Can I go where you go? Can we always be this close?

Lover, Taylor Swift

"Nidavellir!"

Sigyn rolled over, and pulled a pillow over her head. "Don't like dwarves." She mumbled.

Loki shook her shoulder. "Sigyn! The dwarves could make new hair for Sif!"

Sigyn pushed his hands off of her arm. "Not today, I'm far too dead."

"Oh, come on, Sigyn! I'll let you come!" Loki bounced impatiently.

Sigyn peeled the pillow off her face. "Really?"

Loki nodded. "Even Hodir can come if he wants to. I don't normally take you on quests, because you could get hurt, but there's no harm in this, unless the dwarves decide not to like you."

Sigyn leapt out of bed. "Come on, slowpoke! What are we waiting for? Let's goooooo!"

Loki rolled his eyes, slipping off the opposite side. "Go invite all my siblings, and exclude the Warriors Four. I'd have it be a surprise."

Sigyn gleefully skipped down the hall, using a quick tracking spell to hunt down the other princes and the princess/regent. Hodir and Balder were talking to Nanna outside in the garden, but they were eager to go, especially Hodir, who claimed he'd never been on a quest, before. Thor was on the training fields with the warriors, sans Sif, so Sigyn had to speak into his mind to invite him. He totally freaked out at hearing her voice in his head, but agreed to go. Hela was, for once, on the throne, so Sigyn had to give her a formal invitation. Frigga agreed to rule the kingdom until they returned, or Odin woke up, whichever happened first, and they all set off with her blessing.

Loki had loaded the horses up, ready for the excursion, and they all rode down to the Bifrost together, excitedly chattering about the vacation.

Nidavellir was far different from what Sigyn had been expecting, mostly forest, but in the center of the realm, there was a large city. As they walked through the streets of the city, feeling like giants, and attracting a lot of stares, she kept her hair over her ears, so that, hopefully, none of the dwarves would realize she was elvish. Loki seemed to know exactly where they were going, so he led the way. He took them to a building, rather larger than most around the realm, and opened the door for them. "This is the forge of Brokk and Eitri. I entreat you all to be extremely civil to them, as they have very short tempers, and my bringing Sigyn here in the first place will probably set them on edge."

"Why's that?" A gruff voice near Loki's waist spoke up. Sigyn glanced down to see a dark-haired bearded dwarf, already looking seriously annoyed.

"Ah, Brokk!" Loki smiled, seeming to know the dwarf well. "Just the dwarf I want to see..."

"Cut the cordiality, laddie." Brokk snapped. "Who's Sigyn, and why do I already not like her?"

Loki took Sigyn's hand as his siblings formed a semi-circle around them. "This is my wife, Sigyn. All the cards on the table, she is elvish. Please treat her with decency? For my sake?"

Brokk narrowed his eyes up at the princess, who tried to look non-threatening. "Fine. But only because I like you, Prince. Ya' hear that, elf? Yer man's a right decent lad, and we're all fond of 'im, here. You do him wrong, and all us dwarves'll be at yer door in a jiffy, armed to the teeth and out for yer blood."

Sigyn nodded, not sure whether to be intimidated or amused. "So, the two of you are friends?"

"Friends?" Brokk shrugged. "I suppose so. But I don't extend the sentiment to you, thank ye' kindly. Now, Prince, what would you be wanting from our humble forge, this day?"

Loki grinned sheepishly. "It's a bit of a long story... but I need hair. The finest you can get me, and I need it blonde."

Brokk gave the prince a confused look. "Yer not wantin' to change yer hair color, eh? Hi! Eitri!" He suddenly called towards the back of the room. Another dwarf who looked almost exactly like Brokk clumped amiably to where the where standing.

"Ay, the young prince!" He smiled at Loki. "And he's brought a few of his friends. What's the order for today, laddie? New dagger? A setting for one of yer baubles?"

"He wants hair." Brokk humphed, eyeing Loki's dark locks critically. "Blonde hair."

