It was close to the time for her tribe's festival when Sigyn invited Loki to join her. In the wild places they had wandered, the season changes were more apparent. The leaves turned to the colours of fire and the wild things they hunted began storing fat and food more earnestly for the winter. And when the skies turned grey and the creatures hibernated, they would celebrate together. It never had a fixed date, but in the city, they could not see the animals in their dens and the leaves did not so spectacularly change. So instead of abandon it, Sigyn called for the festival after the first flurries of snow. They set preparations in motion and she asked Loki to be her guest by way of a message sent with Iceni.
He arrived at the enclave with two guards. He insisted they stay on the outside of the buildings and they begrudgingly complied, just inside the blocked off streets. The old women already drummed around the fire and there were people moving slowly around the flames, dancing and talking while meat roasted on spits over it. Sigyn was not hard to find. She sat on a cushioned bench in layers of brightly coloured silk, turquoise, lavender, white, and a shock of orange. There were jewels, beads, and feathers woven into her hair; braids kept it back from her face and formed a slender crown over the bulk of her curls. A plaid shawl draped, folded, off the end of the bench, gold jewelery on her wrists, fingers, ankles, toes, and around her neck. He had never seen her as the resplendent Queen and so he stopped and stared a moment before approaching.
He stood at a respectful distance from her seat, waiting for her to finish her conversation; when she did, he stepped forward and bowed low, "My lady. Thank you for your generous invitation."
She stood, "Rise, Loki, son of Odin, and sit with me as my friend." She offered a hand. Before he fully straightened, he took it and kissed her fingers. Then he sat beside her.
"I apologize if my guards make anyone uncomfortable. I escaped with as few as possible, but the All-Father insisted I not travel alone to this part of the city. There have been some rather unpleasant occurrences on the road here this past month."
"If by 'unpleasant occurrences' you mean the rape of one of our girls and the murder of two of our children, yes. We prefer to call them atrocities."
He bowed his head, "I'm sorry. I've been taught to speak of things in guarded terms when in diplomatic situations."
She tilted her head, "You consider this a diplomatic situation?"
"I don't. But to convince my father it was wise for me to come, I told him I was acting as an ambassador from the family to send a gesture of support and goodwill after the crimes against your people. I was told my behaviour would be noted and reported."
She scoffed, "So he thinks so little of us that he considers it enough to send condolences."
"I don't know his heart, my lady. Only what he was willing to show when I asked. He and I have never been close." He paused, "But I will press Mother on the matter when I return. She knows this is no mere ambassadorial duty."
Sigyn's smile returned, "Bless her for trusting us." She stood; her firm hand on Loki's shoulder clearly told him to stay seated. "My friends!"
Men in elaborate fur on either side of her bench stepped forward, their hands raised; they clapped three times, hands above their heads, before shouting, "HUH!" in unison. The square fell silent.
Sigyn spoke, "It is our third change of this season in the city. We remember our home fires, carrying them in our hearts. This flame, which has burned since we arrived, was lit from the spark of our lanterns carried in from the fields. From the skill of our men come our harvest brought in off plots in this city. And from the skill of our women come the fruits of the hunt. Let us feast and dance in joy that we yet live and with the remembrance of all those lost who are dancing with us from afar."
Most of the people in the square cheered, and those who did not did not seem to belong there. Loki eyed them suspiciously, wondering who they were.
Sigyn sat and moved her hand from his shoulder to his palm, "I hope I did not offend you with placement of my hand. It was a calculated move. They will see you as a friend or peer, but not in control, if I am allowed to hold you in your place beside me."
"No, you did not. Though I did wonder."
"Now you do not have to."
"Who are the strangers who do not seem to know why you are here?"
He pointed them out and she glared, "They came last year. They gawked and laughed and tried to join our dancing. We pushed them back. Those who tried to return to the circle were fought off and bloodied. If it happens again, I make no excuse for those of my people who react badly to intruders in our sacred space."
"Shall I speak to them? Command them leave?"
"Not if it will weaken my standing, no."
Loki nodded, "I will keep watch. Will you tell me about the dances?"
She did. They started with dances of thanksgiving, of the coming darkness, and of snow. And then they danced for each creature roasting the spits. And then a dance of feasting, for it was time to eat. Board tables seemed to appear from nowhere around the fire and soon Loki and Sigyn were sitting at a high table set up in front of her bench. Her men in fur brought the spits down and carved the meat while the drumming women placed dishes of vegetables and baked things on the tables.
A man and woman approached the high table and bowed briefly, "My daughter-queen. May we sit with you?"
She gestured to the seats beside her, "Of course. You are always welcome at my table, Father. Kira."
"May we ask the introduction of your guest?"
"This is Loki, son of Odin. Loki, my father, Talis, and his wife, Kira."
He nodded in acknowledgment, "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, sir, madam."
They bow to him, "And an honour for us to meet you, Prince Loki," Talis says. They sit and he leans over to ask, "What brings you here for this celebration? We did not know Asgard had any interest in our ways."
