Following his embarrassing loss at the hands of the winter goddess, Loki doubled his efforts. He prodded her mercilessly, sometimes with almost every other paragraph involving a jab of some sort. Yuna responded, going head-to-head against the other god, and holding her own. Each bout ended in retaliation. Each retaliation ended in another bout. Thus began the war of wits, an ongoing series of skirmishes between two willful and playful gods.

While their constant sniping at one another may have appeared malicious on the surface, it was, for the most part, all in good fun. It was rare that one pushed the other too far, as they made a point to respect each other's boundaries. At least, as much as possible. Most of the time. When their war of words finally escalated to its peak, the pair switched tactics, instead opting for a battle of tricks and pranks. Unfortunately, this was not Yuna's area of expertise.

While she could outsmart him relatively easily in terms of verbal spats, she was far less versed in the art of trickery. Loki, practiced as he was, found the most creative ways to catch her off guard. Catching her in smoke bombs, splattering her with paint, and even rooting her to the spot by catching her dress. The god of fire was capable of creating almost any diversion and turning nearly any object imaginable into a trap. He caught her with food items, mugs, tree branches, and at one point, even his own front door. It seemed there was nothing in the world Loki couldn't sabotage, and it made Yuna's life exceptionally difficult.

Conversely, the goddess herself had far less luck. Her attempts to thwart and trap him generally ended in failure as he was able to see through most of her tricks. She had a few successes, one of which involved one of his own braids. At one point, she even managed to rope Thor and Balder into their shenanigans, weaponizing their trust and catching him unaware. Her victories were small in number, but they were glorious all the same. After a while, the pair called a temporary truce. Their hijinks were beginning to cause trouble for some of the other gods as many of their prank wars often ended somewhere near the city. While Loki didn't care one way or the other, Yuna was only a visitor. She didn't want to risk causing too much unnecessary trouble. So instead, they took to other, safer activities.

Today was one such day.

On a particularly warm afternoon - as warm as was capable in Asgard during the winter - the four gods were returning from an outing in the forest. There, Yuna had witnessed firsthand the power of Balder's aura, watching as it entranced almost everything around him. It seemed that he truly was beloved by all of creation, not a single living creature immune to his charms. Of course, Yuna wasn't included in that category, which both confused and fascinated him to no end.

Loki on the other hand, seemed to suffer the opposite effect. During their time with the forest creatures, a bird had dove at him, a snow rabbit had kicked him, and even a fox had attempted to bite at him. Balder wasn't kidding when he said that animals didn't like him. Supposedly, there was one species that didn't despise him, but that remained to be seen. After the fifth assault on Loki's life, they decided to leave the woodland critters alone and return to his cottage.

It was here that things went awry.

Loki fell behind the group as they approached the doorway, silently kneeling in the snow. He moved as quickly as possible, trying not to draw attention as he knew he wouldn't have much time. As expected, Yuna was the first to take notice of his absence. Turning, she looked around Thor's broad shoulders to check on the fire god. Her concern was rewarded with a snowball to the face.

The god of fire cackled, holding his sides with joy as she slowly brushed the snow from her face. Frowning, she knelt downward and quickly formed a ball of her own. She tossed it, sending it in a perfect arc towards Loki's head. He toyed with her for a moment before twirling out of the way. "Hehe! You're gonna have to do better that, puppy!"

Growling, Yuna tried again, predicting his movements, and nearly clipping his shoulder. He stuck his tongue out at her. Now, it was personal. Looping around Thor, the winter goddess chased after him, grabbing and tossing snowballs as she went. After about four attempts, she finally managed to catch him in the chest.

Now, it was war. Loki dove into the snow, scooping nearly an armful of the fluffy white mass in front of him. With dexterous fingers, he quickly formed a multitude of snowballs, gathering them in his arms. Yuna paused, beating a hasty retreat before he could begin his assault. She wasn't fast enough. With frightening precision, Loki began hurling snowballs at a terrifying rate threatening to all but cover her in snow. Then, something unexpected happened as a wildcard appeared from the sidelines.

"I'll help you, Yuna!" Balder rushed in front of her, shielding her from the Loki's onslaught.

His assault halted immediately, eyes growing wide at the sudden turn of events. His mouth fell open, a look of hurt washing over his features. "Wha - traitor! Balder, how could you?!"

The light god smiled back at him, gathering a snowball of his own. "I'm sorry, Loki. But I cannot allow you to harm a lady." Yuna poked her head out from behind him, shooting him a smug look.

Loki glared at them, quickly rushing to the remaining god's side. "Thor! It's two against one, you have to help me!"

The god of thunder looked blankly down at him, his tone even. "Isn't this your own fault?"

Yuna called after him a taunting ring to her voice. "Loki! You would pit brother against brother? Shame on you."

"Thor!" Loki rushed behind him, shielding himself from Balder's incoming snowball. The snow pelted him, exploding against his chest. The remains slowly slid down his stomach and onto the ground leaving a frigid trail in their wake. All three remained still, eyeing the other god curiously to see what his reaction would be.

