Kisses and Colds
Sif found herself wandering aimlessly through the palace of Odin. Usually she had some sort of purpose to attend to in her home but it was different these past couple of days. Thor had left with Odin and the warriors three to go and negotiate peace with a new realm apparently however they frowned on women warriors and so Sif was asked to stay behind. She had found though that she was not the only one left in the halls of Odin but the second son himself also remained. He however had a more obvious reason for staying, an illness. Loki had caught a rather comical cold. Every time he sneezed or coughed his magic would release in a cloud around him and change either he or something on him to a new form. The possibilities were endless and at one point Loki was seen running from a rather hungry looking lioness that he claimed had once been his blanket.
Sif decided that peaking in on the second Prince was better than some of the other things she could find to do. Her weapons and armor were already so polished that should she step out in the sun with them someone would undoubtedly be blind. Her knifes, swords, and ax had already been sharped and her horse groomed until the mare felt tempted to kick Sif to make her leave. So Sif made her way to the part of the castle that housed the royal family.
It was not hard for her to find Loki's room since she used to spend her childhood days their after her parents had passed. She and Loki were actually the first to be friends rather than the common assumption of she and Thor. After Odin had invited the orphaned girl to stay in his palace Loki had taken it upon himself to cheer her up. At first the task seemed impossible and it took him only two weeks to give up but eventually she sought him out and asked him to read to her. The two spent many nights asleep over books or each other. Nights like that might have gone on forever if Odin hadn't thought it inappropriate once Sif began to show more womanly qualities. It was at that point that Odin had ordered his oldest son to begin escorting the Lady Sif back to her own room after a strict curfew of nine or ten if the two younger teens could keep him confused.
Unfortunately for Loki and Sif's friendship however Odin had become more and more wary of what the two were doing behind closed doors. He eventually ordered Thor to sit in with them and that was when Sif befriended the elder son as well. That alone did not turn her affections from Loki, that would have been petty, but when Thor began asking the two to do their reading outside so he may practice, well Sif fell in love with swords and abandoned the books for them. She never knew that by choosing an object to adore more she also choose the brother that went with it.
"Loki," Sif knocked gently on the door worried that now may have been one of the few moments that he may have been blessed with sleep. When he did not answer she sighed and walked from the door. Only two or three steps away she heard a loud thump against the door. She rushed back and knocked quietly before opening the door. "Loki!" she gasped seeing him constricted by a very large anaconda. She ran at the large beast and tore into it with her nail prying it's scales from his mouth. "Say something," she groaned using all her strength to keep his mouth free.
"Revert," he groaned and the large snake instantly turned into the canopy that usually hung over his four-poster bed. The Prince and Lady Warrior also fell to the floor, the Prince from exhaustion and the Lady Warrior from her lost footing.
"Lucky I decided to stop by," Sif smiled at Loki as she stood.
"Indeed," his voice didn't have its usual bite to it. Instead it sounded rather defeated and definitely exhausted.
"Let me help you," Sif offered helping him stand from the floor and gathering his frail body up in her arms. She set him back into his bed before retrieving the piece of cloth that just tried to kill him. She went to work readjusting the material until it looked just as it had before.
"All better," she announced happily. She looked at Loki concerned as he huddled beneath his blankets. "Loki are you sure it's safe to be alone?" she asked. "I mean if I hadn't come in that snake might have killed you."
"I'm fine," he said in a nasally voice.
Sif sighed dealing with the God of Mischief never had been an easy task luckily she was well trained for the occasion. "Loki I know you're perfectly fine alone in here but I'd feel so much better if you allowed me to stay and make sure. For my own peace of mind," she said as sincerely as she could.
He pondered for a moment before allowing his mouth to been seen from beneath the covers once more. "Very well, since it will ease your anxiety."
Even while sick his answers were snobbish and superior. Sif rolled her eyes and took a seat in the large plush armchair he kept in his room for reading. She picked up a book that was near it and examined the cover.
"Sif," he called timidly.
"Yes?" she asked setting the large book in her lap.
His cheeks were flushed and she couldn't tell if perhaps he was developing a fever or if he was blushing. "Would you read to me," he mumbled.
She smiled kindly to hi but knew better than to make any comment about his request. She picked the book up from her lap once again and began to read to the prince.
#
"They've fallen asleep here father I'm sure nothing of consequence happened." Sif's heavy mind stirred as she thought she heard Thor's voice. "Sif is a lady of honor and Loki is too studious for his mind to even begin thinking of such things."
"Perhaps," Odin replied.
"I assure you father it is as innocent as it appears," Sif chose that moment to yawn and allow her eyes to flutter open.
"Hello," she mumbled observing Thor standing above her with the All-Father close by.
"Good morning Lady Sif," Thor greeted enthusiastically. "I had gone searching for you in your own chambers when we arrived only a hour ago but found you to be gone. I figured you had gone out to train but was quiet surprised to find you curled up in my brother's room when I came to check on him."
