"All I want" by Kodine
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Four long years had passed since the day in the stables where Sigyn had first grown hopeful about becoming friends with Loki. Unfortunately, that hope never came to fruition. Although the ten-year-old child never lost hope of befriending the prince, it was not in the cards of fate. Sigyn never gave up hope, as it was simply her kind nature to believe that she could make friends with anyone and everyone if she put enough effort into it. However, Loki never treated Sigyn any differently than the day he first chucked an apple at her head when they were children.
He always looked down upon her as if she were no better than dirt caked upon one's boot. He treated her worse than he treated the pigs that lived inside the stables, even though they were raised for slaughter. Eventually, Sigyn stopped offering the prince kind smiles and even stopped trying to make friends with him altogether. It was plainly obvious that if the prince did not simply hate any person who was not royalty, then he hated Sigyn specifically. She did not know why this was, nor did she care as the years passed. She had never done any wicked deed to the young man nor spoken ill against him. He just held disdain for her social status. Sigyn didn't mind. She had siblings and a few friends from work - other children of housekeeping who would one day grow into servants for the house of Odin. She didn't need Loki's friendship, even though she strangely desired it due to her childhood fascination with him.
When Sigyn turned fourteen, she continued to be kind and respectful to everyone, and even stopped playing games with Thor. He was as silly as ever upon his eighteenth year of life, but she stopped her jesting just in case he deemed her too old for games and worthy of a beheading instead. One could never tell what appropriate behavior was expected from a lady. According to rumors around Asgard's common folk, a young maiden in a neighboring kingdom was whipped for merely blinking too quickly for her king's liking.
Sigyn brushed away the thought and focused on her task at hand. Today, she was helping her mother prepare a spare bedroom in the castle for Lady Sif, who was visiting from a distant kingdom. This magical place was known for its abundance of unicorns and other creatures that Sigyn had only read about in her schoolbooks. Despite being a member of the stable cleaning crew, her parents had insisted on giving her and her siblings an education beyond their duties.
As Sigyn went about her work, she heard rumors among the commoners that Prince Thor and Lady Sif were to be married by the end of the fall harvest. It was an arranged marriage set up by King Odin during his eldest son's eighteenth birthday party. By the end of the celebration, Thor was expected to be betrothed. Sigyn made sure extra feather pillows were stocked as well as spare blankets among the golden bedroom.
The very last thing needed was for Queen Frigga to be upset that a member of a visiting royal family deemed her kingdom unequipped to handle a visit. Sigyn was pulling out all effort to become a chambermaid. Oh, how her mama and papa would be proud! There would be no more late nights or early mornings of her plucking up horse manure and skinning chickens as she had done for the last four long years. Sigyn would be receiving a very neat salary to cover living expenses all on her own! She could even manage to afford a family meal for the festival of the Summer Solstice! Sigyn relished the idea of affording a full chicken for a meal. She could probably even manage a purchase of a squirrel to trade with farmer Garth for potatoes. Let her brother Sulgroy see she can accomplish just as much as any young man working as a carpenter in training!
The teenage girl was trying hard not to smile as she made sure only the best linens and toiletries were stocked in the visiting princess's room. She could already imagine her papa's pride over how much effort she was putting into making sure Lady Sif's room was glorious. Sigyn would leave no stone unturned and no shelf unoccupied. The girl even made sure to send a carrier dragon to the house of Rumak to search for information on what interested princess Sif in general. She received a long list of books along with stone and marble games that the young woman fancied.
Sigyn was making it her personal duty to make sure the young Lady Sif adored her bedroom so very much that she would never wish to leave. Let Queen Frigga see how very successful Sigyn would make as a main member of her chamber maids! She would employ her on the spot.
Sigyn, a fourteen-year-old girl, was occupied with her chores and did not notice that she was not alone in the large golden bedroom until she heard someone clear their throat. Startled, she dropped some spare books. To her surprise, it was Prince Loki who had arrived.
She immediately bowed her head out of respect for the royal and murmured, "My prince." She prayed to the gods that she would not be punished for mistreating the articles of knowledge. She knew that it was disrespectful to drop books on the floor. She closed her green eyes tightly, hoping that the prince would leave without reprimanding her. However, she knew that she would not be so lucky. Loki was not the kind of person who let mistakes go by easily. She had witnessed him correcting his own professors on various occasions.
