Sigyn rarely considered herself lucky, but when it came to her current employment, it seemed her luck was endless. After Loki had reassured her that his offer was genuine and Theoric had given her his permission to work, Sigyn waited another week before she started. At first, she was hesitant, and worried that Theoric may go back on his decision once he had a few days to think about it. However, when that week came to an end and her intended hadn't so much as mentioned her new job once, she assumed that meant she had his wholehearted blessing to pursue a career – or something similar to one – before their wedding. Once she got her nerve up, Sigyn realized she hadn't the slightest idea of how to actually contact Loki to tell him she would take the job.

So, another few days passed, and it wasn't until she actually saw the Asgardian prince waiting for her along the path home one afternoon from the arena that she realized she was thrilled at the prospect of working in the palace. Her enthusiasm bubbled over, quite embarrassingly, when she told him that she was allowed to work until her wedding; he seemed pleased that she had accepted the offer, but still had a bit of a grumble that a wedding was going to eventually stop her from doing something she loved. She insisted that she hadn't the slightest clue if she would like it, let alone love it, and then hurried home when his charming smile made her nervous.

The following morning, an escort from the palace greeted her shortly after Theoric left for training, and she was forced to rush through cleaning Theoric's helmet in order to get the day going. After she dropped the garment off early, she worked out a schedule with the palace escort so that he could pick her up and take her home around her Theoric's schedule; the man was shockingly understanding of her needs. However, the palace's original gardener was initially less lenient on her, but the woman, Idunn, seemed to change her mind between Sigyn's first and second day in the gardens, and she suspected Loki may have had something to do with it.

The gardens were exquisite. Queen Frigga cultivated plants that Sigyn had never heard of, and in the enchanted green houses, the beautiful flowers bloomed all year long. She saw flora from other realms blossom under the current gardener's gentle care, and although it was a tremendous new responsibility, it was something Sigyn wanted. Within the first hour of her first day, she knew the royal gardens were where she belonged. All of the palace staff was very responsive to her needs, including new soil and gallons of water in effortlessly light canisters, and Sigyn immediately felt welcome.

She had worked for about two weeks at this point, and all of the positives she had seen on the first day remained. Loki usually came to visit her during her brief lunch break to share a meal with her, and Sigyn was forever grateful that he had toned down his flirting with her. It made her so flustered, so guilty, that it was difficult to focus on her tasks for the rest of her shift whenever he made her blush. However, he remained quite genial during these visits, aside from a snide comment here and there, and Sigyn soon began to anticipate their lunch dates with subdued excitement.

Unfortunately, all of that would come to an end when she left, departing hours earlier than any of the other gardeners had ever done. She would rush home with her palace escort – who wasn't all that necessary, but proved to be good conversation when she felt a little stressed – and then spend the two remaining hours of the afternoon simultaneously cleaning the house and cooking dinner for Theoric.

As much as she adored her new job, Sigyn was exhausted as of late. After Theoric returned from training, she tried her best to stay as cheerful as always, eager to hear about a routine he had perfected that day. He seldom asked her about the royal palace and its gardens, but she suspected that was because he knew the grounds so well at this point, and it would not have seemed as exciting as it was to someone like Sigyn. However, it still would have been nice if he showed some interest in her new job, rather than focusing on whether the housework and dinners were still up to their usual standard. Behind her somewhat strained smile, Sigyn wanted to do nothing more than go to bed. Her mornings came early, and her nights dragged on.

Her routine remained fairly consistent over the course of the last two weeks. When she awoke, Sigyn immediately made Theoric's breakfast while he showered and prepared his training garments for the morning. Once he had left, she went to work polishing his helmet, set cleaning supplies aside for the afternoon, and then met her escort outside of her home. From there, she had just about five blissful hours in the luxury of the palace, working under the head gardener in different green houses and dining with a prince when she wasn't. From there, it was a rush home to get the house and dinner sorted, occasionally followed by somewhat forced intimacy with Theoric whenever he was in the mood. When her intended was completely taken care of in all aspects, Sigyn dragged her weary body down to her own garden, and under the moonlight she carefully nurtured her plants to perfection. From there, she would crawl into bed, her sleep usually interrupted by Theoric's snoring, and morning's light meant she could do it all over again.

