Author's Note: I think this is going to be one of the longer chapters I have posted. I had considered splitting it up into two parts, but since I know the chapter after this is going to be rather short I decided to leave it as it is. You all know what I obviously do not own so I am not going to bother specifying. (If you do wonder whether or not I own something just send me a message.) Reteka Hyuuga I am glad the last chapter made you smile (even if your family gave you strange looks!). I promise we will get some of Loki's opinions on the event in this chapter. FreakyInker I am so glad to hear that you enjoyed Chasing Infinity, and I am equally delighted that you are enjoying this story so far! Your compliment was truly flattering. I am a Jane Austin fan so to say that my writing is reminiscent of her's is truly one of the kindest things you could say! As for the cloaked figure… I would hate to ruin who they were, but yes, they will appear later in the story :) Snow White Queen their affection is soooo obvious, isn't it funny how sometimes it is the most obvious things that slip our notice? I am glad you enjoyed Sigyn's run-in with Odin and Frigga (hehehe see what I did there?). I imagine that Loki was reveling in the whole situation. Haha I had a feeling you weren't referencing Loki's gift of speech, but perhaps Loki isn't ready to go there yet? Yes, telling her older sister about her experience will earn Sigyn plenty of teasing, but lets face it, who could keep something like that secret for long? I had totally forgotten what I had labeled this story under… I honestly have no clue what I should have labeled it! Luckily, I can always change it if it looks as if Loki and Sigyn are pulling me in a different direction! A Nice Person aww thank you! Fluff truly isn't my strength, but hearing you say that I am doing well with it is very encouraging! Your "OH MY GOSH!" post is one of my favorite posts ever! I died laughing, I don't even care if it was an accident it made me happy! I am glad you enjoyed their trip to the library, and yes, we will be seeing how Loki is dealing with the aftermath of their first kiss. :)
Loki leaned against the balcony with his back to the beautiful view of Asgard. Thor, Lady Sif, and the Warriors Three sat around the fire to talk, but Loki preferred the cool of the evening. He could still take part in the conversation from his position against the balustrade, but his mind was slightly distracted. It had been several days since Sigyn had kissed him in the library, and his lips still seemed to burn from the contact. He hadn't heard from her, and he hadn't had the courage to reach out to her himself. Loki had trouble comprehending how such a simple kiss had undone him in such a way. As long as he remained active he was fine, but in moments of stillness his mind would stray back to the feeling of Sigyn's hand on his cheek. In an effort to keep her out of the forefront of his mind he had spent all his free time practicing magic or training. Even Thor had mentioned how motivated he seemed during their sessions. Loki tilted his head back to look at the stars. Thinking about Sigyn was more interesting than what Thor and the others were talking about at the moment so he let his mind drift to her.
"The stars are beautiful this evening." Fandral remarked some time later.
Loki looked down to see the warrior standing next to him.
"Have you tired of the others conversation so soon?" Loki queried.
"Not as soon as you did, but yes. Currently they are discussing which is more useful: a single or double-bladed sword."
"That sounds like a topic you would be well versed in. I am surprised that it doesn't hold your interest." Loki commented.
"Yes, well since I know neither of them are superior to my other sword…" Fandral trailed off with a smile.
Loki let out a chuckle in spite of himself. Despite their constant banter, Loki was fairly certain that was one jest he would not be sharing with Sigyn.
"It is a wonder you bed any decent women with the way you speak." Loki scolded.
"And with the way you speak it is a wonder you don't bed any." Fandral retorted.
"So Sigyn does not count as any?" Loki lied.
"Come now Loki, I am no fool. Despite what the others seem to think, I know you and Sigyn have not been together."
"What makes you so certain?" Loki inquired.
"You look upon her as if she is some forbidden fruit that you can't eat, yet desire to devour."
"That is romantic nonsense." Loki snapped.
Fandral began to chuckle. "Is it? Your defensiveness on the topic does not help your case Loki. Never have I seen the mere mention of someone throw you into such a tizzy. You are clearly frustrated with the situation, but the question is are you frustrated with her for trying to charm you, or yourself for slowly losing the ability to resist her?"
Loki opened his mouth to reply, and then quickly shut it. Why was he so emotional where Sigyn was involved? He had thought that his attraction to her had been purely a physical one that would fade as their friendship grew, but had that really been the case so far? Loki could see Fandral was smirking. Loki's hesitance to answer him was enough proof in Fandral's mind to confirm that he was right.
