Chapter 1: First Encounter

The dark hair prince let out an exasperated huff as he was forced to accompany his mother to the commoner market. When her mother suggested to do something together he thought she meant another special magic lesson at the outside in the royal garden, never did it came to his mind the Queen was going to drag him to the local market to find some cloth fabrics. It was true this kind of outside expeditions were not a regular thing for the queen, she usually sent a servant for anything she wished, but there were times she needed to take a break from the heavy atmosphere of the palace, and see what the much more humble members of the kingdom were engaging on.

"Why isn´t Thor here?"-the young prince complained.

"Because your brother has not spent the last days locked up in the library"

"I thought you liked it when I spent my time reading"

"I do, son, I am very proud of your rapid progress in you lessons. And love that you spend so much time acquiring knowledge"- The queen expressed sincerely.-"But a boy your age should spend some time outside too"

"I was reading about Asgard´s previous rulers"-Loki argued, pride in his voice.-"I am collecting the knowledge to become a good king"

"I understand. But there is knowledge a good king must obtain from other places that are not books. You need to know the people you will protect. And what better place to do than in here"- Frigga commented nodding to the colorful people in the place.

The prince roll his eyes in disbelief. He did not question his mother´s judgment, but all this seem to him like a plan to make him spent more time outside. He wasn´t particularly fond of populous places, and the crowded atmosphere of the central market made him uncomfortable. Everyone was shouting and running everywhere, and there was also the temperature, winter had sure been ruthless this season, but at least he was heavily dressed. Another thing that bother him was the hour, the place was at its fullest at this time but it was a good thing the royal guards that escort them were imposing enough to make people step aside.

Every stand they passed by, as soon as the owners noticed their royal presence, was put on their best behavior. The royal escort were currently walking through the food section, were the distinctive aroma of fresh bread and fish mixed and swirl in everyone's noses, and Loki immediately knew where his mother and handmaidens where heading. The garments session.

"Mother, please, can´t we go somewhere else?"- The prince frowned, now that they have enter a bright yellow carpet. Everything inside was filled, with different types of fabrics of different patterns that would soon make part of someone´s clothes.

"Now now Loki, it will just be a while"- The queen assured his pouting son.-

"You always say that"- He muttered. Frigga´s gaze soften. He was growing so fast, shortly his boy would reach that beautiful but terrifying stage where he would start becoming a man. The queen´s heart ached every time she remembered these escapades they shared could be one of the few left before his child son start preferring his independence and seeing her company as bothersome. So she couldn´t help but softly hug his son.

"My child, I promise you it will be quick."-Loki did not fought his mother´s embrace, but refused to return it.-"And once we are done we will head straight to the herb section and find what we need to make that shape shifting potion he were working on"

Loki´s eyes brighten at the promise. He looked at his mother, for any signs of empty promises, but he knew there will be none. So he grinned and returned the hug.

"Deal!"

"Great just wait for me here"-She instructed firmly.-"Do not leave until I am finished"

The queen then headed back to her maidens that were now holding different fabrics to compare.

"How do you think, this will look?"

"It will look wonderful your highness."

"I think our tailors could do a wonderful work with it"

"What do you think Loki?"- The queen asked turning around to look at his son.

"You´ll good in anything mother"- Frigga laughed at the flattery. Knowing his son would say anything to leave as soon as possible.

But the younger prince grew bored quickly, and what first looked like a quick visit, soon felt like it would last an eternity. So Loki drifted his gaze in search of something to catch his eye. Outside of the carpet he devised not far from here a big signboard with the words of "divination". Well that had to be more interesting than cloth measures, and as his mother and maidens compared another set of textiles, the prince slowly start head to the much more interesting looking mystic part.

He hide behind the hanging textiles and slowly made his way outside without his mother noticing. Once outside he felt a tap on his shoulder. The prince jumped and when he looked up, he saw Asmund, one of his guards that had stayed outside.

"Your mother said not to walk away"- The guard reminded sternly.

"No, my mother said not to leave without protection"- The prince lied, the guard gave him an incredulous look, but the prince hold his gaze firm. Asmund did not had a reason not to believe him. Out of the two prince brothers, the tall guard always found the youngest the less troublesome. Less being the key word.

