Disclaimer: Oh, how I wish I owned Frey and Loki and Thor and Sif and everyone else mentioned in this.
A/n: YES, I FINALLY GOT TO INTRODUCE FREY. OH HOW I LOVE FREY. He's my baby. :D Alright, read this please: because in the movie, Thor and Loki and all the other Asgardians have British accents, and since there are supposed to be 9 realms, I figured, what if the other realms have other accents? And since Freya is supposed to be all sexy 'n stuff and Frey is just awesome, I gave them both French accents. So pretend like they have different accents, m'kay? And I also see them being like swimmers because Vanaheim is supposed to be like this realm with all these beaches and sailing, so...you do the math. Thank you. Now you may read on. :)
The night the Vanir twins arrive is the night that Odin awakes from the Odinsleep. He has only been out two days, so not very long at all. Frigga had been the step-in ruler of the city while he was asleep. Odin could tell that, no matter how controlling she was, she did not enjoy being placed in charge. She would often ask him how he did it, and sometimes Odin didn't even know himself.
The two Vanir royals had been escorted directly from the Bifrost by Vidar, a powerful young god who had recently earned the spot of captain of the guards. It had been Frigga's idea to have them escorted, what with there being prices on their heads. She didn't want an attacker to pop up out of no where and kill them; they were just children, after all.
Said children never let go of each other's hand as they were lead to the throne room to greet Frigga and Odin. They clearly weren't of Frigga and Odin's race; they looked too pretty and impish to be Asgardians. (However, they were both girlish looking, and in his still-sleepy mind, Odin couldn't tell which one was the girl and which one was the boy, but Frigga could.)
The taller one—Frey—thanked the King and Queen for their hospitality and understanding. His heavy accent mixed with the fatigue that they both must have been feeling made it difficult to understand exactly what he said, but Frigga paraphrased.
The twins were shown to their rooms. They had been given a whole hall to themselves, Frigga trying to make them feel as at home as possible. (She honestly had no idea how things were handled in Njord's kingdom, but she desperately wanted to help those poor little things.) She sent some servants off to assist them in the morning, but was surprised when they returned to her, all saying that the twin's rooms were empty.
The motherly instinct rose up in Frigga and she began to panic like she did whenever Loki or Thor had done something impulsive enough to get them killed. She wondered if assassins had swooped in during the night and had stolen away the children, but Vidar assured her that if someone had done so, he would have known about it. Odin reminded her that they were only children, and were probably off exploring the palace on their own.
"They are probably curious," said Odin. "Let them explore. And besides, it's not like they will do anything rash. They will probably run into Thor and Loki anyways."
But that was another reason why Frigga was so worried.
Loki was walking back from the library through the courtyard, an open book in his hands. He was scanning the pages while treading on slowly, considering he had the habit of tripping over himself while trying to multitask. He had almost made it through to the other side when he noticed something—or rather, someone—out of the corner of his eye.
The porcelain skinned boy abruptly stopped walking and shut his book before turning his head to look at the other person. He was staring at the fountain in the middle of the courtyard, his head cocked to one side.
"...What are you doing?" asked Loki, tucking his book under his arm and walking over to the boy. Now that he got closer, Loki could see him more clearly.
He had shaggy brown hair which fell into his eyes in a way that would make Frigga scream in frustration. He was taller than Loki, and looked a tad bit older, too. Around Thor's age, Loki guessed. His features were impish—pointed ears, a button nose, fair skin, high cheekbones, and red, heart-shaped lips. His body was long and lean, like a swimmer's. He was quite handsome, but when Loki tried to remember his name, he drew a blank.
"Ze water," said the boy in an accented, musical, and surprisingly feminine sounding voice, "eet's flowing backwards, eez eet not?"
Loki stared at him for a moment before glancing at the fountain. It was nothing special, being in the crumbling courtyard after all. It had been enchanted to be everlasting and have it's waters flow until the end of time, or something like that. Loki didn't really believe that, considering the fact that it looked like it would crumble to bits any day now. Not to mention that it was in the corner of the courtyard, unnoticeable while walking by unless you had as keen as eyes as Loki's.
"No," said Loki, glancing back at the boy, "it's not."
"Yes, eet eez!" the boy replied with vigor. "It's flowing down, not up!"
Loki frowned in confusion for a moment. "Your accent...what is it?"
The boy turned his head away from the fountain and looked at Loki. His eyes were almost liquid, the topaz color swirling around his irises. "Excusez-moi?"
"Wait, you must be one of the Vanir twins!" said Loki excitedly, more to himself than to the boy. "That explains why I don't know your name or your accent! ...That sounded rude, didn't it? I'm sorry. I'm Loki."
"One of ze princes?" asked the boy, raising a perfectly cut eyebrow as Loki nodded. "Funny, I 'ad zought you would be taller."
At this, Loki groaned and rolled his eyes. "I know, I know! Everyone thinks that! I can't help being short, I am still young!"
The Vanir laughed. "I like you. I am Frey."
"I know."
"Zan do you know why ze water eez flowing backwards?" demanded Frey, gesturing to the fountain. He was clearly upset, and Loki wondered if his Mother had explained the differences between Vanaheim and Asgard.
"Well, here that's the way it flows," explained Loki.
"Really?" asked Frey, now looking more curious than upset. "What else eez different 'ere?"
Sif sighed and wiped the sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand. It was one of the hotter days of the early summer, so of course Thor had to pick today to drag her into his work. He had been assigned by Tyr to clean and polish all the warrior's swords.
Thor had been ecstatic. The prince had the energy of a smaller child, being so excited to work with something that had to do with fighting. Sif wasn't stupid, so she knew that this was simply a way for Tyr to get some handy work done while also giving the servants a break. And since there were at least a hundred different types of swords, Sif had offered (been dragged into it against her will, more accurately) to help.
