Author's Note:

To Giada: Well, I'm glad that the bits about politics still makes sense to you. I take it to be a challenge as a writer to be able to explain all the ideas the characters are having. To be honest, I'm not from the United States either (and certainly didn't have the same political system as in the States'), so if Darcy sounds like she's really talking about the US as her reference point, then I've succeeded in building her character. Don't hesitate to point out any explanations of mine that might seem unclear. I'll consider editing the chapter/improving the part somehow. Oh, Darcy's getting to know people left-and-right alright. She still remembers that she's in Asgard as the ambassador.

'-

XXXVII. Histories and Mysteries, Part 2 (A Tributary of Plans)

Vethrfölnir explains how he experiences things to Darcy. He also explains why his news is really bad news. Darcy has an uneasy sleep. A valley in Jötunheim. Pipework inspection. A conversation on positions and stands. Loki wakes up.

'-

All the conversations she had on the Opening Feast of the Allthing wasn't exactly something that was going to make Darcy sleep easy.

Oh, it was a success by all the standards she'd set herself in the afternoon. She had been determined to go around and chat people up, to get to know more Nine Realm denizens than just the Sif and the Warriors Three or any other Asgardians she'd come to know now. No, she was a diplomat now, dammit, and she would rub elbows and make friends and make sure she knew who's who and what's what for all the key people here. They would know that Earth wasn't such a backwater place and that it had even sent an ambassador to the Allthing.

She was flush with success after she'd managed to calm Avaldi down and encourage him not do anything rash. She was happy to see that Sif had decided to trust him for now too. Yet even that did not last in the light of the news that Veth broke to her.

Fimbulwinter. The cold end of the universe.

Darcy had to ask him directly.

Are you sure that it's not just because Earth is under a Frost Giant invasion right now? Darcy asked.

She heard the sharp intake of breath from Bragi and assumed that it was clearly news to him. Well, she was planning to break the news sooner or later and explain, but now was a good time as any. Still, Veth, was unmoved by that.

Life and death, wealth and ruin, war and peace, growth and rot – these are the cycles of life that any people and their civilisation will go through. The Nine Realms can take care of the matter without the interference of someone who has not been around for centuries that all the maps he remembers are almost certain to be wrong. Veth answered.

How could you be so certain that your cause of your worry is not just from the invasion? She asked.

It had surprised Veth at the beginning to realise that Darcy was a Midgardian when Bragi properly introduced her. This was after they've gone over the gist of Veth's sombre news as well as his earlier memory slippage. After it was explained to him, he understood her concern and sense of emergency better. Now, he stayed quiet and closed his eyes as he gathered his thoughts and memory. For all intents and purposes, he looked as if he'd just fallen into a light sleep in the chair. Bragi clarified to her that the Allspeak was not always the most natural language that came to Veth's tongue. It was not his first language or even his fourth, for that matter.

When he opened his eyes once more, he spoke with a steady rolling cadence. His voice had seemed older then, for some reason.

I would not be so sure of what I see if I was just another Alvar or Svartalvar or Aesir or Vanir. It would not matter if I was another Jötnar or Muspellir. Even if I was directly over Midgard, I would have seen nothing but a bountiful and rising planet, the jewel of its system. But I am not merely Vethrfölnir of Alfheim. I am also the Hawk, the Watcher of All the Skies. I am the Hawk Watching Over the World Tree who has flown star-strewn skies before civilisations sprung across the Nine Realms.

We are one and we are the same now.

He took a deep breath after a short pause, seeming to have come to a decision on something. He turned to her.

Have you seen the birth of a star?

His voice was kind when he asked this, with a wellspring of patience Darcy was sure she hadn't seen before. He was still the same man as before…and yet he was also somehow different.

Darcy shook her head.

No? He looked ahead into some farther distance.

Well, for a while, it has only been a wheel of clouds, collecting and gathering into tighter and tighter clumps as it turns. You do not take heed of it much as it had been like that for a while. It is hard to imagine that it will change greatly in another moment or so. Yet as the wheel spins faster and faster, the mass at its heart approaches a grave turning point. Everything will happen quickly and at once, as you find the clouds and dust disappearing as the core eats all it can reach in its growing hunger.

You can hear it their music by then. It had been slow and steady, a barely-there rhythm before, but more sounds had arisen by now into something with an actual melody.

He paused. The amazement in his eyes made Darcy think that he could still see it all again.

The chorus rises. You pause and turn now, curious of this change. You turned at the right time, where the prologue shifts into the main theme, as the heart of the small ball of cloud and dusts now begins to glow.

And there was light.

It is bright and warming now from where there had been darkness.

