(Nyx, age 14)

"You know..." Frigga started. I was sitting on my balcony when she arrived. I glanced at her as she leaned on the railing. She was looking at the market, scanning the bright colours of it.

"What?" I asked. She glanced at me, her green eyes full of wisdom.

"It seems to me that you and Loki were meant to meet in the market." she looked back at it. I played with the dagger in my hands as I waited for her to continue. "Before he met you, he was always… a bit like a loner. Thor had his group of friends but Loki always just seemed to follow his brother around."

I tilted my head at her but stayed quiet. She seemed to be deep in thought and I didn't want to interrupt her.

"But since he met you, you two have become inseparable. Sometimes it looks like you read each other's mind. I don't see Loki living in what he feels is the shadow of Thor. He's, I guess found himself through you." she said softly.

"I didn't do anything." I protested. She smiled and shook her head, sending her red hair winding across her back like a serpent.

"Really? Do have any idea how many times Loki couldn't sleep at night. He would stay awake practicing magic. He was terrified of the ocean until you made him face it. He's never had someone to connect with until you." she told me. Her smile disappeared and she became sullen. The frown looked so out of place on the happy queen's face it sent a shiver down my back. "I worried what he would become if he remained isolated."

"Oh, so that's why you let me stay." I teased. She smiled again, returning to her normal look. Relief filled me.

"And you two have very similar personalities," she said. I smiled at that comparison. At times we were similar, other times we were opposites. "Anyways I'm glad he has you."

"I'm glad I have him, and you Frigga." I smiled at her. She smiled and left. I stared out to the market, finding the exact building I had been sitting on when I first laid eyes on Loki. I tried to imagine a life without Loki if I had stayed in the shadow realm. I didn't like how it would have gone. I loved Loki more than anyone in the shadow realm. I held no regrets about leaving my family, but few regrets over leaving my throne. I heard a knock at the door. "Yes."

Loki opened the door and looked in, spotting me on the balcony railing. He walked up behind me and hugged me, wrapping his arms around my waist as he pressed a kiss into my hair. I leaned against him and thought of what Frigga had said. We looked over the market in silence.

(Nyx, age 15)

I began to learn about other races after I turned 15. The one that interested me the most was the Frost Giants. They were the enemies of the Shadow Creatures. If a Shadow Creature was touched by a Frost Giant in their natural form, the Shadow Creature would die. That why I was able to create an illusion of myself. It was a defence mechanism that Shadow Creature's had developed. But Shadow Creatures knew very little about Frost Giants, which led to my interest in them. They were tall, about nine feet or taller. Their skin was blue and they had red or yellow eyes. In their skin was markings similar to a Shadow Creature's skin. They could create ice out of nothing.

I found out a little less than 17 years ago there had been a war between Asgard and the frost giants. Asgard won, and took their casket, the source of their powers. I even talked to the Bifrost keeper Heimdall about them. He was happy to teach me. We got into the habit where I would walk down the long bridge once a week for a lesson with the protector.