A/N: Hello everyone, sorry about the delay on this chapter! Hope you enjoy! :)

Chapter Twenty-Five

"Of course," Loki replied immediately—really, what else could he say—and warily offered the queen his arm. Frigga took it, her eyes crinkling up into a smile. He wondered if she enjoyed putting him into situations like this.

They walked some distance away before she said casually, "I've been checking in on your progress with Thor."

It took Loki a moment to realize that she was referring to Thor's political progress… or, rather, his lack thereof. "We have been a bit busy," he defended, "It's not as though I've purposely put it off."

Frigga patted his hand, "Oh, don't worry, I did notice how busy you've been. You have wasted no time with your own political agenda, have you?" Before Loki could respond, she continued, "But never mind that, dear, that's not what we're here to talk about. I merely wish to see you put as much effort in to aiding Thor as you have yourself. I take it that that week long absence means that your heat has passed, so that leaves you plenty of uninterrupted time to help my son."

"I'm not exactly sure how receptive Thor is going to be to my offer of help," Loki said wryly, "The moment I even mentioned politics he went running in the other direction."

Frigga gave him an amused look, "I take it you mean that day with Faren during the picnic," she ignored the suspicious glance that Loki shot at her and continued, "I think it embarrassed him a bit, having Faren know more about his own country than he did… and in front of you, too."

Loki raised a brow, "Then I'm not sure how I would be of any assistance."

"Not many people can get through to my son as easily as you can. I think you'll find you're more adept at it than you believe, so I'm sure you'll find a way. After all, having a solid, happy relationship with Asgard's true heir is in your best interests, is it not?"

Loki couldn't argue with that.

-Loki-

Loki was directed by several servants before he finally found Thor in—of all places—the library. He looked a bit ridiculous seated at one of the delicate desks by the window, his large muscled frame squeezed into one of the ornate chairs as he squinted at the book in his hand like it had personally offended him. Loki pressed a hand to his mouth to keep from laughing as he took a moment to enjoy the humorous tableau Thor made.

"Thor, I found another book you might want to—" Balder had appeared from the stacks with a volume in tow, but he stopped short when he saw Loki standing there.

Thor looked up and saw him at the same time.

With a cry, the golden prince jumped to his feet, banging ungracefully into the fragile desk that he had been seated at and sending it crashing unceremoniously onto the floor, spilling the inkwell everywhere. Somewhere in the library, Thor's old tutor Fahim let out a little strangled cry. Loki, on the other hand, couldn't help but let out a few surprised chuckles before he could swallow them down.

By the time he had gained control of his laughter, he was being enveloped in Thor's arms as the larger prince squeezed him tightly. When he finally pulled back to look down at Loki, the Jotun smiled and greeted both of the princes. "Your Highness," he bowed his head a bit formally at Balder before turning his eyes to meet Thor's, "Oaf," he acknowledged, his greeting to Thor decidedly less proper. Balder frowned, but Thor grinned widely.

"I have missed you," he replied warmly before his gaze took on a slightly worried note, "Have you been well?"

"I'm doing much better now, thank you. It took some time to recover after breaking the curse, and then I ran into some family problems…" Loki waved a hand dismissively, "But that's all over now, and I'm back." He hoped that would be the end of it. He gave the book that Thor had dropped on the floor a curious look. "But what are you up to, exactly?"

Thor flushed and pulled back so that he could quickly cover up the book, but not before Loki caught a glimpse of the title. A History of Governance on Vanaheim, Vol. I. His eyes darted over to the title of the book that Balder was holding. Rites and Rituals of Alfheim.

So. It appeared that Loki wasn't Frigga's only recruit. "Decided to reclaim your title, have you?" He asked Thor casually, "What happened to vacationing for a month and not worrying about Asgard or its throne?" At least it made his job easier.

Thor's frame jerked a little, and he gave Loki an injured look. "I have no intention to steal my brother's title, Luke. He has been overwhelmed, and asked for me to help him. I can hardly say no to that, though admittedly I doubt that I have been of too much assistance."

"You're doing great," Balder protested weakly. Loki raised a brow, amused. Even Thor didn't look convinced.

"Perhaps I can be of some help, then," the Jotun offered.

Thor, Loki found, was a poor student. No, 'poor' didn't quite do him justice—Thor was a terrible student, and the Jotun prince was constantly surprised at how Thor's ignorance or forgetfulness surpassed his expectations. He wasn't stupid, Loki knew, so his lack of political and cultural dexterity was confounding. The man could eagerly recite old battles blow by blow, describe in detail how weapons and defense systems had evolved. He understood each planet's take on warfare and strategy. But their cultural history or policies? Well. After Thor had stammered through a mostly-incorrect explanation of the political system on Vanaheim where the only thing he got right was names of several of the officials, Loki was almost impressed. It must have been difficult to grow up as Asgard's heir and still remain so…clueless.

