Sigyn was curled up asleep in bed, silk sheets tangled around her, when she vaguely felt something tug at her hair. She groaned as it pulled her out of sleep, but refused to open her eyes. The room was warm and cosy, and she was sure it was too early to get up.
"Loki, stop it," she grumbled.
The tug came again, pulling lightly at one of her golden curls. So she waved her arm in the direction of her husband's side of the bed in hope of swatting her husband away. Her hand didn't make contact though. She hadn't really expected it to, but her half-asleep brain just wished that it would make Loki give up.
It didn't. She shortly felt her hair pulled again, this time a little harder. Starting to get a little frustrated, Sigyn groaned again. Loki knew she wasn't a morning person, so why was he trying to make her get up?
"Loki, I mean it, I don't want to get up yet."
That only made the tugging a little harder and more insistent though. After a solid minute of trying to ignore the persistent hair-puller, Sigyn rolled over and opened her eyes, ready to fix her husband with an exasperated stare. That was what she had meant to do anyway, if it had been her husband that she had found pulling her hair.
When Sigyn opened her eyes she met the gaze of a large black crow, just inches from her face, with a golden curl dangling from it's beak. Before she could even register her surprise, it cawed loudly in her face. Sigyn flinched backwards so hard that she inadvertently pushed herself out of bed and onto the cold floor. All she could hear for the next few seconds was the sound of Loki laughing. Throwing her hair out of her face, Sigyn scowled up at the man standing in front of her.
"You know, for future reference, there are much better ways to wake your wife up in the morning."
Amusement lingering in his voice, Loki replied, "Believe me, I know."
"So why this?"
The God of Mischief didn't answer, he just grinned at her. So Sigyn sighed and pushed herself up off of the floor.
"Some day it's going to be you that's on the floor and I'll get to be the one standing there smiling."
He chuckled.
"I'll certainly be looking forward to your attempts at that."
"Attempts? You think it'll take me more than one try to get you on the floor."
"Undoubtedly."
She frowned a little.
"I'm going to take that challenge, you know."
"I hoped you would," he smiled. "But that isn't the reason I woke you. We're going for a walk."
Sigyn blinked. A walk? A walk at the crack of dawn? Has he gone mad? she thought with a scowl.
"Loki, you do know that it's possible to go for a walk at any time of day?"
She could still see the amusement in his eyes as he said, "That coming from someone who has never taken a step outside this early before means very little, my little Sigyn. Now come, get dressed so we can go."
She raised her eyebrows at him. He was so insistent about this walk; perhaps this wasn't just some morning trick at her expense. Sigyn knew just how to test him though and perhaps to provide her husband with a little morning frustration of his own. She slipped her fingers under the shoulders of her nightdress and pushed the sleeves down, allowing her dress to slip to the floor. She watched Loki's eyebrows raise as his gaze remained fixed on her face, but just shrugged innocently at him.
"I suppose I'll just quickly wash then, if we're going for a walk."
With that she stepped past her husband and into the adjoining room, knowing that he was watching her very intently as she went.
It didn't take Sigyn long to wash. She had washed the night before and was only really doing so again to frustrate Loki. And how she hoped that it had worked. The cool water also helped to wake her, washing the sleep from her body in a more soothing way than a cawing crow had.
When she was done, rather than continue an attempt to figure out Loki's motives for wanting her to be awake, Sigyn used her magic to dress herself quickly. She walked back out wearing a long green dress glinting with gold embellishments, ready for the supposed early morning walk. Sigyn found her husband reading in the dim light of a dozen candles and the warm fire in their living room.
"Please tell me you didn't make me get up this early just to watch you read."
The corners of his lips turned upwards as he looked up from the book.
"Hardly. Besides, I think you'd find that you'd only be watching me try to read..."
She frowned questioningly at him.
"I must have read the same page seven times."
"And why is that?"
He narrowed his eyes and softly replied, "I think you know, little Sigyn."
She smiled a little. So he was distracted. At least she had that small revenge for the crow in her bed.
"You must have gotten me up for something important then, if it stopped you from joining me in the shower," she observed.
"The only shower I would need right now is a cold one. Now come, we don't have much time."
"Time until what?"
Loki didn't answer her; he simply stood, took her hand and started walking out of the room. Every one stride of his was two of hers as he pulled a curious Sigyn along behind him and she struggled to catch up.
It didn't take long before Loki led his wife out of the palace towards its grounds. In the dim blue of the early morning light, Sigyn couldn't see all that much, but she could see enough to know that she'd never been where Loki was taking her. Making use of the quiet places she already knew, Sigyn hadn't really thought to explore the huge grounds and gardens of the palace, so it didn't surprise her that she'd never seen this part of the garden before.
He led her down a thin path under high-reaching golden archways that bridged parts of the palace, tinged a metallic pale blue in the light. They soon passed a number of guards too, but Loki ushered his wife quietly along, certain to not even disturb them.
"Why do I get the feeling we're not supposed to be here?" Sigyn muttered under her breath.
Loki raised a brow and teased, "Does the sight of a few guards make you want to run back to bed, my beautiful wife?"
"No. The fact that the sun isn't up yet does though."
He chuckled and pulled her further down the path as it led away from the palace and into a group of dense trees. In the low morning light, Sigyn couldn't even see the path Loki was taking her down. Her foot snagged on a wayward root and she fell forward, only to have her husband catch her by the waist.
"Careful, little Sigyn," he teased.
The woman just shook her head to herself. She didn't even know how he'd seen her stumble, let alone how he managed to catch her. Minutes later the trees began to part to reveal a paved courtyard hidden amongst them. Lining the edges of the courtyard were tall, stone statues, acting almost like guards against the encroaching trees.
