I didn't have long to wait and though the minutes stretched on they were indeed just minutes.
"You couldn't have done that while I was still here?" Thor's voice rang laughingly down the stairs and I turned my head to watch him descend towards me. "I had just gotten settled for bed when I heard the alarm."
"You're quick." I said tapping my toes absently on the floor. "Or your guards suck." I shrugged and smiled back up at him. He chuckled and sat next to me on the steps.
"Thor?" The voice roared from the doorway. "Come quickly." The pair of us turned and watched as the heavy footfalls raced down towards us.
"I'm already here father." Thor called up and the footsteps slowed as though reassured. Odin's frame came into view, his one eye staring hawk-like at the both of us sitting on the steps. His eye narrowed and flanked by guards on both sides he moved to stand before me, moving lower down on the steps than either Thor or I.
"So, despite your protestation you were able to remove yourself from your cell…" I could feel that familiar terror start to rise in my chest as he spoke, the silence lingering in the air as though he waited for me to grasp its meaning on my own.
"I know what you're going to say." I said finally fighting hard to keep myself from shaking and only vaguely succeeding. "I have to go back in unless I can explain how I did it." The old man gave the barest of smiles and nodded. My mind raced as I tried to remember exactly what had happened. "I…" There was nothing, no real change that I could comprehend to explain how I was suddenly able to do something so potentially dangerous. "I have no idea. I mean it wasn't a thicket this time so that's progress I guess? Or not. Not really progress so much as moving farther along the same line without clearing anything up." I raised my eyes to meet his and though my pulse was so loud it pounded in my ears I stood. Still several steps above him I was able to look down and meet his gaze. "I disapprove of your methods." The fear that had filled my chest with ice began to diminish, burned by the heat of fury that started raging in my heart. "You have poor manners Borson. I am a guest in your home though a forced one." I listened to myself talk, hearing myself say the words without really having any control over them. "My journey has been long and you have given me no respite."
I watched his back straighten as though he was about to speak and held up my hand for his silence, his breath catching as he silenced himself in shock.
"If you had been patient and asked you would have found me willing to help. Instead you cast yourself as imposing and worked to frighten me into compliance." I lowered my hand and felt the anger that had been giving me courage begin to fade. "I will do what I can to discover how I can do what I have done. You are not the only one that wants to know, my own curiosity would have had me ask to try again even if you had not." I blinked and shook my head lightly, my shoulders relaxing. "Shall we?" I looked at Thor and offered him a nod before stepping around Odin.
The glittering walls seemed less imposing this time and I only stood outside them staring into the room for a half second after they opened before walking in and waiting for them to close again.
"Are you all staying to watch?" I asked raising an eyebrow and smirking.
Odin shook his head. "My son will stay. I trust him to tell me how it was done." He turned and left, sweeping away with the guards. My gaze turned to Thor and my smile easing.
"I promise nothing in terms of time. If you want you can sleep, I can wait to try again until you're rested."
Thor looked at me and raised his eyebrows. "I cannot believe you said those things to my father. I think mother was the last person to ever say words against him and even then they were tempered." He gave a nervous smile. "I do not know how he'll handle it."
The bravado that had stiffened my spine while Odin was there was gone completely and I sat down on the floor before him. "I was rude I know but I didn't think anything else would get through to him." I met his eye and gave a halfhearted smile. "It looks like I have apologies abounding once this is over." I eyed him up and down my smile becoming easier as I watched him yawn. 'I was serious though, about letting you sleep first. I may not like it in here but I can survive one night. You shouldn't have to stay up just because I'm impatient."
"I'm not tired. Thank you though." He waved towards one of the men standing beyond my range of vision and sat down on the chair he was brought.
"If that's your decision." I straightened my shoulders and got comfortable on the floor. "Now how did I do it?" I tapped my fingers against my thighs in time, relaxing into the rhythm. My smile eased and my breathing slowed, with careful deliberation I organized my mind, setting my thoughts aside. It took ages for my mind to clear completely but when it did I was filled with a pleasant hum of bright white. That same confidence that filled me before flooded through my body and I opened my eyes.
"It seems that that took longer than I thought." I stared at Thor's sleeping form through the glass. "Hey." He stirred and mumbled. "Hey!" I said again and chuckled softly as he stirred again. Standing I grabbed the blanket from the bed and hanging it over my arm I pressed my shoulder to the glass and eased through as I had before. Walking up to the large blond I carefully set the blanket around him and sat back on the stairs, laying my head against the stones.
