Hello my wonderful readers!

Here is chapter 17 of my story. This one is a little slower but has important information towards the end, plus some fluff.

Marvel is forever from my reach. Sanna and a few other OCs are mine.

After I left Loki standing speechless I decided I had to face my mother. I knew when I saw her I had to lie to her, but knowing and following through with it were two very different things. She had always told me her discomfort in what father did…and now I am practically following in his footsteps.

It is rather wrong of me, but I honestly cannot help it. I do love archery but that is not all of it. I have made new friends, comrades that will last a lifetime and would help me when I need it. Even if my mother would in no way agree with my decision, even if she did find out what I have done...I would still continue, before I started accompanying my friends I felt as if I was missing something.

That my life was meaningless, which was partially why I started practicing in the first place. I guess I was looking for meaning in my life. Now I feel as if I have found what I had set out to find to begin with, and I would not give that up for anything. After much searching, I finally found my mother leaving Queen Frigga's chambers.

"Mother!"

I call to her from across the hall, she turns at my voice and smiles when she sees me.

"Sanna, are you alright? Asta said that you were ill." Mother asks me as she goes in for a hug.

"Yes mother, do not worry Asta was just overreacting."

She pulls back from our hug and I surprisingly notice tears in her eyes.

Why is mother crying? She never cries.

"What is the matter?"

I ask her confusedly, and she rubs her eyes to get rid of them. "I was so worried, I did not want anything to happen to you. You know how important you are to me right?" I silently nod my head, which she takes as permission to continue talking.

"I worry about you constantly, when I heard that you were being summoned by the princes so much I had worried that you had gotten wrapped up in something dangerous."

I feel guilt form in the pit of my stomach, but I quickly I quirk an eyebrow to feign curiosity. "Why would me being summoned by the princes mean I was in danger?"

She sighed at my question, "it just seems that wherever the princes go, trouble normally follows. Especially the younger prince, he worries me sometimes."

I couldn't help but feel slightly angry at the way she mentions Loki.

"He's really not that bad you know…"

I find myself mumbling under my breath, realizing what I had done I wince in worry that she may have heard me. She quietly sighs letting me know that I had been.

"I know he's not sweetie, it just seems that unlike Prince Thor who seems to embrace trouble, Prince Loki is the one who creates it." I cannot help but smirk at my mother's words, "it does seem that way does it not?"

She produces a strained smile to send my way, "you will be careful though?"

"Mother, I am a servant not a prison guard, I will be fine."

I say ignoring the impending guilt that tries to weigh down on me. My words are followed by a silence that I use as an excuse for exit. I slowly start backing down the hallway.

"I am going to go catch up on my duties, farewell Mother. I love you!"

I quickly turn away from her and start running down the palace halls. Pain starts to erupt where I received some of my burns causing me to slow my run to a very fast walk. Finally I pass the familiar signs that tell me I am entering the kitchen area. No one stops me as I pass through the busy area and head towards Asta's work station. I let my eyes search for the mentioned person until I finally spot her by the sink in her area, appearing to be cleaning a tray of some kind. Seeing her distracted like she is brings back memories of her always startling me when I am working. I let my feet carry me towards her until I am right behind her.

"Asta," I whisper quietly. Asta jumps and drops the plate in the sink, cursing while doing so. She turns around looking as if she was ready to kill whomever was brave enough to scare her. But when she sees it is me her fury seems to dissolve and surprisingly tears spring up in her eyes.

"Sanna! Thank the Norns you are alright!"

She embraces me tightly and I take a shaky breath when pain starts to resonate from her tight hug.

"Asta," I grit my teeth as I say her name in a futile attempt to keep the pain from my voice.

She gasps and lets go of me immediately, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

She says sounding slightly panicked. "It is fine you do not need to be so worried Asta it is just a few burns." I say dismissively, but the look on her face does not change. Suddenly she grabs my wrist and drags me to a nearby storage closet and pulls me in closing the door after her.

"Asta what in the nine realms are you doing?"

I ask as I stumble in, I turn around to face the woman who had just locked me in a closet. Asta looks at me worriedly, "are you sure you are alright?"

I nod my head in response. "Yeah, I still have some stiffness and leftover soreness from where the burns were but other than that I am completely healed…" I trail off and give the blonde haired girl a skeptical look.

