Unforeseen

Challenge Made

"Lurking are we, my lady?"

"Lord Tyr!" I yipped, jumping at the general's voice as he came up from behind me. Spinning around to face him, I straightened up my back and shoulders as I politely, yet hurriedly offered a "Good afternoon!"

"Lady Penelope." He nodded his head in a stiff greeting, his arms crossed over his wide chest that was covered in gleaming einherjar armor. His long scar seemed extenuated as he looked coldly down at me, his trim beard unable to hide how his jaw was set irritably. It didn't take a genius to see that he wasn't pleased to see me here.

"Your soldiers... uh, the troops seem to be training well." I commented, trying to be as amiable as I could to see if it would soften the general's thinly-veiled disdain for me and to try to convey that I was not just 'lurking', "I've never seen army soldiers train before. It's quite impressive."

A puff of air left his nose like a breathy snort, "I am sure it is impressive to you."

"Yeah..." Was I being overly sensitive or was his entire tone dripping with superciliousness? He'd been cold before when I'd visited with the Allfather, obviously unhappy at having to treat a Midgardian commoner as a respected lady of the court, but now that I was here by myself it was like he wasn't even trying to hide his contempt for me. Trying to not let him ruffle my feathers, I cleared my throat, "I was curious to watch the training. I myself was not trained as a soldier, but when I was training to join S.H.I.E.L.D. I had to do a lot of sparring as well. My teacher did not go light on me."

My mind's eye flashed to pictures of Natasha dropping me on the sparring mat time and time again, defeating me mercilessly as I racked up more and more bruises. She'd been a tough coach, but I doubted that I would have been of much help out in the field if I hadn't been under her tutelage. A small smile curled the corners of my lips at the remembrance.

"That is right. You claim to be a warrior of Midgard." The red-bearded man looked away from me to gaze over his training soldiers as he spoke, his tone holding an air of mocking as if the idea was a joke to him.

"I wouldn't call myself a warrior per say, I wasn't even a full field agent, but I had to be trained like one..." I explained, still trying to be conversational as I looked out over the soldiers as well. After a second of tense, awkward silence that seemed to me very much like he was completely, purposefully ignoring me now, I spoke up again, "We didn't have weapons like that though."

"I am not surprised." Was all he responded with, his words clipped and derisive, dismissing me completely.

What was this guy's problem? Could he physically not string two civil words together? What had I ever done to bother him so badly? I grit my teeth, taking a calming breath before turning sharply to him, determined to ask him as politely and gently as I could if I had done something wrong or if I'd offended him somehow, "Lord Tyr, I-"

"You claimed during your introduction to the Allfather that you fought alongside the Crown Prince?" He interrupted me, looking down at me from the corner of his eye, not even bothering to turn to look me directly in the face. There was something vaguely challenging in his words, "You talked about facing battles as if your strength could match the might of an Asgardian."

Okay... so he was insinuating that I was weak now? Was he trying to destroy my patience, or did he enjoy edging around directly insulting me? My genial tone fell away, seeing as my attempts at friendliness bore no fruit. My tone was straightforward and practically emotionless like I was offering a mission report to my superior officer. "I did. After the Convergence a Frost Beast was left behind on Midgard. Thor was there when I got the call to lead a team to deal with it before it hurt anybody, so I brought him along." Lord Tyr flinched and shot me a look when I referred to the crown prince of Asgard by only his first name. I continued on, "When one has a warrior prince on hand, why not use that to your advantage, right? Especially if he's familiar with the enemy. We handled the situation well, sent it back to Jotunheim via the Bifrost."