Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel.

Claimer: I own Evyn Dolrson.

In this chapter, Loki is feminine and uses "she/her/hers" pronouns. The second half of this chapter is from Thor's POV and since he doesn't know that Loki is genderfluid, Loki appears masculine and Thor refers to her in "he/him/his" pronouns.

Loki's fingers drummed irritably on the armrest of her seat as Evyn watched her. They were on the verge of starting a staring contest when Evyn sighed and closed his eyes, scratching his temple. "We've not had a silent session in a while," he said, putting his hand back into his lap. "Is this going to remain a silent session? Would you like to play a game?"

Loki narrowed her eyes a little and began chewing on the inside of her cheek. "I am having trouble organizing my thoughts into what I wish to say," she said at last, spreading her hand out over the armrest to stop them from drumming. "It's a rarity," she added, "that I don't know what to say, but it does happen."

"Alright," Evyn said, nodding. "What do you usually do when this happens?"

"Well, generally, people don't notice," she huffed, crossing her arms and sitting back. Evyn only gave her a kind smile.

"Alright, well, maybe I can help," he said. "What's are your thoughts about?"

Loki sighed. "Odin."

"Alright," Evyn said and gave her an encouraging nod. "What about Odin?"

"He's..." Loki pursed her lips. "Confusing," she settled for. "He's confusing and I don't trust him. But I think he might care about me. Maybe."

Evyn nodded again with a thoughtful expression. "What happened?" He asked. "It's rare that you want to talk about him." He paused and added "Do you want to talk about him?"

Loki hesitated. "Yes," she said. "I think I ought to."

"If you like," Evyn said. "Start whenever you're ready, Loki."

Loki fidgeted her fingers. "He told me about my- our grandmother. Thor and mine." She paused and added "She was jotun."

"Was she?" Evyn said, looking surprised. Loki nodded.

"Yes," she said. "Thor found a diary of hers in the library and brought it to me. I- We went to Odin and demanded for answers. He told us that the information wasn't intentionally kept from us and that it was a slight in our history education that overlooked the fact."

Evyn tilted his head to the side. "If I may," he said. "You seem doubtful. Can you tell me why?"

Loki shook her head and let out another huff. "He also told us about an uncle of ours, one who died when he was still a child. His name was Vé and he was the only one of them that took after Bestla in that he looked like a jotun, but unlike her, he couldn't Shift into an aes skin. He was kidnapped and... tortured," she settled on, not wanting to reveal exactly what had happened.

"That must have been difficult to hear," Evyn said sympathetically.

Loki sighed and nodded. "But now... On the one hand, I'm angry that the information was kept from us, even if it was unintentional. But knowing Odin, I'm not sure it was unintentional, no matter how sorry he seems about it."

"That's not unreasonable," Evyn said and Loki looked up at him, surprised. Apparently seeing her expression, he continued "He broke your trust, Loki. It's going to be some time before that trust returns, and even then, you may feel a little distrust towards him."

Loki nodded. "But... Well, I asked him if he were keeping any secrets from me. He said there were two things he was keeping from me, but that neither of them were terribly important to me."

"And yet he didn't reveal them to you?" Evyn asked. Loki shrugged.

"I was upset after I discovered Vé and Bestla," she said. "He said it might be best to hear about the other things a bit later. Besides, he said one of them wasn't even terribly relevant to me."

"Be that as it may," Evyn said. "The sooner there are no secrets between you two, I think the faster your relationship will heal. But already I see it's beginning to get a bit better and progress is always important. How do you think it affects your relationship with your family?"

Loki gave him a knowing smirk. "You're asking about Thor, aren't you?" She asked. Evyn raised his eyebrows.

"Well, I meant it as a broad term, including Thor. Do you wish to talk about Thor?"

Loki's smirk fell a little and she shrugged. "He's been acting different," she said. "And yet, a lot like he did before."

"In what ways?" Evyn asked. Loki sighed and rolled her eyes.

