Chapter 4. Loki's Family

Loki and the mortal got inside of the palace. A servant walked up to them. He had blond hair and green eyes. He wore a blue and gold uniform, paired with black boots, that had gold trim on the top. "Your highness, your family awaits for you to join them for dinner." The servant said bowing. Loki nodded and took Assi to the dining room. His family and friends were sitting at the table. Odin was sitting at the head of the table accompanied by his 14 wives. Frigg was sitting on the right of Thor who was also sitting with Sif and Jane. Hermöd was sitting next to Vidarr who was next to Leif. Tyr was sitting next to Leif. Balder sat across from Tyr with his wife Nana on his right and Höd on his left. Volstagg sat across from Thor, with his wife and daughter. Hogun was seated next to Volstagg's wife. Loki sat in his spot that was between Fandral and Vāli. Fandral was on the left of Loki. With his arm wrapped around Freyja, Assi sat next to Vāli. Fandral looked around Loki, so he could look at Assi. Fandral smiled at her. "I see you finally moved on from horses' Sire." Fandral said jokingly. Loki turned as red as a tomato. He pushed Fandral, which he meant for it to be a light push, but it wasn't, and he ended up pushing his friend off the bench. Both Fandral and Freyja fell off. "Are you alright darling?" Fandral asked as he and Freyja got up and sat down again. "Yes. And you?" she asked. Fandral kissed her on the cheek. "Never better." "Sorry." Loki replied bluntly. Fandral looked at him with fake anger. "No, you're not." He said trying to hold back a smile. "Loki, who is this?" Odin asked, not sounding happy that Loki brought a mortal to the dinner table. "Assi Kapral, a good friend of mine." Loki said. Odin said nothing in reply. "Hello I am Vāli Odinsson. Loki's older brother." Vāli said with a grin. Loki glared at Vāli. "Only by a century." He said turning to his food again and started eating. Vāli introduced Assi to the rest of his family. There were so many people that Assi couldn't remember who was who. And also Vāli was speaking in Norwegian, so that didn't help because Assi still wasn't very good at the language. so, it was difficult for her to remember everyone. Loki ate silently when Fandral put his other arm around the prince's shoulder and pulled him close. Loki just kept his eyes on his plate as he ate. "Nice to meet you Assi." Nana said in English, taking notice that Assi seemed lost by what Vāli was saying. "Yes, it is." Assi smiled. Vidarr picked up his cup and dropped it on the floor. "Another!" he said quietly. Hermod who was sitting next to his silent brother called a servant over to get Vidarr another drink.

After dinner was finished, Loki took Assi for a walk in the moon light. She liked hanging out with Loki, but she was worried that he still wanted to be more than friends. She didn't know if she was starting to develop feelings for him or not. James was someone she thought she could end up with. He was smart and caring, though after his outburst, she was starting to rethink that, but there was something about Loki that made him mysterious, and she wanted to learn more about him. "Do you like horseback riding?" Loki asked, Assi looked at him. "Yes." She replied. Loki smiled. "Would you like to go for a horseback ride with me?" "Yes." She agreed. Loki took her to the stables. Sleipnir greeted Loki, neighing happily. He walked over to the eight-legged horse and patted his nose. Sleipnir turned to Assi. "Hello there. I'm Assi." She said patting the horse's nose, her hand touched Loki's. She moved her hand quickly. "Sorry…" "It's alright, oh this is Sleipnir. My_" Loki started, "Your son, right? Or did the mortals make that up too?" Assi interrupted. Loki turned beat red as he continued to pat Sleipnir's nose silently. Assi giggled a bit. Sleipnir rubbed his nose against Loki's chest. He knew that Sleipnir was hungry. He pulled an apple out of his pocket and began feeding it to the young colt. Assi asked. "Do you have another? I want to feed him as well." Loki nodded and made another one appear, he handed her the apple and she reached out her hand to feed Sleipnir. Not noticing that the prince made the apple appear magically.

