Loki followed her trek across the world. Sigrün had made it to Amsterdam, where she stayed a few days with her colleagues before they all parted ways. She'd hopped on a red eye and made it to Ireland with another lay over for two days, where she stayed alone in a bed and breakfast.
He oddly found his time watching Sigrün to be…therapeutic. He'd had nothing, no contact with anyone, besides the idiots who interacted with the Allfather illusion daily. Loki found that watching her was a fine distraction when he had time between his responsibilities. He knew she'd be what mortals phrased as "pissed off" if she had an idea he was peeking in on her life but it was worth the risk.
He knew much about her mannerisms because of the months spent around her, but he didn't know just how differently she acted was when she was alone. Or believed she was.
The sudden vision of her in tiny shorts and thin shirts nearly undid him as she waltzed out of the shower with her laptop on blast with horrid music. He also now knew she was prone to breaking out in ridiculous dances when a song came upon her.
Sigrün once bopped around the tiny room to a random beat with lyrics that simply repeated "Lollipop lollipop lolli lollipop lollipop! Apple, lollipop lollipop….Ba dum dum dum…" The low, provocative wiggle she'd made with her hips at the end? He had to leave her alone for a while and walk off an unexpected hard-on.
Loki could tell she was trying to stall with her trip. Because it was easier for mortals to travel in this age, he knew she was purposely taking her time getting to wherever her home was. He was hoping he could see where, to anticipate her destination, but she didn't have papers like most of the other passengers. She used her phone and scanned her way onto each flight.
Finally, after days of relaxing for her and sexual frustration for Loki, she finally worked toward the last leg of her trip.
Siggy made it to the Fairbanks airport, jetlagged and beyond ready to be home. She had one more stop, or so she hoped. If not, her ride back to Fort Y would be Jake and his flying pack of gum with a motor strapped to it. Then they'd have to stop at Birchcreek for supplies or fuel. By supplies she meant some oddball gift for her mom.
See, Jake really liked Franziska but odd postcards from gas stations in one-malamute towns were probably not a European-breed woman's idea of super romantic. Still, Franzi was kind and graciously accepted the silly cards. Come to think of it they were, in fact, saved and displayed on the mantel in the den.
Huh...
Siggy shrugged it off as she snagged a lox and caper bagel from the vendor and pounded pavement to her "terminal" if you could call it that. No nice seating at her gate because there were only three in the whole airport and hers was labeled C. She went over to the area anyhow and was spotted by the young attendant, who sat looking bored.
"Hi!" The teen hopped to her feet and smiled, thankful for the sudden distraction. "You must be Sig…um, Sigrum."
"Sigrün, just call me Siggy."
With relief, the girl repeated the name then asked for identification, quickly determining this was her last passenger for the night. "Great! If you're ready the pilot is already here. I'll radio them if you like?"
"No need, I see them right out there. Looks like final checks to me. I don't want the engine to get too cold. Thanks for the help, Hun. Have a good night."
"Thanks! Safe flight!"
Siggy dragged along her rolling bag of research and heaved up her laptop bag before pushing open the door to the tarmac. A gust of cold wind hit her face, and though the girl behind her shivered, the redhead lifted her chin with welcome.
Siggy adored the coolness that hit her hair, though it was nowhere near the delicious cold Loki had made her feel. She felt a dull pain begin to boil inside and frowned. To most, that would sound horrible: to be made cold by your would-be lover. To her it was a refreshing and went so deep into her skin that it'd felt so intimate.
"Um, Ms. Siggy?"
She was snapped out of her grief and looked back to the poor shivering teen. "Oh god, I'm so sorry!"
With a jolt, she kicked the door shut against the wind and rushed over to the figure near the plane. "Wondered how long you were gonna stand there and orgasm in the cold…"
"Kirima!" Siggy screamed and raced across the cold ground. "You bitch!" she howled as she met the pilot in a big, mutual hug.
"Truthful though am I right?" The doe-eyed native woman said with a grin. "How was the dig?"
"Ugh," Siggy groaned. "I'll tell you on the way…I was expecting Jake, though! You're so much better to look at…"
"Ha! He's down with the flu."
"Thank god."
"Franzi was asking when you'd be there so I told her as soon at I snagged you up." Kirima said. "Are you ready to go home?"
"Oh yeah." Siggy said and they moved at once, the pilot to the bright red bird and she to the bags she'd abandoned.
When the engine hopped to life and the props began spinning a steady song, Siggy had already stuffed her gear behind her seat and jumped in. A moment later she was passed a head set so they could speak during the flight. She jerked in her seat when Kirima gasped and stared at her.
"Surely you don't expect me to fly this plane?" the pilot barked with a shocked gaze.
Deadpan, Siggy responded, "I am serious. And don't call me Shirley."
They held their expressions for only a few moments before they gave into grins and laughed just as the plane glided into movement. "Oh Airplane jokes…you get me every single time." Siggy said and leaned back in her seat.
"Hardtack?" Kirima said, and offered bag of dried meat just as they gained some speed.
"Elk?" at the nod she received, Siggy made an exaggerated groan. "I should just marry you."
"Many have tried." The pilot retorted as the plane bounced into the air with ease. "Now, I fought to take your flight, you human space-heater. Warm this cockpit up!"
Siggy said with a full mouth, "I knew you only wanted me for this body."
Because of the near-constant sun during late summer in Alaska, Siggy was feeling more-than-horrible jet lag. She wanted nothing but her bed because it was 2 am, and the sun was still out.
The hum of the engine did nothing to lull her. Then again, the last few times she'd flown was just after it was safe-ish to fly. The world was dark for the residents of Fort Yukon then. It was rare for her to fly in a safe time.
