Chapter 9.
For the first time in a very long time, I woke up somewhat at peace.
It was like I had been spending my whole life in a purgatory of sorts and I just now found my way to the door, I just had to remember which key to open it. I felt purpose as a stone in my personal wall fell free, letting in a little light and one of those parts of me that were kept away from everyone started to feel some warmth again. That part stretched its fingers to the light and felt the warm glow penetrate pale skin and reached its arm through like a prisoner reaching for bread. I still worried about what I was showing and thought about shoving the stone back into place and putting up more keep out signs, but I left it out. How bad could it be to have people see me after all?
I bathed quickly, splashing a bit of water with my hands at Aimee as she washed my hair, and she laughed and her brown eyes shone at me as she worked. I smiled back at her and she carefully dried the thick mop on my head and trimmed away a few split ends with a pair of scissors carefully as we chatted about nothing.
She helped me into a black waist length coat with gold embroidery, and she had to help me with the belts that crossed over my hips and buckled to the front, a knife on my right and dominant side, and a pouch on my left side to carry things I needed. Aimee made a point to say that when picking out my wardrobe today she had selected it and I was not to ashamed to admit that she was right. The pouch closed with a brass clasp and secured at the bottom with another strap and buckle around my thigh.
I put the pendant around my neck, and tucked it into my tunic, and grabbed the book Loki loaned me and put it in the pouch along with a cloth wrapped bundle.
"Do I look good?" I asked Aimee and she smiled at me as she wrapped another two braids of my hair around the top of my head in a crown and secured them both carefully. She found a bit of loose lining and tucked it back down under the mid height collar, and leaned down to look at me in the mirror.
"Fearsome and beautiful Lady, men will throw themselves at your feet for a smile from you." She said and we both smiled. My feet were in mid calf boots again, and she helped me lace the gold bracers on my forearms and then secured the shoulder guard on my right carefully. She gave it a testing tug, and nodded when she was sure it would stay in place, and I turned around with my arms out.
"Should I walk? Or jump out of windows?" I asked her joking and she laughed as I sat down again on the stool in front of the vanity.
"Walk." She said and pinned a gold hair band dotted with pearls in my hair between the braids. "Don't cause too much of a stir, Asgard already knows of your arrival enough. Let them wonder about you though, and be used to them staring, it is not because you are small, it is because you are still a legend. They wish to see what one looks like, and they will crave to see you."
I looked up at her from my seat, and smiled.
"No room to stay invisible here." I said and stood up quickly and dug in my bag for a book. "I almost forgot something, I was going to loan Loki another book. Maybe he will like it."
I held up my horribly battered copy of Cloud Atlas and put it in my pouch closing the clasp and scrolling through my phone for some music.
"If he dosen't?" She asked and I shrugged.
"No skin off my teeth." I said, raising my eyebrows and she looked over my shoulder at my phone.
"You like music." She said approvingly and I smiled at her.
"A female musician on Earth said that 'music is the magic carpet that other things take naps on.' She turned her pain and suffering into songs that changed everyone a bit when they heard her sing, and took comfort in her words."
"Is she a philosopher as well?" Aimee asked and I looked at her.
"Give me life, give me pain, give me myself again." I quoted and Aimee looked at me.
"No one knows who she demanded the return of her self from, it could have been a deity, it could have been that man who tried to smother her fire. But Tori Amos demanded it all back the same, and she had the guts to steal it back and in that her passion soared." I explained to Aimee, and she smiled again at me.
"She is a brilliant songwriter and a philosopher in one." I finalized with an answer to her question as an afterthought.
"She must be very strong of spirit to make such demands of forces greater than herself." I laughed and sighed before turning to open the door, pausing before leaving and looked back at her.
"She had to be strong, because the world wanted her to shut up." I said and left the room. I tapped the play icon and began walking toward the Training Yard to begin another day of practice and learning.
