Odin could not remember the last time there had been silence in his house. Certainly, there was always the escape of one of the vast numbers of rooms in the palace but even if he couldn't hear the noise, his mind sadly still knew it was there.
His two sons were beginning to get out of hand. They had only two pastimes: fighting which was undoubtedly Thor's idea and mischief which was undoubtedly Loki's. The fights he could handle. It would cause them to become great warriors when the time came that they would be old enough to head into battle. For that reason alone, he could graciously ignore the furniture that was ripped in half by someone's weapon, the paintings that were struck with renegade daggers, the vases and mirrors that were shattered, the various items in his house that caught fire either from lightning or magical fire and whatever else in his house that they so carelessly broke.
But the mischief was worse, impractical, nonsensical, utterly useless and if he was being truthful, annoying. Every day consisted of at least one prank if not more. Just yesterday, they not only released all of the steads in the stable but then Loki spooked them with magic, causing a stampede that trampled one of the servants. The man was not expected to die, but still, his sons were hundreds of years old now. In just two centuries, they would be a thousand. They should know better than this.
He heard screaming down the hallway and rubbed his head to try and make the pounding go away. He stopped a guard running down the hall to ask him what was going on.
"Just a fire, sir," the man replied quickly.
He nodded wearily. "Take care of it then."
He had tried multiple ways to stop them: talks, beatings, refusal to let them eat, the removal of their favorite objects. One time he even refused to let them partake in their favorite lessons, which for Thor was sparring and for Loki was learning magic with Frigga. Nothing worked. They were saddened at the time, even apologetic, but it never stopped them from trying something again the next day. Frigga told him not to worry about it, that they were just being boys, but he was beginning to think being king of Asgard was easier than raising two sons.
He needed a ride to clear his head. With any luck, the palace would still be standing when he returned and then, he would have to think of yet another punishment that probably wouldn't get through their thick skulls anyway.
He headed to the stable and mounted his stead. He would head to the main marketplace of the city. Nothing calmed him more than seeing the peace and beauty of the city that he was mostly responsible for.
At first, it seemed like a normal day. There was the quiet bustle of people purchasing their merchandise. There were some guards patrolling the area in case there was any theft. Everything was in place.
Then a small boy ran out from the crowd and in front of one of the guards on their horses. The horse, spooked, bucked backwards, throwing the guard off of him. There was rage in the guard's eyes. Rightfully so, Odin thought. No one wanted to look weak in front of that many people.
The guard pulled out a whip and Odin almost felt sorry for the boy. He was young enough to not be held fully responsible and yet at the same time, he needed to learn. And from his clothing, he was obviously a street rat so no one else was going to show him.
Odin almost turned away as the whip came down. The young boy was already cowardly covering his face and crouching to the ground, begging for mercy. There was a reason that these people were commoners. They lacked the characteristics nobles had such as honor, bravery and courage. He waited for the whip to strike, to make the boy understand.
The whip never stuck the boy's skin. Instead, it collided with the wrist of a girl who was probably around his son's ages. She screamed at the boy to run and then smiled at the guard holding the whip. The man's eyes blazed with anger as he yanked the whip back to strike again.
Odin was shocked. Who was this girl? Was that boy their brother? What was she doing?
As the whip started to come down once more, she dropped to the ground and spun her leg out which knocked the man's feet out from under her. Odin was impressed. This girl was obviously used to fighting.
Now there were more guards coming to the aid of the first. He saw her calculating glance at them and then, in a rather cowardly move, she started to run. They were screaming for the other people to get out of the way.
Disappointing that she ran, he thought. And here he had thought she might actually make a good warrior. Still, he couldn't tear his eyes away from the girl who had entered a dead end alley. He sighed. Poor thing.
But then she leapt against one wall and pushed off of it and onto the other wall and then leapt back to the first wall until she made it to the top of the roof. His eyes widened. She was laughing now and calling down taunts.
Three guards ran to a ladder that was against one of the sides of the building. One guard ran to the other side's ladder. She grabbed something from the roof and began smacking at the piecing that attached the ladder to the building and then with a slight push, the ladder flew backwards and the men toppled to the ground.
The other man had already made it to the top of the building. She started to run towards him and Odin half expected that she merely planned to topple the guard of the building, but the man pulled out his sword and her eyes widened but she didn't slow, and as she ran past him, she lithely dodged his thrusted sword and then she leapt to the adjoining building's roof. The man began chasing her.
Odin followed from the streets below.
There was nothing that this girl could not use to run and jump on, he decided after he saw her run across a row of flag poles like she was merely running on dry ground.
There were no more buildings now in front of her and the only buildings to the side were a whole road length away. But there was a small rope that held some banners that connected the top of one building to the other. He knew she was going to go for it before she even did.
The rope was not taut enough for even her to run across. She grabbed onto it with her hands and began climbing across, placing one hand in front of the other. She couldn't drop down easily from this height.
But then the guard came to the edge of the rope and he looked disgusted and angry, and the rest of the guards were down on the ground near Odin, and Odin wondered absently how no one had noticed he was there yet.
He expected the guard to cut the rope but instead the man grabbed it with both hands and began tugging at, bouncing it, viciously pulling it back and forth.
In her credit, she struggled to keep her hands from slipping, but then she fell. It was by far not the most graceful fall he had ever seen. She fell fully on her back and made no noise or movement to get up. A fall like that couldn't hurt her could it?
Then guards were yanking her to her feet, and that seemed to bring her back, and she started violently thrashing. She pulled away and kicked one of the men in his privates so hard that even with armor on, he fell to the ground, screaming.
A guard came behind her and put a knife at the base of her throat and dragged her over to one of the stands in the marketplace. She was struggling less now because the knife was already digging into her skin and any movement would cause it to draw blood.
The guard threw her down on the table. Another two grabbed her immediately and held her down. "Now let's see," Odin heard the man say. "Shall I remove your hand or your head?"
He heard her hiss in anger.
"Head it is," the man replied coolly. He brought the sword up into the air and screamed, "In the king's name!"
Odin cleared his throat loudly and made Gungnir appear in his hand. Instantly, the people around him, including the guards, bowed. The young girl broke free from her captors the minute they went to bow and quickly spun around.
She made direct eye contact with him and held it. She was breathing heavily now, but he wasn't sure if it was from the stress or the exercise.
Her eyes flickered to the people around her and then her gaze dropped as she bowed her head. She didn't bow fully as everyone else had done. He wondered why.
"What is your name girl?" he asked loudly and she looked up at him once more.
"Zira, sire," she replied quickly.
"And the boy you saved? Was he your kin?"
She looked surprised and then shook her head. "No sire." She looked down at the ground once more. Just that action alone irritated him.
"Look at me girl. Where are your parents?"
There was hurt in her blue eyes when he asked this. Her shoulders rose and fell softly before she added, "I do not know your highness."
He wasn't really sure what he was doing, but he stretched out his hand anyway. "Come girl."
With good reason, she hesitated. Nobles did not usually take young girls off the streets with any good intentions in mind. But she didn't really have a choice did she?
She took his hand.