"Sigyn?"
She was still staring at the backside of her door while her mother stood on the other side, waiting for a response or, most likely, an invite in. All the good feelings that had been surrounding every fiber of her being seemed to fly out the window; ruined by the toxic shadow in her life that had always been her mother.
"What do you want?" she finally responded.
"I thought we could talk," Freya informed, sounding apprehensive. "We have much to catch up on."
"I have nothing I want to talk to you about."
Both women fell silent and a part of Sigyn had hoped her mother had walked away.
"You have been away for so long, so much has happened during that time and so much has changed," Freya spoke back up. "We are not the same people we once were. If anything we both have more in common now."
Sigyn narrowed her eyes at the door and stood up, taking a few steps closer to it. "What exactly do we have in common now?"
"We have husbands who have commit crimes against the All-father, which we will never see again, and we have lost children."
Freya was leaning her forehead against the door with her hands bracing the doorframe on either side, waiting for her eldest daughter to say something. Before she could open her mouth to say anything else, the door abruptly swung open and Freya stumbled forward slightly as she looked up and found Sigyn standing there, holding the door with one hand and gripping the opposite side of the doorframe with the other hand.
Sigyn did not look like the type of person to be crossed in that particular moment. She was shooting daggers at her mother with her green eyes and her posture was quite queenly. For the first time in her life, Freya felt smaller than her daughter. She felt as if she should be bowing her head as she would out of respect for Frigga, her actual queen.
"Let me make one thing clear," Sigyn bit out. "Those commonalities you proclaim we have are complete and utter codswallop. My father was banished from Asgard and you couldn't give a shit, and he's been dead two centuries, whereas Loki is merely down in the dungeon and I've just come from seeing him, and every second away from him is an eternity. I have promised to love only him for all of my life, however long it may be while you so easily moved on from husband to husband. And," she continued, barely taking a breath, "we both lost children? I am alive, I am here. You can sleep easy knowing I am perfectly well. I, on the other hand, watched my son get murdered. I held him in my arms as he took his last breath and then died. I buried my son and will never see him again." Sigyn stepped closer to her mother, practically towering over her because, in truth, she was slightly taller by a few inches. "We have nothing in common other than some genetics."
"I am sorry, Sigyn. I meant no offense," Freya commented, trying to look her daughter in the eye. "I am merely trying to offer some sort of olive branch to you. I am aware we did not have a good past and I was not the best mother to you, but we have a future in which we can start anew, and do you not want to know your sisters as they are now? They've missed you terribly."
"Do not guilt me into this ambush of a mother-daughter reunion by using my sisters," Sigyn remarked with a slight roll of her eyes.
"That was not my intent."
"Well, then, if you wanted to see me, you could have sent a letter or a messenger to announce your intentions first. Given our history and the fact that you have made no attempt to see me since I have returned to Asgard until now, that would have been the ideal way to handle this."
"I—"
"This," Sigyn gestured between herself and her mother, "will not happen right now. Not today. I was in a good mood and would like to have it continue."
"When—" Freya tried to speak again but was, again, cut off by her daughter.
"When I am ready, I will send word ahead of time." Sigyn looked her mother in the eye, gripping both the door and the doorframe once more in preparation to end their conversation. "Can you accept this?"
With a small sigh, some hesitation, but finally a nod, Freya acquiesced. "Yes, I can accept this."
"Good," Sigyn smiled politely. "Until then, I bid you adieu."
She stared expectantly at her mother, waiting for Freya to take the hint and leave first before she shut the door as not to come off as utterly rude. It took a moment or to, but Freya nodded again and turned away. As soon as Sigyn had the back of her mother's head in her view, she shut the door quietly but firmly, and then leaned back up against it. With her left hand, without looking, she latched the door locked and then let out a sigh, mixed with frustration and relief. Doing all she could to not let her mother's unexpected visit ruin the rest of her evening and cast that long dark shadow over her, Sigyn focused her gaze upon her bed, and particularly upon the cell blanket.
With a smile of contentment, Sigyn scurried over to the bed and jumped down onto it, bouncing once before wrapping herself up in the blanket and closing her eyes. She envisioned Loki there with her again and it made the dark shadow dissipate into nothingness.
Two days after her visit with Loki and her mother's surprise visit, Sigyn was once again off-world with Thor. This time, however, she went alone with him and the trip was strictly diplomatic. There was to be no form of combat involved. Or, at least, there was none expected to be involved. Sometimes, things don't always go as planned. This particular time, however, it did, thankfully.
