More days passed in Asgard. More endless meetings with nobles and preparations and dress fittings and planners. More walks down the mundane streets of Asgard, mingling and talking with the people. Gaining their favour. At least Sigyn didn't mind this. She had to get out of the palace sometimes. So she would be escorted by two handmaidens, Lady Sif, and two Vanir warriors. They kept their distance however, watching as she laughed engaged in conversation about something.
Small children would offer her a gift on occasion and it melted her heart. "Did you really make this?" she said to the group of children around her feet. They nodded shyly, some chirping a great big YES. She kneeled and bowed her head as a crown of flowers was placed on her dome by the children. "It's beautiful." she adjusted it on her head. The children laughed with glee, running off to their parents to be told how good they did greeting the Princess.
And she would move on to the next.
Then some of Asgard's people told them of their worries. They told her how they feared for sick loved ones. Then some would tell her how they were displeased with the arranged wedding. Vanaheim and Asgard did not belong together.
"I have had enough for today." Sigyn told her entourage, and they quickly whisked her away into the palace. One of her handmaidens informed that she would draw a warm bath for the Princess and she rushed away. "I don't know how my mother does these things." Sigyn sighed, walking beside Lady Sif.
"All I ever known is the fight, Princess. Believe me, I could never do what you are doing."
"I don't believe that for a moment." Sigyn followed Sif's guide to the upper levels of the palace. "I have never seen such a powerful female warrior."
"You should have seen the Valkyries before they were all killed in the grasp for Asgard." Sif laughed.
"Did you ever see them?"
"No. They perished a very long time ago. Before our time. I so would have loved to see them. I would be one of them."
"I'm suddenly jealous of you, Lady Sif."
Sif laughed, her head dropping. "You are a Princess, my Lady. I am but a warrior."
"So? What does that measure to?"
They come out onto the courtyards where many young warriors train their skills. They swung weapons of all kinds, duelling each other, and in the centre is Thor and Baldur. They clashed with bare muscles and fists. Nanna watched from the sidelines with her son, jumping and yelping when the men hit each other.
"What are they doing?" Sigyn joins her sister.
"They wanted to test their durability." Nanna gasped again when Thor struck a blow to Baldur sending him into the mats. "So they are fighting each other." Baldur is on his feet again.
Baldur turns to the girls quickly. He is sweaty and his cheeks are red. "As friends!" he shouted at them. Thor suddenly slammed into Baldur and he was on his back. Forseti shouted in excitement, encouraging his father to fight.
"It's frightening to watch." Sigyn whispered.
"They are going to kill each other." Nanna cursed.
"The time for that has passed already."
Thor was on his feet again, his eyes catched Sigyn and he is suddenly bouncing on his feet. Taunting Baldur. He easily ducks under a swing and returns the favour to Baldur. Hard skin slaps and the sound of muscle is unpleasant to the ladies as they watched. They were both shirtless, coated in sweat. Their skin ripped and gleaming golden in the sun.
"Oh my." Sigyn mumbled to her sister, unable to take her eyes away from Thor. "I never realised how muscular he is."
Nanna laughed. "Don't fall in love yet." she teased.
"Is that why you are watching them!?"
Nanna blinked, keeping back a smile. She burst into laughter turning away, with a polite hand to her mouth. "Yes." Sigyn's mouth falls open in shame yet she laughed at her older sister. How could she ever measure up to the love Nanna and Baldur share? They flaunted it everywhere they went. They were so in love, Sigyn sometimes had to pry her eyes away. (Focus on something else.) That is what she dreamt of as a little girl. She vowed she would marry the love of her life for the rest of eternity until Ragnarok.
Those where the foolish notions of a little girls dreams. Love. What a silly thing to want. What a silly thing Sigyn thought she could have. Skuld was cruel like that. She wove the threads of the future beneath the World Tree. Verdandi told what is presently coming into being, and Urd; she kept the past.
Thor and Baldur decided they had enough. They shook hands, and Baldur cracked a joke, which Thor boomed with laughter. Baldur fast approached his wife, his arms outstretched and a wide smile on his face. "My love!" he sang. "Did you see me win?"
"It was I who won, actually." corrected Thor, and laughed.
"I almost couldn't tell who was who most of the time."
"Don't you know your own husband?" Baldur came closer to Nanna and she back away trying not to laugh, proclaiming about how he can't touch her. "Why not!?"
"You're all sweaty and smelly!" she accused, laughing. Forseti laughed, "Father is smelly!"
"Come here, you!" Baldur scooped his son into his strong arms and slung him over his shoulder, and he started to swing him in circles. Forseti screamed in delight and laughter.
