The cabin was beyond beautiful.
It was a decent sized cabin, filled with little trinkets and goodies, a dream resort. There were multiple rooms in the two story wooden home, all filled with unique designs and craftsmanship. What looked to Jane like antique furniture was decorated with matchless pillows and throws that looked irreplaceable. It was homey, perfect for the four visitors. The exclusivity the cabin provided made the guests feel like they were in a world of their own.
I could stay here forever, Jane sighed.
She had to share a room with Darcy for the night since Thor's snoring was getting problematic. Jane couldn't tell what time it was, but after getting up from the ground on which they had slept all day, she decided that it didn't matter.
A majority of Jane's life had passed by where she was living waiting for her future to come and save her. Then her work involved waiting for the perfect clear sky nights. The precise calculations required the regular utilization of a clock or watch nearby. But now she had come to a world where time was unimportant. No one was chasing time here. They could do whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted.
Jane brushed her hand against the mosaic on the windows. Even in the dark it was stunning. Her hand strolled on the luscious wood and soft bed, for a moment she allowed herself to simply stand there and breathe the fresh air.
After walking the perimeter of the room, admiring everything, Jane stopped at the bathroom door where Darcy had taken homage.
She knocked twice on the door.
"Any plans of coming out?" she asked from outside.
The door flung open and Darcy flew out and jumped in the bed.
Jane sat next to her and felt her forehead. "Feeling better?"
"Just a bit. If only they had some TV I could distract myself place with. And some pop tarts."
"The guys are downstairs making dinner, maybe Loki can magically conjure some up," Jane suggested.
Darcy ran down the stairs before Jane was done talking.
!
Apparently Thor and Loki had tried to give Jane and Darcy a surprise of sorts.
One of Jane's classical CD's was playing in the background. Partick Doyle's To Thine Own Self Be True, she recalled. Where the sound was coming from was a mystery.
The lights were dimmed and tall white candles where lit around the dining area. There were wine goblets and Midgardian champagne resting on the table. The curtains were pulled up and the beautiful night sky was revealed.
Honestly, the presentation was nice. But, it confused the human girls. The homey dining room looked like a forced scene from a romantic comedy that simply didn't belong.
"Loki? Thor? What's going on?" Jane asked. The brothers walked, dressed up in black suits, looking as if they were each going to a wedding, most likely their own.
Darcy and Jane stared as their significant other walked towards them wearing sly smiles on their faces.
"Well? What do you think? Does this atmosphere remind you of proper Midgardian date or not?" Loki asked Jane, winking.
"Darcy, do you like it?" Thor asked hopefully.
Jane half-smiled. The attempt was beyond amusing since on normal occasion the guys were openly sappy romantics and now this human gesture frankly came off as, well, awkward.
"It's…," Jane tried to come up with a good compliment but with the mosaic art on the windows and the tall white candles, she felt more like she was at a church service than a date.
Darcy walked over to the table.
"Candles?" she asked slowly. If Jane was correct, Darcy was about to go into hysterics. "What are we, witches?"
A giggle escaped Jane's lip and she tried to regain her amusement, but it was too late. Loki caught on.
"This was idiotic, wasn't it?" he asked Jane, already knowing the answer.
Jane bit her lip and nodded. "Just a bit," she confirmed.
Loki sighed in defeat and looked at Thor, who looked equally stumped, in exasperation. For a moment, they all stared at one another. The guys were wearing these high end tuxedos while Jane was still wearing the same clothes from their sneaky escape and Darcy was in her pink pajamas that had black cats all over them.
A different classical song began to play, this one, a soft sad melody.
"Now I feel like I'm at a funeral," Darcy deadpanned.
Thor tried to distract her. "But look! There's champagne!"
"Yes, so we can drink enough to hopefully forget all about tonight," Loki muttered, loosening his tie and unbuttoning his jacket, walking over to help blow out the candles so the wooden house wouldn't accidently catch on fire.
"But…," Thor protested, disheveled, not having imagined this turn of the evening.