Some women thrived on a busy schedule, and Sigyn had initially thought she would be one of those types. However, after two weeks of shortened sleep and long days filled with good and bad, Sigyn was incredibly tired. She worked right through the weekends, as plants could never take a day off, and therefore neither did the palace gardeners. Theoric usually had a day or two off when the week was out, and she noticed he had become particularly annoyed with her when she wasn't around to spend the afternoon with him. Sigyn tried her best to accommodate him, but she could only duck out of her duties so early at the palace, and even when she did, he remained in a snit for the rest of the night over her absence.

So, the job was lovely. The people were lovely. Eating lunch with Loki almost every day was surprisingly lovely. Coming home to tackle all the chores she normally did over the duration of a day in a few hours was not lovely. Having Theoric cross with her because she wasn't there in his free time was not lovely. Although life was terribly exciting now that she had her own world outside of the house, it was also incredibly stressful, and Sigyn worked hard not to let it show.

She had arrived that morning with her escort in tow, and was met by Idunn at the helm of the green houses. The woman, who had been the palace gardener for almost three decades now, directed Sigyn toward a wall of ivy from Vanaheimr. It was incredibly expansive, and although Sigyn had seen it many times over the last two weeks, she had always thought it was simply a green wall. It towered over the other greenhouses, all of which were also encased in one large clear dome of the palace to save them from the harsher elements. Idunn told her that her duties for the day would be to scale the wall, top to bottom and left to right, and pluck delicate red berries that grew under the white flowers amidst the green vines.

So, although Sigyn would have preferred to spend a quiet morning with little saplings in one of the cooler greenhouses, she climbed a ridiculously high ladder to start her collection, silence around her as Idunn locked herself in another greenhouse. The first hour passed quickly, and the second crawled along with immeasurable slowness. Her legs were beginning to shake from standing on a narrow beam of wood for such a lengthy duration, and she had only gone up and down the ladder twice thus far, which meant she had barely gathered anything in the grand scheme of the wall's entirety. Even with a full sac slung across her body, she would need to go up and down the ladder dozens more times before she was halfway through with the vast wall, and she quickly realized this was bound to be her job for a week.

She groaned at the thought, and when she was roughly twelve bars from the floor, Sigyn decided it was time to sit for a little while. Some of the berries she had plucked were not quite ripe yet, and she may just discard them before handing them over to Idunn.

The ladder suddenly shook a little beneath her, and she squealed, immediately latching onto the sides of the wooden structure and glaring down. An Asgardian prince grinned mischievously up at her, his hands holding the ladder steady enough so that she was sure not to fall. Sigyn smiled despite herself, her cheeks a very light pink as she hurried down, careful not to tread on the hem of her pale orange dress.

"What are you doing up there?" he chuckled as she neared the bottom. Her skin prickled when he scooped her off the ladder, a hand on either side of her waist, and then set her gently on the ground. She held in her wince at the pain in her feet, and instead tried to crack her toes in her shoe to alleviate some of the tension.

"Picking berries," she replied shyly, showing off a nearly full cloth sac that rested awkwardly against the curve of her hip. "They're going up the infirmary when I'm finished."

"Do you need to do the entire wall?" Loki asked, a finger tugging at the opening of the sac as he peered in. She nodded, nibbling on her lower lip as he scoffed and looked up at the vertical sea of ivy above them, "You'll be here for years."

"I should hope not," Sigyn remarked. She then lifted the strap over her head and set the sac down near the wall, her cheeks pinked when she felt Loki's eyes on her as she stretched her stiff body upward. "Idunn gave me the impression this would be something I could do in a day…"

"Idunn lied."

"It would seem so, yes."

It took everything in her being not to lean back against the wall of sweet-smelling vines and sink to the ground. Her legs trembled beneath her, and although Loki had occasionally be able to make them do that, she suspected it had more to do with her tired bones than anything.

"I thought I might come collect you for lunch," Loki said, offering his arm to her with a hopeful grin on his lips. "I asked my cook to make your favourite."