Sigyn can't help the smile, watching as Nanna and Baldur laughed together as a happy family. Thor stepped next to her, wiping his hands off with a cloth, and he chuckled lightly. "They are well together." he motioned, a little awkward.
"Yes, they are." Sigyn quickly replied. She tore her eyes away from his naked chest, glistening in sweet sweat. His smell of oak and iron filled her nose. Thor cleared his throat. Sigyn looked at him expectantly like he was going to say something.
"What, uh, brings you to the training yards?" he asked.
"Just exploring." she replied, softly. She nervously twiddled with her fingers. "Later we have another sitting with the noblemen to discuss the topic of our engagement." she informed. "They want to make sure we know the steps of the ceremony."
"Ah, yes. I can't sit through half of them. Just sitting there and talking about things. I much rather be out here." he told her, boldly, motioning around the training yard.
"They are important sometimes."
"Don't get me wrong, Princess, I understand that its my duty, of course. I would never let you down."
"Thank you, Thor."
Thor looks at his hands wrapped in the cloth. "Our engagement..."
"It's two days away." Sigyn informs. It was like she delivered terrible news. Two days away seemed like a long time, but it was so close. Another step closer to securing the alliance and peace, and an eternal binding to each other. He wasn't ready for that sort of thing. "I see the look in your eyes." she tells him, sadly.
Thor snapped to attention. "What look?"
"Dread. Fear. I know; we don't want to marry each other."
Thor sighed. "I am deeply sorry, Princess. Every day I try to love you, I just cannot. Have no doubt, I feel strongly toward you. You are beautiful and intelligent, but we are not meant to be. Surely The Norns are playing with us for their own entertainment." He turned to the sky. "You sit bored under the Tree and you torment us!" he cursed at them. Sigyn's mouth fell open.
"Thor!" she scolded. "That will make it worse."
"I don't ever want to hurt your feelings. You deserve better than this. If you ever want the wedding called off..."
"Thor." She put a gently hand to his arm, putting it past her that he was caked in a layer of hot sweat. "Do not fret. You will never hurt my feelings speaking the truth. And you speak for both of us. Yet I fear if we don't go through with this there will be terrible consequences for both our realms. We cannot have another war break out. This is the only way to make sure that will never happen again."
Thor nods, smiling down at Sigyn. "You prove me wrong everyday. I could never be so deserving of someone like you. I already know you will make a great queen one day."
"Everyone keeps telling me that of late." Sigyn's hand slipped away and she looked at the cobblestone ground.
"Is it a bad thing?"
"No! No... I'm just not sure I would make a good queen myself."
"You doubt yourself too much!" he tells her, gently bumping her shoulder. "Together, we can be great. I know it!" he goes to the bench where he pulls on a brown shirt with lace on the top. They end up walking together back into the palace, Baldur stayed in the training yard to teach his son how to hold a sword, on their way to this sitting with noblemen for the time they can't count. "May I ask something, Princess?"
"Yes, of course."
"As of late, I have noticed my brother becoming more social and it brings me joy. It's like he has finally come out of his dark little shell. He's around more. Talking more. Making more trouble! He seems happier." explained Thor, a weight smile on his face. "It bring me joy to see that. My mother too."
"That's wonderful." beamed Sigyn.
"I hear he introduced you to Sleipnir."
"Sleipnir was magical to meet. I say, I did not expect it at all."
Their laugh echoed down the massive golden room they crossed. "Did he tell you the story?"
"He did. It was the strangest story, yet, it doesn't bother me. Not at all."
"Good, good. He is very conscious about it. I'm surprised he ever told you or took you to meet Sleipnir." Thor said, looking to the far column. "It is very strange. Then again, my brother does strange things all the time. One time, as young warriors, we were feasting for a reason I cannot recall anymore. Loki transformed the entire table of food into goats!"
Sigyn laughed with Thor. "Really? I can imagine the chaos and the mess!"
Thor nodded. "He brightens when you enter the room." Sigyn's eyes dropped to the ground they walked. What was he trying to say? Thor continued to talk about his brother. "Loki may be a fool sometimes, but he has a big heart. He cares a lot. I think having you around, Lady Sigyn, has been one of the best things to happen to Asgard, is what I'm trying to say. Life flourishes where you walk, the people smile when they see you. Even the noblemen and these politicians all cower to your every commands. The handmaidens respect you, the warriors and Einherjar, they crumble when you pass them. These things only happen to my mother. It happens out of fear for my father."
A smile tugged at Sigyn's plump lips. "Thank you, Thor. That was very kind."
He bowed his head, shy. He looks her straight in the eye. "I mean every word I say, Lady Sigyn."