"But Vanaheim is Asgard's protectorate," Loki's voice sounded pained even to his own ears, "How can you not be familiar with everything about it? You were going to rule it one day!" He caught Fahim casting him a pitying look, as if to say see what I had to deal with?

"There's just so much random decorum and ceremony," Thor complained, trying to explain himself, "It's all so silly—it's not like half of this matters."

Loki covered his hands with his face and wanted to scream. Norns, no wonder Frigga had been upset that he hadn't started yet. This was going to be a long, tiresome, uphill battle.

"Let us start from the beginning, then," he said wearily. He was partway through describing Vanaheim's political structure and how it had evolved when Thor started forgetting things. Loki would have been angry had the other prince not looked so upset. Even when he was trying—and trying very, very hard—he still wasn't retaining the information.

Loki considered this in silence for a moment before offering Thor his hand. "Come with me." Thor took his hand without hesitation, and a moment later they were in a sunshine covered field on Vanaheim. Loki waved his hand and a blanket appeared with a strategy board atop it, complete with tiny, brightly colored pieces. Thor immediately reached for one, and it flickered out of existence the moment his fingers touched it. Loki made a disgruntled noise.

"They're illusions, you idiot, do you think I just cart strategy pieces with me everywhere? Where do you think I keep everything?"

Thor gave him a confused look before asking, "Where do you keep your swords?"

Loki's lips pursed. It was a fair question, but not one he could easily answer without explaining the space between realities, something he was certain Thor wouldn't quite grasp. But while he was willing to keep the extended effort of linking the swords to him through the nether for the sake of practicality, he certainly wasn't going to do so with random junk that might come in handy one day. "Never mind that, pay attention."

He arranged the pieces in the semblance of a game. "Now, this is how we're going to play…" Loki explained the rules and they took turns playing, Thor giving him puzzled looks the entire time. Loki ignored them and moved the pieces as Thor directed. Finally, the Asgardian forgot that he was supposed to be learning something and got into the game.

"This game is rigged," Thor complained a little over a quarter mark later. "The blue pieces are too powerful, there is no way for any of the other colors to make any ground."

"You think so?" Loki asked, feigning surprise, "Well then, what do you suggest we do?"

Thor thought about it for some time. Finally, he suggested, "Why don't we take away their ability to negate another color's move? That would make it a bit fairer." Loki nodded in agreement and they continued to play. Barely minutes later, Thor complained again. "Yellow doesn't have enough pieces, there's no point in playing them."

"So what can we do about that?" Loki urged. Thor wanted to just add more yellow pieces, but Loki wouldn't. "Those are the only pieces available," he maintained.

Thor gave him a suspicious look, but conceded. Unfortunately, he was also at a loss for what to do. "What if we merged the yellow and red pieces?" Loki suggested finally. The two colors bled together until all the combined pieces turned orange. Thor nodded in satisfaction, and so they continued the game. It didn't take long for Thor to change the rules again… and again… and again. Loki smiled every time, pleased.

Finally, they finished playing. Thor sat back and watched Loki with a question in his eyes as Loki dispelled the illusion and the game disappeared.

Then he looked at Thor and said, "Now. Let us try this again. Hundreds of years before Asgard claimed Vanaheim, the realm was largely split into five tribes. For a good while they warred amongst themselves before finally assuming a command order and establishing a council to help keep the peace. The Besit tribe was by far the most powerful as they were the most highly represented tribe on the council and therefore in practice had the ability to veto decisions made by the other tribes. What do you suppose the other tribes decided to do about it?"

Thor shrugged, "Kill them?" Loki's eyes narrowed, and Thor quickly backtracked. "They…" his eyes flashed to where the game had sat and his expression became thoughtful, "They took away their ability to negate a tribes vote… by what, lessening the number of representatives on the council?"

Loki smiled. "Exactly. The Besits were displeased, of course, but at risk of causing another war where all of the other tribes banded against them, they rather ungracefully conceded. For a time things continued without any major problems, before it became clear that the Yunian clan's numbers were dwindling quickly. They lived in the strategically secure area of a large mountain range, but always suffered difficulties with food and climate. As a result they became less fertile and more prone to disease. For the most part the other tribes had no desire to come to their aid, but the Renevive clan had long depended on the Yunian's mountain range to divide them from the Geves tribe, who they quarreled the most with. The two leaders talked, and they…" he trailed off, looking expectantly at Thor.

Thor frowned. "They… decided to merge the tribes?"

Loki's responding smile was exultant. "Right. The two heads of the tribes both had children, and so these children—now adults—were married as an example of the new bond between tribes. They renamed themselves after the mutual river that used to divide their territories, the Onghar. So you see, politics is just strategy under another name."

Loki continued telling the story of Vanaheim's foundation, and Thor listened intently, getting each question Loki asked of him correct. It was more progress than they had made the entire time in the library. The information was basic and lacking in detail, but it was enough that Thor was retaining even this much. Small steps, Loki reminded himself.