They were guests of Karnilla, queen of Nornheim, and were there to ally themselves with her against the Rock Troll trio of brothers – Ulik, Olik and Horth – who wished to either lay claim or lay waste to Karnilla's kingdom and her absolute monarchy. Karnilla wasn't always the easiest person to deal with but, in choosing sides that would better lead to peace, she was the only option. Rock Trolls were just brutes who could rarely, if ever, be reasoned with.
Sitting at a banquet table during a feast to honor their pact to join forces against the Rock Trolls, Thor and Sigyn sat side by side, with Thor at Karnilla's immediate right. They ate, they drank and they jested with the rest of Karnilla's court, but only Thor seemed to have his heart in it all. Sigyn could care less if Nornheim fell to the Rock Trolls. It was once their world anyway before they were banished to Vanaheim. They had just as much of a claim to the world as Karnilla and her subjects did. Plus, Sigyn's mind was elsewhere anyway.
She was still thinking about Loki; occasionally caught up in a daydream about the few hours they had together. She also had her mother on her mind, like a terrible song stuck on repeat.
"You seem worlds away, cousin," Thor spoke quietly while Karnilla was busy conversing with others at the table.
Sigyn snapped out of her thoughts and looked at Thor while taking a sip of the terrible wine they were being served. "I just have a lot on my mind."
"Loki?"
She nodded briefly. "And my mother."
"I did here she showed up unannounced," he spoke, taking a sip of his own wine. "That must have been awkward for you."
"You have no idea."
"What did she want?"
"To see me and catch up on each other's lives, apparently, and maybe braid each other's hair for all I know." Sigyn sighed. "I could see she was being genuine, or trying to, but a part of me felt she had this ulterior motive. She and I never saw eye to eye in my youth and I have not missed her all these centuries. It sounds terrible to say, but I just have no desire to make up for lost time with her. But then she went and mentioned my sisters and how they have missed me and it made me feel a little guilty. But why now? Why does she visit now? She made no attempts that I know of when I first returned to Asgard or while I've been roving around with you and the others."
"It might have something to do with your youngest sister being betrothed."
Sigyn turned and stared directly at her cousin. "Gersemi?"
"Unless I've mixed them up, yes; I do believe Gersemi is your younger sister."
"No, yes, she is. I am just surprised." Sigyn sat back slightly. "I know it is a two-way street. I have not made an attempt to see any of them either. In my head they are still just children who stood barely higher than my waist."
"The last time I saw them was at my failed coronation ceremony a few years ago and, from what I remember, they have are beautiful young women now; certainly your mother's daughters." Upon seeing Sigyn indifferent smirk, he added, "Though not as beautiful enough to outshine their eldest sister."
Sigyn flashed Thor a withering look, paired with an amused smile. "Ah, flattery; something you have in common with Loki. Neither of you got that from Odin, that's for sure." She brought her wine glass to her lips to hide her widening smile. "Must be Frigga's handy work."
"Aye," Thor agreed, holding up his own glass and giving a nod of his head. "Admittedly, my father is not one for flattery. When you are king, I suppose it is not needed." After a few moments of silence between them while Karnilla was still catering to the other guests at her table, Thor eyed his cousin once more. "Will you be seeing your sisters soon then?"
"I suppose I should," Sigyn replied. "After all, I never had any qualms with them in the past. They were but children and I loved them dearly, and they looked up to me; Gersemi, especially. And she was my favorite, if I had to pick. Hnoss was a bit more like our mother, which did not play in her favor, in my opinion. No offense to her, of course." She then looked Thor in the eye with a curious gaze. "Is Hnoss married?"
"Uh…no. I do not believe she is."
Sigyn chuckled.
"What?" Thor wondered. "Why do you laugh at that?"
"If Hnoss grew up to be anything like my mother, Hnoss will not be pleased that her younger sister is marrying before her. I just find that amusing is all." Sigyn allowed her smile to be seen in its entirety as she set her wine glass down and faced Thor. "I really need to see my sisters now. It'll give me something new to occupy my time with, if anything."
"On the subject of your time," Thor began; segueing into another conversation. "How did your visit with my brother go?"
Sigyn's amusement faded slightly. "It was nearly perfect after him and I stopped arguing."
"You were arguing? Why, I wonder?"
She narrowed her gaze and studied Thor's face. "Something to do with him somehow learning about my miscarriage and my injury from that arrow," she responded. "Your father would obviously not be talking to Loki, and your mother agreed with me in never telling him those details. The only other person with access to see Loki with that knowledge is you."
