I couldn't get this story out of my head and I had to write it down and post it. I hope you enjoy.

Val

P.S: Rosenrot means Rose-red in German. It's also one of my favorite Rammstein songs that seem to fit the story.


He remembered the first time he saw her. He was eight and she was seven. Odin, his father, met with her father, in Odin's palace. There was already a discussion of uniting the two families through their marriage. Loki would possibly be king and by his side he needed a queen.

A queen must be strong, intelligent, strong, obedient, modest, quiet, but knows when to voice her opinions. It was expected that she bore him children for a successor to the throne. Iwaldi and his wife Freya had a daughter only a year younger than Prince Loki, but her name was as ambiguous as his future with her. Odin sat upon his golden throne, his son stood to his right proud and strong, nodding to Iwaldi as he entered alone. He wasn't a young man. He was very old and aged since their last visit when Loki was still young. The old man wanted to ensure the well-being of his family with his death. Loki looked in each corner of the palace in search of his wife to be. The mere image of being married to a girl at his age was repulsive. And even if he indulged in the notion of marrying a girl, they all laughed at his small stature compared to his brother Thor.

Odin looked up at his son. The two eyes met and Loki nodded to his father, swallowing the anticipation to see who this girl was. He wondered whether she would have pig tails, or wore her hair down. Would it be straight or curly? Would it be yellow as wheat or dark as the night sky? He was lost in his own thoughts once again. He could spend hours searching for an answer in his own head instead of speaking to others around him. The negatives would be his lack of awareness of his surroundings. He didn't hear the sound of wet bare feet enter the confines. He saw a flash of dark auburn hair brush past him and his arm felt wet. The girl was short for her age, with wet hair sticking to her shiny arms and in a peach tunic reaching to her red and scratched knees. She sat at the bottom of the stairs near Loki. She was holding sweets and threw them in her mouth. She placed her index finger to her pink lips and motioned Loki to remain quiet as she sucked on the candy.

A woman with blonde hair pulled up into a messy bun followed after her with balled fist and heavy feet. Odin cleared his throat and order slowly returned. The woman bowed her head and waited for her King's approval. Loki smiled at Odin. He was merely a boy, but his bones were antsy to be sitting on the seat of power.

"My king," She spoke in a tense voice as if trying to remain calm despite her own irritation. Her blue eyes were planted on the girl licking the sticky goo left behind on her fingers. "I apologize for my daughter's-"

She hesitated as her eyes gazed over the girl. She kicked her legs and swayed her head along to an imaginary rhythm. Loki's eyes gazed over her legs as they opened and closed. The woman continued.

"-Disordered appearance." She finished. Iwaldi sighed and placed his hand to his wrinkled forehead. The woman continued to explain. "She ran in the garden and she was swimming in the fountain. Though my orders were clear, she disobeyed and shall be punished at once."

"Me?" The girl asked. Loki's eyes widened as he was taken aback by her voice. She didn't have the voice of a child, but of a grown woman. It was dipped in honey and cooled by smoke from the ember of burning incense.

"Yes, my daughter," Iwaldi said slowly in an airy voice as if he were talking to a lunatic. "You disobeyed, remember?"

"Sweeties, father?" She said, holding out her sticky hand as evidence.

"No sweeties." He shook his head at her with a forced indignant smile.

Loki watched her carefully. She did nothing to defend herself. Instead of pleading her case as he or his brother would do, she looked at Loki with her chin on her open palms. The two engaged in a staring contest. Loki wasn't willing to lose and neither was she.

"Freya," Iwaldi spoke, not looking at her as the woman bowed her head. "Make our daughter immaculate once more so that she may be presentable in front of our king."

"Yes, my husband." Freya responded, taking the girl roughly by the arm and dragging her from Loki. The girl turned her head and stared at him until she was well enough out the golden door and down the hall. Iwaldi nervously cleared his throat. "My greatest apologies, my King," He said in a bow. "Children, they are always longing for the outdoors."