"He's been coming into my room more and more," she said. "But he's finally discovered the novelty of knocking. He drags me away from my studies like he used to, but once we're outside, he asks what I would like to do, and I can't shake him for at least an hour and a half, but after that, if I tell him to leave me alone, he does. He's also been dragging me to dinner practically every evening," she added. "And he hasn't done that in..." She considered. Time used to be that Thor would constantly drag her to dinner, making sure she ate. But he stopped once he also stopped eating consistent meals with the family. "Well, it's been a while, to say the least," she finished.

"Does this irritate you?" Evyn asked, leaning forward with a small look of concern. "Does he stop when you tell him to stop?"

Loki felt a bit of heat touch her cheeks. Truth be told, for all her protesting and saying she was busy, she never once told Thor to stop. "...I haven't asked him to," she said at last. There was silence for a moment before she head a small breathy laugh. Glancing up, she saw that Evyn had leaned back and was grinning.

"What?" She said, furrowing her brows and crossing her arms. Evyn shook his head.

"Loki," he said. "You are allowed to like it." And damn it all, why was she suddenly blushing like a virgin? She looked down again, on the verge of pouting. Evyn stopped laughing and said, kindly, "It seems to me that Thor just wants to spend time with you. You're allowed to want to spend time with him as well, Loki. In fact, so long as he's respecting your space, privacy, and boundaries, I encourage it."

Loki nodded, still blushing, and said "He's also been asking me for tips on magic."

"Has he now?" Evyn said, raising his eyebrows. "And how's that going?"

Loki shook her head, grinning. "Terribly," she said. "He has quite a bit of magic, as seen with accidentally making storms when we were younger. But..." Loki bit her lip. "He's impatient even when he's trying, every bit of theory just flies over his head and he can't produce anything we've tried thus far!" She paused and added "And in a way, I don't want him to be good at it. And I don't know why."

Evyn nodded. "I've seen this before," he said. "And knowing you, I think it narrows down to this; you're good at magic and he's good at fighting. To you, I think this feels like a- a crossing of territories, perhaps?"

Loki winced. "He still doesn't know that the reason he couldn't find any beginners books in the library was because I was hiding them from them," she said. "I just... It felt nice at first, knowing he was serious about learning. But now, it just... It feels like..." She stopped again, frustrated, before bursting out "It's mine! I'm the one who's good at magic! I don't want him to- to-" She stopped again and looked at Evyn, horrified of what she'd said, but Evyn just continued to nod.

"I see," he said. "Magic is what you're good at and fighting is what he's good at. You don't want him to succeed in both, for that would be unfair."

Loki pressed her lips together and felt her eyes sting. "'M just being selfish," she said and Evyn tilted his head.

"Perhaps," he said. "But Loki, you're good at fighting too. You use knives, that's true, but that's something Thor hasn't been able to manage, is it?"

Loki bit her lip and nodded slowly. "Yeah," she said. "That's true."

"And whereas you and Thor are good at different kinds of weapons training, is it not also impossible that you may be good at different branches of magic? You may have struggled with training, but it's clear that Thor's struggling now. Try different branches, although from what you've told me, I suspect he's more elemental than you are."

Loki looked almost offended. "I happen to be quite skilled with fire branches, thank you very much."

"I'm not saying that you're not," Evyn said. "Forgive me, that wasn't what I meant. I simply meant that while you're better with illusions, Thor's better with creating storms. Let that be your guide on what to teach him."

Loki considered him for a moment, arms still crossed. "Alright," she relented. "I'll try. Thank you."

Evyn smiled. "You're welcome, Loki."

Thor and Loki were standing in the hallway, waiting for Odin and Frigga to join them. Today was the day that Loki and Odin were going to Alfheim, and Thor could tell that Loki was nervous.

Loki was also wearing a hat with a rather wide brim. Thor had been teasing him about it lightly for the past half-hour, and suddenly grinned as he leaned towards Loki again and said "Well, at least it doesn't have horns."

"At least it doesn't have feathers," Loki retorted and Thor grinned until he noticed Loki's posture; he was stiff as a board, shoulders tensed. Frowning, Thor moved to place a hand at the base of Loki's neck.