Thor picked at the food in front of him and instantly looked guilty of the crime Sigyn was wordlessly accusing him of. "I have been to see Loki recently, before you did, but I did it on your behalf because I worried for you. I wished for Loki to release his hold on you so you can start a new life away from him." Seeing the way she was starting to angrily glare at him, he quickly worked to make amends. "I see now there is no hope of that. Seeing how happy you seem after your visit, I suppose I was wrong. Loki is, for reasons that baffle my mind, good for you and your well-being, and your well-being is important to me."
"Did you really think a simple plea would break our bond? You are skilled in battle and in diplomacy, but you are inefficiently equipped where matters of the heart are concerned."
"I would not go that far," Thor insisted. "Your and Loki's hearts, maybe."
Sigyn gave him a withering look. "You think claim you want the best for me, but you do not even know what is best for you." She could see how Thor seemed intrigued and confused by what she meant. "Case in point," she muttered to herself.
"So…" Thor lifted his wine glass again. "Your baby sister is getting married. That is something."
"How about we agree to not speak on our personal lives for a while, shall we?" Sigyn waited until he met her eye and he nodded.
Thor gave a sigh of relief, as if he was a child who had just been given permission to go play with his toys after being stuck with boring schoolwork. "I can live with that."
"What are you two on about?" Karnilla inquired, leaning forward to look around Thor at Sigyn, and then back to Thor.
"My youngest sister is getting married," Sigyn offered.
"Oh, I do love a wedding."
Sigyn beamed charmingly. "Who doesn't?"
Thor looked at her and winked. This was why she came with him. She had a talent for charm that rivaled Loki's, with the added benefit of being available for occasions such as this, instead of being locked away. While there were moments of doubt, of just how much Thor still felt he could trust Sigyn, there was no denying she played a vital part in court and as an emissary of Asgard. Outside kingdoms and realms were aware by now of what Loki had done and where he was, and that he was not a son, by blood, of Odin and Frigga. Sigyn was a different story, however. She would learn over the coming months that there was a decent faction of the Asgardian population and even those they dealt with in other realms that had disagreed with Odin's decision to banish her so long ago, and that she shouldn't have even been imprisoned at all.
It seemed Sigyn had allies she never knew about, and allies of hers meant allies for Loki and allies Sigyn was able to secure for Loki, whether intentional or not, meant Thor's doubt and trust issues were not without warrant.
In the days following her trip to Nornheim, Sigyn had written to her mother, deciding she would indeed meet with Freya, Hnoss and Gersemi and, in the meantime, wished to extend her congratulations to Gersemi on the news of her engagement. She made sure she was looking her best on the day she was to see them all. She wore a fine dress of green silk with a green chiffon overlay done up with gold accents and a bronzed chest plate, which she had grown accustomed to wearing outside the palace walls, as a request made by Odin. In the times they were living in, the safety and well-being of the royal family was high on his list, the All-father claimed.
Sigyn didn't mind, especially this day, because it gave her more of an imposing look; a look of importance. The final touch was her hair and jewelry. With a touch of rouge to her lips as well, Sigyn was ready to leave.
A skiff arrived to transport her to her mother's home. Taking a horse-led carriage would've taken too long. She sat in the back while the boatman steered. She watched the scenery as it flew by and down at the reflection of the skiff's underside on the water's surface below. Wind caused by the speed with which they traveled caused her hair to flap behind her.
Instead of focusing on the impending meeting with her mother and sisters, all she could think about was a time, so long ago, when Loki and she swam across that lake in their youth, splashing each other and laughing, and how they made it to the waterfall and the cavern behind the watery curtain.
"We've arrived, milady."
Sigyn shook away the memory at the sound of the boatman speaking to her. She turned her head and found they were docked at the edge of her mother's property, which bordered one of the many waterways. It was the opposite side of the home from where her girlhood bedchamber had been located; the side without a view of the palace in the distance.
One of the footman under her mother's employ approached with a stepstool so it would be easier for Sigyn to step out of the skiff and to the ground beneath. She gave a nod of her head to the boatman and then took the hand of the footman that was offered to her. Holding up the hem of her dress with her free hand, Sigyn climbed out of the skiff with the grace of a cat.
Once her feet touched ground, she walked off ahead of the footman and approached the front entrance to the estate, as the doors were opened automatically for her. Stepping inside, she was met with the opulence of the grand hall where she once watched her father being taken away by several Einherjar. She cast her eyes up the large staircase and over to the left to the second floor balustrade where she had stood so many times, watching guests arrive without bothering to go down and greet them alongside her mother. So many memories here, but very few were good. She was only happiest away from this home; away from her mother and alongside Loki.
