Seven years came to pass and Astrid was curious to where her mother was taking her. He rose blonde hair curled gently and bounced as she walked next to her mother.

"Mother, where are we going?" Astrid questioned.

Tove smiled at her daughter and gently took her hand.

"We're visiting a friend of mine, her majesty Queen Frigga."

Astrid eyes widened and her smile grew only more.

"Really? We're seeing the queen mother? Does this mean father is King Odin's close friend and they fought together?" Astrid questioned more.

Tove nodded and smiled at her daughter but concern also filled her mind. She knew Astrid needed to see Frigga's sons eventually but she hoped to postpone the day. Odin and Egil were stubborn that Astrid be betrothed to the future king and Tove didn't want her daughter to just be a symbol. Tove then chuckled a bit since as far as today was concerned, this would be an introduction and playdate for her daughter. No talks of kings, queens, successions, and marriage. Astrid hung close to her mother and she then asked,

"What are Queen Frigga's children like? Are they nice?" Astrid asked.

"You will see for yourself Astrid darling. I'm sure they are both well behaved and will like to meet you."

Astrid nodded but she felt a bit nervous. These were the king and queen's children she would be seeing and she wanted to not disappoint her parents. Tove and Astrid were welcomed in the palace and were led by guards in the courtyard to see Frigga waiting for them. Frigga saw Astrid and smiled softly at the little girl.

"It's nice to meet you Astrid." Frigga spoke softly.

Astrid bowed to her and Frigga walked up to her. She motioned her to stop bowing and she looked at the girl. Her rose-blonde hair was cheerful like the smile on the girl's face, her amber eyes were warm and rich, and she had such a calm yet sweet personality that would charm her sons. Astrid felt nervous and went behind her mother, peeking behind her to meet Frigga's eyes.

"Nice to meet you Queen Frigga." Astrid spoke in a soft low voice.

Astrid couldn't believe she was in the presence of the queen. She was very beautiful, kind, and very intimidating to look at. Frigga meanwhile looked to see Astrid wasn't like her mother yet in personality. Tove was often very bold, outgoing, and spoke her mind; a vast contrast to her cowering daughter. She understood that Astrid was giving her the utmost respect and found the girl's actions cute.

"Your mother has told me you're very skilled for your age in magic." Frigga asked.

Astrid simply nodded and her cheeks got a bit pink.

"I try, really I do. Mother is strong and I want to be strong too and learn a lot of magic. I love magic and I want to use it." Astrid commented in a low voice.

Frigga smiled and bent down to meet Astrid at eye level. Frigga knew this was all very new to Astrid and it was almost overwhelming to the little girl.

"And use it you shall. Not only will your mother give you lessons, but others as well. Maybe if your skills become developed and refined; you will someday learn from me."

Astrid shook her head and bowed to Frigga.

"Will I be that good?" Astrid asked.

Tove smiled proudly and patted her daughter's head.

"You will excel Astrid darling; you've picked up so much already."

Astrid smiled as Frigga looked around.

"This is rather strange. I had told Thor and Loki to meet me as soon as their lessons wrapped up. I hope they are not taking the long way." Frigga expressed.

Astrid looked up to her mother and Tove nodded.

"You will be having a playdate with them today. No need to be nervous darling." Tove told her.

"Yes they are such wonderful boys...if only they would learn not to keep people waiting." Frigga spoke.

Astrid was going to ask a question when she could hear and see two boys talking among themselves.

"Mother isn't going to be happy we're late Thor."

"Yes well Sif wanted to ask about when I would come by and play swords with her Loki. It would have been rude to just run off."

"It wouldn't be if you told her Mother needed us right after our lessons."

"I'm sure all is fine Loki. Look there she is and...wait, is there a girl there too?"

The black hair boy noticed the girl and he did seem a bit surprised.

"I didn't think Mother wanted us to have some time with a girl our age."

"Well she's not like Sif but she seems nice enough, if a bit nervous. I mean she is hiding behind her mother." the blonde boy commented.

"Be nice Thor, our mother is the queen so of course she might be nervous."

The two boys went to their mother's side and she smiled softly at the two of them.

"Thor, Loki; I want to introduce you to Egil and Tove's daughter Astrid. Treat her nicely since your father and her father go all the way back to the Aesir-Vanir War." Frigga introduced.

