When Sigyn left the room in which she'd met the Queen, she was feeling a lot better about things. But Loki, it seemed, was not too happy to be absent from the conversation she'd had with his mother, as she found him anxiously waiting for her in the hallway.
She was surprised to see that emotion troubling Loki. He didn't seem the type to get worried like this, yet she could tell how serious he was by the way he took her hand somewhat rigidly. Odd, she thought. He seems so concerned about what just happened... But Sigyn couldn't quite understand why; the conversation she'd had with the Queen had been perfectly fine.
"What did my mother say?" he said, anxiety hanging in his tone.
"Why? Are you worried? she asked curiously.
She saw his lips purse slightly, his glance shifting as he stared at her.
"You are worried," she smiled teasingly. "Well don't be; you've got nothing to worry about."
He looked almost surprised at her answer.
"I haven't?" he asked, a cautious edge to his voice.
She frowned slightly.
"What did you think she was going to say?"
He looked to the floor for the tiniest of moments and then back to her.
"What did she say?" he asked again.
Sigyn couldn't help but feel a little sad at the fact that he felt he had to ask, so she said, "Well, she loves you, so like any other she wanted know my intentions with you."
She smiled and added, "She kept asking me if I felt the same as you do. I got a little nervous at one point actually, because she wasn't going to let me go until I told her something."
Her smile turned to a grin as she continued, "But she did help me to understand a few things."
"Like what?" he blinked.
Sigyn squeezed his hand.
"Only good things," she confirmed.
"You're not going to tell me, are you?"
"You could try asking your mother," Sigyn grinned. "Or perhaps being patient?"
Loki's lips turned upward at the corners as she turned his own words back on him. He leaned just close enough to her to place a kiss on her forehead. Perhaps he could deal with not knowing... Or he'd just find out at another point in time. Loki resolved to do the latter, satisfied, at least, that nothing bad had happened between Sigyn and his mother.
Since he knew that he would get no more information out of her, he decided that they should go to the library. They had not been there together since the first time he'd taken the initiative and spoken to her. And Loki was well aware of how much she enjoyed being there.
He knew also, that she had not been particularly been getting along with the Archive Keeper since his little trick with her book. The man still wasn't back to trusting her fully, which amused him at the same time as irritated her. But Sigyn had convinced him to allow her to take books home once more so Loki wasn't too concerned by the matter.
They settled in a spot that Sigyn had seen Loki sat in many times. It was a corner of the library, not dark, but relatively hidden from view. And there was a small, round table set up beside the wall with two chairs either side of it- though Sigyn was relatively certain that there had only been one chair there before.
Loki held out a hand and gestured for her to take a seat in the chair opposite to the one he usually used. But Sigyn didn't sit. She just smiled at him for a second and leant against the edge of the table. Loki just shook his head at her and sat down in his own seat. It was almost comic to have seen them sat like that; with their differing heights, they were almost at eye level to each other even though Sigyn was still standing.
"I'm going to go and find a book," she said, pushing herself off of the table after a while.
His fingers caught her wrist and she paused. Looking back to him, she smiled slightly but let out a long and heavy sigh.
"You know, you have to let go of me if I'm going to get a book."
Loki's mouth formed a sideways smile as he replied, "You know, I could just bring any book you wanted here. I don't have to let go at all."
She let out a small laugh and returned to lean on that small table again, resting her weight against it.
"What if I like looking for books?"
"What if you fell while looking for one?" he countered. "You do have a tendency to fall I've noticed."
"Oh ha ha," she said, rolling her eyes.
She was about to reply that she only had a 'tendency to fall' when he felt like amusing himself, but she didn't get the opportunity. Loki grinned, and with a wave of his free hand, the table she leant on disappeared. Sigyn let out a small scream as she fell backward, only to land on a huge cushion that Loki had replaced the table with.
"What was that?"
They could hear the Archive Keeper raging from columns of shelving away and Sigyn met Loki's eye.
"That wasn't nice," Sigyn said, shooting him an unimpressed glare.
Loki shrugged, still grinning as he waved a hand and the cushion became a table once more, with Sigyn still sat atop it. She didn't have time to say anything more to him before the Archive Keeper rounded a shelf to see them. All she really had time to do was push herself off of the table before he yelled at her for that too.
Sigyn pointed at Loki before the Archive Keeper began shouting and said accusingly, "That was him- his fault, I mean."
"Thank you for the support..." he murmured, smirking slightly.
"Well, sorry," she whispered back. "But maybe you do kind of deserve it a little."
His smirk only grew at that. Both of them knew that she wasn't really sorry though. Both of them knew that Loki was in a far better position to deal with the Archive Keeper than Sigyn was. And both of them knew that he was far more likely to talk himself out of the situation than Sigyn was.
"What d'you think you're doing?" an already raised voice yelled.
Loki turned his head and the Archive Keeper caught sight of the man, or rather Prince, he was starting to yell at. Though it seemed that even royalty could not curb the vigour of his anger.
"Don't care if you're the prince, not in my library you don't. There'll be none of that ridiculous noisemaking in here!"
Loki somehow managed to restrain a smirk, though Sigyn could tell that it was hard for him.
"My apologies. We were just marvelling at the wonderful condition in which you keep the library and I'm afraid my friend here may have gotten a little too excited about it. You are doing a wonderful job at keeping this place in such excellent order by the way," he said, his words soothing anger that Sigyn knew could not easily be calmed.
The Archive Keeper stared at him for a while with a familiar frown on his face.
Eventually, he clicked his tongue and said, "Yes, well..."
At that he turned to Sigyn and added, "Least I know he did steal your book then... No more stealing and noisying."
The last part was directed at them both, it seemed. But the Archive Keeper said nothing more, and then he walked away, leaving the two where they were and without any sort of punishment.
"I got 'a little excited'?" Sigyn said, raising her eyebrows.
"He left, didn't he?" Loki replied.
"I cannot believe you just said that- and I can't believe you just got off so easily!" she said, a little outraged.
"Hm?"
"He'd probably have shouted at me for a while and then thrown me out of here for a couple of days if that'd been me. But you just talked him into going- without even shouting at you."
"It was a good job that it was not you that offended him then," he answered smirking a little.
"True..."
Then she caught Loki looking at her as she stood beside him, amusement in his expression. She frowned a little, not understanding the look he was giving her.
"What?" Sigyn asked, uncomprehendingly.
"You told him that I stole your book."
"You did," she reasoned.
"I wouldn't consider it stealing necessarily-"
"Oh, and what would you consider it as then?" she interrupted.
"How about Loki started, pausing only to pull her into his lap, an action that caused a little squeak of noise to slip out of her mouth.
"-A means to an end," he finished.
Sigyn raised her eyebrows at him questioningly. What does he mean by that? she wondered. Seeing her expression, he decided, for once, to answer her.
"It brought you to me, didn't it?" he said, his eyes meeting hers.
She smiled slightly, unable to stop the expression coming to light her features. He always does know what to say, she thought, knowing that, in this case, it was a good thing.
Author's Note: So another chapter for you guys. Revision's going about as well as a dump truck rolling over a rat (don't ask) right now. I've resorted to colourful envelopes, and felt pen key quotes, themes, characters and structure points. Kill me now.
Kit xx