"Blonde hair?!" The dwarf, probably Eitri, exclaimed. "Lumme, Ragnarok's upon us! Prince, blond hair would look ridiculous on your complexion, that's the truth!"

"I don't want it for meself." Loki admitted, his accent suddenly assimilating to be more like the dwarves. The two didn't seem to notice, but Sigyn heard Thor snickering behind her. "It's for a friend o' mine. well, o' Thor's. I... cut her hair off, and she's dreadfully cross. Ye don't suppose you could help me?"

"What'd ye do that for?" The dwarves asked simultaneously.

"She was after my Vali." Loki explained.

Brokk shook his head. "Ye should've killed her while ye had the chance, lad. But, leavin' yer entourage here, ye can come back 'n Eitri'll start forgin' the locks for you."

Sigyn glanced at Loki's siblings, who seemed just as upset about being left behind. "I'd do as they wish." Balder whispered. "I've had far too many unpleasant run-ins with dwarves."

"I heard that." Eitri glared at Balder. "Well, come on, laddie. The rest of ye, get out. Especially the elf."

So, they had no choice but to leave, as the dwarvish apprentices started glaring at them threateningly. Hela led them to the edge of the city, again, and they pitched their tent in the forest. The twins went off fishing for dinner, and Thor and Hela stayed in the camp. Sigyn stayed with them, sitting on the low branch of an oak tree.

"Did you hear how Loki was talking in a dwarvish accent?" Hela smirked, seated on the grass as she sharpened a dagger. Thor nodded, breaking twigs into tiny pieces as he sat next to her.

"I'd think they'd find that patronizing." Sigyn mused.

Thor glanced up at her. "Exactly. I wonder how often he comes here? The dwarves appeared quite friendly with him."

Sigyn nodded thoughtfully. "I think I recall him going, last spring. I didn't come, naturally."

Hela shook her head. "What is it between you elves and the dwarves? You don't seem like the kind of people to be racist."

"Dwarves have a long history of selling elves short." Sigyn explained, standing up on the branch. "They have reputations of having low-quality work for high prices. They don't normally have low-quality work, but there was a time when they would dump all their faulty weapons onto Alfheim as trade material, and get enormous wealth in return. It's really the dwarvish government that's corrupt, I'd imagine the actual dwarves aren't that bad."

"I should say not." Loki countered. The three of them jumped back, startled.

"Where did you come from?" Sigyn gasped. "I didn't even hear you coming!"

"I teleported." Loki explained. "Sigyn, that doesn't look safe."

Sigyn was standing on her toes on the bough. She gave him a challenging look, neatly flipped over backwards, landing gracefully on her feet, then sinking into splits. Loki shook his head, smiling fondly at Sigyn's daredevil behavior.

"Anyway, the hair will take twenty-four hours to make. We'll have to stay the night, and pick up the hair tomorrow afternoon."

"We don't have enough food to last twenty-four hours." Hela pointed out.

Thor grinned excitedly. "We could go hunting while someone gets the hair!"

"That's not a half-bad idea, Thor." Loki nodded.

Sigyn squealed, and raised her hand. "Ooh! Can I get the hair?"

Loki raised his eyebrows at her. "You? You're an elf. They wouldn't like that."

Sigyn hopped off the tree, falling to her knees in front of her husband. "Pleeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaase?" She begged. "I won't hurt anyone, or offend anyone, I promise! And if I do get in trouble, I'll call you! Through a link! Pleeeeeeeaaaase?"

Loki gazed down into her puppy eyes. "Very well."

"Huzzah!" Sigyn leapt to her feet, and danced in circles around the campfire, looking like some sort of cult fire worshiper.

Just then, the twins returned, Hodir with two fish, and Balder with four. "We have the fishies!" Balder announced, picking up a knife, and starting to gut them. Hodir dropped his fish in the pile with his twin's and came over to sit next to the fire with his siblings. "What did we miss?"

"We're stuck here until tomorrow afternoon, and we're going hunting tomorrow while Sigyn gets the hair." Hela summarized, dropping a dead leaf into the fire, and watching it curl onto itself, it's edges staining black, then bursting into flame.