Darcy wrapped her arms around Thor's waste and reached up to pull his pouty face down to hers.
"Darcy, I'm sorry. I just wanted to…," Thor began explaining.
"Oh hush you sappy softie," Darcy told him, initiating a deep kiss that caused Jane and Loki to leave the room.
They strolled outside. Jane studied the sky. There were more stars than she had ever seen, Alfheim was so bright at night, and it blew her away.
Loki chuckled.
Her eyes reflecting the shine of the thousand diamonds above them looked at him in question.
"It's funny, no matter what realm we go to, I always find you with your head always facing upward at the sky with your mouth wide open," he lovingly explained.
"It's-"
"-fascinating, I know," Loki finished for her. This was not the first time they had had this argument so he decided to skip this one.
Jane studied Loki's face for a moment.
"You have hair on your face now. Looks like you're growing a mean beard," she commented, reaching up to poke his cheek.
"Good god you are like a little observant kitten aren't you? Does anything get pass you?"
"Why are you picking on me?"
"Allow me to correct myself; you're a little observant and angry kitten."
Jane pushed him but Loki didn't move. He laughed as she walked away, away from the castle towards the meadow, her head quickly turning upward again as she gazed at the sky again in wonder.
Chuckling to himself, Loki quickly ran inside to grab their dinner, ignoring Thor and Darcy's heavy kissing. A plate slipped out of his hand and crashed on the ground in a heavy noise but Thor and Darcy still didn't part. Slightly grossed out, Loki ran back out with the food into the night, towards the meadow to finally be with his Jane.
!
"Words cannot describe my regret. I am sorry I didn't ask the God to stay," Beriadan mumbled sadly.
"Beriadan, it wasn't your fault. I know in this realm it comes off as a rude thing to simply give a letter leave but in other realms, it quite the norm," Loki reassured the displeased elf.
"I didn't even get a chance to offer him any food for his travel. He simply came, saw me and then saw Lady Jane walking towards me and dropped the parchment into my hand and just left. It happened so quickly, I don't even know his name," the Light elf cried.
Darcy looked at Beriadan in silent panic, not sure how to calm the little guy.
"Dude chill, it's all okay…I know in your town it's a big social faux-pas but you shouldn't feel bad! I mean, it's not like you made him leave. In this case, I gotta say it, he was the rude one Beriadan, not you," Darcy soothed.
The elf hiccupped and Darcy handed him a goblet filled with champagne. "Here, have same happy juice. Drown your sorrows Berdy, a new day is to come and it needs you to continue being awesome so tell your champagne your troubles and then watch them disappear into your little elf belly."
Beriadan dutifully nodded and began murmuring into his drink.
"My wife thinks I'm too short…"
Loki frowned at Darcy.
"No not her Berdy! Go home, keep the glass," Darcy told Beriadan who gave her a grateful bow and drunk with sadness walked out the door.
Darcy rubbed her hands together. "Mission accomplished," she declared. She raised a fist up at Loki who gave her a fist bump without meeting her eyes. He was too busy rolling them at Jane and Thor who were sprawled over the letter, psychoanalyzing the piece of parchment.
"What could it mean?" Thor wondered out loud for the thousandth time. Jane pursued her lips and squinted at the paper, not believing words herself.
"It means Odin thinks you're too boring to be king," Darcy cackled at Thor who frowned.
"Jane, can will you let go of that letter and eat something?" Loki asked, tired of fussing over the note.
"Loki, this is a big deal. I mean how can Odin all of a sudden decide that Thor isn't ready to be king? Something's wrong…," Jane said thoughtfully.
"And I'm not boring," Thor defended.
Loki pulled the letter out of Jane's hands to look at it for the first time. He read over it once and closed his eyes.
"What's he doing?" Darcy asked Thor.
"Loki can study a parchment and tell at what time it was written and the conversation that was going on while it was getting written. It's an underrated talent," Jane whispered to Darcy.
