[Pre-Movie, reinterpretation of Marvel comic events]
Little is written of Sigyn in the myths, but she is nonetheless adored as the faithful wife of Loki. They had been a couple when they visited earth long ago, but that was in the past. Now she is engaged to Theoric their wedding is on the way, but as the day draws closer she fears her marriage will not be without without mischief.
To Lose Fidelity
Chapter 1: Primroses
He promised he would only partake in one round with his friends, and then he would show Sigyn the library. Her cousin intended to give her a grand tour of the city. To help her adjust moving into Asgard's center kingdom. Sigyn was happy he would help her become familiar after moving in so soon, but they had crossed paths with his schoolmates who tempted him with a challenge.
A small swordplay between friends and then he would show her the library, Fandral reassured her. But that one casual joust between his friends grew into a small competition as they gained attention at the park. Fandral has a weakness to better his swordsmanship by accepting every challenge, and once he tousled his blonde hair and winked to a young lass; Sigyn knew she was here for the long run. Tired of standing she turned with a small huff, and excused herself out of the watching young crowd.
I'll be lucky he remembers to take me at all, she thought.
But Sigyn could wait, she felt she had waited forever to leave the remote countryside of Breidablik and return to Asgard, her birthplace. Sigyn had only been a baby when they left, but she has been overwhelmed with excitement the moment she first saw the golden city rise like the sun on the horizon. She filled with wonder walking into her family's house nestled high in a cliffside above the cityscape. The room her parents had chosen for her, where she could see everything even the castle from her window. No longer will she be home schooled, for soon she will be attending an academy with others her age. No more will she be under the constant attention of her parents, for they had other family and friends in the city to meet with. Sigyn, a young girl just outside her teens, felt wholeheartedly that everything is just ahead of her. And she could wait past a sword match for it to begin.
Sigyn walks towards a well-shaded area a short distance from the duel. A place Fandral could find her if he should remember his promise, and seek her out. The canopy of trees made a lovely reading nook. The rays of light peeped out of the branches and glowed in yellow ribbons her mother braided into her dark brown hair. She brushed the skirt of her dress as she sat herself in the roots of the trees, keeping her small satchel on her shoulder. Finding herself comfortable with her reading nook she took a violet book from her bag and placed it against her knees. Turning the pages to a favored section, ready for a long unbothered read. Unconcerned by the young battle cries from the competition, until she hears the crowd suddenly became very animated and somehow louder.
Sigyn looks up, seeing the crowd had grown larger with various spectators. Curious, she sits up to her knees trying to look into the crowd, but found no gaps that would allow her to steal a glimpse at the fight within the circle. Sigyn stares slightly agape and confused, surely the adults that had joined are not this excited for a children's match. The book closed over her thumb as she tries to make out what had happened since she left. Sigyn then sees a raven haired boy removing himself easily from the crowd. His arms are crossed over his moss green tunic, looking bluntly agitated at the event. He stops a distant not too far from Sigyn as he noticed a raven slowly circling over the park, then fly straight for the castle. He sighs upset by it.
"Boy," Sigyn calls at him. He looks over to her strangely taken aback by the call. "What is the excitement about?" She said curiously, gesturing to the crowd with her freehand.
He looked at her oddly before replying. "Thor invited himself into the fight."
"The Prince Thor!" Sigyn said excitedly, quickly understanding the gathering, looking back to the crowd. She had hoped to see the royal family eventually. Expecting to see them at a grand public event, or on a castle tour with her school, but not today. Nor this close, asking to join her cousin's antics. She looks back towards the boy finding him gone.
Sigyn wondered if she should make her way back in, but thought better of it. The crowd is tightly grouped. The kind of cluster one would have to aggressively push themselves through to see the spectacle. Sigyn didn't want to fight through the adults who invited themselves to watch. Instead she sat back against the tree thinking that she could try later when the excitement died down. But as she opened her book something suddenly slips onto her lap. She looked down, and a scream escapes from her before a second thought. The book drops from her hands and she is on her feet running. Stopping a small distance away, still startled and confused to what had just happened. Sigyn noticed she gained attention of those who stood closest to her.