That hadn't changed in her thousand plus years of life.
"Sigyn?" she heard her named called by a slightly unfamiliar voice.
She turned her head back up to the second story balustrade to her left and saw a young woman with white blonde hair, even fairer than her mother and exceptionally petite for an Asgardian, looking back at her with a nervous smile and warm, blue eyes. Hair, eye color and petiteness aside, the young woman looked surprisingly a lot like Sigyn.
Allowing a genuine smile of her own to spread across her lips and into her eyes, Sigyn stepped forward. She grabbed onto the volute with her right hand and slowly stepping up onto the first step of the staircase. "Yes," she spoke. She inclined her head. "Gersemi?"
The young woman nodded and smiled brighter. "Yes."
Unable to contain her excitement any further, Gersemi dashed away from the balustrade and down the stairs to the landing, and then stopped momentarily to pick up the hem of her dress so she didn't fall the rest of the way. She joined Sigyn halfway between the landing and the first step and both just stood there for a few seconds before Gersemi reached forward and practically threw herself at her eldest sister in a tight embrace. She rested her chin on Sigyn's shoulder and let out a happy sigh.
"I am so unbelievably happy to see you," Gersemi cried. "I missed you terribly."
"I missed you, too," Sigyn replied, running her hands soothingly over her baby sister's back as she reciprocated the hug.
"I cried myself to sleep for weeks after I found out you had been banished. I didn't want to believe I would never see you again. It was so depressing." Gersemi pulled back and both sisters looked each other in the eye. "But I never gave up hope, and here you are. You're home."
"I am."
Gersemi continued to beam as brightly as one of the brightest stars in all of space which, in turn, warmed Sigyn's heart and made her smile even more as well. "I cannot express how happy I am that you are finally here. I know I was just a child who barely stood taller than your waist then, but I felt closer to you than I ever had to mother or Hnoss. Losing you was like losing a part of myself."
Sigyn frowned. She had not realized anyone aside from Loki would be truly affected by her leaving and being banished. "I am so sorry you felt lost in any way. When I left, I had no idea I would not be able to return."
Gersemi linked her arm through Sigyn's and led her off the staircase and round to the main hallway off to the left, which led to the main living spaces of the home. "You do not need to apologize to me. I learned only recently what happened to you on Midgard. If anything, I feel I should be apologizing to you out of condolence." The youngest sister glanced up at the eldest sister's profile as they walked. "You suffered many great losses there; your son, your father and, no doubt, many human friends. Having to love and care for so many people and watch them leave you in such sad and tragic ways is something no good person should have to experience, and yet here you are, clearly grown stronger because of it. It is commendable and I strive to be as resilient as you."
Sigyn couldn't help but smirk, albeit sadly. "I am not a good person. I have done many a bad thing."
"Well, no one is perfect." Gersemi gave Sigyn a nudge in the shoulder, which caused the elder sister to peer at the younger out the corner of her eye and shake her head with a chuckle. "I do not care what you may have done in your past, amidst dire circumstances, I just care that you are well, safe, happy and, more importantly, home. Are you all four of those?"
"I am well, I am safe and, while I am literally home, on Asgard, I do not, admittedly, feel at home anywhere," Sigyn remarked quietly. "This house never felt like home after my father's banishment, and even less so now. The palace is where I reside now, but I feel at times that it is just a very nice prison cell." She saw the way Gersemi frowned sadly at her. "Without Loki, I cannot be completely home or completely happy. But I can pretend I am."
Gersemi hugged Sigyn's arm tight. "I will do whatever I can to make your days happier."
Sigyn smiled appreciatively. "You must come visit me at the palace. I would enjoy your company, plus you have much to tell me of whomever it is that shall be marrying you. What is his name, who is his family and, more importantly," she mimicked, "Is he a good man and worthy of you?"
Biting her lip, Gersemi practically skipped as she dropped her arm and took Sigyn's hand in hers and then turned so that they were facing each other. "His name is Ulyn, he is an Einherjar guard, so you have probably seen him, but of course you would not have known who he was. He has light brown hair, blue eyes; he is strong and kind and makes me laugh. Oh, and he is a good dancer."
Sigyn watched her sister's face light up like a million suns and remembered that feeling of new love, when she, herself, finally realized how much she loved Loki. "Being a good dancer; that is very important," she teased.
