Returning to her chambers after her soak in the pools, she senses someone within and opens the door cautiously. Standing by the bed is a young woman with long blonde hair, pulled back from her face by several braids. Wearing a long burgundy open vest over the tunic and pants typical of the servant class, she is someone Anara has never seen before. Clearing her throat to get the girl's attention, she causes her to turn with a start. Recovering her wits quickly, the girl curtseys low. When she does not rise, Anara approaches and raises her with a gentle finger under her chin.
"Rise child, and tell my why you're here."
Curtseying again, the young woman says, "Forgive my ill manners your Highness. My name is Gabrielle, and I have been assigned by the Queen to be your handmaiden."
Anara can sense her nervousness.
"Be at ease, Gabrielle. Please sit down and tell me what the duties of a handmaiden entail here, for in my world the duties may vary widely depending on the culture."
Anara attempts to clear a space on the bed, thankful no one's come to clean her room yet. Moving a few charts they didn't get to the night before, she sits and motions Gabrielle to join her.
"And please address me as my lady, or mistress, whichever you prefer. I am not royal here."
"As you wish, my lady, "Gabrielle replies. She pauses for a moment to collect her thoughts. "I've never had to explain this before," she begins. "I am here to provide what services you may require. I can do your hair, help you dress, and organize your things, but I guess my most important duties are to keep your schedule and ferry messages between yourself and others."
Pulling a polished bronze tablet from her satchel, she taps it a few times with a finger. Frowning slightly, she says, "Speaking of your schedule, my lady-I'm afraid Queen Frigga has set a meeting for you with her seamstress in half an hour." She looks up at Anara apologetically.
"Then it is a good thing that I have already bathed."
Standing, Anara retrieves her comb from her case and begins to brush out her hair.
"My lady, I can help with that if you wish." Gabrielle says, indicating her hair.
"No, this won't take me long, but you can pick out something for me to wear that would be appropriate for a meeting with the Queen's seamstress."
"Of course, my lady."
As Gabrielle goes through the clothes in the wardrobe, Anara quickly combs through her hair and plaits it in a single braid down her back. Stepping carefully around the star charts, Gabrielle hands her the dress she wore the day she woke up.
"My lady, I kept the cleaning women out of your room earlier. I thought you might have a reason for having everything laid out like this. Do you wish me to have them clean while we're away?"
Looking at the mess as she makes her way behind the screen in the corner, Anara says, "No. There are still a few charts I have not gone through. I will pick this up myself later."
After Anara dresses, Gabrielle helps her secure the coordinating cape to her shoulders, and they depart for the seamstress's chambers.
Her meeting with the seamstress passes by in a blur of fabrics and drawings and measurements, with Gabrielle doing her part to make sure Anara gets all the clothing pieces she might need for a wide variety of occasions.
Finally finished with the seamstress, Anara and Gabrielle head back towards Anara's chambers.
They hear running footfalls behind them just before Thor bellows, "My lady, a moment?"
Stopping, they wait for him to catch up. Thor skids to a halt before them, barely breathing heavy from his run down the hall.
"My lady, I'm glad I caught you. I know you've had a busy day, but I thought if you were willing, that I'd take you to what remains of your ship before darkness falls."
Anara, not ready to face the charts in her room, and the feelings of lost hope they engender, quickly agrees.
Gabrielle touches her arm lightly to get her attention. "My lady, with your permission, I will return to the residence wing and move my things into the servant's room adjoining yours."
"Oh, yes, of course."
Gabrielle, turning to go, suddenly remembers something and pulls a small device from her satchel. About the size of her palm, it is a golden disk set with 5 jewels - one at each of the cardinal directions and a larger one in the center. Handing it to Anara, she explains its use.
"This is a Munn Disk - a communication disk, my lady. Pressing the jewel in the center will signal my Munn Disk, and we may talk as if we are in the same room. The red jewel here will call the Home Guard, and the green - the closest servant. The amber and blue jewels are currently free, awaiting your choice of who they will summon," Gabrielle says, finishing her explanation, and looking to see if Anara has any questions.
"I have used similar devices before," Anara says, examining the device. "Center jewel to contact you, red-the guards, green-the nearest servant. That's fairly straight-forward. Thank you Gabrielle."
Curtseying to Anara and Thor, Gabrielle leaves them, heading back towards the residence wing of the palace.
As they walk down a corridor new to Anara, she addresses Thor.
"Your mother is most generous to provide me with an assistant."
"Aye," Thor replies. "I do not know all that my parents have planned for you, but I think you will need her."
Anara looks at Thor, slightly concerned. "And what plans do you know of?" she asks, finding it hard to keep the annoyance out of her voice. It has been years since she was not master of her own fate, and the idea of not being in control bothers her greatly.
