"You have no idea the prestige that has fallen on you," Gertrude stated as she stood next to Josephine at sunrise the next morning. "To be made a royal chambermaid, and you only here a month."

"But to Prince Loki," Josephine added. "After Freda, he will be more vigilant, you will have a great workload and he will be looking to ensure you outdo her."

"That will not take much; you merely have to turn up," Gertrude mumbled in your ear as she assisted you with the now green apron you had to wear. "Your belongings will be sent to your new lodgings once the last of Freda's are removed and it is there you shall remain now. Have you said goodbye to Anna and Mya?" You nodded. "Good, well then, I had best leave you to it." She turned to leave.

"Thank you." She turned to look at you, somewhat taken back by your gratitude. "I could have ended up anywhere, I am grateful you brought me here thank you."

"You did nothing to deserve a bad life girl. Just keep your head down and work hard." She smiled before leaving.

"Listen and listen well girl, this will be like no job you have had before, now let us begin." Josephine seemed very no-nonsense, so it caused you to wonder how the Freda girl had been able to be so lackadaisical.

Hours later, you felt as though your head was going to explode, and you prayed to all the Norn's you would forget none of what you had been told. You were also taught how to go from his rooms to the kitchens via the servant's passageways. So nervously, you made your way to Loki's quarters, fresh towels and a tray of snacks in hand.

When you got to the door, you knocked once before opening it and walking in. Inside, Loki was sitting on one of the seats, and across from him an elegant older woman.

"A new maid Loki?" She asked rising to her feet, eyeing you in an assessing manner.

"Yes, that other one did not even turn up at all yesterday, I was fortunate to see this one in the hallway." His tone bored, he did not even look at you.

"Well, that is in no way acceptable." The woman agreed. "Do not be so rude with this one."

"I am never rude to the staff that are in any way competent at their work, and this one has a functioning brain. I do not foresee the same issues with her as I had with the others."

"Good, well then, I shall leave you to your afternoon; no doubt you have many instructions you wish to give her."

"Yes, and do not fret, I will turn up to dinner this evening."

"You had better, you father was not best pleased last night Loki."

"Well he should cease trying to force every so-called eligible woman on me; they resemble the horses that were forced to drag their privileged asses here or those things that are supposed to be dogs they have to sit on their laps. Honestly, mother is there not one woman on all the realms that is of the correct background that is not vapid and shallow, I am not even too bothered by appearances anymore, so long as I am capable of having a conversation with them that consists of polysyllable words, I would be satisfied."

You bit your lips together, trying not to laugh at his descriptions; of the royal women you had seen of Vanaheim and indeed of your own realm, it seemed a somewhat accurate assessment of their physical appearance and manner.

"Be nice Loki." Though her words were scolding, it was clear from the manner the Allmother rolled her eyes; she did not fully disagree with her son's assessment. She gave you last glance before she left, to which you curtsied respectfully.

As she closed the door behind her, you looked anxiously to your new employer. "I assume you were given basic training of what is required of chambermaids this morning?" he asked, looking at you properly, clearly pleased your uniform was as he had requested.

"Yes, your Highness." You gave a small curtsey as you responded.

He took another moment to assess you. "Forget it all." He declared.

"Your Highness?"

"The last four maids were all supposedly trained properly and each one was worse than the last."

"So what would you have me do Your Highness?"

"Just as with yesterday, tidy my things as you did then, ensure my towels are changed daily, sheet's every second day, straightened daily, food and water constantly full and twice weekly full cleaning, the only day I forbid such is Frigga's day, understood?"

Not understanding the significance of such a day, you simply nodded as you absorbed all he said. "May I ask something, Your Highness?" He nodded once, eyeing you with interest. "What fruits do you prefer and which ones should I avoid?"

He gave an approving smirk. "Good question." He praised. "Citrus are preferred, but not always wanted, so add others. As for dislikes, I despise bananas, they never interested me."

You nodded. "The texture." You assumed, not really asking, merely stating a thought out loud.

