Cassidy sat on the balcony of the library lost in thought. The edge of the castle walls dropped off to reveal the large lake that surrounded them on one side. The midday sun reflected brightly off the water to shine even more light over the forests beyond. She grimaced as the shimmering lights hit her eyes. Squinting she turned her head to avoid the glare. A small path that lead into the depths of the forest held another glimmer was there nowhere for her to look? She made a disgruntled sound before realizing the light from the forest was gone. She squinted towards the path something must have been there as she could see a few branches still swaying in odd directions for it to be only from the breeze.

"What do we have here?" she said to herself as she leaned over the ledge to try and see more clearly. Unfortunately whoever or whatever it was had been swallowed up by the darkness of the trees. Even with the sun being so bright there was no way she could see into the dense underbrush. She frowned to herself, her curiosity was not staved and this place was becoming boring. There really were no secrets to exploit; at least none that she found. The only interesting parts were the feasts where she could become the center of attention and spread some gossip, but there was not another one to be hosted for several weeks. Resting her chin on the back of her hand she continued her thoughts. Perhaps she could convince her hosts to throw a party sooner; after all she was to be queen someday.

Loki sat on the boulder in their field; he had just transported Ashera not bothering to wait for her to cross on her own. She tripped, having been pulled through the portal with his magic and was waving her arms frantically to stop from falling. Shaking his head he pushed off the rock to meet her. He couldn't help but grin; genuinely unsure how she had managed to keep herself together all these years on her own.

"That was interesting." Ashera stated, brushing the nonexistent dirt from her pants. "Getting impatient were we?" she halfheartedly questioned the God. "How are you?

"Doing well," He bowed to her slightly in greeting, "better now that I am free of the castle." He watched her face turn up in a pleased smile that caused him to do the same. "I may have to adjust our training again." Loki mentioned casually as he sat and pulled out one of his knives, idly cleaning it as he spoke. "Father has assigned me a new task."

"Oh?"

"Well he seems to have taken my mother's advice and given me more freedom as well as responsibilities; if you can even call it that seeing as I now have to work with Thor to oversee our militia's training." He added with an eye roll. "It might as well be called babysitting."

"I will do my best to keep our meetings the same. It should be easy enough." He continued to polish the blade in his hand as Ashera placed her things next to the rock and removed her light jacket. Loki continued as she began stretching, "At least no one will question my disappearances from now on; no more than usual at least." He smiled over at her.

Ashera grinned from her spot, "Works for me! You must be doing well to be given such freedom all of a sudden." Pulling off her sweatpants to reveal her spandex shorts she tossed them to the side with her jacket, "By the way, did you speak with Thor yet?"

"You will be happy to hear that I DID." He couldn't help but admire the girl in front of him. He tried not to stare as she took off the unnecessary garments. He could feel his face heat up as if he hadn't seen her do this before. He shook his head forcing his eyes to her face. Her smile lit up her features and made her eyes brighter than they already were. This only caused his heart to throb, making his chest tight. He hadn't expected that effect.

Loki swallowed hard to combat his sudden dry throat, "He was thrilled of course, and he too apologized. We have since decided to put it all behind us so we may do our work." Loki could not bring himself to look at Ashera any longer and quickly busied himself again. The feelings he had hoped for had come but had been quickly exceeded. His joy at his accomplishment had hit its mark. The sudden need in his heart was the part that surprised him.

Ashera beamed over at him as she settled herself down to complete her series of stretches. "That's great to hear! How has everything else been?"

Loki sighed as he sheathed one knife only to pull out another "Well," he tried to reason with himself, he didn't have to admit anything about his life, but he couldn't keep much from the girl. Besides, who else was he going to talk to? It wasn't like either of them could fully confide in anyone else. They were sworn to each other's secrecies. "Things could be better." He admitted wryly. "A princess from another of the nine realms is staying with us. Although she is a welcomed guest in our castle, I very much dislike it."

