Upon Ingemar running off, Loki immediately chased after her. He caught up with her near his room as he grabbed onto her hand. "Ingemar wait!" Loki cried out as he squeezed her hand. Loki pulled her close as he buried his face into her hair. "Ingemar please."

She was limp against him as he held onto her. Loki continued to hold onto Ingemar as the words just began to ramble out of his mouth. "I just miss you, I never see you anymore." Loki began as he continued. "You've become so distant, there are now YEARS between you and I see each other. We used to be best friends for Odin's sake!" Loki squeezed his eyes shut as he continued. "And now I try to spend time with you, but you slip right out of my fingers."

Ingemar stayed quiet for a moment before she finally spoke. "Loki, we were children when we spent all our days together." Ingemar began as she pushed herself back and away from him. Her voice shook a bit, but there was Loki could feel the strength in it. "But we have jobs to do first and foremost."

This angered Loki as his hands clenched together. "So you've grown tired of me?" he sputtered out as Amber eyes darted up to meet his.

"No Loki. That's not what I am saying-"

"That's what it seems seeing as you couldn't even be here on time for my birthday."

Ingemar looked at him with amber eyes full of anger. "I came as soon as I possibly could. I'm sorry that I was busy trying to help our people." She threw her arms up as she grabbed onto her hair. "Loki, you're drunk. Let's talk about this later."

"No!" Loki yelled as he stepped forward. "Since with you later could be another century around while you're busy. You even said that it shouldn't have happened."

Ingemar's hand ran through her hair as she looked at the ground. "I meant the kiss! I should not have kissed you back." Loki stared at her as he felt his heart drop.

"W-why?" Loki asked, his words showing the heartbreak before he screamed. "WHY?!" he then shouted at Ingemar as she retracted. Ingemar had shrunk in her stance as Loki became to scream at her. "Is it because I could never be like Thor? Or that you prefer Thor to me."

"Could it be that even all this time, that you were using me to get Thor." Loki began his ramble as Ingemar stared at him as if he was spitting acid in his words. "Using me to get to my broth-"

Ingemar slapped him across the cheek as she finally yelled out at him. "I should not have kissed you back because I believed I was NOT good enough. You're flocked by court ladies all the time but you know what? We were both wrong." She put her finger up pointing at him before she finally shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut. Turning on her heel, Loki could hear a sob as Ingemar walked away.

"Don't bother talking to me until you've come to your senses."

With that, Ingemar was gone.

Loki woke up the next day with his head pounding, especially his one cheek. The memories of nights previously came flooding in. He dug the heels of his hands against his eyes as he let out a groan, wishing it had all been a dream.

He rested his head on his pillow. What made him decide to kiss her? It was something that came completely out of left field. Inside of him was the bubbling anger that Ingemar was furious with him. He had never seen her scream like that, let alone cry because of his actions or behaviour. Loki let all of insecurities out that he had towards Ingemar.

These thoughts were something that stayed with him even as he went to have tea later with his mother, he was thankful that his magic could hide the slight discoloration of his cheek.

Frigga knew almost immediately her son was distressed as she pushed the tray of sugar cookies over to him before taking a sip out of her tea. "You seemed to disappear awhile at your party last night, did something happen?"

Loki looked like he was going to deny this but Frigga added. "It is clearly on your mind."

Loki felt like he could be honest with his mother as he spoke.

"I made a mistake last night mother. Ingemar is now mad at me."

"How bad of a mistake could it have been?" Frigga spoke as she leaned forward a bit on the table.

Loki told his tale as best he could, but he could even feel his words twisting slightly to portray him as the victim. It was only natural with his silvertongue. Frigga seemed to see through it as she nodded along.

"So you both seemed to have been caught up in the emotions of the matter?"

Loki scoffed. "Emotions? There's just just the appreciation of friendship mother." Loki spoke as he sipped his tea. "I highly doubt that there is anything more, alcohol just has a bizarre way of messing with how things come across."

Frigga gave a little hum noise in response before she spoke. "The worst lies are the lies we tell ourselves. We live in denial of what we do, even what we think. We do this because we're afraid." It was a Midgard quote that she thoroughly enjoyed. Before changing the subject to things about the other gossip from the party. Loki still felt the anger in his stomach as he continued his days.

