. The guards moved forward to intervene but Loki held up a hand, telling them to stay back.
"You think you can give me orders, boy?" Jalil growled as he raised his fist to strike Loki again, but Loki caught his fist mid-punch. He wasn't sure what he was doing, but he'd seen other people do this, so he quickly twisted Jalil's arm and pulled it around his back, then pushed him against the wall. Loki had quickly gained all the control.
"Sir" Loki said, trying to maintain a respectful tone, though it was hard to do that when he had the man pinned against the wall.
"You are not thinking clearly, you're drunk, and you've already caused a scene. You're a member of the council so I will hold a level of respect for you, but the people in this room won't be so generous. For the sake of your own reputation, leave" he said in Jalil's ear, making sure he heard him very clearly. Loki held him against the wall for a moment longer, then released him. Jailil pulled away from Loki with a huff, but he didn't try to hit him again.
"Just leave" Loki said, then he saw that Thor was here. He must've entered when loki wasn't paying attention. "And apologize to Thor for interrupting his celebration" Jalil glared daggers at Loki for a minute, then turned on his heel and stomped away. Loki saw him nod to Thor and he left the palace. Loki figured that that was as close to an apology as they'd be getting out of him.
"Loki" he heard Trinity say.  He turned around and saw her there looking at him with surprise. "Are you okay?" She asked a she went over to him and touched his face where he'd been hit. Under his eye was cut and turning slightly purple, but otherwise he was fine.
"I'm alright" he said "sorry it interrupted our conversation" he said to her. She shook her head.
"It's fine, I'm glad you stopped to take care of it. Now let me take care of your eye" she said.
"It's okay, don't bother. It's nothing" he told her.
"I'm sure you're right, but it'll make me feel better if I take care of it" she said as she took his hand and brought him to the healing room with her.