Sigrun's feet pounded on the stone walkway sending tingling vibrations up her legs, causing more tears to leak from her eyes.
"Thor and Loki are of age now." Odin explained, "It is time for them to train to become the next warriors of Asgard."
Thor puffed out his chest proudly while Loki looked sadly at her.
"And what about me?" She asked
"You have quite some time until you are able to train." Frigga answered.
"But I could learn magic from you! Learning magic isn't the same as training with swords."
"I'm sorry Sigrun." Frigga said with finality.
Sigrun wiped angrily at the tears that were now flowing, gasping as her bare feet left the smooth walkway and hit the sharp gravel of a narrow pathway.
"You don't have that long to catch up." Thor said, bounding down the steps, Sigrun and Loki lagging behind.
"He's right you know." Loki agreed.
"Only a few more birthdays." She grumbled. "What am I even supposed to do all day, every day, by myself?"
Thor wasn't listening anymore and jumped the last three steps and ran to his group of friends.
"You will find things to do."
"Not anything that will be fun with one person."
"Loki come on!" Thor called from the throng of young Asgardians that had gathered.
Loki gave Sigrun a face and shrug that quite plainly said I don't know what to tell you, and went to join the others.
Birds flew overhead, startled as she picked up speed through the woods. Once her skin felt the soft sand of the beach she stopped, sun glinted off of the bright blue water, causing her to squint. The quiet sounds of nature and rolling waves filled her ears, and she wondered why she had come here.
This was their spot, hers, Thors, and Loki's. Sometimes Fandral and Volstagg would join, but then the rough housing would get to be too much and she would have to leave the water and sit on the beach. Which she thought, wasn't so bad because Loki would always sit with her.
But now she was alone, and their spot was completely silent. She would have given anything for her brothers to be here, even Fandral or Volstagg would be better than nothing. Sigrun walked to the water's edge and let the cool waves lap over her feet causing goose bumps to cover her body. She tiptoed in the water slowly getting used to the cold water as she went, a small part of her was glad there was no one here to splash or drag her in, and once she was in past her belly button she held her breath and dove.
What was so special about coming of age anyway? All it meant was all your time was taken up with mock sword fights and magic tricks, and not being able to explore and have fun. Although, Sigrun wondered as she bent to pick up a shining shell under the surf that could just be the jealousy talking. She was only a few hours into being separated from Thor and Loki but she missed them so much it felt like a constant stomach ache, like the kind from eating too much chocolate cake too quickly. She was also pretty positive that they weren't missing her at all, Thor would be absorbed in learning battle strategies and Loki would be throwing himself into learning tactical magic that she wouldn't even be missed, not even a little bit.
Her stomach grumbled and she knew it was time for lunch, but she couldn't bring herself to go back to the palace, not yet, she really didn't want to eat alone with her parents because she knew her depression would annoy Odin and Frigga would try her hardest to be uplifting and Sigrun just didn't have the patience for any of it. Ignoring her rumbling stomach, and the negativity gnawing inside her brain, she trudged up the beach looking for more shimmering shells.
It was late by the time Sigrun marched herself back to the castle, she was tired, starving, and the tips of her fingers were wrinkled. As she walked to the door way of the feasting hall she heard Thor boasting about his day, while Loki talked about the pros of close handed combat.
"Where have you been? We've been worried!" Frigga jumped up from her seat next to Odin and grabbed Sigrun by the shoulders and steered her to her spot next to Loki.
"Swimming." She answered shortly.
"By yourself?"
"I'm old enough to do things by myself." Sigrun said loudly, "It's not like I had much of a choice anyway."
"Father did you know there was a girl in our group?" Thor asked loudly.
"Lady Sif is more than a match for you boys." Odin replied.
"But she's a girl."
"She is the daughter of one of my finest generals you will look after her." Odin commanded firmly.
"But…"
"You okay?" Loki nudged Sigrun with her elbow as she pushed food around on her plate, ignoring Thor and Odins continued bickering.
"Yeah," she stood, "may I be excused?"
"You just got here and you haven't eaten." Frigga said, torn between trying to get Sigrun to stay and breaking up the argument at the head of the table.
"Not hungry." She cursed her stomach for picking that moment to roar like a wild animal, and left the hall quickly before anyone heard or could stop her.
"Sigrun? Can I come in?" Loki's voice was muffled outside of the thick wooden door of her bedroom, where Sigrun laid on her bed sobbing into her pillow. She was starving and sad and was very close to telling Loki to leave her alone. But she was tired of being alone.
"Yeah." She called sniffing; her stomach lurched when she smelled fruit and pastry.
"I thought you were hungry." Loki held out a tray of fruits and cakes.
"A bit." She gave him a watery smiled and grabbed a small bite sized pie as he sat down.
"You know I really would rather hang out with you right?" He said, setting the tray down on the bed next to him.
"You wouldn't rather be learning magic and stuff?"
"It is fun, but really, I wouldn't be so upset about missing out if I were you."
"It's not that I am missing out, I hate being alone like even Thor is better than no one."
"Geez, you must be lonely."
"You have no idea."
Loki sighed heavily, "I want to show you something, but Mother just showed me today so I don't know how good it will be."
"Oh?" Sigrun cocked an eyebrow.
"Close your eyes."
"What?"
"Just close them."
She obeyed, and felt Loki move his hand briefly.
"Okay, open them."
Sigrun blinked a few times to get her eyes to focus, and then felt her mouth drop open. Her room was filled with small, orange and black butterflies.
"I thought you were learning tactical magic?" She asked quietly, following the fluttering wings.
"I am, I'm going to be, but just to get the feel of it Mother wants to start off easy."
"These are from that Migardian book right? The Monarch butterfly? I love those; the pictures don't do them justice."
"They are much better than before, they were awfully blurry."
They sat in silence for a long while; Sigrun laid her head on his shoulder, "Thanks."
"For what?"
"Making me feel better."
"Any time."
A knock came from the door and before Sigrun could answer Frigga pushed the door open.
"Your Father and I have decided that you can begin to learn magic tomorrow, with Loki. It's not fair for you to be left behind."
"Really?" Sigrun and Loki both asked excitedly.
"Yes, Thor made a convincing argument that if a girl can train with swords, you being underage can learn "Stupid magic"." Frigga said smiling.