It was later after dinner that Thor had pulled his brother aside. Loki was confused but he was sure it was some silly thing that Thor wanted to talk about, like the latest woman he wooed at his party. What Loki heard shook him and he even needed to have Thor repeat himself.

Ingemar was gone. She left to collect herbs and other needed ingredients for potions. Normally they sent someone, but in this case she had pleaded with Odin to send her, claiming it was important for her to practice gathering. Loki's hearing barely processed as he paled. The next words rang through his head.

"Ingemar clearly had been upset brother. She refused to speak about it with me though." Thor squeezed Loki's shoulder as he sighed. "It's unfortunate she left as quickly as she had. Ingemar told me how excited she was to see if you would go to the play with her."

Loki shook his head as he pushed away from Thor. he went to a place he could destroy and let all of his emotions flow freely as he destroyed the room and its furnishings.

Loki was surprised to see that it had been almost a century to see Ingemar again in the castle at Midgard. What angered is she was walking with he did not recognize and looked like a native of Vanaheim. They were laughing as they carried large baskets to the medical area. Ingemar had turned and seen Loki but continued to the way of the medical centre.

Loki told himself that he was over Ingemar and that he could easily see her and apologize. But he was proven wrong immediately. She looked nearly the same as when he had last seen Ingemar, but now her hair had grown more. Instead of the pale colours she seemed to wear previously were gone, replaced with a deep purple sweater dress that had large holes on either shoulders with dark tights. Loki could say honestly that she seemed happy and far more tanned but that could be because of her spending most of her time outdoors.

Later, Thor had informed him about how Ingemar had gone to Vanaheim first and was accompanied back by a man named Hogun due to the sheer amount of herbs and ingredients she had collected. At dinner Odin decided to have a feast for Hodun's visit. Thor was quite interested in meeting Hogun and they spoke through the night and drank plenty while across the table Ingemar sat beside Frigga and the were invested in their conversation. Loki did not enjoy this dinner at all as he glanced over to Hodun again.

"Ingemar would tell me all the different stories of Midgard and its beauty," he grinned as he took a gulp of his ale. "It is so strange to see everyone living in a large city like this. In Vanaheim we stick more to the villages and camping settlements." Hodun explained before going on to tell a battle story. Ingemar listened for awhile before she excused herself from the table.

Loki waited for a few minutes before he decided to leave. He hoped that he could find Ingemar to speak before she departed again.

He walked aimlessly through the halls as he rehearsed his speech in his head. His hands were tucked behind his back as he did so. If anyone saw them, they would think he was merely thinking about some regal. In reality, his brain was going a mile a minute on his apology.

Loki walked past the doors to the little garden and notice Ingemar sitting there, he was going to just pass by and wait until tomorrow. However, fate could not be kind to him as Ingemar looked over at him as she turned and noticed him. Loki walked over to her as he saw she was sitting with her feet dipped into the water with no regards to if the ground was damp or muddy. He sighed and sat beside him.

"Loki."

"Ingemar." he immediately replied back, glancing out of the corner of his eye to see that Ingemar was staring forward. Her arms were crossed over her knees and she was admiring the night sky, even if it was easier to see further into the woods.

The two remained silent for quite some time. Loki was unsure how to go about his apology since just blurting out "I was immature, sorry." did not seem to be the best approach. How would that show Ingemar how much he had grown to become a more worthy friend.

"Do you remember the time that you pretended to be one of those black feathered chickens? You let me stroke the feathers and hold you after scooping you out of the bush but as soon as Thor touched you, you transformed yelling "Cock a doodle doom" and stabbed him?"

Loki cringed from his joke, knowing it was far from a clever one before laughing. "The time with the snake was far better." he responded as Ingemar let out a sigh.

"Why did you never try stabbing me in pranks like Thor?" Ingemar quietly asked, and Loki was confused for a minute.

"Thor's my brother, I like to annoy him. I didn't see a reason to stab you?" he asked as he raised a brow. "Had you wanted me to stab you?"

"Gods no! But sometimes I felt you treated me like a little doll Loki. Your prized little show pony even." She leaned back until her back was firmly against the ground. "With no one around, you were the best of friends I could ask for, but in public it was like I was treasure you were afraid of being stolen. Especially around your brother." Ingemar confessed. "Then you kissed me and it just felt like you were trying to claim me as some conquest."