"From what talk I have heard, it is mostly things to help you get settled here, like your time with the seamstress and training with us and the Master-at-Arms. Father has also agreed to have the Armorer create a set of battle armor for you, befitting your status as a Companion. Things of that nature."
Realizing she may have overreacted, she replies simply, "I see."
Thor stops and turns to face her, taking her hands in his.
"Anara, forgive me for telling you this, but you should know. Father has the gift of foresight, and while he cannot see that you will never go home, he does not see that possibility in the near future. And Mother, being who she is, already considers you part of the family. She wants you to feel at home here." Pausing, he adds, almost in a whisper, "We've had too much heartbreak of late and do not want to see anyone else experience it."
Even without the Force, Anara can feel Thor's pain, but with it, she can see that Loki seems to be the source. For some reason, that doesn't surprise her, and she wonders what he has done to break his brother's heart. Locking away her own despair, she reaches up and passes the back of her hand along Thor's jaw-line. As he leans into the caress, she wills his thoughts away from the sadness.
"Though it is not an answer I wished to hear, I thank you for telling me. It is much easier to move forward if one can see the path." Taking his elbow, she turns him back towards their destination. "Come, we are wasting daylight."
Thor shakes his head, refocusing on the task at hand. "So we are," he says and offers his arm to her. Taking it, Anara marvels at how natural it feels to be with him.
They leave the palace through a side door and walk a short distance down a simple dirt path. As they round a corner, Anara can see a large tent and the top of her ship. She steels herself for what she is likely to find, slipping into her Jedi mindset.
As they approach, she can see that the main body of the cruiser lies in an open field, obviously moved from the original crash site. Its nose is smashed in and the cockpit is mangled. She can see the windscreen's been smashed in, though it appears to have happened after the crash. One wing is completely gone, the other seemingly intact. Smaller pieces of the craft are carefully laid out under a large open-sided tent which is guarded by several large soldiers.
As Anara walks around the main body of the cruiser, Thor tells her of the crash and Loki's heroics in saving her. He gives little credit to himself, heaping praise on his brother. Anara wonders at this, thinking his heart must be as big as a Tundarian ox's to love Loki that much in spite of whatever it was he did to cause the family such heartache.
They approach the back of the ship and the open gangplank. Anara stops part way up to let her eyes adjust to the dim interior. Ducking under a bundle of loose wires, Anara takes stock of the ship. The navigation and communication consoles have been destroyed – fire the obvious culprit from the streaks of black and melted components marring them. The beam that nearly cut her in half lies partially off to one side. If she hadn't seen Thor's strength demonstrated before, she might not have believed that he and Loki moved that by themselves. It would have taken a heavy construction droid to move that back home.
She makes a note to come back tomorrow with tools to see if any of the circuit boards for the computer system can be retrieved. She still might have a chance at rebuilding a communication device if the fire didn't destroy everything. Looking around the rest of the ship, she sees that the storage bins are all open. She turns to Thor, who waits patiently at the bottom of the gangplank.
"The items that were in these bins, where are they?"
Thor looks to the tent. "Some have been moved to the tent. Those things deemed possible weapons were taken to the Armory for safe keeping."
Looking through the ship one last time, Anara writes it off. With both engines damaged or destroyed, it will never fly again. Turning her attention to the tent, she sees some of what she hoped she'd find – spare parts for some of the computer systems and a holographic projector. After some searching, she also finds most of her data chips intact. Sadly, the one detailing her mission to Binaro is melted beyond retrieval, but considering her circumstances, she decides it's not that great a loss. Searching through the chips, she finds the one containing the star charts is intact and says a small prayer of thanks to the Ascended Ones.
Sorting through more of the debris and some of the items from the bins, she begins piling things that might be useful in one corner of the tent. She notes that the plasma torch and a few other tools are missing, along with spare charges for her blaster and C-3PO, her protocol droid.
"Thor? Was there a- ," she pauses, knowing the term "droid" probably means nothing to him. "-a metal man in the wreckage?"
Thor thinks for a moment, "Yes, I think I saw what looked like parts of a metal man in your ship. If there was one, I am sure they took it to the armory. Is it some kind of weapon?"
"No, 3PO is completely harmless, downright useless in some cases," she laughs. Seeing his confusion, she elaborates. "The metal man, his name is C-3PO and he's been in my family for generations. He's what we call a protocol droid. A translator if you will."
Thor nods his head in understanding. "We too have metal men, but they are much bigger than the pieces of the one I saw on your ship, and they are deadly."
It's Anara's turn to nod in understanding, having had her fair share of run-ins with deadly droids.
Seeing nothing else of immediate use, Anara asks, "Can the things I piled there be brought to my chambers?"
"Of course."
Motioning one of the guards forward, he instructs him to have the items Anara indicated moved to her rooms. Nodding, the guard pulls out a Munn disk and speaks into it. Confident his orders are being followed, Thor offers his arm to Anara once again.