Now you know that whenever you pass this small corner of the universe again, you will never be alone. The cheerful foundry of the star's heart will not stop for many aeons. It is not a bleak emptiness anymore here either. The remaining dust will also collect into separate lumps of its own and form the star's children. One day, you may even land on them, taking respite from the nothingness of space for a moment. One day, some of the planets will have a weather system of their own and winds will blow and clouds form.

One day…

He drifted away in recollection. With a shake of his head, he was back in the present once more.

I hear and feel the music of the universe, Darcy Lewis. This is what I do that the younger children of the world have yet to be able to do. When I approached Midgard's system, I hear the chorus of its sun as welcoming as any young star would have been. I feel the increased pull of its gravity and the slighter tugs of its children. I hear the background thrum of the universe's own rhythm underneath it all.

Yet when I turn to Midgard… he shook his head.

I have to concede that if I had been younger, I might have missed it too. The melody was only very slightly off, but it was enough to cause me to fly closer and wait. My suspicion bears fruit not long after. More and more wrong notes were slipping in as I listened. The elements…they are falling apart faster than they should. It is as if a fruit-bearing tree has scarcely ripened before its load rotted and fall…

He shook his head again. His hands stopped their movements in the air like a conductor that had heard sour notes from his orchestra and wished for everyone to try again, his expression no less exasperated. Yes, right from the beginning. No, he didn't care if they were already two thirds over this movement; that last mistake was really bad.

Bragi, I am not a dedicated scholar as some of my peers. I am unsure of the words…

The Asgardian only nodded and guided him with questions. Well then, tell us of your chief worry.

That would be Midgard's sun, to start with—and all the stars in all the realms, above all, Hawk answered.

What are you worried for? Bragi asked. What are the loudest fears in your mind right now?

I am worried that its heart will stop beating far from its natural old age. I am worried that the Unravelling will force Age on all the stars, calling their deaths at once against the natural cycle of life, death and rebirth. There would not be any new stars in aeons of aeons after most have died! I worry still that there will ever be any new stars at all if even the cradles have turned to cold lifeless tombs!

How could it be? Darcy asked.

His already quiet voice fell into a hush. She had to lean forward to listen to him.

When the elements fall apart faster, everything else follows suit.

Well. If you followed Hawk's perspective, one can understand why he thought wars and peace across planets were really the ebb and flow of life, something regular and normal that it was not for him to interfere with. One might disagree with his position, but considering that what he watches are actually the skies and its stars, was his position surprising?

Why is it happening? Darcy couldn't stop the fear from surfacing.

If I know, I would have been less afraid, the Hawk answered with bracing honesty. Then, I might think of fixing it instead of how things may fall sooner rather than later.

Have you expressed all this to Tyr? Bragi had asked.

Certainly. He has promised that he will get to the bottom of this, but now I am concerned that the rising tension between Aesir and Vanir will take a good amount of his attention.

Tyr is not so careless to forget such important news, the Bard replied.

I agree, Veth said. And yet even if he is the Eagle of the Tree himself, he has his limits like all of us, even if that limit is far more immense and incomprehensible. I am afraid that it will be tested now. I am afraid that we will find out the hard way of how much strain he can bear. I am afraid…

He did not finish his sentence. Darcy hadn't really needed him to do so, as she can easily fill in the blanks with too many unsavoury possibilities.

These possibilities followed her throughout the whole feast, dodging her steps, adding a shadow to the corner of her smile that she cannot quite banish. She managed to talk with more people after that. There was undoubtedly some satisfaction to be had at seeing their interested and intrigued expressions at the idea that Midgard has caught up enough to involve itself with Nine Realms politics, or how the person they sent wasn't a total idiot or a useless sycophant.

She just kinda wished she had experienced all this before she heard Veth's bad news. It still haunted her as she laid down on the bed, trying to sleep.

Honestly, she would've slept better if she was just a mere poli-sci student.

Jane wasn't someone who would leave other people's unknowing alone. Never mind an undergraduate student, there was this one time when they were camping out in some small city's library, trying to take a break. Darcy made a beeline for the trashy romance section to numb her poor, overworked brain. Jane, on the other hand, was reading stuff like Science as well as other astrophysics publications. How that was still entertaining for Jane, Darcy had no idea. Two kids asked Jane about their home works because they what she was reading, and Jane invited them to sit with her and shifted right into Professor Foster mode.

She did that for at least one and a half hour. Darcy would bet that they'd reached more than two. Jane didn't even look annoyed at the intrusion. She was sometimes exasperated, as often with herself as it was with the kids while she tried to come up with easier ways to explain things, but she never gave up. Darcy only read her novels half the time—the other half was spent watching Jane and the kids curiously. She wouldn't be surprised if Jane ended up writing recommendations for them to enter physics in college.

That was just the type of person that Jane was.

Unfortunately for Darcy's current peace of mind, that meant that Jane didn't mind explaining to her poli-sci intern what astrophysics was about in their spare time. Like, the birth and death of stars.