"You really only have two choices where Sigyn is concerned, Loki. Either you make your move, or you release this ambiguous claim you seem to have on her."
"Ambiguous claim?"
"For months you have refused to take her as your own, yet you still rebuff any other male that tries to get close to her. It is almost as if you are reserving your right to her without actually having the courage to stake your claim."
Courage? Was that why he was fighting this? Was a lack of courage responsible for why he was not allowing himself to accept the more intimate companionship Sigyn had been so willingly offering him? It certainly would take courage to pursue her. What if he had been reading Sigyn's signs incorrectly and she scorned his advances? The burning sensation returned to his lips, and Loki shook off his uncertainty. Sigyn had gone out on a limb to kiss him the way she had. She had taken the chance he seemed so unwilling to take, and he had given her nothing in return. Perhaps that was why he hadn't heard from her these past few days…
"I am going to give you a friendly warning, one gentleman to another, if you don't pursue Sigyn, I will." Fandral stated before slapping Loki on the shoulder and sauntering off to sit with the others once more.
Loki eyed Fandral for a few moments before he made up his mind. He had to see Sigyn, and soon. If he just had one more day with her he might be able to decide once and for all if the emotions he felt towards her were something lasting. He brusquely left the room without a word to Thor and the others, and made his way to his personal chambers. He penned a quick note to Sigyn and dispatched one of the palace servants to deliver it to her. He knew it was a bit late to be sending her a letter, but hopefully she would be up to receive it. If not, that would be fine. Tomorrow would be soon enough for a reply. He had invited her to go riding with him, and only him, at the end of the week. He waited up an hour or so for a response, but none came. He assumed that Sigyn must have been asleep when his note reached her, so he went to bed only slightly disappointed. Her response came right before breakfast the next morning, and Loki was glad to read that she accepted his invitation. The days passed normally, and on the morning they were to go out Sigyn arrived bright and early. They spent the entire morning out riding and returned to the palace only after they had taken lunch. To Loki's surprise, Thor and his friends were waiting for the pair when they reached the stables.
"Loki! Sigyn!" Thor greeted.
"Afternoon brother."
"Good afternoon Thor."
"I was beginning to think you two would be out the entire day." Thor stated.
"Would that have been a problem?" Loki asked.
"Not a problem, no, but I have been anxious to show you both something."
Loki scanned the faces of Lady Sif and the Warriors Three to try to determine what this something could be. They were all smiling or, in the case of Sif and Hogun, smirking. Their faces could hardly betray what Thor was so excited to share, so Loki decided that it was just best to ask Thor.
"Ok, what is it?"
Thor's blue eyes began to sparkle with excitement, but he didn't reply verbally. Instead, he held out his hand expectantly. Loki watched his brother intently, but nothing seemed to be happening. Thor's friends didn't seem to think anything was amiss so Loki held his tongue a moment more. It was Sigyn however, that heard the noise first.
"What is that whirring sound?" She asked aloud.
"I'm not sure…" Loki replied while looking around to see if he could spot the cause of the noise.
The whir became a whoosh, and something burst through one of the walls of the stables. Sif and the Warriors Three gave a little jump in surprise, and Loki pulled Sigyn in to shield her with his body from whatever had come flying through the wall. The horses in the stable were in a panic, and the stable boys were rushing about trying to calm them down again. Loki looked back to his brother to find him smiling and holding a hammer in his hand.
"Mjölnir…" Loki muttered.
"Mjölnir?" Sigyn asked in a confused voice.
"I didn't think father intended to entrust it to you so soon." Loki commented.
"Neither did I." Thor admitted.
Sigyn cleared her throat.
"Would someone care to explain why a hammer just flew through the wall?"
"The hammer is called Mjölnir," Loki began, "it is an enchanted weapon that has been kept inside the weapons vault for as long as I can remember. The AllFather promised it to Thor long ago, and it looks like he decided to make good on that promise."
Thor swung it a few times in his hand, which sent some of the nearby horses into a tizzy again. Sigyn quickly grabbed Thor's arm, and Loki's heart almost stopped as Mjölnir barely missed slamming into her head.
"I would not recommend swinging that in here, My Prince."
It was a nicely couched scolding, though Thor didn't realize that. He did stop swinging the hammer about though, and smiled.
