mortem a rege

the only thing more delicious than the food are your eyes.

Thecooking went smoothly, according to chefs. Loki was well acquaintedwith a few of them, male and female alike, and they all saideverything went by without a hitch.

Whenhe arrived in the ballroom, instead of tables shoved to the side andmostly covered inn candles and spiked punch (which started the nightvirgin, but it was Asgard, what could you expect?) the tables wereset in royal feasting pattern.

Odinat the head, Frigga to his right, Njord to his left.

Lokisat beside his mother with a gentle kiss on her cheek and smiled."Hello mother."

"Ah,Loki! Your date will be here son, yes?"
"She is my guest,mother." Loki reminded her patiently.

Hecouldn't have the king, who sat across from them, thinking hisdaughter was being rowdy and promiscuous with the Asgardian prince.Although, Vanir men weren't supposed to be publicly intoxicated, andNjord clearly had broken that rule within minutes of arriving.

Hewas tall, with a handsomely rough face, and flaming red hair. And thesame mischievous anger that Loki saw in her eyes when she believedshe was in a red light district.

Thorsat down beside Njord, a seat between them, looking horriblyuncomfortable. "Good evening your-"
"Are your eyebrows dyedblond?" The god of the sea asked in a burly Irish accent. "Becausethey look fake."
The candles in the room blew out in a freezingblast before Thor could indigantly answer, probably preventing thegreat eyebrow war of 2001.

A frost crept over theroom and a female voice, frozen as the glasses of wine on the table,hissed:

"Standfor the Royal women of the Snow."
Lokistood up quickly and took off his helmet, urging his mother to do thesame. Njord rolled his eyes and stood, belching as he took off hissilver crown.

Odin and Thor stayedseated. Thor was just petrified. Odin was disrespectful.

The doors flew open withan icy blast and a tall, black haired figure slithered in.

"Allstand for the goddess of winter!" Aguard yelled from the door.

Skadi, in a royal bluegown, slinked down the long room and sat beside her husband. Lokicould see the resemblance—blue eyes, sharp cheekbones, and the paleskin. And a brilliant intelligence about her. Even in the dim light,he could see her well-his night vision was well trained.

(hewould later discover this was due to his Jötunn physique, but he wasstill exceptional for his race nonetheless)

"Allstand for the Goddess of ice."

Loki could admit he wasnervous, but he would never dare admit his whole body was tremblingas the candles relit with a blueish glow.

She looked like agoddess.

She confidently strodetowards them in her frost dress, sitting down beside Loki with awave. He sat down as well and smiled, returning his helm to his head.The candles returned to a normal color of fire and the doors wereshut.

"Welcome, yourhighnesses." Loki stood again-his knees were getting tired ofthis-and bowed to Queen Skadi. "I am Prince Loki Odinson of Asgard,and it is an honor to be in your presences."
Amalei nodded."Thank you, Prince, but the pleasure is all ours."
Skadinodded with a thin lipped smile. "Please sit, Prince."
Thorstill looked like he'd had a minor stroke but he stood and shakilysaid,

"I'm uh, Thor Odinson,Prince of Asgard, and uh, yeah, pleasure to meet you."
Loki andFrigga gave each other a look that clearly read, the diplomacy ison this side of the family.