Wondering what I would discover I could do today, I slid down a railing at the stairs on my butt and skipped the next song as I landed on my feet gracefully at the bottom, a man with a heavy tray filled with fruit passed by and I grabbed an apple off it. Unable to hear his protests, I took a bite and did a quick turn on the ball of my foot and continued to walk the corridors.
I said I would walk, I never promised to behave.
I glanced down at my phone and finished my apple, stuck in a quandary as where to put the core, I panicked for a moment when a woman with a cart of food scraps walked by a window, I chucked the core onto the cart behind my back and slid down another railing, glancing down at my phone and not paying attention when I crashed into a brick wall with blond hair walking up the stairs with Volstagg at the bottom.
"Ow." I said sardonically as my phone skidded to a halt against a guard's foot, he bent and picked it up and looked confused at the device as it continued playing music from the earbuds.
The two of us were a tangle of body parts and my left leg was pinned under Thor who caused me to cry out in pain as he shifted and crushed my ankle accidentally, causing him to panic and crush it worse. I yelped again and tried to pull away, but he was heavier than me and the Guard came forward and held Thor still to prevent him form hurting me further. I laid back and put my head back in the ground and breathed away the panic and pain in me.
I kicked with my free leg and pushed his weight the way I needed it to go to free my leg. Volstagg helped me up and I tested my leg gingerly to see if it could hold my weight, and waved the guard over and turned off the phone and put it into my pouch.
"Many apologies Lady." Volstagg said as I took a few steps to test the ankle and stretched the knee gingerly, I turned to see Thor standing to the side struggling with something to say.
"It's fine," I said and patted Volstagg's shoulder politely and looked down. "My fault really, I should have been paying more attention."
Thor stepped forward and put his hand out and my instincts made me jerk back reflexively and he closed his hand on the air and let it fall to his side. Thor looked hurt briefly, but managed to stop and he took a breath and let it out. He stepped back silently, giving me room to pass him and I walked on scratching at the back of my hand nervously.
Around the corner and out of sight, I processed everything and mentally kicked myself for not paying attention. That whole exchange could have ended badly, and I wanted to check around the corner to see if they were still standing there. Instead I pulled my phone out of the pouch and checked it and was happy it was not broken, I really needed to take better care of my phone. I doubt they had a Verizon outlet here, they don't even have a Starbucks and that was irritating enough.
Seriously, I thought Starbucks was everywhere. They build them across the street from other Starbucks for fucks sake.
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I sat on a bench to the side of the ring in the Training Yard, ignoring the other warriors who did a bit of catcalling as I walked by. A couple made comments about their private parts being bigger than my feet, and I rolled my eyes and blew it off hiding my irritation as they went about their training.
"Thor and Odin would be very upset if I tell them about your crudeness." I threatened, and the men went about their practice but some glances and rude gestures still came my way. I was ignored as I waited for the most part when Loki walked through the archways and shot a look that was pure venom at one warrior who made a comment about "Breaking me with his passions," I grinned and noticed he was carrying a couple of books with him and I closed my game of Fruit Ninja as he sat down next to me on the bench and sighed.
"You ran into Thor." He said, it was not a question.
"Not on purpose." I said as he handed me the two books he was carrying, and I glanced down at the leather bound book. I opened t the title page, and read the Latin script. The other book was my copy of The Martin, and I set them both aside.
"I thought you would find the book useful, it is a philosophical text written six thousand years ago. Old, but still pertinent." He said and sighed as two warriors flexed obviously showing off for my benefit, I ignored them and put the two books into my pouch and pulled out the two that were there.
"I enjoyed the story in the book you allowed me to read, the ending was quite exciting." He said and turned and looked at me with a smile. "The science is sound?"
I nodded, and looked back at him as I fastened the clasp on the pouch and handed him the two books I brought down for him. He set his book aside, and studied the cover of the one I had brought.
"I thought you would like this one." I said as he looked at the cover of Cloud Atlas. "It is the story of intersecting lives and how nothing is chance, the characters are reborn into different eras in different timelines, and eventually their interactions shape the final future in the end." I said as he opened the book to a random page and glanced down at it, turning the pages and finding a passage I highlighted in the tortured book, his eyes followed it as I watched him.
