A/N: Please disregard my last author's note. I've shuffled my chapters around, so you can basically be expecting the dark chapter to come up... later. It will eventually, though. Thanks for reading, and please review. Guys, I can see my traffic stats. I know you're there.

~:~:~

Blackbird singing in the dead of night,
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life,
You were only waiting for this moment to arise

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see
All your life,
You were only waiting for this moment to be free

Blackbird fly, blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night

~ The Beatles, Blackbird

Chapter 10: Of Boredom and Ravens

"It was amazing!" gushed Clatia, a young maid who was braiding Astrid's auburn hair. "He took me to the party out in the forest, and we danced to the sound of Alfheimr fiddles, and we-" The girl broke off, and Astrid could hear her give an embarrassed laugh.

"And then you what?" she asked, glancing at the red faced maid's reflection in the vanity. "You took his soul?" There was only slight sarcasm in her voice.

Clatia blinked. "Nothing so intense, milady. He..." the girl sighed, and clasped her arms to her chest. "He kissed me!"

Astrid frowned. "Is that all?"

Clatia was jerked from her reverie, and turned to Astrid in shock. "My lady," the girl murmured. "Surely you-" Understanding blossomed across Clatia's features. "Oh, have you never been kissed, milady?"

Astrid's complexion changed from pale to the deepest red. She made a quiet sound of agreement at the back of her throat, but did not meet Clatia's imploring gaze.

"Oh, but it is the most glorious feeling!" cried Clatia. "Two minds working as one in a timeless admittance of passion and love!"

Astrid furrowed her brow. "I always took it as a sharing of saliva. Highly unsanitary."

Clatia sighed. "Forgive me, milady. But you have never been kissed. And so you shall not know."

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The lessons had become ever more intense over the months. Astrid's sixteenth name day came and passed like it was nothing. She was considered a lady now, and was all the more spiteful for it.

The parties were not lacking either. Astrid woke every morning with the sun on her face to a low-seated, not-too unpleasant buzz in the pit of her stomach from the mead she had consumed every night. Nearly every night she drifted among small groups of people chatting and smiling from behind masks. With a grudging tolerance, she began to like to them - the people, the dances, the food; it was all exciting.

Astrid slipped from behind the shade of a pillar on the arm of some Asgardian gentlemen's son, a red-haired, bright-eyed boy with a quiet smile. He was her escort for the evening, but to be quite honest, he was boring. Certainly, he was handsome enough. But he was silent. And that made him boring.

Astrid herself was dressed in a long, slender velvet blue dress that well befitted her sixteen-year old body. Her

The red-head turned to face her and held out his hand as they walked into the centre of the dancers. "Would you...?"

She sighed inwardly, and plastered a bright smile on her face. "Of course. It would be a pleasure." Astrid took his hand and they swayed to the music.

She attempted to make light conversation, with little to no response. The tall boy was constantly looking over the top of her auburn head. Astrid glared at him as her peered over her for the fourth time.

"Graiy?" she asked sweetly, her voice laced with honey. His blue eyes snapped down to meet her dangerous hazel ones.

"Mmm?"

"If the girl in the bright red dress is so much more attractive than I am, please just say so and be done with it."

Graiy flushed, red rushing from his neck to the roots of his ginger hair. "I - I - my apologies... Lady Astrid-"

"Mmm," she said, raising an eyebrow. "You're boring me, Graiy. Please, go talk to Amora. Perhaps she will be more interested by you. Oh! And as a bonus, she has no scar ripping across her face." Astrid spun the stuttering boy gracefully, pushing him away from her in the direction of the petite Amora, dressed in a curve-hugging ruby dress.

It looks like someone's cut themselves and bled over it, Astrid thought darkly, striding to the side of the room where the other wallflowers resided, viciously grabbing a glass of mead from the hands of a servingman that she passed. She downed it in one angry gulp, and shoved the empty glass into the waiting arms of another servingman, who stumbled back from the force.

She felt a light tap on her shoulder. Astrid turned to see the Fandral cynically looking at her, arms crossed.

"It has been less than ten minutes, and you have already managed to frighten off your escort," he said, with an undertone of fake exasperation.

She shrugged. "He was boring. And I'm bored."

Fandral leaned forwards, a glint in his eyes. "Want to do something exciting?" He raised both eyebrows meaningfully.

Astrid shoved him in the chest, hands catching on his golden dress-armor. "You are too much, Fandral!" she said, playing along. "Unfortunately, my schedule is full."

