Unforeseen

The Tour Guide's Surprise

There was an eagerness in Loki's voice and expression as he gently pulled my hand, uprooting me from my place in front of the royal portraits. It was almost a child-like eagerness that I hadn't seen in him when he was showing me any of the other places in the palace. His excitement, as seen in the green of his eyes and the curve of his smile and the lightness of his brow intrigued me. His favorite place, huh? What kind of special place could make him light up like this? What kind of place was it that he was so interested in showing me?

Tamping down my embarrassment from my pervious musings and how I'd reacted when getting yanked from my thoughts, I allowed him to lead me away from the hall of portraits and through the palace halls once more. Loki's pace had picked up from our casual strolling from earlier to almost a quickstep as he led me up a flight of stairs. With my free hand I picked up the skirt of my dress, trying to not trip on the hem.

"Loki, where are you taking me?" my question came out as a laugh as he swept me around a corner.

"Here." Suddenly he stopped in front of a large, carved door.

He had stopped on a dime, but I did not. I hadn't been expecting him to just stop suddenly and ended up ramming directly into his back. In my surprise at the collision, I backpedaled, stepping on my skirt and falling backwards.

Loki tugged on my arm, pulling me toward shim as his other hand caught me around the waist, helping me regain my balance. "Darling! Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." I said, steady again as I tried to readjust my skirt and belt, "Thanks for catching me."

"I promised not to let you fall, did I not?" Loki smiled, releasing me from his grip before striding around behind me. I was turning my head to watch him, to see what he was doing circling me like that when his hands covered my eyes, blinding me and turning my head so that I faced forward again.

My fingers shot up to my face, trying to pry his chill fingers off of my eyes, "What're you do-"

"It's a surprise." Loki chuckled directly into my ear, interrupting me.

"What is?"

"My favorite place in the palace." He answered matter of factly, seeming to completely ignore my scrabbling hands that were trying to remove his.

After another few seconds of struggling, "This better not be a trick..."

"It's not. Trust me."

Fine words for the Norse deity of tricks and lies to say. Sighing, I finally let my hands drop from his that were blinding me, giving up before assenting to Loki's game, "Fine."

Keeping his hands locked firmly over my eyes, he guided me forward and instructed for me to push on the heavy wood doors to open them. In my blindness, I tried to use my other senses to give me clues as to this special location. I heard the wood and hinges of the door creak and groan. The air in the room was still and heavy with a familiar dry scent... I knew this scent... but from where? Loki led me deeper into the room, murmuring instructions to be careful of how I stepped here and alerting me that we were turning there. I could feel marble floors shift to rugs below my feet. The room seemed to be large like many of the others that Loki had shown me before, but his voice did not echo in the same way as it had in the dining hall or throne room, which made me think that there must be a lot of furniture in here to combat an echoing effect.

"Okay." Loki brought me to a halt before sliding his hands from my eyes, "Now you can look."

"Oh my-"

Words failed me as I gapped around at the massive room we were in, filled to the brim in bookshelves overflowing in volumes and volumes of books in every size. A library. The marble floors held designs of old script and mosaics of scholars, the chamber walls looked to be made of bronze, and marble and dark wood shelves filled the room as I spun on my spot. Books bound in leather and old scrolls seemed to go on and on in endless rows of shelves that reached to the high ceilings. Speckled here and there in the library were pieces of furniture and antiques and relics on pedestals. One wall was lined in paned windows and lamps and chandeliers lit the room.