"Go back inside"- The guard dismissed, not willing to take a risk.

"It's true Asmund!"- The prince exclaimed.-"You can ask yourself if you want, she is inside with Lady Iona"

The giant of a man, freeze at the mention of the short hair maiden, and his heart accelerated. Poor Asmund, could slice any threat in half with no hesitation, but when it came to women he was an awkward mumbling mess, and Loki had noticed. Oh he had noticed. From the tenseness, to the avoidance of eye contact whenever his mother´s maiden was close. The plotting prince knew one day he would use that weakness to his advantage.

"No. It´s fine. I have no reason to distrust you my majesty"- Loki smirked in triumph and confidently made his way through the market.

Asmund walked behind the prince, his imposing stature and armor, being enough warning to let everyone know not to mess with him or the royal offspring. Loki walked as he was greeted by the merchants and their offers of products. The prince sternly decline. His mind was only in one place. When he reached the magic section, his mood was much more gleeful and his interest was picked. There was every kind of merchandise to offer, books, herbs, material to make potions and even some bottles full with elixirs and spells. He knew a lot of them were not real and only fools bought them, but a lot of the species and herbs were useful and just what he needed. He however decided not to buy them until his mother was back with him

So instead he instead look for the divination carpet.

It turned out to be more than one, a lot of people claim to know and be able to see the future. Most were women, some old and scary looking, some more young and tempting looking. There was the occasional man who claim to know the truth. All were in very elaborated carpets or stands, with different kind of decoration in displace, that vary from skulls, flowers, vases and even dead animals.

"Come here your majesty, I´ll tell your future."

"My prince come inside, I´ll read the runes"

"Be careful prince, most of them are nothing but liars preying on the ignorance"- His guard warned. Loki rolled his eyes. As if he didn´t know already.

"Are you calling me ignorant?"- He asked.

"Of course not!"

"Then you should know, I know better"- The prince retorted in a presumptuous tone. Asmund refrained from answering back, not feeling in the mood to argue with him.

Loki continued observing all the supposed witches and prophets until he reached the carpet that had the sign he had read from across the other side of the market. It was large, covered by bright orange silk. The wood plank above the entrance read "Lady Vada, all seeing mistress of time". The tittle sounded impressive enough and the boy was about to enter the carpet, when he noticed a much less impressive stand beside.

It was nothing but a small wooden table, with three cups in it. There was a girl sitting in the floor, she being the obvious owner. The sign in the table read "win a price" although there was some obvious misspellings in the last letter, Loki could only suppose she was illiterate.

"Come and win a prize! Play a game win a wonderful jewel! For only one coin of silver!"- The voice was loud and high pitch trying to win any of the customer's attention, by the look of it she wasn't very lucky as most paid nothing but an annoyed glance.

The girl was about his age, she had bright and messy reddish hair, and her eyes were a shade of hazel and freckles where prominent in her face. She was also bony, very underfed. Loki felt bad for her who knows how long she had been leaving in the streets. The girl noticed him watching her, and her hazel eyes lit up.

"Hey boy! Come over here, wouldn´t you like to win a price?"

Loki was startled by the sudden attention, but his curiosity was caught and he wanted to know what was so valuable that the girl had to offer. So he approached her while she gave him a grin. Asmund remained by the big carpet entrance, not wanting to intimidate the young girl who was only trying to earn her food.

"What is this price you talk about?"- Loki asked curiously, kneeling in front of the table, placing his knees in the purple worn out cushion.

"Well I am glad you ask, you see this cup right here?"- She glance at the middle wooden cup-"There is a price right here"

She lift the cup to reveal a bright and very real looking emerald.

"Is that real?"-The prince asked in surprise, not expecting her to have such a valuable possession. Most likely a stolen piece of jewelry or maybe a family inheritance.

"Of course is real silly boy! Not even the queen has this pretty jewelry. Only the best is got from master Ereida!"- The confident tone and the casual insult, startled Loki. He was confused now, was she not aware she was speaking to the prince of Asgard?