"Our lives and our choices, each encounter, suggest a new potential direction." He read out loud and I felt a bit uncomfortable and shifted. "Yesterday my life was headed in one direction. Today it is headed in another. Fear, belief, love, phenomena that determined the course of our lives. These forces begin long before we are born and continue long after we perish. Yesterday, I believe I would have never have done what I did today. I feel like something important has happened to me. Is this possible?"
Loki closed the book and held it in his palms, sandwiched in his long fingered hands and slowly turned his body to me and looked up at my face. I suddenly felt like I had stepped into unfamiliar territory, and crossed a boundary I was never supposed to.
"You marked this passage in the narrative, why?" He asked me and I licked my lips nervously as I tried to look causal and shrugged.
"I liked it," I said and picked at the wooden bench seat with my thumbnail nervously. "It explores the concept of fate and the driving forces behind human nature and choice. It ponders the question that has plagued humanity for eons, what is the exact purpose of life, is we just born to die, or do we exist for some greater purpose? It elaborates on the question of if it is free will and choice that guides us, or if we are guided by some external force that is beyond our control. Some semblance of fate, and when we close our eyes on out last days, will any of it matter." I replied and he looked at me, really seeing who I was under the tough front I put up. I became afraid and felt so very naked under his stare, and I shrugged again to hide myself.
"It is pretty dumb." I said. "You don't have to read it if you think it is."
"Who put this furniture in your head?" He asked me and I blinked a bit thinking he was disappointed by my thoughts.
"No one," I said and leaned back against the wall, and studied the grain in the planks of wood that made up the floor of the walkway and sighed.
"My ideas are really stupid sometimes." I sighed and he turned away and put the books on the bench as he looked at the yard in front of us.
"No," Loki said and took in a breath. "You are introspective, and that is a rare trait for women, keep your thoughts and nurture them. I find you interesting in that respect."
I looked at his back and debated what he said being a compliment, it felt weird for a guy to say I was interesting because I had half a brain and I liked it in a weird way. It felt good to be seen as more than a thing that just existed by another being. I leaned forward and rested my elbows on my knees and felt this weird need to clear a part of my soul.
"I always was a terrible student because I thought for myself. The teachers tried to make me memorizes facts, and I was stumbling through the dark looking for the abstract cause. History was the worst for me, because I wanted to understand the human nature that guided events, what fear or anger caused the events that shaped Earth and the human race. What was the motivation, was it greed? Was it stupidity? Why didn't people just sit down and talk? I wanted to find the hidden gray areas that fell between the black and the white."
"And this caused trouble for you?" He asked me and I laughed to myself as he frowned at me.
"Oh yeah," I shook my head and laughed a bit more. "More than you can imagine."
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The Presence stood before the Kree Supreme Intelligence and ran his hand over his bald head, wiping some of the mist that collected there away. He took in the chaos of his surroundings emotionlessly, and faced the man in his robes as they walked. Their home world of Hala was nearly decimated by centuries of war and stripped of most of its resources, sadly barren due to their greed. Fortunately it was not their planet he was interested in, but their military might.
"This girl is a weapon, this small human?" The Supreme intelligence questioned, his blue skin glinting as the mist collected on his skin from above, he looked away in thought and was weighing his options for how to best proceed. The Presence waited patiently, and folded his hands behind his back.
"How powerful of a weapon is she?" The Presence smiled and studied his companions face carefully and blandly smiled.
"Powerful enough to destroy all of the enemies of the Kree." He replied and not once in his conversation with the Supreme Intelligence did he blink the black orbs that served as eyes.
"The Kree do not wish war with the Asgardians though, it may be folly at this time to become hostile with them."
"Wise as always, Supreme Intelligence." He replied to him, playing to his ego. "All I require is one ship and one full regiment, I separate the girl from her protectors and then I bring here so that you may use her to end Xandar." The Presence watched the Supreme Intelligence and ignored the cool breeze that fluttered his black robes.