Loki paused as he thought about it. "That was never my intention." Loki finally spoke. He ran a hand through his growing hair. "I was not handling having to share you time well. By the time you arrived I was completely pissed and all these feelings of missing you just bubbled up."

Loki decided to come down to Ingemar's level as he laid beside her. " If I had known that it would have been another hundred years of not hearing from you, then I would have reconsidered my actions and more importantly, his words." He confessed, although Loki knew he did not regret the kiss, just the approach and reactions afterwards. Not that he would confess that to Ingemar.

Ingemar glanced over to Loki as she raised her pinkie to him. "From this point, we need to be honest with each other Loki. None of this bottled up crap. I cannot promise I will be here to hang out with you at the beck and call, but I will make time to spend time with you."

Loki immediately hooked his finger around hers. "I promise."

Ingemar gave him a smile, and Loki could feel happiness rise in him. "If we are being honest, I always worry that Thor will woo you just to bug me."

Ingemar bursted into laughter as she glanced over at Loki. There was a playful look in her eyes as Loki felt a weight off his chest. "Thor would never seriously try to woo me, he knows too well I'd side with you in almost all arguments. Having a wife who's your best friend would end in far more torment to him."

Loki chuckled at the idea. "Well I suppose that is true."

"Although I did compliment Thor on the fact his beard seems to finally be growing in well on his face. It does seem to work well but I can't help to think that it'll be scratchy against your skin." Loki chuckled at this before changing the subject.

"Anyways, tell me more about Hogun and Vanaheim."

The next morning at breakfast, the entire party could see how the tension between Loki and Ingemar was gone. It was Thor that seemed the most pleased about this. When Ingemar finally left to start brewing medicines with her father, with Hogun in Thor's safe hands, was when Thor started to pester Loki.

Thor raised his brow as Loki looked at him with an unamused expression. Frigga had barely left when Thor finally asked. "Did you finally apologize and confess why you were an idiot?"

"We talked things over and apologized, yes." Loki picked up his goblet to drink some more juice, expecting for Thor to talk with Hogun more.

"So you told her that you were overreacting because you were crushing too hard on her?"

Loki spat out his drink as he glared at his brother. He wiped off his face with his napkin. "Excuse me?"

"Loki, you are usually better at lying." Thor teased as he looked at Hogun. "When we were children, Loki would get so jealous from me spending time with Ingemar. She tried to plan a birthday party for his twentieth birthday and saw Ingemar with me. Later that day, we were training and he stabbed me until i told him about the party." He waved his hands. "Loki has the silver tongue though, and Ingemar is none the wiser that he knew."

Loki hid his face in his palm as Hogun chuckled. "Thor, Ingemar is my best friend. I'd bet there is a higher chance of a lady of the court pinning you down than us being together. And if you speak of this to Ingemar, I will make sure you regret it because I would prefer to wait a few hundred years before our next fight."

Ingemar had stayed for a couple of years, teaching Hogun about how she was using the herbs and medicine in Asgard so he could take notes to take back to Vanaheim. Hogun told her about the common remedies that people had used. Loki had seen Gangris far more out of the medical room and eating meals with people, most upon the prodding of his daughter. Gangris had even come more for dinner with his brother and Odin.

True to her word, even when Ingemar accompanied Hogun back to Vanaheim, she quickly returned to Asgard. At the meals, Gangris had told Odin that Ingemar was quick to being ready to replace him. He was so sure of it that he had entrusted Ingemar with the family book on recipes and secrets. This intrigued Loki, as he had made sure to listen, Odin had seen this curious look on his son as he asked Gangris to explain.

"Before there had been a few different people who were in charge of medicine, but there was great controversy about what medicines truly worked and used the herbs properly. It eventually faded to two. The other family did not like Gangris and his family, it worsened when the man Abram accidentally put the wrong herb in and it killed the past librarian accidentally. He was thrown out for such a stupid mistake. You see, most medicines are shared with all the other nurses and medicine makers. Our family keeps our less used medicines and even poisons for only us and the king to see for the safety of Asgard."

Loki nodded as he then continued the meal, satisfied with the answer. It created more sense that there was now only one family in charge of such a thing. He tuned out of this and enjoyed his meal.

So a few months later, he was frowning as he looked towards the window. He knew that Ingemar was to meet him for tea, but she was quite late already without a warning. Although, she would get caught up in her work, Loki knew she was not working today. She was spending the morning with her parents before returning to the castle. The tea was quite cold and he had drank at least two cups of it while waiting.

