"You are intrigued by her" Frigga said, smiling at Loki
"She is powerful" Loki shrugged
"You may be an adept liar but I am your mother"
"You're not-" he began
"I raised you. I am your mother and no matter how many times you say I am not, it does not change the fact that I am and always will be" she interrupted
Loki stayed silent. He was still thinking over the events of the previous days. In just one session Alina had gained great power; power that would have taken any average asgardian sorcerer weeks to learn and control. Not only this but he was completely fascinated by the girl. The way she moved, her steady concentration, her eyes when they were filled with mischief, all of it confused and intrigued him. But, he did not have time to think this over as one problem still troubled him greatly: Who enchanted the dragon?
"Something worries you, Loki. Is it Lady Alina? Is she not learning as you would have hoped?" Frigga questioned gently
"No mother. Lady Alina's progress is much faster than one would expect. She is talented and powerful. But something otherwise bothers me…"
"And what would that be?"
"The dragon. It was enchanted. But by who? It was a blundered attempt but had Alina not been there to rather foolishly stop it, it's likely it would have burnt much of the city before it was killed"
Frigga sighed.
"I too am worried of this. It seems as if it serves as a distraction. As you said, had it not been for Lady Alina then we may have never known it was enchanted in the first place"
"You think it was a possible distraction from something else?"
"It's possible. Yet, whoever did it was clumsy and lazy with their magic. The beast had no intended target and was easily distracted and captured"
"There is something suspicious about that event" Loki murmured
"I have already increased security in the castle. Particularly around Lady Alina's quarters"
Loki looked up at his mother slowly. He met her eyes with a tense stare.
"You do not think Miss Everton is at risk?" he asked quietly
"She is the most sought after thing in the universe, although she may not know it or understand it yet. She is as powerful, if not more powerful than the Gauntlet and she already possesses and controls an Infinity stone. Part of the reason she was brought here was to ensure she was under Asgards watchful eye. We do not know who in the realms are aware of her"
"So she is at risk" Loki said simply
"Yes. It is possible that the dragon was a ruse, a play to see how powerful she was, to evaluate if you will"
"What must we do?"
"Keep teaching her. The more control she has and the more magic she can wield, the more likely she is able to protect herself in the event something breaches our walls"
Loki nodded.
"She learns quickly" he said
"You are interested in the girl" Frigga said knowingly
"She possesses an Infinity stone"
Frigga laughed quietly.
"As we are all aware my son. However, I think you find Lady Alina herself quite confusing"
"She evades me. I cannot seem to identify her emotions nor her motives" Loki admitted, his hands under his chin
"She trusts you"
Loki looked across to his mother, eyebrows raised.
"And what makes you think out of all the people on Asgard, that she would trust me?"
"As she evades you, she evades me too. I cannot tell you why but I can tell you that she does. She is more at ease around you than anyone else she has met so far"
"What of the server boy? She trusts him" he replied
"Perhaps. It is hard to tell whether or not she trusts him or simply considers him a friendly face" Frigga responded
"She is a strange woman" Loki murmured to himself
At this, his brother, Sif and the Warriors Three entered the room. They were talking loudly and seemed to quieten down as they entered the room to find Loki and Frigga sitting in silence, both in deep thought.
"Does something trouble you, my queen?" Fandral asked
"Not at all Fandral, dear. Loki and I were merely discussing what magic would be the most useful to Lady Alina" Frigga lied with a smile.
"Ah and how is Asgard's newest princess? I did not see her all day yesterday bar her back as she exited the throne room!" Fandral said,charmingly
"She is resting after today's session" Loki said, still looking into the fire
"Ah loki! I trust you have not exhausted the girl! You two were training all yesterday after your meeting with Odin and for all the morn and most the afternoon today. She even missed sparring this morning!" Fandral sounded disappointed, he liked Alina. She was honest and fierce.
