Reagan couldn't help herself from looking every which way as she followed the Allfather and Loki. The walls were almost as tall as skyscrapers, the arches putting anything she knew as a comparison to utter shame. She got the sense that the only thing on Earth that would even come close would be the Hagia Sophia, and probably not even then. One hall didn't have walls at all, but instead pillars in the shape of warriors. No matter what space they passed through, the sun, or the Asgardian equivalent, was shining through. It was simultaneously noon and sunset; the sky was bright blue overhead but deep cerulean at the horizon, the distant clouds the faintest hues of pink and orange, the stars peeking out.

Everything glowed and shimmered if she looked at it for too long. Her blood seemed to hit an aria of its own, her own magic singing with the natural energy all around her.

She was so distracted by the details of a sculpture that she didn't feel the hand on her elbow. Reagan tensed and her magic flared without thought, sending out a short pulse to push the person away. Her eyes fell on Loki far too late for her to recall the energy but he only slid a foot away and looked hardly bothered, his gaze flickering from her feet to her hands.

Reagan looked at her hands and then back to him apologetically.

"Your magic isn't as tethered here. The palace is the heart of Asgard; there's bound to be mishaps."

That's so comforting, Reagan thought. Nothing like being surprised and accidentally killing someone!

She said nothing and looked around, finding the corridor empty save for them. Her stomach dropped. She'd barely been in his presence for half an hour. Now one of human myth's oldest figures was going to think she was some irresponsible human who didn't know left from right.

"I know the old man is boring but, as much as it pains me to say it, he means well," Loki said, sending her a look of sympathy. "He wasn't always right over the centuries but he's done what he thought best for the nine realms, and all that warm and fuzzy hero nonsense."

Reagan said nothing, her eyes drawn to the landscape of Asgard laid out below them. No wonder her ancestors thought they were gods. Not only were they powerful and charismatic but this very realm made everything back on Earth (Midgard, she corrected herself), look dull and flat and grey. It was like someone took their Instagram photo and increased the saturation and contrast as high as it could go. The very air nipped at her, toyed with the power in her veins like a long-lost friend, and seemed to turn her head towards the largest tree in the land.

The very branches seemed to be one of the sources of light across the realm. Branches and leaves shimmered in shades of gold and ochre and scarlet and viridian, the ancient tree perpetually on the cusp between summer and autumn. Yet again, she heard the soft and distant crow of a rooster; this time, it was as if the other birds were relying his news and followed his tune exactly, carrying the notes across Asgard.

She heard Loki release a soft sigh before he settled next to her, resting his elbows on the railing, their shoulders touching.

"He isn't going to happy we're no longer following him, is he?" she asked softly.

"Likely not. But he would hardly begrudge a moment of admiring his handiwork, either."

Ever prideful, like all founding fathers…

She felt so far from home, so lost, and yet…

Yet, this was the first time since everything began that her magic was so at peace with itself, despite her earlier reaction. That she felt full of energy without it overwhelming her senses and burning her through. It could ebb and flow as it wished without Loki drawing it from her in order to sustain herself; it wasn't tethered, free to go wherever it pleased.

Reagan stole a glance at her companion, expecting to see some of the darkness from weeks ago when they first arrived at Sigyn's. Instead, she saw that his eyes were glossy with thought, perhaps with memories of a time before she even existed. His lips twitched and she saw a small smile tug at his lips, the tiny scars around his mouth mimicking the movement. For a second, she saw a glimpse of someone else, not the murderer and power-hungry Loki she reminded herself about, but the other one, the one who sat at her kitchen table and waited with her for the police to remove Casey's body, the one who taught her, the one who warmed her hands after the seeress almost drove her skin to frostbite.

She turned her gaze back across the landscape, tracing patterns of streets and gardens and natural formations. She felt as if she'd seen something he hadn't intended for her to notice. What was he said, that Asgard was both his home and his cage? She well knew being back her wasn't easy for him, since they hadn't made the Palace their first time to begin with, but what that entailed, exactly…

They stayed there, shoulder to shoulder, for what felt like an eternity. Birds of mystical colors with long tail feathers and stunning plumes flew by, singing a song that was somehow entirely new and yet familiar. Life went on below, and if Reagan listened hard enough, she could hear the chatter and excitement of business in the marketplace. A steady warmth ran through her, radiating like a kiss of sunshine.

"We've been gone long enough," Loki whispered. "Any longer and we'll be paraded to him by a pair of Einherjar. The guards have lips as loose as handmaidens do and I would prefer to not let them slander both of us."

Reagan felt a smile cross her face, one of the first since this entire journey began. There hadn't been time to breathe, let alone smile and joke. Something thudded in her chest at the implication of his words but she stopped her thoughts before they went too far. It wasn't a rabbit hole she could ever explore and she needed to stop while she was ahead.

Loki pushed away from the railing and drew himself up to his full height. He glanced around, the corridor empty, and then extended his hand to Reagan.

"Care to take a shortcut?"

Well, it's been a while. Almost three years to be exact. I've since graduated with my MA, gotten engaged, and had a lot of other things happen that kept me from updating. One of them being a different fandom; I've been more active on AO3 regarding stories for that fandom.

I've kept up with the movies and naturally, this story now leans into hard AU territory. Ragnarok should have driven me to work on this but surprisingly, that wasn't the case. If anything, it drove me to go, "Dammit, not again, I don't feel like going back and fixing stuff yet again." Because, well, Hela and her backstory would actually work really well with this story but I'd have to edit this to the point of basically starting over. And I've already got two long fics driving me crazy. So, maybe one day. But that day isn't today.

I might still work on this occasionally. I've kind of fallen out of the Marvel fandom, be it because of how busy and occupied I've been with real life and other things, or because I'm kind of in the minority for not exactly liking the newer movies. But this is a story I really want to tell and figure out and play with, and clearly it isn't done with me, lol.

If you're still reading this note, thank you for sticking it out, and thank you for reading. Hopefully, I'll get to work on this again soon.