"Sigyn and I have grown close. She asked that I attend. And so here I am, honouring that request. And while I cannot speak to my family, I am most certainly interested in the traditions of the friend I hold so dear."
Kira drops her voice, "You speak in beautifully guarded words, but we know you and she have shared a bed. You may speak honestly at this table and with her family. In our community, those who repeat what they hear at the high table are subject to death. While we cannot enforce such a harsh law here, we can still keep the memory alive so none dare break it."
"Forgive me, I meant no disrespect. We do not have the same safeguards in my father's halls. While it may be treason and sedition to repeat what is overheard between the royal family, it is not so clearly defined."
Talis shrugged, "Different ways for different people. No one living remembers the days when our people had a palace. So we have had no place in which to conduct official dealings. It happens at the high table."
"Indeed. There is nothing wrong with life this way. I am simply not used to it."
Sigyn smiled at him and took his hand, "I hope you will learn. Our stories are beautiful, our dances tell them without words, and there are customs we hold that give our lives great comfort in changing times. Excuse me a moment- I must say words over the food."
She stood and her four men in furs once again called the attention of the gathered to her, "Friends, guests, fellow wanderers. May these things we have caught, these things we have made, and these things we have been, all serve us well through the growing darkness. May it stave off starvation, may the skin of the beasts keep us warm, and may all those things we will say to one another in the harshness of these days be forgiven with the coming light."
The four men clap once and the feast was open, food and conversation happily shared. Nothing they ate was prepared in a way Loki expected or seasoned how he was used to it being seasoned. But it was tantalizing and he ate his fill, happily trying everything offered him. After the meal, the drumming began again. Sigyn leaned close to narrate them to him.
But the freely offered drink had not only been taken by Sigyn's folk. The strangers Loki spied earlier started trying to edge into the dances. They stood on the edge, mimicking the moves, often poorly, sometimes with mocking laughter. Sigyn noticed, but initially said nothing. But then they tried to join the circle. One of the young men dancing tried to push them back out. They ignored him. Another dancer joined him. The strangers shoved back. A few of the dancers made a wall. And then one of the strangers threw a punch.
Sigyn stood and shouted, "HOLD." The drumming stopped immediately. She walked to the fight, Loki trailing in case things got worse. "Stop this, immediately!" Others stepped in to pull the fight apart, but the strangers kept coming for the dancers, even once they were separated by the old women.
"Get out of my way, homeless hag. You don't belong in Asgard- none of you belong in Asgard!" One of the men yelled and tried to lunge forward. Strong hands caught him and dragged him back, "Get your filthy tramp hands off me! Do any of you know who I am?"
Sigyn turned to him, "No. Nor do I care. Do you know who I am?"
"The whore 'queen' of this ghetto."
She stared, deeply angry, "You would do your best to remember how it was we came to be here."
"Why would I care? You're just some bitch who thinks she's a queen." He spat at her. She did not flinch.
Loki placed a hand on her shoulder, "May I intrude?"
"You ought, before I have my boys remove his tongue."
"Let's not...at least not yet."
The stranger laughed, "Oooo, look, she's got her boyfriend to do her dirty work for her." His friends laughed with him.
Loki stepped forward, his back tall, his head high, "I would suggest you take care how you address your prince, Jedd, son of Nott." Jedd stopped laughing. His friends tried to back up, but they ran into Loki's two guards, "Now. Let me make one thing explicitly clear. Queen Sigyn of the wandering people did not come here after being conquered. She came here when her people were being killed by raiders. We offered sanctuary and hospitality. And this is how you demonstrate our welcome? This is what you show these good people of Asgard's famed good will towards all? I think your judgment poor. Not quite criminal, but incredibly close. However, I do find it criminal that you would spit upon their queen. She commanded you stop. You invaded her enclave on their feast day. You invited trouble to their celebrations. And you disobeyed the direct order of a woman I consider my equal in status. She has been granted rights by the All-Father reserved for the dignitaries of those tribes of the outer lands. And again, you disobeyed her commands. What do you think I should do? You leave me little choice in this matter."
Jedd shook his head, "Please, we meant no harm."
Loki scoffed, "No harm? What do you call it when you throw fists? An embrace of friendship?"
"We only wanted to be a part of their culture! Show them a little respect by being part of the dance!"
He heard Sigyn growl behind him, "Respect? Were you willing to show respect you would have sat aside and waited for your invitation in to their circle. Or you would have learned about their community and asked if this was a feast for you or only for them. But you showed no such judgment. No, I do not think you wished to respect them." He nodded to his guards, "Keep them in place while I consult with the Queen." He turned his back to Jedd and his companions and bowed his head to Sigyn, "My lady. What do you wish done with these men? I know them. I know their temperaments. A simple apology will mean little to them. What would be justice under your laws?"
"For their speech to the elders, the removal of their tongues. For joining the circle, being forbidden to come into our encampment. And for spitting on me...generally we treat that as treason and those who commit it are either abandoned in inhospitable areas or killed."