"If you're finished here, my lady, what say you to some dinner?"
Taking his arm, she looks up at him smiling. "That sounds wonderful."
They spend a quiet evening in the Mead Hall, eating, drinking and telling stories. Anara, content to let others talk, listens intently and studies her new-found friends. Notably missing is Loki. When she asks where he is, she's told that of late, he often avoids the evening meal, and it's nothing to be concerned about. As the companions get further into their cups, Anara excuses herself, citing her chart-strewn room and a night's lack of sleep. Thor offers to walk her to her chambers, but she politely declines, promising to call him if she gets lost.
Anara sighs as she enters her room. Wishing the charts had magically stacked themselves, she begins to gather them up.
Gabrielle peeks her head through the bath-chamber door. "My lady, do you wish for some assistance?"
"Yes, that would be welcome," Anara replies. "I'm sorry if I woke you."
"You did not my lady. I was just reading."
"So, your rooms are on the other side of the bathing chamber?" Anara asks, curious as to the suite's arrangement.
"Yes, there is a door to my chamber on the other side of the bathing pool," she says. "I have my own bathing chamber, so you need not worry about intrusions," she adds.
Anara nods. Pointing to the charts on the wall, she says, "You can take those down, starting on the far right, stacking them as you go along. Oh, and you'll probably want to remove the cheese," she says, a little embarrassed.
Gabrielle looks at her with a quizzically-amused grin.
"It was Thor's idea." Anara laughs.
With Gabrielle's help, it doesn't take long to neatly stack the charts on the small table in the far corner of the room. Separating out the ones she hasn't gotten to, she places those on the floor nearby.
Suddenly tired from two days of non-stop activity, Anara dismisses Gabrielle for the evening and gets ready for bed.
Anara slips languidly into the heated pool, closing her eyes and letting her head rest against the side. The swish of a curtain tells her someone else has entered the caves. Loki's aura plays across her mind's eye. She feels the water ripple as he enters the pool.
Keeping her eyes closed, she studies his aura. Little bolts of red flash through the chaotic swirl of green and gold. Raising her guard, she opens her eyes to study him. Sitting across from her, he lounges against the side of the pool, a sneer on his lips as he plays with a lock of her hair.
"So, you like to have your hair pulled, do you?" he asks, suddenly grabbing a large section of it and pulling her towards him.
She fights, but he's deft, and grabs her arm, pulling her in closer. Grabbing her hair at the base of her skull, he pulls her head back and kisses her fiercely, grinding his lips into hers. Anara feels her shields snap, and the Dark Side slips past her defenses. Her eyes suddenly glow red.
Breaking away from the kiss, she hisses, "No one does that to me without my permission."
Extending her hand, she uses the Force to pin Loki against the side of the pool, with just enough force against his throat for him to know she means business. Straddling him, she can feel his manhood hard against his stomach.
"So, you want to play, do you?" she asks, desire rising in her eyes to match that in his.
She releases her hold on him, and he grabs her head again, kissing her hard, his teeth biting at her lip. Pushing up against him, she feels him react. She breaks from his kiss and bites his ear as she slides down over him. He shivers as she bites his neck. Pushing her away, he takes her breast in his hand, pinching her nipple hard. She arches her back in pleasure, pushing further down on him. Taking her breast in his mouth, he lets his tongue play across her nipple as she starts to ride him, digging her fingers into his shoulders. She leans down and bites his neck, sucking on the tender flesh just below his ear. He responds by biting her breast. The sudden jolt of pain brings her to climax, Loki close behind. As the waves of pleasure subside, so does the Dark Side, allowing sense to return. Still straddling Loki, she looks into his eyes, and he laughs.
"My, my, aren't you quite the little sex kitten," he purrs.
Anara screams and sits up in bed, dripping with sweat, Loki's laugh echoing through her mind.
"E chu ta!" she swears.
Gabrielle runs into the room, gathering a robe around her. "My lady! Are you alright?"
Anara, still shaken, replies, "Yes, it was just a nightmare. I'm sorry for waking you. You can go back to bed."
Gabrielle studies her in the moonlight, then looks around the room, searching for something.
"Are you sure. I thought I heard someone laughing."
So it wasn't just in her head. Putting aside the implications until she's alone, Anara lies, "I did not hear any laughter. It must have been the wind." Using just a little bit of the Force to compel her, she tells Gabrielle, "I'm fine. You can go back to bed now."
Complying, Gabrielle gives her one last look and retires to her own chambers.
Truly shaken now, Anara makes sure Gabrielle is gone before she turns on the bedside lamp. Pulling down the sheet, she looks, and finds a perfect set of teeth marks on her breast. Getting out of bed, she examines herself in the boudoir mirror. Her lip is swollen, and there are finger marks on her other breast. It wasn't a dream. Cursing Loki, she paces the room, mortified. Though she knows she likely never left her chambers, what happened in her "dream", really happened.