If someone were to ask her to explain what exactly Jane taught her, she would screw it up. Darcy was sure there were a lot of parts that would sound like 'and so, this dust cloud stuff just clumps together and make stars. And that dust cloud? That now becomes star fuel. What is star fuel? Eh, dunno…but seriously, stars only blow up when they run out of fuel to burn.' For all that, she was pretty sure she got the gist of it—enough to understand that the Hawk was talking about the same life cycle of stars that Jane had explained more than once to her.

Darcy knew enough to notice that Hawk wasn't even talking about stars running out of fuel faster, or the presence of something that was taking some of the fuel. That was her first thought when he said the stars would age faster. Sucking fuel out of stars sounded like an awesome heist for a supervillain that she almost wanted to wonder if it was possible; maybe she could search around about it in the internet as well as ask Jane about how plausible it would be, and if yes, what it would take. Then, she remembered that there are real, freaking supervillains out there and she didn't need to give them ideas, as she would certainly leave tracks if she asked around in the depths of various internet forums. Like that CERN forum for which Jane casually made Darcy a user id there.

(Darcy had used it for the totally boring and normal purpose of logistical management for Jane's several trip there, coordinating with other administrative people who form the support staffs for the scientists there).

Urgh. Life sucks.

If Jane was here, she would've known what to ask. She'd figure out where to begin with this unnatural aging thing. And here she thought that the most basic elements of the universe would last near forever! If wishes were horses then beggars would ride, her mother would say. She was right, too.

It was in the midst of all this vague fretting that Darcy fell asleep.

'-

The mists blanketed the town, giving the streetlights an odd, disembodied look. They look like lanterns floating above nothingness. Darcy vaguely remembered seeing all this when she glanced out of the window of her room—and yet, when wasn't there mists here? It was just a quirk of the local weather everyone had gotten used to.

She merely shrugged and got ready to go down to the club's floor.

The piano was clear and the brass was bold. The music drew them all in with cosy confidence. No new gangs were moving in from anywhere recently. No one had been stupid in the last week or so that had the local dicks swarming the streets, looking for a reason to 'enforce' the law and order—even the cryptic blue giants that had just turfed out one of the gangs in town had kept their head down and antagonised no one for now. The peaceful atmosphere was pretty good for business.

It was a good night, one where the Two Queens were filled to the brim.

The singer on stage was the blonde with the domino mask, her confidence was a fire drawing in the mesmerised moths of her audience. Darcy wondered if that meant they had another permanent singer than a part-time one.

Hope Red doesn't mind the competition, Darcy said, in her seat.

Oh, I don't think she does, Sarah replied. She said some of her other side gigs were getting busier too, so she's pretty glad that we have someone else we can rely on.

They sat side-by-side, at one of the higher tables at the back, on the deck that hugged half of the club's walls. The height made it a convenient place to keep watch. Darcy's dress was a dark plum while Sarah's was gunmetal grey, their hats matching their dresses. Darcy's loyal feathered snake wrapped himself snugly around her neck, easily passing for the fake kind of feather boa. Sarah had that half-feathered small cape Darcy had seen before.

She's good at drawing in the crowd.

Sarah nodded, a knowing look in her eyes. Oh yes. Or at least, her fans aren't so simultaneously terrified and exhilarated that they dared not cross her. But with Red, we never have to worry about crowding in the stage.

Darcy laughed. That sounded like Natasha alright. She had perfect crowd control, but she was not someone who would wind up the crowd on purpose, even if that would make more curious passer-by to check the club out. Neither would she shout at them like the blonde just did.

So that's why Number 19 is behind the bar and Vision is at the floor instead. Darcy commented. She had been wondering their robot bartender wasn't at his usual post, and that a colleague of his was filling in his stead. Vision was one of the strongest robots employed, and the most intelligent. He was the best fit.

Yep. Someone has to watch over the crowd.

It would explain his different uniform. And his wig. And his—

Nice fake skin, Darcy casually commented.

Sarah snorted. More like a fake tan. Good enough to pass under these lights. Like any club worth its name, their lights were low and spread out. Like anyone who doesn't want to be assed to care whether robots and people mingle (or do a bit more than mingle), the low lighting helped in more than one way.

Darcy took a closer look at Sarah's dress and shook her head with a wry grin.

We really should just shop together sometimes. Maybe we could make sure we don't get something so similar.

Sarah only rolled her eyes. You know what would happen that way? We'd end up wanting the same dress, or the same shoes, or the same bag—and wouldn't that be annoying. It's not such a big deal, Slugger. We're still not like twin patsies in their Sunday best.

Even when they'd bought their dresses separately, it still looked like they come from the same set or the same fashion house. That their tastes occasionally veered unexpectedly close was just an aspect of life that Darcy was used to ever since she'd lived with Sarah.

