25
Moonbeam Gowns and Snowdrop
Moonbeams glisten in her hair, bright as new fallen snow. ~ Loki
He took out the enchanted spinning wheel from the closet, which had been a gift Mr. Gold had given him long ago when he got accepted to the Academy of Magic. Loki was grateful now to the spinner mage for teaching him how to spin like an expert.
He sat down and conjured silky wool from Asgard's finest sheep, intermixed with strands of iridescent spider silk. Then he began to spin, the thread beneath his hands glowing slightly, his foot pumping the treadle steadily.
He became lost in his magic, spinning and spinning.
The fine gossamer threads wrapped together, he drafting a fine thread as he worked. He closed his eyes as the silk whirred around the spindle, the thread wrapping itself neatly on the spool.
The spool filled, and he took it off the wheel, filling a second, and then a third. He set them all into a basket, selecting the strongest looking threads to create the warp threads for the loom.
He relaxed and spun enough thread for the dress, and then began to weave it together upon a special loom that was enchanted to weave cloth like lightning. It would enable him to complete the dress in time for the ceremony in a few days.
While the loom wove, Loki summoned the beautiful bright silk colored thread he would use for the flowers. He used another spell to embroider a sample upon a piece of cloth and studied it. He made a rose and some smaller forget-me-nots on the cloth.
The small lavender flowers shimmered slightly, and he added a tiny gold bead to the center of each one.
"I like how that looks," he remarked to himself. Then he summoned fine lace from Alfheim from the storeroom and set it on the table. He would cut the proper lengths once the dress was pieced together.
On it was the lightest, most delicate fabric anyone had ever seen.
It shimmered in the light, catching the sun and draping delicately in a pool in another basket.
Loki was very pleased. The ball gown the modiste had made for the welcome ball was on a dress form, so he could measure the proportions exactly.
He could have altered an existing dress with his magic, but he wanted this dress to be one that he made from the beginning.
He glanced at his watch and saw that two and a half hours had gone by. He summoned a pitcher of juice and a sunflower seed muffin to him and ate them neatly, knowing better than to keep working magic without refueling. One of the odd things about magic was that it burned energy and calories like nothing else, even a strenuous exercise session, and if you did not eat and drink you ran the risk of it burning too much and you would collapse.
A knock came to the door, Balder and Jorgy stepping in. Both men looked very grim, and Jorgy held Rhiannon's dress in his hands.
"What happened?" he asked, alarmed.
"She wanted to bathe, and I told her I would take this to be mended and cleaned." Jody said, showing him the gown. "All the animals, save one foal that killed its mother being born are dead. Sleph has it now."
"Jorgy, go. I must talk to your father." Balder said, taking the dress.
Loki looked saddened. "The foal, will it live?"
"There is hope for the foal, it is pure white and fairly strong." Balder said, handing him the dress. "When I arrived, she was running from the house and holding the bodice shut. She would not tell me what happened, but there is something spilled on the skirt."
Loki swore softly. He examined the skirt and saw the stain spread on it.
"This looks like wine." He sniffed. "Smells like it too. Was the bastard in the house?"
"He was. Sam said that he called her in and no one heard anything else."
"Damn! I would have gone in there with her." Loki huffed.
Balder paced, showing him another stain. "What is that? What did he do to her?"
Balder paced, becoming more and more angry.
"Is there nothing we can do?" He shouted.
"Balder, stop. Yes, there is something we can do. I need to get the horny bastard to sign my contract, then she will be free of him," Loki said. "I would also like her to repudiate him, but that won't happen unless he's drunk enough to confess to her. The other thing . . . if he admits to it we could arrest him quietly and let Father deal with him but nothing public. It would kill Rhiannon to have that known. You know how people talk and stupid ones would blame her." He spread his hands. "I would like him to be dead, but that is up to the Norns."
"I understand, brother. What should I do with the dress?" He asked, the ripped open bodice a horrible reminder of what possibly happened.
Loki clenched his teeth. "Leave it here. I will fix and clean it. No need for the maids to have something else to gossip about, the clucking hens!"
