Knowing she won't be able to sleep, Anara wades through the closet, looking for something comfortable to wear to meditate in. Finding several pairs of pants, blue in color and made from a sturdy plant material, she chooses a pair that fits well, but isn't too tight. Sorting through the tops, she finds a close-fitting top with short sleeves and the image of what looks like a musical group of some sort on the front. Grabbing her cloak from the back of the chair, she makes her way down to the patio by the beach. Pulling a cushion off one of the deck chairs, she settles into a comfortable meditation position and adjusts her cloak around her to block out the breeze off the water.
Quieting her mind, she opens herself up to the Force, hoping for guidance. Brown and gold eyes in a dark face appear in her mind's eye. Heimdal's voice fills her ears.
"You were blocked from my sight this day, my lady. Is all well?"
Thinking about how much she can reveal, she realizes that Master Lucasoria has given her a loophole in her promise to him by stating he wishes his true identity to be kept only from those on this world.
"Forgive me, Heimdal. I was in conference with another from my galaxy today. Master Lucasoria is a Jedi from my world who's been living here in secret for many years. He did not wish his staff to overhear our conversation so he warded the room from prying ears. What we discussed is of no threat to Asgard, and I will reveal all to the Allfather if he so requires."
"My only concern is for the safety of Asgard and for you. If you say this Master is trustworthy, I believe you,"
"Is all well in Asgard?"
"Yes, the Companions note your absence, but that is all."
She guesses that's his way of saying they miss her.
"I will leave you now. Do try to stay out of trouble," Heimdal says in parting.
His presence gone from her mind, she focuses again on her meditation. Mere moments after Heimdal leaves her, she senses another presence behind her that was not there before and did not come from the house. She can sense Pepper sleeping in a room above.
Hands touch her shoulders, caressing. Reaching out with the Force, intending to flip the intruder over her, she encounters nothing but air.
Loki's laugh sounds in her ear. "Hello, kitten," he purrs.
She turns and sees him standing behind her, though the Force tells her he's not there.
"An illusion, nothing more. Though I could make it so, if you like," he says suggestively.
Anara ignores the taunt. Before she can say anything, he continues, "I am both pleased and disappointed in you, my lady.", his shade walking over to lean with his back against the railing.
"Oh?" she queries.
"You had those ruffians in the palm of your hand and while I thoroughly enjoyed watching you beat them senseless in hand-to-hand combat, you could have just as easily used your lightsaber and been done with them in a heartbeat. But instead, you had to take the noble route and tie them up for the authorities. They made quite the fools of themselves when what passes as the city guard here showed up. These humans have no backbone," he says with disgust, his eyes never breaking contact with hers.
Sensing something's up, but unable to ferret out what, she goes for the direct question.
"Did you come here just to congratulate me on my prodigious battle skills, or do you have another purpose?"
He laughs. Not the laugh of merriment but his more sinister laugh, the one she remembers from the dream.
"Oh, kitten, isn't it enough that I just wanted to see you? It's been so dreadfully boring since you and my dear brother left. If I didn't know better, I'd say you were dead, and the rest of the Companions mourning your loss by their lackluster performance in the training arena. It's quite sad really," he says, mocking her.
His shade pushes off from the railing and walks again behind her. Not willing to play his game, she does not follow him with her gaze. She feels a phantom finger brush circles around a nipple and senses his lips at her ear.
"I will truly miss you, kitten," he whispers.
The phantom hand disappears, and the last thing she hears is a distant, "goodbye." And then nothing, no sense of him, no vision. She reaches out with the Force but can no longer sense anything but Pepper sleeping in the house and a few lone sea creatures out in the distant waves. Wondering what games Loki is up to now, she shakes her head, his laughter still playing through her mind. Dear Yoda, how she hates that laugh of his. She settles herself back into a comfortable position and hopes that this time she will be able to enter into a meditative state without interruption.
Opening her mind once again, she lets the Force flow through her thoughts. Searching at first for any hint of Loki near her and finding none, she follows the Force where it leads, letting it guide her to ideas and possible solutions for getting home.
