"Explain what happened," Loki commanded, barging into the fabric storage room. There was a rustling of cloth and a sharp intake of breath, but no sign of Maisy, "Relax, it is only me. I am unaccompanied by anyone."
She poked her head out and Loki could see, even in the dim lighting, that her eyes were red and puffy. Knowing that she held her tears in fairly well made Loki all the angrier. If Drin had made her cry then he must have done something truly terrible.
Then he noticed that the collar of her blouse had been torn and somewhat clumsily sewn up again in an attempt to hide the damage. Upon seeing that he understood the Midgardian phrase "seeing red", for his anger seemed to cloud his vision.
"Hey…" She whispered, looking down, "Sorry I didn't tell you where I was… I didn't want to bother you."
"That's not the real reason, is it?" Loki tried to switch attitudes. It was difficult to go from intimidating to comforting in so little time and he was still buzzed about kicking Egil Belison out of Linn's mind, "You thought I would be upset."
"Are you?"
"Very much so."
"Look, Loki, I'm sorry," She shrunk away from him, "I really am, but it wasn't my fault, okay? He surprised me. And he's much stronger than I am so there wasn't much I could do!"
"You're right."
"I am?"
"It is no one's fault but that disgusting, impish, poor excuse for a noble."
"Thank goodness! I was afraid you were going to be one of those guys who says things like 'women get raped because of what they're wearing' or something like that," She visibly relaxed.
"Did he…?"
"No. Not really. He was pissed because," She huffed and sat down on a stool, "Because I empowered the women workers or something. They started refusing his advances I guess and he wanted to take it out on me. He probably would have gone farther if I hadn't whacked him with my bow staff, but he just kissed me."
"And still it makes you cry?" Loki questioned, sitting down across from her. He was incredibly furious at Drin and was already planning how to best go about hurting him. Kissing another man's wife was a shameful thing to do and people would shun Drin for it, but they would also ridicule Loki for allowing it to happen. Not to mention it angered him that it had hurt Maisy so much that she was reduced to hiding in storage rooms.
"Yeah…" She lowered her head into her hands and heaved a shaky sigh, "I just can't get the feeling out of my mind! Or the taste! I threw up twice already just thinking about it!"
"That bad, hmm?"
"It was like he ate a raw chunk of garlic and washed it down with skunk juice!"
"Probably not far from the truth," Loki agreed, trying to lighten the mood. When she did not respond he moved his stool closer to hers and wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her into his side. She was still shaking and when he looked down he caught the glimmer of tears on her cheeks.
"I was going to go back to the room," She sniffled, "I was going to have Sif escort me, but she said that it was too dangerous because then Drin might follow and then he would know where I live. So Linn hid me in here. I didn't want them to tell you because I thought you would flip out."
"I promise to save my flipping out until I next see Drin," He smiled at her and realized he had been stroking her hair. Remembering what Egil said, he quickly stopped the action, "Are you alright, Maisy? Truly?"
"I'm not so freaked out about the kiss," She admitted, leaning her head on his chest, much to his surprise, "I'm worried Odin will find out. Even if it isn't technically a romantic attachment."
"He will not find out."
"How do you know? Drin could say that I kissed him or something stupid like that!"
"He could, but he will not," Loki stated, "I will make sure of it. And if word somehow slips then I'm afraid Drin will spend the rest of his sorry life as a pig. I've been meaning to practice my pig transformation spell anyway."
"But you don't have magic."
"No, but Odin said he'd return it to me when Thor came home. Thor is home, it is only a matter of time until my magic is too. Besides, it is well known that I am one of the greatest sorcerers in the realm and Odin will want to show off all of Asgard's might in the opening ceremony of Taka-"
"Don't even saw the name!" Maisy groaned, "Don't remind me how close it is!"
"How goes the training?"
"I'm decent with the bow staff, but only sort of not terrible with the daggers."
"Well we can fix that," He pulled his knife from his belt and handed it to her, "Show me your best stance."
"You aren't allowed to help me."
"We are hidden in a storage room. Who is going to know?"
"Good point."
She got up and took a very stiff stance. It looked very by the book and perfect, but she was focusing so hard on a flawless stance that she didn't seem to know what to do with the weapon in her hand.
"That won't do," He said quietly, moving behind her and lowering her arms a tad, "Relax a little. You would make an excellent statue like this, but to fight with daggers it is better to be water than stone."
"A bit hard to relax when you're standing so close!" She squeaked, feeling his breath on her neck. In her opinion, this was not like the movies at all. Having a man stand so close to try and correct how you were doing something was making her do worse than before. Sif was right. Learning to fight was much easier with a female teacher.
"Don't mind me," He chuckled reaching around from behind to adjust her hold on the knife, "I've absolutely no sense of personal space."
"Kay, nope," She dropped her stance and moved away from him when his lips brushed her ear ever so slightly, "I'll take my chances with the bow staff, thanks."
Loki was again reminded of the warning he'd been given and straightened up as well. That didn't stop him from smirking at her.
"Am I that bad of a teacher?"
"I'm sure you'd do fine if you weren't flirting with your student," She crossed her arms and glared a little.
"Oh please-"
"Don't worry, I know it didn't mean anything. You bad boy types just can't help doing everything like that."
"Like what?"
"You know: flirtatiously," She turned and grabbed the bow staff that was leaning against a shelf and a water bottle as well, "Can we go home, please?"
"Do you not fear Drin is lying in wait for you?"
"Maybe, but if he is I'm not going to stop you from kicking his butt, so I think we'll be good," She held up the staff, "Plus I don't think his nether regions will want another piece of this."
"His 'nether regions' were acquainted with the staff earlier?"
"I might not look like a badass, but sometimes I can be a badass," Maisy grinned, looking rather like a proud golden retriever puppy.
"Sure," He opened the door for her with a wink, "Whatever you say, my lady."
A note from the author: Sadly, there will be no Drin-butt-kicking until a bit later. Never fear, it is coming, it just takes a bit to arrive. In the meantime, enjoy more slow-burn romance! And when I say slow-burn I really do mean slow. We're on chapter 38 and they still have not done anything! My goodness!
Thank you for reading, you lovely humans (and other creatures) you! And, as always, I'd like to give a special thanks to those who reviewed: ferbette, Lwolf, CheetahLover, and nina del carmen! You're words are always enormously encouraging to me!