"Should I agree, what will happen to the girl? Asgard will declare war. Odin is not one to take open hostilities quietly and we will possibly require her again, maybe just the threat of using her will back them down." He asked thoughtfully and looked directly into the eyes of The Presence, having to jerk away and pretend to study a flowering plant. Desperately trying to hide form the soulless blackness he saw in those orbs.
"Leave that to me." He replied and the Supreme Intelligence thought deeply as he looked into the deep orange bloom in front of him. The problems caused by the actions of Ronan the Accuser still fresh on the minds of Nova Corps and a treaty between Xandar and Hala was currently in peril.
To end Nova Corps and to make Nova Prime scream would be a wonderful revenge for the humiliation he had so recently suffered, and to possess the strongest weapon in creation was a tempting offer. He closed his eyes in thought, and tilted his head back as he turned the offer over in his mind, weighing every benefit and every cost carefully. His decision made, he opened his eyes and turned to the strange being.
"I will grant you your one ship, and also you your one Regiment. Bring the girl….this human, this Illendrial to me. Together we will watch Xandar burn and I will reward you as we take Asgard afterwards."
The Presence smiled as the Supreme Intelligence looked directly at him, and he clapped his hand on the blue man's shoulder. He was looking forward to destroying the girl, absorbing her powers and making them his own. He could hear screams somewhere in the Universe and let them slip over his lips and onto his tongue, savoring them like fine wine.
"I am so pleased we could agree on this." He said and bowed regally to the Intelligence, but in the back of his mind he could not wait to taste the screams of the Kree.
So many worlds to lay waste to, all he needed was the power.
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My arm was beyond sore as I swung the sword up above my head in a block before Loki could bring his down on me, the dust of the arena kicked up under our feet and I pivoted around to dodge a thrust. He advanced on me again as I took deep breaths and wiped my face before the sweat could fall into my eyes and he swung his sword at my neck as I jumped and reappeared behind him and placing the tip of my sword between his shoulder blades, winning this sparring match again.
"Checkmate man, I got you there." I said and he turned on me, and grinned as he swung around and disarmed me expertly, and I ducked back as he put the sword over my heart.
"I beg to differ." He said and I laughed as he rolled his eyes.
"I still won," I pointed at the chalk marks on the board behind me as and another tic mark was put under my name. "You cheated."
The warriors paid out bets placed again, and I laughed as Loki rolled his eyes. About three hours ago, the men dropped their own training and began watching us with keen interest. It was about the third sparring match that they began placing bets, and cheering the bouts. Even their master looked on watching, the two of us carefully and placed a few bets himself as we both circled.
I walked over and picked up my sword and leaned it against my leg as I took an offered cup of water from one warrior and a cloth from another to wipe my face on. I handed it back to him and he brought it up to his nose and pressed it against his heart, I rolled my eyes at the gesture and sipped the water from the cup, the warriors behind me chanted for another go and I shook my head. There was no way I could go another round at this point, my arm screamed in pain and I was exhausted.
"Getting tired?" Loki asked me as he put his sword in a rack and I finished the water in the cup and handed it back to the man who gave it to me.
"Yes, and my arm is killing me." I said gingerly flexing it and corrected myself again. "It's getting really sore."
Loki sat on the bench and flexed his own arm and watched me, smiling. Another cup was put in my hands and I resisted the urge to throw it at him. I thanked the warrior who gave it to me and their leader shouted at them to get back to their sparring and I laughed. I waved at them and drank the water as I returned my sword to the rack, and heard cheers as one man mimicked me by swinging a sword while on his knees.
"Thanks for pointing out how short I am, not that I am aware of it." I yelled at the warrior and he winked at me while laughing.
"You need to build your stamina Little Mouse." He said as I put the cup on the table and I glared at him as I pointed at the makeshift scorecard behind me. Wincing at a dull ache in my arm that was exacerbated by the movement, and I walked over and sat exhausted on a stool.
"I still say that is biased." He quipped and I rolled my eyes and blew out a breath, puffing out my cheeks and he looked at me mildly concerned.
