Odin seemed to think that Loki needed a refresher course on all things princely and so Loki was doing everything that he assumed Thor used to do when they were young and learning about the duties of their station. This involved a lot of settling disputes between angry farmers (something Loki was too short tempered and mischievous to be very good at), rereading all of the dusty history tomes from the library (books that Loki hadn't particularly enjoyed the first time around, even when he'd been on board with Odin's propaganda about how great he was), and riding out with groups of guards to check in on nobles they hadn't heard from for a while (none of which were Tyr, unfortunately, or the man would be dead by now) or to put a stop to bad behavior that went on far away from the palace.

Today had been bandits. Mean ones at that. They'd been stealing food that was in transport from a charitable farm going to the orphanage. Honestly, Loki knew he'd done some less than righteous things in his life, but stealing from orphans was low. He and the envoy of guards he'd been with had taken pleasure in putting a stop to the thieves. And it seemed the ruffians took just as much pleasure in fighting back.

Loki had been hit with an arrow in his side. It was painful, but not deadly. Once all of the bandits had either been killed or captured Loki had been rushed back to the palace and into a healing room. There would be an impressive scar, but no permanent damage. Of course, having a flair for the dramatics and a scheme always in mind, he'd acted like the wound was far worse than it was. Odin only heard that Loki was seriously hurt and this got Loki the rest of the day off.

He was meant to spend it in bed, but he let one of his magically formed duplicates moan and groan for him while he snuck off. Maisy had to be around the palace somewhere and he was intent on finding her and spending some time with her. And perhaps garnering some sympathy for his totally devastating arrow wound.

He searched high and was having no luck in finding her, but he did come across someone he was sure would know where she went.

"Linn!" He called, seeing the girl walking alongside Lady Fulla. It was an odd sight because Linn was taking careful and methodical steps with her shoulders back and chin up, rather than skipping, running, and dancing everywhere.

"Prince Loki," Linn replied stiffly, eyes jumping about with the energy that the rest of her was missing, "How are you doing dis fine day?"

"Norns," he furrowed his brow at her, "Don't do that, it's bizarre."

"Do what, sir?"

"Call me 'sir' for one," he turned his glare on Lady Fulla, "Leave us."

"My prince," Fulla gave a stiff curtsey and began walking away in a slow, ladylike fashion. Linn kept her hands neatly clasped in front of her and a demure look on her face.

"Alright, I understand that you have to be that way around the hag," Loki snapped his fingers and a large mustache sprouted from Linn's lip, "But if you continue to be a creepy clone of Lady Fulla when it's just us you'll have to do so with facial hair."

"Sweet Andromeda!" Linn giggled, brushing her mustache with her fingers, "Am I glad you showed up! I fought I was going to die if I had to be blabbed at about walking properly for much longer! I mean, it's walking! Is there a right and wrong way?"

"According to Fulla there is a wrong way to do everything," Loki said, glad to see his friend back to normal, "Have you seen Maisy?"

"Saw her this morning. Went to help her wif a fancy dress, but she said she didn't have anywhere to go today so she just wore those earth pants she has. And a shirt of course. She ain't running around topless! As her lady's maid I would never let somefing like dat happen. And even wif crazy old Fulla I am liking dis job. Fanks for hiring me, you're the best, you know?" Linn chatted on and on. Loki got the sense that she hadn't been allowed to say much of anything all day.

"Do you know where she is now?"

"Who?"

"Maisy."

"Not a clue, but I bet Bjorn's gotta clue. What's today? Friday? He's in the armory if we wanna ask him!" Linn started walking in that direction and Loki could do nothing but follow, "I've been meaning to visit him anyways. He's so sweet you know, he left a rose taped to me door last night! Dunno what I'm supposed to do wif a rose, but it's pretty I guess."

Loki listened to Linn go on an on about how sweet Bjorn was until they came across the man himself and she gave him a peck on the cheek. The guard was unable to acknowledge her affection since he was on duty, but if you looked close enough you could see red creeping onto his cheeks and a small smile on his face.

"You seen Maisy?" Linn asked.

