Like Stardust
Thor Odinson noticed his hands performing an odd little behavior. His fingers seemed to move as if they were leaves stirred by wind. Occasionally, the movement would stop and his hands would wander into the pockets of his breeches. After a respite here, they would stray to fiddle with the ornaments on his belt. Then, they would mimic leaves once more and the infuriating cycle began all over again.
Thor frowned and crossed his arms, giving his tan fingers an intimidating scowl. He was twitching.
The God of Thunder did not twitch.
With a sigh, he turned and looked over his shoulder. Through the darkness of the night, he could see that the roads and fields beyond were empty. Rather, they lacked the one person he was hoping to see.
Another sigh dared to form on his lips and he quenched it. 10 seconds. He would wait ten more seconds and if his requirements were not met, he would teleport himself back to headquarters and try not to send lightening crashing down upon the heads of the unlucky city dwellers. His temper was still a facet of his personality that needed disciplining.
His fingers, however, were the most undisciplined of all. Little buggars, all of them.
He wrapped them around his constant companion Mjolnir.
Then- she was there.
His sensitive ears caught her speedy approach from overhead and his face whipped heavenward. She was riding a rain cloud, as expertly as it were a horse and she its master. He smiled in admiration and stepped back. She descended form the inky sky almost like a goddess. Her jump to the ground was lithe and well-practiced. The cloud dispersed and water droplets converged at her hands.
Thor watched with a carefully clear face as the girl crouched and scanned the area. She spared him only the quickest of glances before continuing her survey. It took her but moments before her brows drew together and her dark eyes finally held his. He met her gaze, refusing the grin teasing at his lips.
"So….um….you said there was a flash fire….-here?" she asked, her hands coated in silver water still at the ready. Again, he was impressed with her readiness to tackle the situation. He had seen her powers in action before. She could pull whole lakes of water out of the sky and air, quelching fires and enemies as easily as insects.
"There was a fire here, Water-tamer. It is gone now," he replied seriously. This was not….exactly a lie. Gods did not lie. His nose attested to a fire in the past. Fifty years ago, but still. It had happened. His statement was correct…even though it did not meet the context the girl was surely referring to. Thor neglected to tell her this for it was not part of his plan.
His plan. A pathetic thing, really. He had wanted to talk to her away from the team. The water-tamer Mia Martinez had joined the Avengers a month ago and had proved her worth. He believed she attended a… "college" somewhere. Whatever that was. For a mortal, the Ironman had chosen wisely in paring the two of them together. With Thor's strength and ability to control lightening, her speed and skills with water complimented his battle tactics perfectly. At first, the girl's dark eyes and dark hair had meant nothing to him. He hadn't even cared for the way she always smelled of flowers, a life form of Earth that he was quickly becoming fascinated with. No. Initially, she had only been just another human with abnormal abilities that he had politely agreed to cooperate with.
But that was a month ago. He had seen her fight. Seen her throw her self into the fires of danger, again and again, to protect strangers. To protect her friends. To protect him. These were traits he could not claim a blind eye to. And it wasn't just her heart. Her…hair had the habit of catching the light in just the right way, making it seem as bright and flowing as a stream. And her skin… So soft, even through the warfare they went through on a daily basis.
Thor shook his head. Enough! There is no time for mooning now!
He blinked and noticed the girl's eyes on him. She was frowning, her crossed arms mirroring his own posture. "So, you're saying that you took care of the fire? Within the seconds it took me to get here?.." she asked, her voice ringing with suspicion. Thor put his hands out in front of him in what he gleaned was a human gesture of innocence. "No, I, personally, was not the one to do it. Nature was responsible. But, I control nature." Thor smiled confidently, hoping she would buy into his round-about answer. You idiot. His plan was already falling to pieces. He couldn't crassly say that the only reason he had summoned her there was to spend time with her. No, that simply wasn't how one courted a female.
Thor swiftly took hold of the situation, feeling the girl about to ask another deadly question. "Water-tamer, fear not. The fire has been extinguished; the danger has been averted. Come. Would it not be a shame to waste this lovely night?" He smiled again, starting to walk deeper into the field they were standing in. The meadow was on the off-skirts of the city. Away from the noises and stenches that he found so repulsing. Here, he could smell the rain. The grass. He could hear the stars twinkle in their far away realms. It relaxed him. And his mind needed to be strong tonight. The human did horrible things to his self-control.
He held out a hand to the girl, who had refused to follow him. Standing there as she did, he could not help but notice her beauty. Her black hair curling around her ears. The moonlight playing on her azure attire, on her dark lashes. She looked like a nymph. A siren. Even though her face still displayed her irritation, she released the water from her fingertips and moved to take a place by his side. She ignored his offered hand.
Thor put the palm back on the Mjolnir, simply happy to have her near him.