"You will sleep well tonight." He said as a Paige entered the Training Yard and handed Loki a sealed letter, he took it and the Paige bowed and left his shy eyes falling onto me and I blushed as he smiled at me. Loki turned over the letter and opened it, breaking the ornate wax seal and read it and frowned at me giving off an open sigh in annoyance as he sat on the stool.
"Girlfriend dump you?" I teased him and he rolled his eyes. "It could be worse; she could have just taken all your stuff and sent you a text from the road. I've seen it happen, it sucks. Count your blessings, I should warn you though, I suck at the sympathy thing."
"I could be so lucky," He said and finished reading.
"Odin has formally invited you to dine with him in the Great Hall to celebrate your arrival the day after tomorrow." He sighed and passed me the letter and I read it freaking out, my heart hammering off my chest again as I read the entire invitation. I may or may not have been looking for a loophole.
"Oh no." I said and looked up at him. "Is this one of those things where I get paraded around like a prized horse, and there are twenty forks that no one knows what to do with?"
He rubbed his palms together and smiled at my assessment, finding it funny and not hiding his amusement at it. I groaned and rolled my eyes, I hated this kind of stuff, and I never knew how to act thanks to my social retardation. I folded the letter back up and groaned as I threw my head back again and buried my face in my hands.
"Start from the outside and work your way in with the forks." He said and took the letter back from me, tucking it into one of the books. I looked at him as he walked away. A sinking feeling filled me, and I scratched at the back of my hand nervously as I stood up and rushed after him.
"Wait, you are not coming?" I asked and he turned and looked at my hands and sighed. I quickly stopped and looked at him, hiding my hands behind my back.
"Your name is in the invite, you have to be there." I said and stepped in front of him, he looked down at me and sighed heavily.
"No, there are things I must attend to that evening, and I do not wish to watch all of Asgard throw themselves at your little feet." He replied and handed me the folded letter from in the books as he stepped around me and I nearly slapped him, settling for groaning and turning instead.
"No way Magic Dance." I said and shook my head.
"You are not throwing me to the wolves, this ship is sinking and you are so going down with me. This newest form of torture is on you too." I crossed my arms over my chest and tried putting on extra sass to show him I was not going to give up as I cut him off again. He looked at me amused and rolled his eyes, his body language non verbally told me he was not going to budge either. If I had to suffer through that evening, he was going to suffer along with me.
"You can't threaten me girl, do not try." He said and walked to the door, shifting up the books under his arm as I rushed to follow him up the stairs. I caught up to him and fell into step with him. I hurried along next to him as he purposefully walked ahead and I groaned with the effort.
"There is your mistake, and will you slow down? Your like all legs, for every step you take I take two." I said and he slowed his pace politely, I looked at him as he walked, he looked at me as I fell into step next to him to make my point made.
"I have millions of years of female evolution on my side and women are a secret society. If you even think, that you are sending me in there alone, I will so sick Sif on you." I threatened and wagged my finger at him and he stopped and looked at me slightly annoyed.
"Not very frightening Little Mouse," He said and patted the top of the head. "A very good attempt though, I was nearly frightened there by your threat for a moment. But alas, it passed."
He had finally crossed the line in making short jokes, and I was not going to let him off the hook on that one. Calling me Little Mouse was one thing, but patting me on the head was where I drew the line. I reached into my pouch as he began walking again and wrapped my hand around the cloth bundle I had made the night before from the one thing I had in my makeup kit I hated using because I spent about a month after using it washing it off of me, so I used it sparingly and only on special occasions.
I opened the pouch of silver glitter and poured some into the palm of my hand, as Fandral, Sif, Thor, and Volstagg walked around the corner and I rushed to catch back up with Loki as he walked on. I meant to use the glitter as a punishment if Fandral continued to flirt on me, but that short joke was too much for me to ignore and it deserved a special kind of wrath.
"I am going to give you one more chance, you can agree or else. But then I will use my secret weapon." I threatened and he spun around on me and looked down at me, regarding me with mild amusement as he rolled his eyes and pinched his lips together.
