I Do(n't) **LOKI**

Chapter 1

Ida's POV

"Ida"

My eyes fluttered open from my light sleep, the deep brown irises of my mother gazing down at me.

Groaning, I closed them. "Please don't make me do this"

"You don't like it as much as I do" sighing, she sunk down onto the quilt that I had on top of my sheets.

It was torn in multiple areas, and the threading was dirty from years of use. But I'd used it since I was a child and it had more memories than you'd know. I had wrapped it around me during cold winters and used it to wipe my tears when I was sad. Some of the patchwork had huge holes in it, and sometimes my foot would get tangled up in them while I slept, but it never bothered me. It was one of the few things that was mine.

"Hogun has arrived and is waiting for you" my mom rested her hand on my forehead.

"Why do I even have to do this?" I opened my eyes again. "This is so stupid"

"Sweetie, you know why" her eyes saddened.

It was true, I had been told a million times. My family was poor, very poor. That is how it always had been. We lived on the outskirts of Asgard in a village with all of the other underprivileged families. This was the area that had questionable water in the river, and food was but a luxury. Some days, we didn't even get to eat, and when we did, it was usually bread or the fruits of our garden. But nothing grew to well over here, so we were lucky if we got something to grow at all.

Apparently, at some point when I was born, my mother had gone to the king of Asgard, whom I had never met, and begged him to take pity on her. He did not do this for most of the populace, but since my dad had worked for him, and died in a battle, he granted her wish.

But the wish was not a desire of money or something you would assume to be someone's first wish, no. Odin did not just give money away to whomever requested it. He wanted the community to work for their benefits in a way that would help the kingdom, such as gardening or hunting. And we tried to do that, but the soil had not been good in my village for a long while. So my mom had proposed an idea that I had been told about my whole life.

She had somehow convinced him to give one of his sons in marriage to me when I was of age. This way, not only did my mother not have to stress herself out about providing for an extra mouth, but he didn't have to worry about his son going to one of the other worlds and bringing in someone to the kingdom that would do it harm. All of lands wished bad things on Asgard, so welcoming in any outsiders was always risky. That is why it was a rule, and one never taken lightly.

But I had never met anyone who dwelled in the castle, I had only heard rumors. I didn't trust most of them however, unless they came straight from my mother since she had actually been inside.

"Ida"

My attention snapped back to my mom. "Sorry"

"Get up, get dressed, and be quick" she stood.

Nodding, I sat up and rubbed the tiredness away from my eyes. She lingered before walking out, assuring that I wouldn't lay back down and go back to sleep, which I was very much capable of doing.

Muttering to myself, I went to my dresser where the paint was chipping from and pulled open one of the drawers. Inside were the three outfits I owned: a work dress, which was patched in multiple places; a dress (also tattered) for the winter; and one that I saved for the rarity of a special occasion. This was the one I chose, and although wrinkled and torn at the skirt, it was the most special one I had.

I had wanted a nice dress for a long time, so I had worked really hard and made enough to purchase the fabric to make it myself.

When I got it on, I quickly laced up the back and slipped on a pair of socks, which had a hole in the big toe on one of them, and my boots, which the sole was beginning to peel away from.