A/N: This chapter is flashbacks of Loki and Sigyn, when they were younger and falling in love.
I own nothing, not Marvel, not the Starks, or Loki or Thor, or any of the Avengers or it's fine writing. I have tweeked some names, and history, merging Norse mythology with the Marvel Comic Universe and Cinematic universe.
Loki raised an eyebrow and stared at the woman in front of him. She was younger than him, barely reaching his shoulders in height, but her hair was drawn back, a circlet of vines and moss twining through her hair. She narrowed her eyes at him a little. "What are you doing in my home?" Loki raised his other eyebrow and looked around him. He had crawled into the hollow of one of the larger trees in the forest, and a second later the blonde had jumped down in front of him.
"You call this a home?" He could feel the irritation rolling off of her in waves and he suppressed a smirk. "It's a little small, and empty, ad well, dirty, isn't it?"
"Do you know who you're talking to?" She questioned, voice rising in tone a little, her hands on her hips. "You wouldn't mock my home if you what could happen to you for it. I'll give you a chance to leave now, to run back to your city."
"I could ask you the same thing," Loki countered, looking at her. "You're lucky that I am not my brother. Do you fancy yourself of someone of importance?" There was no way that this nymph could have any rank close to his. She was a nymph after all.
She pursed her lips and Loki turned at the sound of creaking weed. The roots of the tree had moved to block most of the entrance to the hollow. "I'm a Princess of the forest, for your information." Loki frowned and kicked out his feet with smaller roots had started to break through the ground, moving up his boots. "Who exactly do you think you are?"
"The second Prince of Asgard. Ack!" He took a step back, pulling his foot from the thin roots.
"You are a very long ways from the palace," she said, hands on her hips. "What exactly is a Prince doing out here? And trespassing no less."
Loki looked at her when he was sure that the vines had stopped their assault on his feet. He tilted his head a little and she started to frown when he didn't say anything. He smiled a little. "Do you want to see the palace?" She she blinked, her jaw dropping slightly. "I grow increasingly bored there, and the others know most of my tricks. I doubt that they will know what to do with a master of plant life."
The woman took a moment to process what he was saying. "You want me to go back to your crowded city, to pull pranks on people?" He merely nodded, gripping his arms behind his back in a mock of innocence.
"You intrigue me. I think it could be fun." He took a couple of steps closer to her, noting how she didn't move away from him. "My name is Loki, by the way."
She frowned, looking up at him when he moved closer. "Sigyn."
"She is a Nymph, nothing more." Loki scowled at Thor at his words. "You can not be serious about continuing to court her."
"I am, and you would be wise to not speak of her like that in front of me." Loki attempted to push past Thor but the older man grabbed his arm to stop him. "I am well within my right to court whom I wish. If there is a question of her status, she is a Princess of the forest."
"A Nymph holds no status in the city, Loki," Thor told him. "Our parents entertained this silly notion of yours because we were all sure that it would never last, and you would grow bored." Loki pulled his arm away and started walking back down the hall. "You are a Prince of Asgard, you have responsibilities, and an image to uphold."
"And I don't fit into that image, do I?" Thor and Loki stopped when they heard the tight voice of Sigyn. Loki could she her whole body was tense, her lips pressed tightly together. She had come to the palace in a long dress with thin layers of silk, a black and gold bodice around her body. She could have been seen as part of the Asgardian court. "I am not the only Nymph in your precious Golden City, Prince Thor." They could clearly hear the venom when she used Thor's title. Her hands gripped the sides of her skirts and she mockingly curtsied to Thor before turning on her heel.
"Sigyn." Loki rushed forward to take her hand, causing her to pause in her steps, but not turn.
"You should let me go," she said quietly to him, keeping her face away from him. "You wouldn't want your image tarnished with the people."
"When have I cared about that?" He reached out his other hand and tilted her chin and back towards him. He could see the shine of carefully concealed tears in her eyes and he frowned.
"Loki-" Thor started as he watched them.
"It would be wise if you left, Thor," Loki said tightly, not looking away from Sigyn. Thor was about to say something else but saw the faint green glow coming off of Loki, and decided to walk away.
