Loki tried to wake Sigyn from whatever nightmare haunted her, but his attempts to still her agitated tossing and turning only incited her to strike out against him.
"I shouldn't have allowed it to get this far." He cursed to himself.
He was eventually able to pin her arms down and her legs became too tangled in the sheets to do him any harm.
"Sigyn!"
Her body stilled, but he wasn't sure if it was because of the sound of his voice or because of some sort of lull in her nightmare. Whatever the case, Loki took the moment of peace to try to wake his wife.
"Sigyn, you need to wake up darling."
He placed his free hand on her cheek and found it to be rather warm. Sigyn's brow furrowed, and Loki thought that she must be starting to wake.
"Its all right, My Love, I am here. Nothing can harm you."
Sigyn's eyes fluttered open and she began to tear up when she made eye contact with him.
"Loki?" She asked, her voice barely audible.
Loki released her arms and pulled her up to rest on his chest. He didn't speak at first, he simply allowed Sigyn to cry onto him. Loki only pulled back to look at Sigyn once she calmed down a bit. She brushed the last of her tears away and Loki tucked a few stubborn strands of hair behind her ear.
"Better now?" He enquired.
"A little."
"Tell me what your nightmare was about, and don't you dare say that it was nothing."
Sigyn looked down at Loki's chest and drew circles there with her finger.
"It was just a nightmare."
"It was not just a nightmare Sigyn. You have been restless in your sleep for a week now, and tonight you gave me a few bumps and bruises. Whatever this nightmare is, you can't seem to rid yourself of it."
"It is just that preposterous story about the serpent and me holding the baisin… except I wasn't holding a basin I just let it bite me… and I died, at least I am pretty certain I died."
Loki tilted Sigyn's face up to look at him.
"Tell me all of it, Sigyn, every detail that you can remember."
Sigyn gave him as detailed an account as she could, and he quickly began to see why the nightmare affected her so badly. It was nothing short of ghastly. It was true that the story from the Prose was disturbing, but Sigyn's recounting delved into the sheer brutality and raw emotions connected to the tale that the Prose did not.
"We are not reading anything else from that wretched book." Loki determined once she had finished speaking.
"But it's our only lead on Hel!" Sigyn protested.
"Not anymore it isn't. I inquired about her when we visited Brogar. He didn't know anything of a women by that name, but he did claim that there was a city in Niflheim that was called that."
"The Realm of the Dead? Why is there a city in the Realm of the Dead?"
"I don't know, I suppose they have to live… well… exist somewhere."
Sigyn gave a tired sigh and placed her head on his chest again. She was exhausted, and it was no wonder since she had barely slept for an entire week.
"We won't be going to Midgard tomorrow." He stated somewhat reluctantly.
Sigyn's head shot up again.
"What do you mean we aren't going to Midgard? We have been planning this excursion for a week!"
"I know, but you are exhausted Sigyn. There is no way you will enjoy yourself if you can barely keep your eyes open. I'm not saying that we won't go at all, we just aren't going tomorrow."
Sigyn's eyes took on a disappointed look, but he knew that she grudgingly agreed with his reasoning.
"Very well, we shan't go tomorrow…" Sigyn concurred before resting her head back on his chest.
"We still have a few more days left till our four weeks of seclusion are at an end, we can go on one of those days instead." Loki offered.
Sigyn merely nodded her head in reply, and Loki looked down to see her eyes shut. Her body went limp in his arms and Loki began to relax. He hoped Sigyn would be able to sleep soundly now that she had shared her nightmare with him. Very gently her laid her back down on the bed, and he then took his place next to her. He watched her sleep for a little while to make sure that her nightmare didn't return before he allowed himself to drift off as well. The sun was just peeking over Asgard's skyline when Loki awoke. He ran a hand through his tangled hair before carefully sitting up. Sigyn was still fast asleep, and Loki hoped that his stirring didn't wake her. Fortunately, Sigyn didn't seem to be disturbed by his movement. He slipped out of bed, dressed for the day, and had a servant go fetch breakfast all before Sigyn even began to wake up. Not wishing to make any noise, Loki took a seat on their couch with the intention of reading. He reached for one of his book of spells, but stopped when he saw the Prose Edda sitting next to it. After a moment of deliberation, Loki grabbed the Midgardian tome instead. He flipped the book open in search of the story with the serpent and Sigyn, and read the small passage again. Sigyn's mind had certainly embellished the tale, but as Loki re-read the passage over and over he couldn't help but think that her version seemed to be the more likely of the two incarnations… wait…
The more likely of the two incarnations?
