Thank you loves, for the reviews. Both of you are beautiful. I know you guys are out there reading this, and I apologize for the amount of time it took to publish this. Finals are this week and it's been stressful and I'm having awful writer's block and this chapter took me like three days. So Sorry if it feels like it's going nowhere. I promise the chapters will get better!

Again, Typos= Mine, nothing else.

For a few days he was good, quiet. He'd come to her, Sigyn, just before the sun would come up and she'd take out her needle and thread and gently (well as gentle as it was possible) sew the lips of the trickster shut before turning him loose in the courtyard to sweat under the hot Asgardian sun. And he'd climb up onto the pedestal with silence and sit there, just sit there dressed all in black. Sometimes he'd watch the wall change colors in the sunlight before Sigyn would call for him to come down and have his stitches removed. Other times Sigyn would join him in the sunlight, her nose in a book. It was weird, he hadn't remembered her as much of a reader before. But still she'd sit there, legs folded up underneath her in her free flowing dresses, hair slung over her shoulder and book in her lap. Occasionally she'd bring a glass of water for herself and Loki would stare and stare and stare, just aching for a sip of the cool liquid. He never acted, because he wanted his atonement to end.

By the fifth day of his punishment, however, he began to realize that Odin wasn't going to let up for "good behavior." So, Loki figured, if he were to spend the time here, he wasn't going to sit idly by and just let the sun hit him on the back the whole time. So this time, he woke with a new found freshness. He dressed in the darkness in his Asgardian leathers before turning to the mirror. His lips were relatively normal, except for the pattern of tiny holes matched perfectly as the went across his face. Sigyn was very precise in her sewing, and he bet that it wasn't for Odin. The holes had began to scar and the needle now flew through his skin with ease and less pain. It's become more bearable for him as the days went on.

He entered the court before the sun peeked up on the horizon. The surrounding gardens still held the night fairies as they floated by to home with their small little lanterns. Loki rapped on the door with his knuckles twice, the greeting he always used for her. She yanked open the door and smiled at him like she always did.

"Lady Sigyn," Loki said, bowing deeply to her. She stepped aside and let him in, her long blue dress complimenting her eyes perfectly. In fact, it complimented her perfectly. She swung around as he entered, shutting the door behind him.

"Loki," she said with ease, "Shall we get started?"

"Yes," he answered, following her over to the stool. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary for them-he'd greet her with the same greeting, she'd lead him over, sew him up and then they'd head out to the courtyard where he'd sit in the sun. But today he wasn't exactly feeling receptive. Perhaps it was because he'd gotten bored. So as he settled onto his stool, he took the string in his own hands, threaded it and began to prod at the holes in his lips. Sigyn dropped the bowl she had in her hands and rushed over to Loki.

"What do you think you're doing?" she nearly shouted at him, gently and sternly removing the reel from his hand. Loki opened his mouth to protest, the string running through the holes without much pain. His eyes glittered with trouble as he stared at her.

"Sewing," he answered with ease, "I can do this just as much as you can."

"Yes," Sigyn said, tugging on his chin to pull him close, "But this is my job."

Loki pushed himself forward gently, to throw her off balance. His face was very close to hers and he watched as her eyes shifted for moment over his shoulder, then back to his green ones. She looked down at his lips and grabbed the string.

"Close your mouth," Sigyn said softly, without any harshness in her tone. At that moment, his plan was defeated. Her voice was just too kind for him to remain rude, snarky or even inappropriate. Instantly, he shut his jaw. He was surprised at the lack of power he had around her. It angered him just a bit. With a wounded pride (mostly from his own doing) he ripped his jaw from her grasp.

"No," he said defiantly, leaning away from her, "I've provided you with enough cooperation for the time," he added, "I'm not used to being so compliant."

Sigyn reached out and grasped the back of his head, lacing her fingers through his black hair and yanking him forward. He stopped within inches of her face and stared at her. Her eyes were a dark blue today, hidden under brown lashes as she glanced down at her hands, pulling up the needle in them.

"That's perfectly fine," she spoke back to him, "I'm not exactly used to it either."

She took the needle and stuck it through the hole on his top lip again. Her fingers held his head securely in place as she sewed into his flesh. She seemed un-phased by his stunt, like it was an everyday normal thing. Looking at the string that they in her lap, Loki waved two fingers, and the whole thing became tangled. He felt the corners of his mouth turn up and waited for Sigyn to look down in her lap.