"Are you alright, brother?" He asked, beginning to rub some of the tension out.

"Brother, are you alright?" Thor asked, continuing to rub.

"Hmm?" Fine," Loki replied, putting his hands in his pockets. He closed his eyes as Thor continued to rub, tilting his chin down. Eventually, Loki began to loosen up and relax a little, although he had taken his hands out of his pockets and fidgeted endlessly. "Where are they?" He said, to no one in particular, looking around as if hoping their parents would suddenly appear.

"They'll be here soon enough," Thor said, grinning and dropping his hand. Loki huffed and they returned to their silence.

Things had become... Well, not easier, but certainly different over the past few weeks. Thor had gone into Loki's room several times—knocking first, he was always very careful to knock now—and had dragged Loki away from whatever it was he was doing for a bit of fresh air. At first, Thor was hesitant to do so, but he let Loki decide what to do. Sometimes they walked through the gardens, or sparred, or went through the markets. Sometimes Thor went into his room to drag him away from his studies to eat dinner.

But no matter how much Loki rolled his eyes at being dragged away, Thor always caught the small smile Loki gave when Thor asked what they should do and when Thor asked him for advice on magic. But despite this, Loki still seemed shy somehow; like he was afraid to start showing himself again. Then again, it had only been a few weeks. Thor knew things wouldn't be fixed so instantly, especially since it had taken them months just to get to this point.

Thor gave Loki a sideways look, his brother looking irritated at their—Their! Thor felt like he was going to burst with joy when Loki referred to Odin as their father a few days before and didn't correct himself—parents' lateness. He hesitated before saying "Loki?"

"Hm?" Loki glanced at him. "What is it?"

"Travel safely," Thor said. Loki raised an eyebrow, the corners of his mouth twitching up for a moment.

"I always travel safely," he replied, placing a hand to his chest, pretending to be offended. "As I recall, brother, it is you who attracts an inordinate amount of trouble. Besides, I will have Father with me."

Thor grinned and tilted his head to the side in acknowledgment. "Aye, that is true," he said. He glanced at Loki and added "Travel safely, won't you?"

Loki turned around to face him, raising an eyebrow. He looked as though he were going to say something, Thor thought, but then Loki's head turned away towards the footsteps coming down the hall and said "There they are."

Thor turned and saw Frigga and Odin walking towards them, Odin stopping before Loki and looking him up and down. "Are you ready?" He asked.

"Oh, give me a moment, Odin," Frigga scolded lightly and pulled Loki into a hug, placing a kiss on his cheek. "Have a good time, darling," she said. "But don't overwhelm yourself."

"I won't," Loki said dutifully and placed a kiss to her cheek. "Goodbye, Mother."

Frigga smiled and pressed a kiss to Odin's cheek as well, whispering something into his ear. A flash of annoyance crossed Odin's face and he frowned before waving her away. He looked back at Loki and said "Well?"

"Well, indeed," Loki replied. "Off we go." He glanced at Thor, lifting a hand in farewell before he and Odin turned to leave. Thor watched as they descended down the hall and leaned in towards Frigga, murmuring "How long do you think it will take for one of them to drive the other up a wall?"

Frigga gave a soft laugh, slapping his arm affectionately. "They'll only be gone for a few days," she reminded him. Thor smiled and returned his gaze to Loki and Odin's backs.

Aye, he thought to himself, sighing as he and Frigga turned away. They'll be alright. They are with each other.

Notes:

Odin and Loki are on their way to Alfheim! I wanted to write some light-hearted sibling fluff. It's been my idea that Loki's been stealing the spellbooks from the library since Thor told him about wanting to learn and so although she still isn't thrilled with the idea of Thor learning, she's willing to let him try (if only to prove herself right in that he'll want to give up. So far, this has yet to happen).

I'd like to thank the state of Georgia for this chapter; I was there for a college visit and had almost nothing to do for all of Thursday, until my overnight thingy started. So yeah.

Thank you to everyone who commented, subscribed, and favorited! You're the best readers!