"How do you know all of this?" Thor marveled after a while, his gaze admiring.

"Unlike you, I didn't shirk my education," Loki drawled. "I actually paid attention to what my tutors taught me of the other realms."

Thor was quiet for a while after that, giving Loki a considering look. Finally, annoyed and feeling as though he must have missed something, the Jotun prince snapped, "What?"

Thor shrugged, "It's just that from everything you've mentioned of your family so far, I assumed that you weren't very well off. It's surprising, then, to hear that you were so well educated."

Loki cursed himself for not thinking of that, but recovered well enough, "My family valued education over all else. We had little, but we strove to better ourselves. Now, let us return to Asgard and talk more about manners and etiquette on Vanaheim." He stood and offered a hand to Thor, who sighed and took it.

"Must we? I'm certain that Balder will be able to navigate that part well enough himself—"

"Do you want to risk embarrassing him at the summit in a few months? No matter how well he represents himself, you can do him great injury by failing to follow the expected decorum. Your behavior will reflect on both of you."

Thor flushed and stared hard at the ground for a moment before looking back to Loki and asking, "Did Balder mention the summit? Is that what this is about?"

Loki paused, considering. "Yes," he lied finally, "He's nervous. It's his first meeting with your other allied planets, and he doesn't want anything to go wrong."

Thor's shoulders slumped. "He thinks I'll embarrass him."

"No," Loki amended quickly, "He just wants you to do well because he knows how much your father's approval means to you. And, as he said before, he wants you to be able to help him not to mess up. The more that both of you know, the better you will both look."

That seemed to help lift Thor's spirits a bit, though he smiled sheepishly at Loki and admitted, "I haven't done so well in the past. I always seem to offend someone or forget something," he shook his head dismally, "I'd much rather spend time with the common people, the nobility always seems to look for something to take offense to."

Loki took Thor's hand, "You'll do fine. Remember that all of them are expected to learn the same etiquette that you are, so they are more aware when someone messes it up. But beneath that they're still people, and you are good with people—think of Faren, he's royalty and you like him just fine, right?"

Thor smiled, just a little, "Faren is an exception. If you saw the Ljosalfar nobility during a ceremony or meeting you'd understand. Suddenly everything becomes far more complicated than it should be. They may like me under normal circumstances, but during official meetings, it's as though we have never shared stories over the evening meal and enjoyed each other's company. Faren still acts as though he knows me, but the rest," the Asgardian shrugged, looking forlorn again.

Loki hadn't even liked the elven royalty much to begin with, truth be told. But then, Loki didn't like many people. He squeezed Thor's hand a bit and slid his other hand beneath Thor's chin to lift his head. "This time it will be different," Loki told him firmly. Then, before he considered what he was doing, he pressed a chaste kiss to Thor's lips.

Thor's eyes widened even as Loki realized what he had done and stepped back, alarmed. The Asgardian prince's surprise turned into amusement with a touch of sadness. "You always do that, you know."

"Do what?" Loki crossed his arms defensively.

"Every time you show me some kind of affection, you panic afterwards, like you have done something wrong," Thor's eyes scrutinized him, looking for a response.

Loki shrugged his shoulders dismissively and partially turned away, "I'm not sure what you're talking about, I don't panic." His mind was whirring, quickly trying to come up with why he had done something so foolish and how he could still use it to his advantage. Clearly, there was a physical attraction between himself and Thor, and if he didn't stop visiting Asgard this kind of thing would continue to happen. He didn't want to give up going to Asgard just yet.

Thor would be angry when he found out that Loki was Jotun, but he would have been angry regardless. Perhaps… perhaps if Loki played this right, he could turn things to Jotunheim's benefit. He could work his way into Thor's affections and make sure Thor was so deeply indebted to him that by the time that the Asgardian prince found out his true identity, he wouldn't care anymore. He had three months.

Loki looked up at Thor and met his tender blue eyes, calculating his odds.

Then he closed the gap between them and leaned up, slowly and purposefully recapturing Thor's lips. Thor responded eagerly, one hand moving into Loki's hair to hold him there. Their mouths moved gently against one another, long and slow but still sweet, only slightly parted. After a moment Loki drew back, trying to clear the sudden fog from his brain.

Thor leaned in again, but Loki stopped him. "No," he said, thinking.

Thor frowned, exasperated, until Loki broke out a mischievous grin and purred, "Not yet, anyway. You can have another when you can successfully tell me the order in which you should greet the Vanir nobility."

Thor gaped at him for a moment, and then he laughed. "You aren't going to make this easy for me, are you?" he teased, looking down at the other man with fondness.

Loki just smiled. "If I were easy, then I wouldn't be worth having."

A/N: Thank you for reading! Please let me know what you think! :) (And Happy Thanksgiving-almost-to my readers in the States!)