"You are right Lady Sigyn. Perhaps you and Loki would like to join us? I was going to show Sif and the Warriors Three some of Mjölnir's tricks." Thor offered.
Loki didn't want to admit it, but he was actually a bit curious to see what Mjölnir's capabilities were.
Sigyn released Thor's arm.
"We would love to, though I think your stable boys could use my help at the moment…"
Loki looked around. Sigyn was right, the palace stable hands were a bit outmatched.
"Loki can go with you now, and I will join you in a little while. I need to at least ensure Roan is settled down." Sigyn pressed.
Thor agreed to Sigyn's idea, so Loki found himself walking to one of the training areas with his brother and his friends. Fandral quickly placed himself next to Loki.
"Perhaps this is just romantic nonsense, but did I see you shielding Lady Sigyn with your body?"
"Perhaps." Loki admitted grudgingly.
"And does that reflect on your final decision regarding Sigyn?" Fandral pried.
"I have yet to make my final decision regarding Sigyn."
"Well you better hasten your decision. Time is slipping away Loki."
The group reached a clear area where Thor would cause slightly less damage should something go wrong. Fandral lounged out upon the ground while Volstagg, Hogun, and Sif took a seat on some stairs. Loki found a guard rail to lean on and watched as Thor swung his new weapon about. Its high speeds could create fairly strong winds, which gave Loki an idea.
"Try swinging it above your head Thor." He yelled out to his brother.
"Above my head, why?" Thor asked.
"Trust me, just try it."
Thor shrugged his shoulders, but tried it anyway. Loki smirked as the momentum of Thor's swing began to cause his feet to lift off the ground ever so slightly. Surprised, Thor stopped swinging and landed rather clumsily back on the ground.
"Good call Loki." Fandral noted.
"I can fly?" Thor asked a little confused.
"I would hardly call it flying, but it is probably as close as you can come to it." Loki remarked.
Thor tried it again, and was able to lift off the ground even higher this time. The utter joy of this new realization shone in Thor's eyes, which caused Loki to smile. There were times when he would be willing to give anything to be so easily amused.
"How hard does it hit on impact?" Sif asked.
"I'm not sure. Would you like to find out?" Thor asked with a smile.
Sif smiled and nodded back.
Thor took a leap into the air and brought Mjölnir down on the ground. The shockwave of the impact was enough to throw Loki a little off-balance, but he knew that it would be nothing compared to the shockwave it would create when Thor grew stronger. The hammer left a small little crater and Volstagg whistled in awe.
"That is impressive." The rather large warrior commented.
"It is, but you haven't even seen the best thing yet." Thor remarked with a grin.
"Well stop with the suspense and show us then!" Fandral charged.
With that, Thor raised Mjölnir in the air and a crack of lightning split the clear afternoon sky. Loki flinched at the rather loud crack of thunder, and other people in the area reacted rather violently to the unexpected occurrence. If Thor merely swinging his hammer around had startled the horses, Loki couldn't imagine what the sudden clap of thunder on a clear day had done. The image of the stable hands sprinting about trying to calm down the frantic animals was slightly amusing to Loki till he remembered that Sigyn was there with them. There was no doubt that Sigyn was skilled with horses, but something told Loki that he should check on her anyways. He turned to leave, but he didn't manage to get away unnoticed.
"Loki! Where are you going?" Thor called out.
"To check on Sigyn. She should have joined us by now."
"Well hurry back brother."
Loki didn't hurry to the stables since he didn't think anything was actually wrong. The closer he drew the more he noticed the whinnying of the startled horses, but the sounds seemed to be under control. A young stable boy sprinting in Loki's direction was what first clued him into the trouble that had occurred. He stopped the boy before he could run past him.
"Where are you heading so urgently?" He asked not unkindly.
The boy looked annoyed to be stopped on his errand, but he bowed to the Prince anyways.
"To the healers. The strange lightening spooked the horses pretty badly. The Lady managed to calm Sleipnir, but one of the other horses bucked up and struck her in the head."
The Lady? Sigyn! Loki sent the boy sprinting to the healers and ran the rest of the distance to the stables. Loki could see the chaos in the stables as they came into view. There were people running about trying to relocate the horses from the stalls that had been destroyed from Thor's hammer crashing through them. Loki grabbed the first stable boy he could find and demanded to know where Sigyn was. The boy swiftly led him to where Sigyn was being watched by two other boys. She was lying on several bales of unused hay, and Loki assumed that the boys had moved her there.