"Then know this, God of Thunder, in Vanaheim you are our most famous warrior and you are Aesir. The Vanir respected you for your strength in battle. Despite us being at war then."
Thor boomed with triumphant laughter.
They had their short meeting with the noblemen and woman and thralls of the place to discuss very specific steps they had to make during the engagement. They even practiced once, and ended up laughing. Laughing is good, Nanna told her. It's the first step. The noblemen and the prepares where so adamant they had to get this right, they were told there is no room for laughing.
King Iwaldi oversaw preparations for the feasting hall. He monitored where wreaths were placed or how the tables should be set. He even tested the ale and mead to make sure they were of the finest brew. There were a dozen barrels placed around the kitchens and the hall and even more in the storage chambers. Half of them, ale and mead, brewed in Vanaheim, brought here for the engagement as good will between realms.
It was going to be another long night of partying and feasting. Another ongoing celebration for Asgard to endure. Thor told Sigyn many stories of how Asgard could celebrate for weeks. She has seen the feasts go for days, but never that long. He assured her, their wedding celebration would never stop. He joked, it would go on for winters.
The Norns are tormenting them. Thor was right. They must be really bored.
There it was in the corner of her eye. A shadow. It's been following her for awhile. Peaking at the corners, and when she turned to catch it, the shadow was a simple object mistaken for something sinister. This time, Sigyn chased it out onto the balcony. She hummed, pretending to look out over Asgard below, when she quickly turned and Loki was attempting to move across the wall. He froze.
"Finally caught you." she proudly said.
Loki's shoulders slumped and he stepped forward. "I was hoping to lure you away." he says, deeply. "To somewhere dark and dank, never to be seen again."
Sigyn laced her hands in front of her. "Would that be so bad? Maybe I could meet the Norns and ask them why they are doing this."
"I don't think you will get much of an answer from them."
"So, you leave me flowers, dresses to wear, and now you are following me?" questioned the Princess.
"Ah, well..." Loki cleared his throat. Think of a lie, quickly. "You see." he had no lie to tell. He wasn't so sure himself of why. Maybe he needed an excuse to be near her.
"The silver tongue has become led." giggled Sigyn, in triumph. "The day is almost over, Prince Loki, I have duties to attend." she went to walk past him, when he stopped her. She looked at him, waiting.
"I have been meaning to show you the great library you so want to see."
Sigyn lifted her head, intrigued. "So you had to follow me, a shadow in the corner of my eye?"
Loki shook his head both ways. He bits the inside of his mouth. "I don't particularly have a reason for doing that."
Sigyn pursed her lips. "You'll only be forgiven if you show me this damned library everybody has been boasting about. Yet, it eludes me. Does it change places? Maybe that's why." she concluded, and Loki chuckled.
"No, Princess. This place is far to big. Which means all the more reason to discover its secrets. I know hidden paths and doorways the maids only use. Secret rooms and treasures. The quickest way in and out of places. The trick is, you have to know what you are looking for and make sure nobody see's you."
"Is that how you do it?"
"Yes." he answered, smiling. Sigyn noticed he was boastful today. His hair was combed and his attire was kept neat and casual. "It's how I slip in and out of places, and how I slip between the very realms themselves."
"You've told me - is that how you leave flowers!?" she suddenly realised. Loki's eyes flickered away. She smacked his shoulder lightly and he wailed as if he was in pain. "One day you will get caught." she warned.
"No I won't." a cocky grin crossed his thin lips. "Only I alone can hide from Heimdall's eyes."
"Impossible."
He shook his head once, the grin still on his lips. "As a matter of fact, he can't see us right now. Ask him next time you see him. Ask him if he could see you on the balcony." Loki looks over the city to the observatory sitting isolated on the edge of Asgard.
Inside the hall, Freya is watching. She stands elegantly behind the centre piece on the long table hidden just behind the arrangement, pretending to look over the table setting, when her eyes were on her daughter and the Prince of Asgard. She watches Loki and Sigyn together. Her eyes narrow on them. She saw the way Loki looks at Sigyn anytime he is near - and he always seems to be near. She sees the way he smiles at her, laughs with her, shows her things around Asgard. Ohh, Freya does not like this at all.
The God of Mischief courting his brothers bride. His tales are legendary for the things he does, the chaos he creates and the trouble where he goes. If he wanted, Loki could spark another war and he could that through Sigyn. Freya's jaw tightened. Her daughter laughed at something Loki said, always red cheeked when he comes to see her. (She doesn't act like this around Thor.)
Freya called for her husband speaking with the kitchen hands on the other end of the hall. He pardoned himself and swiftly strided to his wife's side with urgency. "What is wrong, my love?" he said to her, his arms wrapping around her slim figure.