With shake of his head, he slowly knelt to the ground and gathered some snow. "Battle between blood is sometimes necessary."

"Eek!" Yuna vanished behind Balder once again, still amazed by his unusual power.

From there, Loki's front lawn descended into absolute chaos. The two pairs ducked and dodged, pelting the other team mercilessly with balls of snow. They were relentless, each god both sending and receiving blows. With the exception of Balder, of course. Loki cackled as a well-thrown ball struck Yuna's neck, coating her pendant in snow. She frowned as he called over to her, gloating in his successful attack.

"Hahaha! You know, for a goddess of winter, you're terrible at this! Is that really the best you can do?"

Big mistake.

Yuna paused, halting her movements, and gazing at him. There was a dangerous glint in her eyes and something eerie in her icy smile. For the duration of their conflict, she had been trying to keep the playing field relatively even. Just as mischief was his realm of expertise, ice and snow were hers. To utilize her ability to the fullest would have been terribly unbalanced… but if he wanted to see a winter goddess, then she would show him one. Arms outstretched, she lifted slowly into the air, hovering above the ground, and lifting a wall of snow with her. The sheet separated into clumps, each glob forming into a perfect sphere.

"Uh oh." Loki bolted, diving for the trees as Yuna unleashed her power. A rain of snowballs descended upon him, pelting into the bushes, trees, and anything else that they could reach. The god of fire covered his head, ducking beneath the endless balls of snow. "No fair, that's cheating!" He shouted, slowly poking his head out as the storm paused.

"All's fair in love and war, Loki." She retorted, lifting another wall to begin again.

"Oh, ho ho! Is that how it is? Two can play at that game." Loki smirked, calling upon his own divine power as the onslaught began again. He raised wave after wave of fire, melting her snowballs before they could reach him. The rain of balls vanished into water and steam, some rising into the air and some melting to the ground.

Yuna scowled. Of course. Loki was a god of fire. Surely, that gave him an advantage in a battle of snow. He had thwarted her again.

…Or had he?

Yuna lowered back to solid ground, crossing her arms, and glaring at him from across the lawn. "You're a jerk, Loki." She shouted, stomping her feet in an exaggerated display of irritation.

The other god shouted back. "You're the one who used your power in a snowball fight! Which, by the way, you're still terrible at!" He taunted, citing her disadvantage against his flame.

"Come over here and say that to my face, you coward!"

"Gladly!" Triumphantly, Loki started forward… right into her trap. The melted water froze beneath his feet into a sheet of solid ice. He took a single step before he was airborne, crashing into the snow in a fall so dazzling even Balder couldn't have managed it. But Yuna wasn't finished. Lying underneath the branch of a large tree, Loki was right where she wanted him. With a snap of her fingers, she pressed just a little more snow onto the unstable pile, sending the entire thing crashing down on the unsuspecting god. Within moments, Loki was buried entirely and Yuna was giggling with satisfaction.

Balder and Thor snickered as well, at some point, having excused themselves from the game. After a brief pause, Loki erupted from his frozen prison, screaming like a banshee. "C-C-Cold! It's s-s-so c-cold!" Yuna laughed even harder in response, watching the steam rise as he rapidly dried his body. Once warm, Loki glared at the chortling goddess.

It seemed that this round went to her.

. . .

Later in the evening, Yuna made her way back into the forest. Thor returned home to the palace, citing business with Odin. Balder remained, sitting across from Loki by the fire. The two watched the dancing flames, slowly sipping their ale in comfortable silence. After a few minutes, Balder smiled.

"That was quite a battle this afternoon."

"Eh. I'll get her next time."

"I'm sure you will."

Loki paused, a thought coming to mind. "You know, I probably could have won with your help. Why Balder? Why did you betray me?" He whined, putting on a display of overwhelming disappointment.

Balder shrugged. "She seemed like she could use the help."

"…" The other god gaped at him. She seemed like she could use the help? The goddess of winter seemed like she could use help in a snowball fight? Loki shook his head in utter disbelief. No, there was more to it than that. There had to be. For one thing, his logic didn't make any sense, no matter how far he tried to stretch it. For another, Balder had been paying increasing amounts of attention to the goddess in recent weeks, and he was beginning to take notice.

It wasn't anything drastic, but just little things. Small, subtle changes in the ways they interacted with one another. The way he smiled warmly at her, nothing like the ones he gave to the general public. It was more akin to the kind he saved exclusively for Thor and Loki, his closest family, and friends. It was in the way he lingered whenever they made contact, rare as that may be, gently brushing his hand against her own. It was the way he often stole glances at her, sometimes for noticeable stretches of time.

Loki couldn't honestly say that he was bothered by the situation, but it was certainly something to take note. He couldn't blame Balder for his fascination with her, the fire god often finding himself feeling the same way. There was something odd about this goddess. Something exciting, unique, and foreign to them. It was a welcome change from the familiarity of Asgardian citizens and both gods were coming to greatly enjoy her company. They weren't sure how long Yuna planned to stick around… but hopefully it would be for a while.