"Oh I apologize boy, have I insult you?"- She said mockingly.-"I think you are not use to be called that way in your rich home. Is the giant over there your guard?"

"Yes"- He smirked.-"And he will crush your hands if you insult me again"-

"Alright, Alright my apologies then"- She rise her hands humorously. She definitely was not aware of his royal tittle, and Loki thought it would be fun to see how he would be treated without having it attach.-"But please take a closer look at it!"

The prince reached to grab the gem, but it was quickly covered again by the wooden cup, almost snapping at his fingers.

"I said look, not touch"- She smirked presumptuously. Loki glared at her and scoffed.

"I took a look and I am not impress"- He yawned, looking bored but holding a grin when he saw the offended look in the her face..-"Perhaps I should try my luck with Lady Vada"

"Oh please she can´t predict shit"- She said brashly, taking the prince by surprise. Ereida glance at the bigger carpet with disgust, and got closer to him, enough to whisper.-"Between you and me, she is a phony, she just makes weird sounds and tells you what you want to hear, none of her is real. Neither her spells, her prediction or her potions except perhaps her magic scrolls"

"Magic scrolls?"-He asked his interest picked.

"Ah you like magic? Yes she has some stolen magic scrolls, of different kind of spells, dark spells, she even got one about how to bring the dead back to life. I heard she stole that one from a necromancer"

Necromencer! Loki´s heart accelerate with excitement. He had always been curious about the type of magic that would take to bring someone back from the dead. Hi mother of course always prohibited him to search for that kind of knowledge, at least until he was old enough to understand the consequences or whatever. But the morbid curiosity always remained on him.

Ereida noticed his interested and smirked.

"Of course none that is available to sell"- She said.-"But, perhaps I can help you"

"What?"

"Well seeing how you are not interested in my gem. We can change the stakes. You win me on my game I will steal those scrolls and give them to you. I mean is not stealing if they were already stole? Am I right?"

"What if you win?"- The prince asked suspiciously.

"You give me 20 silver coins!"- The redhead exclaimed, placing a fist against the table.

"That is awfully a lot"-

"Well the risk is awfully big, come one rich boy are you afraid I will outsmart you?"

"Of course not!"- The prince grinned confidently.-"What do I have to do?"

"Is easy, I hide the gem beneath the cup, I move them. You have to guess where the gem is."- Loki nodded. The game was easy, he had played it before with Thor when they were younger. His older brother was no match for his skilled eyes, and neither was this obnoxious girl.

"Let's play two out of three"- She suggested.

"Fine"

"Great, now let´s start, and I warn you I am quite fast with this"-The redhead said as she hided the green gem on the third cup, and quickly began to move the cups. Loki observed intently her movements. He had to admit they were quite fast, but not as fast as others he had seen, so he easily kept track of the gem. After a few moments she stopped. "Alright let´s see if you are sharp enough"

Loki looked carefully at the three cups and chose the first.

"This"-He pointed and observed the discomfort on the girl´s face. She slowly removed the cup and the gem was effectively there.

"Well…I see you are good at this…"-Ereida muttered bitterly, and Loki smirked.-"Let´s see if you are as lucky next time…"

The girl hide the gem back inside the cup but this time tried to be a more quickly. Loki noticed the frustration on her face and movements, as she tried to make it more difficult to him, but again he easily kept track of the gem. And by the time she was done he knew exactly where the gem was.

"There"-Loki said pointing at the second cup. He smirked at the frown in the girl´s face. He had easily won. He was going to get those necromancy scrolls. The blonde hesitate, but finally pulled the cup up and revealed the gem was not there Now it was she who was smirking at Loki´s stupefied face.

"Aww look at that, it looks like I win this time."-The blonde smiled mockingly at him.

"That is impossible, the gem was clearly supposed to be in there!"-The prince argued both in astonishment and anger.

"Well maybe you aren´t that good after all, see if you can win the last one"-She challenged and Loki glared at her, determined to remove that cocky smile.

