Solweig woke up to the creaking sound of her door and to Kleve's voice asking her to wake up. She did not know what time it was but she truly felt like it was too early for her to stand. Since she had been dismissed from most activities Loki's concubines were usually subjected to, so that she could remain hidden from Odin, she had gotten used to sleep in.
She was sore from her little escapade with the prince and she stretched before she dressed up and exited her bedroom, finding Erik in the kitchen.
"Good morning fagr" he grinned. He handed her a cup of hot tea and a pastry before he asked her to follow him. She shot him a quizzical look when he led her to the meeting room.
"Please sit down" he asked with a polite smile, nodding at a table where papers and pencils were laying. She took place on the wooden chair, cupping the hot mug in an attempt to warm herself up for she realised that the meeting room was one of those under-heated places of the castle. She had no idea what Erik had in mind but she hoped that, whatever he seemed to want to discuss with her, it would not take too long, because she longed to go back to bed. She saw him glancing at the clock where the numbers were inscribed in old norse and she remembered how she could not even read nor speak Asgardian when she'd been sent to the palace. She had remained quiet for weeks after her arrival in Asgard, only speaking to Frigga who was fluent in her mother tongue. Odin had put an end to this by forbidding the queen to address her in Vanir further, for he said it would slow down her integration process.
She was jolted out of her thoughts by Erik who dropped a humongous pile of books in front of her. She shivered and reached for one of them after pushing aside her cup of tea, frowning.
"History of Asgard?" she asked while raising her eyebrows and looking at the blond man. "Life and death of the Aesir…"
She picked another volume: "The Seidr, a Proficient Guide" she snorted.
"One book per week, that's your homework" he replied nonchalantly, swiftly writing something on the blackboard.
"Is this some kind of joke?"
"If by joke you mean that we have three months to teach you the very basics of how to govern a realm then yes" he replied.
He turned around to face her and put the chalk on the table next to him. "Look, I won't lie, this is very ambitious. You will be trained in all the disciplines a future queen needs to master and you only have three months to be proficient in what takes hundreds of years for others to learn. However, Prince Loki seems to believe that you are gifted enough to learn so much in so little time... But like in all situations, the best thing to do is not to panic" he added quickly when he saw her eyes widening in horror.
"As former prince, I will teach you how to manage a castle, every morning from eight to twelve. Management and accountability are the biggest chunk. To be completely honest with you, this is what most kings and queens terribly lack of and very wrongly so… If you are not able to calculate a budget and stick to it, you are heading for disaster. You do not want to know what happens to those who cannot pay their levies to Asgard, trust me…"
He shook his head dramatically as if to give more weight to his words.
"Considering that you received the same education as Odin's sons, you will be excused from history and lore courses… However, the queen will teach you governance thrice a week. You will also train with Lady Sif every afternoon and Prince Loki will teach you geopolitics in the evening. Thank goodness you won't need lessons on the Asgardian etiquette…"
He paused to catch his breath and turned around before knocking on the blackboard under each of the words he previously wrote: "Planning" "Organising" "Leading" "Coordinating and "Controlling" he said out loud.
"We'll get to that in a minute" he added. "But before, let me ask you: how good are you in mathematics?"
She shook her head, staring into space as she tried to keep her growing anxiety under control. This is madness, she thought.
—-
At twelve thirty, she had a quick lunch and ran to the training hall. Sif was already waiting and they awkwardly greeted each other. Sif handed her some training clothes, leather boots and pants and a shirt. Solweig caught sight of the girl glimpsing at her necklace and she stared back but Sif averted her gaze. They stood next to each other, a bit gauche, before Sif asked Solweig if she was doing all right. The Vanir girl said she was fine and they both fell quiet again, somehow rusty in the art of conversation. After long minutes of Sif pretending to introduce her to the various weapons they would train with in the coming weeks, she asked in a falsely casual tone how Loki was treating her.