"Yes, actually." He looked at you in an assessing manner. "So do as before and I will be pleased."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Loki stared at you for a moment, his head slightly tilted. "You did know who I was yesterday, did you?"

Your eyes widened slightly at that. "How…?"

"Yesterday, you referred to me as 'sir' and today you are referring to me by my title, leading me to believe you did not know with whom you were speaking yesterday."

You felt your face become red. "Your Highness, I am so sorry, I had no idea, I meant no offence, I had never worked in an area of the palace where I would see any member of the royal family, we are not permitted for some time as we need to be adequately trained to ensure the best possible standards for you."

"And before your service here, you had not seen me then?"

"No, your Highness, I came from Alfheim straight to the palace here, so no."

"I see." To your relief, he seemed merely intrigued rather than offended. "I prefer sir actually, it was refreshing."

"Yes, sir."

He nodded. "Well organise the place some bit, and tomorrow, we will see what training you do actually need." He instructed.

"Yes, sir." He left the room and rather than wonder where he was going or how long he would be, you simply got started on the task at hand and began to organise the room, tidying laundry, for washing doing as you had with the books the day before and preparing everything.

Loki arrived back soon after and gave the room a quick glance. "Well done another satisfactory job." You bowed at the praise. "Go, I require nothing more of you tonight if I require you I will call upon you."

"Yes, sir." You curtsied and left.

X

You could not help but stare blankly at the room you were now to be living in. It was beautiful or it would be, once you cleaned it. Freda had clearly been abandoning her own room's cleaning requirements as well as her duties. It smelled of alcohol and what you were almost certain was male fluids so you after grimacing to yourself, you immediately set about to clean it.

"So you are the new chambermaid?" Came a snide voice from behind you.

You groaned to yourself, knowing that anyone speaking in such a tone would not be of any aid to you. You turned around with a polite smile on your face. The woman standing behind you seemed to be less than a thousand years older than you; she had her nose high and looked at you, somewhat disgusted. "Yes, I am." You kept yourself polite, though you knew it was pointless.

"Poor Freda did not deserve to be thrown out like that, especially by someone like you; you're not even here the length of a season.

You took a moment to look at her before raising a brow and indicating to the room around you. "She was supposed to be a chambermaid to a prince; if this room is an indication of anything she is best served to make the bed of a pig."

The girl's lip curled up. "You are the lowest of the private chambermaids; you have no right to even speak to me, much less like that."

"And you are merely one rung higher." Came another voice from the door. Turning to see the newcomer, you saw an older woman glaring at the other maid. "And the only reason you are Prince Thor's maid is because Prince Loki stated you were incapable of even stacking books and dismissed you, you are not a better chambermaid because you are here longer, and before you moved up to chambermaid Rebekkah Avirdottir, you were scrubbing floors in the hallways, so I would suggest you acknowledge that the statement you made with regards this new maid only being here a month and having achieved in that time what took you a millennia to do, is a testament to her abilities and your lack there of." The older woman snapped before looking around the room. "Norn's this place is beyond atrocious. Here Pet, I'll help you get it somewhat habitable." She gave the other maid another withering look. "Run along now Rebekkah if all you are going to do is hinder rather than help."

"Why would I clean this?" the other maid looked around the disgusting room, her tone one that matched her features.

"Well, you seemed to have little issue condoning its appearance not ten minutes ago." The younger maid scoffed before turning on her heels and storming off. "Ignore her; she and Freda were cut from the same cloth, so she's similar to her, as useful as a sundial at night." You were forced to cough to cover a laugh. "I am Adelaide by the way; I am the head chambermaid to the Allfather. When the Allmother met you earlier, she asked me to come see if you required any help, though I doubt even she would have thought you would require assistance for something like this, Norn's if they only knew what way that chit was treating her own rooms."

"Thank you." You looked around. "Usually, I would decline out of politeness, but this is beyond me, I had no idea I would be walking into something such as this."

The older woman looked around again. "No, I had not realised she was so bad myself. But the sooner we start, the sooner you can get yourself properly settled. I'll take care of the bed, you take care of…" she indicated to the mess that hid the most of the desk that was in one corner of the room.