The redhead starts moving the cups at the same speed she did in the last, and this time Loki focus all his attention on her hands, careful into not losing sight of the cup. The gem went left, then right, then middle, then right, then middle again. Loki did not lose track of it. Not even once.

By the time she was done she looked at him and smile. She put both of her hands on her cheeks and waited for him to choose.

"Come on boy. Choose what not so confident now?"- She taunted but Loki smirked at her.

"You are the one who won´t isn´t going to be confident anymore, I choose this"-Loki said as he pointed to the third cup.

"Loki!"- The prince stiff at the undeniable angry voice of his mother. He turned around, she and all the royal escort a few feet away. Loki turned to look at Asmund who in turn gave him the same alarmed look.

"Ereida"- Another voice came, and a voluptuous and scandal clad woman came fuming out of the tend, almost pushing away the guard.-"What did I told you about getting my things!"

Both Loki and Ereida stood up in respective alarm. There sudden movement, knocking over the small table, and making everything fall. Both too preoccupied with their respective problems paid no attention, but shared look. The girl was soon grabbed by the arm by the woman.

"I didn´t take anything!"- She complained trying to get out her grasp.

"Where is my cushion then!?"

"Loki!"- He heard his mother again, and soon Asmund was at his side gently pushing him away.

"Majesty we need to go!"

"Majesty?"- The woman turned to look at the child and her eyes widen when in a blink she had all the royal escort, the prince, and the queen of all people in her place.

"Loki!"- Frigga called once he spotted his disobedient son.-"What did I told you?!"

"Your majesty!"- The woman said in a delight tone, putting herself in front of Ereida.-"I am Lady Vada I am so sorry we did not realize your son was here!"

Soon pretty much the game was left forgotten in the floor. Ereida was sent off to the tent, Frigga had no idea what happened but she was tired and preferred to leave a soon as possible to have a talk with his son. In between the mess and the curious crowd forming between everyone. Loki lost sight of the girl, and after some cordialities, some talks and some coins. He was his way back to the palace. The game forgotten and the winner unknown and his price unclaimed.

OOO

Back in the palace, after Loki was given a slight scold for getting away and lying to one of his guards. The queen and he were back at the garden inside the greenhouse, where they kept their herbs. Frigga was working on a potion, but Loki was not putting attention to it. His mind long gone to the land of possibilities. What if he had actually won the game? What secrets would that scroll unleashed? Would had he dare to try that magic?

"You are awfully quiet son"- His mother commented.-"Is something wrong?"

"It´s nothing"-Loki commented trying to absently mimic his mother´s instructions.

"Loki"- Frigga pressed..-"You can tell me"

"Well it's just! I´d been thinking…-The prince started off.-"Why don´t we have necromancy books?"

"Why would you want books about that type of knowledge?"-The queen asked seriously.

"I don't want to practice them. I am just wondering why there is none. Not even for us and we have access to a lot prohibited writings…Is not like that magic its possible anyway isn't it?"-Loki asked thinking back at the girl´s words.

"Magic like that is possible, take the Eternal Flame in your Father´s trophy room. It can bring the dead back to live but never the same as they were before. There are ways, but well is not wise to mess with what is gone, one always end up losing more. That's why Your Father prohibited that type of knowledge and practice a long time ago"

"So there was information before?"

"Yes"- Her mother´s answer was hesitant.

"And what happened?"

"Your father realized the danger"- Frigga not comfortable anymore with the subject decided to change it.-"Well changing of subject, do you think you are able to shapeshift?"

"Of course!"

OOO

As the sun start to set everyone in the market began with the removal and put away of their stands, tends and products. Fishes were put back to barrels. Fruit was put back to sacks, and tents were put down. Not much was to do for little Ereida, as she just took the few coins she won and took her table.

But the wooden table was rudely taken away from his hands, by one of Lady Vada´s large dumb sons: Canute

"Hey give it back that's mine!"- She exclaimed, but as she was distracted with the table another large hand took her bag with her coins.-"HEY that's mine!"

"No its ours, you got to pay us for letting you stay!"- Colborn, his other larger and even dumber brother commented. He took the bag and emptied it in his large hand, taking all the coins with him.