"She told me that she was going to the queen's laboratory and that I shouldn't tell anyone but you two that because she's hiding from being a princess," Bjorn relayed.

"Fanks, babe!" Linn chirped and Loki raised a brow, "Uh… I mean, fank you, Bjorn."

"My pleasure," Bjorn winked and Loki sighed loudly.

He left the two lovebirds to their flimsy flirting and made for his mother's laboratory. He was somewhat surprised that Maisy had been able to find it on her own since she'd only been there once and she'd never shown much aptitude for knowing where she was in the palace.

When he was just outside the door he heard her voice from inside, singing. He smirked and peeked inside to see what she was up to, finding her mix of lyrics and "doo doo doos" amusing.

There she was, waving her arms and sliding her stocking clad feet across the slick floor. Her head was bobbing happily and she seemed to be singing into a pencil. Her voice floated across the room, probably going along with whatever she was listening to on her phone.

"...somethings just, somethings just make sense, and one of those is you and I," she spun so fast that she didn't even see him leaning on the doorframe watching her, "Somethings just, somethings just make sense and even after all this time… I'm into you. Baby, not a day goes by that I'm not into you- oh crap hello!"

She'd spotted him and he applauded as she frantically pushed the pause button on her earbuds. An embarrassed smile wound its way onto her lips and she ducked her head as a blush lit up her cheeks.

"Enjoying your day off?" Loki asked, stepping into the room. He remembered his wound and put a hand to his side, moving stiffly.

"Um," she tucked her hair behind her ears and laughed, "Yeah! I, uh, got some designs finished and, uh, yeah, I was just taking a break."

"Well deserved, I'm sure," he moved to sit down on one of the stools at the workstation. Even if he was over exaggerating his injury, it was still nice to get off his feet, so the groan of relief didn't need to be faked. He kept his hand pressed to his side and grimaced a little. When Maisy stopped ducking her head bashfully, she noticed his pain and her eyes widened.

"Are you okay?"

"Of course," he did his best impression of a pained smile and that really got her fluttering nervously. He might be a manipulative jerk sometimes, but at the moment he really didn't care because her soft hands pressed over his at his side and she stared in worry at him. He considered making it look like the stitches had split and that he was bleeding a bit, but she'd probably run straight to the healers if he did, so he'd just have to oversell what he had to work with.

"Let me see," she moved his hand and gasped when she saw that his tunic had a hole and a bloodstain. He'd conveniently neglected to change out of the clothes he'd been wearing when he'd been shot.

"It's fine, don't worry about..." hiss of pain as she touched the bandaged spot, "...me."

"What happened?!" She exclaimed, looking up at him with panic in her eyes. He felt a twinge of guilt, but not enough to stop the charade.

"Odin had me rounding up some hostile bandits today," Loki explained, "One of them thought to kill me with an arrow, but his aim was terrible."

"They were trying to kill you?!" Maisy gaped.

"Many others have given better efforts before them," Loki shrugged and then winced. The gesture actually hurt.

"You should be in bed or something, shouldn't you? Or at the healers!"

"They already sewed me back together and gave me a potion for the pain. There isn't much more that they can do. And I thought I'd take the opportunity of not having to do Odin's bidding to come visit you. Seeing as I've scarcely laid eyes on you for the past week."

"That's sweet," she said, still staring at his wound fearfully, "But you should really be resting I think. Right? I don't know. Aren't you supposed to rest after a major wound like this? I don't know, all of my life threatening injuries were healed instantly by magic!"

"Calm down," Loki chuckled. Perhaps he'd taken this too far, "It really isn't as bad as it looks."

"But you keep wincing and hissing and acting like it hurts a lot!"

"Truthfully," he reached over to touch her hair, "It is mostly just that: acting."

"What? So you aren't hurt? Is this an illusion?" She asked, furrowing her brow.

"I was actually hit with an arrow from a bandit," Loki said, "But it didn't do much damage."

"So why'd you have to go and scare me like that?!" She exclaimed, swatting his hand.

"Well... " he smirked at her, "I have heard rumors that if a Midgardian presses their lips to a wound, it fixes the problem. I was hoping we might test the theory."