"Thank you." You repeated.

"It is not easy for anyone starting out Pet, much less a new girl that has been forced into an even more challenging setting as you have been."

With a smile at her caring demeanour, you found yourself hoping you would be able to speak with her more often. "So does every member of the royal family have just one chambermaid?" Nervously, you tried to make small talk in hopes of getting more information on your new job as you attempted to work on the pile of trash that filled the room.

Adelaide gave a short laugh. "Norns no, thank goodness. The Princes only have one maid each, and a hand servant; you will meet Wilhelm tomorrow; but the Allfather and the Allmother, they have a team of us each, as they have far bigger quarters and far more work required of each member of staff.

"Is Wilhelm…" you asked anxiously.

"He is a young enough being, but very mature for his age." She eyed you for a moment. "I would not put him as much older than you actually, and the prince has great time for him. Wilhelm acts as a true friend to him, a confidant, not something in vast supply around here." She explained, her nose wrinkling in disgust as she stripped the sheets. "Norn's that girl is no loss going." She looked at you seriously for a moment. "One thing I will warn you of Pet, Prince Loki is prone to terrible bouts of loneliness. You are not here long enough to know, but he is not as liked and as popular as his older brother, and as such, feels resentment."

"And because of his resentment, it causes him to appear much less appealing to others, making him feel more alone, and that causes more resentment, all feeding into a vicious circle." You rambled.

"Exactly, along with the issues of companions, however, is the issue with favouritism that dwells within this house. I do not wish to speak ill of my employer, the Allfather is a fair and good man to work for, but he is not as good with the manner in which he treats his sons. He is inclined to prefer Prince Thor." Your brow furrowed at that information. "It is unfair, but since Prince Loki was first revealed to the realm and permitted to leave his mother's chambers, it has been such. For the most part, Odin tends to ignore Loki."

"So that is why he has caused himself to become known as the trickster, negative attention meant his father had to spend time dealing with him, and Loki deemed that better than being ignored."

"You are a very intelligent young woman, you have it all figured out already. Had you heard much of the family before your arrival here?"

"Not particularly, mostly since I arrived, but a few of the other staff had stated in passing that he has played tricks on them. Back home, I mean on Alfheim, we knew of the family of course, but mostly just their names and such." You explained.

"Alfheim is seen as so different to here, which must have been quite the alteration of lifestyle for you." Adelaide's tone was empathetic.

"I was lucky really, there were two other girls that came here with me, so we were all able to aid one another as we adapted."

"Well sadly you will not get many chances to see them now, but you will do so on occasion." She looked at the freshly bed made she had done, clearly proud of her work. "Much better." Turning to see how you were faring, she gave an approving nod. "I can see how you attracted his attention." You looked at her for an explanation. "You have organised that hovel in minutes."

"It's not so difficult when everything in the pile is simply for dumping."

"Still, you are efficient, that will be a great assist here have you any questions by any chance?"

"Not that I can think, but my head hurts from everything I have had to take in today, I would think later when I should be resting, I will think of a hundred questions."

Adelaide chuckled. "It is always the way." She continued to work around the room. You mostly worked in silence until finally, it was tidied. "Do you have much to put away Pet?"

"No, not really." You looked around sadly, all you had was your work uniforms and the night clothes you had been wearing the night you were taken from your home on Alfheim.

Sensing your sadness, the older woman did not press any further. "Well, I'll let you get settled so. If his Highness requires you through the night, a bell will sound here and you can make your way to him through the passage closest your room here, alright?" you nodded. "Well, sleep well Pet." She wrinkled her nose again. "Or you will when you open a window."

"Thank you, Adelaide."

"Anytime." She winked, and then she left.

Looking around, you were happier, now that the cesspit appearance was gone. It only came to you then, that Adelaide, and indeed Rebekkah, had not enquired as to your name. Worried about the day ahead, you put away your uniforms and curled up in bed, praying to the Norn's the prince, and indeed his hand servant would be amiable when you met them in the morning.