Why would he even think that?! These were not accounts of a real event, but figments of people's wild imaginations. Loki closed the book none to gently and tossed it on the table in front of him. He looked back towards his sleeping wife, and then back to the book. It would appear that now he was the one reading too much into the story.
Still… he was rather curious to see what exactly happened after his story counterpart was punished for his crimes.
Loki gave a second look towards Sigyn and, finding her still asleep, picked up the Prose Edda once more. It didn't take him long to read through the author's description of the downfall of the Æsir, and he placed the book back on the table in front of him once he finished. Apparently even the Midgardian's liked to blame him for everything too; of course he had already determined that from their other myths. A knock came from the bedroom door and Loki went to answer it. A servant girl stood outside the door with Loki and Sigyn's breakfast tray, and Loki relieved her of her burden. She was off down the hall before Loki could even thank her. Loki placed the tray on the table in front of the couch and hid the Prose Edda amongst the contents of his chest to keep Sigyn from reading it when he wasn't looking. That task complete, Loki set about waking his wife up. He took a seat on the edge of the bed and studied her sleeping face. He wasn't so sentimental as to say that Sigyn looked beautiful when she slept, but with her tangled hair and child-like wiggling he thought that she looked darling. An endearing countenance that did little to warn strangers of the fiery vixen that lay underneath. Loki placed a hand on her cheek and Sigyn unconsciously nuzzled it.
"Breakfast is here." He informed her.
Sigyn replied with a little sigh before stretching out her legs and making a high-pitched squealing sound. Loki smirked at Sigyn's little wakeup routine and let his hand travel from her cheek to her waist.
"Did you sleep well?" He asked.
"Yes, the second time I fell asleep."
"Did you dream again? I watched you for a little while, and you seemed peaceful enough."
"No, I did not dream again."
"Good."
One of Sigyn's hands came up to rest on Loki's arm, and she began to stroke it absent-mindedly.
"What shall we do today since we decided to postpone our trip to Midgard?"
"Well we can start by eating our breakfast, after that… well after that we can just see where our desires take us."
"If we let our desires do the decision making we will likely find ourselves back in bed." Sigyn retorted.
"Not necessarily, there are many places my desires would like to take you." Loki countered before standing and going over to the couch.
He didn't even hear Sigyn get out of bed, but felt her bare arms wrap around his shoulders.
"And where are all of these places? Are they exciting?"
"With my desires being the leader, you know they must be."
"Tell me about them." She whispered tantalizingly.
"Eat your breakfast, and perhaps I will."
Sigyn placed a kiss on his cheek before bouncing around to the front of the couch and plopping down next to him. She certainly had a lot of energy for someone who hadn't been sleeping well… or she was acting so silly because of her sleepiness. Loki leaned towards the latter option. They ate their breakfast quickly, and no sooner had Loki placed his empty plate back on the tray did he find her crawling up unto his lap.
"Loki?" Sigyn drawled out childishly.
"Yes?" Loki replied a bit skeptically.
Any time Sigyn used that tone of voice he knew that she wanted something.
"I was wondering if you would teach me how to fight."
Loki was a bit startled by the request since he had been expecting her to ask him if they could go sneaking off somewhere they weren't supposed to.
"You already know how to fight." Loki pointed out.
"I know how to throw a dagger…"
"That counts as fighting."
"Yes, I know, but that skill will only be useful if my attacker is at a distance. What if they aren't? What will I do then?"
Sigyn had a point. Her dagger throwing skills wouldn't do her much good in close combat, but then again when would she ever have to experience close combat?
"Then I'll be there to protect you."
Sigyn gave Loki an un-amused look.
"And what if you aren't there to protect me?" She pressed.
"Why wouldn't I be there? Do you plan on going off to do some dangerous exploring all on your own?"
