Hello everyone! I wanted to post this earlier today since in a few hours I'm going to my friend's get together. He's an Eagle Scout and he leaves for a 6 week long duration at a camp a few hours away as a mentor so we won't be seeing him until the middle of August so tonight is kind of like a farewell get together. When I come home from that, I will post chapter 8, but that won't be up until later tonight, probably sometime around midnight(Eastern US time here).

This chapter has some mythology in it; there are references to Nott, Freya, and Forseti. I checked my information at a couple different places and found that Nott is the goddess of night, Freya is the goddess of love, beauty, war, and a couple other things as well, while Forseti is the god of justice and order.

Once again, a big thank you to those who reviewed the last chapter, A Wild Clover and Cougar rolypoly bug. I'm glad that Loki was relatable in this chapter; that was my goal. I have the rest of the plot points I want to hit planned out for their childhood and I started planning out some points for adolescence too. I actually got a little carried away last night while doing that because I started writing a scene during their adolescence that is very Loki, but I had to stop myself because I need to finish their childhood before I get there.

Here is chapter 6! I hope you all like it :)

Loki's POV

I awoke the following morning feeling absolutely dreadful. My night's rest was not very effective in rejuvenating the condition of my eyes or head. I frowned; I must have cried more than I thought to cause such discomfort in my eyes and head. I knew I had expressed a lot of grief the night prior, but I did not expect an aftermath such as this. It was as if my weakness was following me, or was a part of me that I could not relinquish.

"What is this?" I asked aloud when I stood in front of a mirror and saw my face.

I had expected to be confronted with the task of trying to conceal the marks on my face from yesterday, but the marks were gone. I ran my finger over my face and only felt the smoothness of my skin, no ragged scars or dried blood. I was shocked at this discovery, but came to the conclusion that I was able to recover quickly from an attack or injury.

"At least now no one will point out the marks and I won't have to explain it to Aurora." I muttered as I began getting ready for the day.

I was afraid of what Aurora would say or what she would do if she found out about what happened. I figured that she would either find out on her own somehow, or I would tell her. I wanted it to be on my own terms though, not divulged by Fandral himself or revealed by the marks on my face. Thankfully, I could handle the matter at a later point in time.

For now, I felt too tired to prevent her from telling someone about Fandral or confronting him herself. She was bold like that; I had no doubts that she would do it and I didn't want to get her involved for fear that harm might come to her. Rubbing my eyes, I sighed heavily and found that I would have to endure the dull pain I felt in my eyes and head for today.

"Hopefully no one will notice anything different about me." I thought to myself as I closed my door behind me and set out into the hall.

Aurora POV

You opened your eyes to discover your journal lying on top of your nightgown and realized that you must have fallen asleep last night while looking through it. The unanticipated dozing off actually did not bother you because you usually had trouble sleeping at night. Often, you would work in your journal or wander around the grounds. The rare occurrence that you fell asleep at a decent hour was a welcome change to your sleeping schedule. It seemed that the goddess Nott had some sort of personal vendetta against you, forbidding you from missing even a glimpse of her precious night. Groggily, you climbed out of bed and got ready for the day. After you deemed your morning appearance suitable enough, you ventured out of your quarters and to the dining hall for breakfast.

Upon your arrival, you saw Sif sitting at a table with Liv and another girl in your training class, Ingrid. You didn't mind Liv so much, but Ingrid got under your skin in the most unpleasant way. Ingrid thought she was entitled to everything just because she was the daughter of Freya and had inherited her mother's beauty. You had heard a great deal about the behavior of humans on Midgard and how it was not uncommon for those who were blessed with beauty to let it go to their heads and cause them to believe they were superior to others. It seemed that perhaps a mindset that had seemed so primitive was not completely abandoned in Asgard either. Ingrid was the prime example of using beauty as a pedestal to place oneself above others. As you took your plate of food and decided that you would sit next to Sif despite Ingrid' presence you bit your lip in annoyance. Not only was Ingrid beautiful, but she was also decent in combat too. She wasn't as good as Sif, but she was definitely second to her in the class. It wasn't fair you decided; Ingrid seemed to have it all and you had nothing to boast about while she made it a point to make everyone know how great she thought she was. Your parents had instructed you not to hate anyone or be jealous because it was primitive and foolish. You knew it was petty to harbor such feelings toward Ingrid, but you knew the feeling was mutual so it didn't bother you enough to not feel that way. Reflecting upon how you thought it was unfair for Ingrid to have so much, you remembered an encounter you had with the god of justice and order at an earlier point in time:

"Forseti," you tugged on the older man's cloak, "can you help me?"