"Sigyn?" Fandral called over the heads of the gathering. A part began to open as he pushed himself out of the crowd adhering at her distress. His apparel spoiled by dirt, grass stains, and a small tear at the knee as he jogs to Sigyn. "What has you startled?" Fandral asked placing a hand on her shoulder reassuringly. Looking for something his mother would fuss over if Sigyn had been hurt.
"A snake," Sigyn started to explain.
"A snake?" He looks to her a smile growing. "It's not like you to be bothered by such small things." He said with a bit of amusement at her childishness, his earlier concern subsided.
"It wasn't slithering around me Fandral. It slipped right out of my book! Right out of the pages!" Sigyn defended. He arched his eyebrows, looking to her book abandoned by the trees.
"Curious? You sure it didn't just fall onto you from the branches?" Sigyn gave Fandral a hard frown at the question, and brushed his hand away. She peered over his shoulder, seeing the crowd had parted some. Showing the familiar faces of Fandral's friends from earlier, standing behind two she didn't recognize. A blonde boy in rich maroon clothing and a fair girl with a long black hair were walking towards them.
"Are you sure the snake fell from the pages?" The blonde asked looking intently at her. Standing so close Sigyn could see the royal emblem pressed into the leather of his cuffs.
"I am sure Your Royal Highness." Sigyn said feeling startled that Thor, the first-born prince, had just spoken to her. She quickly worries if she was suppose to bow when she answered. Thor begins to look bothered, as he shuts his eyes to heave a sigh, and call out one name.
"Loki!" Thor called, looking over Sigyn to the trees. "Loki, I know you did this so come out!" There was no answer. Even without an answer Thor jogged towards the trees.
"Sigyn," Fandral whispered excitedly. She turned to look at him. "Can you believe the Prince actually asked to join our duel, asked me if he could!" He nudged her jollily with his elbow.
"Yes I heard," she answered with a polite smile.
"Is this your sister, uh Fandral?" The brunette asked catching his name from her memory.
"Oh no, this is my cousin Lady Sigyn. Sigyn this is Lady Sif." Sif nods her head with a kind smile, that Sigyn returns.
"I am sorry I interrupted your fight, it was only a small prank." Sigyn said, feeling embarrassed to get so much notice over a small matter. This wasn't how Sigyn would choose to meet royalty.
"Don't apologize," Sif said sternly. "His antics have already overstepped their boundaries." Sif brushed her dark hair contemptibly behind her shoulder. "If we don't put our foot down he'll never grow out of it."
Their eyes dart to a murmur nearing them from the trees. Sigyn watches as Thor tugs the boy Sigyn had met out from his hiding. Bewildered until she notices their clothes are of the same style but with contrasting colors, both bearing the royal emblem on their sleeve cuffs. Sigyn realizes Thor is pulling the arm of his younger brother Loki towards them. Thor mutters privately to Loki, as Loki looked the other way ignoring him. Thor stopped talking once they were before Sigyn. Loki stood before her adamantly avoiding acknowledgment of those around him. Thor glanced at his younger brother.
"Loki," Thor said sternly. Loki turned to look at him.
"It was nothing, she's not even crying over it." Loki shrugged with gruff disinterest. Sigyn had a glare of her own for Loki; no one should be so reluctant to apologize for their immaturity.
"Crying or not, you can't bother people for your own amusement." Sif cut in.
"Well you two were happy to waste my time for your amusement." Loki tugged his arm out of Thor's hand.
"How would you feel if father hears of it?" Thor asked.
"Like he would care of something so petty." Loki said rolling his eyes.
"And what of your mother?" Sif asked. "Would she think this too petty for her notice?"
Loki gives Sif a harsh glare, but hers is stronger. Loki peers at his brother. Thor's look is strict, but not as harsh as Sif. Fandral and Sigyn stood by struck by the strangeness of witnessing a common family dispute between the princes. Unsure how to intervene on their company, but they didn't have to wait long. For Loki suddenly turned to Sigyn.
"My lady," he said with a step back to give a very formal bow. "Please pardon my offence. It was wrong of me to scare you while you were reading." He than conjured a yellow primrose to offer her. Loki's apology was exaggerated, but Sigyn didn't wish to prolong this incident, she gently took the flower from his fingers.
"Thank you Your Highness," she said politely.
