The next morning, Thor awoke seconds before the sun began to rise. He watched from his window as the three moons faded away from the oncoming light of the new day. He soon realized he was not the only one watching the sunrise. There was a dull repetitive thumping coming from somewhere below him.
Thump….thump….thump….
There was a short pause as he looked around, confused, for the source of the noise. It was the same noise he'd heard coming from another room the night before, but he had been too tired to investigate then.
Thump….thump….thump….
Another pause. It came from directly below his window, in the section of the courtyard it over looked. He opened his window and almost leaned out of it to look down. In the dim light of the morning he could only make out a dark figure moving back and forth. The person stood still for a few seconds.
Thump….thump….thump….
During the pause, the person walked to the big dark blotch that was the tree in the yard. They stood by the tree, doing something to it, for a moment before returning to the original spot. After about three 'thump thump thumps' standing in the same place, the person would move about two feet back and restart. Thor had become so absorbed in watching the person's process, he failed to notice who they were until several minutes after the sun had risen enough to illuminate the yard clearly. After realizing the person's identity, he quickly changed into his regular armor and left his chambers to speak with them.
Loki stepped out of his chambers just as Thor did, looking very confused. Because they both had their minds on other matters, the two brothers nearly walked right into each other.
"Oh, good morning, brother." Loki said, still looking around.
"A lovely morning it is, Loki." Thor smiled. "Have you lost something?" he asked, smile fading.
"Yes, I seemed to have misplaced my daggers. Would you happen to know where they are?" Loki asked, looking up at his brother for the first time.
"I am sorry, I do not know where they are. Were you not practicing with them in the court yard before Fandral and I came?" Thor asked.
"That is where I had them last, however I checked late last night and they were not there." Loki was looking up and down the corridor still, as if his daggers might just be lying on the floor somewhere.
"Oh. Well perhaps I can help you look for them after breakfast?"
"That might be helpful." Loki said. Thor smiled and they headed down the corridor together. While they walked, Thor asked Loki if he, too, had heard the thumping noise the night before. Loki said he had, but that he had assumed Thor was just angry about something. At the entrance of the dining hall, Loki entered but Thor went in another direction. "Are you not going to eat, Thor?" Loki asked.
"Yes, but I have something I must do first." Thor said, walking away again.
"What is it?" Loki asked. Almost nothing was important enough for Thor to miss a meal.
"A small matter, Loki. Nothing important, I will join you in a moment." Thor turned again and walked away.
A small matter? Loki thought, No, this is no small matter. It is important. He knew, however, that if Thor wanted to lie about it, he would not simply tell Loki what it was so easily. He made a mental note to find out later and proceeded to enter the dining hall.
"Good morning, Torunn." Thor said loudly, stepping out into the courtyard.
"Hey, Thor." She said, obviously done with whatever she was doing before.
"How long have you been outside?" he asked.
"Awhile." She said, yawning. Thor looked at the tree and saw that she had tied one of their archery targets to the trunk. There were also small slits in the fabric, but they were not from arrows. They were a bit wider than an arrowhead.
"Torunn, do you have Loki's daggers?" he asked, turning his attention back to her.
"No…" she stumbled and nearly fell down. Thor stepped forward and put his arms out in case she did that again. He looked at the target again and noticed that several slits strayed from the center. He would have assumed that they were from some of the first throws, but they were recent, so something must have caused her to become less focused. "Have you slept at all?"
"Not much…" she said, eyelids drooping as she struggled to stay awake. Thor noticed the slight bulge under her shirt and decided to take advantage of her nearly oblivious state. He reached down to both her sides and pulled the daggers from her belt loops. She glanced down briefly and kept her eyes on the daggers as they were pulled away from her.
"You will not lie to me again." He nearly growled, holding up one of the daggers for her to see. "You need to get some sleep now and I do not want you up this early again, either. Go." Torunn slowly headed off to her room and Thor went to find Loki in the dining hall. He let out a short laugh at the realization that he had sounded much like Frigga when Loki was in a similar situation.
He found Loki and his friends and returned the daggers to his brother. Thor looked up from his food moments later and noticed the crease in Loki's brow.
"Thor," he said, "I have six daggers."
"Dammit, Torunn." Thor grumbled as he stood. He almost ran to Torunn's room and knocked loudly on her door. Torunn opened the door slowly.
"Hm?" she said, rubbing her eyes.
"Where are the other three?" he asked, letting himself inside.
"The what?" she returned, still trying to sound like she did not understand.
"The other three daggers," he said. "Loki said he had six and you gave me three. Where are the others?" Torunn reluctantly walked to her dresser and pulled the daggers out of the back of a drawer. Thor took them from her and sighed. "I assume you were up all night practicing with these?" he asked.
"No…" she yawned again, "I slept for a couple hours…"
"That is not enough, especially not if we were planning to go somewhere today." He said. "And you do not have to steal Loki's daggers, we can get you weapons of your own from Nidavellir or from Asgard's own blacksmiths. You are in a castle, you don't have to steal anything. You need only ask."
Though she knew she would regret it, she asked anyway. "So can I ask if you believe me yet?" she raised an eyebrow. Thor only glared.
"You must rest." He said, walking out the door. "We will go somewhere tomorrow." He closed the door and went to Loki again to give him the other daggers. Torunn slept and hoped that she would not dream. The reason she had only gotten a few hours of sleep was that her dreams had been plagued with scenes of war. She almost could not close her eyes without seeing another horrible bloody scene. Asgardian bodies scattered over a torn up battle field, lifeless and beaten, some missing limbs, some with multiple stab wounds. Bigger bodies, those of Frost giants, also lay around limply with various wounds. Among the dead bodies, living Asgardians and Frost giants fought each other for who knows why, stepping on or over the dead or dying as if they were not even there.
She remembered the playful argument between Thor and Fandral a few days before when they were showing her around the castle. Thor had told him that, though Fandral was able to defeat him while sparring in the courtyard, he would 'beat him into the ground' into the battle field. Fandral had laughed and replied, "Let us hope we will not have to test that theory soon." Torunn had mentally hoped the same thing. She knew that, though she could hold a fight for a long while, if she were to go to war, she would not be among the survivors.