So, who's she? Darcy asked, glancing at the stage.

She told me to call her Polly.

Darcy glanced on the stage again. Polly? She doesn't look like a Polly to me.

Sarah shrugged. She doesn't look like a Polly to me either, but if she wants to be known as Polly Glossa, that's what I'll put on the bill.

Darcy's friend was twirling a long cigarette holder in one hand, languidly leaning back with the grace of a silver screen siren. Sarah didn't smoke, but Darcy had no idea what it was for instead. A scuffling sound nearby drew their attention as a goblin came up the deck with a tray, an envelope on it.

Le'er for the Missus.

Sarah lit the cigarette and casually waved her cigarette holder over the delivery. Wisps of smoke danced over paper, some drifting her way. Darcy caught a whiff of jasmine and something other flower instead of tobacco. That's no cigarette, she thought. There was also a glimmer of a few sparks. It was probably only some embers falling, of whatever fragrant thing that Sarah had burned. Incense? Yes, maybe it was a short incense stick that she stuck on that cigarette holder.

Oh, well. Safe enough, Sarah said. The brunette picked it up, thanking the goblin and dismissing it. She handed it over to Darcy after a glance. Seems like it's for you.

Hmm. What did you just do? Darcy murmured.

Avoiding booby traps, Sarah answered. Seems like you've got some important friends.

She understood what Sarah meant. The envelope was of smooth heavy paper: To Darcy Lewis, Proprietress of the Two Queens. She opened it and drew the thick card inside out, the faintest trace of eglantine hung in the air. It was the type of invitation that Jay Gatsby wouldn't be embarrassed to issue and something that the glitterati of Gotham would accept the moment they lay their eyes on it.

Seems like it, Darcy answered.

What is it?

A new company town, built by Asgard Corporate Enterprises.

What?

Sarah's surprise went unanswered as Darcy had finished reading the card and was now rushing away. Hold the fort! I'll be off for the weekend!

Do you really have to go tonight? Sarah yelled back above the din. She picked up the card Darcy had left behind and scanned the invitation.

Well, I do if I want to take the overnight train!

She missed her friend's surprised expression, or her own mutterings after that. I didn't know there was a train station…maybe I should check that out sometime.

'-

Darcy did not remember much how she got to the train station.

It was probably a very boring trip after she manged to hail a cab, bag in hand. When she'd arrived, it was predictably quite empty as it was pretty late. The newsstands had closed (of course). It would seem that the mists were everywhere, as even the inside of the station was wreathed in slight fog. People were now only blurred forms moving in the distance, and she could hardly see the details of the gate at the other side of the station, across all the platforms. The lights also had an eerie floating feel. The young man manning the ticket booth was either sleepy or very bored. Bored enough to start nodding off in the absence of customers.

Darcy was sure she remembered the name of the small train station enough to request a ticket for it. Well, she half-remembered it and she was a bit regretful now that she didn't take back the invitation from Sarah. Yet as Sarah herself would say, what's done is done. She knew it was somewhere in the Jötunheim region, for one, and it ended with -dale. So, it certainly is around a valley somewhere.

Once she only looked at the sparse train stations in the more mountainous regions, she could find easily.

"One ticket please," she said.

She pointed to the map to clarify and told him the train stations before and after it as well, to make sure he didn't mishear her the first time and got it wrong. The teenager gave her the ticket and was even kind enough to suggest that she also buy a map of the area. It wasn't such a bad suggestion.

Map and ticket at hand, Darcy picked up her bag and walked to the platform he'd indicated. She was lucky enough that the last train of the night hadn't left yet.

I wonder what he's up to now.

'-

The weather in the valley generally involved wind and snow. The only reason that Loki didn't call it a snowstorm most of the time was because he'd seen worse. This annoying combination of wind stinging the eyes and snowflakes to lower visibility made him to discount things he thought he saw in the distance.

Well, most of the time.

When he looked up, the first thing that crossed his mind was, I think I haven't been sleeping enough. Perhaps he had been too tired that he was sleepwalking now and imagining things.

The woman that had just walked out of the Ford was something he could not ignore. Dark hair secured by her hat still trailed behind her like smoke on the water. Her quirky preference for a feather boa instead of a scarf drew his eye. The flash of plum coloured dress under her coat flared in his mind in the midst of the monochromatic landscape.

There were Jötnar to her left and right; guards and securities as well as the workmen on the project. The one who had opened her door of the car with annoyance was a Frost Giant, and all she'd done was to thank him and move on. He was quite sure that the giants that had escorted her was complaining to his friends right now, from the way they huddled in the background, but Loki really couldn't care less about the guards when she barely spared them another glance. It was clear that she wasn't even worried about them.

She had unerringly spotted him from the moment she stepped down, moving with a single-minded determination through the snow-covered field.

