CHAPTER 3 - Two Days
When Loki returned to the castle, the feast was still ongoing, but he turned to his room and not the great hall.
The dinner that Frigga had promised was waiting on his table, still warm. Loki poured himself a glass of wine and then sat down to eat and to process what he had learned at Noatun.
The trip had been a success. Loki was nearly certain that Sigyn's suspicions were correct- that the shards were pieces of the Azimuth. Now the girl would supply the rest of the information that he required.
Loki smiled when he thought of Sigyn. At Noatun, he had been too caught up in the mystery of the necklace to spare much thought for how much she had changed from the little girl in his memory. Now, however, relaxing in his room, he had time to look back and savor the way that her curvy body had looked wrapped up in the wringing wet dress.
It's almost a good thing that her grandfather was exiled, Loki thought when his thoughts moved on to the girl's more intrinsic qualities. Sigyn had stepped forward to sacrifice herself at the merest hint that her family was threatened. Selfless types like that didn't last very long at Court. Loki admired Siygn's behavior, despite the fact that it was foolish. He couldn't think of anyone at the palace who would trade their own welfare for his. Even Frigga would put Odin's interests first.
Loki wondered what it would be like to have someone love him like that.
Two days.
Sigyn walked up the staircase slowly, her feed like lead as Loki's deadline echoed through her head. Her fingers rubbed anxiously against the hollow of her neck, instinctively seeking out the necklace that had caused all of the trouble. It wasn't there. Sigyn had been so distraught by the Prince's insinuations that she forgot to demand it back.
If only I had kept my mouth shut!
Reviewing the conversation in her mind, Sigyn was certain that Loki had no idea about the crown of Azimuth before their meeting. It was stupid to tell him. Even if she was honor bound as a citizen of Asgard to answer his original question, there was no need to volunteer rumors that the crown had been found. Now, Sigyn had no choice but to move forward. She was thoroughly tangled up in a web of trouble- and she had spun the trap herself.
Sigyn rubbed the side of her temple. A sharp pain had started just behind her eyes. If not for her distraction, she would have placed the sensation sooner. But it wasn't until a voice hissed, "Var! Stop it! She'll notice!" that Sigyn realized that one of her sisters was trying to read her mind.
All of the sisters had been trained in Vanir magic, but only Nanna and Sigyn had applied themselves to their lessons. Var was particularly bad at it, and Sigyn was able to lock her out without a second thought. Growling in annoyance, she flew up the final flight of stairs and spun around the corner. Sure enough, a clutch of her sisters were gathered in the hall. Var, Syn, Lofn, Snotra and even little Hnoss, the youngest, were huddled together outside Sigyn's room. Only Nanna was missing. Sigyn hoped that her older sister was off doing something more sensible than foraging for gossip. That was undoubtedly what the others were attempting. Even without using her ability to read minds, Sigyn could read the guilt on their faces. She was relieved that she had met with Loki in the main hall. In any other part of the house, her sisters would have been listening at the door!
Unwilling to reward their curiosity, Sigyn stalked past them without a word and went into her room. She closed the door behind her, but the sisters didn't take the hint. They all streamed in behind her. Var went to the window to try and catch a fleeting glimpse of the prince. Lofn draped her lithe body over Sigyn's bed. Syn walked directly to the mirror to admire her reflection while the youngest two girls gathered around Sigyn and stared up at her with wide, anxious eyes.
"Well?" Lofn said, after the tension became unbearable.
Sigyn sighed. "Well, what?"
"What did Prince Loki want?" Lofn spoke first, but her question was like the first crack in a dyke. Soon, all of the girls were talking at once.
"Oh! I never should have come back to the house!" Syn moaned, still watching her own reflection, "I miss everything exciting- and my hair looked so nice today! I'm sure that he would have liked to see me!"
"He's so handsome," Snotra said in a swooning tone.
Var sounded less impressed, "I wish that the blonde one had come instead!"
"I want to see Odin's pony!" Hnossa whined.
Sigyn had enough.
"Prince Loki wanted to ask me a question about Vanaheim," she said firmly and started shooing them all towards the door. "That's all. I answered and he left."
"Why would he ask you the question?" Lofn said shrewdly, tilting her heart-shaped face to the side as she shot her sister a suspicious frown. "Why didn't he stay at the castle and ask mother?"