"Little Mouse, as much as I hate disappointing you, which is a lie in itself, my answer remains irrevocably….No." He said and leaned over to me so his nose was inches from mine, and I smiled sheepishly at him. I brought my hand up to my face with a smirk and took in a deep breath and opened it so he could see the contents of my palm before I gave him a Baptism of Stupid.
"What is…." Loki got out before I blew the handful of glitter right into his face, spraying him thoroughly with the Herpes of the arts and Crafts world. Behind me, the group of four, who was watching our argument, fell into a sudden and deafening silence as the last of the sparkles settled into his clothes and hair.
"Answer still no?" I asked and stood my ground as four people struggled not to laugh and Loki slowly started to turn a shade of purple I had never seen a human being turn before as a vein appeared in his forehead. I suddenly felt the world drop out from under my feet and I wanted to haul ass in every sense of the words. My smile faded and panic choked me as it wrapped a hand around my throat.
"What…..did…..what did you do?" He stammered out and I took a tentative step back as his jaw tightened and one of his hands tightened into a white knuckled fist.
"Oh shit." I said and started to run, but his hand shot out and grabbed my arm. My palms began sweating and I brought my arms up as I readied myself for a blow that was on its way and braced for impact as every alarm bell in my head went off.
"I am not giving in Little Mouse, but you will have something equally horrible coming your way for this transgression. I will collect you outside your chambers that evening, and I pick your dress." He hissed and my eyes popped open in surprise and looked at him as he let go of my arm with a slight shove and turned to walk away.
"You are really going to hate me later when you try to get that stuff off of you." I said, poking the bear with a very sharp stick and he ignored me as he stalked away quietly. He left a trail of silver glitter as he walked, and I watched as the sparkles settled in his wake. I sank to my knees and let my heart stop hammering in my chest as four people erupted into hysterical laughter and I looked over to see Sif trying to catch her breath desperately, as I stood up using a wall for support.
Even Thor looked amused at what had happened, and I carefully kept my glitter filled palm in front of me as I tried not to cry from the fear I let Loki see in my eyes a few moment s ago.
"That was brilliant!" Fandral exclaimed and walked forward to hug me and I put a finger up in warning to stop him, and he surprisingly took the warning and backed off.
"I have more of that stuff Fandral, and I am not afraid to use it." I said and he backed away with his palms out as Sif laughed, doubling over and holding her stomach as she howled with laughter.
"You probably chose an unwise path Lady." Thor said and shook his head, but still smiled at me.
"Only a fool would choose to provoke him by attacking his vanity and ego."
I resisted the urge to take a cheap shot at Thor for smacking me, and I patted him on the chest with my glitter covered hand in a bit of passive aggressive revenge. I looked down at the floor as I did this, knowing somewhere I was going to have to face the music with Loki. But for the time being I was just looking for my voice in a bit of trepidation standing next to Thor. His hand came up and held mine briefly, and I gave him a nervous smile while cursing myself for forgetting Loki's advice and thought quickly on my feet for something to say.
"Yeah man," I said, playing it cool.
"No hard feelings to you either." I took a few seconds there and made sure there was some glitter transfer from my hand to his.
Hey, not even I am above revenge.
"I never apologized for my actions." He said and the rest of the watched the exchange quietly and I shook my head, looking up at his eyes I saw his apology in them, wrapped in the confusion.
"Sometimes, friends just forgive each other without having to say they are sorry. It is a cool thing." I said and he smiled down at me.
I then sprung out and wrapped him in a hug that carried enough force to drop a full grown bear, and he hugged me back and the group laughed a bit as he lifted me up off the ground.
"I will care for you as a sister." He said and I smiled.
"I like that big guy," I said and whispered into his neck so no one could hear. "Do it again though, and I will have a rabid Bilgesnipe eat you."
He gave a deep throated chuckle and let me down as Sif smiled and nodded at me to show I did right, in the back of my head though I knew I had to deal with Loki next and I was really dreading that interaction.