A knock on the door echoed through the room as he smiled, finally. When a guard stepped in, Loki raised his brow.

"Your highness, the All Father wishes to see you in the map room immediately." the guard spoke as Loki nearly bolted out of the room. It was rare for his father to call upon him with an urgency. He arrived to the maps room and noticed that Gregor, Thor and Frigga were also there waiting for Loki.

"Father, you called?" Loki spoke as he stood beside his mother.

"Yes." Odin spoke as he began. "This morning, someone was out for a hunt and noticed a ransacked cottage with the door thrown off, and a foul smell. Gangris' cottage." A lump formed in his throat as he waited for him to continue. "Some soldiers looked into it. The entire house was torn apart with papers ripped out of books. They seemed to be searching for something. Outside a window was a trail of heavy dried blood that was heading into the woods. Inside the one bedroom, we discovered Gangris' wife Asta. She had passed by the time any help before anyone could come."

Loki looked down as he waited to hear more. When Odin did not continue, he piped up. "What about Gangris' and Ingemar?"

"The soldiers are scouring the woods now for we believe they fled from their assailants." Odin replied as he pulled up a small piece of fabric. "This was caught on a tree, with a pile of blood underneath. One of the two has been clearly injured and the soldiers are not wasting time to find him. Our priority is finding Gangris, Ingemar and their notes."

Standing up, Odin looked at his sons. "Both of you are to join me as we head out." Looking over at Loki, he put his arms behind his back. "You know Ingemar well. I hope you would know where she may hide in these woods."

Loki hesitated before nodding. There were a few places that came to mind. "Yes father." Odin led the way as Frigga stopped Loki to hug him.

"Good luck son." She spoke as Loki nodded. The three mounted their already prepared horses before heading off. It was strange for Loki to be riding beside his father instead of behind him as usual. Loki knew that the trio spent more of their time in the one section of forest and so he took them this way. Upon arriving at the stream, Loki looked to his left and right. The sky was clear and blue when they left but was beginning to darken by the time they got into the forest.

He was judging which way to go when something in the sky caught his eyes. There had not been any storm clouds in the sky when they headed out and yet about two miles to his right was very dark clouds with rain coming down heavy. They stood out compared to the colours of the skies. Without even saying a word, Loki headed towards it as he could hear Odin and Thor following behind him. Towards the edge of the storm, the horse slowed down and was resisting Loki. He jumped off of it, leaving it where it stopped as he ran forward. He could barely make out what was more than six feet in front of him Glancing back, he could partly see the brightness of Thor's cape. He continued to push through as he noticed a little off right was a clearing of the rain. Loki turned to head that way as he came to the eye of the storm. Loki was shouting Ingemar's name out as he looked around. To his right was the water they fished at. He could see two figures. One laying on the ground as the other was trying to pushing downwards with a glint of metal. Loki saw the figure on the ground had distinct Auburn hair as he rushed forward. Ingemar was pushing the assailant as far from her as she could manage while he was pushing a sword towards her chest. It was almost touching her chest with her hands trying to push the sword away. Ingemar was screaming out as Loki's instinct kicked in.

Loki bolted forward, pushing the man with his shoulder as he pulled out a dagger and pushed it into the man's side before kicking the sword away.

Thor came up beside him as he grabbed the man in the dark clothing as he whispered. "Go." Loki nodded as he walked over to Ingemar. He could see her hands were cut and bleeding from holding the sword and many other wounds all over her. He kneeled as Loki finally noticed something strange. Eyes that were glowing dark blue; as dark as the water by the Bifrost. He put a cautious hand on her shoulder.

"Ingemar, it's okay." he spoke to her as he gave her shoulder a squeeze. Her eyes turned to him as they faded back to the amber colour. She wheezed and smiled. Her hand raised to press against her face. It was at this moment, Loki could evaluate her. It was hard to tell what dampness was from the rain or blood on her dark pants. Her shirt was torn and there appeared to be the spine of a broken off arrow. She would most certainly survive but Loki knew she was probably in a lot of physical pain.

"You're here." she spoke before dropping her hand and bursting into tears. Immediately Loki pulled her into his arms as she sobbed. It was hard to hear as Loki tried understanding what the girl said as she spoke.