"That's very kind of you," she told him, nodding as she wrapped his arm around his. This had become their routine after all, and a part of her knew exactly what he was trying to do by spoiling her. However, it was nice to be catered to here, particularly when she knew that in a few hours she would have to walk her exhausted body home and start the housework from scratch while cooking dinner. "Thank you."

Loki's grin extended into a full smile, and he quickly laughed when she tried to shield an unexpected yawn from him.

"Am I boring you?"

"Oh, no, not at all," she insisted, mortified that she had let her weakness show in front of the prince. "I… I'm tired this morning."

"Oh?"

"A late night with an awful sleep and an early morning," Sigyn explained weakly when he quirked an eyebrow at her. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to."

He must have thought her so rude, blatantly yawning in front of him like she lacked the better sense to keep it in. However, before she could apologize for a second time, he turned and stood in front of her so suddenly that she almost knocked into him, and she stuttered awkwardly over her words as she tried to collect herself. She blinked up at him when he cupped her face, his hands firm enough around her that she wouldn't wriggle away, and she swallowed thickly when he frowned.

"You look exhausted."

"It's nothing," she offered, wringing her hands together as she tried to look anywhere but up at his eyes. "I think all I need is a good night's rest, and I'll be back to… normal."

"I should have seen it earlier," Loki muttered, his arms falling to his side as he studied her. Sigyn stepped away quickly, a hand going to her braided hair despite there being nothing to fix. "I promise I am usually quite observant."

"It… It isn't something for you to notice," she managed as she shook her head. "I'm fine."

"No, you need to sleep," Loki told her. "We cannot have you taking a tumble from that height because you are too tired to stand."

"That seems a little dramatic," she commented. Really, that must have been the worst-case scenario, and even then she was sure she would be able to catch herself before she fell too far. Besides, Sigyn had the good sense to come down when she felt as though she would collapse.

"Ah, but entirely plausible, I'm afraid."

She tried to squeak out something further, but pressed her lips together firmly when Loki snatched up her wrist and dragged her toward the long rows of greenhouses. If it had been anyone else, she would have planted her feet and tried to reason with them, perhaps even bolster the courage to tell them off for being so forward. However, Sigyn quickly learned that even if Loki had lost some of his reputation around the palace as a prince, he still generally got his way when he was determined enough.

They eventually came to a halt in front of one of the smaller greenhouses, and Sigyn stumbled a little when Loki hauled her inside.

"Idunn?"

"Yes?"

The blonde woman studied both of them quickly, eyebrows up, and then returned to the bright blue petals of a foreign plant in front of her.

"I will be taking Sigyn for a longer lunch today," Loki told her. It certainly wasn't a request, despite the fact that she technically worked for Idunn. However, Sigyn wasn't particularly sure of the hierarchy within the palace, but surely Loki was above the gardener, even if she was a close friend of the queen's.

"All right, but have her back to fill one more bag before she leaves."

Loki said nothing to that, and simply tugged her out after him without acknowledging Idunn's request. She glanced back over her shoulder at the gardener, but the woman seemed far too focused on the flora around her to even notice that they had left the greenhouse. She felt a little deflated to know that she was so dispensable, but it would probably take time before Sigyn actually had any real importance within the royal gardens; for now, long lunches with a prince were perfectly acceptable.

Well, not really all that acceptable, considering the way he made her feel, but she always went home to Theoric – in the end, that was what mattered.

She said nothing until they were out of the garden dome, her sandals noisy on the smooth marble floors of the imperial palace. It was dark here, considering the gardens attached to the lower levels of the main structure, and Sigyn always preferred when they dined somewhere on the upper floors with the large windows. However, she soon realized he had not taken her on the usual route, one that would lead them through a wide stairwell and up into the daylight. Instead, as he pulled her along toward a staircase that appeared to go down further, she finally tried to slow him.

"Where are we going?" she asked softly, eyes wide as they descended the dimly lit stairwell. She certainly hadn't been anywhere in the lower levels before, and she flinched when a dark statue loomed over her as she trailed behind Loki.