"How is she?" He asked.
The boys jumped up and bowed awkwardly.
"I'm not sure Prince Loki. She took a fairly nasty blow to the head. We sent someone to fetch a healer." The elder of the two stable boys explained.
Loki nodded before kneeling where Sigyn lay. Her breathing looked normal enough, but it was tough to see where the wound on her head was in the dim of the stables.
"Has she woken since she was hit?"
"No, m'Lord." The same stable boy replied.
"I need to get her outside, I can't see the wound well enough in here." Loki determined.
Loki picked her up as gingerly as he could and carried her out of the stables. The two boys followed him out and watched as he laid her on the grass. Loki immediately noted that there was a steady stream of blood coming from a hidden wound on her head.
"Tell me precisely what happened." Loki commanded as he began to search for the injury.
"The Lady had been helpin us soothe the horses when you left. We had just gotten them calmed down when she saw Sleipnir. We had been taking him out of his stall to groom him when you and the Lady arrived from your ride. She asked if she could help, and we didn't see a problem with it since she had already proven to be good around the horses. He took to her right off and everything was fine till that thunder came out a nowhere. Sleipnir got a bit spooked, but the Lady got him calmed down soon enough. It was the other horse that we were groomin that bucked up and knocked her in the head."
Loki finally located the laceration, and focused his magic on trying to close the wound. Warmth radiated from his fingertips as the gash closed up under his touch. Her breathing still looked normal, but he was no healer so her lack of consciousness still bothered him.
"Loki!" Thor's booming voice called.
He and the others were running to where Loki was cradling Sigyn.
"We intercepted the boy running to get the healers and came right away. How is she?" The elder Prince asked.
"She's fine, I think." Loki replied.
He licked the pad of his thumb and began to rub the blood away from Sigyn's forehead. She began to stir under that soft motion and relief began to fill Loki. Her eyes fluttered open and met his with a hazy gaze.
"Loki?" She asked in confusion.
"How do you feel?" He asked.
"Like I was kicked in the head by a horse." She replied tartly.
She tried to sit up too quickly, and immediately fell back onto Loki's chest as the blood rushed to her head.
"I think I was able to heal the gash on your head, but the healers are on their way." Loki informed her.
"Thank you." Sigyn replied.
She closed her eyes, and Loki suddenly found himself wishing that she would open them again. A small part of him was concerned that she might lose consciousness a second time. He let her rest against him till the healers arrived, at which point they began to give her a cursory look over. They seemed impressed with his healing of the wound, and determined that she was going to be perfectly fine. They recommended that she take it easy the rest of the evening and Loki forced her to promise that she would.
"I am glad you are not seriously wounded." Loki stated as he helped Sigyn to slowly stand.
"Well I wouldn't say that. My pride has taken quite the blow." She lamented.
"You were kicked in the head by a horse My Lady, that is nothing to sneer at." Fandral pointed out.
"It could have been much worse." Volstagg added. "If it had kicked you in the temple it could have killed you."
Sigyn shrugged. "I suppose you are right."
Loki tilted her chin up so he could get a better view of her face. Her long hair was riddled with straw and a bit matted down with blood in several places, but that was the only physical evidence left from her accident. Loki needed Sigyn, there was no doubt about that in his mind any more, but seeing her unconscious form had made something very clear to him. Sigyn needed him too, and with this realization he made his final decision.
"You know, we never did finish that conversation the other day in the library."
Sigyn blushed.
"Really? I thought we had quite finished it." She replied.
"Well perhaps you had finished speaking your peace, but I was far from done." He returned.
Without giving Sigyn any warning he leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. His kiss was just as soft as Sigyn's, but it lacked her naiveté. He pulled back slightly waiting to see if Sigyn would accept his advances.
"Is that truly all you have to say?" She whispered.
"Do you disapprove?" He asked a little fearfully.
"I suppose I was just expecting…more." She breathed.
Loki grinned as Sigyn's serious face finally betrayed the smirk she had been trying to hide. If Sigyn wanted more he would certainly give it to her, so he brought his lips to hers once again. She let her hands rest on his chest, and Loki thought the light contact would drive him mad. He assumed that everyone in the vicinity was gaping at them. Such public displays of intimate affection were not common in Asgardian culture, but Loki didn't care. He was going to make his claim on her where everyone could see. He could leave no doubt in anyone's mind as to whom Sigyn belonged.