"You did not just drag me in here for that, what is the matter?"

Asta bites her lip before finally sighing in defeat. "Just try not to overreact…" Seeing no other choice I nod my head. Before she even starts to speak I notice how angry she looks.

"Hilda has been looking into your absences, she is starting to get a little too close."

"How does she know about me being the one absent? She did not even know my name when I was speaking to her!"

My worry increases with each passing word and along with my worry my breathing seems to increase as well. "Calm down Sanna, she does not know it is you. She has just started making the rumors more public. I heard she even brought it up to the All-Father, I guess he almost looked into it but the queen told him not to worry."

Thank the Norns, she must have covered for me…

I felt myself calm down slightly, and Asta continues to speak. "Well if the queen is on our side maybe it will be alright? Either way we are not taking any chances, we have to make sure she never sees you or finds out your name."

Even though I am in shock I still manage to nod. "I-I better go catch up on my tasks…"

I say, finally breaking out of my daze. Asta nods and opens the door, "keep me updated on everything. I want to know what Loki says the next time you two see each other." At the mention of Loki's name, flashes of what transpired between us earlier flash in my head and my face reddens at the thought.

"I-I will do my best on that, now I have to go work Asta."

I try to run past her but her arm flew out to prevent me from doing so.

"You have already seen him haven't you? What happened?"

I look down to avoid her gaze, "I do not have the whole story yet. It depends on what he says tonight. I promise I will tell you everything that happens in the morning."

She looks at me skeptically before nodding and letting her arm fall at her side. "I will find you if you try to get out of telling me tomorrow. Do not humor yourself in thinking that I will not."

I shiver at the threat, even though I love her, Asta is terrifying at times. I finally walk out of the closet, and out of the kitchen area. I head towards the laundering area and start to catch up on my work. None of the other servants are in the area so I finish catching up on my tasks in peace. After finishing, I leave my area and head towards the library. I walk slowly at first letting my mind flow with all of the unanswered questions flowing in my head.

Will Loki accept my demands? Will he let me in? Will I really tell him the truth about my father?

My head starts to grow dizzy from the thoughts bouncing around in my head but somehow I manage to make it to the library. With only a slight hesitation I reach for the knob and myself into the library. When I enter I am surprised to see the library empty.

"Loki?"

I call out, in an attempt to make sure he really was not in the room yet. When I get no response I walk over to the table and sit down ready to wait for as long as necessary. I wait for a significant amount of time before I feel my eyelids start to become heavy. I try to fight the sleep that wants to overtake me. Loki will wake me up right? As this thought passes through my head I finally give in to the inevitable and let sleep overtake me.

Loki POV

I was still in a slight shock when Sanna walked out the door. That woman had the gall to tell me I was hiding my emotions. Not question, but tell me, as if I was unaware of my own feelings. I was slightly shocked that she came to a conclusion so close to the truth. Now mind you, I know that I avoid using most of my emotions. But like I said before, I choose to do this based on my own experiences and accord.

My greatest inspiration for doing so was Thor, namely his clouded judgement, but I am not naive. I know that I also do this for other reasons, it is honestly easier to avoid emotion but it is more than that…Am I really going to give in to Sanna's demands just so I can satisfy my curiosity of her past? One that my mother somehow already seems to know? Unable to come to an answer that satisfies me I walk out of my chambers and into the palace below. At this moment there is nothing I can do, I will think this over more later.

Sanna Pov

My sleep is interrupted by a familiar hand shaking my shoulder. I open my eyes to be met by Loki smirking at me.

"Could not stay awake now could you?" He asks with true amusement in his tone.

I rub the sleep from my eyes and smile, "I knew you would wake me up."

Loki sits in the chair beside me and sighs deeply. "I have given what you asked of me much thought. And although it goes against what I have strived for, I am willing to attempt your foolish demands. You must pay mind that I say attempt, it does not mean I will be able to do so all the time. I will only let down this supposed 'wall' when I want to and when we are alone, but I do promise that I will try to at least once at a time of my choosing. Do we have an agreement?"

I find myself smiling at the diplomatic approach he took, almost as if he was negotiating a peace treaty and not just trying to talk me into sharing my past with him.

"I guess that is about as good as you are going to let it get." I say laughing slightly, "of course we do Loki."

He flashes me a genuine smile before shifting it into the smirk I have come to know and start to love.

