Chapter Four: Serenity.

Eira stole a glance over her shoulder as the horse trotted through the gates of the palace courtyard. The steed began to quicken pace at Loki's bidding and Eira found herself instinctively looping her arms around the prince's middle and locking her fingers together lest she fall off.

"Erm…Loki?" Eira ventured, clearing her throat.

"Yes?"

"Shouldn't we tell someone where we are going?"

The girl felt the young prince's ribcage expand beneath her arms as he drew in a deep breath.

"I mean, won't anyone worry if they find you gone?"

Loki gave something of a short laugh and shook his head.

"No Eira…we will not be missed; We shall be back before anyone realises we were ever gone."

The young prince looked over his shoulder and shot Eira a reassuring smile, before returning his gaze forth and steering the horse to the right and down a barely-there dirt path. Eira remained silent, preferring instead to watch the scenery change around her.

As they left the palace courtyard a scattering of small, angular houses greeted them, but these became more sparse as Loki set his sights on the fields beyond.

They passed through the city gates with ease, the guards either ignorant or uncaring of their presence.

After a vastness of scrubland and fields, the ground beneath them became steeper and Eira's breath hitched in her throat as the mount shakily traversed the incline only halting at Loki's sudden tension on the reigns. Looking around the prince, Eira could see they had stopped before a thick mass of tall and foreboding trees. She felt Loki shift his weight slightly and she swiftly released him from her arms. The girl watched as the prince slid from the steed and then turned to her, holding out a hand to help her down.

Eira let Loki help her and then stood aside him as the pair surveyed the forest before them. Loki wore a smirk and shifted his gaze sideways to glean Eira's reaction. Hers was a look of apprehension and awe; never had she seen a forest so dark before. She was sure there could not be enough space between the tree trunks to walk through.

"Shall we?" Loki asked suddenly, waking Eira from her thoughts and receiving an uncertain nod from the girl.

The prince stepped over to the horse and took up the reigns in his left hand, before leading the creature through into the trees.

Loki felt Eira's presence at his side as she came level with him.

"It's not too much farther." He assured her.

Eira gave a nod to signal that she had understood and for a long while neither said anything. All that could be heard were the rustling of the leaves in the canopy overhead and the chirping of birds in the distance. Eira's gaze snapped sideways at a flash of movement on the floor to her right and gasped as a mouse emerged from the dead leaves. The rodent paused only for a second, sniffed at the air and disappeared into the humus again, seemingly finding their presence off-putting.

Eira found herself smiling at the tiny animal's behaviour.

"I like it here." She said, finally, shifting her gaze upwards and closing her eyes to savour the serenity of her surroundings. Upon opening her eyes, she turned her focus to Loki.

"Thank you for bringing me here." Eira offered.

The prince gave a short laugh which caused the girl's brow to furrow.

"You're welcome…but this isn't what I wanted to show you."

Eira narrowed her eyes at him, but Loki merely rolled his own and continued forwards.

Eira pressed the prince for the meaning behind his last response, but Loki seemed reluctant to oblige. So, for lack of options, the girl followed after him silently.

It was not long before the trees began to stand farther apart from one another until they eventually surrendered the pair to a meadow, pock-marked with hardy shrubs and heather.

Here, Loki secured the horse's reigns to a lonely tree aside a small pool of water. The ease and speed with which he tied the knot, suggested to Eira that it was something the prince did often. The horse further confirmed her suspicions as it sauntered to the edge of the pool with nonchalance. It dropped it's nose to the water in confidence, sure that it would be undisturbed for as long as it remained there.

Eira started slightly as the prince came alongside her and took her hand in his own. Beaming, Loki guided her forth, breaking into a sprint in excitement.

Eira struggled to keep level with Loki and almost toppled forwards at the abruptness with which the prince stopped. She felt an arm across her chest and it was only when she righted herself and followed Loki's gaze did she realise why.

Loki had led her to a cliff over-looking a small bay. In the distance, dark clouds speckled the burnt orange skies, causing the sea below to take on a melancholy air. Eira swept Loki's arm aside and leaned forwards over the edge of the cliff. She kept a grip on his hand, though, just to be safe. She could just make out a ledge below that they might jump to, but she could see no other pathway that would enable them to reach the bay.

"Can we get down there?" Eira asked, turning sideways to face Loki who nodded thoughtfully and released her hand.

"There is a path down, but it's difficult to traverse and not very safe." He informed her.

A look of disappointment swept over the girl's countenance.

"Oh." She offered, turning her gaze to the horizon again, content to watch the tumultuous heavens if they could not make it to the beach.

Eira felt an elbow in her ribs as Loki disturbed her thoughts. He raised an eyebrow at her and folded his arms.

"But we don't need a path, do we?" With this and a somewhat impish grin, the prince vanished.

Eira laughed at her own stupidity and disappeared, appearing on the dark grey sand below within a second.

It took her a moment to locate Loki, but she found him lying on his back a little way off, green eyes skyward expectantly and hands clasped calmly atop his stomach. Tentatively, Eira started forth and dropped to her knees beside the prince. She lowered herself into a similar position beside him.

At first, Eira could not fathom what Loki was watching so attentively, but after a second an army of dust coloured clouds edged into her field of vision. The girl was sure they were the same clouds that had hovered at the horizon just mere moments ago and found herself in awe of their speed.

Eira's focus found the prince beside her, but he did not move to look at her. She got the impression he was watching her from his peripherals, though, since a smile ghosted to his lips and he blinked once, slowly and with instruction.

At the bidding of a snarl of thunder, Eira's gaze was torn from Loki and to the grey haze above.

The clouds seemed to pulsate and writhe overhead and it took Eira a second or two to realise the movement was a result of snowfall. Wrapt, she watched as minute snowflakes and minuscule jewels of ice shimmered and swirled before their dust-coloured backdrop. A few moments passed and Eira was surprised to find that she had yet to feel the cold against her skin. The snowflakes did not reach the beach, snatched away by unseen zephyrs before they could even taste the black sand. Stealing a glance at the prince beside her, the girl found him to be smiling, but he did not turn to her.

The pair watched in silence until the storm clouds dissipated, some retreating to the horizon and others merely disappearing as if they themselves had been students of Ymir.

"That was beautiful." Eira breathed as she sat up. Loki chuckled and did the same.

"I thought you might like it." The prince replied.

Eira nodded fervently, "And I did! It was amazing. I kept thinking the snow would reach us and that we would get cold and wet, but it never did!"

The pair shared laughter at this, before Eira leant forwards and folded the prince into a hug.

"Thank you, Loki."