"That´s more than the regular quote!"- Ereida argued and tried to take her money back, but was easily pushed away but the larger man.

"Well we got to charge you some damage control for the scene you made with the prince."- Lady Vada said and Ereida glared at her as the woman count the money, her money. As if the woman didn't had enough already, she might be a fake sorceress but she was a good looking one, and Ereida knew it was not for her supposed premonitions the drunk men entered her tent.

"I didn't knew he was the prince"- Ereida huffed and Vada laughed.

"Are you stupid?"-She asked. "Even Canute knows the prince when he sees it"

"I thought he was blonde"- Ereida retorted confused.

"That's the older you stupid"-Canute mock as he hit the back of her head.-"Where your parents retarded? Did they drown you in the lake? Or all the people in Vanaheim idiots?

Ereida glared at the dumb giant as his idiot brother laughed.

"Listen runt" – Vada continued.-"I let you stay here out of pity, but you pull one of those numbers again and I will rip your hair and sell it a potion. Now leave"

Ereida only cursed her words in her head, as she grabbed the loaf of bread she had bought before they took away her money. She was about to give it a bite when it was snatched away from her.

"Oh no I am taking this as well"- Canute said, and Ereida watched as his disgusting mouth took a bite.

"Are you joking? It's all I have for dinner!"

"Well better start looking for crumbs in the floor"- Vada commented as she place Ereida´s coins on her bigger bag and set it to put it inside the valley of her breasts. And Ereida had enough of her behavior, and enough of their stupid sons. A place in the market was not worth all this bullshit. And with determination she did what she thought was the best. She gave a kick to Canute´s leg shin, with her boney but pointy knee. And while he recoil in pain she ran towards Vada and punched her in the tit. She let her money bag fall but Ereida was able to catch it. And knowing she had probably committed the third third stupid thing of the day and the probably the second most stupid of her life she ran, she ran as fast as her lanky legs allowed her.

"Get her!"- She heard the mother say.

Ereida ran from the angry looking brothers. Her skinny legs skipped every obstacle of the moving people who were caring their merchandise. She couldn´t help herself but knock a few couple of things in her way. She listened to the angry yells and calls at her, but she was more afraid about what that brutes would do to her neck with their fat hands.

Canute was big in size but his weight would never allow him to catch up with the lightweight girl. That was not going to stop him so he call for a few friends to join him. Before Ereida realized it was now six big angry men chasing after her.

"Come back here!"- They called.

She did not care, she had soon left the market, but they were still after her and as the day got darker, it became harder for her identify her location. She turned and skip every corner until she found herself at the outsides of the palace. The brutes were not very far from behind. Scare to know what they would do, she forced herself to climb the vines in one side of the walls surrounding the back of the palace gardens

"Hey get down here!"- They threatened as they saw her climb the wall. They were tempted to chase after her, it was not like they couldn´t, but they were not stupid enough to try and break on the palace´s gardens, especially not when the clear sound of the clack of armored steps was heard not from afar. They had heard the yells

"Let´s get out of here"- And soon they left.

Ereida was still running across the gardens, trying her best to evade anyone´s gaze. The sun was set already, and as she hide beneath the bushes and saw the amount of guards searching the place she realized she was trapped for the night, outside, in the cold weather. She felt tears forming in the back of her eyes, knowing she would probably not survive the night outside.

But then her eyes darted to an open window in one of the palace´s walls. The height was not that lethally high. There was enough stones protruding from the wall to help her climb. A grin of victory spread in her face, and she heard the guards leave, she knew she might as well be save for the night. She only felt bad for the poor, poor fool she would come across in that room.

OOO

Loki sighed as he finished reading another book, and not ready to go to sleep yet, he stepped away from his bed and head straight to the library, not bothering to turn off the light in his room or close the window of his room. Security never bother him, it was after all a high enough height and had no balcony he doubt anyone was stupid enough to try and climb it…

ooo

AN: I wanted to make this a long time ago. Writing young Loki is such a joy. I hope you enjoy this story, probably will be much shorter than my other Thor one. It's all Pre-Thor and most likely will stay that way, but characters will age eventually.