"With what?"

"With being bored." She grabbed both of his hands and pulled him into the crowd of dancers, ignoring the jealous sighs of the other wallflowers behind her. "What a trophy you make, Fandral," she remarked, "that you make women sigh in ecstasy every time they set eyes on you."

He whirled her in a circle, moving with the grace of a practiced dancer. Astrid felt clumsy in comparison, and suddenly regretted all the times she had scorned dancing in favor of hunting.

The music swelled and slowed to a halt. Astrid lifted her hand off of Fandral's shoulder and curtsied over-dramatically, splaying out her feet clownishly. Fandral smirked to let her know she was still just a little girl in a big girl's dress-up clothes, and moved away gracefully away to find a partner for the next dance - he would have no problem.

Astrid ran her hands over her hair, suddenly self-conscious. She felt eyes on her, and although she didn't know who they belonged to, she rolled her eyes and huffed her now-silky bangs out of her eyes, where they had fallen like a brown curtain. Her hair was longer now, nearly to the bottom of her shoulders, and was pulled back into a very hasty braid.

She turned and walked to the other side of the large ballroom, feeling more relaxed after her dance with Fandral. She smiled sweetly at two girls slightly older than her, who were both looking daggers at her; Fandral was much in demand since he had grown the beginnings of a golden beard and had shot up in height.

One of the two girls moved as if to approach her, a question posed on her porcelain face. Astrid faced away from her, desperately casting about for Sif or Volstagg to use as a distraction - she hated talking to the ladies'-in-waiting daughters.

She saw an exit close to her, covered by thin purple curtains, flapping gently in the breeze coming from outside - it was clearly the entrance to some sort of balcony. Astrid thanked anyone who was listening and slipped quietly through the doorway.

It let out to a semi-circular slab of marble, ringed by a silver bannister. The night was cold, but pleasantly so, and she stood still for a moment, enjoying the feel of the wind on her flushed skin. Asgard's two moons shone, dull but huge, from the sky, and numerous stars showed their faces from among the cobalt clouds. Not a spectacular night, but a pretty one nonetheless. Astrid approached the balcony and leaned against it, reveling in the silence.

"Didn't your parents ever teach you to knock before you enter a room?"

The voice made her jump, and swear savagely. She turned and met the cold stare of the boy across the balcony, half-shrouded by the shade of the night. "Frankly, my prince, no."

"And why not?" Loki emerged fully from the shadows, coldly regarding her.

She glared back, challenging his emerald gaze. "Much of my life has been spent at the palace here. Rarely do I see my family, and I'm quite happy to keep it that way."

"Why?" He was infuriating.

She turned her back on him. "I am not my mother's favorite person, nor am I my sisters'."

"How many?"

"Excuse me?"

"How many sisters do you have?" he asked, his face a perfect mask - she wasn't sure if he was asking sincerely or not. Most likely he was bored.

"Nine by Ran, my mother, and me, although knowing my father, in all likelihood a lot more - why am I telling you this?" Astrid interrupted herself suddenly. "I'm sure you have more trivial topics to immerse yourself in than the touchy subject of my family tree." She sneered deliberately, and was slightly disappointed when he didn't react in the slightest.

Without answering her, the young prince turned and reached into a pocket sown into the fabric of his emerald-and-silver dress-armor, pulling out a handful of black breadcrumbs.
Astrid arched a well-defined eyebrow. Even with his back to her, he was alert and listening to everything around him.

And Loki had grown maddeningly, as all of them had done in the past few decades. He was taller than her, and his black hair had grown to slightly below his ears. And although Astrid preferred lighter-haired, lighter-haired men, she had to admit, however grudgingly, that Loki had cultivated a small amount of attractiveness. However, a boy who spent his time in the library and not out in the training-yards or in the forest was of no interest to her. And besides, they abhorred each other, and each found comfort in the hating of the other - it had grown to be an entertainment, trying to anger the other as much as possible and then laughing as they tripped up in fury.

Loki cast the crumbs out in front of him, and briefly Astrid wondered if he was performing magyk, and her interest was momentarily caught, but she snorted as a small flock of perhaps five ravens fluttered down from nowhere and pecked at the crumbs.

"Friends of yours?" she asked mockingly, but jerked away in surprise as the biggest of the birds shot up and landed gently on Loki's shoulders. "Good friends?"

"You might say that," Loki intoned, a smirk spreading slowly across his features. He reached up a hand and slowly stroked the raven's ebony head. It cawed and took off, swooping away, with its brothers tailing after it.

