Anara heads to her favorite meditation spot: the small secluded bench in the garden beneath her balcony. The late afternoon sun has warmed the stones chasing off the slight chill in the air. Anara hasn't noticed much of a change of seasons in Asgard, though the days and nights seem cooler than when she first woke up here. Sitting down on the stones, she prepares to meditate, but is interrupted by a flash of green aura across her mind's eye. Sensing Loki nearby, she opens her eyes and waits for him. When he doesn't appear after a few moments, she calls out to him.
"Loki, I know you're out there, you might as well come and talk to me."
He walks around the corner. "How did you know I was there?" he asks. "I made no sound."
"Oh, so you were spying on me then?" she asks, not answering his question.
"No, not really. Just making sure you were ok. I didn't want to disturb your meditation." Looking a little guilty, he bows and says, "I will leave you and let you meditate in peace. Will you be on the practice field tomorrow? Roygan wants to test out a new staff against your lightsaber."
Nodding to him, Anara says, "Thank you for checking on me. And yes, I will be at weapons practice tomorrow."
Loki dips his head and disappears.
I wonder how he does that? She thinks to herself, shaking her head. Taking deep breaths, Anara sinks into a meditative state, letting the Force guide her to the right way to start taking down the walls she built so many years ago, without crossing over to the Dark Side.
The next morning finds her still in her meditation spot. Sensing Gabrielle coming towards her, she begins to come out of her meditation, carefully cataloging her insights before she's interrupted. Gabrielle stops at the edge of the circle of stone but does not say anything. She knows from experience that Anara is aware that she's there. After a few moments, Anara opens her eyes.
"My lady," Gabrielle begins, "I have breakfast and a change of clothes ready upstairs. Weapons practice is in an hour."
Standing, Anara stretches and says, "Thank you."
They walk upstairs in companionable silence. When they reach her chambers, Anara finds fresh workout clothes; fitted pants, a tight-fitting top that leaves her midriff exposed and a traditional Jedi wrap tunic laid out on her untouched bed. Her workout outfits have become quite popular with some of the other female soldiers for their functionality, and the men seem to appreciate them as well. Anara smiles to herself, remembering the stir she caused the first time she removed her over-tunic and sparred in just her tight-fitting top and pants.
"I am glad to see you happy again, my lady," Gabrielle tells her as she pours a glass of juice for her. Anara sits down at her little table and prepares to eat.
"Me too, Gabrielle. I am sorry if I worried you the other day."
"It is my job to worry, my lady. Do not fret about it. Besides, you were in very good hands." They both giggle.
"I trust the AllFather was able to answer some of your questions?" Gabrielle continues as she begins to undo Anara's braid.
"Yes, for the most part. He set me a task that will be very difficult, but in the end will hopefully mean spells like the one other day will not happen again."
Gabrielle nods but stays silent, allowing Anara to eat while she combs out Anara's long hair and plaits it into the single braid Anara favors.
After Anara finishes her light meal, she changes and discusses the day's schedule with Gabrielle. Finding herself free after weapons practice, she decides to spend the rest of the day working on constructing a second holographic communicator. When she showed the device to Thor one day, he was intrigued and asked if it could be used for realm-to-realm communication. When she said yes, he was thrilled and asked her if she could build a second one, telling her that they had been trying to figure out how to more effectively communicate with people who belonged to a group called SHIELD on Midgard. Heimdal, watcher and guardian of the Bifrost, of course could tell Asgard what was happening on Midgard, but they could not communicate anything back to those he watched. Though he has tried to contact humans, his telepathic abilities only seem to work with the royal family and the Companions.
Anara instructs Gabrielle to keep her schedule open, letting her know she will spend the rest of the day in her workshop in the laboratories on the underside of the city. She ponders the strange mix of science and magicthe Asgardians use as she walks to the workout room. In theory, it is not much different from how her own world uses energy and matter to create technology, but their concepts and designs and use of dark energy for a power source is unique and immensely powerful. She makes a note to talk to one of the scientists today about creating a signal amplifier and power source for the holo-communicators. Without a system of relays like in her own galaxy, she's worried that the two devices on their own won't have the strength to reach between the two worlds.
Reaching the workout room, Anara puts those ideas to the back of her mind, preparing herself for more physical pursuits. Entering the room, she finds Loki and Roygan talking together near the weapons rack. Loki is dressed in full armor and holds a staff similar to the one she's seen him use before, but of a more silvery color and lacking the energy spear at the top. She joins the men and is greeted warmly.