"Damn him!" she swears under her breath. He saved her life, but cleared her of her life- debt to him. Is this the kind of payment he expects instead? It just doesn't add up. The Loki that Thor talked about today was definitely not the same man she was just with.
She vows to be more careful around him. Taking a steadying breath, she settles her shields back into place and returns to the mirror. Using the Force, she heals her lip and removes the marks from her breasts, wiping away all evidence of her "nightmare".
The next morning, she passes Loki in the hall on her way to the training room. He smiles knowingly at her and pulls his high collar away from his neck as he passes her, showing her the bruise beneath his ear, and the bite marks on his neck.
"Kitten" he purrs at her by way of greeting, his laughter following him down the hall.
"Dear Yoda, it really did happen." she mutters to herself. Catching herself, she slams her Jedi mask into place, hiding her embarrassment.
Walking into the training room, she throws herself into the exercise routine the Master-at- Arms has developed for her, adding in bits and pieces of her own Jedi practice. The exercise helps clear her head and gives her focus. Avoiding the pools, she immerses herself in the rest of her day, letting Gabrielle ferry her from one appointment to the next.
That evening in the Mead Hall, Loki joins Thor, Anara and the Companions, surprising everyone. As he approaches the group gathered around one of the smaller fire pits, Anara sees that he's forgone the high-necked long coat she's used to seeing him in, wearing just a long open vest over a dark tunic. The bruises and bite marks on his neck are obvious.
Anara, now firmly grounded, can see the game he's playing and gives him a simple nod of greeting as he slides down on to the couch opposite her. It doesn't take long for talk to turn to Loki's bruises.
Fandral, ever the cad, elbows Loki, asking in a conspiratorial tone, "So, who's the lucky lady, you sly fox?"
Loki, feigning ignorance, answers with his own question. "Why whatever do you mean, Fandral?"
Volstagg joins in, "Isn't it obvious man? Ye look like you've been gnawed on by some feral beast!" he exclaims, pointing to Loki's neck.
"Oh…that." He smiles, briefly touching his neck. Looking pointedly at Anara, he replies, "She was no one of importance." Pausing for effect, he keeps his gaze locked on Anara and practically purrs, "Though she was quite the little hell cat."
Fandral, nearly frothing at the mouth, grabs Loki by the vest and shaking him says, "My god man, you must tell me who she is!"
Loki, laughing, pulls away from Fandral and, still looking pointedly at Anara, says nonchalantly, "As I said, she was no one."
Fandral finally notices the direction of Loki's stare, and an indecipherable look crosses his face as Anara relaxes into the couch, ready to play Loki's game.
"My lady, please tell me you did not fall prey to this scoundrel," he demands.
Breaking eye contact with Loki, she directs a sultry gaze at Fandral. "It's obvious Loki likes it rough – however, do you see any marks on me?" She turns her head, showing spotless skin. "Besides," she purrs, "we Jedi have rules about these things."
"Oh, do tell." Loki says, leaning towards her.
"We all have our own criteria, but there are a few commonalities," she says, meeting his gaze. She can feel a twinge of jealousy rising from Thor but keeps her attention on Loki. "First, no Jedi will bed someone who is not their equal in status and intelligence."
"Well that cuts you out of the pool." Volstagg teases Fandral.
Fandral quips back, "And you too, you beast." Volstagg frowns and hides his disappointment behind his drinking horn.
Anara continues, "Second, any potential mate must prove themselves by beating a Jedi in single combat." Loki raises an eyebrow. Fandral leans forward and says, "Loki did best you yesterday…."
Sif interjects, "Oh no, he didn't. He surrendered to us before he unceremoniously dumped us in a heap so that doesn't count." Winking at Anara, Sif cuddles close, joining in the game.
Putting her arm around Sif, she smiles a feral smile at Loki. "And lastly, we have a tendency to kill our mates after sex, so to avoid the bloodbath we tend to engage in casual encounters with members of the same sex."
Sensing Sif might be up for it, she takes a chance and kisses Sif full on the lips. She watches the shock of her action travel around the group. She catches Thor's eye and gives him a wink. He bursts out laughing, finally catching on. The others, realizing she's joking, join in the laughter. As the laughter dies down, she gets up and saunters around the fire pit to Fandral.
Bending down, she runs a finger along his jaw.
"I only joke about part of it," she purrs. "Any mate of mine does have to best me in combat first."
Walking away from the group, she puts a deliberate sway in her hips and leaves the hall, confident she's derailed Loki's attempt to slander her and get under Thor's skin.
That night, Loki tries to invade her dreams again, but he's met by a giant, red-eyed, snarling cat who lashes out at him with razor-tipped claws. Barely avoiding the beast, Loki retreats and does not try again.