Dear Princess

8. Baal's Birthday

Today is the day.
It's Baal's first birthday with her new family.

Early in the morning Baal is surrounded by maids with a mission. To make her the prettiest woman in all of Asgard.

"Oh, my Lady. You look stunning." Baal stays silent as she is stuck in her thoughts.
Stuck with Loki.
She thought about his words. He was hurt in a way she couldn't understand. "My lady?" Baal is ripped out of her thoughts. "Huh? Oh, my apologies."
"What do you think?"

Baal looks ahead into the mirror. Her face is almost untouched. Only her lips are slightly more pink.
"Our goal was it to make you the most beautiful of all but we realized that you already are, Lady Baal."

Baal runs her fingers through her open, long, black and wavy hair. She smiles. "Thank you."
The yellow dress suits her body perfectly as well.
"Now, my lady, we must go, otherwise we'll be late!"
"Late to what?"
"The festivities, of course!"

Baal slips into her shoes for the day and opens the door to the hall. Four guards have gathered to accompany her to the garden where they will be celebrating.

As they finally reach the garden Baal is greeted by Odin and his family.
They all congratulate her to her birthday, even Loki who seems more off than usual.
Thor being Thor is excited for the party and its guests and can't wait to drink a beer.

The guests start pouring in and music begins to play.
Fiddles and flutes accompany the dancing visitors and lots of barrels of beer are opened.

Everyone is cheering for the new soon to be princess of Asgard like there is no tomorrow.

Loki watches over the party silently. He notices that Thor and Baal are talking with each other. It reminds him of the talk he had with Thor.

"Baal feels welcomed by everyone except you, Loki."

That sentence has never left his head. He wonders what they're talking about.
Then Thor and Baal get up from their seats and start to dance to the music as well. Baal smiles brightly as she twirls and jumps to the music. Loki watches her closely and starts to realize that he was in the wrong.

Yes, they train together but other than that he never talks to Baal. A feeling of regret starts to rise in him.
"Brother!"
Loki snaps out of his thoughts and looks over to Thor who is walking towards him.

"What is it, Thor?"
Thor puts his hand on Loki's shoulder. "If you want to talk to her, now is the perfect time."
With that Thor leaves Loki with his thoughts. Loki looks ahead at Baal who is still dancing happily.
Then Loki grabs his courage and goes up to his wife. She stops her movements and looks up at him.
"Can we talk", He asks hesitantly but Baal agrees to it.

Together they leave the gardens and look for a quiet place to talk. As they finally find one Loki starts to speak up. "Baal, I've been thinking." The said girl looks up at him with curiosity.
"And you were right. It was wrong of me to ignore you." Baal smiles. "No, I'm sorry for not doing more with you", She says.
"So we have an agreement?" Baal nods with a smile. "We can start over."
They both smile at each other.
"I must say you look stunning tonight, Baal." Her cheeks light up in a bright red color.
"You don't look too bad yourself."

Loki smiles as he avoids eye contact, completely flustered by the beautiful girl's compliment once again.
"Shall we leave the festivities and... I don't know, do something else", Baal asks. "I'd love to."