Odin nodded, but did not speak a word. He cleared his throat to grasp the attention of his son and away from the empty corridor. Freya and the girl came back after several agonizingly silent minutes. The older woman's lower jaw was poked forward and her smile was one out of politeness, but her eyes on her daughter told another story. The girl's hair was dry and pulled up into a curly bun and she wore a light blue tunic and brown sandals. The girl had her hands behind her back and her head directed toward the floor. She swayed uncomfortably and hummed to herself. Freya exhaled heavily through her nostrils and pinched the skin of the girl's arm. Finally, she looked up and stared at Loki.

Iwaldi motioned his daughter forward, taking her hand in his. His grip was gentle, but firm. "My King, Prince Loki," He said nodding to each one of them. "I present to you, my daughter, Sigyn."

Sigyn blinked at the two of them until Freya's throat gave a loud rough sound and her hands were placed upon her hips. The young girl bowed her head and held her hand out. Her arm was stiff and her eyes drifted to the other side of the room. It was all so rehearsed. Loki took her hand in his. He frowned at her soft small hand as if bugs had burst from her skin and crawled up her arm. He looked to his father who nodded. Loki sighed and bowed forward to kiss her hand.

The girl cackled. He had never heard that particular wicked sound come from someone so small. There was something behind it. A grown woman with a case of hysteria would utter that sound. Her pink tongue was clenched between her white teeth as she laughed. Freya made a noise of dismay as the two children stepped away from one another

"She is beautiful." Odin remarked. "She is small in stature, but curious and sovereign."

Iwaldi smiled proudly and nodded to Freya. She took the children one on each hand and led them outside of the throne room.

"Come along," she spoke to Loki in a voice so genuinely sweet it felt as good as the praises he received from his parents. Freya smiled down at Loki, but pulled her daughter along with a heavy hand and a mumbled threat. She was captivated by the high ceilings and the guards standing at attention, so she stopped to look at them. Loki would've stopped too if he didn't fear Freya would slap Sigyn. When they finally walked into the bright afternoon sun they were left to run in the wild. Freya released their hands and wandered away, and then the two children were alone.

When her mother was nowhere in sight through the tall grass and beds of flowers, Sigyn immediately reached for her sandals and ripped them off her feet throwing them in the grass before taking off running. Loki watched her hair fly free from its pins and binds, soaring through the wind and tangling itself together in a mess of curls. She looked behind her back and walked up to him.

"What is it?" Loki finally asked.

Sigyn tapped his arm and started to run through the grass. She checked behind her back again and crossed her arms and pouted her lips before marching back.

"Play with me!" She exclaimed at him, stomping her foot. She tapped him on the arm again and jogged away from him. Loki sighed and made a halfhearted effort to chase was fast with strong legs for one so small. She made quick turns, leaped over high waves of grass and every so often she would stop to make a face at him and take off once again. Loki grew tired of her games and with a wave of his hand the grass lifted from its root in the ground to wrap around her ankles like a rope. Sigyn fell flat on her face, her legs sprawled out and her arms bent. Loki's stomach dropped. The girls he tried to play with would cry loudly and there would surely be a punishment for him.

He knew that after dinner, his mother would take him by the hand with an apple and a slice of bread wrapped in white cloth. She'd wipe the tears from his cheeks and rub his aching back.

"You cannot play with girls the same way you play with boys," she would explain. "Girls are fragile. You must treat them like glass. Do you understand?" He'd nod and she would kiss his forehead and place the napkin on his lap.

He knelt beside Sigyn and shook her hand. When she didn't move he held her hand up and let it drop limply to the ground. Loki was determined not to panic. She barely fell, she couldn't be dead. He pushed aside her halo of hair and saw a brown eye peaking at him. She cackled and pushed him on his back, holding him down by the arms.

"I fooled you." She laughed and took off running again.

"You cheated!" He called after her as he made an effort to chase her around the grass and to the rose garden. She fell in the roses and wrestled with him. She was as rough as Thor, putting him in a headlock until he reached behind her and grabbed her by the side. She cackled again and fell on her back with her knees bent and spread. Loki lied beside her with his hand close to hers.

"We are to be married."

"I know." She said. "I pity you."