"No, but you can't always be here to protect me Loki. I have no doubt that you intend to go back and work for Odin and the War Council once our month alone is complete, which means there will be many days and nights when I am alone."
"True, but I still don't see why you would need to protect yourself. You live within the palace walls now. Even if I was gone on an assignment and someone were to attack the palace, a highly unlikely scenario mind you, there would be guards sent to protect you, not to mention my brother, Sif, and the Warriors Three."
"And when we no longer live in the palace?" Sigyn pressed.
Loki stopped to ponder Sigyn's point. She was referring to the estate that he would be given upon Thor's coronation, which would pass to her according to their marriage contract. She was pointing out that there would come a time in the not so distant future when they would no longer claim the palace as their permanent home.
"You could spend those times when I am gone here. It would not seem odd seeing as you have a close relationship with my mother. People would just assume you were coming to visit her."
Sigyn scrunched her nose up in distaste.
"Loki I refuse to go running to the safety of the palace every time you go away."
Loki gave a frustrated huff.
"This is a pointless argument Sigyn. There is not even any need for you to protect yourself. You are not in any danger…"
"… I have simply come with a warning. Sigyn is in danger."
Hel's words rang through his mind. Sigyn was in danger. Well at least according to Hel she was, but why should Loki trust Hel's words? It was likely the strange woman was just trying to get inside his head.
"I might not be in danger now Loki, but you have enemies, and if you continue working for the War Council you will only create more."
"Yes, but they will be just that. My enemies. You needn't worry yourself about them."
"Are you so certain about that Loki? If any of your enemies were able to trace your identity, then I would be in a great deal of danger. They would find it to be all too easy to use me to get to you."
For the second time that morning Loki found himself grappling with an idea that he probably should have already considered. He had been found out and tortured by his enemies once, and it had almost killed him. What if he had been married to Sigyn then? Well… he probably wouldn't have been caught in the first place since Theoric wouldn't have figured into the scenario, but for speculation's sake he would look past that fact. If the rock trolls had discovered his identity they very well might have gone after Sigyn, and if they had captured her the result would have been horrific. They would have tortured her mercilessly to bring Loki to them, and that torture would have been nothing compared to what they would have done to her if he had failed in rescuing her and they captured him. At that point the trolls would have tortured her for his sake. While he proved that he wouldn't betray any information he had for his own well being, he very well might have been persuaded to do so to save Sigyn. While his panicked mind might have believed that they would let her go, they wouldn't have. Once the trolls had broken him through Sigyn they wouldn't have had use for either of them, and would have executed them both.
The arm Loki had wrapped around Sigyn's waist tightened noticeably at his morbid train of thought. It wasn't out of the realm of possibility that something like that could happen. Perhaps Sigyn was right. Perhaps she did need to be able to defend herself.
"Very well, you have a valid argument." He relented. "I suppose it would be prudent for you to know how to survive a close combat situation."
"Well you don't have to seem so optimistic about my chances in a fight." Sigyn retorted with no small amount of sarcasm.
Loki didn't allow Sigyn to bait him into an argument, and instead gave her a little nudge to signal that she needed to get up.
"You need to get changed if I am going to train you." He stated.
He rose from the couch after she slipped into the bathroom, and waited by the bedroom door for her to finish. He pulled out one of his daggers, and began to flip it absent-mindedly in the air. His muscles went through the action via muscle memory, while his mind ran through Sigyn's athletic abilities. He would help her come up with a fighting style that played to her strengths just as he had done for himself. Sigyn was pretty quick and had good instincts. As an expert horsewoman she had excellent core strength, and Loki knew she was pretty flexible… though he was pretty certain that he was the only person privy to that information. He assumed she had decent hand-eye coordination, but he would need to put her to the test on that one. The one thing he feared Sigyn would lack was power. Sure, she had strength, but that wasn't the same thing and Loki knew the difference all too well.
He had strength.
Thor had power.
Explosive attacks had never been Loki's strong point, and, given her petite build, he expected they wouldn't be Sigyn's either.