"And I promise he won't be bothering you the rest of the day my lady." Thor cut in, giving her a contagious smile. "I invite to you to watch me finish my duel with Fandral, and allow me to dedicate my victory in your honor." Thor gave Fandral a cocky look. Fandral returned to his confident poise, his head high with a lofty smile.
"No, I think I will be victorious, and uphold my own family's honor." Fandral said grabbing Sigyn's free hand to pull her through the crowd. Thor and Sif ran ahead of them ready for the fight. Sigyn looked at her cousin with a sarcastic smirk mulling how ready he is to fight for her than keep his promises. It was then Sigyn remembered.
"Fandral I forgot my book," she stopped them before the center circle.
"Oh," Fandral let go of her hand. "But promise you'll watch this fight, I want somebody to tell the family I dueled the prince!"
"I promise I will tell everybody how you won the fight." She said gladly stepping back. Fandral laughed as he made his way into the clearing while Sigyn quickly ran out of the crowd. Back to the trees, but abruptly stopped at what she saw. Loki is standing ahead reading her book. She took a deep breath, and moved herself forward. It was when she is a few steps away Loki gave her notice.
"You forgot this," he said shutting the book, and turning to look at her. Sigyn looked into the prince's light blue eyes. She could hear the crowd grow excited.
"Yes, may I have it back Your Highness." She said reaching a hand out for it. Loki turns the book in his hand, but doesn't return it.
"I didn't think you would be interested in spells." He said plainly, observing the book's cover. "From how you're dressed I assumed it was romantic poetry." It wasn't an unfair assumption, the title did read "The Enchantment of Dreams." But Sigyn is sensitive about how she dresses, for she is hardly allowed to choose how she dresses.
"You do not look like a sorcerer either." She said cross loosing her manner. Sigyn has yet to find any charm in the prince, and from what Lady Sif had said he seems to purpose magic for pranks often.
"So which would you choose?" Loki spoke after her comment. "Watch the fight, or read your book?" He held the book behind his back as he looked at her expectantly.
"I promised I would watch this fight." Sigyn's hand reached out pleadingly, starting to wonder if she would have to grab it from him to get it back. Loki's eyes broke from hers with a frown.
"Oh right, Thor said he would fight for you." Sigyn caught the book he tossed at her. "Better go before you miss it." Loki said sarcastically. He leaned against the same tree she sat by, peering towards the park entrance as if expecting for someone to show. Sigyn stuffed the book back into her satchel, but feeling offended she would choose a prince over her own family she decided to have the last comment.
"I didn't promise your brother anything. I promised to watch my cousins victory." Sigyn called before she sprinted back to the fight. Feeling cheeky, as she thought of the thrown expression Loki had before she left him, but not for long. She felt a hand take hers.
"Where are you studying?"
Sigyn turned surprised to see Loki beside her, his grip keeping her from joining the spectators. Why would it matter to him, he is obviously studying under the greatest masters. The prince wouldn't need to seek studies outside the castle. As her questions rolled over in her head she heard the crowd cheer and gasp. She is missing the fight. She promised she would watch it for Fandral.
"Please." Loki said, gently tightening his hand over hers, and without a second thought she confessed.
"At the Academia of Magic," yet her hand wasn't free.
"I wish you luck than lady..." He trailed hinting for her name.
"Sigyn," she answered.
"I will see you again Sigyn," Loki released her hand with a smile.
Sigyn turned away, quickly pushing herself to the front of the crowd. It was a small skirmish, but her heart is beating as if she had run a mile. Her fingers fidgeted at the fleeting sensation of being held, as the other hand became more aware of the flower she is holding. She could feel her face flush. Had the prince actually held her hand, and plead for her name? A sudden roar of spectators returned her attention to the fight. She watched as Thor dodges an attack by Fandral, his sword swigging back reflecting a glare of sunlight. She blinked, and the match is gone. She is elsewhere, a room. Her room.
Sigyn shifted in a bed momentarily distraught. Her lapis blue eyes peer lazily under hooded lids as she sits up on her bed, feeling her long wavy hair drift on her arms and back. Her hand brushes over her chest to pull up the sleeve of her nightdress into place. Her olive arms imprinted with freckles from the hours she had spent wandering the forest in her childhood. In her last thoughts she had been that young girl, but she knows those days are far behind her. Sigyn looked at her window curtains where the sunlight of a new day presses against them.