"I saved him from a snake," she said rubbing sleep from her eyes. Sif had always been rather childish after just waking. She kept about her odd tendencies such as speaking softly, and in very short sentences, among other things like yawning often and shuffling her feet when she walked.
"Quiet valiant of you," Thor assured. "Might I ask where it has gone to?" he looked around expecting to see the carcass of such a defeat nearby. Sif pointed to Loki's canopy and rubbed her eyes once more. "Sif that is drapery," Thor said.
"His cold sneezed it here," she said sitting up fully and Thor laughed as her hair stuck out in all directions.
"So much noise," a grumble came from the bed.
"Brother," Thor greeted.
"It would be my misfortune that you should return when I was bed ridden and sleeping," Loki complained.
"How are you," Sif asked suddenly more awake.
"What are you still doing here?" Loki asked shock evident in his voice.
"I kept reading to you even after I heard your breath even out because I was afraid that if I stopped you would wake again, I must have fallen asleep while reading."
"Thank you for staying," he said blushing a bit.
"How do you feel today?" Odin asked stepping in between Loki and Sif.
"I feel much better father," Loki said yearning to see Sif again.
"If you feel better then you aren't staying in bed anymore," Sif announced making her way to his closet. "You'll put on clothes and join us at breakfast." She moved a few things around before finding something that she was sure Loki would approve of. "Here you are," she laid the outfit down on his bed for him. "I will go get changed myself and see you in the dinning hall. Come Thor," Sif summoned as she exited the room. Thor stayed by her side while Odin went a different way.
"My father was quiet displeased to see you in my brother's room Lady Sif," Thor spoke cautiously.
"Your father has never approved of my friendship with your brother and it has always baffled me as to why," Sif stated.
"Well I had the same feelings as you my lady, so while we had been on the journey I made an inquiry." Sif groaned inwardly, before at least she could plead ignorance to the All-Father's wishes but that would no longer be the case.
"And what did he tell you?"
"When he first offered to shelter you here he had the intention that you would become my bride," Thor said looking down at his companion nervously. Sif did not know before this moment that Thor was capable of nerves.
"I see," Sif said moving things around in her head. Thor was not a bad man, he was quiet attractive, very strong, he could support her and he seemed to genuinely care for her.
"What are your thoughts my lady?" Thor asked eagerly. Sif was immediately on edge, a deal must have been made between father and son if Thor was asking her opinion. She must learn more before she surrendered so quickly.
"I haven't had the necessary amount of time to think on it," Sif said. She saw Thor's face floor with sadness instantly. He had hoped the news would bring her great joy and celebration but instead he was disappointed by her answer. "I'm sorry Thor," Sif slipped inside her room and closed the door behind her.
"My brother fancies you," Sif nearly jumped into the roof at the sound of a voice from her room. "My apologies, I did not mean to scare you my lady."
"Loki," Sif smiled kindly at him. "You really are feeling much better then," she was pleased to see him using magic again, it meant he felt like he was in control over it once more.
"My brother, for all intensive purposes he just asked for your hand in marriage," Loki repeated his previous statement.
"Yes I was there," Sif said walking towards her wardrobe.
"You did not answer him," Loki observed.
"Nothing gets past you Loki," Sif said choosing a pair of lose slacks and dark practice shirt.
"Why did you not answer him?"
"Because I believe my heart may already be in the possession of another and I cannot give him what I do not have."
"My brother will never understand such a complex answer," Loki said still perched on her bed.
Sif sighed and faced him, "it is not my concern if your brother understands it or not it is simply the facts Loki. I am no longer in possession of my own heart and I'm not sure that I have been for quiet some time," she always became exasperated when speaking to him.
"When did you lose it then?" Loki asked.
Sif had a small curiosity as to why he didn't ask whom she had lost it to but perhaps he already knew. "I believe I entrusted it a long while ago to a boy who used to read to me. I was glad to be able to return the favor just last night." She didn't look away from Loki as she confessed herself to him. She wanted to see his face, but as she had guessed before her news didn't seem to be much of news to him.
"I see, I enjoyed your reading last night Sif, I am quiet pained to learn I fell asleep during it and missed quiet a bit after it."
"Perhaps I can read to you another night," Sif offered.
"Yes perhaps," he said moving from her bed over to her. "I would quiet enjoy listening to you read every night."
"Every night?" she questioned. "You'd think some nights we could find something else to do," she smiled up at him in a suggestive way.
"The reading material doesn't always have to be purely scholarly, it is my understanding that there are many books based on the topic of which you currently allude."
"I think we should write our own book on such a topic," Sif said as Loki rested his hands on her hips.
"I believe that would require a lot of research my dear," he said.
"Well I'm your willing guinea pig then," she cooed as his head tilted down towards her. It took only a few seconds for Loki's lips to travel the distance between he and Sif. How ironic it was that his father was worried about all the time she spent in his room but on his first visit to her's his father's fear was finally realized.