Her eyes traveled down and saw the string and she sighed, putting the needle down and standing up, letting the tangled yarn fall onto the ground. She turned away from him in silence, and he sat, satisfied as he untangled the string himself to start again. With her back to him, she could not see what he was doing. Loki quickly and quietly morphed himself into a bird and flew off the stool. Sigyn turned around just in time to see that he had taken off out the window and into the garden. She growled under her breath, knowing that Odin would not be pleased if Loki missed a day. She went over to the stool to find that he had finished the sewing, left the needle and rest of the thread on the seat and flew out the window.

Sigyn sighed and headed out to the gardens. Loki watched from the tree nearby, hoping that his actions would get some kind of response from her. She was too calm, after all, like his presence did not affect her one bit! He'd seen the way the guards acted around him, as if for a moment he were to blow them up, he'd seen the way his so called "friends" treated him, with a cold and unwelcoming shoulder and fear in their eyes. But she, calmly and surely stepped out into the gardens, heading over to the stone bench before sitting down.

"Loki," she called out, "Odin does not mind your shapes and shifting, but it would be wise to let me finish my job. It is to ensure the full weight of your punishment."

Loki, upon hearing this, soared off his high branch and down towards the bench. The trickster looked nothing like the man he was. He was a white bird with tan patches of feathers. Signy would have never thought it was him, if it hadn't been for the neat little black lines hooking in the bird's beak. He settled himself on the stone next to her and she gave him a soft smile. Slowly the bird shifted back into Loki, his white feathers turning grey then black, and finally straightening out to be his hair color, slightly raven with hints of sun at the end. When he'd returned his hair was jet black, like it hadn't even seen the sun. Just a few days in Asgard had lightened the ends up to a soft brown color. His eyes bore into hers, as if he was trying to speak to her. Sigyn sighed and twisted her legs up underneath her as she sat on the bench.

"Yeah," she agreed with a tone of unhappiness, "I understand you can do it by yourself. But I don't want to get in trouble. All Father let you off easy, didn't he?"

It should have been an insult, that she knew he did horrible crimes (or at least it was her opinion) but she posed it as a question, as if to ask him if he thought what he did was horrible. It'd been so long since someone asked him what he thought, he was taken back by it. He stared at her profile, her long gold hair braided to wrap around her head, eyelashes sticking out and curling lightly, and a soft dusting of freckles on her cheek. What was she? He stared at her with unsure eyes. Kindness was new to him, so he wasn't sure this was it.

And the day continued liked this, her quiet presence in his as he sat in the garden and played with the things around him. He'd turn apples into oranges, leaves into insects and even turned a flower in Sigyn's hair into a beautiful lily-like thing, with beautiful green petals that curled at the end. Since it was in the back of her head, she wouldn't notice until she got home at night, and Loki was sure she'd smile and think of him. She liked him, at least Loki would like to think so.

So he asked her that night, as the sun went down and she gently snipped the string from his lips, what she thought of him.

"Why are you so kind?" he asked bluntly, the moment his bleeding lips had stopped flowing. Sigyn, whose back was to him as she cleaned the rag his mouth had been on. Sigyn turned and looked at him.

"I do not understand?" she said, walking past him to deposit the rag into the bucket. Loki stood up and turned to stop her, trapping her in one place. She had no choice but to look up at him now.

"Why are you doing this? What is your motive?" His eyes narrowed at her, trying to read past her blue gaze, but he could not see anything. Her eyes glimmered the sea blue and suddenly her gaze darkened. How dare he accuse her of doing anything other than her job.

"My motive," she said with unwavering certainty, "Is to ensure that you are to finish the punishment delivered by the All Father on time. My motive is to do my job so I can go home at night."

She shoved past him after she'd fallen quiet and headed for her bag. Slinging it over her shoulder, she turned back to him, her eyes back to the neutral blue they always were.

"I will see you tomorrow Loki," she said calmly. Loki watched her leave, her steps soft in the night. He didn't believe her when she said that she was just doing her job. What kind of person does that? Loki wanted to know exactly what was going on. So, with a smooth smile that the Prince had perfected, he jogged up easily next to her.

"Lady Sigyn," he said politely, "I meant no disrespect. Please, allow me to accompany you home."

Sigyn gave him a bright smile. "It's quite all right," she said, "That would be rather lovely."

Loki grinned inwardly. He'd find out her plan soon enough, he always did.

Does Sigyn have an alternative motive for her kindness? Loki is awfully suspicious. Who is perfect to begin with, anyway? Loki likes to think we're all flawed...is Sigyn? tell me what you think :)