She had awoken from a dream. No, not a dream. A memory. When they had first met. A perfectly unaltered recollection while she was sleeping. Sigyn felt reason to suspect magic as she pulled her covers off and stepped out of bed. She goes to her bookshelf and skims the rows for a certain book. An aged violet book. A book she knew to be about magic over dreams and sleep. She noticed something flutter out from the pages to her feet, and looked down. The flower.
She remembered storing it in the book after the duel, but never bothered to transfer whenever she came across it. Sigyn picked it up thinking of the feelings she had that day. Remembering that day was the beginning of Fandral's long friendship with Thor and Sif, and the start of her relationship with Loki. Should she finally throw it away? She twirled it in her hand, until the door burst open. Sigyn quickly shuts the book with the primrose in it. Looking up into matching lapis eyes at the doorway.
"Oh your awake now are you?" Her mother Nanna said amused. Her aged blonde hair drawn up in precise neat array without any wisp falling out. Behind her one of the few family servants stood with a tray in hand. The skirts of Nanna's long rich cedar gown brushed the floor as she walked into Sigyn's room. Holding the door open for the maid who took the tray to Sigyns desk. "Thank you Tova." Nanna said kindly as Tova, an much older woman to her mother, left the room with a quiet nod.
"Good morning mother," Sigyn grinned from the floor by her bookshelf.
"Morning?" Nanna said as she moved to Sigyn's window. "This is your lunch honey." She said as she opens the curtains revealing the reach of the sun above the city.
"Lunch?" Sigyn blinked as the full light of the afternoon entered her room. "Why wasn't I woken earlier?" She returned the book to its place, and ran to her closet. "I had plans this morning! Theoric and I had plans." Sigyn took a step back to look at her mother for the next question. "Did he forget to stop by?"
"Well, he was here bright and early. But once he saw you sleeping he said you looked too peaceful to wake, and he will return later." Nanna explained. Sigyn walked back into her closet with a groan.
"But he knows that we need to find a new cook immediately." Sigyn said pulling off her nightgown, then grasped a peach dress from the rack. "He took a day off from guard duty to help me, he shouldn't waste time like this." Stuffing her hands into the sleeves she walked to her mother. "I don't want our wedding remembered for having the worst feast." Sigyn faced away from Nanna, pulling her hair to her front to expose the back of her unfasten dress.
"A couple of hours today won't ruin your feast dear. You still have plenty of time to find another cook." Nanna said reassuringly, reaching for the back strings of the dress. "After all your Aunt and I are your primary cooks, and we hosted enough feasts to handle one wedding without an extra hand." Nanna fastened Sigyn's dress with a good knot. Sigyn dashed to her vanity opening a drawer for a hairpin.
"Did he say when he would be back?" Sigyn asked seated on a small chair. Watching herself in the mirror as she pinned the front sections of her hair behind her head into a moderate style.
"In the afternoon." Nanna said amused, taking the tray from Sigyn's desk over to the dressing table. Sigyn noticed her approach, and carelessly brushed aside the unsorted trinkets with her arm to make room for the tray. A bowl of soup and bread is before her. "I had a small lunch prepared to keep up your energy for the scavenge." Nanna kneeled down to hug her daughter from behind. Pressing their cheeks together as they looked at each other in the mirror. "Don't tire yourself over the little things, the majority of the planning is over. You're better off enjoying the last part of your engagement." Nanna quickly pecked her daughter's cheek and stood. Sigyn chuckled and looked at her lunch, but fell quiet when she noticed the little yellow flowers in a small-decorated vase.
"Where did you find these?" Sigyn lifted the vase between her fingers looking to Nanna. Retrieving a cup of water from Sigyn's nightstand that had been left out overnight.
"I found them growing in the garden." Nanna said taking the cup for cleaning, heading towards the hallway door. She peered back to Sigyn. "You loved them when you were younger. Has that changed?" A mother's nostalgia obvious looking at her daughter, remembering Sigyn at a different age.
"No it's... I just haven't seen primroses in a while." Sigyn said. Nanna stood at the door waiting. "Thank you mother, it was very kind of you to think of me." Nanna left happily, closing the door behind her. Sigyn placed the vase away from her, and started her meal. It is a coincidence Sigyn reassured herself, she looks back to her lunch.
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