The horse took the apple from her hand, tickling it a bit with his lips. Assi giggled, Loki said "You'll get used to that." Assi smiled and patted the horse on the nose again as he finished chewing. "Why don't we go for that ride now? You could use my mother's horse." Loki offered. "Which one belongs to your mother?" Assi asked. "The tan one." Loki said pointing to the mare next to Sleipnir. Assi walked over to the mare. The stable boy that was there, helped Assi get Frigg's mare ready to ride as Loki prepared his. "All right. Arkyn, I'm ready to go. Is Lady Assi?" Loki asked walking over to them. "Yes, my lord." Arkyn said bowing. "It was nice to meet you, Lady Assi." Arkyn said then left the stables. Assi got on Frigg's horse. As Loki started to get onto his horse, which was a brown stallion, Sleipnir neighed sadly. Loki looked at him. "You need to go to sleep. It's your bedtime." He said. Sleipnir neighed again, this time loudly and slammed one of his many hoofs on the ground. "Listen here young colt, you have-""Loki, I don't mind if Sleipnir comes." Assi said. Loki sighed. He went over to Sleipnir. "You must stay close to me. Do you understand?" Loki asked sounding very motherly. Sleipnir neighed in agreement. Loki opened the door of the stall. Then he got onto his horse and the two rode off. The colt stayed right next to Loki, as he was told. "So, what are the names of your brothers again?" Assi asked. Loki started. "There's Thor, Heimdall, Balder and Höd." Loki paused for a bit, catching his breath. "Tyr, Hermod." Loki started up again. "Vidarr, Vāli, Bragi, Helblindi and Býleistr." Loki finished. Assi started laughing. He turned to her and raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry but is Bragi a nick-name?" she asked. "No…" Loki said confused. She chuckled. "It's just his name sounds like one of the seven dwarves." Assi said which confused Loki more. "There are more than seven." He replied. Assi explained that she was talking about a fairy tale that was told to children on Midgard.

They stopped at a lake and the horses drank from it, while Loki and Assi sat under a nearby tree. They looked out at the clear water. The reflection of the moon was on the water and the starry sky made the night so peaceful. Assi kept her eyes on the water that was crystal clear, so she was unaware that Loki was watching her, but then something hit him on the shoulder. He turned to see Sleipnir hitting him with his nose. "What are you doing?" Loki asked annoyed at the colt. Sleipnir grabbed Loki by the cloak and started pulling him. "H-Hey stop it!" he ordered. Assi turned from the water to Loki. She smiled. "Sleipnir knock it off!" Loki ordered angrily. Sleipnir obeyed, let go of Loki's cloak and walked over to the other horses. Assi stood up and went over to Sleipnir. "You just wanted to play with Loki, didn't you?" Assi asked patting Sleipnir's nose, he neighed in agreement. Both of them turned to face Loki, who was still sitting under the tree, with his arms crossed, looking like a child who didn't get his way. "Come on, let's get Loki to play." Assi said. Once again, the eight-legged horse neighed in agreement. They went back over to Loki, who was looking up at them. Sleipnir grabbed Loki's cloak again. "Look I'm not in the mood to-" "Oh come on. A mother should play with her child." Assi teased and winked, Loki blushed a lot then stood up. "Alright, you win." He said. Sleipnir neighed happily and bumped Loki with his nose, then started running. He stopped and looked behind him to see if Loki was chasing him. Loki sighed and ran after his son. Sleipnir started running again. "Sleipnir! slow down!" Loki called, Assi laughed. She thought it was funny to see a man playing tag with an eight-legged horse.

After a while Loki fell onto his back and closed his eyes. Sleipnir ran over to him and leaned over him. Loki blew in his face making Sleipnir jump a bit. Loki opened his eyes and laughed. The horse rubbed his nose against the man's cheek. Loki stood up, walked back to Assi and sat next to her. Sleipnir followed and laid next to him. "You two seem very close." Assi said when Sleipnir placed his nose on Loki's leg. "Yes. I have been with him since the day he was born." He explained patting the horse's head. Assi looked up at Loki. "So, are you Sleipnir's mother then?" she asked. Loki looked down at her. "Just because I was there, doesn't mean that I'm his mother." He said. The tone of his voice made it seem like he was trying to deny it, though Assi didn't buy it. She kept quiet about it. Just then she got a chill. "Are you cold?" Loki asked. "A little." She replied. He wanted to warm her up, but his body wasn't very warm, and he worried that he would make her colder. "Uh come here." He finally said. Assi snuggled up against him. He wrapped his arms around her. "Better?" he asked hopeful. "Yes. Thank you." She said closing her eyes. "Of course." He said then smiled when he noticed that she was asleep. "Sleep well." Loki said.