The Meadow

"...Beautiful?" Sigyn whispered as she peered up at Loki with a confused look on her face. "I, um, my name is Sigyn. I'm sorry, nobody has ever regarded me as beautiful before. I'm usually in the presence of my sisters, and their beauty far surpasses mine."

"Nonsense, it's all in the eye of the beholder. Now," he said, changing the subject, "let's see what you've already learned." Sigyn knelt down in the meadow and gently touched a flower that hadn't yet bloomed, and it slowly opened against her fingers. Loki chuckled, "That's adorable, you've been playing with the flowers!" She blushed in embarrassment and stood up, dusting a few blades of grass off of her dress. "Hmm, now," he thought out loud, "where to begin? Let's start with fire. Come here and place your hands on top of mine, the same way mine are facing," he said, holding his hands out in front of him with his palms facing up.

Sigyn did as he said, gently resting her hands on top of his. She was surprised that despite the warm summer weather, his hands felt ice cold. She was nervous about using fire magic, and she didn't fully trust the trickster prince. "I'll do it the first time, then you have to focus and do it yourself," he said, and she jumped at the sound of his voice. "Relax. Focus," he said with a stern, serious look on his face. Sigyn took a breath and straightened her posture, and looked down at his hands, waiting.

Loki was still and silent, and she peeked up at his face. "He is beautiful," she thought to herself. Then she felt a warmth moving up through her hands, although his hands remained cold; she looked back down and rested her hands slightly more against his. He flashed a glance up at her at the contact, as though being touched was something he wasn't used to. Then a small ball of flame burst from each hand; Sigyn gasped and went to pull her hands away, but Loki's reflexes were faster and he squeezed her hands between his thumbs and pinky fingers.

"Don't pull away like that!" he scolded. "I'm tutoring you, not torturing you. Did you really think I intended to burn you?"

"I'm truly sorry, my prince. I've just never used any magic yet that could harm me, and I'm nervous," she replied.

"Please, when it's just the two of us, there's no need for formalities. Feel free to call me by my given name. What is it that makes you so nervous, the fire or my presence?"

"Both," Sigyn said.

"Both," Loki sighed, "is it fear or intimidation?"

"Fear of the fire," she answered, "and you are quite intimidating, my pr...Loki."

"Am I now?" he laughed. "Well, one can only hope that time will make you more at ease with me. I think that's enough lesson for today. Might I walk with you on your way home?"

"To the edge of the woods, yes," she replied, "but from there I must go alone."

"As you wish," he replied, taking her arm as they walked in silence.

"This whole day has been utterly unbelievable," Sigyn thought to herself as they walked through the trees, "even if I were to tell anyone, I doubt they would believe I came across a royal all the way out here. I wonder what interest he truly has with me. I doubt that I'll ever actually see him again beyond this walk." She had become so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice that they had nearly reached the edge of the forest.

"Sigyn," he said, "could I persuade you to allow me to escort you the remainder of the way?"

"Not today, Loki," she quietly replied. "Thank you for an interesting day, it was a great break from the ordinary."

"When shall we meet next?" he inquired, still holding her arm in his.

"Next? You were serious about teaching me magic?" She hadn't expected him to honestly want to waste his time on something as trivial as tutoring a stranger. He was a prince, after all; he must have better thinngs to do with his time.

"I'll make myself available when you can take leave of your duties," he replied, breaking her from her thoughts again, "but I'll not let you leave without an answer."

"I must assist my father in the forge the next three days, but I could meet you in the meadow on Thursday, if that's alright with you?"

Loki released her arm but held onto her hand and raised it to his lips. He gently kissed the back of her hand and they locked eyes as he grinned slyly at her. "Until Thursday then, beautiful Sigyn. I'm afraid that you'll haunt my every thought." And before she could reply, he disappeared right before her eyes. She looked around trying to find him, trying to figure out when he had created a copy of himself, but she saw only the trees.

Sigyn wandered the streets back to her father's forge lost in her thoughts. She still couldn't wrap her head around meeting a prince so far from the castle. What were the odds that he walked straight across the one spot in all of the woods where she had been? She had heard him yelling obscenities before she actually saw him, but he fell silent the second his eyes had fallen on her. Sigyn strongly believed that everything happened for a reason, everything in existence was exactly where it was meant to be, when it was meant to be there. But she had already been promised to Theoric by her father; why run across someone who actually seems interested in her now?