Try as she might, however, Loki keeps coming to the forefront of her thoughts, laughing, taunting. She boxes him off in her mind, attempting to block her connection to him to gain some peace. It works for a time, but her visions are clouded, and she cannot find a clear answer to her question. The Dark Side seems to be intruding, and she is unsure why. As the sky lightens, she senses Pepper rise and pulls herself out of her meditation, but keeps her thoughts of Loki in their box. There will be time enough to deal with his games.
Anara stretches, then places the cushion back on its chair. Moving slowly through a few forms, she gets her blood flowing again, loosening up stiff muscles. She enters the house just as Pepper comes down the hall, her hair still wet from a shower.
"Oh, good morning," Pepper says, startled by Anara's entrance up the stairs from the patio.
"Good morning," Anara replies. "I didn't mean to startle you."
"Oh, you didn't really. I just didn't expect you to come up from there. Please tell me you weren't out running all night?" Pepper asks as she heads into the kitchen.
Anara follows her. "No, I did run for a while, but afterwards I spent the rest of the night outside meditating."
Pepper looks at her, a bit surprised, but says nothing about it, asking instead, "How did you like those shoes?"
Anara smiles. "I liked them very much. In fact, I would like to get a pair for myself if we can figure out a way for me to compensate you for their purchase. I'm afraid I don't have anything of value with me to trade for them or access to your currency."
Pepper replies over her shoulder while putting a dark coarse powder in a machine and filling a carafe with water.
"If you'd like, you can have the ones I loaned you last night. I bought them for myself, but I don't really like them. "
Pepper empties the carafe into the same machine and pushes a button.
"I would still like to compensate you for them somehow," Anara says. "You and Tony have done so much for me already, and given me so much without asking for anything in return."
Pepper turns to her and smiles, "Oh, you've given Tony quite a bit as I've said before. He'll be working on new inventions for months with what you've shown him. The clothes and shoes are nothing compared to that."
Walking back into the living room, Pepper grabs a remote and turns on a large view screen. A man sitting at a glass desk appears and says "And in other news, police apprehended four men early this morning just south of Malibu beach after receiving an anonymous tip. Found tied up with seaweed, all four men, badly beaten and in need of medical attention, confessed to trying to assault a woman. When asked how they were injured, they said their assailant did it, but none of them seemed to be able to remember what she looked like. More on this strange story as it develops. And now for the weather. Suzzie?"
Pepper mutes the news feed and looks at Anara, concern in her eyes.
"It was you, wasn't it? Are you OK?"
Anara smiles guiltily. "I was hoping you wouldn't find out, but yes, that was me. I ran past the houses onto the public beach. I don't think they planned it, but they were drunk, and I was a target of opportunity. Honestly, I have to admit it was kind of fun. They did not expect me to fight them, let alone beat them when I was outnumbered."
Pepper shakes her head. "We should probably tell Agent Coulson about this." she says, as she walks back into the kitchen.
"Coffee?" Pepper asks from the other room.
"Oh, yes, please," Anara says, walking back into the kitchen. She'll have to talk to Thor about finding a way to bring some of this beverage back to Asgard, she thinks to herself.
In the kitchen Pepper hands her a mug.
"There's cream and sugar on the counter," she says, pointing to a tall island behind her.
"Do you really think we need to tell anyone about this?" Anara asks, adding some cream and a spoon of sugar to her mug. "They won't remember a thing about me, I made sure of that."
Pepper considers for a minute, drinking her coffee. "I think we need to at least tell Tony. It's unlikely that the police will come up the beach this far looking for witnesses, but they do know he's Iron Man, so they might ask anyway."
Anara nods. "Very well. I suppose that is fair, since I did ask Jarvis to make the call to the authorities."
Pepper laughs, "Well then, I'm sure he already knows. And I'm sure we'll get a call here shortly," she says as she walks back into the living room and sits down on the couch.
Grabbing a tablet, she scrolls though a few screens, then says, "I have to go into LA for a few hours, and then we'll head back to New York. You're welcome to do whatever you like while I'm gone." She stops and looks up at Anara. "Except beat up any more bad guys," she says with a laugh.