A woman with the bearing of a queen…

He was helpless to stop the thought from surfacing in his mind. He could not stop it from impressing itself even more strongly upon his memories of her, especially once he saw her lush red lips as vivid as blood upon the snow. Her cheeks bloomed with the rose of good health and too tempting to touch. She was as spring and life itself in this place of winter and death and he found himself losing the details of everything else in the scene except her. And that he didn't mind.

This may possibly explain why his first sentence was a verbal vomit.

Why are you here?

Darcy rolled her eyes. It's good to meet you too, Silvertongue. You sent an invite, remember? Like hell I'd know where you are if you didn't tell me. I thought that I need to check out what you're up to before you get into an even bigger mess than either of us can clean up.

Her tongue did not get any less sharp from lack of practice with him. She was just as unafraid as he remembered. Oddly enough, her valour was a comforting thought—that no matter how far he went, some things stayed the same. Darcy's brows creased in mild confusion.

Wait, why are you smiling?

Yet she did not move away, too caught up in his gaze even as he fell for hers. He could not recall whether he drew her into his arms or whether she had reached out for him.

They were too caught up in their own storm to notice.

'-

Darcy was worried and pissed-off enough to decide to slap Loki the moment they met.

She had planned it the moment she walked out of that car, from when her gaze was momentarily pulled by the jagged mountain looming above others in the sharp and unfriendly mountain range ahead of her.

The giants next to her weren't a concern; her feathered snake hissed, showing its fangs, and they backed off quickly. It was not hard to find him either. Standing at the edge of an open field there was only one that gave the impression of a well-dressed crow, flashy for a festive funeral. There was not a spot of colour other than black in his suit, except for his incongruously cheerful scarf with the hues of violets. Even his hat was smart black silk. Darcy had to restrain the urge to snort at his completely gentlemanly appearance—he was as deeply involved in the back dealings of the city as any sleazy politician or gangster.

Her thoughts halted the moment he saw her.

Whatever path his previous walk was supposed to take was completely forgotten. She was half-certain that he was in the middle of inspecting something from his movements, and yet there he stayed. He was transfixed in her direction. She would have said something about how funny that he followed her position like a cobra to its piper, but she was too self-conscious to do so. There wasn't anything on her face, right? Right?

When they were closer, she could see how his expression became less severe. Even as she mouthed off her annoyance at his non-greeting, she was getting distracted by the smile that brightened his face. He was still not looking away.

She even forgot to immediately slap him.

His joy was too real. Darcy forgot about all the walls she intended to build against him. Her body relaxed before she realised it the moment he enfolded her into his embrace. Their kiss was sweeter than she'd liked because she didn't want to fall for him even if it was just one inch. Yet it was also sharper than she'd expected; she didn't know that she was going to be the one who bit his jaw, just to pull out a desperate sound from him, to take half a step back and force him to follow. She didn't know that he'd do it without a second thought, without calculation. It was more consuming than she wanted because losing herself in him didn't sound like the beginning of anything good.

Yet it wasn't the worst. The worst was when, for all the flames they ignited in each other, he held her gently and buried his face at the crook of her neck. His breath caused her to shiver, as if phantom fingers trailed up her spine.

What are you doing?

Memorising your scent. I've woken up several times now thinking I caught it.

His hand was comforting at the back of her shoulders and held her close. Her throat felt dry. She wanted to close her eyes and take in his scent too.

And…?

I'm sure I won't get fooled by weaker imitations this time.

It felt as if something was squeezed inside her chest. She was selfish enough to appreciate the fleeting bliss it gave her, and yet she also wished he wouldn't be so nice. For the sake of her own common sense.

Would you care? She asked. I know that some frost giant gangs are trying to take over the city. As much as I don't like the different mafia families, or the incompetent police there or the corrupt city hall, they're pretty low profile in dealing with their rivalries and making their messes as it is and some form of peace exists. On the other hands, your new friends are very free with violence.

She forced herself to step out of his arms.

Would you even care? I suppose…I suppose you don't if you're joining forces with them.

Her words had a sobering effect on him.

I'm not interested in attacking the city, he clarified. You know I move for my own gain. What would I get from helping them start a gang war?

He took a casual step forward and she moved to the side without thought.

Oh, sure. But you're not going to lose any sleep over the fact that they're doing just that. You know my place is right in the middle of the city centre and I'm not going anywhere. Her casual shrug belied the worry that had been churning in her gut for a while. Darcy was doing her best to look calm and composed because the other alternative was to break down in front of him. And she wasn't going to give him that victory.

So, maybe this is going to be the last time we could meet, eh? Who knows who'd still be standing at the end.

She couldn't stop the bitter edge from colouring the wide smile that she gave him. His jaws tightened.