Solweig sighed. She felt the need to defend him but she knew Sif would not understand. At best, she would consider her suffering from an advanced level of Stockholm Syndrome. At worst she would think she was completely mental.
"I'm fine" she simply reiterated, shrugging. The dark-haired girl shot her a skeptical look and Solveig knew that conversation would lead nowhere. It was no secret that Sif and Loki did not get along. Still, she felt miserable at the picture her friend projected on her: a helpless princess that needed to be rescued from the clutches of the cruel God of mischief.
Solweig changed topic before Sif would ask further, because she did not want to disclose any more detail about her relationship with Loki. She cherished the intimacy they shared and even though she knew her situation was far from ideal, she felt blessed that she could be connected to him in some way. She held on to those thoughts as she walked to the prince's room once the training was over, for that first day simply consisted in assessing the girl's physical abilities.
When she entered his apartments, he was sitting at his desk writing something. She stood next to the door for a while, unsure whether he had noticed her until she decided to close the door and walk towards him.
"I did not expect you so early" he started when she stood in front of him. "I still have to take care of some pressing matters. The bath is ready, if you wish"
She shot him a look and wondered whether she should ask if he would be joining her but she dismissed that thought, for he would only do what pleased him anyway. She had taken something to read since she could not bear to glance at the pile of books waiting on her bedside table and she'd thought she could save some time by reading whenever she had a minute. She walked in the direction of the bathroom and as she passed behind Loki, she felt the overpowering need to touch him. She stopped, hesitant, glancing at his broad shoulders and straight back. She wished she could just wrap her arms around his waist, assess his strength, his solidity, whether he could carry until the end of the world for she was not sure she could carry herself. She hoped her body could disappear, disintegrate and merge in his own, so she could be his forever. A hand on the door's handle, she stood there, cursing at her own cowardice because she could not muster the courage to simply tell him how she felt.
As if he could read her mind, he put away his pen, his eyes still reading the paper he had been writing, and he unfolded his right arm towards her in an inviting way. Instinctively, her feet brought her to him and before she knew it, she was sitting on his lap, snuggling up against his chest. She rested her forehead on the crook of his neck while he reached for his pen again and resumed to write. They remained like this for a long time, until the sky darkened, his left hand caressing her ribs absentmindedly, only pausing every now and then to rummage through the pile of documents on his desk. Once he was done signing multiple letters without really looking at them, he pushed her away gently, his hands on her hips guiding her so she would sit on his desk, facing him.
"There is something I need to tell you" he said and he seemed to pick his words with care before he opened his mouth. She realised that their heads were at the same height, for his desk was high, and it was the first time that she was able to hold his gaze without having to look up. His hands were resting on her thighs and she thought she could feel his fingers tensing ever so slightly when he began to speak.
"I came back to Asgard on the day of my birthday… for the festivities but also because your brother died" he announced. She frowned and he kept staring at her, expecting her to say something.
"I'm sorry" he added, as if to trigger a reaction in the girl's behaviour but she remained mute and expressionless. Solweig probed herself, trying to see if such dire news awoke anything within her. She had never expected to fall on the ground and wail for her brother's death, which she thought would happen eventually since he had provoked Odin, but she always assumed that she would at least feel slightly distressed.
Yet, she felt nothing.
"Don't be" she finally answered and she reached for Loki's hand and brought it to her lips, kissed it tenderly, saying it did not matter because she barely knew him anyway. He kept staring at her, surprised by her indifference but rather pleased that he would not have to dwell on her grief. She did not ask how Thorsten had died for somehow, deep down, she already knew.
After a minute or two, she glanced around and nodded at another pile of books resting on the living room table.
"Is that for me?"
He stood up and she followed him. He sat down on the sofa, poured them a glass of wine and reached for a long parchment that he swiftly untied before unrolling it.
"Tell me Sólveig…" he asked as they both stared at a map that resembled a tree. "What do you remember of the war between the Aesir and the Vanir?"