"Nice." Hodir nodded. Balder had finished cleaning the first fish, and he handed it to Loki.

"What would he do with a raw fish?" Sigyn asked.

Balder shrugged. "I have no idea, but it tastes amazing."

Loki put the fish on a flat rock towards the hottest part of the fire, then sprinkled some sort of powder on it. After a while, the fish began sizzling, and Loki turned it over with the edge of a dagger. Once the fish was done, he wrapped in a cloth and by then, he had two more fish to fry. Balder was very fast at gutting fish. By the time all the fish were done, the sun had set, and the stars were coming out. Sigyn didn't recognize any of the constellations, but she stared up into the twinkling stars, anyway. Loki handed her a fish, and she quickly dug in.

As soon as she tasted a single bite, she froze. "Loki, this fantastic! Why didn't you tell me you could cook?"

Loki shrugged modestly, and continued handing out the fish.

"He doesn't very often, only on quests." Thor told her. "But when he does..."

"Let's just say I'm Volstagg's favorite person, excluding his wife." Loki smiled proudly. "Direct quote from Volstagg the Voluminous."

Suddenly, Balder made an odd noise, and fell backwards into the grass, his eyes glowing white, and his face blank. Sigyn knew what this was, he was having a vision, but she still a little unnerved. After a few moments, Balder jerked wildly, and sat up, his eyes wide and troubled. He looked around at them all with tears in his eyes.

"What was it, Balder?" Hela asked gently.

Balder shook his head. "I-I can't tell you." His voice was trembling, and he dropped his face into his hands, his fish forgotten on his knees. "I can't t-tell you..." He whispered, and Hodir put a comforting hand on his shaking shoulder. Balder handed his fish to Thor, and quietly got to his feet. "I-I'll be- I need a minute." With that he ran off into the forest.

The rest of the party was silent, staring after him. "He must've seen something awful." Loki deduced softly.

They all nodded their agreement. Sigyn started to get worried he'd hurt himself in the forest, or get attacked by a wild animal, or something, until she remembered he was invincible. Thor slowly took a bite of Balder's fish. "I hope he'll be alright." He worried.

Hela bit her lip. "I hope we'll be alright. What do you think he saw?"

Hodir shook his head, tracing his fingers on the hem of his tunic. "We probably don't want to know."

Sigyn shook herself. "Whatever's going to happen, we can't change it. I guess if we stay together, we'll be fine, right?"

Loki brushed his fingers over hers. "We ought to brace ourselves, though. He's seen the most horrific battles in the history of Asgard, and this is something that affects him this badly. This won't be pretty."

Hodir grinned. "We're together through thick and thin, though. What could happen? We have each other's backs."

They all agreed to that, and Hela suggested story-telling.

"Do you have some Elvish tales you could tell us, Sigyn?" Thor asked hopefully, leaning towards her in expectation.

Sigyn shrugged. "I guess I could recall a few. There was this one Legolas used to tell, about a woodcutter who lived in the darkest part of the forest..." As Sigyn spun the tale, Balder crept back into their circle, his face pale and tear-streaked. He gave them all a wan smile, but didn't speak for the rest of the evening. He stared deep into the campfire, his expression pained and apprehensive.

They all agreed to retire early that night, but Balder stayed awake, watching the fire and stars alternately, his hands clenched and shaking in the grass. As Sigyn lay in her bedroll slowly drifting off to sleep, she watched him. Late in the night, as the fire started to die down, he got up, pulled something out of Loki's pack, and sat down again next to the fire. Sigyn realized it was a notebook and pencil, and he was writing something by the dying firelight. After another half hour, he stood up, slipped the paper into Thor's pack, and doused the fire.

Loki sleepily wrapped an arm around her shoulder, and Sigyn rolled over and fell asleep.

Next time... Let's just say I've been buttering you up for the past three chapters.

A heart gives you one of Loki's campfire-cooked fish, a review lets you comfort Balder.

Already regretting this, TheOnlyHuman.