"Yes, brother." Balder said. "She is bathing now, I need to clear my head before supper. She named the foal Snowdrop." He said before leaving.
"Go beat up some practice dummies," Loki suggested. The mere thought of that disgusting reprobate touching his beautiful Goldenwing made him want to retch.
He prayed to the Norns that they would help him rid her of this pestilential parent and that Rhiannon could be free and happy.
"Thank you, brother." Balder said and left, shutting the door with a loud click.
Loki stared down at the ruined dress in his clenched fists. Then he mended it with a soft word. A wave of a hand and the dress was clean as well. He set it aside and took the fabric from the basket and set it on the table. Then he took measurements, marked everything, and set his enchanted scissors to cut the pieces out.
Making the dress helped calm him down and he hummed as he pieced the dress together, then he placed it on the form after removing the ball gown and hanging it on a hook.
He heard the door open, a rosy hand coming around the edge of it. It was scrubbed raw, and it was followed by Rhiannon. She was wearing a green cotton dress with a snow-white chemise under it. She looked flighty, slightly trembling.
"I... I was told you were in here. Do you want to go to supper?" She asked him softly.
He waved a hand, hiding the half-finished dress. "Yes, of course."
She stood in silence, watching him and tried to hide her painful hands.
"Are you making a new suit of clothes?" She asked him.
He shook his head. "No. It's something else." He noticed her hands. "Those look sore. What were you doing, picking nettles?"
"I had a great deal of dirt under my nails. I wanted them clean." She said, holding them behind her back. "Did Jorgy tell you about Snowdrop?'
"Put some of this on them," he said quietly, and gave her his green salve. "Yes, he did. Sleph will take good care of it. He is an excellent horse Healer."
He smiled wistfully. "I will need to see this foal. Perhaps after supper?"
"I have faith in him." She said and dipped her fingers in the pot. She rubbed the salve in.
"I think you would find her very pretty."
"It's a filly?"
"She is. She could stand after she was born, so it is a good sign. Poor Father cannot manage all the work on his own anymore." She said and gave him back the jar.
"How do your hands feel now?" he asked, concerned.
"A bit better, sir." She said and he noticed bruises on her wrist under the lace edge of her sleeve.
He longed to beat her father's head in. Instead he said, "You can call me Loki now." Then he smiled at her.
"Yes, Loki. I am far too used to the other way, I suppose." She replied.
"Should we go?"
"Yes, I am hungry," he admitted and then let her take his arm.
"I am as well." She replied and hesitated before taking his arm. She smiled thinly at him, trying to hide her emotions.
"Are you upset about something? I am sorry all the animals died," he said gently.
"It was most sad." She said and nodded. "I should have been there to help Father."
"Don't blame yourself. You didn't know and you were working here. Let's try and think of something else. Something joyful."
"Like what?"
"Like the fact that soon you shall be betrothed to me." He smiled.
"Yes." She said and her eyes filled with tears. "That is very happy."
He opened the door, taking her through and down the hall in silence. They arrived, Thor and Balder both glaring as they entered.
"Are they angry with me?" She asked, her voice small.
Loki escorted Rhiannon to her seat beside him. "No. Not at you."
"Oh. I was hoping not." She said and sat gingerly in the seat.
Frigga engaged Rhiannon about her trip to the market.
"It was a very nice day My Queen."
"I am very glad it was, dear. The children have taken to you."
"They are such sweet and wonderful children. Prince Loki is truly wealthy because of them." She replied with a smile.
By the end of the dinner, she was more herself. She ate her dessert and looked at Loki.
"Do you want to see the filly?" she asked him, her eyes calm. "She is so very pretty."
"Yes, I would love to," Loki said.
She took his hand, hers much less red and beckoned for him to follow.
"She is still with Sleph, I want to see if she is faring well." She said, urging him to move.
Loki followed her as they headed for the stables and he gently wrapped their fingers together.
The dusk was lovely as they walked toward the paddock, crickets had begun to chirp and a nightingale trilled a song in the distance.
"It is so quiet here." She said.
"Yes it is," he said.
