Son of No One V

Loki had left her at the kitchen, after they had kissed-painfully gentle and slow, he had fled the room as if the hounds of Hel has been chasing at his heels. That was two weeks past.

Two weeks, and he was still at unawares as to the purpose of the girl. He had not gone to visit her since that night. Damn the little brown girl…just when he thinks he has her under his thumb she goes and does something that infuriates him-that makes his blood boil deep within his veins.

Didn't she know that he could not let her go? Not before he solved the mystery that she was?

And he supposed that there was also Hemidall, seated there inert his room…but the guardian was an impenetrable fort. Loki had been to see him thrice more…so much for third times charms. The man remained impassive.

He had to change the way he was going about things. He decided to pay the old Arnlaug a visit, but before he did…he had to go to Sigyn.

"Lady Sigyn I must have words with you." He burst into her door, finding her huddled underneath the sheets with one of his books, realising she must have gotten it from his study and that he had not even noticed it. He bit back the twinge of annoyance and spoke,

"I must be gone for awhile. There is business I must attend to that will take me from here. Do you know what that means?" she shook her head 'no'. She still was surprised at his sudden appearance, "Use your voice. Do you know what my leaving means?"

"What does it mean?"

"It means that you are not to leave this room for any reason, yes? You are only to leave here to go to the kitchen, and you must never again enter my study. I will know if you disobey. Am I understood?"

"Yes, Loki." She said, when she really wanted to ask him where he was going, and why he had kissed her.

Loki trudged through the snowlands for three days and three nights-for the place was unreachable with sorcery, arriving at the cavern entrance on the fourth day. The cavern entrance was an ordinary crevice in the ice, but Loki could feel the power that brimmed inside it.

He entered the place reverently, as if it were sacred ground and took in the view of the waterfall that fell into the rock formations beneath, forming an array of pools as far as the eye could see.

He made his way to the centre of the cavern, right to the pool in which the waterfall directly fell. He stripped down to his undergarments and slowly sank in to the edge of the pool-the hot water instantly irritating his skin. He waded into the centre, waist-deep, until he stood underneath the thundering water.

Taking a deep breath, Loki went under, leaving himself to the current.

Sigyn waited a day; as soon as she was sure that Loki had left and would not return soon she sprung into action. She ran to his study to grab her cloak, and from the adjoining bed chamber she had discovered three days before she stole some of Loki's clothing-everything in green. To the kitchen she went to grab some food. She needed to be out of the ice palace, an exit would not be that difficult to find…

Hemidall sensed a shift in the air. He stood, sought out his armour with his hands, and left the room to seek out the power with his mind.

Loki emerged on the other side of the passageway through realms, inside a pond in the courtyard of and old house that was everyday bathed with sunlight. As soon as his head ceased it's spinning, he was able to go to the washroom just to the side of the yard and quickly dress with the clothing that Arnlaug had left for him for when he visited.

He remembered teasing the woman about it, when she had responded that her age was too advanced to withstand young, naked flesh. Fondness aside, he readied himself to look upon his changed face in the mirror.

Skin that was blue was now was a pale asgardian's peach, his red eyes emerald green. Only his hair remained it original black. He had always assumed it to be the sunlight, or the heat…or some effect of the water, but he was glad he was able to be disguised without having to concentrate.

"Iceling, is that you?" Arnlaug's voice rasped through the door,

"Indeed it is me, old crone." He exited the washroom, clad in demure browns and blacks.

"Well, what brings you?" Arnlaug was a tall withered willow of a woman, almost as tall as Loki, her skin wrinkled like the bark of a tree, her hair white and drawn up tightly over her head. What was startling about her were her jet eyes, that instead of seeming soulless only served her to seem to have the ability to penetrate one's very being, eyes that seemed to know all things discovered and all things yet to be.

"I seek your wisdom, Lady Arnlaug," the woman cackled and screeched…her laughter did tend to unsettle. She led him to her kitchen, were she busied herself with boiling water and chopping tea leaves.

"Tell me boy, is it about the girl…Sigyn? Yes…yes it is about the little brown girl…" Arnlaug tended to trail off to herself.

"I will not ask how you knew of her." The woman stopped her work and turned to look to him.

"My dreams tell me-"

"-many things, yes…I know. I have tried asking the girl, and Hemidall, but the girl is oblivious and the guardian id impenetrable. I come to you now." Arnlaug cackled and screeched again, her breath heaving with the effort of laughter.

"Given up after only two weeks Iceling? Not like you at all. No indeed."

"Will you tell me?" the kettle at the heart-fire came to a boil with a deafening whistle.

"I will tell you, but be warned…they may be grievous things," She made him sit down at the table, placing a wide jade bowl in front of him, she poured the boiling water inside it, "now we both cast the leaves into the water, whilst asking the questions inside your head…" She handed him a pinch of the tea leaves, and together they cast them into the water.

The bowl promptly shuddered and froze over; Arnlaug gave a loud screech,

"It is inside her!"

Sigyn fought against the biting cold on her skin and the hollow aching cold inside her bones. She fought hard against the storm around her. All she could see around her was white, until after a few more steps the ground shuddered and fell open underneath her.

Dun dun duuuuuuuuuuun...double cliff hanger!