"I thought I might give you some much needed undisturbed rest," he explained. "The bags under your eyes are most distracting…"

Sigyn's shoulders slumped as she touched the delicate skin under her eyes, a little upset that her lack of sleep had become so apparent, and then heard Loki laugh.

"It's a jest, Sigyn," the prince insisted kindly, sliding his hand down from her wrist to her hand, their fingers weaving together quite naturally. "You do look tired, however. I figured this was the kind thing to do."

"Yes, very thoughtful indeed," she told him, her voice hitching when his grip tightened. She should have pulled her hand away, but he had been so pleasant to her that morning, so considerate of her weary state, and it felt rude to be unkind in return. "But I… I will be fine, I assure you. I have only a few more hours here-"

"And one of them can be spent asleep," Loki said when he stopped at a rather large door, the gold designs across the panels intricate and lovely. "Sometimes an hour is all one needs to feel rejuvenated."

"I… suppose."

He pulled her into the room, and only then did he release her. She vaguely heard the door shut behind her, but she was far too distracted with the state of the room to even notice. It was quite expansive, and almost circular in shape. There were no windows, though the ceiling must have been enchanted to look like the sky: that alone could have held her attention for hours. However, she quickly surveyed the rest of the area, eyes skimming over large bookshelves and dark furniture, a ridiculously large hearth dominating the center of the space in front of the largest bed she had ever seen.

"Do you like it?"

Loki's soft voice roused her from her staring, and she licked her lips as she nodded, and then gestured up to the bewitched ceiling, "That is… amazing."

"I did it myself," the prince mused, a hand on the small of her back as he nudged her forward. "I'll change it to the night sky if you will find it easier to sleep."

"I'm sorry?" Sigyn raised her eyebrows at him, "You… You wish for me to sleep here?"

"My room is closest to the gardens, and far more comfortable than any guest suite elsewhere," Loki told her. "You can rest here for an hour."

"I don't think I should sleep while I'm supposed to be working," she argued. Although, his bed did look ridiculously comfortable: round, deep green covers and a plethora of pillows. Well, it certainly paid to be born into a life of privilege. Sigyn pursed her lips, and then shook her head again when Loki glanced at her, "I think Idunn will be angry with me if I do."

"She doesn't even need to know," he insisted, stepping back to her and taking her by the arm. "If she says anything, I will tell her we had lunch, and you then tended to some of the plants in the queen's chambers… She has many hanging pots that could always use tending."

"But that's a lie," she told him, her legs stiff as he eased her toward the bed. "I'll be in a lot of trouble if I'm caught in a lie."

"I may be disgraced," Loki said tightly, "but I still have the final say over the household staff."

She stiffened at the thought, tensing when she detected the change in his tone, and she remained so even when she heard him sigh.

"I…"

"It will only be for an hour," Loki reasoned, leaving her side to pull the green comforter back. "Come… I can see that you need this."

She shouldn't. She shouldn't sleep in someone else's bed, particularly the bed of a man who was still sometimes quite obvious in his attraction toward her. However, he hadn't made any indication that he would join her in, and it did look terribly comfortable.

Sigyn looked back at the door, and then up at the sunny ceiling above, her hands twisting the soft fabric of her dress as she contemplated her options. The enchantment shimmered above her suddenly, and her eyes widened as the gorgeous daytime sky vanished, replaced quickly with a clear night full of stars. The torches around her also dimmed, and she smiled.

"You are very talented," she praised quietly, taking a step or two toward the bed. "Are you sure I won't get into trouble?"

"Very sure," he murmured. Sigyn turned away before he could touch her cheek, and instead lifted the hem of her dress just enough to safely kick off her shoes. She then nibbled on her lower lip, still hesitant, and finally slid beneath the thin cover.

Her body rejoiced the moment it no longer had to stand, and she could feel her muscles relaxing as she sunk into the perfectly stuffed mattress. Loki crouched down beside her, a hand on the bed, and then smiled.

"Only an hour," she told him as she perched up on an elbow, "and then I must go back to work."

"I'll wake you," he promised. "Do you need anything?"

She needed an explanation as to why he would do this for her, but she was fairly sure she already knew the answer. Instead, she glanced up at the ceiling littered in stars, her eyelids already growing heavy, and then cleared her throat, "Can you… Can you change the sky?"