This won't be our last meeting. His reply came quickly before she could say anything else. I'll guarantee it.

Oh, I know that most people wouldn't think a dame is dangerous, but it's not as if I'll sit tight enough for them to ignore me. She waved it away. I'm not going to be the spoils of war, Lope. I'll fight for my home until the very end—you know that, don't you?

Loki had just passed annoyed and went straight into pissed off. For some weird reason, it gave her not a little amount of satisfaction.

They would have had their war even if I wasn't here, he clarified. The head of their organisation is Byleistr, not me, in case you hadn't realised it yet. Oh, for goodness' sakes Ikhné, just come over here and let me show you something first and then you can make up your mind.

He didn't take another step closer, respecting her distance, but he did offer her his black-gloved hand. She took it and let him pull her to his side.

Now, see the trench I'm inspecting?

Darcy gazed down. At first, she had thought that they were at the edge of a small town that had surprisingly grown up in only a few weeks, with Loki walking in the fields around it. Now that she was here, she realised she was wrong. It was not a mere trench that Loki had been staring at before; it went at least two stories down and the depths were dark enough that the workers had hung lamps for lighting.

She had missed it because the snow had buried the mounds of earth that would result from such large-scale earthwork.

What is that?

What do you see? He asked back. She gazed down again.

Pipes, a lot of pipes.

He nodded. I'm doing a little consulting for them here. Some…hydrology consulting.

Now, she could sense that his words had yet to paint the complete picture, but she was more patient now that she'd been. As Darcy lifted her head and tried to follow the ends of the trench, she also began to see that it curved gently in both directions. It was almost like an arc of the rainbow, and from the way that the two ends curved in the same direction, she could almost imagine them going around the town and meeting on the other side…

Darcy paused.

This trench is actually a circle, isn't it? Going around the city? A quick look at the pipe work she'd seen showed her that they were only on the inside curve—there were scarcely any on the wall that was on the outside curve. It would seem that he was working on waterworks for the city. You're working on pipe works for the city.

She could see the slight curve of his lips.

Very good, Ikhné.

She stared at him for another moment. His smile did not turn mocking at all. She decided to accept his praise at face value for now and observed the trench again as they walked beside it.

What else could she find out from the trench? It was unexpectedly deep if it was simply the waterworks project of a small town. Most of the pipes were on the city's side and not outside; at first glance, this isn't surprising, because why on earth would the city want to send water to outside the city? Most of the time, it would concern itself first with its citizens. Yet as they walked farther in a strangely companiable silence, she noticed that they were still some distance away from the city—the train station was nowhere at its centre. Considering the sparse situation of their surroundings, were all those pipes really necessary? If the trench was dug right next to Main Street, she wouldn't be surprised at the thick network of pipes there—there are a lot of buildings there that would need water. Obviously.

But here, at the edge of town?

Why lay extensive pipe under fields and where the next building is at least half a mile away, if not more? This tightly-intertwined pipe network did not change as they walk. The pipe network stayed as thick. This was when she noticed the third anomaly.

The pipes were pretty close to the surface for pipes. At first glance, she'd thought that the depth of the trench was to place pipes below. But she was wrong. The deeper she gazed, there were larger and thicker pipes, to be sure, but the network was now less. Most of the pipes in the deeper sections were vertical, as if their primary function was to carry water from the deeps upward.

Why are the pipes placed so shallowly?

They're placed where they need to be placed, he replied, as cryptic as usual. I didn't say it was standard work that was required here.

The big pipes leading down was odd in itself as well. She wasn't a hydrologist or anything, but those great pipes leading down gave her the impression that some great underground lake lay below the town. Basically, there must be some gigantic water source to feed all those pipes. Well, maybe that was true. Maybe there's nothing wrong about building a town on top of a lake. She still couldn't shake the feeling that there was something weird about it.

Just a consulting hydrologist, huh? She asked sarcastically.

To her surprise, he grinned.

The pipes are currently empty since we were encountering some difficulties in tapping the source.

No water yet, then?

He gave a careless shrug. I'm sure I can solve it in a week, at most.

Darcy snorted. How could she have forgotten his ego? He didn't seem to be affected by her disbelief, his steady strides reflecting is confidence. She set aside the issue of the pipes at the moment since she couldn't find any other weirdness or find any answers for now.

So, why did you invite me all the way here?

I thought I might as well have you try to kill me to my face than later on where I can't see you.

Oh, ha ha, very funny, Silvertongue.

It worked, doesn't it? You're here and not trying to kill me.

I might still want to kick your ass later, depending on how bad you screw things up.

His muttered 'I don't screw things up' was answered with a breezy 'oh, you always screw something up. I can wait,' from her. He was certainly affronted but for some reason he did not reply to her raised eyebrow.

