Unforeseen

Girl Talk

"You are healing really fast. I told you this ointment was a miracle." Fulla commented happily as she daubed more ointment onto the bruise on my shoulder that was exposed by the wide neckline of my nightgown.

Fulla had been in all of a tizzy the day before when she'd caught me changing out of my dirtied royal blue tunic into fresh clothes when I'd stopped by my chambers to freshen up before heading to the library. Apparently, she'd heard the news of my duel from a passing maid and had dashed off to find me and make sure I was okay. As soon as she caught sight of the bruises on my knees, which she practically forced me to show her, she'd gone into full mother-hen mode and insisted on me rubbing a special healing ointment on them and my other minor injuries to try to help me heal better.

"Yeah." I answered non-commitally. Of course, she didn't know that I had taken small shocks from my device, the extra energy being converted in my body to try to heal my bruises as soon as possible. Already, by this morning, they were considerably paler as if they were several days old instead of not even being 24 hours old.

She paused a moment, her hand slowing as she remarked ruefully as she tapped the injured skin, "He really did not hold back, did he?"

"No, he didn't." I replied. My mind was on the small section of the bruise that had not been caused by the blow of a spear. It had faded significantly too, but I could hardly take my mind off of it or off the one who'd given it to me. I still blushed at the thought of our... rendezvous... of how our passion had collided and melded together, of his hands, of how close our bodies were, of how Loki's lips felt as they started exploring my skin. Suddenly, I snapped back to myself. Fulla wasn't talking about Loki! She knew nothing of that! She was talking about the sparring match! Of how Henir had actually dealt me some damage during it! Flustered, my blush running up to meet my ears, I quickly tried to cover up my original meaning, trying to twist it to focus on Henir, "Oh! Oh, I mean, yeah, no. I told Henir not to go easy on me. I pretty much had to force him to retaliate! I kinda feel bad about it honestly. I've never been one to goad anyone on... especially to try to get them to fight me."

Henir had just been a pawn in Tyr and my challenge. Tyr had intended for Henir to take me out quickly, proving myself to be weak and untrained and no match against an Asgardian. Instead I had beaten him, using my mutated ability. Henir'd seemed okay about the fight and that I'd beaten him. He hadn't seemed embarrassed at being beaten not only by a woman, but by a 'weak' Midgardian woman, but I wondered if he was receiving any flack because of the match. I hoped not. He'd been an excellent opponent once he'd taken me seriously. He was obviously a master of his weapon, with smooth movements and decisive reasoning in combat. He was a soldier that would bring Asgard pride.

My thoughts were broken by a rapid tapping on the door to my chambers. Fulla, who'd been capping her jar of ointment, furrowed her brows in confusion, muttering under her breath, "Who is-?"

She cut herself off, hurriedly stepping over to the door and opening it to see who my surprise visitor was. I barely registered Fulla's eyebrows flying up in surprise before the visitor flew into the room, passing her and striding up to me where I still sat on the loveseat in my living chamber in front of the low coffee table where the remnants of my breakfast still sat.

"Lady Penelope." The visitor dropped into a curtsy, somehow managing to make it look graceful even though she had a bundle of colorful cloth draped over her arms. I caught glimpses of rich scarlet, gauzy grey, royal blue with green-tinted metal, and draping seafoam as they shifted in her arms.

"Bil!" I exclaimed in surprise, hurriedly standing up to greet her. What in the world was she doing here?

The seamstress was grinning excitedly at me like a woman who's just seen the cliffhanger episode of her favorite daytime television show as she draped the bundle of clothes she'd brought over a chair, "I knew that you would cause a stir around here, but you charged the bull!"