"I'm not sure we can do such things under the laws of Asgard. But we can imprison them. And I can assure that their movement after will be restricted and tracked, never allowed in this area of the city again."
"And what of their tongues?"
"Unfortunately, I cannot have them removed. But while imprisoned, I can have them bound."
She nearly protested, but as Jedd tried to speak up, Loki glared at him snapped his fingers. The man's voice cut off. "It will last until I remove it. If I remove it. Given what was said, I am not feeling so charitable at the moment. Perhaps some day I will. But it is not the first time Jedd and his men have spoken in ways that have caused strife. They will learn, or we will be forced to return to the old ways of stitching lips closed." He turned back to Jedd, "May this be a lesson to you and to all who would dare treat Queen Sigyn with less than the respect she deserves." He waved to the guards, "Take them away."
Once the strangers were removed, Loki turned back to Sigyn and dropped to one knee, "I hope I did you no disrespect, my lady."
She lifted his chin, "No. Rise, Loki, son of Odin, and please escort me back to my place." He offered his arm. She accepted, and she returned to her bench. He sat. She stood and addressed the circle, "Continue in our celebration. As the year turns, so shall we."
The dancers and drummers echoed back, "As the year turns, so shall we."
She settled beside him, whispering, "Once I close the dance, will you come to my bed?"
"I look forward to it, my lady," he whispered back.
There were a few other danced stories, and then her four men in fur came to the bench and knelt in front of her, each offering up a bowl of coloured powder. She rose and dipped a finger in each, marking her cheeks, her arms, her chest, in ochre, crimson, lavender, and sage, patterns she seemed to know by heart, each specific to its colour and place on her body. And then she stepped into the circle, her dancers still around the edge, her four men still kneeling. She took each bowl and scattered the powders in different quadrants of the circle. And then the drums started. In her dress of silk, of turquoise, lavender, white, and orange, she looked like the white-hot flame that lingered in the deepest centre of the fire. Gold glittered on her fingers, wrists, toes, ankles, neck, and in her hair, the shimmer of gems reflecting the flicker of fire. The colours at her feet plumed up in dusty clouds as she danced, her people reached forward so that it will land on their arms, their hair, their clothes. In her finish, the fire was doused with cauldrons of water, the hiss of steam the only sound as her assembled people sat in silence. The drums stopped. He realized only later that the drums stopped long before her dance did, long before the flicker and crackle of fire was silenced by the flood from the suspended cauldrons. The haze cleared and she was gone.
The people dispersed, some talking quietly as they moved their observances to tents set up on one end of the square, others disappearing into the houses; a tiny young woman approached Loki and bowed, "My lady bids you follow."
"Oh. And who might you be?"
"Iceni. But ask no more questions." She brought him to the cottage door and bowed as she opened it for him. He stepped in and she closed it near silently behind him. He stared at the space. Small. Far smaller than he thought for the cottage of a Queen. But was is richly decorated, the walls hung with tapestries and draped silks, textiles in all colours and brocade textures. He heard movement in another room, but did not dare step farther in until invited.
"Hello?"
Something jingled and soon Sigyn emerged from a doorway draped in beads that chimed as she stepped through. There were bells on the bead strand. Her silk gown was discarded and she stood wrapped in a white silk brocade robe, the smudges of the coloured powders from her skin tinging the fabric. She had not washed it from her body, her feet and legs coloured from her dance.
"Hello, Loki." She gestured for him to follow, "Come. It isn't at all like your palace, but it is as grand as my wagon was, and better."
He walked after her through the bead door and then past another. There was a curtain drawn back across the bedroom. As they walked, she snuffed lanterns so that the bedroom was the only room lit as she dropped the curtain. He was nervous, wondering how to approach her in this small space, her sanctuary. But he did not have to wonder long. She kissed his chin, nibbled his ear, and made her way along his jaw to his mouth, his lips parted, waiting. The colour from her skin smudged against his face and he worked quickly to undo buckles and straps, his clothing falling to the ground as he backed her towards the bed. She opened her robe and sat on the foot. He took the moment to run his fingers down her sides, the colours from her chest smudged from the robe. He eased her onto her back and she wrapped her legs around his waist.
"Sigyn?"
"Yes?"
"Do you love me?"
"You have to ask?"
"No, but I need to hear the words from your lips."
"Yes. I love you. And perhaps some day, you will agree to be the Queen's consort?"
"I know so little of you and yet I would say yes right now were you to ask."
They moved farther up the bed and she giggled, "We have known each other a few years. That is longer than my parents knew one another before they made their covenant and brought forth my brother."
"Oh?"
"They were married within a month. And he was born in the time customary. All portents foretold a long reign, had he lived."
"Were you and he close?"
"Very. I learned much from him. How to lead. How to follow. How to fight." She pulled him down into her, "Now teach me what I do not know about making love to Prince Loki. I have learned a great deal so far. What shall we do tonight?"
"Anything you wish, my lady." She kissed him and tugged the blanket over them both.