Together, they walked through the grass. Hidden crickets chorused a song. Leaves and stalks whispered in the breeze like spirits. Thor felt himself smiling, too satisfied to resist it. "Do you carry your hammer with you everywhere?" he heard the girl ask him softly. Did she ever run out of questions? It was no matter. He enjoyed answering them. He let his blue eyes meet hers. "Yes. This weapon is very special to me, handed down to me by my father. I would go so far as to call it a part of my body." She smiled a small smile and he felt his heart respond. The girl tucked a lock of hair behind a ear, looking ahead. "That's very kool," she smiled. "I love being around water. Not only because I can control it. But, because it…it relaxes me. It's so serene. So pure. I defiantly feel out of sorts without it. I would say it's a part of me, too." Thor found his admiration for the girl growing by the minute. She was wise for a human. Yes, defiantly unique.
He stopped once they reached a clearing. He shrugged off his cloak and laid it across the ground. It was not his red battle cape, for that was a traditional garb he had learned to forgo in plebian outings. Today, it was a simple brown one he had transferred from his palace Bilskirnir earlier that day.
"Would you do me the honor of watching the stars with me?" he asked, looking at her humbly. He did not bow, for he had done his research. Humans no longer practiced such traditions. But he hoped his respect was visible to her. Chivalry was still strong and lively to him.
He was thrilled when she blushed and fidgeted with her hair again. His courting was not unwelcome! But when she looked at him, he sensed a refusal. "Thor…I...-shouldn't we go back to head quarters? I mean, I know how important your job is to you. All this time we've fought together…-well I've never seen you take a day off. I don't want to get in the way. You need your sleep…or whatever it is you do..."
So- she knew he did not sleep? And of his commitment to her planet's protection. He smiled at the flattery this did him and watched her return it. "Please, Water-tamer. Worry not about our duties. Right now, our only obligations are to this wonderful view." The girl looked up at the night sky, noticing for the first time the speckling of stars. He watched her carefully, hoping for the best. Hoping he had not misjudged her. "It is pretty great out here," she murmured. Then, she plopped down onto the fabric without another word.
Thor blinked in surprise, but quickly shook it off. In the sanctum of his head, he praised her spirit.
He joined her on his cloak. He kept enough distance between them for the breeze to feel cool and open. The girl's gaze was caught in the sky. Thor wanted to watch the stars. It was one of his favorite practices back at home. This is why he had wanted her to join him in the first place. But, he found the notion of taking his attention away from the sight next to him to be impossible.
She was made for the night. Her agile body. Even in idle sitting, it looked ready for combat. A whimsical smile held her lips. Her eyes drunk in the starlight, shimmering like stars themselves. Thor sighed, rubbing the back of his neck and tearing his gaze away.
He was smitten. He didn't think such a thing could happen- with a human no less! Not that he held her humanity against her. He had always thought a fierce warrior was to be his bride. Or a goddess. Certainly not a slim mortal, of whom he had only met a handful of days ago. Thor felt helpless. His hands fisted in his lap and he forced himself to relax his posture. He felt the girl's eyes as he did so.
"You watch the stars a lot?" she asked. Thor smiled, wondering if he was so transparent. "Yes. On Asgard, I have the pleasure of doing it all the time. Day or night. The universe is always at my doorstep." The god closed his eyes as he remembered his home. His friends, his adventures. They were not out of reach. He could, at any time, return to them.
But…it was growing harder to imagine himself leaving Earth.
The girl moved closer to him. He looked down, finding her dark eyes alight. He swallowed thickly and tried to remain calm. "I've always wondered about that," she breathed, cheeks heated. "I mean, not too many people outside of the Avengers know there are others planets besides our own. Other realms…other lives." She smiled luminously and gestured to the sky. "Would you mind, telling me a little about…er…what was that word?" She giggled nervously and Thor chuckled. "Asgard. Well, it is a complex place. Hard for…a mortal to picture." The girl looked crestfallen but he swiftly continued. "But!- there is something else I can show you. And it is right here."
He pointed into the sparkling distance.
The girl grinned at him, sensing a trick. "Oh really?" Thor quirked a brow at her. "Yes. Here let me show you. That is Hellewagon: Wagon of the Dead." She squinted, leaning forwards as if doing so would help bring the far off constellation into focus. Thor smiled and moved closer. His shoulder brushed hers as his hand came into her line of sight. Thor elected to ignore the contact, keeping his breathing smooth. The girl's eyes flashed. They held his for an eternity before she looked away, following the invisible path his finger mapped out.
"Is…it on the Big Dipper?" she mused. Thor nodded eagerly, marking those that belonged to his picture. "Yes. The bottom two. Those are Hellewagon. Its design is a dark purpose, with a dark story. Let me tell you a brighter one. Look there: below it are the four deer." His hand dropped a degree lower and the girl watched it like a hawk. Thor smiled to himself, feeling a small ownership over the plethora of tantalizing facets that seemed to make her up. Her quickness. Her beauty. Her courage. Surely she had taken some of this from him? He spent more time with her than any mortal, apart from the Ironman, the Avengers' voted leader.