Gersemi didn't register if Sigyn was teasing or not, as she simply continued talking. "His father was a guard before him and his mother was a Valkyrie who fought alongside mother so very long ago, and both are very wonderful people. I cannot wait to be part of their family as well."
"But, is he worthy of you?"
Gersemi nodded, growing somewhat serious. "Yes, he most certainly is."
"Well, that is all I need to know," Sigyn remarked. "However, if this Ulyn ever does anything to hurt you in any way, shape or form, I will not hesitate to disembowel him and burn his entrails."
Her eyes going wide, Gersemi then laughed Sigyn's promise off, only half positive that her big sister was joking. The other half wasn't. She had heard what Loki had done on Midgard, and that Sigyn had been right beside him. Rumors had found their way to her ears and she had heard the whisperings of what Sigyn had done to the family whose son had murdered Sigyn's son. Gersemi was well aware that her eldest sister wasn't one to be trifled with when push came to shove, that she could be a force to be reckoned with, and there was no one else Gersemi would rather have in her corner.
As the sisters walked along, eventually making their way toward the solarium, they found their mother and other sister Hnoss, lounging among many beautiful plants, sipping some form of wine and nibbling on finger foods.
It was very un-Asgardian, in Sigyn's eyes.
Typically there would be a larger array of fruits and meats laid out while the family lounged. They were Asgardians, after all, and their appetites trumped those of humans at every turn. Larger portions were commonplace.
Freya looked up as her eldest and youngest children entered the room, and she immediately arose to her feet, grinning from ear to ear. "Ah, you made it," she announced, walking up to Sigyn, placing her hands on Sigyn's shoulder and placing a kiss on her cheek. When Sigyn tensed up, Freya leaned back and released her grip, inspecting her daughter's facial expression in order to see which way she should tread next. "I assume Gersemi and you have been catching up?"
"We have," Gersemi spoke up, with a small nod.
Sigyn turned and looked down at her sister, and how she tensed up as well, but in a different way.
Growing up, Sigyn had always butted heads with her mother; she was defiant and it was very hard for her to yield to her mother's wishes and commands. The older she got, the harder it was for Freya to rein control over her daughter until, at some point, Freya just washed her hands of Sigyn and let her go her own way, seemingly without a second thought. Gersemi, however, seemed ever mindful of their mother's presence and considerably intimidated. It was understandable on several levels. Gersemi was the youngest, which meant she was to always to as everyone older than her said. Some babies of the family were the unruly ones; the ones who rebelled and were forgiven any trespass simply because they were young and adorable and reminded the older members of the family how it once was. Gersemi was not one of those babies of the family.
Sigyn finally looked over at Hnoss, who remained seated, and rather casual, as she ate a strawberry and sized Sigyn up. The middle sister had lived in this house for so long as the oldest sister with Sigyn gone and she had clearly grown very accustomed to the position. There was an air of self-importance and a dominant spirit in Hnoss, simply by the way she sat there, and the way she stared and carried herself. She was, in Sigyn's best estimate, definitely just like their mother. In Hnoss, Freya had found a daughter to mold after her likeness and Hnoss had taken to the "molding" like a fish to water.
Brandishing an impish smirk, Sigyn stepped closer to the elder of her younger sisters. She placed her hands on her hips, kept her back straight and stood with her legs apart slightly, asserting a position of dominance.
She had sensed it long ago, that Hnoss would be like their mother, and that she was not as fond of her as she was of Gersemi. Centuries later, and that had not changed. If anything, that opinion had increased exponentially just in these moments alone.
"Hello, Hnoss," Sigyn greeted first.
"Hello, Sigyn."
"Are you looking forward to Gersemi's wedding?"
"I am positively tickled." The smile Hnoss wore was pleasant, but strained. She was lying.
"Is marriage in your future?"
"I would like to hope so," Freya piped in, moving to stand behind Gersemi and place her hands on her shoulders. "Right now, we must focus on this one. I didn't get to throw an actual wedding for Sigyn, and I expected Hnoss might be first for me, but this will be fun nevertheless."
It felt like there were three passive insults made at each of her daughters in that last sentence alone. Each of the three threw sidelong glances at their mother and then looked between each other.
Trying the change the subject, Hnoss addressed Sigyn, "How was the dungeon?" The look on her face was almost combative. She was trying to reassert her position as the eldest sibling and was clearly not overly fond of Sigyn returning to claim her rightful place within their family.
Sigyn, in truth, didn't actually care about her place in the family. She was only acting as such because she got amusement out of how it seemed to irk Hnoss.
"It was a lot nicer than some places I lived on Midgard," she responded easily. "How has life been in this house for the last eight and half centuries?"
