Sigyn was exhausted by the next morning. Loki had made good on his promise and she had managed to get very little sleep- not that that bothered her. She was left far too contented to fuss over lost sleep. Loki and Sigyn spent their morning relaxing in their rooms, seated comfortably together on one of the dark green sofas, despite the fact that she was almost certain that she should be doing something.

After a while, she asked, "Loki, I was wondering... how am I supposed to figure out what to do with my magic- you know, not just the excess magic?"

He stared at his wife, momentarily giving no answer.

"I mean, surely there's a real reason that I was given magic. How am I supposed to learn how to use that properly?" she continued.

"When the time comes you will have to apply it to your duties as a Goddess."

She nodded slowly before asking, "And... when will that time come?"

"When the Allfather decides it is so," he said simply.

"Right..." she replied quietly. "So I'm still not going to get any training for this, am I?"

"I'd like to see you figure it out," he said, giving her a sideways smile.

Sigyn paused at his words. She could have sworn that he'd just said like; but he couldn't have just said that, could he? Because that would imply that he had a choice in helping her figure it out, and that couldn't be the case- Loki had told her that magic couldn't be taught. And yet...

"Wait a second- you'd like to see me figure it out?"

He said nothing.

"Loki; answer this with the truth or we may have to redecorate because I can already see flames," she threatened quietly. "What you said about not being able to teach magic, was that the truth?"

He could not hide the flicker of amusement from his eyes as he remained silent. Sigyn opened her mouth in outrage, but it took her a while to find a word that wasn't an expletive.

In the end, she had to settle on, "Loki!"

"You married the God of Mischief and Lies, love, what did you expect?" he shrugged.

"For my husband not to lie to me about something that was clearly very important and distressing for me, maybe?" she half-yelled at him.

Despite her raised volume, Loki could hear the hurt in her voice; and he could see the upset forming in her expression. His amusement quickly faded into a frown. The reaction that he was getting had not been the one that he had intended.

"Sigyn-" he started.

"No, Loki. Listen. I told you my every insecurity about not being good enough for this and still you let me flounder with no idea of what I should be doing! Why would you do that?" she vented. "What on Asgard could have possessed you to do that to me?"

When he gave her no answer, she turned her back on him and crossed her arms. Tears had started to drip down her face and she couldn't bear to cry in front of him. Not because of this. Sigyn didn't even know why it bothered her so much.

It was just that she had always thought that in something as important as this that Loki would have been honest with her. Apparently not. Still standing behind her, Loki put his hands on her arms in an attempt at comforting her, and he found himself glad that she didn't push him away.

"Why did you do it?" she whispered.

"Why do I do anything?" he replied sadly.

He kissed the top of her head and turned her body slowly back around so that she was facing him again. She didn't look at him though; and it hurt him. He lightly pulled her chin up so that she had to meet his gaze and was brought face to face with her pained and tearful eyes.

"I wish you hadn't done it. This was one instance when I really needed the truth. I thought you would have understood that," she murmured sadly.

The pain in her tone cut through him. It made him feel so much worse about what he had done. Loki wasn't used to feeling remorse for his actions- but one look at his wife's face caused him to feel the emotion in full force. Abruptly, he stepped back from her, his fingers leaving her chin.

"There are books in the Asgardian library that will tell you everything you need to know about using magic," he said, his voice monotone.

Then he left. Just left. And Sigyn had to watch him walk away. She didn't understand at all. She had noticed the change in his demeanour; and she knew that Loki never acted like this. It made no sense. But Sigyn was too upset to really consider that.

What did it matter that Loki was acting strangely? He had lied to her about teaching her magic just so that he could amuse himself. As fine as she normally was with the things that he did, this was out of line.

Upset and more than annoyed at what had just transpired between her and Loki, Sigyn knew that she had to get out of their rooms. After five minutes, she left with a huff, determined that she would be away by the time Loki decided to come back.

She had to focus her mind on something positive rather than the discussion they'd just had, or things might start setting alight again. And she knew that the best way to do that would be to go to the Asgardian library and find those books that Loki had mentioned.