Already, he felt tied to the girl. It was a soft tickle in his mind- whispering that when he fought against the planet's enemies, his punches and blows were not necessarily for the benefit of the human race in its entirety...but for the benefit of onehuman in particular...
She glanced at him, his pause not going unseen. He cleared his throat roughly and continued, heart beating a pace faster.
"There's the biggest, Water-tamer. Durathror. He is a sluggish beast. Too big to fear any challenge, mighty are his antlers. Then there is Duneyr, the deer with drooping ears. This is the first middle dear. Perhaps he is sad, that he is not the biggest? Close but not close enough." He was getting caught up in his story. Caught up in his past. He remembered when those stars were made. Light and power and gas swirling into a blazing essence. He remembered sitting with the other gods of Asgard. With his father Odin and his brothers Balder and Bor, together weaving the design of all the cosmos.
"And the last two?" the girl whispered. Her breath was warm against his neck. He stirred from his thoughts and found a raven head resting on his shoulder. He regarded her gravely.
How young she was….. He- who stood apart from time. Watching all things bear creation and grow and die and be born again. Life, in his opinion, was the most enchanting of all creations in the universe. Scattered across all the realms and shining bright like stardust.
The life he saw in the girl was exactly that. Stardust. A thing to admire. A beautiful thing that would not last forever.
Silently, he put his arm around the girl. She did not shrug it off. In fact, she only nestled deeper into the circle of his embrace. Thor smiled wildly, triumphant.
She had accepted his advances! Never had a victory been more welcome, tasted as sweet. His brain bore a mountain of questions. What had he done right to finally earn her trust? Was this more than just camaraderie? Was her heart aflutter in her chest, as his was?
He voiced none of them, though he would have battled the great wolf Fenrir a thousand times to have heard just one of hers. Instead, he finished his tale.
"There is Dvalin: the sleeper. This deer is the most content of all. He his not near the largest, but not the smallest. Durathror and Duneyr keep away the wolves, so what has he to fear? So he sleeps, forever in dream, perhaps dreaming of a mate with a size as perfect as his own." The girl laughed at this. Pleased by her pleasure, he finished. "The last is Dain. The smallest of the herd. But, though he is tiny in size, his is brightest in light. See his eye? It is one of brightest stars in this realm. This deer-ling is not bullied by his brothers nor saddened by the state of his antlers. For he is the brightest of them all, and it is his light that guides them through their trek across the black plains."
His words brimming with meaning. Fondly, he looked down at the girl next to him. So small. So bright.
With his story finished, he leaned back. They sat in silence, content to feel the pleasant weight of the summer air. The buzz of insects. The shuffling swish of grass. The nightly turmoil of the city behind them was nothing more than a memory. Thor could not have been more pleased with the outcome of his labors.
"Thank you," he heard her whisper.
The girl turned her face up to his, her dark eyes half-lidded. Languorously, she stretched like a feline. She finished with her cheek pressed firmly to the hollow of his throat. It would not have surprised him if she started purring. "I needed this. A break from all…-," she flicked her fingers at the glowing city. "-that."
Thor hummed in agreement, discovering the silkiness of her hair.
She drew back suddenly, as if remembering an important detail. He reluctantly let her go.
"You know, you haven't called me by my name this whole time," she said, her face guarded. Thor laughed and her frowned deepened.
"Forgive me. I did not know if I had permission." For a moment, he was terrified. How could he give this girl the typical human courtship? He was so inept in earth manners, with millennia of royal speech, formalities and politics of Asgard a permanent brand upon his psyche.
The girl was stunned for a moment, her eyes as wide and dewy as a pup's. Then she chuckled, a warm sound that reminded him: she was no child. His fear vanished and he again felt confident in himself. Emboldened, he spilled an intimate thought. "I…did not know if our relationship permitted such luxuries." True, she had always called him by his true name. But she had never shown him any special friendliness. Never once let her touch or gaze linger on his person, specifically.
"What is our relationship now?..." he all but whispered.
She looked at her for a couple moments, working out a labyrinth of discoveries.
At last, she smiled and leaned in slowly.
Her lips were on his cheek before he had time to react. A second of softness. By the time he did, she had pulled away. Her face was prettily flushed, her lips curled like rose petals. "Yes, you may use my name Thor." She settled back on his shoulder. His ears did not miss her sigh of satisfaction.
Thor let out a breath, his blood churning. This woman has enspelled me, no doubt. He grinned. "Mia." He tried the name out, liking the sound of it.
The girl giggled. "Thor. How about showing me some more constellations?"
The God of Thunder once more cast his hand out into the inky bowl of galaxies.
They talked of stars and stories for the rest of the night, using each others names as often as possible.
Yes, Mia has enspelled me. Thor thought to himself, feeling happier than he had in many centuries.
But it is no curse she has laid on my head…
It is a blessing. Defiantly a blessing.