As was Asgardian tradition, there was feast to celebrate their victory. My parents sat at the head table with both Frigga and Odin. Though they should have been at the head table with their parents, both Loki and Thor were seated at another table with some of the other warriors. At first I was unsure whether I was supposed to sit with my parents, or the princes, or somewhere else entirely. But then Thor called out to me.
"Elise!" He boomed, "Come join us and celebrate."
I smiled and walked over to where they were seated, collapsing gratefully into an empty seat. Thor proceeded to introduce me to the warriors seated at the table, Volstagg, Fandral, Hogun and of course, Sif. They all greeted me cordially, and Sif smiled at me.
"How's your arm feeling?" I asked Sif, my nurse's instinct prompting me to ensure my patient was doing well.
"Fine, actually," She replied, "Thank you."
This lead to the rest of our company asking after what had happened to her arm in battle, and giving me a chance to eat some food.

Later that night, the feasting turned into dancing. While I was not familiar with the Asgardian dancing styles, it seems both my parents were. Despite my insistence that I had two left feet and could not dance, I was pulled onto the dance floor by Thor.
"May I have this dance, beautiful warrior?" Fandral interrupted Thor as the music for one dance finished and another started up.
"You may," I replied with a smile, turning towards the smaller blonde Asgardian.
"Treat her with respect, Fandral," Thor warned jokingly, "She is a terror with a sword."
"Your warning is acknowledged," Fandral laughed.
"He is a notorious flirt," Thor whispered to me, "Enjoy."

I'll skip the boring details of the dance, but I will say that Fandral lived up to Thor's warning. He could certainly give River a run for her money, and my mother is an incorrigible flirt. Throughout the dance I noticed that Loki had been shooting us rather dark glances, and on a few occasions after those looks Fandral would step on my toes or mess up a step. I'm not blaming Loki per say, but I do wonder if it was purely coincidence or if the mysterious young god had some part to play in it.

I returned to my seat after one dance, excusing myself due to exhaustion. Ungracefully I collapsed into my chair and rested my head onto the table top.
"My lady?" I heard a voice asked.
I looked up, a gracious declination to dance already on the tip of my tongue. Then I realised who was talking to me.
"Elise, Loki, my name is Elise," I smiled tiredly, "After saving your butt today, I'm sure we can dispense with the formalities?"
He smiled softly, "You are quite right, we have known each other for long enough."
He pulled out the seat next to me and inclined his head, and when I nodded wearily, he sat down.
"I, ah, thank you for today." He sounded tired, "This wasn't the first time you've been there in battle to help me."
I laughed thinking back to the first time that we had met.
"No, it's not," I smiled, "But this time it was a lot more serious." We looked at each other, the knowledge that we could have died hanging in the air.
"Are you enjoying the feast," Loki asked, "My lady?" he added on the end with a smirk.
"I have enjoyed the festivities, my lord," I replied knowing that two could play at this game.
"You seemed to be enjoying Fandral's company before," There was a flash of something I could not recognise in Loki's eyes but before I could figure out what it was, it had gone.
"As much as one can enjoy constant flirting and innuendos," I smiled, "But one grows tired of the words and the feet grow weary from over use."
Loki nodded with a smile. "You are tired." He stated, "Would you like to go somewhere more quiet, perhaps?"
I nodded, the noise had started to give me a headache and my eyes were drooping.
"Where would you suggest?" I asked, "And would you please send someone to accompany me?"
"I would suggest the library," my eyes shone at the idea, memories of the large room surfacing from when I was younger, "and I have no need to send for someone to accompany you. If you would permit it, Elise, I wish to accompany you."
"You?" I asked, "But would you not be missed here?" I gesticulated wildly around me at the dancing and the feasting that was still going on.
"I would think not," Loki's reply was dry, "With my brother here, no one will notice my absence."
I looked around me and realised that what he said was true.
"Okay then," I stood and he followed suit, "Lead the way."

The library was large, and much quieter. It was also darker than the hall, as only a few candles had been left burning to dimly light the area. I clung slightly tighter to Loki's arm than I normally would have, out of pure fear I was going to trip over something I could not see and go flying. We chatted aimlessly, about books and what we had been doing since we had last met. We had a lot to catch up on. There in the library with Loki, I felt more at ease than I had since we landed.

"How did you come to be in Asgard, Elise?" The dark haired god asked me.
"Your father has sent a message asking for assistance," I began before I was interrupted.
"The All-father asked for assistance?" There was a note of curiosity and disbelief in Loki's voice.
"Yes," I replied, "But we hadn't actually decided if we would come to Asgard. There was a, well, there was a family disagreement." I laughed softly, my voice carrying through the quiet library. "The Doctor didn't really want to enter another war zone, for good reason too. Yet, River thought we should come and be of assistance, considering we had been asked so nicely."
"And you," Loki asked softly, "What were your wishes, Elise?"
I looked at him and thought about that. Despite the conversation that we had had in the TARDIS, I hadn't actually thought about my own opinion. I had just been weighing up the options.
"I'm glad that we ended up here," I replied, "Even though I started the TARDIS into flight accidentally, I'm glad we landed here."
We sat in silence for a bit longer, and my eyelids started to droop. I briefly thought about getting up and going to the TARDIS, going to bed. But before I could actually get out of the chair, I fell asleep.
"Good night, my lady," I thought I heard, but that could just have been the wind outside the castle.