She always seemed to be rushing to something, somewhere, elsewhere. Now she just wanted to be home, in the safety of the cold she'd come to embrace. When her mother had seen her so deep in grief the past winter, she'd been unable to bear the looks and misunderstandings. She'd fled at the first go-ahead for travel with a job lined up.
Now she was back and hopeful. She smiled to herself as her town came into view.
"Miss it?"
"More and more every time I leave." She said to Kirima. They had time to catch up on the ride from Fairbanks. Sure, it was hard to keep in contact with their schedules, but they'd been friends since children so they fell right back into their rhythm.
Kirima also knew why Siggy didn't need jackets in the cold, and why the woman was ridiculously excited for the first fall of snow. Not to mention that the redhead, especially while camping, made the best fires.
Finally, the tires bounced on the tarmac and they made the crawl to the end of the runway. Soon they slowed down and Kirima led the plane into her garage. "Last flight for a week, my love," she said. "I took a couple days off so we can get belligerently drunk and recover."
"Ah, you know the way to my heart!" Siggy announced as she removed the headpiece and stowed it away with Kirima's. "Did you spot mom?"
"No, but I thought I saw the dogs."
"No!" Siggy barked and snatched her bags. "I hope you don't think I'm dine-n-dashing, but I have to see Ulfur!"
With a smile, the pilot shook her head. "Go see your brat-dog."
Siggy struggled with her heavy rolling notes, but they did cooperate and keep up with her impressive pace. Her laptop bag stabbed her hip but she ignored it and ran across the quickly icing asphalt towards the grouping of dogs. That meant her mom and cousin were there waiting for her.
"Ulfur!" she screeched and her big beastly pet tackled her with all his eighty pounds.
"Hurenshon!" Siggy heard and she shouted back in German.
"Mama! Waren sind Sie wach?" she howled past the licks of her wolf dog.
"She refused to sleep knowing you were coming home, even if it was this early." Siggy's cousin interjected from her head. He was an average sized young man with olive skin and rich black hair. He was the son of Franzi's brother, who had married a Native Alaskan woman thirty years back. Both had long passed, but Franzi had moved in, with Siggy as a babe, to raise him.
"Hey Kurt! You big ass-hat!" Siggy shouted from under the attentions of her wolf dog. "Help?"
With a laugh, the man leaned over and pulled the beast off his cousin. "Hey Sig, good to see you! You look like shit besides the tan."
"Thanks!" she hissed as he pulled her to her feet. A moment ticked by, and she caved.
Siggy lunged into Kurt's obvious bear hug and they squeezed each other to bits.
"Shit!" Kurt barked. "Uncle!"
With a grin, Siggy released him and he shook out his arms to get feeling back. "What the hell, woman? Working out?"
"Nope." She said as her mother moved over to greet her. "You're just a damn puss."
Finally, Siggy made it into her own home. Upon her insistence years before, she had her own cabin built…very nearly next to her mother's. She had originally wanted to be down the road, but Franzi wanted her very close in the rare times when she was home.
"Bitte, mein baby-Madchen…" her mother had pleaded gently, so Siggy gave up being roads away. Though she did take a consolation….only their "backyards" were connected. There weren't yards where they were from in Alaska. They could literally use flashlights in code to talk to one another through their kitchen windows.
Siggy sighed and knew it was for her mother. Her only solace was that she had a bunch of trees between her two family members, or a bad snow, which could make three feet seem like an ocean separating them.
She'd had a good time with her mom and cousin that night though. They'd stayed up until the sun went away, and then it was decided to take advantage of the hours of darkness. "Guten naught, mien lieben." Her mother had uttered, just before she kissed her daughter goodnight.
Then her cousin stepped up with a grin. "Officially fall next week…you gonna date any one ever?" he asked as he hugged Siggy tightly.
"You gonna ask out that girl at the general store, finally?" she retorted.
"Ha!" Kurt said and pulled back, red in the face. "Touché. Fine you got me. Night cuz."
"Night." she said and closed the back door to the main house. Ulfur was right at her heels as they moved toward her own cold house. A wee Chihuahua would not be happy in her icy abode, but her wolf dog was.
Outside, the night was quiet and the cold ground crunched under her boots. Her bag rolled over the frigid blades of grass as she went, and she felt a little bad at the damage she was making. She pulled the heavy thing up, carrying it awkwardly at her hip.
Siggy thought of her cousin as she moved. He should marry that girl, she thought. It'd been years of tiptoeing around the poor thing and she was the sweetest little woman with an adorable face. Siggy knew he wanted to call her his wife. He should marry, she thought, he is getting older, that is true. He was older than she by a few years. As it was, she thought darkly.
Siggy knew she was going to live a long life. She understood that even though she's been fighting through ridiculous ventures, she would live for a very long time. Her entire small family would be long gone before she got a single gray hair on her head.
The thought made her nearly quake with fear.
Siggy finally fell into her cool bed, blankets freshly set by the maid she'd paid to care for her mother and her own home, during her absence. Truth be told, it would be a hovel of dust no matter, because the redhead had other things to worry about than an asthma attack.
Siggy closed her eyes and listened to Ulfur's snores as she relaxed. She'd felt so calm being home that she easily fell into the trance before sleep.
Her skin was still hot as ever, but a slight coolness rolled over her arm, Like a ghost, she thought.
Siggy lifted up to look around "Stupid..." she said aloud. Then just as quickly she met with a wave of pure energy. She inhaled and was struck with images of Loki, his emotions and presence…just not the cold she remembered.
The redhead gasped with fear and backed into the headboard of her bed, clutching a knee to her chest. She found herself staring at the face of a ghost….