As hard as she tried not to think about what Loki had done though- the lie that he had told- she couldn't stop her mind from dwelling on the subject. How could he have lied to her about something that clearly bothered her so much? Why would he have done that? Sigyn scowled, and wrapped up in her thoughts, she did not see the figure rounding the corner until it was too late.

She collided with the taller woman and gasped as she realised that it was Lady Sif that she had bumped into. Sigyn didn't really understand how she hadn't seen the woman coming, but she had a feeling that it had to do with being a little too wrapped up in thinking about what had happened with Loki.

"Oh, Lady Sif... I'm sorry, I didn't-"

"Don't worry about it, Lady Sigyn."

Sigyn cringed a little at the title. She still hated it when people called her 'Lady'.

"Please don't call me that; the Lady part, I mean. I'd prefer just Sigyn if that's all the same."

Sif smiled slightly.

"Not overly fond of being called Lady?" Sif asked, but she continued before Sigyn could reply. "I can't say that I am either. Perhaps we should both consent to abandon our titles, agreed?"

Sigyn nodded, "Agreed."

She was a little surprised at how pleasant Sif was acting towards her. The two women had rarely spoken, and Sigyn had been almost certain that the warrior woman wouldn't be too fond of her because she married Loki. She had heard about the incident where Loki had cut Sif's hair off, after all... But apparently, Sif wasn't harbouring any ill-feelings towards Sigyn, which was a nice discovery.

"Forgive me for asking this, Sigyn, but are you alright?" the taller woman asked.

Sigyn looked up, almost startled to see a snippet of concern in Sif's kind eyes. She frowned and quickly tried to wipe away whatever remnants of her tears that might still be present with the palm of her hand.

"Erm... Yes. Yes, I'm fine," she answered, rather unconvincingly.

But Sif wasn't going to let her off that easily apparently, as she quickly levelled her with a disbelieving look. Sigyn could only sigh. She could see the determination in the woman's expression and knew that it meant that she wasn't going anywhere without answering her questions properly.

"I may have had a slight argument with Loki," she murmured quietly.

Sif frowned at that. Though she wasn't overly fond of the younger Prince, she could see how much this 'slight argument' was bothering his wife. And Sigyn seemed nice enough; if she was managing to stick through a marriage with Loki then she would definitely need someone to talk to too.

"Would you like to talk about it?" Sif asked, placing a comforting hand on the smaller woman's shoulder.

Sigyn paused. Do I want to talk about it? She wasn't quite sure; but after thinking about it for too long a moment, she knew that she had to give some sort of answer.

"I... don't really know," she admitted.

Giving her a sympathetic glance, Sif threaded her arm through Sigyn's and said, "Come, let us sit and then you can decide whether or not you want to discuss what happened."

Sigyn found herself led some way off of the corridor into a room that appeared to be much like the hall that she frequented with Loki. The only difference really, was that instead of a long table, a group of gold-upholstered sofas stood in the middle of the room. Sif sat her down on one of the surprisingly comfortable sofas before taking a seat beside her and waiting to see if Sigyn would speak. And, after five minutes of solid silence, Sigyn finally relented with a laboured sigh.

"He lied to me about something important."

The expression of Sif's face was not shocked. Everybody knows that Loki lies, how can his wife be so surprised? she wondered curiously.

"I'm aware of the fact that he lies, but this... This was something that I made it very clear that I needed to know about. It was important and I thought..." Sigyn trailed off for a moment, as if she couldn't figure out what she thought.

"I thought that he wouldn't lie about that; not to me..." she admitted quietly.

Sif placed her hand over the clearly upset woman's next to her, causing her to look up.

"Everyone knows that Loki likes his tricks, yes?" Sif started.

Sigyn nodded.

"What most people fail to understand is that Loki has a problem distinguishing the right moment to stop with his tricks. I learnt that lesson first hand," she added, twirling a finger through her hair.

"If that's true, then why are you still friends with him?"

