"Eyes on Fire" by Blue Foundation
**********************
SIGYN
"Perhaps it's best if you run far from home, where no one will ever find you," Sulgroy whispered to Sigyn, his eyes wide with fright.
Sigyn had just returned from assisting Princess Sif with her newborn son. Confused, she couldn't comprehend why her brother had rushed out to greet her as she rode up the pathway to the cottage. Having been away for two fortnights, his behavior was perplexing. "Brother, what is it you are speaking of...?"
"SIGYN!" A voice boomed with powerful authority.
Young Sigyn's eyes widened in surprise as her papa reached the threshold. He looked angrier than the girl had ever seen him. Dismounting her horse and heading towards the door, she found her mother crying inside the home, with her elder and younger brothers watching her with heavy disapproval.
Sigyn couldn't fathom the stares and glares. She was not a selfish individual by any means. Every payment and extra material provided for her in the palace, she gave to her family. She practically lived to take care of them. Why were they all watching her with such reproachful stares? Once her father looked at her, his anger evaporated for his only daughter. Narfi shook his head in disappointment, rubbing his thick beard as he walked away with his head hung in shame. Twas Sigyn's mother that stood and headed towards her. She was crying, and clearly distraught. "You have brought great shame upon this family," her mother stated sadly, still teary eyed. Sigyn's green eyes widened in surprise. "Mama, what is it you are referring to?"
"Your affair with Prince Loki," Sulgroy revealed grimly, watching his sister with a pitying gaze. He was the only individual who did not look angry with her. "The god-in-training Balder spotted him leaving your chambers at an outrageous hour."
Things took a darker turn for Sigyn as several days passed. Not only were she and Loki forbidden from communicating, but they were also barred from being in each other's presence. By some stroke of luck, likely due to Lady Sif's friendship with her, Sigyn retained her position as head handmaiden. However, she was now prohibited from being alone with Odin's son.
Sigyn had to leave before Loki was permitted to visit Thor and his newborn son. Just when she thought the situation couldn't possibly worsen, Queen Frigga approached her and made it abundantly clear that her son was destined to marry among royals exclusively.
He had no place for a commoner in his heart. Even as young Sigyn cried herself to sleep that night, she sickly knew the queen was not wrong in her declaration. It was simple law. Royals and commoners were simply not meant to be, although, she found high unfairness in this law considering other royals of Asgard held no qualms lying with commoners at night. King Odin especially.
One night by chance, Loki managed to create a rather strong sleeping potion. Queen Frigga made it so a guard must always be present in a hallway outside of Sigyn's chambers when she resided at the castle to assist with the infant child of Sif and Thor. She did not want Loki and Sigyn to correspond ever again if she could help it. Loki created the potion and tricked the guard into taking it as he bit into a slice of buttered bread. The hefty guard fell asleep almost instantaneously. Sigyn noticed the snake creeping into her bedroom under the door, and soon enough, Loki transfigured himself into human form. His face was ashen white. Sigyn noted this was the first time she had laid eyes upon him in two weeks' time. "My brother is a traitor," Loki said through clenched teeth. "Balder informed our parents of our love," he said, looking and sounding sick.
Even though this was a beyond serious moment and Loki looked in true despair, Sigyn could not help but attempt to lighten the foul mood in the air. "Tell me something I am not already aware of." She smiled softly, only to find Loki was not smiling. Not at all. He looked pained. His jet-black hair was unkempt while his eyes were positively wild with fright. His face looked whiter than a freshly harvested dragon's egg.
There was something bothering him, something far worse than Frigga angrily stating the two lovers could no longer correspond of any sort. Loki looked near tears as he slowly fell onto his knees, sobs nearly escaping him as he rocked forward and backwards while on his knees. Beyond worried, Sigyn hurried forward, nearly about to embrace him before a small push from Loki's cold hands stopped her immediately.
"Do not touch me," he whispered, his eyes still wild. "I am not whole-"
"Loki, tis all right, tis-"
"No!" He hissed vehemently. "This is not all right! We are forbidden to speak, Sigyn, you right now are risking a beheading even speaking to me, do you understand that...?" Sigyn's green eyes welled with tears. There was something wrong in this moment, and sickly enough, Sigyn felt it had nothing to do with what he just revealed. "Tis all revealed..." Loki murmured, his too-blue of eyes bolted wide in alarm. "The reason I was always second best to a brother who never held the same intelligence as I. Why it was always made clear to me I could never ascend as Odin's successor, why..." he paused, tears rolling out of his eyes as he stared blankly into open air, "why I never resembled any of my many brothers with their burgundy or blonde hair."
