It had been a very long day.

Of course, there were many of those and Loki wondered just how many of these long days he had left to go before he could spend some real time with his books and with his dear Miss Grace. After Thor and Sif's wedding and the following tour of the realm, he had to explain to Thor just what, exactly, he had done to the filing system for royal correspondence in the king's absence. Not being able to communicate to Thor that the hundreds of letters from well-wishers after the wedding did not deserve the same attention as the letters from various heads of state, he had given up and returned the entire thing to the mess it had been before his brief stint as steward of the throne and Thor had once again been happy.

Handing back the kingdom, however, was not an easy task. Not only did he have to undo his meticulously neat filing system, but he also had to explain to Thor, in detail, every little thing that had happened in other realms that might impact Asgard. It was boring, it was time consuming, and Loki had no need to deal again with matters he thought he had handled quite well- issues such as why six of the courtiers from Vanaheim felt slighted by not having been invited to dance with Fandral. Loki had even managed to keep his response from being too snarky or, as Grace had advised him, from telling the women that they deserved better anyway, don't be disappointed.

It had taken the better part of a week to do all of this and Loki felt like falling over sideways- there was still at least a few days worth of work to be done and he knew at some point he would actually have to talk to Odin, who had been hinting that he wanted to talk to his youngest son for the past few days. While their relationship was far better than it had been in many years, he was not yet sure that he wanted to have a heart-to-heart with his father about his ability to handle the kingdom in Thor's absence.

He was, therefore, a little on edge as he approached the door to the chambers he shared with Grace and did not know what to expect when he heard a low buzz come from the other side of the door just before his hand met the latch. He took a deep breath and stepped inside, hoping that she was not inventing something too devious or that the electric power he had harnessed for her had done something odd. She had, after all, brought back plans from Midgard early on for a Tesla Coil with the sole intent of making it sing. Having read her books on Tesla, Loki was not so sure that this man had been entirely sane and he was also not entirely sure if it was a good idea for Grace to be trying to rebuild his inventions. Loki had told her not to try find the resonance frequency of the palace and then let her experiment, holding his breath. Of course, if she knew every bit of magic he ever experimented with, he figured she would likely want to keep a closer eye on just what he read. So he made no comment about her hobbies, knowing that if he did not, she would not comment on the potential danger of his.

When he opened the door, he saw her perched on the back of a couch facing the sunlight that was streaming through the windows on the far side of the room. She bent down and adjusted something on the couch at her feet and he heard another buzz.

"Gracie, dearest...what on earth are you doing that sounds like a very large, very angry bee?"

She laughed, "No bees- just this!" She held up a guitar and he recognised it instantly as one her brother had bequeathed her, "I've been practicing on and off for years. I finally decided to try to play music instead of trying to learn from all those books I brought back."

"Any luck?"

"Oh my god, you have no idea." She was grinning as she turned around on the couch, her legs swinging over the back. He had no idea how she could balance on it so easily, "Dude, listen to this!" With intense concentration, she began to play, her fingers slowly picking out a tune. She stopped, tried again, and sped up. And again. And a fourth time, finally at the speed she wanted. She was beaming, "Did you hear it?"

He was smiling as he reached her and gave her a peck on the cheek, "Indeed, my dear, your AC/DC. Your brother would be very proud."

"See, you can add another title to the one they use at court- Grace Stark, ladyfriend to the prince, bad-ass rockstar. It's only taken me a couple hundred years, but I can now play Back in Black. Look out, Asgard, here I come!"

"Now we must find you a band."

Her grin was wickedly mischevious as she reached over the edge of the couch and retrieved another instrument, "So...you want to learn to play bass?"