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The Asgardian library was one far different to those found on Midgard. The Asgardian library was more a colossal hall devoted to the safe-keeping of many old and precious books left there to accumulate over the years. It differed also as it was not a place for the borrowing of books, unless you happened to get on the good side of the Archive Keeper- a good side that was very hard to locate as his love and dedication for the books he cared for far outweighed his feelings for his fellow Asgardians.

In fact, it often took many years of reading and treating books with 'the care they deserved' under his vigilant watch before he would allow anyone to take a book from the giant hall. Even then, it would be only for a limited amount of time; in his opinion, the longer a book was out of his sight, the more damage that could be inflicted upon it.

One of the only women in the entire history of Asgard that had been able to convince the Archive Keeper of the fact that they cared about books just as much he did- well, not quite as much as he did, but who could do that?- was Sigyn. A maiden of eighteen Midgardian years, Sigyn had spent many of her younger years alone and in the library.

She had never really taken to the games and the gossip that her twin sisters thrived on; or the way that they obsessively followed over any little detail about a potential suitor even though they were two years younger than Sigyn and had only just begun their courting years.

That was another thing Sigyn had seemed not to care about; courting. She much preferred the quietness and intelligence she found in the library to the mindless chatter and inane babble that came with courting. The fact that this was her view on the matter, in addition to her less than enthusiastic demeanour, had resulted in Sigyn managing so far to avoid courting altogether. She didn't consider it a loss though; she had sworn to herself long ago that she wouldn't spend her life in misery for the sake of the tradition of marriage. She'd rather be alone than unhappy.

Sigyn climbed one of the many ladders dotted around the rows and rows of stone shelving, so high that they could have been the columns supporting the building, in an attempt to find a book she'd been searching for for hours. She'd yet to find it in a place she could reach, yet being only just more than five feet tall, it wasn't hard to find that a lot of things were out of her reach.

The gold furnishings; the wall length, high curtains and the cushions on the high-backed chairs, combined with the candlelight sheen, gave everything a slightly soft and golden glow to it; even Sigyn's skin. It also made looking for a book a much harder task as there were particular areas of the library where that golden light jut made it that much more difficult to read the words on the spines old and dark book covers.

The Archive Keeper had grudgingly informed her after she'd been searching for some time that the book she wanted was somewhere in the middle of the huge shelf she was now scanning. Sigyn looked down at the floor to see how far she'd climbed. The floor was stone, so shiny it was reflective, and all she could see in that reflection was herself- not as high as she needed to be.

When she found herself midway up the massive shelf, her index finger travelled over the spines of the books in front of her, left to right. Sigyn paused on one small volume that she could not decipher the name of from its spine. Holding to the rail of the ladder, she reached over and slowly wormed it out of the place it was quite tightly wedged.

There was no need for her to blow away a layer of dust as nothing of the like covered the book she held. The Archive Keeper had enough magic in him to keep the library free of dust and the book-eating pests that might have troubled so large a library as this in another realm.

It did not take Sigyn long to realise that the book in her hand was not the one she searched for. Typical, she thought, a sigh tempering her breath. She held onto the rail again as she leant over to slot it back into its rightful place on the shelf.

But as she did, Sigyn heard a voice from below say, "It's not there."

In shock, the book in her hand slipped from her grasp. Sigyn looked down quickly, her eyes following its fall, only to see it land in the opened palm of Prince Loki. She blinked silver eyes at the sight. He hadn't been there a moment ago; but he was there now, leaning against the bookshelf as if he had been there for quite some time.

He was the Trickster God though, she knew; and she had seen him many times in the Asgardian library, seeking out the same pursuits as herself. But she had never spoken to him before; she knew it was not her place. And he had never set his tricks her way before, not even looked her way as she passed- until now, it seemed.

Sigyn didn't realise how long she'd been staring at Loki until he said, "You should be more careful."

Stirring herself into motion, Sigyn began climbing down the ladder towards where Loki was.

If the library hadn't been so quiet then she wouldn't have heard him add, "A book might not be the only thing that falls when you're not paying attention."

She took the final step off of the ladder and stared at Loki oddly for a long moment. This was a strange way to first meet someone, and that was a strange thing for him to have said; but then again, the things she'd heard about Loki were all at least a little strange.

Loki raised a brow at her stare, before Sigyn realised what was going on. She blinked and bowed her head, some of her curling blonde hair slipping in front of her face. She could barely believe that she'd managed somehow to forget that he was the prince and that she should address him as such. Apparently, she'd been too preoccupied with finding him strange that she'd become an idiot.

"My Prince-"

"Your book," he interrupted, holding the fallen object out to her before letting her finish.

She looked up at Loki again, a slightly confused expression forming on her features. Slowly, she took the book from the prince that she had not spoken to before this instance.

"Thank you," she said, knowing already that it wasn't the book she wanted.

But as Sigyn looked down at the book in her hand, she noticed that it was not the one that she had dropped. It was, in fact, the book that she had been searching for. She didn't even know how he knew what book she'd been looking for, let alone how he'd managed to switch it with the one she'd dropped. Sigyn looked up at him, not even bothering to try and hide the surprise in her expression.

"How did you-?"

The smirk that appeared on Loki's face was enough to stop her finishing her sentence. But she still didn't understand. And that was the only reply he gave before walking away, leaving her to frown to herself in both confusion and surprise.

Author's Note: If you're new to reading anything I've written, Hi. :) If you're not, don't hate me for starting another fanfic- my obsession with Tom Hiddleston has been refusing to let me write anything else until I get this out of my system. :)

So anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter and will let me know what you think! :)

Kit xx