"Not at all. Magic needs practice. She learns fast but the sheer power of the gem drains a lot of energy, she is simply getting used to it" he replied casually
Fandral sensed a stiffness in Loki's voice which he had not heard in a long time. Loki was rarely the one to worry but he seemed deep in concerned thought. Sif and Fandral exchanged a glance.
"Brother… Is Lady Alina well?"
"She is fine, Thor" Frigga answered
"What troubles you so?"
After a certain amount of reluctance from Loki, Frigga explained the problem with the dragon and the concern the incident presented.
Thor nodded.
"I see.. I have not thought of that"
"What if Lady Alina was the one to enchant it" Hogun questioned in his naturally suspicious form
"No. She does not understand the concept well enough and if she did, her magic would be powerful enough to do a much better job" Loki replied
"You shouldn't speak of a Lady in such a way" Fandral chided Hogun
"He's right. You shouldn't" a voice replied dryly
They all whipped around. Stood in the doorway, fully dressed in her usual black ensemble, was Alina.
"Lady Alina…" Frigga said
She walked into the room.
"And do not talk of my dragon in such a way" Alina said to Hogun, barely making eye contact before striding across the room and throwing a large book on the table
"Youre meant to be resting" Loki said, slightly concerned at her manner
"And you're not meant to be keeping secrets from me" she growled
"How long have you been listening?" Thor asked
"Long enough to know that you know more about the dragons enchantment than you let on. I did some research. The magic used on it was basic form magic that any higher being could learn. Midgardians, perhaps not but anyone from Asgard, Vanaheim, Jotunheim.. You get it. Any of them could have enchanted the dragon"
"And?" Loki snarked
"And that means the person had to be within roughly 700 meters of the Dragon at all times to cast and keep the enchantment alive"
"So?" Thor asked
"So the enchanter was in the forest, Thor. Which means they are likely still on Asgard somewhere, if they are not one of your own citizens"
Frigga seemed to consider this before speaking.
"I will have some guards ask heimdall to look into the whereabouts of all our sorcerers right now and have some men canvas the forest as discreetly as possible"
"If they are not Asgardian's themselves then they must have had to have come through the Bifrost?" Alina questioned
"Not necessarily. There are 3 other ways into Asgard which are known only to few. One is through the tesseract but that is safely locked away in our vaults. The other two are cracks in security, one has been closed up since Thor and I entered the dark world but the other may remain open"
Frigga looked to Thor at this.
"Take Loki and close it up immediately. They may already be in but if it is closed, they cannot get out anyother way than through the bifrost"
Thor nodded and Loki stood up. Alina looked between the two.
"I'm coming with you"
"No you are not" Loki replied sarcastically
"I am" she said, folding her arms
"It's not safe Lady Alina" Thor tried gently
"Nothing here is safe" she rolled her eyes
"No" Loki said
"I will just follow you anyway and would that not be more dangerous?"
"I will have Fandral and Hogun restrain you" Thor shrugged, the two men moving forward
"Will you now?" She responded, her eyes lighting up
"Fine Fine but only because you asked so nicely" Thor grinned
Loki chuckled. Was Thor threatened by the girl? He certainly seemed to back down from her quickly.
"Get changed though" Thor said, he planned on disappearing with Loki while she went to change.
"What?" she asked
"Asgardian garb. It attracts less attention" Sif added
"Right" Alina said, she didnt move
Thor looked at her curiously. Then, in a golden glimmer, she completely changed her clothing. What was once black fitted combat pants and a black v neck was now a fitted teal dress with golden armored shoulder pads and arm cuffs.
"What in the norns!" Thor exclaimed
"Oh yes, I taught her that this morning" Loki grinned, a feeling of pride building as he looked at Thor's confused face. Across from him, he caught eyes with Alina who was smiling at him cheekily.
Within seconds the smile had dropped and her face turned neutral as she looked to Thor.
"Shall we?"
"Bring her back in one piece please" Frigga yelled as they walked out the doors.