The blonde boy's eyes lit up and he got up real close to Astrid. He recalled Egil as a giant man with bronze-red hair with a matching beard and strong muscles that could match a bear. To think this was his daughter got Thor excited but she wasn't like what he knew of the strong, loud, and expressive Egil he's met.

"Wow! Your dad must be very strong if father and him are friends! Say you're hair looks like strawberries, is it always like that?!" Thor exclaimed.

Astrid cowered a bit behind her mother since Thor was very vocal and loud.

"M-My hair is like a rose...a mix between my mother and father's hair." Astrid stammered.

Loki rolled his eyes since he was badgering Astrid and being too hyper about meeting her. He calmly walked to the other side of Tove to approach Astrid.

"Sorry, my brother Thor can be a bit loud at times; especially when it comes to our father and war stories. I'm Loki." he spoke in a soft tone.

Astrid cracked a smile and looked at the two brothers.

"I'm Astrid...Nice to meet you both."

Thor didn't seem too bad, just loud and maybe a bit rough. Loki looked nice and he was very calm and different from his brother. Loki looked to Tove and he smiled a bit. He studied Astrid and Tove and saw features that weren't common to Asgardians and recalled his mother mentioning the Aesir-Vanir War.

"You're a Vanir sorceress?" Loki asked Astrid's mother.

"Indeed I am. Your mother and I are friends in arms in magic. I helped to heal the wounded after the war's end. It was how I met Astrid's father and by extension your parents as well."

Thor looked a bit confused and asked,

"Wait so Egil the Mighty Exceptional is a Vanir? I thought he was one of Asgard?"

"He is one of Asgard now Thor. Though they are Vanirs, they are our friends and I hope you two will treat Astrid very kindly." Frigga told her boys.

Loki looked at Astrid and smiled softly. She looked to be still wary of them both, but she was well aware who they were so he understood her nerves.

"We will mother. Can we take Astrid to the garden? I think she would love to look at the flowers." Loki asked.

"What no! We should take her to see the horses or maybe to the training grounds!" Thor exclaimed.

Frigga looked to Astrid and asked,

"Well Astrid? Where would you like to go?"

Astrid looked to the two boys and slowly got out from behind her mother. She looked to Loki and smiled a bit.

"I would love to look at the flowers please."

Thor sighed and commented,

"Of course a girl would want to see flowers."

"Thor be nice." Frigga warned.

Thor nodded and looked at Astrid.

"Sorry, we will take you there." Thor expressed.

Astrid nodded and left with Loki and Thor to the garden. Along the way, the three of them made some small talk. Astrid was quiet as she let the brothers do the talking and listened carefully to their stories and dreams. Loki noticed she was quiet and was rather curious.

"You alright Astrid?"

Astrid nodded and Thor looked at his brother with a chuckle.

"She probably wants to learn about us. I mean we are sons of the king and she must love being with us already." Thor boasted.

Astrid giggled a bit.

"Well...I just noticed how different you two are. Thor is very loud and confident while Loki is calm and very smart. Plus I'm thinking how nice it is to have a brother. I ask my mother and father for a sibling but they are happy with me alone." Astrid commented.

Thor noticed Astrid frowning a bit.

"Well if you want a brother, you can take Loki." Thor teased.

"Hey!" Loki yelled.

Astrid shook her head.

"If I did that then you would be alone Thor and I can't do that." Astrid spoke softly.

"If anything you should take Thor. He might do better needing to care for a sister and it might make him nicer." Loki teased back.

Astrid laughed at that, causing Thor to frown. He didn't know what was funny and it didn't help Loki was chuckling as well.

"How is that any better or different from what I said? Why are you laughing?" Thor asked.

"Because Loki gave a cute reason for you to be my brother. But I will be okay on my own, you two need each other to be a better team." Astrid expressed.

Thor actually smiled at that and asked,

"Maybe you can be a part of it too. Can you use a weapon yet? My friend Sif is great at swords."

Astrid shook her head.

"I do like using magic, would that help?" she asked.

Loki grinned a bit and nodded.

"Extremely since magic users are becoming a bit uncommon in Asgard. Perhaps we can learn together." Loki offered.

"Yes but do take up some sort of weapon if you plan to aid us someday. I know most women don't fight but maybe you can be a Valkyrie. I mean a magic wielding one does sound cool." Thor suggested.