Sigyn finally emerged from the bathroom, and Loki led her to a garden with an open clearing in it. It wasn't the ideal training spot, but it would work for now. The first thing on the agenda was to test her hand-eye coordination and reflexes. Without warning he turned and flipped the dagger he was holding in her direction. Sigyn's eyes widened in shock at the sight of the dagger coming towards her, and she tried to react before it could slam into her head. She reached out to try and catch it, but realized that the way it was currently flipping was going to place the blade end into her palm. With a little squeak she shrank back from the flying weapon and watched it fall to the ground. Loki couldn't resist a little smirk at the reaction, and he could see a little imaginary storm cloud brew over Sigyn's head.
"What was that?" She asked in an indignant tone.
"A start, and a pretty poor one at that." He remarked off-handedly causing Sigyn's scowl to deepen.
"Throwing a knife at me is your idea of a start?!
"It is enchanted Sigyn, it couldn't have actually harmed you." He assured.
"That doesn't matter. A little warning might have been called for."
"Do you think your enemy is going to give you a 'little warning'?"
"No… but you are not my enemy, you are my husband."
"Not in the context of this training. Here, I am your worst enemy." He stated.
Sigyn's eyes narrowed.
"Fine."
"So lesson one, don't expect any sort of forewarning from your enemy…" Loki stated before pulling out a second hidden dagger and throwing it Sigyn's way.
Sigyn caught sight of the dagger quickly, but was still too scared to try and grab it. Instead, she sidestepped the projectile. She looked rather smug with herself, but Loki didn't give her long to gloat. Loki followed her as she sidestepped, and was up behind her with a third dagger to her throat.
"Better, still not good though. What is your next move?"
He could practically hear Sigyn's thoughts as she scrambled for some solution to the problem, but he knew she wouldn't come up with the correct answer fast enough. He hadn't really expected her to; he certainly hadn't the first time it happened to him in his early training. Loki also knew that the most effective way to teach Sigyn how to avoid these types of situations was to teach it the same way he had been taught when he was a beginner. He apologized to Sigyn mentally before speaking.
"Out of time." He stated before applying pressure to Sigyn's carotid artery.
The second her body went limp he released his hold on her neck to avoid causing her any real harm. He gently brought her unconscious body to the ground and began to lightly massage the sides of her neck to help return her blood pressure back to normal. It only took a few moments for Sigyn to begin stirring. Her eyelashes flitted open and Loki smiled down at her.
"And that is how quickly a fight can be finished." He remarked.
Sigyn sat up.
"Was I supposed to learn something from that?" She asked in an agitated voice.
"If you have to ask, then it is obvious you didn't. Let's try again."
He helped Sigyn to her feet, and let her have a moment to clear her head.
"Do you feel better?" He inquired.
"Yes."
"Good, then it is time to move on to the next lesson…"
"Next lesson? I am still not even sure what the first one was."
"Well since it is connected directly to the first lesson, consider it lesson one and a half." He offered.
Sigyn crossed her arms over her chest in a defiant manner. Loki crossed over to her and cupped her cheeks in his hand.
"You are not going to learn anything if you keep acting stubborn." He scolded.
"I am not going to learn anything if you don't actually teach me something!" She fussed.
Loki shook his head mentally. Sigyn just wanted to get down to learning the moves required to fight, what she didn't understand was that her greatest asset was her mind. Fighting was as much a mental exercise as it was a physical one. If she could learn to predict her enemy's moves, then she would be at a huge advantage. Sigyn didn't need to learn the ability to kill. She needed to learn the ability to give herself the opportunity to get away. She could leave the killing to him.
"Believe me darling I am trying." He responded.
Sigyn's eyes softened, and Loki had to remind himself that they were still training and that he couldn't let her pretty eyes distract him from the lesson he was trying to teach her.
"As I was saying I need to remind you that your enemy is not going to give you forewarning, and they are most certainly not going to play fair."
Sigyn's eyes flashed in recognition of what Loki was playing at, but it was too late to stop him from pressing her temple and knocking her out once again. Sigyn had forgotten that in this context he was the enemy, and that she shouldn't have allowed him to get so close to her. She let sentiment take over and dropped her guard. She might think it unnecessary to be so distrustful, but Loki knew too well that sometimes your greatest enemy was the person who could convince you they are your ally. Sigyn's head fell against his chest and Loki sighed. He had a feeling it was going to take Sigyn a while to learn lesson number one.
