3rd POV
"Alfheim?" Cass echoed, staring at him, aghast. "You're going to Alfheim?"
Loki nodded, toying with the hem of his silver and black tunic. He was nervous. There was a silver crown on his head. "Thor and Mother and Father and me. We're all going."
Cass looked down, disappointed. "Why?"
He shrugged. "Father says it's nice to get out of the palace sometimes, but I know it's actually a meeting between him and King Halfza."
"How long will you be gone?" She whined.
He cracked a grin. "Only a couple of weeks." He promised. "I'll be back before you know it."
"Not in my mind." Cass grumbled. "It'll seem like forever."
He laughed, the sound dispelling the unease curled like a snake in his stomach. "Don't worry." He started to go.
"Don't leave. Please." She grabbed his arm, panic in her voice this time. The prince turned around, looking concerned, and saw the tears welling in her eyes. Automatically he pulled the silk handkerchief from his pocket and wiped them away, then pressing it into her hand and giving her a hug.
"It'll be fine." He promised, pulling away. "I'll see you as soon as you get back."
"Swear?"
"Swear." He made a cross over his heart to show his sincerity, and she smiled.
The smile emboldened him, and he leaned forward, grabbing her forearms and kissing her forehead. She froze as he pulled away and started to walk towards the main hallway, twisting around and waving cheerfully.
"Two weeks!" He yelled. "Two weeks!"
"Two weeks." She repeated, clenching the handkerchief in her fingers. "Might as well be forever."
Cass jerked upright as her eyes flew open. For a moment she blinked, disoriented, but then she sighed.
Why do these dreams come now? They're just torturing me. She grimaced before stretching and yawning, cringing as she tried to will away that little bit of soreness in her back, constantly there from the hard mattress she slept on.
There were soft sighs of sleep around her, and she glanced about the room. The rest of the girls were still asleep, chests rising and falling with gentle snores. Reasonable; dawn was barely breaking the horizon.
Cass pulled the brown dress over her sleeping slip, wincing as a sudden streak of pain pulsed in her back. The scabs weren't as healed as they looked.
Something sharp was digging into the back of her leg. Curiously she scooted to the other side of the mattress and found that it was a chess piece.
A white queen.
She smiled and picked it up. Must've fallen out of my pocket.
She wrapped it in the silk handkerchief in her pocket and stashed it under her mattress before leaving the slave quarters.
The girl headed to the kitchen, humming under her breath.
Morwena was kneading dough at the counter while her aides bustled around, all hurrying to get breakfast done and made before the nobles woke up.
The cook didn't even look up. "Get over here, girl, and help me."
Obediently Cass washed her hands and took her place next to the woman, pulling a knife and cutting board from a drawer and starting to slice strawberries.
"Good sleep?" Morwena asked without taking her eyes off the dough.
Cass shrugged. "The usual." The older woman clucked.
"I keep telling them to give you all proper beds, or at least bedsheets. But will they listen? "They are slaves; they don't need it." Rubbish."
The girl laughed. "What did you expect?" She cut another strawberry with a little more force than necessary. "We're in the fourth column of society."
"It's a shame that people are classified into columns at all." The cook grumbled. Cass smiled, and the two fell into silence.
As soon as they finished preparing, Morwena practically ordered her to take some breakfast. "You're no good with your chores if you have an empty stomach."
Cass sank into a chair near the window. "I'll just breakfast from the mess hall, with the others."
"That's not breakfast. What do they give you, bread and water? How'll that last you through 'till dinner?" The cook slid a plate of biscuits across the table towards her. "Eat one, at least."
She took one and examined it. "You do know that if I'm caught eating this I'll be accused of stealing, right?"
"It's only stealing if they catch you." Morwena replied slyly, and Cass laughed and, feeling persuaded, ate it.
Her back ached and her arms hurt from holding a sponge for so long. Cass let out a soft moan and stopped in her ceaseless scrubbing of the floor to stretch. Her back snapped in several different places.
She sighed. How come these floors always manage to get dirty? She wondered. I mean, it's like they go out of their way...
"They" meaning the noble family she served, who were part of Odin's court. A mother and father (heavy drinkers) a daughter (absolutely stupid and absolutely beautiful) and a son (the biggest brat you'll ever meet).
Cass went back to scrubbing.
"You look tired." Cass noted as she went back to the kitchen later that afternoon to help with dinner.
Morwena did indeed looked pale, and her eyes were red-rimmed as if she had been crying. "For good reason." She muttered.
