Author's Note: I would like to thank Azazel dolls for the cover. I made it in one of her games, the frozen biased one. It's awesome. I own nothing.
2. Going Easy
Near four years later Loki watched Thor train with the enhuryar as she sat on the short brick wall that separated the garden from the training grounds. Thor was currently sparing with a dark haired Vanir of around his age while several others watched from the sidelines. Loki looked down to where her 'friend', a young woman who had attempted to earn a place among the enhuryar for several years now but had been unsuccessful, if only narrowly, by the name of Sif.
The last time she had attempted to join the warriors one of the younger of them had demanded that she be banished from the castle and Odin had been willing to allow it but Loki had never liked that warrior much and the opportunity to humiliate him was far too good to pass up. So she had asked a favor of Odin. She had found herself a bit lonely of late since Thor was so busy with his training and she wished for the chance to make friends with this girl. Odin had seen the minute truth behind Loki's wish and granted it.
"Enjoying the view Sif?" Loki grinned glancing down at the page number she was on before closing her book and meeting Sif's deep brown eyes with her own emerald gaze. Sif frowned at her before looking back at the boys.
"Perhaps. They fight well but Hogun us not using his full skills, I believe he is allowing the Prince to win." Loki nodded. The deception was too clear to the young girl, who at no more than age eight was already becoming known by the title of trickster.
"Truly the lie is too clear, yet Thor never suspects that they go easy on him or allow his victory. The enhuryar speak of it often amongst themselves. There seems to be a bit of a divide on this subject. Some believe that they go too easy on him and that it will hinder his growth as a warrior. Yet others fear that if they were to defeat him the Allfather will punish them." Sif raised an eyebrow at the princess who simply brushed a lock of her ebony hair behind an ear and watched her brother parry a blow from the mace his opponent wielded.
"And how came you by this information, pray tell?" Loki grinned slyly as a soft hiss sounded from the grass near Sif's feet and a long green snake slithered past the girl and up the wall to slide up its mistress arm and wind around her small shoulders.
"I have my ways." Sif sighed but smiled to herself. No one could really blame Loki for causing a bit of mischief, after all she had to get bored alone in the castle all the time. The Allfather had denied her permission to leave the castle grounds until her training was finished. But that was the tricky thing about magic, there was always more to learn. Loki didn't seem to mind too much and for the most part stuck to her chambers, the temple in which her mother trained her in the ways of magic, and the library. But she would sometimes venture into the garden and sit, not on the ornate benches but always on the wall watching the training. This would only happen when Thor was training however, the enhuryar were not quite sure why she did this but Sif had a theory that it was her way of rebelling against the Allfather for the wall marked one of the palace boundaries. Sif watched as Hogun took a fall that ended the battle and Thor laughed as Hogun congratulated him on his victory. Loki snorted and Thor glanced over at the girls and smiled. Loki heard Sif's breath catch a little and filed that little piece of information away for later use as she flipped her book back open to the page she had left off reading. Thor made his way over to the two girls, taking a goblet of water from one of the servants. He smiled at the two of them as he leaned against the wall beside Loki. She did not look up from her book.
"Oh come now Loki, you find that book more interesting than watching your elder brother claim victory on the training field?" Loki turned the page.
"Oh yes and quite a victory it was brother. Twas quite fortunate that Hogun tripped and dropped his weapon or the fight may have gone very differently brother." Thor stiffened and frowned at his sister.
"What do you mean Loki? I demand an explanation!" Loki sighed and closed her book.
"I mean nothing Thor I was merely congratulating you on your victory, even if the battle could have lasted longer or perhaps ended differently." Thor frowned even deeper and snatched Loki's book from her grip.
"What are you reading anyway?" Loki glared at Thor who had stepped out of her reach and was examining the book without real interest.
"A book of magic that is centuries older than either of us. Be careful Thor!" Thor snorted.
"You find this more interesting than cheering on your brother? It is but a rather smelly old book!" Thor tossed it over his shoulder and Loki made to lunge after it but remembered at the last moment that she was not allowed to leave. Following the movement of her arm Saber lunged and caught the book just before it would have hit the muddy ground. It began to make its way back to Loki when Thor stepped on its tail. It hissed around the book and Thor took the book from the snake and tucked it into his belt.
"I think all that reading is damaging your eyesight dear sister. Perhaps you need a break." Loki smiled at him, but it was not warm.
"And perhaps you need an honest opponent who will admit to besting you and not feed your pompous ego further." And with that she hopped off of the wall into the garden her green cloak billowing menacingly behind her. For someone who was half the size of him she did seem to be one of the only people with a tongue sharp enough to draw pain from the Prince of Asguard. The snake hissed one at Thor and slithered into the shadows. Thor looked confused.
"What could she possibly mean?" Sif sighed.
"She means that the enhuryar are allowing you to win. It is clear as day to all but you. They fear that if they defeat you it would anger the Allfather." Sif stood and bowed to Thor.
"Your highness." She turned and walked away, leaving Thor alone with his thoughts. It took him longer than he would later care to admit to overcome his pride and go looking for his sister. That evening after looking for her unsuccessfully for the hours he asked his mother where she could be. It was dinner time and she still had not shown herself. Frigga knew that Loki was sulking, she had sent a message with her favorite messenger, her pet snake Saber, that she would be taking dinner in her chambers and did not wish to be disturbed. Frigga didn't know why until Thor came up to her asking after Loki. She looked at him closely and noticed the book in his belt. Then she understood.
"She has retired early to her chambers, though not I suspect to read the book I gave her after her lesson today." Thor looked down at his feet, feeling even guiltier for having taken the book under his mother's gaze. She laid a hand on his shoulder and smiled warmly.
"Perhaps you should go and speak with her." Thor nodded and left after bidding his father a good night. Odin raised a graying eyebrow.
"They had an argument again, though I think this one may end for the better as Thor seemed to be trying harder in his training since they spoke this afternoon." Odin sighed and shook his head.
"You are so much more skilled with them than I my love. Shall we retire?" Frigga smiled and took his arm leaving the children to work out their own problems for the night.
Thor knocked on Loki's door and without waiting for an answer entered the room. The soft golden walls were draped in green as the setting sun lit the room with a soft glow. Not seeing his sister Thor turned to leave but could not contain his curiosity, he had never been in her room before. After giving saber, who was curled up on Loki's pillow, a quick pat on the head he began to look around. The room was very similar to the other chambers in the palace save for the color scheme and the abundance of books. They were everywhere but all stacked neatly in piles or sitting on the shelves that lined the walls. On the table in the center of the room Thor found something interesting. There were drawings scattered all across its surface. Each seemed to depict different views off the same place. It was a grove surrounded by trees of every kind but on the far end of the grove was a tree that was so tall it stretched out of the drawing. As he picked up one of the drawings as the door that led to Loki's closet opened and Loki came in dressed for sleep, brushing her hair as she walked. She stopped and glared at Thor.
"I know mother taught you to ask before you come into someone's room. What are you doing here?"
"I wished to offer my apologies for our argument and return your book. I am sorry Loki." Loki smiled and took her book from his hand.
"Apology accepted." Thor hugged his sister and wished her a good night of pleasant dreams before he left giving not a second thought to the drawings. But Loki could not draw her mind away from them.
She glanced at them as she lay down and waved her hand, extinguishing the candles and torches. The grove was all she saw in her dreams lately but it came with singing. She hummed as she fell asleep and unknown to her the vines that grew outside her window began to bloom with tiny flowers of every color under the rainbow. Over the years the dreams got more and more frequent until every night she sat in the grove listening to the music.