Sigyn caught her lower lip between her teeth and scrambled for an answer. It would be a mistake to mention the Azimuth to the gossip-starved girls, but they wouldn't leave without an explanation.
Luckily, Syn jumped in with an answer, "I suppose that he was asking you about magic," she said, sounding disappointed and suddenly bored. "I hear that he's terribly interested in that sort of thing."
"Yes," Sigyn grasped gratefully on to the theme, relieved that it wasn't entirely a lie. "He had a question about some magic. That's all. There's nothing left to tell."
Sigyn supposed that she ought to be insulted by how readily her sisters accepted this explanation. Surely they thought that the prince was a little bit interested in her for her beauty or charm?
Apparently not. The girls filed out without another word, leaving Sigyn alone in her room. She slumped wearily in her bed. She was exhausted. All the same, she knew that she wouldn't sleep that night. Her thoughts were too unsettled. What was she going to do?
Sigyn spent the next day and a half wracking her memory for every scrap she could remember about the Azimuth and pouring over the books in her grandfather's library. Despite her efforts, she couldn't remember more than the teasing suggestions at the end of bedtime stories that the crown might be found again someday. She couldn't recall any mention of where it might be. There were plenty of books that referenced the tale of the enchanted crown, but they all agreed that it had gone with Salkin into the sea, never to be found again. She wished that she could simply ask the old Vanir king, but he was indisposed- and Sigyn was too worried that he was involved in whatever conspiracy was taking place to risk broaching the topic with him.
Sigyn ran down every lead that she could think of, but always ended in the same place: a dead end.
You could make something up…
Sigyn hated the thought of lying, but the thought was growing more and more tempting as time wore on. She hadn't promised the prince anything more than rumors, after all. There was no rule that she couldn't start the rumors herself!
She decided to look one last time to see if there was anything that she had missed. This time, when she stuck her head into Njord's library, she noticed something odd. A book bound in green leather was sitting on the edge of the desk. Sigyn was certain that it hadn't been there before.
A shiver of foreboding ran along her spine when she read the title of the volume: "The Reign and Fall of King Salkin". She opened to a page at random, and then slammed it shut again. This was exactly what she needed- but the sudden appearance was suspicious. She had been through the house a dozen times. How could she have missed it?
The answer that presented itself was far from comforting. No one had visited the house since Loki left, but Freya had finally returned from the palace a few hours before. The arrival of the book couldn't be mere coincidence.
Oh, mother- what have you done now? Sigyn thought unhappily to herself. She wished, for the millionth time that she had a normal mother that she could simply talk to. Sigyn knew all too well that confronting Freya was futile. The elder goddess lived her life as she pleased, passing through the nine realms in pursuit of pleasure, excitement and not much else. It was invariably up to Sigyn to clean up whatever mess that Freya created. Tucking the book under her arm, Sigyn steeled herself to do just that.
"Up three flights of stairs, turn left at the fountain, then right, then left again at another fountain, across the bridge, under the archway and then stop outside a silver door…" Sigyn repeated the directions under her breath over and over again like a mantra. This was only her second time at Odin's palace- the first time on her own- and she was terrified of getting lost.
Sigyn looked around with wide eyes. She had expected the place to be large. She could see it from Noatun and she had visited as a child, but she had not anticipated that it would resemble a self-contained city more than a home. It was full of people bustling and scurrying through the corridors on business much too urgent to pause and tell Sigyn where to find the prince.
With effort, luck, and only a few wrong turns, Sigyn eventually found her way to the royal apartments. A stone-faced guard barred her entry. He didn't so much as glance down at her when she stopped in front of the doorway.
"Excuse me," Sigyn said, with as much confidence as she could manage. "I'm here to see Prince Loki."
The guard finally deigned to dip his chin. He gave Sigyn an appraising glance. She felt the look as though it were a touch.
Sigyn nervously smoothed her hands down the gown that she had stolen from her mother's closet. When she had first put it on, Sigyn felt almost comically grand. It felt strange and ostentatious to walk around in the heavy gown, covered in heavy embroidery and glistening gems. Now, however, after seeing all of the finery on display at court, she was glad that she had worn it. It almost felt too plain. She was anxious to just pass muster.
"Who are you?" the guard asked when he had finished his visual inspection.
"Lady Sigyn," she replied, emphasizing her title. She had debated offering her mother's name. It would have sped her entry- but it might raise questions too. Luckily, additional introduction wasn't necessary. The guard motioned for Sigyn to wait while he stepped behind the heavy silver door.