"To anything you desire."

"I… I always fall asleep faster listening to rain," she told him hesitantly. As soon as she said it, Sigyn felt a little ridiculous, and was about to tell him that it didn't matter when he flicked his hand up. Moments later, there was the soft patter of rain in the room, as though it was against a window, and Sigyn felt an immense appreciation for the man crouching in front of her. Without thinking of the consequences (or perhaps simply ignoring them), Sigyn leaned forward and placed a chaste kiss on his cheek. He seemed to brighten at the contact, and she quickly retreated back into the safety of the bed when he turned his head to face her.

"I'll wake you soon," he murmured. Sigyn nodded as she tugged the blanket up, and as soon as Loki disappeared into the shadows, followed shortly by the sound of a door shutting, she settled in properly.

Within minutes she was gone, lost to the blissful world of sleep beneath dry rain.

When Loki returned to his bedroom, it was the second time that afternoon he had gone to check on Sigyn. The first had been an hour earlier, and he had returned dutifully to rouse her after the agreed upon amount of time had passed. However, when he stood over her beneath his bewitched ceiling, he felt it was cruel to wake her when she looked so peaceful: the lines in her face had vanished, the hesitant and worried expression she always wore finally relaxed in his presence. So, instead of waking her when he was supposed to, Loki let the woman sleep for another hour.

It looked as though she could have used the rest anyway, and it wasn't as though Idunn was itching to get her back. Loki had pressured Frigga into hiring a new gardener, despite the fact there was nothing wrong with the old one (so he discovered), and he wondered how much of Idunn's ire Sigyn had suffered because of his meddling. However much it might be, he deduced that it would be worth it in the end. After all, because of his tampering with the palace staff, he had gotten a chance to dine with the beautiful woman every single day for the last two weeks, and in that time he could feel her resolve falter. She was faithful to her intended, naturally, and that was an admirable quality in a woman. Loki wasn't looking to compete with Theoric; in his eyes, he had already won Sigyn over, and now it was simply a matter of claiming what rightfully belonged to him.

He knew he had won because of the way she looked at him. There was something in her eye that reassured him, a certain way she fidgeted and blushed under his compliments that made his chest swell. After all, today she had kissed him on the cheek with minimal prompting, which he considered remarkable progress from where they had been a month or so ago. Loki still couldn't put his feelings into words; it wasn't love, nor was it strictly lust that he felt for Sigyn. She must have had magic in her, because he was lost to her small smile and beauty a long time ago. He desired her. If he had ever thought of his ideal mate in the past, Sigyn would not have fit the criteria. Yes, she was lovely physically, but she was meek and soft-spoken. He saw snippets of fire, but they were quickly subdued when she realized what she had done. Loki theorized it all had to do with Theoric, and once Sigyn came to that conclusion, she would see that he was the obvious choice.

She already clearly admired his abilities, appreciated his looks, and possibly even desired his company. He would never admit it to anyone, but Sigyn made Loki feel important – as though he was the most interesting person in the realm. She was ever so attentive when he told stories, and marveled at the slightest bits of magic as though they were ground-breaking feats. She knew precisely how to compliment him without belittling him, and now that Loki had grown into the man he wanted to be, he realized that was what he needed in a partner.

So, for now, he humoured her tentative touches and conversation during her gardening breaks; the guilt from the littlest thing was always obvious, and he had no desire to frighten her away again. He let her run home to Theoric and work herself into an exhausted stupor, because when she finally came to him, when she was his completely, she would realize what a wonderful life he could actually give her. Sigyn would see, in her own time, that the life of a sheltered, meek housewife was not something to aspire to, and that Loki could offer her far more than any Asgardian man could possibly imagine.

However, he fully anticipated her frustration when she realized he had let her sleep for almost two hours now, perhaps a little longer. Smirking, Loki crouched down at the side of his large bed, a bed he had had since childhood, and brushed some of the hairs that had fallen loose from her braid aside. At the contact of his fingers against her skin, she inhaled deeply, stirring from her side to her back, eyes blinking open slowly.

