PROLOGUE

Thor's jaw clenched as he stormed down the hall of the Imperial Palace, the All-father's words ringing in his ears.

"If you long to be king, Thor, my son," he had told Thor, smiling kindly as he leaned against the rim of his room's private balcony, "you will need a queen to fit."

A queen. He hardly needed a woman in order to lead Asgard to glorious victories against their enemies! His father planned to bring him to power in the spring of the following year, on the day of Kings. All of Asgard would see him as their new monarch, and the All-father could finally rest from his many years of leadership. The shoes would be great to fill, but Thor was fully confident in his abilities to overtake his father. After all, he had been chosen over his brother, Loki, to succeed Odin when the time was right. He had led the Warriors Three and Lady Sif into many glorious battles. He had proved, time and time again, that he was in control of his power, and had the love of the Asgardians. He had done all of this without a wife, and he saw no reason to change that now.

"Father," he had argued, shaking his head, arms folded over his chest, "I need no woman to rule. Especially one of your choosing-"

His father's laughter cut him off, and he felt his cheeks tint. It might have sounded as though he was being a child, but he felt strongly about his argument.

"I would not have survived as long as I have without the love of your mother," the All-father explained as he nodded back to the room. Inside, his mother sat in a circular chair, her blonde hair swept up elegantly, a needle in her hand as she tended to a torn shirt of his. "A strong man needs a strong woman for guidance, for focus, for support. By doing this, I am only helping you."

Helping. Thor scoffed noisily, ignoring a set of gold-clad guards monitoring the throne room as he continued through the halls of the palace, completely in his own head. How could his father think that by arranging his marriage he was 'helping'? If anything, it made it look as though Thor couldn't find a suitable woman on his own, like he was incompetent. Arranged marriages weren't something out of the ordinary among the families of Asgard, but he knew for a fact that his father hadn't been arranged with his mother, and they were the happiest, most faithful couple he had ever known. Why should his future be any different?

He threw open the doors to the chamber that he and his brother shared and marched in, spotting Loki perched atop his usual sitting chair. When they were boys, this had been their playroom, a spot in one of the higher towers of the palace. It had a glorious view of the city, and as they grew older, it became more adorned with gold and other fineries that their mother thought they deserved. For now, it was still their place, their circular haven with a fire pit in the middle. They used it as a study, a sanctuary, and a place to drink and strategize. There were many other rooms in the palace to socialize, but this had been theirs since they were children.

"So?" Loki inquired, stretching his long legs out in front of him as he set his book down. "What did he want this time?"

Thor plopped himself down in the armchair opposite of his brother, throwing his legs up and over the armrest, "Apparently, I am to be married."

He watched Loki's slim eyebrows shoot up in surprise, and his brother released a chuckle, "What?"

"Apparently," Thor ground out, irritated that his brother seemed to think the notion so comical, "every strong king needs a strong queen, or something to that nature…"

"Ah."

He knew this discussion of kingship would silence his brother, who had been particularly frosty about the subject ever since their father announced his decision some months ago to have Thor become his successor. His brother's moods were so tiresome, and he wished they would go toward something more productive, like congratulating Thor on this gracious honour.

"Marriages also bring political alliances," Thor continued to rant, rolling his eyes as he kicked off his shoes. "Father believes the marriage will also bring us closer to Zeus."

Loki wrinkled his face, "Zeus? The ruler of Olympus?"

"The very same."

"Well," his brother started, shrugging his slim shoulders a little, "I have heard that the man has pretty daughters."

"One pretty daughter," Thor corrected firmly, holding up a finger. They all knew only of Aphrodite and her feminine wiles, particularly her beauty and grace; the goddess' physical prowess was legend, even in Asgard and the Nine Realms, "and she's already married."

"Oh, stop complaining, brother," Loki told him, shaking his head. "How unfortunate for you that father would arrange a powerful connection in which you marry a goddess. So terrible is your fate…" His brother sighed, clearly sarcastic, "It could be much worse."

Thor rolled his eyes again, and Loki leaned forward, his voice dropping a little, "He could have chosen a human. Can you imagine?"

"Come, brother," Thor muttered. "They are not that bad."

"I would gladly marry an Olympian over some small human," Loki scoffed. "Don't let father see you being ungrateful."

"I'm not… I'm not ungrateful," the man grumbled. "Why does he think I can't find my own wife?"

"Experience, perhaps?" his brother mused, picking up his book once more. "I don't understand why you're upset… I would be happy if father found me a bride."

"Father hardly knows either of our tastes in women," Thor said, more to himself than Loki. The fire burned low in the hearth between them, and the light was fading across the city. "You shouldn't read in this light, brother…"

He rose from his seat and sauntered across the space between them, only to frown when he read the title of the book's cover. He then snatched it from the hands of his dark-haired brother, and then held it up for him to view, the pages crushed between his fingers.

"This one is mine," he told Loki, "and you've made me lose my spot."

His brother smirked a little; Thor hated reading, and when he did finally immerse himself in a book, he was truly flustered to lose his place in it.

"My apologies, brother," Loki said as Thor stalked off toward the terrace, intent on finding his spot again. Had he looked back, he would have caught the fierce glare his beloved brother threw in his direction.

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

Hello all! Welcome to my first Marvel fic. Normally, I'm a DC girl, specifically the Batman universe. However, like many it seems, the movies have really sucked me into a world that I used to dismiss because it seemed really complex. I'm starting small with this fic. I haven't decided how long it will be yet, and I'm keeping it in the movie-verse because there is no way I have the ability to write a fanfic right now that focuses on the Thor comic!universe.

Now, I picked Olympus because… hey, it's a cool place, and I'm a huge Greek mythology nerd. I also read somewhere that Asgard was rumoured to have a connection to Olympus. The author of the article said that it might be a fake connection, but what if it wasn't? The characters interact in the comics, so we'll see them interact here because I said so. Yeay AU!

This fic, if you didn't see in the prologue, is set about a year before the Thor movie, a year before Thor is almost made king. I had a lot of fun writing this really short chapter because A) Thor whining deserves a little bit of attention, and B) I think we tend to only see the woman's reaction in arranged marriage fics, and I wanted to first response to this to be from a man's. This will probably be the only Thor-POV chapter I write, but we'll see. As you can see from my other stories, I prefer the baddies, so Loki will be my guy for this fiction.

Also, the title of this fic is from Florence + The Machine's song, Landscape. I love it, and it inspires a lot for this fanfic.

I'll let you guess which Greek goddess Thor is engaged to! She'll be welcomed in the next chapter. Throughout the fic I will always appreciate constructive criticism, as this is my first fic in this genre. That being said, peace and love for all! Keep an eye out for updates in the future!