'-

None of the blue giants approached them, staying far, far away from Loki. Walking arm-in-arm like this, they were the perfect picture of a courting couple. Darcy barely even thought about it, her mind taking much grimmer turns right now. She hadn't even noticed that when she began drifting away from the trench, Loki easily matched her steps in that direction without a second thought instead of trying to pull her back. They maintained their closeness.

You know that the city's going to be teared down when the gang war breaks out, right? She asked. The giants have serious firepower and everyone else is gearing up to match.

The man in the black suit next to hear shrugged. Gangs always find a reason to shoot at one another, some territory to fight over.

Not always on this scale. Shit, are you listening or not?

I am listening, he insisted, turning to her for good measure. The snow was still falling noiselessly around them, blanketing the world in white.

It's bad enough that the feds decided they need to step in. It's bad enough that the local PD doesn't put up a lot of protest or try to slow 'em down with red tape. She took a deep breath.

So, I joined the feds.

His doubt and disbelief was easily readable on his face. Darcy continued her explanation. There's the inter-organization task force made to handle it, "The Avengers Initiative". They'd need someone with an open channel to the different gangs and factions and I'm it. Didn't know that having a club that's more-or-less a neutral ground could be useful.

You don't even like the feds. He pointed out.

Doesn't mean I can't work with them, she replied. In his disbelief, Loki had come to a stop as he turned around to truly face her.

What happened to keeping your friend's research notes away from them? What happened to not giving the government opportunity to concentrate more power to interfere with people?

If you were on the ground more often, you'd know how big this upcoming war could be! Darcy snapped back. Does he really not know? Does he really not see?

People are worried! If the feds are seriously asking the Wizard of Menlo Park to get an edge over this shit, then you can bet they'll be checking out the Wizard of Wardenclyffe Tower too, for thoroughness! And if Edison, no, if Tesla gets pulled into this then why do you think my friend would stay out of it?

Jane might not be Tesla's student in years, but she was still on top of his list for any possible collaboration opportunity. And Jane being Jane, she wouldn't say no if she knew she could help.

And you think I'd stay out of the way in that case?

The Hammerhead can protect her just fine, Loki insisted. From the way he referred to his brother, it didn't sound as if he gave him a better nickname than 'blockhead' or 'lunkhead'.

Do I look like someone who'd just stand aside and wait? She folded her arms in front of her chest and stared back at him, into dark eyes that were as endless space. She wasn't blind to the lines of worry on his face, but she did not come this far without taking risks. They were at a stalemate.

You'd be safer—

If I wanted safe, I wouldn't have befriended you, she cut in. Then, she ploughed onwards before he started overthinking things. I wouldn't have stayed with Jane, I wouldn't have been by her side all this time. I want to live, not just to exist.

She sighed. From the look on his face, it didn't seem as if this was going to be done in one conversation. Not that it was a surprise—they have too many problems they needed to straighten out between them.

If you have time to be worried about me, maybe you need to go home and check-up on things once in a while, Darcy stated.

Home? His voice was soft. If she couldn't recognise the sharp glint in his eyes, she would've been fooled and thought he was calm instead of on edge.

Considering that you sent me an invite bearing the name of Asgard Corporate Enterprises, I think you have enough interest in Asgard to want to check it out too.

Why would I need to know what that one-eyed man is up to?

Darcy felt like slapping her palm to her forehead. She settled for an annoyed groan. She didn't even mention his father and his thought still automatically went there. Shit. It was just…no, she wasn't touching his family issues with a ten-feet pole.

I wasn't even talking about him! Great Scott! It's just…Lope, if you thought my corner of the world is the only place that's boiling, you're sadly wrong. I know you've been away for a while, I just hope that you wouldn't come back when it's too late and everything's all burned down to ashes. Or something.

It was an exaggeration. She knew other cities were probably not as fragile as hers, but since she didn't really know how bad things were, there's still the possibility that she's not exaggerating at all. She decided to err on the side of caution and overstate the risks.

His frown deepened.

What do you know about…

The wind blew harder. She wasn't sure that she caught the final part of his sentence. Snow swirled around them, and Darcy vaguely wondered why she wasn't feeling any colder.

'-

Somewhere from the fog of sleep and the soothing sound of the wind, Loki could feel two sharp jab to his ribs. It annoyed him so much that he threw out two knives for it with his eyes closed. He didn't think he needed to see to be able to aim at someone so close.

Several curse words were uttered close to him. He could feel a shift in the air around him and he woke up just enough to roll away and sit up. A sharp thud sounded to his left.

He opened his eyes.

Helblindi had hammered his staff right where his stomach had been before, a dark look on his face. Loki grudgingly pulled himself to join the waking world more completely. "What's all the commotion about, Helblindi?"

"Do you always try to assassinate people who wake you up?"

"Do you always wake people by kicking them?" Loki asked back.