The lights were on in the stable as they entered and heard someone singing. Sleph was sitting on the hay with Snowdrop and was gently stroking her mane. Loki saw the sadness in his son's eyes and his heart sank a little. Sleph was always sensitive when one of the other horses, mares or foals were ill or injured and was devastated with one of them died.
Loki and Rhiannon walked closer when Sleph looked up and sadly smiled.
"Is she well?" Rhiannon asked, tears filling her eyes again.
"Yes, she's fine. Just scared and confused," Sleph said.
"The poor dear. Would it help if I held her since I brought her here?" She asked him and walked over to the filly.
"I think she would like that," Sleph said as he stood so she could sit down.
She took the snowy foal and stroked her mane, singing a sweet lullaby to the newborn.
Snowdrop looked up at her then lowered her head and Sleph stood next to Loki.
"She is very good with animals," he said and Loki nodded.
Her voice filled the barn, sweet and pure as she sang to the beautiful newborn. The other horses calmed as well, their ears pricking at her song and Loki felt a warmth in him.
Loki slid his arm around Sleph as they listened and soon the foal drifted off to sleep. The other horses were sleeping as well and she placed the foal on the hay.
"She is so beautiful. Is she not?" She asked the two men.
"Yes," Loki said and Sleph nodded.
"I would calm babies that were fussy to sleep with that song when I worked in the infirmary. It seems to work on horses as well."
"It made all the horses fall asleep," Loki said with a grin and helped her to her feet.
"I did not mean to make them all sleep." She said and blushed.
"It's fine," he said as he led them out of the stable and they headed back to the palace.
"Do you think she is pretty?" She asked him softly.
She walked next to him, dusk creating long shadows and an owl calling out his hunt in the distance.
"One of the prettiest foals I've ever seen," he murmured. He gazed up at the stars, twinkling in their eternal dance, and then his eyes found his beloved.
"There are always so many stars in the sky." She said softly, looking away and turning shy.
"Of all the stars in the heavens, there are none so fair that glistens and shines with moonbeams in her hair," he quoted one of the poems in his book.
"I liked that poem very much. Did you write that one about Frigga as well?" She asked him, a blush forming on her cheeks. "I am sorry, I should not have assumed."
"Yes. Many of them were about her. She inspired me to write. My brothers and father laughed at my scribbling, as they called it, but she never did. I was such an awkward and shy adolescent." He recalled. "All long legs and elbows and sometimes I tripped over my own feet."
"I don't see that in you now, you are more graceful than I." She said, laughing a bit.
He smiled. "Thanks. Brunhilde's training helped a lot. She used to say, When you grow into your legs, boy you will be graceful as a swan, and dance upon the air. I never quite believed her until it happened."
"She said that I had a dancer's form, I never saw that myself." She said and smiled.
"Yes. I would agree. She saw much others missed."
"She was clever that way." Rhiannon said, and they stopped at her chamber doors. "I suppose this is goodnight, My Prince."
"Until tomorrow, my songbird." He bowed and kissed her hand. There was magic in his kiss, the same he had cast once before to ensure sweet dreams in the infirmary.
"Yes, until tomorrow." She said and flinched a bit at the pain in her still red hand. "Rest well, my Loki."
"You also, darling." He removed the jar of salve from his pocket. "Keep this and use it. I have more."
"Thank you. I will be more careful about my hands in the future." She said and the sadness returned to her eyes.
He turned her hand over and placed a kiss upon it, making her quiver with his gentle sweetness. "Think no more of it. Pleasant dreams."
"Yes." She said and opened the door, walking through it and she set the jar on the table. Without changing, she lay down on her bed and cried for a long time. She cursed herself, and cursed her father. Praying for someone to free her, eventually she fell asleep.
Loki returned to his own chambers, thinking soon beloved, I shall free you from the beast, and nothing will harm you ever again.
He changed, cleaning himself up and laying on his bed. He thought about the meeting the next day, and how hard it would be to not kill the bastard. Had you been the man you were four years ago, he would be dead and food for worms by now. But you must not kill for vengeance's sake, Laufeyson. For that way lies the Dark Path.