You woke to Loki's soft noises and the shifting in his body that told you the second you were awake that he was trapped in a nightmare. You shook him gently. "Loki, wake up, it's a dream, darling," you bid him gently, as if that would actually work. It make it worse. He screamed in pain and terror. "Loki!" you called again. He didn't wake. You summoned your magic and touched your fingertips to his temples, intending to help using magic, though mental magic wasn't your specialty. Instead, his much stronger telepathy grabbed you and drew you into his nightmare.
You were on a strange, dark, barren planet. Wherever this place was, it definitely was not Earth. Loki was on the ground in front of a cloaked figure and looked like he had been thrown there. "You were promised more than pain if you did not bring us the Tesseract," the cloaked figure snarled at Loki. You could feel Loki's terror from where you were. You ran to Loki and knelt over him defensively, defending an attack by the cloaked figure.
"Sigyn! No, get out of here," Loki begged you, so lost and terrified, moreso now that you were here and in danger.
"I'll never leave you, love," you replied firmly. You grabbed his arm to haul him to his feet. "We're in this together. Now let's take care of this dream together." You offered him a glowing blue hand. He managed a small smile and placed his green glowing hand in yours.
"Together," he said softly and you felt the word heal something inside him.
A moment of power later the dream exploded around you, blasted away by your combined powers.
You blinked quickly as became aware again, back in your own body. You were still kneeling over Loki, your fingers on his temples. You smirked at him and kissed his nose. He laughed in reply, the sound driving away the last of the nightmare. "Silly little witchling,"
"I'm just glad you're ok. I was worried when I couldn't get you to wake," you told him, moving your hands to stroke his hair. You laid back beside him, using his arm as a pillow as you continued stroking his hair. He kissed the top of your head.
"Thank you for your help," he told you softly.
"Was that the man who made you attack New York?" you asked him equally softly, gently, willing to drop the question if it was too upsetting.
He nodded. "I ended up there after falling into the abyss off of the Bifrost..." his eyes were clouded by bad memories. You shifted to kiss him. He purred and relaxed when you did. You didn't need the rest of the story or him reliving those nightmares.
"Your Highness?" came the voice of a young woman from the other room of the suite. You squeaked in surprise and yanked the blanket up to make sure your chest was covered, though you weren't indecent. Loki chuckled at you and kissed the top of your head.
"It's just a maid," he told you softly before raising his voice to address her. "What is it?" he called, sitting up in the bed and stroking your hair so you'd stop making those pathetic embarrassed noises. The maid stepped into the room and sank into a low curtsy.
"My apologies for the interruption, sir," she spoke quickly, used to Loki's quick temper when he was interrupted. She didn't move from the curtsy or wobble, which was impressive to you, since you'd only learned how to curtsy properly a couple of months ago. "The Queen has requested the presence of Lady Sigyn as soon as she is awake,"
"Thank you. Please tell my Lady Mother that we will be there shortly," Loki replied with a regal inclination of his head, his tone careful and formal. The maid fled to report to the queen.
"I guess we have to get up then," you whined. Loki chuckled, melting from proper courtly prince to your friend and love in an instant. He kissed the top of your head.
"Yes, we do, witchling." You sighed heavily, but climbed out of the plush comfortable bed.
"Thank you, by the way, for last night," you flushed a little at how drunk you'd been and your current outfit of Loki's tunic. You used magic to change into an Asgardian style dress, though with pockets because you really liked having your phone, despite that you had no service here. You grabbed Loki's hairbrush to try to tame the mess your hair had become.
Loki took it gently from your hand. "Allow me, darling," he bid you softly. He made short work of your hair, his fingers practiced and gentle as he braided it into the proper style. When he was finished, you turned to give him a kiss.
*
Frigga was waiting for the two of you in her private chambers. "Good morning, Mother," Loki greeted her brightly when she opened the door. He gave her a hug and kissed the top of her head. You snapped a quick picture. He was adorable in this mood.
"Good morning, darling. I hope the maid did not wake you too early," her voice was gentle and kind, as usual.
"Not at all. I was already awake,"
"Of course you were," she laughed and let the two of you in the room. You dipped the proper curtsy and murmured the proper greeting. Frigga waved your gesture away and hugged you instead.
"No need for such formalities, darling," she bid you as Loki laughed. You glared at him over your shoulder. He was the one who had insisted on learning all of the formalities for the last two months straight.
"The maid did indicate that you wished to see Sigyn this morning?" Loki's tone made the statement a question. He moved to the small table and chairs in the room where there was a breakfast set up and pulled out Frigga's chair and then yours.
"I did wish to see you, Sigyn," Frigga told you conversationally over breakfast. "But we will discuss my son after he is no longer in our company," she gave Loki a teasing smile while he spluttered indignantly. You hid your laugh behind your cup of tea. "In all seriousness, I wish to see your powers, dear. I know Loki has been instructing you on their use, and I am sure he is a capable teacher, but it is my duty as the master magician of the court..." you nodded your understanding. She had to verify you were taught correctly.
"Mother..." Loki's voice was displeased and he was going to protest.
She held up a hand to silence him. "No harm will come to your lady. No harm came to you when I taught you magic, now did it, darling?"
He sighed, but didn't argue any further. "I guess I will have to go annoy Thor while you two are playing with magic without me," he pouted, making you both laugh at him.
