Chapter 6:

The next morning, Freya woke Rana up early.

"Come on," she said, through Rana's sleepy haze. "Bjorn wants the stables clean."

Rana huffed in irritation and slid out of bed and as Freya drew back the curtains. Rana whined rubbing her eyes.

"Freya," she said, "the sun hasn't even risen yet."

Freya looked out at the dim grey sky with much disdain.

"I know, my dear," she said leading Rana to her wardrobe.

Freya dressed the drowsy child in a jacket which looked like her riding jacket, trousers and tall work boots, then she led Rana out to the stables.

By the time the sun had finally shown its red and orange colors over the mountains, Freya

was leading Rana to the stables.

Rana watched her feet kicking up early morning dew from the grass which beaded up and rolled off her leather boots.

"Come quickly, Rana," said Freya impatiently as they neared the stables.

Rana did as she was told and quickened her pace trying to keep up with Freya.

Bjorn stood in the door way with Thor and Loki already sitting on haystacks. Thor had fallen asleep and was snoring next to his brother.

Loki elbowed Thor as Rana and Freya stopped in front of Bjorn, Thor sneered at Loki and whined curling back into a ball.

"On your feet," said Bjorn, dragging the drowsy boy off the haystack. Thor whined more loudly this time, jerking his way out of Bjorn's hold. He straightened his clothes.
Rana came to Loki's side.

"He's cranky this morning," Loki said softly.

Rana chuckled rubbed the remaining sleep from her eyes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Freya left the three children in Bjorn's care and returned to her duties.

Bjorn gave each of them a shovel and then he tended to the horses. Rana and Loki looked at the large pile of manure and sighed. Then they reluctantly began shovelling it into a wheel barrel.

They worked for about forty-five minutes, then Rana realized Thor was still sitting on his haystack leaning against the handle of his shovel still half asleep.

"He's not going to help us?" Rana asked as Loki heaved another shovel full of manure into the wheel barrel.

"Nah," he said, eying his brother, "Thor's never been one to obey orders."

"Oh," said Rana, and returned to her shovelling.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A few hours passed and it remained silent. Only the rare clop of horse hooves could be heard. Thor would get up every now and again, but only when he saw Bjorn coming in to check up, then he would sit back down.
Rana rolled her eyes at him and huffed. He still had a smug grin on his face that she'd like to see disappear, but she shook away the thought and tried to keep her mind on the disgusting task at hand.

Then came lunch, when Freya brought out bread, cheese and fruit. As Loki and Rana ate, they talked.

"Have you ever had to do this sort of work?" he asked popping a grape into his mouth.

He sat on a wooden box next to her. Rana looked at him a moment, considering his question.

"Well," she said, "when I lived with my parents we had a barn full of chickens and we put the cows in with them, and sometimes my father and I had to come out and clean the pens, but, I have never really had to do anything with um… poo."

Loki laughed quietly to himself. Rana ignored him and tore another piece off the piece she was eating.

"I've never had to work like this," said Thor, grumbling.

"You still haven't," said Loki.

Thor glared at his younger brother, then he returned to his food. Rana smiled shaking her head and Loki smiled too.

"So, do you miss your parents?" asked Loki.

"Of course she does, you moron," said Thor.

Rana looked at Thor, then her expression hardened and she stood.

"Um…" she said, mumbling and wiping crumbs and dirt off her trousers, then she picked up her shovel again. "We should get back to work."

Loki looked at her a moment as she held out his shovel to him. "Alright."

He took his shovel and the two of them worked in silence. No one brought up Berg and Ericka again.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Same as before, Thor sat in the same place. Only this time, he sat nibbling on the last small bits of fruit. As Loki and Rana shovelled the last few piles of manure into the wheel barrel, Rana looked at Thor again. She scoffed.

"Can't you at least do something?" she asked.

Thor looked at her and squinted, the he picked up his shovel. "Fine."

Rana rolled her eyes and returned to Loki's side, returning to her duties.