Wait love? No I'm just starting to love his smirk that's all…right?

I shake the strange thought from my head and look to Loki once more. "Good, now that we have that settled what do you wish to discuss first Sanna? The obvious…" he trails off as he reaches out to grab my thigh.

This sudden act causes me to squirm in my chair, but I continue to keep my sights on him only looking down at his hand for a moment. "...or the other matter regarding your past." I think for a moment, but it seems to be hard with his very presence clouding my thoughts. Every fiber of my being is telling me I should just kiss him and worry about telling him the truth later. But my rational mind surprisingly wins in the end.

"Well could we do both?"

I say as the blush on my cheeks deepen. So perhaps my rational mind did not win fully, but still...Loki smirks before leaning over and kissing me softly on the lips.

"We could do that…" He says as he pulls back in a voice that almost sounds seductive.

He then lets his other hand caress the side of my face. "But I have a feeling your story will not get very far if we do that so…"

He then disappears in a flash of light, startling me. When I look for him he is sitting in the chair across from me instead.

"We will do this…"

I sigh, slightly disappointed at Loki's choice of action. Loki seems to notice this and smile but chooses to say nothing. I take the silence as my cue to speak.

How am I even going to say it? I have never said the story out loud, not even Asta knows the full story.

"I-I honestly do not even know how to begin…" I say truthfully, "I guess I'll start with my father's name. He was called Erik Axelson and he was a warrior of Asgard."

I look up to see Loki's eyes trained on me, "I have heard of him. He was a famous warrior when I was young, mother used to tell Thor and I stories of him."

"I honestly do not remember him being that famous, I only remember him going off on journeys constantly and leaving mother and I alone. I did hate it when he went off like that, but even so when missing him seemed to become unbearable. That was the moment he seemed to show up, normally with a spoil of war and a story that seemed almost too insane to be true."

I stop my story to laugh slightly, "only now do I know that he was speaking the truth. It was like that for awhile, when I was lucky father stayed home for almost a month. When I was unlucky it would only be for a few days. Either way when he was home, he would teach me things like horseback riding, stealth, hunting, and more things of that nature. Actually this was when our family was...well it was not perfect, but it was still loving and enjoyable.

I guess that was when father started changing, when he came home he would just walk through and not greet mother or I. We would not go on any trips like we did when he was home, he would just sit and wait until it was time for his next journey. One day, I remember asking him what was the matter and his response was 'you are too young to understand.'

I let it go after that, and eventually mother did too. A few months after was when guards came to our door. They told us that father had killed the leader of his group and that he was being convicted of treason. Mother could not believe it and neither could I, father had always got along so well with the warriors he traveled with it seemed almost impossible for him to do such a thing.

We went to see him at the prison, but when we got there the guards told us that he had taken his own life…"

I trailed off unable to continue any further unless I wanted to risk shedding tears in front of Loki. I looked up to see Loki held a stone-faced expression but I could still see the sorrow he held for me.

I looked down at my lap in an attempt to compose myself, " after that my mother and I lost any status our family held. We were unable to keep our home without father so mother managed to get a job as a servant at the palace. Mother and I moved in and we have been here ever since."

I finally looked up at Loki once more only to see him still holding the same expression. I feel my sadness being replaced with anger, "why do you look at me like that? Was it not what you expected or are you just going to leave me now that you have the information you so desperately craved." I hadn't meant to snap at him like I did, but my anger was getting the better of me once more.

Surprisingly, Loki rises from his seat and walks over to wear I still sat fuming with anger. He grabs my hand and pulls me up from my seat and surprisingly embraces me.

"I'm sorry," was all he said.

"L-Loki you do not have to do this."

I found myself saying but he says nothing but I still continue, "I-I'm no longer affected by it. He died so long ago…"

I trail off as my voice slightly breaks. Why was I letting this affect me now? I hadn't let it do so in such a long time.

"Now who is lying?"

I hear Loki ask quietly and I let myself give in. I wrap my arms around Loki and accept his embrace.

"Thank you, Loki."

I murmur quietly, just loud enough for him to hear. He chooses to say nothing and does not let go of me.

Well there it is!

There will be more Loki and Sanna in the next chapter. This was just so they could get closer and Loki could understand her better. Like how she's starting to understand how he hides his emotions.

Well that's all I shall see you next week!