"Them." she spat, her golden eyes are dark staring at something. "Look at them, it's always like this." her nails tap on the table rhythmically.
Iwaldi comes around her, following her gaze to Loki and Sigyn. "Ah." he said, quickly tearing his eyes away, careful not to be suspicious. "I see. But don't you think they are just being friends. In two weeks, they will be family."
"He is looking to cause trouble. He is looking to be more than friends, I can tell." warned Freya, in a whisper.
Iwaldi scoffed, fixing the front of his silver robe. "Remember what we spoke about, my darling, my love. We are here to make friends, not enemies. Do not accuse him of anything yet."
"We cannot risk everything for this." Freya spun dramatically to face her king. She puts her arms into his chest desperately. "You have to do something, Iwaldi. Stop Loki's plans before they take root. I fear for our daughter if he continues like this."
Iwaldi's icy eyes glance away from Loki and Sigyn talking on the balcony. "I will speak with her first. We don't want trouble starting again because of something minuscule."
Her eyebrows arched. "A mountain was once a hill." she said. Iwaldi placed comforting hands to Freya's shoulders to assure her.
"I will speak with our daughter first." he said, firmly. "Come away, love. You are under stress with this wedding. Come and rest a little. I will draw you a warm bath and we can retire for the evening."
From the corner of the hall, Sigvard is watching.
He plucks a grape from a tray and pops it into his mouth. His pearly teeth bite down and it bursts in his mouth. He takes a handful of grapes, sauntering over to the balcony, casually, like a lion stalking through tall grass. "The hall looks lovely. Assuming, it will not compare to the wedding." he climbs the three steps onto the balcony.
Sigyn and Loki turn, their conversation cut short. "Brother." greeted Sigyn. "Loki was just telling me about the physicians in their tower just by the cliffs." she points over the cobblestone railing to a tall golden tower standing on its lonesome way down to the right where the water meets the lands.
Sigvard hummed curiously. "Apparently the best in the Nine Realms." he pops another grape into his mouth. "I've heard all about their medicine and practice. Sounds wonderful." he stands by the bannisters.
Sigyn pursed her lips, her hands lacing at her front. She looked nervous, giving Loki a quick look.
Loki strided forward, his hands behind his back. "I hear you are something of a politician yourself, Sigvard. Sigyn has told me all but good things about you."
"It's Prince, to you, Prince Loki." Corrected Sigvard. Sigyn shifted her weight.
"I assumed since we are practically family now..."
"Grape?" Sigvard offered the handful in his hand.
"No thank you."
"What do you know of politics, Prince Loki?" questioned Sigvard.
"A lot. I make sure I study the art of politics. I often stand in the long dull meetings of Asgard watching them argue and discuss useless topics when there are more urgent matters. I agree with most of them, small issues need to be handled with care and precision. The people are what matter."
"I disagree. The Crown is what matters. It is a dictatorship, not a ruling. The kings themselves should be the law by their own words."
Loki laughed. "Is that what you want? To be king and have no one question you?"
Sigvard turned. "Wouldn't anybody want that?"
"Its a delightful notion, yes. Without the people to rule, then who is there to make you a king?"
Sigvard nodded, a single grape between his fingers. "Valid point." and he bites into it. The juices squirt, hitting Loki's chest. He doesn't react. "You are very smart, serpent god. More than you let on. You hide in plain sight and no one notices you. A talent most can only hope to achieve. I only have to be seen and I am praised by all." Sigvard laughed again, chewing on the grape.
Loki's eyes flicker away and back again. "Working from the shadows can be a gift, but also a curse."
"Oh, I'm always in the light, Prince Loki. The shadows fear me." It sounded more like a threat. Sigyn bites her lip. "I'm too... whats the word?" he plucked another grape from the vine in his hand. "Radiant." he puts it into his mouth. "I'm sure that's what you want. To be in the spotlight, loved by all, feared by all. Whatever your preference... To be king, perhaps?"
Loki cocks a thin eyebrow. "What's your preference?"
Sigvard shrugged. "Haven't decided yet." he took a step around Loki, and he turned with him. Almost like a lion checking out its prey. But the lion doesn't know its prey is much larger than he. "One day I will rule Vanaheim, and one day my little sister will rule Asgard. It all works out in the end doesn't it?"
"So it seems."
"Great chatting with you, but there is a maid I have to court." he slinks away just as quickly as he came; he went. Loki pulls his eyes away from Sigvard's retreating back and he looks at Sigyn.
"I dread the day HE becomes king."
Sigyn bit her lip.