"If I hadn't kicked you, that knife would have been too close to avoid."

Loki rolled his eyes and stood up. "If you hadn't kicked me, I wouldn't have thought to throw a knife in the first place."

He began to understand why the Jötunn tried to wake him up in the first place. They were under the open air. The skies had turned red with streaks of purple at the edges. The last thing he remembered was how he was checking the series of connected circle they'd carved on the ground with bleary eyes.

"I fell asleep?"

He said it without thought as the idea was too remarkable. Right on the snow? Truly?

"Yes, I was wondering about that too. Don't be a fool and sleep on a real bed, Silvertongue." The warlock had walked over to him and handed him a mug of warm drink.

"How nice of you to care," Loki took it and drank without a second thought.

Poisoning wasn't Helblindi's style. He'd rather electrocute someone alive with his magic or bludgeon them to death. There was not that much challenge in poisoning anyone. Plus, he still had his use to the frost giants.

"I'd rather not have you become sloppy and ruin all my hard work. Troubleshooting is such a pain compared to constructing it well in the first place," Helblindi replied.

"What, you don't wish for this to be finished faster?"

"What faster? Fatigue will just make you useless. I don't work with useless people." He said without a care. "After you sleep, you can start bringing the one with the mastery of genius loci knowledge you have been talking about. Or are you afraid?"

Loki frowned. "What do you mean by afraid?"

"It has been a while since you've visited Mimir. You are not stalling, are you, Liesmith?" The smirk on the Jötunn's face was one that easily have multiple meanings.

Without expecting an answer, Helblindi walked away without as much as a by-your-leave and without turning back. Loki stood up. He knew what the warlock meant. He had been trying to come up with one plan after another after his chat with Mimir. To go and find the Wichtkonig in dreams meant he had to be careful, more so than usual. It was far more his realm than Loki's after all. A higher risk was involved. Perhaps he should try to draw him out to a different place—the man wasn't stupid enough to go where Loki was going to have the advantage, of course, but anywhere neutral would be better than entering his domain. It was…

"Dammit," Loki cursed softly.

Helblindi was right. He was stalling, and he hadn't realised it.

As he walked away and started to make plans for tonight, he vaguely remembered that when he'd fallen asleep just now, he had dreamt as well. It wasn't a random dream either—it seemed to be a continuation of the dreamworlds he'd visited when he was consciously or unconsciously looking for Darcy. He paused. It was not an ordinary dream, was it?

Did I just dreamwalk again?

He didn't even realise he'd dreamwalked—he wasn't even aware that he was dreaming in the dream! He knew he'd followed the implicit rules of her dreamworld, his concerns and worries morphed into forms that would fit its psychic landscape. It was why he was staring down at pipeworks, for one, even if the valley he had been standing in the dream seemed to be the same one he was standing in right now. Since he wasn't lucid dreaming just then, his memories of the dream were patchy and couldn't be recovered immediately. He knew they talked for a while, and he belatedly wondered what they had been talking about.

Loki pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance. Why in the Nine Realms had he brought her here, of all places? His waking-self thought the idea was mildly suicidal. He hadn't inadvertently told her about anything important, had he?

(He had the vaguest feeling that he was going to regret it).

Also, what was she saying? They had a fight about an upcoming conflict because she insisted that she wouldn't stand aside…ah, he still remembered more than he thought. She was warning him, he knew. It was there in her expression and stiff lines of her shoulders. But her words…

(It had been at the end of the dream. He was starting to wake up, perhaps, but he couldn't recall her words clearly).

Loki shook his head. Perhaps Helblindi was right. If he was sleeping properly, he wouldn't be falling asleep all over the place and unconsciously dreamwalking.

'-

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Author's Note:

Dreams, as you might know, have their own worlds that the dreamer just steps into without a second thought. Dreams are also a reflection of reality...only after it's strained through the funhouse mirror of someone's psyche. Ain't that fun to figure out?

On a different note, my updates are going to come pretty close together for this cluster of chapters because...well, they're one pretty interconnected arc. I'd hate to have my readers start forgetting too many details between one chapter or another, so next update should be next week (barring any great catastrophes).

'-

Glossary, Schmossary:

CERN: (physics) In English, it is the European Organization for Nuclear Research. It is a European research organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. The name came from Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire, though even that has technically been changed to reflect some administrative shifts (it uses 'European Organization' in its name now instead of 'European Council'.

The Wizard of Menlo Park: This is actually a nickname of Thomas Alva Edison, based on the location of his main lab.

The Wizard of Wardenclyffe Tower: This is not an actual nickname of Nikola Tesla, but the Wardenclyffe Tower was one of his biggest projects, and if it was ever finished, it would've been a distinct landmark too. In the real world, that never happens (unfortunately). In a different place, in a different time...well, one can dream.

'-