Now she had just finished her forty-third sword and was about ready to drop. She was about to hoist it up in her arms and take it back to the armory when a voice stopped her.
"What are you doing?"
Sif turned, expecting to see someone like Tyr or one of his 'almighty warriors', but was surprised when she saw...Well, she didn't know who she was looking at.
The first thing that Sif noticed was that the girl had long, blonde hair, just like she used to have. She was also pixie-like; a button nose, red, heart-shaped lips, high cheekbones, fair skin, and pointed ears. Even at her young age, her body seemed to have the natural shape of an hourglass. Her limbs were long, like a swimmer's, but she was beautiful, none the less. Her eyes were a strange shade of liquid topaz. Her voice was high pitched and musical.
The second thing Sif noticed was her outrageous and ridiculously heavy accent.
"'Ello? Are you listening, fille?"
"Um," said Sif, "yes."
"What are you doing wiz a sword? I zought zat women were not allowed to 'ave zem," said the girl innocently.
The third thing that Sif noticed was that she immediately hated this girl. True, women weren't allowed to have swords unless you were only giving it to your husband or son (or unless you were Queen Frigga, because than you probably would need a sword to keep Thor and Loki in line). Sif hated that rule and she desperately wanted to get rid of it. She wanted to be the one with the sword, defending Asgard and all its good citizens.
Thor used to laugh at her for having such a dream, but one day she pinned him down and actually punched him, so he quit laughing after that. He also promised to help her become a warrior as well.
The girl went on. "Unless, of course, you are actually a man. I only assumed because of your lovely face. 'Owever, I suppose I could be wrong..."
"No," said Sif, "I'm a woman."
"Oh," the girl said, sounding slightly disappointed. "...But your 'air..."
Sif, feeling outraged, scowled and was about to ask who the girl thought she was, but then Thor walked over, saving the girl from getting a black eye on that pretty face of hers.
"Sif, what's taking you so long? Oh, hello. Who are you?"
"Freya," the girl replied. "Who are you?"
"Why are you talking like that?" asked Thor bluntly. Sif elbowed him in his ribs.
"It's her accent," she hissed at him.
"What's an accent?" he whispered back. Sif glared at him, than realized that Freya was watching them, her head cocked to one side.
"I'm Sif," she said, waving slightly and feeling completely foolish after doing so, considering that Freya was only about six feet from her, "and this is Thor." Sif gestured to her companion, and watched at Freya's eyebrows twitched upwards.
"Oh, you mean like ze prince?" questioned Freya, and Sif wondered who else Freya knew who was named Thor. "Yes, I zought zat I would meet you. Eezn't zere supposed to be a smaller one, too?"
"You mean Loki?" asked Sif, raising an eyebrow.
"Loki," echoed Freya softly, as if enjoying the way that the boy's name felt against her tongue.
"Where is Loki, anyway? I am sure that he will want to meet you. However, he is kind of quiet," said Thor quickly, on the verge of a full-on rant.
Sif's jaw nearly dropped. She had never seen Thor so bashful!
"'E must be wiz Frey...," muttered Freya to herself while Thor babbled on.
As if on cue, an impish-looking brunette boy who looked almost exactly like Freya came rushing past, pulling Loki along by his wrist. His long legs came to a stop when he glanced over at them, releasing Loki's wrist. This caused the porcelain skinned prince to trip over his own two feet and fall on the ground.
Hearing his brother's yelp must have snapped Thor out of his daze, because he immediately went over to Loki and helped him up.
"Frey!" greeted Freya, smiling as the brunette came over to her. "Ou avez-vous ete?"
"Je faisais un tour avee mon nouvel ami," Frey answered, smiling as well. The two drifted off into a conversation in their own language and Sif walked around the siblings and over to Thor and Loki.
"I think he broke my wrist," muttered Loki, cradling his injury against his chest.
"Who are they, anyways?" asked Sif.
"The Vanir twins," Loki answered.
"The ones Father was expecting?" asked Thor, and Loki nodded.
"...And ze water eez even flowing backwards!" concluded Frey. Freya gasped, covering her mouth with her dainty hands.
"Oh, and for some reason, Frey is fascinated by water," explained Loki.
Thor hummed and put his hand on Loki's thin shoulder. "Come on, you should go to Eir. We can talk to them later," he said, and began steering Loki away. Sif walked back over to the sword she had been cleaning, picked it up and carried it back to the armory, all the while dreading the outcome of having these foreigners here in Asgard.
A/n: -EDIT- Thanks to plume-noire 6 for correcting my French.
Um, Irritated!Sif is irritated. I can see her starting to develope feelings for Thor at this point. (And there will be some Thor/Sif, {BECAUSE JANE IS NOT APART OF THIS STORY, YES I DO SUPPORT CANNON} so don't worry about there being anything with Freya. She's just sexy and all guys act like that. Even as a kid, she's got it goin' on. ;) And I'm sure Loki and Thor are normally better hosts, it's just that Loki is in pain and Thor is all big brother so...yeah you know.)
Also, I'm concidering writing another story for the Thor archive. It is/would be about Thor getting Amora to send him back in time to, idk, like treat Loki better and hopefully stop his betrayal, but it kind of backfires when Loki gets the memories of what actually happened and like thinks that they are dreams and tells Thor, and Thor totally panics...Yeah, I know, it sounds far fetched, but I'm just tossing it around in my head.
Wow, long author's note. The next chapter features: Magic!Loki, Amora, annnnnnd *drum rool* lots of dramatic chases! Please review!