He asked her, "What is the matter, child? Are you upset that Thor will be married in two fortnights?" Sigyn nearly laughed. She was surprised the young man spoke to her. If not for his looking directly at her, she would not have believed it. Sigyn cautiously opened her eyes to see that Loki was in one of his moods.
Although he didn't say anything about the books, his tone was far from pleasant. He was testing her, watching her like a griffin would watch a snake. Loki often tested individuals when he wasn't locked away in his study practicing magic. If he wasn't causing chaos with minor levels of teasing, he was always testing his limits or the intelligence of those around him. Sigyn almost winced. For him to be paying her specific attention, he must be in a particularly bad mood, and she just happened to be the first person he saw to take his anger out on.
"When a royal speaks, you are to answer, peasant," Loki said quietly, his powder-blue eyes narrowing.
Sigyn blinked. "I don't understand your question, and therefore, I have no answer for it," she replied softly.
She made no movement as Loki suddenly appeared before her eyes using the magic he had as a god in training. Oh, how she wished to become a goddess! That was unfortunately only privy to members of the royal family. Being a commoner, Sigyn was subjected to only one-thousand years of Asgardian living as opposed to living for all eternity.
"Do you not hold understanding of what I asked for I used too many large words?" sneered Loki. Sigyn could not help the wistful smile that took residence on her rosy, red lips. Little did the sixteen-years-young prince know, he used no large vocabulary compared to the long novels her father had taught she and her brothers to read at an incredibly young age. Even though commoners were not allowed to attend schooling sessions, it did not mean that Sigyn and her brothers were not schooled in the privacy of their own home. She was far more intelligent than a young maiden should be. "Is there something I have said that you have found amusing?" Loki tested with narrowed eyes.
Sigyn's smile dropped upon realizing her grin looked as though she were insulting the prince. "No, Prince Loki, twas not the reason for my smile. I simply found your question humorous. As for your previous question, I am most elated for the union of Prince Thor and Lady Sif," said Sigyn, bowing her head respectfully.
"I do not believe you."
Sigyn blinked a few times, flustered. The young teenager tilted her head back up to stare wide eyed at the prince. Loki pale pink lips sifted into a smile. "Come now, you are not the tiniest bit upset your bulky brute is set to marry the crown princess of Acasia?"
Sigyn frowned. "No, I genuinely am looking forward to the union of the two kingdoms."
"You are not the least bit offended that your Thor is marrying the princess...?" challenged Loki again.
Sigyn spoke without thinking things through and said, "I do wish you would stop calling him 'my Thor' as if he is my personal property. I do not own him, nor would I want to." She realized her mistake after seeing Loki's eyes widen in surprise. There was silence between them as they watched each other. Both were surprised that Sigyn had spoken back to the second son of King Odin.
Loki appeared incredulous and surprised by Sigyn's sudden boldness. To her surprise, he smiled and asked, "You do not desire my brother?" sounding quite curious.
A ridiculously hot blush took residence upon Sigyn's cheeks at what the prince was implying. "I look at him as a friend or as a brother, but not as anything more," she said, looking away at the heated blush returned to her. It was quiet after that.
"I did not realize little Sigyn Narfisdottir knew the difference in desires," drawled Loki, watching her with his familiar testing gaze that she often saw him spare his many professors of magic.
"If I did desire a son of Odin, that someone would not be your elder brother," Sigyn answered softly, certain she was blushing with embarrassment upon that reveal.
This caused the prince's brows to raise in surprise. Something strange happened so amazingly fast that Sigyn thought she imagined it. Loki's fingers twitched the softest of blue, even bluer than his eyes. Was this magic? The girl went closer to inspect, causing the prince to immediately back step. "What in the underworld do you think you are doing...?"
Sigyn stared at his now pale fingers that had been blue just moments previously. "Your fingers flickered the same color as your eyes," the girl said, watching for the pretty color to come back. It didn't. The prince hid his hand in the folds of his robes, no longer keeping them out and about.
Loki said nothing. His eyesnarrowed tremendously before he slipped out of the room completely. Asstrangely awkward as it was, that was the longest conversation Sigyn could everrecall having with the second youngest son of King Odin and Queen Frigga.