Thor lazily shovelled away at the manure and huffed, he saw a small toad hop over his shovel. He picked it up and eyed it as it croaked softly. He looked at Rana and grinned a torturous grin.

"Hey, Rana," he said.

Rana looked up still irritated as Thor tossed the toad at her, causing her to jump back in surprise. Thor laughed.

Rana had had enough of his childish, spoiled attitude. She let out a huff in frustration and stomped over to the trough. Then she picked up the bucket that was used to give the horses food and she dipped it in the dirty trough water.

Thor still sat on his haystack laughing at Rana holding his sides. Rana marched over to him. Loki touched her arm in protest. She turned away and she dumped the entire bucket of dirty water over Thor's head, growling as she did so.

Rana backed away, her chest puffing with each heavy breath, but she was satisfied with herself. Thor lifted the bucket off his head as more muck fell around his shoulders, almost turning his blond hair to brown. He shook off the excess dirty water and some of the muck hit Rana. She flinched.

Loki started to laugh a little, half out of nervousness and half at Thor's expense. Rana looked at him. Then she began to laugh too.

Thor threw the bucket to the ground and glared at Rana.

"RANA," he shouted, "I'm going to kill you!"

"You'll have to catch me first," she said and darted out of the stables.

Thor growled loudly and chased after her. Loki watched the two of them. Then he ran out of the stables too.

The three children chased each other across the training field screaming threats continuously. Loki almost ran into Bjorn's wheel barrel.

"Loki," he said, "what's going on?"

Loki still ran after Thor and Rana as he yelled back at the confused fellow.

"Thor's trying to kill Rana!"

"What?" said Bjorn and he dropped his wheel barrel and began chasing after the children.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Odin stood in the Brifrost chamber, "What do you think of the girl, Heimdall?" he asked.

"She is very adventurous, and kind-hearted, while still grieving over the loss of her family. She hides it from you however, because she wants to be happy."

Odin smiled, "She's young and smart. She'll be alright. I think she will be great for the boys."

Then the screaming children echoed through the castle. Heimdall chuckled deeply.

"She'll be great." he said.

Odin groaned a little and massaged his temple with his forefinger.

"Perhaps you should check on the children," he said.

Odin sighed harshly, "yes," he said.

Then he walked out of the room and searched for the source of the commotion.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Thor chased Rana into the dining hall. The two of them ran in circles around the table. Rana crawled under the table, but Thor grabbed her leg and tried to pull her out. Loki grabbed him and tried to get him away from Rana.

"Thor, enough of this," said,Bjorn coming from close behind the children and pulling Rana from under the table himself.

Thor lunged for her and she screamed again. Bjorn pulled them apart. Then Odin stormed in from the south end of the dining hall.

"What is going on?" he asked.

All of them froze, Thor and Rana still in Bjorn's clutches.

"I can hear you all across the castle," said Odin.

"Thor was trying to kill Rana," said Loki.

Odin chuckled, "Now why would he do that?" He caught sight of his still fuming son.

"Oh," he said, then laughed, "oh, I see."

"Rana dumped trough water on my head," said Thor, shaking more of it off.

Odin lifted his son's chin and looked at the brownish water trailing down the side of his face. "And why did she do that?"

Odin looked at Rana.

"He threw a toad at me," she said, "and he didn't work all day. All he did was complain."

"Did not," said Thor in protest.

"Did to," said Rana, she looked back at Odin. "And when he wasn't complaining he was sleeping on a haystack!"

"Was not," said Thor.

"You were to!" said Rana

"ENOUGH," Odin said.

Rana jumped at his tone.

"Whether you like it or not, you three are stuck with each other for the rest of your lives," said Odin, "so get used to it. Things will be a lot easier if you will just try to get along."

He looked at Thor and Rana again. "Yes?"

Rana and Thor simply nodded.

"Good," said Odin, "now Thor, let's get you cleaned up."

Odin took his son's hand and led him out of the dining hall.

Loki, Rana and Bjorn stayed in their places a moment. Then, without a word Bjorn walked back to the stables. Loki and Rana were left alone.

Loki smiled at her. Then the two of them started to laugh.