The god of justice looked down and smiled at you. "What is it, Lady Aurora?"

You giggled to yourself at the much older god calling you, a small child, 'lady'. You had gone looking for the god near the courts because you knew that he settled affairs in Asgard according to what was right or fair and you wanted him to settle a matter for you.

"I know that you make things fair when they aren't fair and I wanted to know if you could help fix something for me?" you asked him, looking up at him pleadingly.

"I will listen to what you have to say and I will see what I can do for you." The god replied to you.

You inhaled and said, "I don't think it's fair that Ingrid is so pretty and so good at everything she does. She's never been mean to me, but I wish I could be like her and I'm not. It's not fair that we're not…" you struggled for the right word, "equal."

Forseti's eyes softened as he bent down to get closer to your level. "Aurora, while I am the god of justice, I think you've misunderstood what it is that I do."

You stared back at him confused, "But, you make things fair and this isn't fair!"

Forseti simply shook his head. "No, Aurora, it's not that simple. You see these courts?" He gestured to the area around the two of you.

You nodded.

"Well, this is where my work is done. I settle disputes, disagreements, crimes, affairs of that nature. The matter with which you are concerned, is not of the same type."Forseti said.

"But I disagree with the fact that she and I aren't even close to being alike; that's a disagreement!" you smiled.

Forseit laughed and shook his head again. "I'm sorry, but this is not something that I can change for you. I cannot change how we are created; I can only remedy situations between people that have gone wrong. I cannot change who they are as people. You may not see this now, but you are different from everyone else in some way, not just Ingrid. No one is exactly the same; that would make for a boring realm wouldn't it?"

You thought about his words for a minute. You had to agree that it would be a bit creepy if everyone looked the same, talked the same, or did all of the same things.

"I guess you're right." You sighed.

Forseti gently placed a hand on your small shoulder and said, "Don't look so sad though, it is being different that makes everything worthwhile. You have to learn to live with people who are so different than yourself. You also need to learn to love yourself for who you are, not hate yourself for what you aren't. While you may not be Ingrid, that does not mean the two of you are unequal. You are worth as much to this realm as she is; and you know what else?"

After taking in all that Forseti had said you responded, "What else?"

"I know that you're going to do great things. You're going to do all of those great things as you, not anyone else." Forseti said softly.

You felt yourself smiling. You gave the god a big hug and he laughed as he hugged you back. "You're pretty smart." You said to him.

Forseti laughed again. "I've had a lot of time to become smart and a lot of practice at saying and doing what is the best at the time."

"Well, thank you for being smart and for being nice to me." You beamed at him.

"It was my pleasure. Now, I'm sorry, but I have a meeting I must attend to. Farwell, Lady Aurora." Forseti said as he stood up.

"Farewell, Forseti!" you called out as you skipped down the hall and away from the courts feeling much better about yourself.

Coming out of your memory, you sighed. The younger you was much more at peace than you were currently. Forseti's words had stuck with you throughout the years, however, and it was actually those very words that encouraged you to pursue your own interests and dare to be different. Although, you had no choice anyway since Forseti was right in that nobody was exactly the same. You were doomed or blessed to be yourself forever, and you weren't quite sure whether that was a blessing or a curse yet.

Forseti would probably be disappointed in you if he knew that your feelings about Ingrid had gotten worse over the years. You couldn't blame him either; you knew what you were feeling was wrong, but you didn't care.

"I guess I still have a lot to learn." You thought to yourself as you approached the table.

"Good morning, Aurora!" Sif smiled at you upon seeing you.

"Good morning!" You said back as you took your seat next to her.

"Morning!" Liv also greeted you and you returned the greeting.

You could feel someone staring at you and as you turned, you saw that Ingrid was staring at you with her piercing blue eyes. You maintained eye contact for a few seconds before you felt you had to look away. Ingrid smiled innocently when you finally broke eye contact.