"What's going on?" The slave stepped forward and integrated herself into the hustle of the kitchen.
"Ioa is going to be sold."
Cass froze, staring, gaping.
Ioa was the sweetest little girl she ever knew, the politest and most smiley slave that you'll ever meet. Always singing, always grinning, pretty and blonde and blue-eyed.
Sold? Sold? Every slave knew that terrible word. She closed her eyes briefly, remembering when she was sold.
"You can't take me away!" Cass screamed as the slaver pulled her- with some difficulty- towards the marketplace. The girl was fighting tooth and nail to get free. "I need to stay!"
"What you need," The slaver growled. "Is a good lashing. But I'm not authorized to do that anymore, see, 'cause I'm not your slaver anymore." He hauled the yelling girl into the slave plaza and sought out a man with brown hair.
The man surveyed the crying girl. "She doesn't look too obedient."
"She'll obey, but only if you teach her how." The slaver replied.
"Why'd you sell her, anyway?" Cass hated the way the man looked at her, as if she was a horse, or an animal. She shuddered as he took a lock of her hair in his hand and examined it.
"She was getting a little too friendly with one of the nobility. Decided the best choice was to remove her."
"Mm. Well, she's a pretty little thing, I'll give you that."
"I'm not going!" Cass snapped, and the man let go of her hair in surprise. "I promised that I would stay! He promised to see me again!"
"Oh, really? Who's 'he'?" The man crouched down to her level, looking amused.
"The prince! He promised, and if you take me away he'll break his promise!"
This time he laughed and looked at the slaver. "She made friends with the prince? Of Asgard? That's rather entertaining."
"Entertaining nothing. Will you take her or not?"
"Of course I will. We'll find some use for her." Gold was exchanged, and for a moment Cass was too stunned to do anything. And then she started screaming again.
"You can't take me! You can't take me! You can't take me away!"
"Well, this might be news to you, missy, but I can take you away, and I will take you away. Oh no, your little Prince Charming might have to wait a little before he sees you again. Looks like he broke his promise."
"No." Cass said firmly.
Morwena looked confused. "No?"
"No." The slave repeated. "I'm not letting her be sold. When will it happen?"
"Tomorrow morning, a little after breakfast. Why...?"
"I'm going to buy Ioa back. You know what the nobles are like with their drinking. Put a little extra for their dinner tonight and they'll forget they ever sold her. I can bring Ioa back and everything will be fine."
The cook stared at her. "Cassie, to do that, you'd have to have money."
"And I do have money." Cass started to leave. Morwena looked stunned.
"But that's all of your savings-!"
"I'm not going to do anything else with it."
Being a dancer and a singer had its advantages. When Cass did her performances, oftentimes people would pelt her with coins, despite the fact that slaves technically weren't allowed to carry money. She also got money from tips in the marketplace when she would be fetched to deliver something, or to go buy groceries. Cass was always surprised at the number of anti-slavery Asgardians that she met. Some of the nicer ones would slip her food or coins whenever she came.
Morwena looked worried. "Cassie, do you think its enough?"
"I'm pretty sure. But slaves aren't allowed to carry money, or buy other slaves. I'm going to need to steal a dress from the daughter, she's about my size, and perhaps a few hair pins..."
"That, I can do for you." Morwena finally seemed to accept the fact that Cass was going to do it no matter what. "I can do your hair, and help you into the dress after I steal it for you."
"Not stealing. Borrowing. I'll return it afterwards; it's not like I'm going to keep it." Cass replied.
He had arrived home with excitement buzzing at the base of his skull.
Two weeks. Two torturous weeks of meeting other nobles, sitting in his room doing nothing, and restraining himself from causing mischief. It had been torment for him, especially without Cass, who's presence he had never fully appreciated until she wasn't there.
The slave girl had integrated herself into his life so much that he felt like something was missing when she wasn't there. Like she was his other half.
When he finally- finally- got home, he ran to the library, where he had promised to meet her when he got back.
She wasn't there.
He frowned and looked around, wandering the shelves, looking for her. She was never late. She was usually early.
He had waited until the sun slipped below the horizon. His mind was making up excuses: She had been whipped, she had been caught, she had forgotten.
But no, none of them fit. She would've gone out even if she had been whipped, she would've escaped even if she had been caught, and she would never forget.
Dinner with his family was a gloomy affair. Loki just poked at his food, too forlorn to even cause mischief.
His mother noticed. "Loki, dear, are you not hungry?"