. . .
"What happened?" Thor's voice was gravely as he began to wake. My head rose off the wall and I looked over at him smiling.
"You fell asleep." I said softly, yawning through my words. "I warned you I wasn't sure how long it would take."
"Damn." His blue eyes opened faster and he sat up the blanket falling away. "What is this?" He touched the blanket softly.
"You looked cold." I shrugged my shoulders and stood. "I think I almost have it down. Did you want me to try again so you can watch?" Winking, I grinned and rested my hand against the glittering glass and looked back at him.
"I promised father I would tell him how you did it." Thor said and stood.
The feeling of power that had invaded my body before had not diminished and I pushed lightly against the pane watching it spread out across the back of my hand like water. The grin on my face nearly curled off my face. "It tickles." I giggled and bounced excitedly on the balls of my feet.
"How are you doing that?" Thor came up to my side and touched the glass himself finding it solid.
"If I knew exactly how I'd tell you but magic isn't something that I'm versed in." Pushing my arm in further I looked over at him and stepped through the rest of it. "But at least we know for certain that I can do it now. There must be someone in this land who can dissect how magic is done."
"Father can but honestly Loki knows more about the process through which magic is shaped." Thor watched rapt as I tilted my head to the side and smiled. "So what now? If your father still believes me to be a threat…" My gaze softened and I sat back down.
"He does… and he may be right. I know that it would be presumptuous but I asked you to stay here at least another night would you?" He eyed me cautiously.
"No." I shook my head and worked my way out of the cage again. "You have my word, I will not leave your father's home but I will not stay caged."
He eyed me cautiously and opened his mouth before closing it again.
"It hurts that you do not trust my word but I understand." I said finally and laid a hand across my heart, bowing lightly. "What would I swear on so that you would trust me?"
His eyes grew troubled and then a light came to them. "Follow me." He turned and rushed off in the direction of the throne room leaving me to chase after on his heels.
"I wish you didn't walk so fast." I said finally when we reached his father's throne.
"Thor? What is this?" Odin straightened in his chair and peered down at the both of us.
"Father I have seen her move through that which binds our prisons closed. She is indeed using a powerful magic but neither she nor I know its origins. She has offered to stay as long as it takes for us understand how it is being done but she says she will not be caged. I bring her before you so that she may make her oath to stay on gungnir." Thor's shoulders were straight and I set my own wondering what I had gotten myself into.
Odin peered down firmly at me leaving me to swallow hard and wet my lips before stepping out from behind Thor.
"Great King," I began, bowing low with my arms swept out to my sides. "I can make no oath before I repair the damage my insult has already caused you." I stood and brought my hands to my thighs trying hard not to tap them nervously against me. "My words were formed of fear and it made my manners that of a hogs." Odin sat back in the throne looking amused. "I wish to make amends. I beg you a chance to do so."
The silence after my words stretched out for what seemed like an eternity, my heart beginning to pound with worry. Finally Odin sat forward and with a flourish set the spear in his hand across his lap. I could see Thor relax in my periphery and I stepped forward, climbing the stairs until I stood before Odin. Falling to my knees I laid my hand against the handle of the spear. "I bind myself to the care of your son. I will go nowhere outside your home without his permission and I shall not leave your realm without his accompaniment until such time that the origin of this magic is discovered. Should I break my oath I offer my life as forfeit." Odin nodded and I took my hand away and stepped back down the stairs moving to stand next to Thor again.
"If your words be true then welcome here." I winced. It would not be the last time that someone here thought I was lying. "As promised you will be provided a room and anything else you need for your stay here."
"Father." Thor's voice was strong. "We must have access to Loki. His knowledge of magic is rivaled by none." I could see Odin's eyes furrow as Thor continued. "He is our best chance of working out where this power is from."
"I give him to your keeping then. If he is not in his chambers I expect him to be within your sight." Odin gave a nod and waved his hand in dismissal. Thor bowed and following his lead I did the same, jogging behind the blond as he swept from the room.
"Where are we going now?" I asked finally managing to trot alongside him.
"I figured you would like to see your room." His grin was infectious as he led me along down the enormous corridors.