Loki stood on the terrace just overlooking the training grounds as Hervor effectively wiped out every opponent in her path. Thor, Sif and the Warrior's Three stood beside him, each analysing the Shield Maiden and her form in battle.

"She is fast." Fandral noted.

"And skilled." Volstagg added.

"And strong." Thor's brows were raised as he watched Hervor use her shield to launch a stationary attacker over her head. "She is formidable indeed, I think you in safe and capable hands brother."

Loki nodded slightly, not taking his eye off the fighters in front of them. Hervor turned to see if there was anymore attempting to best her in her training. On seeing the princes and warriors, she gave one more glance around before satisfied; she walked over toward them, bowing as she stood in front of the terrace.

"You truly are a good fighter." Thor commented to the shield maiden.

Hervor frowned slightly, looking to Loki, who was rolling his eyes at Thor's statement. "Thank you, Your Highness." She bowed again. "I have always strived to achieve a level of expertise so to be referred to as 'good'." She gave a small smile as she noticed her sarcastic comment went over the princes' head. She then turned to Loki. "My prince, I am finished my warm up if you are still willing for us to train together?"

"That was merely warm up?" Fandral pointed to the scattering of opponents she had fought who were still righting themselves behind her, he grimaced slightly.

"I am more than ready." Loki grinned, enjoying the fear she was instilling in the usually unphasable warriors.

"Wonderful." She gave a genuine smile and there seemed to be a notable cheerfulness in her tone. Loki descending the steps to the training ground, so she turned and fell into step with him as he passed her. "How do you feel about training against each other today so to find each others strong points and weaknesses? That way we can work on how to best assist one another in battle."

"Very well." He smiled wolfishly as they found a suitable area to battle. "I am ready when you are." He turned on his heels to face her. Immediately, she jumped back into a defensive position.

Loki lunged forward, one of his daggers colliding with her shield emitting a harsh metal on metal sound that caused many around them to grimace momentarily. Before Hervor could counter, Loki was using his superior height and his own speed to try and remove her shield from her arm, but she realised what he was doing and anticipated the move.

"You have a fast mind." Hervor noted.

"I was about to accuse you of the same." He grinned, trying once again to remove her weapon from her grasp.

"I must commend you prince, you are lasting far longer than many before you have."

"I shall take that as a compliment." He tried harder and harder to relieve the shield from her grasp, but to little use, she was too swift and strong for his usual tactics. Realising that he was not to get the upper hand with simply using his own fighting skills; Loki decided to up his chances by calling upon his seidr. He conjured another four of himself to surround Hervor, who looked around her in utter bewilderment for a moment, Loki's sly grin irking her substantially.

Hervor sprang at the Loki just in front of her, where the original one was mere moments before, but once she came into contact with it, it fizzled into thin air. Looking around, she sought the other Loki's adamant not to be bettered by mere illusions. She went for another Loki, but it too disappeared on contact. The Loki's seemed to be getting immense entertainment from her failure, as were all others present, whom ceased to train themselves so to watch the prince and maiden battle. Taking a moment to think, she took a deep breath, listening to the sounds around her, then she noticed something, she moved slightly, and realised her theory was correct. Her eyes shot open once more and she grinned wickedly, causing Loki to become uneasy. She tightened her grip on her sword and shield and began to rush forward, attacking each of the Loki's with unnatural speed, slicing through each one of them confidently, and each one fizzled into nothing. It seemed as though she was frenzied and not fully paying attention to everything going on around her. Finally she came to the last and true Loki and tripped him up, raising her shield high and bringing it down fast, stopping only as she reached his throat, the tip of the metal mere millimetres from his windpipe.

Loki stared up not only in terror, but in incomprehension, she had been so swift that he had not had the chance to fully process what she had done. He looked at the smug half smirk she was giving him, as she stood over him, still holding her shield to his throat. "How did you…?"

"I cannot disclose that to you, then I would not win our little bouts." She smiled as she finally pulled back.

"Your little sneaky tricks cannot help you now Loki." Thor scoffed, delighted to see that Loki's best was not good enough.