Her son shrugged. "Not terribly so."
"What's wrong?"
The boy sighed and put down his utensils. "I can't find Cass." He said in a frustrated tone.
Frigga frowned. "The slave girl?"
"Don't call her that!" Loki snapped. He glared at his mother. "Why does everybody call her that? Her name is Cass!" And he got up and shoved his chair and left the dining hall.
Loki blinked the sleep away, wondering why those dreams came now of all times.
That was ninety years ago. You've forgotten that. You've forgotten her.
But it wasn't true. Deep down, in a place where pride did not exist, Loki would admit that that day was the worst in his life. Worse than anything Thor's friends had ever said to him.
It was the day Cass had disappeared.
Loki sighed. He might as well go for a walk in the marketplace to clear his thoughts.
"Really, he's a terrible bore." Lenora critically examined her reflection in the mirror. "I can't stand him. So I think I'll move on to someone else."
Cass pursed her lips to bite back the sneering remark she had been planning to say. "Oh, is that so, milady?" She said instead, politely.
"Mm-hm." Lenora was the spoiled daughter of the nobles Cass served. A genius when it came to roping in men, empty-headed and foolish when it came to everything else. Her brain consisted of two halves: possible lovers and her physical appearance. "I mean, I can't have someone that will make me die of boredom. There's no..."
"Spontaneity?" Cass suggested dryly.
"Yes, that's it. I need someone to surprise me." She dabbed at the corner of her lipstick to fix some microscopic flaw.
"Well, then who'll be the lucky winner of your affections next?" The slave girl asked, not taking her eyes off her task (cleaning Lenora's room). Lenora had decided (somehow) that Cass was her friend, probably because she was the only one that would listen to her when she went on one of her boy-rants. But in reality, Cass couldn't stand Lenora. An idiot.
"I'm not sure." Lenora sighed, brushing a lock of light brown hair from her face. "I'll have to think on it."
"Perhaps Fabian, milady?"
"Fabian? No, no, no, not him. He's been after me for forever; can't give him what he wants. Yet."
"Of course not." Cass rolled her eyes. "That would be terrible."
"Indeed. See, you know what I mean, right?"
Cass looked into Lenora's light brown eyes- so light they might even be called amber- and was reminded of the alcohol men drank to make themselves into fools. "Right."
"Here you go, Cassie." Morwena laced up the gown in the back. She stepped back to examine her work and nodded approval. "Well, you look like a lady now."
Cass finally opened her eyes and looked at herself in the full-length mirror.
The dress was a little big on her- since Lenora was of healthy weight bordering on pudgy- but otherwise fit okay. Dark green, with gilded sleeves. Her hair had been put into an elaborate braid and then twisted into a bun in the back of her head.
The slave girl cringed. She did look like a noble. "Well, if I must." She started to get up and walked around the room, practicing her gait in such an outfit.
"You wanted to do this, not me." Morwena reminded her, hiding a smile. "Smaller steps, Cassie. You wouldn't want to trip."
"Right."
Cass felt her heart stop when she entered the slave market. And then it restarted, faster than ever.
This place... I hate it.
It was indeed dismal, even by a normal person's standards. Little girls and little boys and older girls and older boys stood in groups, wearing the drab brown dresses and tunics that she had changed out of only half an hour ago. Usually dark, dank hair, hanging long and dirty from their bent heads. All of them kept their heads bowed, but if they cared to raise them, she would see dead, defeated eyes.
Her heart ached with pity, but she knew she couldn't take them all. She was here for Ioa.
Cass immediately spotted the blonde out of the sea of black and brown. Light hair was something of a rarity in the slave trade. Herself and Ioa were the only ones that she had known so far.
It repulsed him, the slave market. Children and adults sold as if they were objects or animals. Being examined like horses at a bidding, where the prettier ones were sold for higher prices and the uglier ones were on sale.
Today there seemed to be a bit of excitement. Amid the brunette's and raven-heads he spotted a head of long, flaxen hair. A young girl, looking frightened by all the fuss over herself, blue eyes widened with fear and hopelessness. She was actually quite pretty. No wonder everyone was falling over themselves to buy her.
Loki paused by the entrance to the market, looking over the bidding with a mixture of horror and fascination.
It happened in an instant. Caramel hair. Hazel eyes. He blinked.
There. Someone who looked... familiar.
He felt his feet moving forward.
A/N: Yes, I know this chapter was a little shorter than my other one. In the future, my chapters should be in the 2,500 to 3,000 word range.
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