Kira was able to walk for a few minutes in silence before Thor began to ask questions. "What were you doing in Loki's cell? How did you even get into Loki's cell?"

"I work at the library," Kira answered, "and part of my job is to bring Loki his books."

"That is a job for guards, not civilians."

Kira shrugged, "Well, they give it to me. They wouldn't even let me quit after Loki strangled me."

Thor winced sympathetically, "I am sorry for any trouble Loki has caused you. He's not the same as when we were younger."

"I don't think any of us are," Kira responded.

"That is true," Thor agreed, "I have learned many lessons since my childhood days. Speaking of lessons, you are taking lessons with Loki?"

"Magic lessons," Kira confirmed.

"You know he is only using you for his own purposes," Thor warned, "As much as I wish Loki was doing it out of the goodness of his heart, he always has a more selfish motive."

"I know," Kira said, "but it's not every day you get to learn magic, even if your teacher tried to take over Midgard."

Thor obviously didn't like her answer, but dropped the subject anyway.

By the time they reached the feast, there were already about a hundred Asgardians talking and laughing. Thor steered them towards a group of four people and Kira recognized them as his friends from childhood. Sif, Volstagg, Fandral, and Hogun glanced up as she joined them, looking at Thor curiously.

"Who is this?" Fandral asked, raising Kira's hand to his lips.

"This is Kira," Thor said while Kira tried to keep herself from laughing.

Sif rolled her eyes at Fandral's display and quickly introduced herself to Kira before leaving the group.

"Well, Thor," Fandral said, "If you won't dance with the lady, I will." He led her to the dance floor and placed his hand on her hip, leading her through the dance steps.

"You're very good at this," he grinned at her.

"I took some lessons," Kira admitted as Fandral turned her forwards and then back again.

"Let's make this more exciting, then." Fandral turned her so that she was facing him and her arm was behind his back and the same for him. Then, he lifted his arm for her to go under, turned and lifted his arm again, finally unwinding so they were facing each other again. Kira hardly knew what she had just done and she looked at Fandral, grinning breathlessly. He laughed at her, continuing to pull her around the dance floor. When the song ended, Fandral bowed deeply to her and walked off, most likely to find another girl to dance with. Kira had a stitch in her side and was slightly dizzy from all the quick turns, but was still grinning anyway.

She made her way towards the edge of the party, watching as a new round of partners took the dance floor. Thor had disappeared and Kira didn't know anyone else, so she just watched the dancing. A servant came by with drinks and Kira took one, leaning against a marble pillar just listening to the music.

She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn't notice the tall man walking up until he was practically on top of her. He was tall, and had light brown-almost red-hair that was neatly cut. Kira glanced up at him as he smiled, "Care to dance?" he asked, holding out he hand to her. "Sure," Kira responded, setting down her drink and taking his hand.

"I'm Brandon, by the way," he said as they began to dance.

"I'm Kira," she replied.

"I'd normally shake your hand," Brandon laughed, "but we're dancing, so I can't."

"That's fine," Kira smiled, Brandon's laughter was contagious and she found herself laughing along with him.

"How comfortable are you when it comes to dancing?" Brandon asked her curiously.

"Relatively comfortable," Kira responded, "I took a few lessons when I was younger."

"I just wanted to make sure." He spun her around a couple times before asking, "Do you know the princess step?"

Kira shook her head, but went along with what Brandon said to do, stepping on his feet several times in the process, "Sorry." Brandon laughed, "It's fine," and just kept turning her, finally dipping her at the end.

He let her practice the move a few more times before saying, "Now, I'm going to teach you the aerial princess step." Kira glanced up at him warily; aerial didn't sound like something she was prepared to do, but Brandon just waved her concerns away, "It's just the princess step, but instead of a dip at the end, you jump into my arms." Kira looked even more uneasy at this knowledge, but Brandon reassured her, "It's perfectly safe as long as your partner knows what he's doing, and I know what I'm doing. I'll catch you, I promise."

"You better," Kira said and she went along with the princess step, jumping into his arms when he told her to. He caught her and gently set her back down on the ground, "That wasn't so bad," he grinned.

"Do you work here?" he asked curiously as he and Kira continued dancing.

"I work at the library," Kira replied.

"I'm assuming you enjoy reading, then?"

"I do," Kira said.

"I wish I had more time to read," Brandon responded, "but when you are the Captain of the Guard, you don't get much time off."

Kira smiled sympathetically, "What do you like to read?"

"I enjoy history books, I find them quite fascinating and you learn a lot from them."

"I've always been more the fairy tale type," Kira said, "princesses and dragons and other creatures of that sort."

"I can assure you, dragons are not the most pleasant of creatures," Brandon laughed, "We once had to fight one off that wanted all of Asgard's gold for himself."

"How did you manage to stop him? Dragons are one of the most fearsome creatures."

"We just lured him into one of Asgard's treasure vaults and locked him in. He is still there as far as I know."

Kira shook her head in disbelief, "That's amazing."

The song was over too soon and Brandon turned her once more before saying goodbye, "You were wonderful," he said, "I'm honored." Kira hardly knew what to say back, so she just smiled and watched him walk away, trying to deny the flower that had begun to blossom in her heart.

When she walked back to her spot at the pillar, Thor had reappeared. "I see you've met Brandon, our Captain of the Guard," he said.

"Yes," replied Kira, "he's very nice."

"He is also one of our best warriors, you would do well should you be courted by him," Thor added meaningfully.

"I don't know about that…" Kira said.

"He holds a decent amount of power in my father's council," Thor pressed, "you wouldn't have to bring Loki his books any longer."

"But, Thor, I enjoy my job," Kira said, "even if Loki can be hard to handle sometimes."

Thor shrugged, "As long as you're happy, Kira."


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