"You look like you slept well, Aurora." Ingrid said to you.

You fought the urge to bite your lip. It figures she would notice that you had gotten more "beauty rest" than usual.

"Yes, I did actually." You replied.

"Getting proper rest is very important you know. If you don't, there's no way you'll look as good as you could." Ingrid pressed.

"Gods, she is so vain." You thought to yourself.

"I'm not too concerned about any of that. I think I look fine as I am." You said firmly as you sliced a fig in half.

Ingrid's eyebrows lifted.

"Oh, I must have said the wrong thing." You thought to yourself bitterly as you placed half the fig in your mouth.

"If you don't, it will show and then how will anyone want to marry you?" Ingrid leaned forward as she asked you.

There it was again; the marriage talk. You understood that as girls, it was a popular topic and hard to avoid because all girls wanted to grow up and get married to a good husband. You didn't understand why all the girls wanted to talk about it so much, you were all still so young and marriage was so far on the horizon that you couldn't even begin to really think that hard about it. It wasn't that you didn't want to get married; you just wanted to do so much more first. You wanted to travel and do something on your own before being tied to a husband. You wanted to experience the other realms, even ones that were considered dangerous. You wanted to depict scenes from the other realms in your sketches because frankly, you had already sketched a fair amount of Asgard and you wanted to see something new.

For now though, you had to respond to Ingrid so you said, "Look, none of us are getting married anytime soon and even if we were, there is so much more to a person that just looking nice."

Ingrid seemed to think that your statement was blasphemous because she shook her head furiously, "Aurora, you're so wrong there! Your appearance is the first thing someone notices about you before they even know your personality. If they can't even get past your looks, how will they know what you're like inside? You have to look pretty enough for them to bother with you."

Sif shifted uncomfortably in her seat and you knew that she could tell where this was going. You wouldn't admit it, but there was some truth to what Ingrid said. Especially on Midgard you had heard that some humans wouldn't give another the time of day if they didn't think they were attractive enough. Who was to say that maybe the same wasn't true on Asgard? You hadn't seen enough of the realm yet in your life to have evidence that Ingrid was right or wrong so you just had to focus strictly on what you believed.

"Not everyone is the same, Ingrid. Sure, maybe some people are like that, they won't look at you twice let alone bother to talk to you if they don't think you're pretty enough, but not everyone is so vain. You can miss out on a lot of great people if you live your life that way and honestly, I feel sad for the people that do choose to live like that." You said as you folded your arms.

Liv looked stunned at your response and Sif had a faint smile on her lips which you took as a sign that she had agreed with what you said.

Ingrid, however, seemed to miss the point of everything you had just said. "Aurora, I'm not saying that you aren't pretty, if I didn't think you looked at least half decent I wouldn't talk to you at all and look," Ingrid spread her arms out, "I'm talking to you now aren't I?"

What Ingrid had said angered you. It angered you almost as much as it would if she called you ugly, but, apparently she would never even bother to tell you that in the first place.

"Gods, Ingrid," you sighed in frustration, "you completely missed the point of what I just said."

"Then what was it? Surely you wanted to know if I was saying that specifically about you?" Ingrid asked.

"No, Ingrid. I'm telling you that you might consider changing your lifestyle." You said with your arms still crossed.

Ingrid looked taken aback. "Me?"

You nodded, "Yes, you."

"Umm, Aurora…" Sif whispered in your ear, "I don't think this is a good idea."

You ignored Sif's warning and continued, "You think you're better than everyone else and that's not right. You aren't better than everyone else so stop acting so high and mighty."

Just as Ingrid was about to respond, a different voice spoke, "Someone said 'mighty'. Surely you were calling for me?"

You turned around and behind you stood Thor with Loki. Everyone but you laughed and you had to fight off a small smile at Thor's healthy ego.

"Good timing Thor." Ingrid smiled at him, completely ignoring Loki.

Thor smiled back, "Care if we join you, friends?"

"Not at all!" Ingrid answered a little too quickly.

"Much thanks!" Thor said as he sat on the other side of Sif, much to the disappointment of Ingrid.