A few minutes later, the man reappeared and motioned for Sigyn to step inside. A servant was standing on the other side of the entrance. With a curtsey, the girl gestured that Sigyn should follow her.
The scale of the rooms and furnishings inside the royal chambers were smaller, but just as breathtaking as they had been in the public rooms. Sigyn felt embarrassed when she recalled Loki's visit to Noatun. She had always been proud of the carved tables and ancient tapestries of her own hall, but they were woefully shabby when compared with even a lowly antechamber here. Every inch of the royal quarters was new, shining and stuffed with exquisite works of art. Even the floor tiles were interlaid with gold!
They walked for what seemed like miles until they finally reached Loki's room. The servant knocked on the door.
"Enter!" Loki's voice answered.
The servant and Sigyn both stepped inside.
"Your highness," the servant said, "Lady Sigyn to see you."
"You made it," Loki said to Sigyn, after he shooed the serving girl away. The smile on his face was genuine. He hadn't worked out how to follow through on his threat of telling Odin about the letter without implicating himself in the scheme, and so he was equal parts pleased and relieved that Sigyn had simply obeyed. "Did you bring the information that I requested?"
Sigyn bobbed her head and offered up a silk-wrapped parcel.
"What's this?" Loki asked, pulling the wrappings loose.
"A book that I found in my grandfather's study," Sigyn explained as Loki pushed the last of the silk aside and held the volume up for inspection. "It will tell you everything that you need to know."
Loki nodded and started flipping through the pages. He was surprised by what he read. His own research in the palace library had turned up only passing mentions of the Azimuth- and no hint of a history of King Salkin being in existence anywhere. He skimmed the pages greedily, skimming over the parts of the story that Sigyn had already told him until he reached the very end.
"…where it is said that Hambli, Dark Elf of Svartalfheim, carried the shards of Azimuth to his lair beneath the Slumbering Mountain," he read aloud.
"Well, there you are," Sigyn said, chewing her lip again and glancing longingly for the door. "Svartleheim. I'm sure that you need to prepare for your journey. I'll leave you in peace. Now, if you would please give me back my necklace…"
"You can have the necklace after we return," Loki snapped in reply, never taking his eyes off the book.
Sigyn's heart sank. "After we return?"
"I need your help to get to Svartalfheim," Loki said, "Surely you agree that using the BiFrost would draw unnecessary attention?"
"What makes you think that I know another way between worlds?" Sigyn asked, growing pale. Her voice grew slightly desperate as she argued: "My family are pledged as hostages to the Aesir. We cannot leave this realm without explicit permission from the king. Even my mother-!"
"Yes…you've never left Asgard," Loki said in a sinister drawl, "And yet- you found a piece of the Azimuth washed up on the beach…A piece that fell into the sea of Vanaheim."
Sigyn turned away and tried to compose her features. She wanted to cry with frustration.
"I don't have a choice, do I?" she said at last.
Loki flashed a mischievous smile. "You always have a choice, Sigyn. In this case, you may choose to help me and earn my gratitude….or….you may choose to refuse my humble request and face the consequences instead. Either way- the next move is yours."
Sigyn clenched her eyes shut and wished that she were someone else. Her mother would not have hesitated to walk away from the problem. Syn would have pouted and raged and worried about whether her hair would curl properly in the Svartalfheim climate. Var would have been too starstruck by the prince to think of the opportunity to travel with him to the realm of the dark elves as anything short of a delight- but she was none of those people. She was solid, loyal, dependable Sigyn, and she couldn't leave her family's safety to change or to someone else.
Loki was wrong. There was no choice- at least, not for her.
"Meet me at the beach tomorrow morning," Sigyn said after a long pause. "Pack light and warmly. I'll take you where you need to go."
NOTES: Thanks for bearing with the viewpoint of my OC while I get this set up. Loki and Sigyn are together pretty much from here on out. I'm sorry that I took so long to get here, but I'm a lawyer, so writing anything SHORT is nigh impossible for me!
You may recognize the names of Sigyn's sisters. Again, these are NOT true to Norse mythology but, the marvel wiki leads me to believe that they ARE Sigyn's sisters (or Freya's daughters, in Comic Land.
Thank you so much for your reviews! Even the very short ones are appreciated, since it lets me know that someone out there is reading. If you have questions or suggestions that require responses, please feel free to send a PM.