Just then the large view screen changes from the news to Tony's image, and the sound un-mutes. "Good, you're up," he says without preamble.
"Pepper, when you see the Board today, tell them I'm working on a new line of miniature power sources that could turn into a new product line for hospitals and emergency responders to power generators and life support equipment – I think it could be big. I can do a presentation in a few weeks."
Pepper nods and makes a note on her tablet. Tony looks at Anara.
"Jarvis tells me you had a bit of an adventure last night, Princess," Tony says, smiling.
"Am I ever going to get you to quit calling me that?" she asks in response.
"Saw LA's morning news. You pulled the Jedi mind trick on them, didn't you? These aren't the droids you're looking for." He waves his hand in front of him, laughing. "Natasha said to tell you she's impressed and is looking forward to sparring with you sometime. Oh, and Thor wants to know if you're alright. The big lug is worried about you."
"Tell Thor I'm fine. They never got any blows in against me. And tell Agent Romanov I look forward to squaring off against her," Anara responds with a smile.
Pepper pipes in. "Anything else you want me to tell the Board?"
"Nope. Just do that magic that you do, baby." Tony tells her.
She smiles. "Then I'll leave you two to chat. I don't want to be late."
Tony looks at her, his love for her clear in his eyes. "Be safe," he tells her.
"I always am," she replies and heads for the front door.
"I'll be back in a few hours," she says to Anara and waves.
Anara waves in return and turns back to Tony's image on the view screen.
"So, seriously, not a scratch?" he asks.
"Not a scratch. Somewhat disappointing really, I was hoping for more of a fight."
Tony laughs at her, and they continue to chat for a while longer, discussing Tony's breakthrough with the crystal production and going through his simulation test runs with the power supply he designed for her lightsaber. The conversation winds down, but before he signs off, Tony remembers something.
"Oh, I'm throwing a little soirée for us all tonight. Just a few friends, maybe a band. Figured we could use a little fun. Tell Pepper that Natasha will meet you at the airport, and the three of you can go into town from there and go shopping," Tony says. "Oh, and tell her not to worry, I'm taking care of all the details."
Anara smiles, knowing enough to understand that Pepper might not be confident in Tony's ability to plan something.
"I will tell her."
"Good. See you in a few hours." Tony says, turning off his screen before she can reply.
Anara shakes her head. Pepper is a strong woman to be able to handle a man like Tony and not kill him, she muses. Finding the remote, she flips through the channels on the TV, watching a program for a while before moving on to the next, getting a better feel for the culture and what passes for entertainment here.
Pepper returns to find Anara flipping between music videos and the movie Armageddon, her cloak draped over a chair, and a bag packed next to it.
"I hope you don't mind, I found a bag in the closet and thought I should pack up my clothes from yesterday to take back with us," Anara tells Pepper as she comes in.
"Perfect. I meant to tell you where to find the spare bags and forgot when Tony called," Pepper replies. "I just need to pack up a few things myself, and we can be off," she says as she walks down the hall.
Their flight to New York is uneventful, unless you take into account the discussion between Pepper and Tony when she learns of his plans for a small private party at a posh downtown nightclub that evening.
"Tony, are you sure this is a good idea?" she asks. "If word gets out, we're going to be swamped by paparazzi. And you know word will get out," she says with a disapproving tone.
"Oh come on, it'll be fun, and everyone needs to get out and blow off some steam. A little dancing, some drinks. Don't be a party pooper, Pepper," Tony says, teasing. "Besides, I just laid out a nice chunk of change on suits for the Captain and Mr. Thunder."
"Fine, but if something goes wrong, it's all on you. And I'm putting our dresses and everything to go with them on your tab," Pepper says, her tone brooking no argument.
"Great! It's settled then. Everything's arranged, so have fun shopping. I've had Jarvis call in a couple of stylists – they'll be here at 5," Tony says, grinning.
"Fine." Pepper says and disconnects the call. "That man will be the death of me, " she laments to Anara.
"Isn't that true of all men?" Anara asks, laughing.