As she and Loki walked around she knew them to be of Valkyries and heroes though she didn't recognise their faces. That didn't make them any less beautiful; whoever had carved them into the stone had done a magnificent job, somehow managing to subtly give each a unique expression or stance. When she could tear her eyes away from the intricate statues, Sigyn turned to a circular building at the end of the courtyard, a tower of sorts that poked out far above the trees.
"What a strange place for a tower," Sigyn murmured.
Loki tilted his head and said, "Let me show you why it was built."
Taking her hand, he led her inside through an open archway. There was nothing inside the hollow tower except a spiralling staircase and a room at it's top. Loki took her up the stairs, making sure that his wife didn't trip. She was prone to that, and he wouldn't have her tumbling down these stairs.
When they came to the room at the top, Loki positioned himself behind his wife. He wanted her to see this in all its glory. Sigyn's eyes glossed over the room, it was empty again. It was obvious that it was what was outside the room that Loki had brought her to see. Through large arching windows was a view of the palace gardens. Even in this pre-sunrise light, she could see so far.
A glimpse of a pale waterfall to the left, a field of flowers - not their field though - far out in front. Past the gardens she could see the glistening city of Asgard over to the right and mountains in the distance. It was stunning. So calm and quiet. Loki always seemed to know these peaceful places, and he always knew that she would love them.
"It's beautiful."
"Not as beautiful as you," Loki said quietly.
He gently pressed a kiss to the top of her head, resting his hands on her shoulders.
"Now watch," he added, nodding into the distance.
They stood together for a while, just looking, watching as the colours grew stronger, tinting any wayward clouds. The treetop silhouettes were soon fringed with golden light and parts of the landscape seemed to almost glisten as the morning sun laid its attention on them. Soon the sky was filled with the reds and oranges of a beautiful sunrise.
Eventually Loki led Sigyn back down to the courtyard and they walked through the statues in the golden light of the morning.
"That was definitely worth getting up for," Sigyn said when she gathered her thoughts.
"I'll remind you of that the next time you try to tell me you don't want to get up."
She shrugged, "Perhaps a hot drink and breakfast would be a more enticing way to convince me to get up than a crow in our bed."
"Less amusing for me though."
Sigyn rolled her eyes.
"Somehow I'm sure you'd find another way to amuse yourself."
He tilted his head and teased, "You know me so well."
"You also may want to try a little harder at convincing me that you don't just want me awake to keep me in bed in the morning if you're going to wake me up so early."
Loki feigned a stunned expression, pressing a hand to his chest.
"I am shocked. What a mind you have, little Sigyn."
She laughed a little, "I know your tricks, God of Mischief. Don't tell me you didn't think twice about your plans this morning."
Loki smirked.
"Why, my dear Goddess of Fidelity, are you trying to suggest that the sight of you, with tangled morning curls and a fresh flush of a recent scare, and of course no clothes, could have tempted me away from my romantic nature?"
She raised a brow.
"Of course not," he grinned.
Sigyn looked doubtful.
"We still have time though," she heard him whisper from behind her.
She turned, only to find her husband in two places at once.
"I really hate when you do this, you know."
"Liar," the two Loki's chuckled.
"True. Though it is impossible to tell which of you is my real husband. Unless I -"
Sigyn reached out with both hands, aiming her palms for the chests of each Loki, only to find that her hands passed through both men.
"Behind you," Loki smirked.
Startled, Sigyn turned quickly - and she quickly lost her footing. She fell backwards, through an illusion of Loki and right into one of the statues. It wobbled slightly before slowly falling to the paved ground with a telltale crack of shattering stone. Sigyn looked around, her mouth hanging open when she realised what she'd done.
Loki says, "Oops... Well you know what the Midgardian's say, 'Red sky in the morning, shepherd's warning'."
He had vanished before she could retort that she was not a shepherd and that this was his fault.
She let out an exasperated huff of air and muttered, "Wherever you are, husband of mine, I'm going to strangle you when I find you."
She was distracted from her annoyance by a voice that was distinctly not her husband's. In fact it was one of the guards that she and Loki had quietly passed on the way to the courtyard.
"Who's there?" he yelled. "This is a forbidden place."
With little hope of explaining her current situation, Sigyn did the first thing she could think of: she ran. Sigyn ran as fast as she could, bunching her dress in her hands so that she wouldn't trip and cursing her husband as she went. Thankfully, the path Loki had taken her down was distinct enough for her to make her way back to the palace, even the dense trees were lightened in the sunrise.
However that also meant that it was distinct enough for the guards to follow her, and she knew that once they'd finished checking the tower then they'd be soon behind her. She ran into a hall, hoping not to meet any other guards along the way. Luckily she didn't, what she did find in the hall was her husband reaching out from a side room she'd never even seen before and pulling her inside with him.
The room was cramped, and was more of a storage cupboard than an actual room. Sigyn was pressed against her smiling husband and could only give him an admonishing sigh in return.
"Thanks for that," she muttered.
"I knew you'd enjoy yourself," Loki grinned.
Sigyn rolled her eyes.
"Why take the clumsiest person you know to a forbidden place with breakable objects?"
"What's life without a little risk and a little fun?"
"And leaving me to face those guards? Was that just for fun too?" she added, her tone chastising.
"I thought you'd enjoy a morning run."
"I should throw you out there for that and let those guards catch you instead."
He took hold of her chin and lifted it gently.
"But you wouldn't do that, would you, little Sigyn?" he mused quietly.
"No," she sighed, "I wouldn't."
He bent his neck and leant down, pressing his lips to hers.
As their lips parted Sigyn added, "This time."
Author's Note: This was written for ChampagneCherie, I hope this cheered you up (and was worth the wait)!