Parents dead. Was what Loki finally deciphered as he glanced over where he saw the slumped form against a tree. It was Gangris with his side dark red. Loki leaned back a bit so he could look Ingemar in the eyes.

"Look at me, follow my breathing." Loki spoke as he worked on calming down his friend. When her breathing calmed down, he was quiet in asking. "Are the notes with you or your father?"

"With me." she spoke patting a satchel that was strapped across her body. It was a leather bag.

"Okay, can you stand?" Ingemar nodded as Loki stood up. Ingemar went to follow but immediately fell over with a gasp clutching her leg. Loki knew she would try walking it off, so before she could he scooped her up.

"Father, we have the book here." Loki called over as Odin came to see Ingemar as she patted her bag.

"It's what they were after, Allfather." Against his chest, Loki could feel her breathing getting uneven as she spoke. "There were at least six of them. The-they chased us for days." Leaning her head against Loki's shoulder she inhaled deeply. "I tried saving father but he was injured and poisoned. We had to stop."

Odin raised his hand. "Child, that is enough for now. We can speak more after you recover some." His father turned to Loki. "Take her back, Thor and I will take it from here."

Loki nodded as he called out for his horse, and now that the rain had ceased it arrived swiftly. Odin held onto Ingemar as Loki mounted his horse before handing Ingemar over. She sat in front of Loki and leaned against Loki. Her breathing was slow and even now as Ingemar starred up at the sky. They started to run back, pushing the horse to go as fast as he could. He would ask one of the caretakers to give it a nice brush down after.

Loki took a moment to glance down as Ingemar's eyes were trying to flutter shut, staying shut longer each time as Loki moved a hand to shake her lightly. "Stay with me now." he urged as the castle slowly got into view. Trusting his mother or someone would be waiting for them.

Asgardians jumped out of the horse's way, something Loki was thankful for as they finally arrive to their destination. He scooped Ingemar before she could think of walking and ran through the halls to the medic, the halls cleared already. Probably thanks to his mother's meddling, no doubt. Loki kicked at the door to open it as he went to nearest bed and laid her down. The medics ran over and immediately rushed to help her. Ingemar groaned from the change as she grabbed at her bag.

"Loki." Ingemar sat up a bit with pleading eyes. "Please take this." he nodded before watching her lay back down on the bed, and letting out a deep sigh. Immediately the curtains around her were shut and Loki was left to wait on the sidelines.

A medic came up to him. "Are you injured?"

Loki shook his head as he glanced over to where the medics were hard at work behind the curtains. At some point Frigga arrived and sat beside her son. One of her arms went around his shoulder in a hug as her hand rubbed his shoulder in comfort. "I'm proud of you son." she spoke before adding. "We should let them do their work. We can check on her later."

The string of curses that were just screamed out made Loki nod as he followed his mother.

Loki had attempted to sleep that night, but the not knowing Ingemar's current condition constantly woke him. He felt guilt trying to sleep after while his now orphaned friend was alone in the medical room. The sun was still far from rising in the sky when he decided to finally take a look at the book he was guarding.

The first few pages were on a history of the family with long loopy script. It was obvious that there was a great deal of care and focus put towards it. It then followed with the purpose of the native tree barks. Along the side was a tiny scrawl of someone adding to the page with the initials beside it. He continued thumbing through the pages as he started to recognize each generation's handwriting and a full signature with their first unique entry.

The ink became more pronounced with a brighter colour, signifying that it was newer ink. Loki's excitement grew as he recognized Gangris and Gregor's signatures on a few before it soon became only Gangris' handwriting visible. On the next page was a penmanship he recognized immediately. Ingemar had done something quite different with her page. There was two smooth thin line down the centre creating three even columns On the left side was her notes about some flowers she had stumbled upon. In the middle of the column, was questions and thoughts she had. Finally there was the blank column on the right side. Above this column was the beautiful cursive writing saying "Comments".

Loki read her notes, as he raised a brow.

"This delicate pale purple coloured flower with exactly 9 petals is found at the base of the west side of the mountain. It is tucked away in the shade with a slight luminescent glow upon a full moon."

It went into further detail about how to transfer it and the mild sedative quality Ingemar found to have. Beside it was the question of how would it affect users magic abilities and dosage size.

Although he would admit it was not all things he'd be interesting in learning normally, reading the familiar handwriting comforted Loki and put him at ease enough that he could sleep until the morning.