"My lady! I am glad to see you well," Roygan tells her, clasping her forearm in a typical warrior greeting.
"And you, Master Roygan."
Loki gives her a regal nod and says, "Good morning, my lady. I trust you are well?"
Returning the nod, she replies, "Yes, thank you."
Looking at Loki's staff and turning to Roygan, she says, "Is this the new staff you've developed?"
Loki hands it to her to inspect as Roygan responds.
"Yes. We were able to make an alloy of our metal and the saber-resistant metal from your ship. If it passes our tests today, the armorer will then work on incorporating the energy-spear point into it."
They are joined by Thor and Sif as Roygan finishes his explanation, and the spear is passed to them.
"We also made a set of bracers per your request my lady, with the same alloy," Roygan continues, as he points out the bracers on Loki's wrists.
Loki holds them out for Anara to inspect. Simple in design, she determines they should protect him if the alloy passes their initial test.
After greeting Thor and Sif, she says, "Shall we?"
Receiving a nod from Roygan and Loki, she draws her lightsaber and steps away from the group. Loki joins her and holds the staff out lengthwise at arm's length. Igniting the lightsaber, she lowers the blade to just a hairs width above the staff. Taking a deep breath, she looks at Loki, who smiles at her. She touches the blade to the staff, lightly at first, looking for any melting or scorch marks. Seeing nothing, she pushes the blade down further but it does not cut through. Shutting down her blade, she steps back so that Roygan and the others can inspect the staff. There is not a mark on it. Loki then places it on a pair of blocks and steps back. Igniting the blade again, Anara spins her lightsaber and brings it down hard across the staff. Sparks fly and her lightsaber is repelled. Another inspection reveals scorch marks that are easily wiped clean. Impressed, she turns to Roygan.
"The armorers have done well. There are few in my world that have been able to develop anything of its equal."
Loki steps up beside her.
"Shall we put this to a real test then?"
"By all means."
They square off, but instead of sizing up each other as they normally do during a sparring match, Loki comes at her with a quick series of moves. She easily repels them with her lightsaber, but that is not the point. The staff holds up, sending off sparks as it collides with her blade, but otherwise coming away unharmed. In unspoken agreement, they decide to go all in. Spinning and flipping, they come at each other with everything they have, or nearly. Anara is careful to avoid hitting Loki with her blade, while he tries to get past her defenses.
After about five minutes, Roygan blows a whistle, and the two of them break off. Anara shuts down her blade, and she and Loki bow to each other. Thor and Sif clap, praising their performance.
"Master Roygan," Thor says, as the group reassembles to one side. "Would you agree that the materials Mjölnir is made of are more resilient even than those of Loki's new staff?"
Roygan considers for a moment. "Aye, I would suppose so, though only your father knows its true composition." Looking at Thor, he catches on to his train of thought. "You wish to test Mjölnir against Anara's blade?"
"Aye, I would. It must be done sooner or later. Why not now?" Thor says. Turning to Anara, he asks, "If you are willing, my lady, of course."
"I cannot speak to the results, but if you are willing to try, then so am I."
They spend some time discussing the best way to test the two weapons against each other and decide to repeat the same experiments they did on Loki's staff. Anara and Thor face each other, and Anara ignites her blade. Bringing it down over Mjölnir, she stops as the hammer begins to hum. Looking at Thor for guidance, she continues when he nods at her. Not knowing what to expect, she braces herself and touches the blade to the hammer. The two weapons scream at the contact and Anara's blade is violently repelled. If she had not been prepared, she might have been thrown back. Shutting down her blade, she shakes her head to clear it of the echo of the weapons' screams. It is not an effect she has encountered before. Looking to the others standing to the side, she sees them all taking their hands away from their ears. Thor inspects his hammer. Smiling, he holds it out to her. She looks but can see no marks at all on it. Elated, he pulls her into a bear hug, lifting her feet off the ground.
"I knew it! Your blade cannot harm Mjölnir!" Setting her down, they return to the others.
"Shall we proceed with the other tests?" she asks Thor and Roygan, reluctance clear in her voice.
"I'm not sure I wish to spar with you with the hammer," she says to Thor. "It nearly threw me back at just a light touch of my blade. Were I to contact it with a normal blow, I'm afraid it might throw me across the room."
Thor replies, "It is enough to know that your blade cannot harm Mjölnir. We do not need to do any other tests."
With everyone satisfied with the day's results, they continue on with their normal workouts and go their separate ways.