A short and ridiculously cute character study, set immediately after Skadi's marriage to Njord (for anyone who cares about the timeline).
Dreadful Affairs
The dawn fires are already burning in the dappled sky when Sigyn makes her staggering way back from the mead hall. The night has been endless and the prospect of her bed holds little relief; in a few short hours, she will need to wake again and see to the cleaning that always follows a major celebration.
Her eyes flutter closed in a brief moment of exhaustion, and of course that's when she stumbles directly into something solid. At first, she can't even make her bleary eyes open, and she thinks it might have been a tree, though she wonders where it could have come from, and if perhaps it has walked all the way across the plain of Asgard.
Then the tree laughs softly in her ears, and two branches reach out to either side of her arms and steady her.
"You look near dead, Sigyn," says Loki's voice, laughing again.
Sigyn groans and all but collapses against him. "I feel it," she mumbles into his tunic.
Loki hums and rubs circles on her back.
"I hate weddings," Sigyn whimpers. She's afraid she might fall asleep right there in his arms, but Loki doesn't seem bothered.
"Dreadful affairs," he murmurs agreeably.
"Yes." She sighs. "I'm never getting married, Loki. It's awful."
But her last word ends in a snore.
Loki laughs again, softly, and carries her without complaint the last few steps to her mother's hall.