"Pleasant."
It was a simple response which Sigyn chose not to read in between the lines of. Perhaps it was a genuine response and it had been a wonderful many centuries, or maybe it had been strenuous and Hnoss hadn't truly enjoyed her the years. Maybe life for Hnoss had actually been as exasperating as it had been for Sigyn, but Hnoss had learned to play their mother's game in order to not go mad. Maybe Hnoss was the type of person Sigyn would have become had she never married Loki and never left to find her father on Midgard.
With that line of thought, Sigyn actually felt empathy for Hnoss.
"So, who wants to see me in my dress?"
Gersemi's voice cutting through the air was like a warm breeze and very welcomed. Sigyn turned her attention away from Hnoss to focus on their younger sister.
"You already have it made?"
"Well, it was mother's first wedding dress, actually. She asked me if I wanted to wear it, and it is so beautiful, I could not pass it up."
Sigyn glanced at their mother and both shared a look; Sigyn's was perceptive and Freya's was nearly apologetic. They both knew all too well how Freya had once offered the dress to Sigyn to wear when she was originally supposed to marry Theoric before his untimely death. There had been now remarkable wedding gown when she married Loki; she had simply worn the dress she had already been wearing that day which, sadly, Sigyn could no longer remember what it looked like. She would never have a big wedding of her own and quite possibly she would never have children of her own who would ever get married either, so watching her baby sister have this moment in her life would be the next best thing, she supposed.
"I have no doubt you will look marvelous in it," Sigyn commented. "The most beautiful bride to come out of this family."
Gersemi beamed at Sigyn, Freya smiled approvingly as well, and Hnoss continued to feign joy. Sigyn looked all around at the three women and sighed inwardly; wondering what in the hell she was getting herself involved in.
Sigyn had stayed for dinner that evening, and well into the night, mostly spending her time chatting with Gersemi. She got to see her old bed chamber, which looked the same as it did the day she left Asgard all those centuries ago. Nothing had changed, though it was a bit dusty. The maids probably weren't delegated to this particular room of the estate as often since it was never used. Sigyn wondered if her mother had left it alone, in hopes that she would return to it someday. If that was truly the case, Sigyn felt some warmth toward her mother. She had noticed her mother seemed a bit changed in her demeanor. She wasn't the apathetic harpy of a mother she had once been in Sigyn's eyes. Freya seemed to have mellowed and grown softer around the edges in her waning years. The family matriarch didn't seem as disparaging of her younger daughters as she had been with Sigyn, and for that Sigyn was happy; mostly for Gersemi's sake.
Gersemi was too sweet to have to deal with the kind of mother Freya had been to Sigyn. Gersemi deserved the mother Freya was now.
In the weeks following their family reunion of sorts, Sigyn often received Gersemi at the palace as her guest. They would take walks together around the palace grounds and throughout the city, even. Gersemi was asked to stay for dinner most of those times by Frigga; the former incredibly excited to be dining in private with the royal family.
Despite the fact that Sigyn and Gersemi were sisters, Gersemi had no blood relation to the All-father, his queen or his son. Aside from Sigyn, Gersemi's only other connection to them was that her mother was once married to Odin's brother, who happened to be Sigyn's father.
A month after their reunion, Sigyn and Gersemi were taking a walk beyond the palace grounds, where they came upon the lake Sigyn, Loki, Thor and the others had frequented many a time in their youth. Sigyn smiled at all the memories and led her and her sister further toward the water's edge.
"I've never been here," Gersemi remarked. "What is this place?"
"Just a place I spent many happy times as a girl."
Gersemi studied Sigyn's reminiscent smile. "With Loki?"
Sigyn nodded. "With Loki, yes, but also with plenty others."
"Who?"
"Thor, Sif, Fandral, Brunhilde…" She pointed out at the water. "We would swim for hours, splashing and having many laughs. We held bonfires here on the shore, drank wine or mead and ate food that Thor and Loki underhandedly procured from the palace kitchen." She chuckled slightly at the images in her head from one of those times where she was waiting with the others while Thor and Loki came running down the hill to the clearing with basketfuls of food and bottles of liquor, looking as if they had just pulled off the biggest heist in entire universe. Next, Sigyn pointed to some bushes to their right. "Over there is where I found my clothes after I had gone for a swim with Loki. He had stolen them from me as a joke and Fandral came to my rescue and offered me his tunic to wear until I returned home and could procure something more appropriate."
"Really?" Gersemi seemed amused.