"Sigyn," a voice called out from behind her, jarring her from her thoughts as she realized that she had walked right past her father standing outside of his forge, "have you forgotten where you live?" Her father stood with his arms crossed over his chest and a stern look on his face. "You were supposed to be home for lunch to relieve Lofn for the afternoon shift, you're late. Wherever have you wandered off to today? And lost in a daydream, no less," his grimace changed to a smile. "Have you been to see Theoric? You two shall be wed in a few short months, you need to start spending more time getting to know each other."

"No, father, I've not seen Theoric today," she replied, "and I'll see plenty of him after we're married and I'm no longer allowed to keep any friends." Iwaldi sighed. "Forgive me, father, but I've had a rather odd day. Where is Lofn?"

"Snotra has already relieved her in your absence," he replied, "but I'm sure that she'll be happy to see that you've shown up for your shift. I'd like for you to stay late and clean the forge tonight since you were late. I hate to punish you, but this isn't like you to be so careless."

Snotra had been very upset with Sigyn for being late, and lectured her about being responsible before leaving the forge. Sigyn spent the remainder of her shift thinking of Loki as she worked; she kept thinking of how focused his face had been when he had shown her the fire spell, how cold his hands were, and how he had spoken to her as thought she was an equal to him. In truth, she knew her place, and he was so far above her; she didn't believe a daughter of Freya could ever end up with a royal, not with her mother's reputation looming over the heads of her and her sisters.

After an hour, Lofn returned to the forge with their oldest sister, Nanna. Sigyn was just about to lock the door to the forge; Lofn and Nanna sat together on the counter, giggling and braiding each other's hair while Sigyn began to sweep the wooden floor. After she swept, she took two buckets and went outside to the well in the small garden behind the forge.

Iwaldi had made this garden when Freya had been pregnant with Sigyn, in an attempt to make her happy enough to stay faithful to him, but there proved to be nothing that could keep Freya home with her children. Iwaldi was father to Sigyn and her six sisters, but Sigyn was the only one who clearly resembled her Dwarf father. She had his short stature and platinum blonde hair; her sisters had a mix of either golden blonde or dark brunette hair, and they were all tall, as Asgardians should be. There were whispers among their neighbors that only Sigyn was truly Iwaldi's daughter.

Sigyn filled both buckets with water and went back inside to her sisters. She poured both buckets into a bigger tub in the corner of the forge and went to the broom closet behind the counter to get the mop. Lofn and Nanna stopped laughing and watched Sigyn move silently about her duties; it had just dawned on them that their normally talkative sister hadn't said two words to them in the past hour that they had been there. Sigyn began mopping the floor but was soon staring off into space and absentmindedly mopping the same spot on the floor without moving.

"Sigyn!" Lofn lilted, also clapping to get her attention. "Are you here with us, little sister? Are you unwell?" Sigyn jolted and saw the worried looks on her sisters' faces.

"I'm sorry," Sigyn replied, "I think that I'm just tired tonight. Perhaps I'll turn in early to bed."

Lofn and Nanna exchanged curious glances. "Who is he, Sigyn?" Nanna asked, giggling with Lofn.

"Who is who?" Sigyn blushed nervously, trying to finish mopping as quickly as she could to escape the impending interrogation from her sisters.

"Look how red she's turning, Nanna! There is someone new!" Lofn screamed. Both sisters began laughing as Sigyn became flustered and tripped over the mop, crashing to the floor, which only made them laugh harder. Sigyn began laughing with them, just as Iwaldi walked in to check on why the three of them were late for dinner. He meant to scold them, but upon seeing them all giggling like little children he could no longer be angry with them.

He helped Sigyn up off the floor and took the mop from her, quickly finishing the work while his daughters caught their breath. The four of them walked back to Iwaldi's house, and Sigyn excused herself to bed without eating dinner.

She shared a bedroom with all of her sisters, with three sets of bunk beds lining one wall, and a small bed by the door. Nanna was the oldest, so she slept in the single bed. Sigyn was the third youngest, and she slept in one of the top bunks, above Lofn. Each of the bunks, top and bottom, had a small window next to the pillow; Iwaldi had put them in when the girls were younger so that they could fall asleep looking out at the stars.

Sigyn laid alone in the darkened bedroom listening to her sisters chattering over their dinner plates. She turned her back towards the door and unlocked her window, pushing it open and breathing in the warm summer air that rolled in across the water that surrounded Asgard. She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep, seeing Loki in the meadow, not taking his eyes off of her. One word echoed in her head.

"Beautiful.'