"I thought ravens were day birds."

"They are no ordinary ravens."

"Clearly." The word held so much more meaning than what she had said out loud. Clearly they're not ordinary, otherwise they would not be 'your friends'.

There was a moment of silence, awkward, but punctuated by Astrid's furious scowls and Loki's refusal to meet her eyes or even turn around.

They might have stayed that way, locked in a petty battle of 'who-can-out-wait-who' when a cry and a crash of furniture and bodies made both of them flinch.

"What was that?" Loki asked quietly, not sounding very concerned.

"I don't know about you" - she cast a quick glance at him - "but I'm not waiting out here for someone to come and get me." With that, she darted inside, leaving the dark prince alone on the balcony.

The bright amber lights of the ballroom hurt her eyes for a moment, but she quickly adjusted and took in the situation around her - calm chaos, if such a thing exists.

People milled around, perhaps slightly more hurried before, exchanging hushed glances and whispers, with the occasional outcry. Astrid glanced around and quickly located Volstagg, towering above most of the others, a prominent red beard already forming on his strong chin.

"Volstagg," she hissed as she elbowed her way through the molasses-thick crowd, "would you be so kind as to inform me as to what's going on?"

Grinning with a certain kind of mad glint in his eye, he pointed to the centre of the room, which was clear of any Asgardians, save three - Odin, Thor and a slight, slender guard who looked like he belonged on kitchen duty as opposed to guarding the city.

"We've had a rather unfortunate interruption," he said, stressing the word as though it meant the complete opposite. "Follow me." He began mowing a path through the roused dancers, Astrid striding behind him. They reached Thor, who had already been joined by Sif and Hogun, with Fandral attempting to shake off a lovestruck woman a few hart-lengths behind them.

"Thor - I was outside - what has happened?" Astrid grabbed the crown prince's arm to gain his attention, which was focused wholly on the shuddering, pale-faced man in front of him.

The man gestured in a northern direction wildly. "A sn-snake... l-l-largest I-I've ever s-seen. A l-l...l-lindworm, for s-sure. A-attacked u-us... it-it-it's gone now... but-but what... it i-it c-comes b-back?"

Astrid's eyes widened, and she met Hogun's startled stare. They were both thinking the same thing. Unconsciously, her hand crept up to touch her scar, feeling an overwhelming urge to both scream in anger and shout in joy.

Odin was quicker to react than any of them, though. He turned the guard over to a servingman, who escorted him out of the room quietly. He turned to the expectant people in the room and made a few quick hand motions, and immediately a dozen well-built men detached themselves from the others and followed the king swiftly out of the room.

Astrid threw a pointed glance at Thor, and he beckoned the Warriors Three and the two women to the front of the room, where the small orchestra had just begun to play again. People were dancing again, and Astrid almost tripped up a wiry golden-haired man that she didn't have time to apologize to before he whisked himself off once more.

"Well?" Thor asked them all.

"We go!" Astrid said under her breath. As one, the other five faced her, with varying degrees of emotion painted across their faces.

"Let's go!" she repeated. "If we can track the worm before Odin does, then I can indulge in a bit of revenge and the rest of you - well, aren't you all stultified? I mean, really, when was the last time we went out hunting? And for a decent sized monster like this one?"

There was a short silence, punctuated by the strumming of lutes and the laughing of men and women who had moved back into the dancing and talking as though the king hadn't just left to dispose of a giant snake.

Sif looked as though she was mulling it over, and grinned suddenly. "I'm in for it now - I am tired of being a lady. There's no fun whatsoever. And you and I" - she indicated Astrid and herself - "will be betrothed all too soon. And that could be to anyone!"

Astrid smiled. Sif would have her way eventually. "And the rest of you?" she inquired under her breath. "Because if you don't go, I'm going to ride out there and smash the worm to bits myself."

Fandral chuckled and clapped a hand on her shoulder, which she shrugged off casually. "We all know you would, Astrid. However, I suppose I must come along, to supervise. Can't have a child who's only a few thousand years old saving the realm."

"I am sixteen by Midgardian standards!" she protested, taking the bait too easily. Her ears turned red and she huffed. "So you're coming."

"Of course!"

Volstagg and Hogun nodded their agreement - the three of them seemed to be inseperable. Thor grinned after a moment, his blue eyes lighting up.

"I'm not going to be left out! Let us go!"

Loki drifted up, and followed them silently out of the room, coming with them without needing to ask.