"It was all in good fun, of course. I knew Loki never meant any harm in it. He always loved his pranks."
"Isn't he the one responsible for Lady Sif's hair changing colors? I heard she used to have hair as golden as sunlight."
Sigyn nodded again. "She did, once upon a time, and then Loki cut it while she slept. But he got new hair for her, made by dwarves. But it was reattached before the dwarves could properly enchant, and so her hair went completely dark." Sigyn sighed and rolled her eyes. "Mercy me; Sif was incredibly vain back then. She was always so concerned by her looks, which was why her parents sent her away to be trained as a shield maiden."
"Why did mother send you away for training?"
"Because I wouldn't fall in line with her every whim and follow the path she had laid out for me. She wanted to mold me after her and I wouldn't allow it. We never saw eye to eye, more so after my father was banished. I could barely stand to be in a room with her." Sigyn looked at Gersemi and shrugged. "As harsh as it may be to hear, I have loathed our mother for most of my life. There are only three periods of my life where I have found myself truly caring about her; when I was very young and ignorant to her demeanor, when I was betrothed to Theoric and she treated me with the most motherly affection I can only recall, and within this last month."
"That sounds so sad," Gersemi commented. "I do not mean it as an insult, Sigyn, but your life sounds so sad. Your father was banished, you felt unloved by our mother, you were sent away to train as a shield maiden, the man you were supposed to marry was killed the day you were to be married, you married Loki only to be banished shortly after when you left Asgard to find your father, your son was killed, your father died, and you lived alone for so long. And now, you live apart from Loki because he is imprisoned for life in the dungeon. You'll never have a normal married life, where you get to live happily ever after in your own home with children underfoot."
"Believe me, I know." Tears stung Sigyn's eyes and Gersemi immediately clamped a hand over her mouth.
"I'm so sorry." Gersemi dropped her hand. "As I said, I didn't mean it as insult. I am just making a point that your life has been sad and you do not deserve a sad life. I wish for you the same happiness I hope to have upon marrying Ulyn. I wish for there to be some way for you to be with Loki again, despite everything he's done, and for you to be a mother again."
Potential tears drying up and giving way to a smile on her lips, Sigyn reached out and placed a hand on her baby sister's shoulders. "I always knew there was a reason why you are my favorite sister; you are too sweet for your own good."
Gersemi grinned brightly and shrugged. "You flatter me."
"I am merely stating the truth." Looking straight ahead, Sigyn gestured to the waterfall that cascading down the large cliff on the opposite side of the lake. "Did you know there is a cavern behind that waterfall?"
"Is that the same cavern that is supposed to be haunted my cursed goblins?"
Sigyn scoffed with amusement. "Hardly." She leaned forward and pulled off her shoes and then reached around behind her to untie laces of her dress. "It's a very special cavern and I want to show you."
Gersemi followed suit in undoing her own dress and taking off her shoes. They placed their clothes under some brush and then waded out into the water, wearing only their chemises. Sigyn went first, diving forward into the cool water and swam in the direction of the waterfall. The closer they got, mist began to spray upon their faces. It had been a very, very long time, but Sigyn was able to remember which large rocks at the base of the waterfall needed to be climbed. She gripped the rocks with her hands and feet and pulled herself quickly enough to duck behind the watery curtain. She turned and offered Gersemi her hand, pulling her sister inside as well.
"It's dark in there."
"There is an easy solution for that." As Loki had once before, Sigyn was now able to conjure a ball of green energy in her hand, which acted as a light source for them. "Ta-da."
Gersemi nearly jumped but then clamped her hands together with excitement. She had never really been witness to much, if any, magic in all her years. This was a magical moment for her, no pun intended.
Sigyn was able to recall the way to the cavern with no problem at all. She didn't even need the light, to be honest. It was one more thing that was like riding a bike. After about fifty or so yards, she disappeared the orb as they were greeted with the entrance to the large cavern room which was bright enough from the light filtering in through the hole in the canopy of vines and leaves that surround the cavern ceiling. Side by side, the sisters stepped further into the cavern room. To the left was the fire pit which hadn't been alight in centuries most likely. There was the small boulder which had acted as an altar when Loki and she had married. There were obvious changes, though.
Someone had been here in the last five to ten years.
Loki, Sigyn assumed with a feeling of warmth running through her heart.
There was a new blanket and grouping of pillows over the makeshift floor bed. There were a few abandoned bottles of wine scattered nearby on the ground. On the wall, a few feet away, were etchings that hadn't been there the night she married Loki. It looked like equations almost, as if Loki had been trying to work something out. Whether or not he had found the solution, she was unsure.