"I believe Heimdall is the only other capable being on Asgard that can also go back and look into the past, not only with parchment, but with any object," Thor added, staring at Loki.
He finally opened his eyes and nonchalantly placed the note back in Jane's hand and grabbed his goblet and drank a large gulp of champagne.
Thor fidgeted. "Well? What did you hear?"
Loki's face remained emotionless but his eyes danced with amusement.
"Darcy's right. You are too boring to be king," he answered.
"What?" Thor asked, flabbergasted.
"Told ya," Darcy sang, sipping more champagne in celebration of being correct.
"But what does that mean?" Jane asked confused.
"That means the All-Father instructed a scribe to come up with an excuse to extend our vacation so Thor will not grab the throne right away. The All-Father is disappointed by your newly acquired decency and wisdom. And he's right. Asgard is too pompous to want a wise young king. You'll have to wait for when you are older to acquire the throne," Loki elaborated.
"And the news in the letter? About the prophet saying I cannot be king for the next millennia or so?"
Darcy snorted into her drink.
"It's a lie. The prophet wasn't even in the castle when this letter was written I bet. It's just an excuse."
Thor sat back, amazed.
"Huh. Well, that was simple," Thor muttered to himself.
Jane laughed in agreement. She ran over to hug Loki.
"This is great!" she exclaimed.
Loki buried his face into her hair and held her, her joy seeping into his heart.
Darcy sat next to a shocked Thor and nuzzled her nose at her cheek. Thor then turned in speed at grabbed her waste and pulled her to his lap. She yelped and playfully slapped his arm.
"Good job though," Darcy said in approval.
"You think so?" Thor smiled.
"Heck yes. Makes life easier knowing your dad in no rush to get you back. And that means I get to keep you forever. No rush. We can just stay like this…"
"Forever," Jane whispered to Loki worriedly.
Loki brushed his fingers against Jane's forehead to smooth the 'v' between her eyes.
"Loki…," Jane began.
"What's bothering you?" he asked, now frowning in worry.
"Darcy said, there is no rush. What do we do now? Our purpose was clear before, now I feel like someone just took away an assignment from me. What do I do?"
"Aw, Jane. Life isn't an assignment, is it? Aren't you always telling me to 'go with the flow'?"
"But I'm worried it could be the wrong flow. What if I don't like this flow?"
Loki hugged her and whispered into his ear. "Then we'll make our own if we have to. If, a couple days from now, you still miss your Midgardian job, we'll go back. And on days I begin to hate the realm, we'll come back here. As long I have you, any flow is bearable."
Jane smiled. "I'm glad."
Suddenly Darcy appeared out of nowhere and joined their hug. "Me too!" she yelled, wrapping her arms around the two.
From the corner of his eye, Loki saw Thor coming towards him.
"Brother, don't you dare-"
Thor gave him his classic "who me?" smile and then launched himself, squeezing the life out of all of them.
Because with them, it was and always had been like this.
Life is not an assignment. There's no defined beginning or end. People don't start living until a mid-life crisis. Some live as memories long after their death. You can never tell.
But Jane finally had a family. As did Loki, Darcy, and even Thor.
Life, in some ways, had wronged each and every one of them. But they worked with whatever it gave them and here they were in a place they all belonged.
And this, my friends, is the secret lives of introverts.
We exist in a world larger than our own, but it's in our lives that we live freely amongst our own kind, rummaging through our days, often as self-proclaimed nobodys. But deep down we always have the desire, that longing to live out, craving freedom and release.
And sometimes we find that freedom within ourselves, within our own lives.
And we dream, cultivate, and live.
Like Jane, Darcy, Thor, and Loki I hope everyone reading this finds their meaning and cherishes it. For a while, I couldn't tell my place in the world. But then I realized that being myself is enough. You don't need the world to hand you a life and purpose.
Live for yourself and live freely, without worries. Life happens, but so love is always there.
For the All-Father, his sons were existing somewhere in some realm who couldn't find.
Little did he know, they were too busy living to simply "exist".
Le fin.