Loki silently walked over to your side and took his place next to you. He seemed quieter than usual. Typically, when Loki saw you, he would greet you with a smile, but this morning he did no such thing.

"Is something wrong?" you asked him quietly.

Loki shook his head.

"Then how come you aren't talking?" you asked him.

Loki sighed, "I'm just feeling a bit tired today, that is all."

"Oh," you said, "I know the feeling. Would you believe I actually fell asleep early last night?" you asked him.

Loki turned to face you now. "Did you now?"

Loki knew all about your sleeping problems so this was as much news to him as it was to you.

You nodded, "I fell asleep while looking through my journal last night. It was nice to fall asleep at a decent hour for once…"

Loki cracked a small smile. "I'm pleased that the night bid you well this time, Aurora."

"Me too." You laughed.

"So, Thor," you heard Ingrid drawl, "you were really great at training yesterday."

"You have my thanks, Lady Ingrid, but the one who was really great yesterday was my brother." Thor said in between mouthfuls of food.

Ingrid frowned as Loki looked uncomfortable.

"Ah yes, your brother did better than usual yesterday." Ingrid said without so much as a glance at Loki.

"Yes," you chimed in, "Loki did so well yesterday, but he always does!"

"Thank you, everyone." Loki said quietly.

"You deserve the recognition, brother. Cheers!" Thor said loudly as he raised his cup.

Everyone else followed suit, Ingrid and Loki less enthusiastically. Loki could tell that Ingrid was not too fond of him, but the feeling was mutual.

"Good morning, children! So nice to see all of you enjoying this fine morning together!" Queen Frigga said as she approached the table.

"Good morning Queen Frigga!" you all said brightly.

It was not often that one saw the king or queen around the palace; to see one or both of them was truly an honor and you were expected to be on your best behavior.

The queen smiled at all of you. "Thor dear, please mind the amount of food you put in your mouth."

Thor blushed slightly, "My apologies, mother."

Frigga smiled kindly at her son.

Ingrid spoke up next, "To what honor do we have the pleasure of seeing you this morning, my queen?"

Frigga smiled at Ingrid, "I'm actually here on behalf of King Odin. Thor and Loki, your father requests your presence as soon as you are done here."

"Yes, mother! We will meet father swiftly!" Thor announced and then said, "Loki taught me that word!"

Queen Frigga smiled over at Loki, "That was nice of you to enlighten your brother, Loki."

"Thank you, mother." Loki smiled at her.

Queen Frigga addressed all of you now, "I will let you all be now, farewell children."

"Farewell Queen Frigga!" you all responded.

"I hope I can be a great queen like Frigga one day." Ingrid said hopefully.

"Well, the only way you can do that is if you marry whoever the next king will be." Liv said.

"I know." Ingrid said as she smiled at Thor.

Thor, however, seemed unaware of what was going on since he was far too interested in his food to notice Ingrid smiling at him.

"Brother," he spoke, "We must be quick so that we can go see father."

"Indeed we shall, brother. I am merely waiting until you are ready to depart." Loki spoke.

"Then let us go! Farewell ladies!" Thor said as he stood up.

Loki followed suit and said his goodbyes as well before the two brothers disappeared from sight.

Ingrid sighed heavily, "I'm going to marry Thor one day I tell you."

"You're not the only girl who feels that way, Ingrid, I assure you." Sif said firmly.

"Yes, I want to marry Thor too!" Liv perked up.

Ingrid laughed, "Sorry Liv, and to any other girl who wishes to marry Thor, but he is mine!"

You rolled your eyes, "You can't just claim a person."

"Sure I can! I want him and I'm going to have him one day!" Ingrid exclaimed.

"Good luck with that." You mumbled.

"Yes, well, I'm off to make myself look better so that I can find Thor later. Farewell!" Ingrid waved as she ran off.

"Good riddance." You mumbled under your breath as you, Sif, and Liv stayed for the remainder of breakfast.

A/N: So that is chapter 6! I wanted to have Aurora interact with some other characters a little to establish a little bit of how she differs from them. Poor Loki, she did notice something was off about him! Don't worry- Aurora will find out about what happened to Loki in a future chapter! Leave reviews, they're the best! :)