"What about it?" Ashera questioned.

"The whole situation." He sheathed his second knife and pulled off his gauntlets using them as his new distraction. "She is to be queen of her realm once her training is done. The problem is her training is being done by her uncle. He is an accomplished swordsman who fought against us at one time. No one knows his intentions and now they are both staying with us to further teach the girl." Loki rambled a bit not able to stop himself completely.

"Hmm," Ashera hummed thoughtfully, "Well I am guessing your family needs you. It's a good thing they trust you now right? Besides, maybe your 'special guests' are not as bad as you think. People change." Ashera shrugged and gave Loki a pointed look.

Loki simply chuckled; glad he could count on her to at least calm his mind.

"You should try smiling more." She grinned. "You are more approachable when you smile and you are kind; you just hate to admit it." The girl giggled mercilessly as Loki bared his teeth in response. It was not intimidating in any manner to the girl who continued to laugh at his attempt.

"Just try!" She insisted. "You may impress yourself. Besides, it could help reassure Odin he is correct in giving you this," she paused for a moment, "opportunity."

The girl shrugged again and patted his leg as she stood. Loki fixed his gauntlets back in place before standing as well to begin their training. Feelings aside, Ashera was becoming a very good friend indeed. Something, Loki realized, he had no intention of giving up.

"Again!" Loki barked.

The soldiers were practicing in the yard. The combination of Thor and Loki doing their training had them panting.

Thor stood beside him observing the movements.

"You there!" he strode over to a pair that was off to the side. "You need to bring your swing around faster; and you need to block more effectively or your will be cut down too easily."

Thor returned to Loki who had just lectured another pair on blocking techniques.

He leaned over to whisper, "Should we show them how it's really done?"

"I do not believe they will learn as efficiently if they simply watch us." Loki countered.

"You just don't want them to see you lose." Thor teased.

Loki sighed, "Fine we will demonstrate." He gave in easily, not wanting to fight so soon into their new accommodations. Raising his voice a little he added, "Besides they need to see why I am here teaching them the real lessons." He grinned. He might as well have fun with it if he was going to be forced to fight.

Cassidy watched as the two danced around landing hit for hit and dodging just as often. It seemed as if they had been going at it for hours. She felt herself heat up as she watched Loki move with ease around the yard. His forehead glistened with sweat as he continued to spar with Thor. The guards were watching with awe knowing the two were the best of them all. Cassidy bit her lower lip as she silently praised Loki. The way his body moved so smoothly and his strength held out against the muscles of the God of Thunder. He was not as weak as most thought. He had brains and brawn and magic. He was so well rounded it had her weak at the knees. With power like his they can rule everything. Her daydream began again as she continued to view their match in silence. His power would help her rule more than just the nine realms. They would be able to grow and spread across the universe with that kind of power and intimidation. The thought sent a chill down her spine.

It was only chance that even had her watching this little display. She had just completed her training for the day with the historians and was taking another self-directed tour of the castle grounds. She had spent most of her time in the gardens which were on the opposite side of the castle so she had decided to explore uncharted territory. Doing so, she stumbled upon the overlook of the training grounds to her own dismay, but her attitude changed abruptly with the realization that Loki was the one assisting with the training. She had only heard stories about him in battles but had never thought to see anything similar with her own eyes. Realizing the treat in front of her she found a shadowy area where she now presided. Not wanting roaming eyes to catch on she added an illusion spell to allow her to go unnoticed.

The fight ended in a stalemate, both matching strength on a head to head. They shook hands and grinned at one another before splitting the troops back into groups to spar. Cassidy decided it was time for her to take her leave, but not before noticing Thor placing a hand on Loki's shoulder and not having it torn away. It seemed they had made amends, what a disappointment.

A/N: I re-worked this and the next few chapters so many times I had to cut out a lot so they will be shorter. Sorry for the long wait and thank you to everyone still reading!