Loki leaned his forehead against hers carefully, keeping a hand tangled with her, his thumb moving up from her chin to rub her cheek. "Don't listen to the words of my brother, he is an oaf." His thumb ran under her eyes, catching a tear before it fell. "You look radiant, as always, and I still want to give you a surprise."
"Loki." She squeezed his hand a little. "Are you sure it's a good idea? It's clear how they all feel about me."
"Not everyone feels that way, and as I said, I don't care." He kissed her gently and moved to take her other hand. "Will you trust me?"
"I foolishly trust you everyday," she said with a soft smile, letting him lead her down the hall. They turned down a couple of halls that she hadn't seen yet and felt a natural energy flowing through the ground and under her feet. They were getting closer to an exit, but she was sure that Loki had led her deeper into the palace. She almost stopped when she saw a large archway leading way into a large garden. There were trees and flowers, and some of the greenest grass she had ever seen. Sigyn looked up at Loki, who just smiled as he looked forward, still leading her.
Loki pulled her into the gardens, back towards a pond that housed a small waterfall, and several benches around the pond. There was a woman with long golden hair sitting on one of the benches, humming as she put together a bouquet in a vase. Now Sigyn tried to stop Loki, digging her heels into the ground. Of course she knew who Loki's mother would be, he talked about her all the time.
"Loki," Sigyn hissed in a whisper. "You must be insane. I can't possibly-" She stopped when Loki kissed her again.
"Mother," he called out, grinning at Sigyn before turning around and pulling an only slightly reluctant Nymph with him. The Queen of Asgard looked up and smiled at her son. Placing the rest of the flowers on the bench she stood up and walked over, wrapping her arms around Loki in a warm embrace.
Sigyn tensed when Frigga turned her gaze her way and moved over a couple of steps. She placed her hands on cheeks, tilting Sigyn's face towards her. The Queen was only a couple of inches taller than her, unlike Loki was taller than even his mother. Sigyn seemed to freeze when Frigga then wrapped her arms around her in a hug just like Loki's. "It is an absolute delight to meet the one that has so enraptured my youngest."
Sigyn blinked and looked between Frigga and Loki when she had let go of her. she swallowed and licked her lips, curtsying a little. "Um, it's, it's an honor to meet you as well." Frigga laughed and it sent a warm tingle down her spine, not at all uncomfortable.
"There's no need to be so formal," Frigga said smiling. "After all, soon we will be-"
"Mother!" Loki's eyes had widened a little as he cut her off. Frigga looked at him, then put a hand to her mouth, most likely covering the devious smile her face held. Sigyn was sure that Loki had possibly learned too much from Frigga.
"Loki?" The younger woman turned her head to look at the Prince. "I have the feeling that you're hiding something from me."
Loki suddenly looked nervous and one of his hands fidgeted in his pocket. "I wanted to bring you here to see this garden, and to meet my Mother. I thought it only right after five years, for the two most important women in my life to meet." He took one of her hands and kissed her knuckles. "Especially since I'd like for you to see these gardens any day that you would like."
"I'd love to do that, too," she gave him a soft smile. "This place is amazing, but you know that I can only come to the palace so many times a month."
"You could easily come here every day if you lived here." Sigyn raised one eyebrow at him. "As my betrothed you would have the right to live in the palace." He smiled when her eyes widened a little.
Frigga had started to hum again, a smile on her face. "I think that perhaps this waterfall would prove to be a lovely place for the binding to take place. When the Noon sun shines over the water, it lights up with lines of gold, and we could easily start to grow specific flowers for the festivities."
The stunned Nymph looked from Frigga back over to Loki. After a few moments she started to smile, the smile then breaking into a grin that could have started to hurt, if she hadn't wrapped an arm around Loki's neck and started to kiss him. "Your brother is going to be furious."
"An even better reason to be wed." He grinned and laughed, wincing a little, when both Sigyn and Frigga smacked his arm.
Sigyn woke up slowly, a smile etching onto her face She could feel a pair of hands resting on her rounded stomach, and heard some soft words, the breath of her husband warm through her night dress. "I do so hope that you are telling him how you are going to apologize to me," she murmured out, sleep still clouding her voice slightly. "How you are going to beg for my forgiveness, for how you have made me large with child, and how uncomfortable some things are now because of it."