Sif smiled sadly as she replied, "Loki will see the humour in an instant, but he doesn't understand the repercussions of his actions and I don't think he cares to. Thor yelled him into understanding what he'd done to me, but I didn't think that Loki would need that with you. I've never seen him care for someone as much as he cares for you; and I'm quite sure that whatever he did to upset you so was not his intention."

Sigyn stared for a moment. She knew that this warrior woman spent a fair amount of time with her husband, but she didn't understand how she could evaluate him in such a way. 'He doesn't understand the repercussions of his actions and I don't think he cares to' sounded about right; but it was the last part of Sif's speech that had bothered her; 'I'm quite sure that whatever he did to upset you so was not his intention'.

"Am I overreacting?" Sigyn asked quietly.

At that, Sif let out a small laugh.

"No, I don't think you are. I think that you are perfectly justified in your reaction; I was only suggesting that you consider that Loki struggles with the concept of other people's reactions and feelings in regard to his deceptions. You may want to take it slightly easier on him when you next see him- after all, I hear that your temper can almost rival Thor's."

Sigyn blinked. My temper? How does she know about that?

"I'm not that bad," she tried to cover herself.

"Oh really?" Sif grinned. "So just before Loki began courting you, you didn't come into the palace and start yelling at him, right?"

Sigyn's mouth hung open. Where was she getting this information?

"How do you know about that?" she asked.

"It may be a large palace, but circles of gossip are also quite large. Not much remains a secret here," Sif smiled.

"I'll have to remember that..." Sigyn said, returning the expression.

The two lapsed into a moment's silence before Sif asked, "Feeling better?"

Sigyn nodded.

"Thank you."

"It's nothing," Sif replied. "If you ever you need to talk to someone, be sure to find me. I've been around Loki enough to understand that he can become a bit much at times."

Sigyn smiled. This had not been how she had expected a conversation with the woman that her husband had so offended to go. But she was glad of it. It was nice to have met someone else that she could speak to if she wished. She didn't have very many friends at all; and apparently, speaking to her sisters now drove her crazy enough to set things on fire.

"Well I suppose I should leave you to your business," Sif started abruptly, as she stood up. "After all, I must get back to my enjoyable day of doing absolutely nothing."

Her tone was obviously sarcastic.

"You know, I was just on my way to the library; would you care to join me?" Sigyn asked.

Sif grinned and replied, "Why certainly; I think you may have just saved me from an afternoon of utter boredom."

"Anything to repay the favour," Sigyn smiled.

It took Loki just over twenty minutes to truly realise his mistake. He had been dwelling on the conversation that he had just had with his wife for some time and, for some reason, he couldn't work out what had happened to have affected him so differently to usual.

The hurt in Sigyn's eyes had been so prominent when they'd spoken; he had heard it in her voice too. How could he have been so stupid? Certainly, it had amused him to watch her try to figure things out, but what was the cost? He paused at the thought.

It troubled him deeply that he was even considering this. Loki never felt like this when he decided to lie or deceive; the occurrences were so common now that no reaction ever seemed to bother him. So why am I feeling it now?

Because you love her, a voice in the back of his mind whispered to him.

That revelation was enough for Loki; he transported himself back to their rooms, only to find them completely empty. His heart sank. He had hoped to find Sigyn there so that he might speak with her. He needed to speak with her. Where is she? he wondered as a frown creased his brows.

Loki tried the library next, but to no avail; she wasn't there either. Nor was she at her father's home, or their meadow, or anywhere else that he thought to look. Now that he could not find her, he knew that he should not have left his wife after that argument. It had been a mistake that he deeply regretted.

Because now his wife was gone; and it was his fault.

Author's Note: Sorry I had to just wreck the happiness there... But I don't plan on leaving you without continuation for long, I'm half way through the next chapter, but I'm at work all day tomorrow and then going out for a meal so I wouldn't expect an update until Monday.

Also, just curious; did anyone else watch Hiddles in the BBCs 'Hollow Crown' series? I think I am actually in love. Not just with Hiddles, but with Prince Hal/Henry V. My favourite Shakespeare character. *Love*

Kit xx