"If you think yourself able to best me your highness, I would love to see you fail." Hervor challenged. "I will even permit the use of that hammer of yours."

The warrior's and Loki all looked to Thor, who was not used to being called out, much less by a woman. He often sparred with Sif, but their battles were controlled, and he never used Mjolnir, fearful he could hurt his friend. The older prince mulled over Hervor's words for a moment. "You know not what you are dealing with Shield Maiden."

"Well, by all means Your Highness, educate me. I always thirst for knowledge." She bowed mockingly, seeing that she was getting under Thor's skin. She craved new and strong opponents, and none so more than warriors', capable and able. The princes and their friends were perfect.

Thor's lip snarled slightly in contempt at the manner in which the woman dismissed his claim. "It is your funeral." He shrugged, raising his hand into the air, calling the great hammer to him.

"I warn you now, you have irked him, he will not go lightly on you." Loki whispered in her ear.

Hervor moved her eyes to look at him from the corner of them, but did not turn her head. "Good. I am sick of battling fools, it will be interesting to battle one with a weapon that may make up for the lack of brain activity for a change." She smirked.

Loki chuckled. "Oh you and I will get along very well it must be said."

"I think that is why the Allmother chose me." She moved her neck side to side as Thor descended the steps to the dirt covered arena.

"You will not have met a weapon such as this before." Thor grinned confidently, swinging Mjolnir by the leather strap at the end of the handle.

"The weapon is only as good as the warrior carrying it." She replied, unsheathing her sword before tossing it to the ground several feet away.

"You are forgoing your weapon?" Thor asked disbelievingly.

"I have all the weapons I need here." She raised her shield up and pointed to her temple.

Thor turned to Loki. "You had better not aid her." He warned.

"I do not require any mans' help." She spat back. "If you insinuate such again, I will rid you of your crown jewels."

The entire gathering of warrior's eyebrows rose, and several bystanders winced at the thought of her threat. "You need to learn manners Maiden." Thor growled.

"And you need to learn humility, allow me to teach you."

They ran at one another, Thor swung Mjolnir, but Hervor slid along the ground on her knees just before she came to him, causing the hammer to miss her entirely, and swing through empty air. She then used her shield to strike the back of Thor's knee bluntly, rising from her own knees as Thor fell to his. Before she could land another blow however, the crowned prince elbowed her in the stomach, winding her for a moment; causing her to crouch over, before going to elbowing her again. Hervor realised what Thor was planning, so; though still winded, she brought up her shield sideways, forcing the area just above the elbow to collide bluntly with the side of her shield. Thor grunted as the nerves in his arm shot painfully, rendering his arm useless for a moment. In his anger, he threw Mjolnir but his aim was off, causing the hammer to just lodge in the far wall, far away from anything.

As Thor's arm began to come to full function again, he rose to his feet and began to battle Hervor hand to hand. She discarded her shield so she too could fight, relishing in a strong opponent for a change. However Thor did not have the speed to match hers, so most of his punches missed, though he had struck her with one slightly, but he knew it would not even leave a mark. Seeing that her shield was too far away, he decided to call Mjolnir back to his hand and finish the fight. As he stretched his arm out, Hervor grabbed it, and swung the large Aesir around just as the hammer reached them, sending Thor through the air and crashing through the far wall.

The warrior's stared in awe as Hervor stood straight, not even showing any sign of being out of breath and righted her hair. She walked over and retrieved both her shield and sword before walking over the far wall where Thor was still lying on a mess of rubble. "You battle well Odinson, but you still could use a few improvements." She smiled.

"How? Mjolnir is one of the greatest weapons of all the realms."

"The weapon doth not make the warrior."

"It should have beaten you."

"You put too much fate in it. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to working with Prince Loki." She bowed, heading back to a gleeful Loki, who was relishing in his brother's failure. "You look as though all your name days have come at one." Hervor noted.

"I assure you, even if they had, it would not bring me the joy that that has." Loki grinned as they went to the far side of the arena to practise more.