"Hmm, not in the least," Loki said smiling. "I am in fact telling him that I am rather proud of what I have done." Sigyn laughed and opened her eyes Loki was pressed close to her side and she reached out to run her hand through his hair. "I'm also telling him that it won't take long for his mother to once again be able to take me on in the training grounds. Such a lucky boy to have a mother such as you."
"And such a lucky boy who will no doubt learn the silver tongued ways of his father," she countered, smirking at him. She put a hand over his hand that rested on her stomach and they felt little feet kicking against them. She sucked in a breath and frowned, wincing in pain. She shot a glare over at the dark haired man next to him. "He does not have a lucky father though, for he shall pay for provoking him into coming."
Loki blinked then his eyes widened a little when he felt a ripple of magic course through her, and her muscles tense. "He's coming? Now?" Loki sat up, slightly panicked.
"You have forgotten everything we planned, haven't you?" She almost let out a sigh. "You need to go and get your mother dear, preferably before our son comes."
Loki smiled down at the small child wrapped in furs in his arms. Sigyn had fallen asleep, propped by the pile of pillows behind her. The boy, Nari, gripped one of Loki's fingers, staring up at his father with newly opened eyes.
"He's beautiful," Frigga whispered as she walked back into the room, arms holding onto more blankets for the new born. Loki's old wooden crib had been brought into the room and the new Grandmother made the bed, even though she knew there would be a good chance he wouldn't sleep there for the first night.
"He quells the feeling to cause chaos for the people of Asgard." Frigga covered her mouth before she could laugh loudly. "They should hope that Sigyn comes with child every year, perhaps they would actually know some peace."
"Don't get their hopes up." Frigga sat down next to Loki, reaching out to run her fingers across Nari's forehead. "Will you take them to the estates to the north?"
"I should like to," Loki said, smiled dropping slightly. "It was no secret that our child is not as celebrated, they are not as excited as you are." He let Frigga take her first grandchild into her arms, turning slightly in his chair to make sure that Sigyn was properly covered and comfortable. "You'll still have reason to visit of course, and we won't be entirely absent from the city, but I would rather our son not have to live around those that would look down on him for who his parents are, for who his mother is."
Frigga leaned over to kiss his cheek. Loki sat back in his chair and looked over at his mother and his son. "When we found out that she was with child, she went back to the forest, to tell her family." Frigga glanced over. "They were not happy with her choice of lifestyle, with her choice to marry me." He gave the Queen a sad smile. "They have officially renounced her, she is no longer a Princess of the Forest."
"No, she is Sigyn, wife of Loki Odinson, Prince of Asgard, and now mother to Nari Lokison. "Frigga looked at him, confidence ringing through her voice. "Those are titles that she will hold with pride. If she did not already then this moment would not be happening. Just continue to be the man that you are and neither of you will regret anything that has happened in the past. You both now have a son to make a future for."
Loki nodded and leaned over to kiss her cheek, then leaned down to kiss Nari's forehead. "Your Grandmother is wise in her years, my son. When you are older you will learn to listen to her as much as you listen to your mother. You will grow to be smart and handsome, and a force to be reckoned with." He grinned when Nari made a noise, reaching for Loki's fingers again.
A small hiccup made Sigyn smile as she held onto her new son. Loki was getting a few things from Frigga before the small family left for what would be their new home. There was a soft knock on the door and she looked up when the door was pushed open slowly. She blinked when she saw Thor pushing it open.
"I heard that you were leaving today." Sigyn nodded, noting that Thor looked almost nervous.
"Would you like to hold your nephew before we leave?" She didn't forget how he had publicly claimed her sister at their wedding nearly four years ago, as an apology of sorts for his actions and words before. "He's just been fed so he's almost ready to nap, he'll be still in your arms." She watched Thor shuffle over, looking down at Nari.
"He is a magnificent child," Thor said, a smile crossing his features. "I will teach him to wield weapons in defense of his family, while you and my brother teach him magic. He will be the most intelligent child in all of Asgard." Sigyn smiled at him as he heaped praises on their child.