"You are frightening me," Sigyn replied in her own whisper, trying once more to reach him before he firmly -yet gently- pushed her away. What was it he was going on about? How would Queen Frigga banishing their love have anything to do with his not resembling his brothers? Though, now that he stated it, he was not wrong. While Loki was the son of Odin with hair darker than night, the other sons of the king had heads wavering in color from blondes to flaming red. A lot of the boys resembled each other as well as the young men, but no one precisely resembled Loki. Sigyn merely thought it was because he was a glorious one-of-a-kind beauty.
"Do you not understand?" Loki hissed, his crazed eyes watching her. "Is it not obvious, Sigyn? Why is it my brothers can fraternize and even impregnate any commoner they seem fit, but the moment tis known of our love, all Valhalla breaks loose??"
Sigyn merely rolled her shoulders as she watched him soundlessly. She had no answer. She and her brother had been wondering the same thing earlier that week; Thor already had two other children with maidens given his strong love for sexual sessions. It was not as though Loki and Sigyn were even engaging in such behavior, why did it matter more if they were to have an affair compared to the other sons of Odin who took commoner wives and concubines?
"There is something I have never told you," Loki said, his voice thick as ice. "Something so wicked about myself, I have kept it hidden; locked away in my mind alone. Tonight, tonight was finally the day my mother and father informed me of something. It explains away the reasoning of why..." he stopped, light tears escaping him. "Why I am the way I am; why I hold no resemblance in demeanor or looks compared to my family." Sigyn's delicate brows furrowed as she waited. Loki continued to rock in place as six words escaped his mouth in a breath of a whisper. "I was adopted as an infant," he revealed, his eyes wide with fright.
Twas as though he felt Sigyn was going to take this news strongly. Instead, the young maiden nodded slowly. "I suppose that does explain why you are the best looking of your brothers," she said quietly, wishing he would stop his tears; he was too beautiful to be releasing such agony.
Loki was thunderstruck by her comment. He gaped at Sigyn for a few long moments as she brought herself to her knees beside him. "Do you not understand?"
"I understood you perfectly, tis not matter to me if the king and queen did not create you themselves, I love you no less-"
"Do not say that!" Loki hissed, standing and instantly moving away the second she attempted to touch him with a comforting hand. "Think, Sigyn, think. Think of all the realms around, what is the one realm in which it is currently forbidden to have affairs with?? What is the one nation where it is forbidden to create a child with an Asgardian...?"
The answer came to Sigyn instantly because her papa had once told her during a story. She and her brothers had been gathered inside their family's common room after supper one rainy evening.
They were mere children, but Sigyn could vividly recall the tale. A stringent ban was imposed on any member from a particular realm mating with Asgardians, driven by the fear of a superior race emerging. The creatures from this realm were not of human descent like the Asgardians; they were monsters who had terrorized the humans of Midgard before the Titan War. Lord Zeus and his siblings defeated these monsters during the war, reclaiming the realm. The monsters had aided in the destruction of Earth, aiming to enslave humans. These creatures had a disturbingly dark blue skin color, with mesmerizing orange eyes. It was said that they could inflict frostbite with a mere touch. Towering at heights of seven or eight feet for males, these creatures were known as Frost Giants, residing in the realm of Jötunheimr, where entry into Asgard was strictly forbidden.
Sigyn's eyes widened as she slowly grasped what Loki was trying to tell her. There was a specific reason why they were forbidden to love each other—it was out of the fear that they might give rise to one of these superior beings. Loki wasn't merely adopted by the king and queen of Asgard; he was once a child descended from a banned nation.
"You are the product of Frost Giant's," Sigyn said in a whisper, her surprise not hidden.
Her too-blonde of head whipped towards Loki's direction to see he retreated into the shadows. "I always believed magic is what would sometimes change my skin color," Loki admitted hoarsely. "I believed being around it when my mother practiced is what somehow gave me the ability to shapeshift." A low chuckle escaped him in the shadows after a pregnant pause. "I s'pose now everything is out for me to know; I never felt truly a part of my family simply because twas not mine to begin with."
"Do not speak such words," Sigyn whispered, shaking her head. "This revelation means nothing. Where you come from does not matter, tis who you are that counts-"
Loki's rude laughter cut her off midsentence. "Oh Sigyn, your naïve notions will one day best you. Stand. Take a look at what I resemble, truly, and tell me the same thing."
Sigyn slowly pulled herself up, only now noticing that he purposely hid himself in the shadows to avoid the light of the two moons pouring in. As she took a step forward, he receded one step back. He repeated the motion when she tried advancing once more. "This will not work if you back away every time I step forward," she whispered harshly.