"Try not to physically fight him this time. Just because you are displeased that I am holding your lady's attention today does not mean your brother deserves to be stabbed for it,"
"Fine, I will try to restrain from stabbing Thor..." Loki grumbled, though he was happily enjoying the last of his breakfast dessert. You figured he was the only reason there was dessert at breakfast.
"Loki..." you spoke up then. Loki smiled at you mischievously in reply.
"I will only stab him if he deserves it." You gave him a look. He huffed in reply. "I will only stab him if I can justify to you why he deserved it and have you believe it," he intoned, rolling his eyes.
"Good, I hate healing him because you've decided he needs stabbing," you teased him and stuck your tongue out at his spluttering, before you flushed, remembering that you were sitting at breakfast with the queen, who also happened to be his mother.
She just laughed. "I think you truly have found your match, darling," she told him kindly. The dishes vanished when breakfast was over. It happened so fast that you couldn't tell if it was Frigga or Loki who had done it. You suspected Frigga since you knew Loki's magic so well that you thought you'd be able to feel if it was his. "Go annoy your brother for awhile," she bid Loki kindly when you were all back on your feet. He grinned at her in reply.
"Very well, Mother," he replied and kissed her cheek. He turned to you and leaned down to kiss you. You stood on your toes to meet him halfway. It was a chaste kiss, especially in front of his mother, but he seemed reassured by it somehow. He still hesitated.
"Go on, silly Trickster. I'm perfectly safe with your mother,"
"That is what I am afraid of, the two of you alone, witchling," he replied overly dramatically, but he left you in the care of Frigga, while you both laughed at his antics.
You and Frigga made your way to the healing wing. You were shy and nervous around her at first, especially alone with the queen, but she was so kind and gentle that you couldn't help relaxing around her. You did demonstrate your abilities for her and she was pleased with your skill. Her real interests that day were getting to know you, verifying you were a good match for her son, and making sure he was treating you properly. She did show you some new magic Loki hadn't gotten to teaching you yet, and made sure you had texts focused on healing magic. She was also impressed when she goaded you into sparring against her how very much you fought exactly like her and her son.
"He taught you well," she commented, truly impressed.
"He has," you agreed.
You both turned when you heard sounds of intense combat from nearby. Sounds of combat weren't uncommon around here, but those were controlled. This was the rage of a real battle. At the same moment you both summoned daggers to go see what the commotion was. There was a nearly identical sigh from you both when you saw that Thor and Loki were the ones in the intense battle.
"What am I going to do with you?" you commented under your breath, wondering how Loki had gotten into this fight this time. Frigga looked concerned, but unsure how to break this up. "I've got this," you told her, forgetting formality in the situation. You rolled up your sleeves and stepped forward to deal with the boys. You waited for your opportunity, then stomped in between them, holding an arm out to each to stop them. Thor backpedaled quickly and Loki froze. "What are you two doing this time?" you grumbled at them.
"Sig~" Loki protested. You glared at him and he pouted and huffed.
"You promised not to stab Thor," you reminded him firmly. You looked Thor over and removed a dagger from his side, healing the wound quickly a moment later.
"Thank you, sister dear," Thor replied when the wound was healed, but he was looking sheepish.
"And what did you do to antagonize him?" you demanded. Loki wouldn't have broken his word unless Thor had done something. He shuffled his feet.
"He was telling them about the events after we left Asgard last time we were here," Loki snarled. Thor had told them about how Loki had left you. Great.
"Thor!"
"It was a good story!" he protested. You glared at him. That story would hurt you too, not just be embarrassing for Loki. He seemed to finally realize that. "I apologize. I should not have told that tale..." Once he was chastised, you turned your attention back to Loki.
"Whatever am I going to do with you?" you sighed at him and healed the bruises he had gotten from the fight.
"Love me for eternity?" he asked with a small smile, nearly singing the words from the song he loved so dearly. You laughed.
"Come along, silly Trickster, let's see if we can keep you out of trouble for a little while," you took his arm and led him away from Thor, back towards where Frigga was standing watching, evaluating. She looked impressed with how you'd handled them.
"That was impressively done. It is obvious that you care for both of my sons," Frigga told you with such pride that it warmed your heart.
"I do," you replied simply. "Thor became my brother before I even met Loki," you added, not sure if she knew that story. She inclined her head. Thor must have told her.
"Thank you for spending the day with me. I will leave you in my son's care. I need to spend time with Thor while he is here as well," Frigga told you with a smile. You nodded in reply.
"Thank you as well. I look forward to reviewing the texts you sent me." Loki was silently looking sheepish beside you as you held onto his arm. Frigga reached up to touch his cheek. He took her hand with his free one so he could kiss the back of it. With that, she went to Thor and you had a feeling he was going to be in trouble with his mother for antagonizing Loki.
"Did you have a good day?" Loki asked as the two of you strolled back into the palace.
"I did. Frigga was satisfied with my magical knowledge," you told him simply. He huffed and you knew that wasn't the answer that he wanted. He wanted to know why you would be talking about him. You stuck your tongue out at his huffing.
"You are incorrigible," he replied when you still wouldn't tell him.
"I hope you're not just now figuring that out," you laughed. He pulled you into an alcove nearby to sneak a few kisses away from the prying eyes of passersby.
"I love you, my little witchling," he whispered between kisses.
"I love you too, silly Trickster,"