Loki can see Astrid was more into magic than combat but he kept that thought to himself. They made it to the garden and Astrid was in awe of the many flowers growing. It was a blooming rainbow of flowers and it really captivated Astrid as she went through and saw the flowers. As she walked with Loki and Thor in the garden, something caught her eye. She went ahead of Loki and Thor and noticed some of the pink roses were starting to wilt. A frown graced her face as she trailed her fingers along the petals. She closed her eyes and channeled the magic in her body. Thor was going to pull her away but Loki stopped her. Soon both boys saw the flowers blooming again and Astrid opened her eyes with a happy smile.

"Wow, that was amazing. Care to show us another bit of magic?" Loki asked.

Astrid smiled a bit and conjured a small blue orb of light. She gave it to Thor to hold and he was amazed by the heat and energy of the ball.

"Whoa this is cool. Can it be used to hit people with?" Thor asked.

Astrid shook her head.

"It's an luminous orb, only casts light. I haven't learned to use magic for fighting...well not yet anyway. Mother says I'm too young to do that yet."

Thor tossed the ball up in the air and Astrid made it change color to red before it came down. Thor then tossed the light orb to Loki and Astrid changed the color to green. Loki smiled a bit and he tossed it to Astrid who caught it and changed it to a purple rose color. The three of them played with the luminous ball for quite some time before stopping to rest on a bench. Astrid sat in-between the brothers and laughed softly.

"That was fun."

"Of course it was, you were with us Astrid. I didn't think tossing around a light ball would be so fun." Thor laughed.

"Yes well you enjoyed the tossing aspect but I liked the color changing aspect. How are you feeling though Astrid?" Loki asked.

Astrid looked confused and Loki commented,

"Sometimes you can get tired using too much magic at one time if you don't build up your uses. Mother worries about me burning myself out so I wanted to see if you are okay."

Astrid did kind of feel tired but it was probably because she was having fun playing with the two of them. Her mother had kept Astrid to herself until now so she was glad to have friends.

"I'm fine but thank you for asking Loki." Astrid spoke softly.

Loki smiled and noticed his mother and Astrid's mother making their way towards them. Frigga smiled as she saw that the children looked to be in good spirits. Tove looked at her daughter and saw she was happy with Thor and Loki.

"What did you all decide to do?" Frigga asked.

"Well first mother Astrid helped to fix some roses with her magic..."

"Then she made a ball of light we threw around and changed colors with every pass!" Thor interrupted.

Astrid averted her mother's gaze but Tove refocused her with a warm smile.

"Your magical endurance is improving tremendously and it seems you had fun with Thor and Loki today."

Astrid smiled and nodded.

"I did mom. Will we be able to play together again soon?" Astrid asked hopefully.

"Yes can she?" Loki asked.

"Yes! Maybe she can do other things with her magic to make our games fun!" Thor expressed.

Tove and Frigga looked at one another and nodded.

"I think you three playing together and seeing each other would be a fine idea." Frigga expressed with a warm smile.

The children looked to Tove and she did feel this would be both good and bad for her daughter. Good since it meant her daughter would grow to have Loki and Thor as close friends just like she wanted. However, she didn't want the frequent playdates and visits to lock Astrid into marrying one of them unless it was what she wanted and not what her husband and Odin wanted.

"Maybe next time you can bring the boys over to my place, Frigga. It would be nice for the boys to explore a bit beyond the castle walls in their youth now and again." Tove mentioned.

Frigga nodded and agreed and looked at her sons.

"Say goodbye to Astrid boys."

Thor came up first and hugged her rather tightly. Astrid struggled a bit but she did manage to hug back.

"You're not so bad Astrid. You're fun and I hope we can do the light ball game soon." Thor expressed.

He pulled away and Loki, not wanting to assault Astrid; simply held his hand up.

"It was nice to meet and play with you Astrid."

Astrid smiled softly and went up to hug him softly. She didn't think it would be fair for Thor to get a hug and Loki not get one himself. Loki slowly hugged back and he kind of liked hugging her.

"I hope to see you and Thor soon. I had a lot of fun."

"You will Astrid. Have a good day."

"Have a good day Astrid!" Thor exclaimed.

Astrid smiled as she and her mother returned her. Tove did see something in her daughter, a few sparks and excitement for the two boys. She had a feeling which one she favored more but she wouldn't influence her daughter in any way. Right now it was too soon to think so far in the future and right now in their present; her daughter was forming good bonds of friendship between Thor and Loki.