Sigyn watched as her sister walked up to that very way and traced her fingers along the grooves of the words and drawings while leaning back enough to read at the same time.
"On this day I married my best friend. She is the light in the darkness and the beating of my heart. She is my forever," Gersemi read aloud. She turned her head to look back at Sigyn. "This is beautiful. Who wrote it?"
Placing a hand over her heart, and then curling her fingers around the top of her wet chemise, Sigyn stepped forward with happy tears in her eyes. She reached out with her other hand and placed her fingers over the same words Gersemi had spoken. "Loki, I assume, the day we were married. I don't remember this being here during our ceremony, though," she replied. "He must have returned later that day, by himself."
"This is where you were married?"
Sigyn could feel her sister's eyes on her as she nodded in response. She gestured to the small boulder which had been their makeshift altar was. "Right over there. We said our vows together, just the two of us."
"With no witnesses?"
"Oh," Sigyn chuckled. "I'm sure Heimdall witnessed enough."
"I think Loki did write this," Gersemi continued in her inspection. She pointed at the names of Loki and Sigyn etched into the stone wall in runes with the infinity symbol underneath. "He put your names, but I do not know that symbol."
"It's a symbol for infinity. It means we are forever."
Gersemi turned around and began to walk out into the open of the cavernous room while Sigyn remained at the wall, looking over every detail. "I never knew Loki was such a romantic person," Gersemi spoke. "I never actually spoke directly to him, one on one before. I only ever really saw him from a distance or in passing. He was always polite, though. The last time I saw him was at Thor's coronation, or what was supposed to be Thor's coronation. He escorted Frigga into the Throne Room before Thor entered."
Sigyn was listening to her sister speaking, but she was still very focused on the wall etchings, and other memories of her youth on Asgard alongside Loki.
"There was this one time, not long after your banishment, when Loki came to our home to see mother. He was down in the entrance hall and mother greeted him there, the same as I did for you. Hnoss and I were watching as we hid in the shadows of the gallery above. He told her that you had been banished, so that's how we all found out. I remember mother making some comment about her not being surprised, that you had dug your own grave. Loki got so angry with her. He shouted at her, he got in her face and called her out for being so callous toward you for all those years; how she was unworthy of being your mother."
Sigyn turned to face Gersemi then; her interest finally pulled away from the wall. "Did he really?"
Gersemi nodded nonchalantly, running her hand over what had been the marriage altar many a moon ago. "He did," she confirmed. "I cannot remember mother ever being so speechless." Gersemi smirked and pushed some of her wet hair off her shoulders. "He promised mother that he would get you back someday and, when he did, she would still never see you again; that you and him would live an amazing life together in the palace, have several children and she would know none of them. Should he ever get you back, mother would not be received at court."
Sigyn did her best to hide her proud smile as she joined her sister at the small boulder. "What happened after that?"
"Nothing much that I can remember," Gersemi replied. "He walked out and he never came back to our home ever again. I do not even think he has ever uttered a single word to mother since that day." She studied Sigyn's face and followed her older sister's gaze to the empty bowl and long-forgotten, unlit candles atop the boulder. "Sigyn?"
"Hmm?"
"If mother had not gone to you and you had not learned I was to be married, would you have come to us? If we hadn't reached out first, would you have reached out at all?"
Sigyn looked up into her sister's eyes and pursed her lips together. She had two options: she could lie or she could tell the truth.
She chose, instead, to bend the truth.
"I would have looked into what was happening with yours and Hnoss' lives, but I would've only sought you out."
She couldn't tell Gersemi, whom she did love dearly, that she would've been content never knowing or seeing them. It was too harsh a reality that a sweet and gentle soul like Gersemi didn't deserve to known. Since they were back in each other's lives now, though, Sigyn couldn't imagine not having Gersemi around anymore.
"Even before I went to Midgard to find my father, I cherished you far more than either Hnoss or mother combined. Hnoss is, unfortunately, too much like mother and therefore I have little affection for her. I know it may sound cruel, but it is the truth. I always thought Hnoss was a real piece of work, even as a child." Sigyn lifted a hand and placed it against the side of Gersemi's face. "You were different. You were always sweet and gentle and so very loveable. There was nothing to dislike about you, and there still isn't."
Gersemi smiled. "I am glad you came home to us, either way." She gestured to the cavern room. "And I am glad you brought me here. I can tell it is a very special and private place and I am honored you wanted to show it to me."
"I cannot think of anyone else – Loki aside – that I would want to bring here."