"Where did you hear that?" Maisy looked genuinely confused and then burst out laughing, "Wait, wait! You want me to kiss your booboo to make it all better?"

"Uh…" He was confused at why she was laughing so hard at this clearly serious and/or flirtatious business. This was not the reaction he'd been expecting.

"I'm sorry," she giggled, "It's just that, well, mothers tell their very young children that a kiss will make a minor injury 'all better'."

"So there is no truth to the matter?" Loki asked in disappointment, "The mothers are just lying to their children?"

"Well, it's kind of a, uh, what's the word?" She snapped her fingers, "Placebo! It's a placebo effect. Because usually it's like a scrape or scratch that the kid gets and it's not really a big deal, but little kids think everything that hurts them is the end of the world. So, to get the kids to calm down the moms tell them that a kiss will make it all better. And the little kids usually believe them and stop crying."

"Perhaps," Loki mused, "The mother thinks it is a placebo, but maybe the child is actually making a fuss over the matter in order to receive affection."

"Probably a little bit of both," Maisy shrugged, still smiling.

"In that case, I demand my placebo kiss," Loki crossed his arms.

"It's not a placebo if you know it's a placebo. That's not how it works."

"Need I throw a tantrum?" He raised a brow in challenge and Maisy rolled her eyes.

"Alright, fine, you big baby," she bent down and kissed his wound right over the stitches. He might have been imagining things, but it felt as if some of the throbbing went away and there was no sting when she touched the skin. She looked up at him with playful grin.

"Hmm, not sure if it worked," Loki commented, "Perhaps you'd better-"

She stretched up and gave him a kiss on the lips. When she pulled away he blinked in surprise and she laughed.

"All better?"

"Oh no, I don't think so," he smirked, pulling her onto his lap, "I think it is such a bad wound that it shall take at least a dozen more kisses to mend it."

A note from the author: Fair warning, many, many, many chapters end in smooching. You've been warned.

Honestly, this chapter was one of my favorite's to write. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. :)

Thank you all so much for reading, following, and favoriting! It means a lot to me!

A REALLY BIG THANK YOU TO MY REVIEWERS:

ferbette: Odin told me not to tell anyone this but *looks both ways to ensure we aren't being overheard* he totally wants grandbabies. He would never let anyone know, but he's a big softy when it comes to adorable, squishy babies. Why do you think he took a random frost giant kid in the middle of a battle? ;)

Ceres Friggadottir: That's so weird that you aren't getting email updates. I wonder if anyone else is having that problem. If anyone else reads this message and you aren't getting the emails either, could you let me know? I don't know what I'll do about it, but it would be nice to know. I might start sending out PM's when I update if it's happening a lot. Ceres, maybe try unfollowing the story and then refollowing? I checked the stats and you are on the list of followers so I'm not sure what's going on there. :\

Ninja Squirrel: No worries! While your review rambles can get a little, uh, rambly, they always brighten my day and make sense to me. :) To answer your question... So, you're asking about what to write between the scenes that you need to happen, right? Like the scenes that are kind of bridges between big events? Hmm, I've never thought that much about it before. I think how I deal with the "filler chapters" and bridges is that I get a general fun idea in mind and then just go crazy writing whatever I feel like for the scene. It doesn't always make sense when I'm done, but as long as I just get started on it then I can usually make myself keep working and just write nonsense sometimes. Another thing I do is leaving little loose ends that won't effect the overall plot too much. Then, if I'm stuck writing then I can just re-read my stuff and pick out a little loose end and see what I can do with it. Like, in TDDYP, when I first wrote Idunn in, I wasn't sure I was actually going to use her (tbh, I wasn't really sure of most of my plot), but when I got stuck for some filler scenes I re-read things and found Idunn and figured I could use her. And she turned out to be quite important! Now I'm the one rambling, sorry. Um, I guess my biggest piece of advice is to not be too strict about following your predetermined plot and to leave yourself loose ends. If you aren't too set in stone with your plot then you can wiggle it around a bit and make it so that it has room to do more things. Does that make sense? Hopefully? I'm not the best at giving advice lol, but I'm flattered that you asked! :D Sorry about this long response!

TTFN!