"Make me a promise that you will not scream," Loki said, his voice sounding withdrawn. "We cannot be caught together."
"I would never scream upon seeing your appearance, our long friendship should have proven this."
"In the duration of our long friendship you have never seen me as a monster of the night," Loki countered in a harsh tone.
"Then step forward and challenge thy theory," Sigyn replied bitterly, annoyed he took a step back each time she stepped forward. Upon these words, Loki finally closed the distance. He stepped forward into the light of the moon, his form now on display.
Sigyn's eyes widened as she beheld the young man before her. No longer did he possess the same pale white skin resembling snow. Loki's face now bore a glorious lapis blue hue, adorned with strange patterns and designs that appeared alien compared to anything one would find in Asgard. His eyes were incredibly bright, almost illuminating in the darkness of the night. They weren't simply orange; they seemed nearly amber, capable of seeing through anyone and anything if they truly tried. Loki's hands, neck, and the first few open buttons of his shirt revealed his blue skin. While the rest of his body remained cloaked in his royal Asgardian attire, Sigyn mentally wagered that the rest of him mirrored the stunning blue complexion. A smile spread across Sigyn's full lips as she grinned at him. She didn't see a monster standing before her; she saw a man who possessed more beauty than the gods. Even Lord Apollo paled in comparison!
It was when Sigyn reached for his hand that Loki took a terrified step back. "What do you think you are doing??" he hissed in repulsion. "I could kill you with a touch!"
"No," Sigyn disagreed, her eyes wide as she shook her head. "No, you will not."
"One touch from a Frost Giant can cause one's limbs to fall off with frostbite!"
"Only by choice," Sigyn said calmly, knowing the tale from her father. A frost giant could only freeze someone if they did by their own desire. If Loki did not wish such a thing, it would not happen, Sigyn felt certain of this.
"Please do not watch me with such an expression," Loki said in a whisper, sounding near begging.
"Such as what...?"
"You look at me as if I am the same man."
"You are the same man."
"I am among the beasts that parents speak of in tales to frighten their children into behaving," he insisted, his haunting amber eyes narrowing. "I am a creature that is forbidden to lay with an Asgardian for fear a monster will be created-"
"You are Loki," Sigyn murmured, stepping forward once more. Now there was nowhere to retreat. Loki's back was pressed against the stone wall, nowhere for him to leave as he looked down upon Sigyn with wide eyes. The young woman stepped closer, watching his beautifully patterned face. "It does not matter who fathered or who birthed you, there is more to you than being a child of frost giants. You are intelligent, you are kind, you are humorous, and, you are my very best friend," she finished quietly.
"You believe this to be true?"
"Yes, along with one other truthful fact," Sigyn said, nodding seriously. "I love you no less." She slowly closed the distance between the two of them, her eyes locked with his. Loki looked down upon her, looking quite uncertain even when his face did not resemble his previous one. Sigyn took a small breath as she reached her fingers out to caress his cheek. Loki made to move but only paused when Sigyn's fingers left a gentle caress against his near freezing cheek. When she slowly retracted her hand, she held it out for him to see.
Loki stared out in surprise. There was nothing wrong with her fingers. They could feel the icy coolness he positively radiated, but it did not give her frostbite as he feared his touch would.
"You cannot possibly love me even after knowing my true parentage," Loki murmured, his eyes holding strong pain.
Feeling brave, Sigyn stepped forward once more, bringing their bodies even closer than before. Using her hand that had caressed his cheek, she gently allowed it to travel to the back of his dark hair to cup his head gently. Slowly but deliberately, Sigyn tilted his head down and stood up on her tiptoes. Once Loki's frightened face was closer, the girl pressed her warm lips against his chilled ones. She started the kiss off slowly, making it deeper only as time slowly passed. Loki wrapped his arms around her waist to pull her closer, his breath hitching as he took her into his cold arms.
Once their kissing slowly came to an end, Loki watched Sigyn sadly. His face had morphed back to his human version as he pressed his cold forehead against her warm one. "Tis not the only thing I have to reveal, my love." Sigyn's breathing slowly returned to normal as she closed her eyes. She did not enjoy his tone; it sounded as though he had something very bad to share.
"Dueto my true nature being revealed, my mother has strongly recommended to myfather that I take a bride." Sigyn's eyes snapped open to stare up at theyoung man she loved. Loki took ahold of her chin as he gazed deeply into hereyes. "My parents have betrothed me to a frost giant princess fromthe lands of Jötunheimr. I am to be married in a months' time."
***