"Did you sleep well?" he inquired softly, hands curling into a ball in order to keep his fingers from fiddling with more bits of loose hair.

"I don't know how you could ever leave this," she sighed groggily. She stretched upward, her hands pressed up against the wall as something cracked. "It's lovely."

"Perhaps you'll have to try it again sometime?"

She rolled onto her side to face him, one hand tucked beneath the pillow, and then licked her lips. Loki leaned forward in turn, resting his hands on the soft mattress.

"Why is it that you do this for me?" Sigyn whispered. "I still don't understand it… In less than two months I'll be married."

"In theory," Loki muttered, rolling his eyes a little when she frowned. "No one can foretell what the future brings… We change it daily."

"But…" She trailed off, readjusting herself just enough to move an inch or so closer, "You cannot still think that… we…"

"Do you love him?"

"Of course."

The response came far too quick to be genuine, which made Loki feel justified in pressing further.

"Truly love him?"

Sigyn finally eased up into a seated position, clearly not enjoying his game as much as he did, "Yes."

"Does he make you laugh? Do you feel adored? Appreciated?"

"It isn't your concern what I feel," she argued weakly, plucking at her hair as she tried to fix her slightly skewed braid. "You toy with my head. I thought you had stopped this."

"I will stop when you leave him," Loki told her. "That's a promise I can keep."

"I won't eat with you anymore if you insist on carrying this on."

Loki watched as she crawled down toward the edge of the bed, and then set her bare feet down on the floor, her dress noticeably rumpled; he grinned.

"Yes, you will."

He scooted over to kneel down in front of her, catching her off-guard just long enough to snatch up her shoes. Then, before she could say a thing, he slipped them over her feet, her body tensing at the contact. He took his time doing up the straps, and when he finally finished, she remained stiff and still at the edge of the bed, her cheeks noticeably aflame in the darkness.

"Thank you," she murmured, smoothing her hands down the front of her dress when he finally stepped away. He had invaded enough of her personal space for one day, and he opted now to stand at a safe distance with his hands behind his back. "I do feel better after sleeping…"

"I thought as much," he chuckled when she rose to her feet. "You looked so peaceful there that I couldn't possibly wake you the first time around."

"The… The first time?" Sigyn stammered, eyebrows knitting together as she started to fidget with her fingers, "How long have I slept?"

"Perhaps two hours."

"Two hours?" she cried, her face panicked as she started toward the door. "Idunn will be so upset with me, and I… I have to return home soon-"

"To start dinner for him?" he asked before catching himself, biting the inside of his cheek hard when her arms fell limply to her side, her expression pained.

"Yes," Sigyn remarked. "That's exactly what I'm going to do. I'm also going to clean my home because that's what I should do!"

"Sigyn-"

"Please don't come see me anymore," she begged, her voice trembling as she spoke. "You make it so difficult to… to…"

"To what?" Loki demanded, crossing the room toward her. He stopped when she turned away from him, and he repeated the question again, his voice sharp as a whip across the room.

"To think!" she fired back, "To breathe, to not feel guilty when I return home to my intended, who has been nothing but honest and faithful to me, and here I am sleeping in your bed!"

"Sleeping, nothing more," he reasoned dismissively. "Have you ever considered that the person you start with is not the person you end with?"

"I don't want to think about that," she told him, and Loki finally noticed that her eyes had become a little misty, perhaps from the tone of his voice. "No more lunches… No more anything. Thank you, but I can't anymore."

He would have appreciated her fire now had it not been used for this sort of conversation. However, rather than pursuing her when she fled out of his bedroom, he stayed still, hands clenched in fists at his side, and simply stared out into the darkness as his mind started to calculate his next move.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

So I realized why I was having difficulties getting back into this story – I finally decided that the point of this story is not about how Loki and Sigyn get together, it's the navigation of marriage after. I suspect their current "courtship" will last another five or so chapters, and we can move on to the meat of what I have planned from there.

While Sigyn does a lot for Loki's damaged self-esteem, I think she also makes him a little pompous because he feels important around her. Therefore, he comes across – to me, anyway – as arrogant, and is actually almost as bad as Theoric at the moment for the way he sort of just drags Sigyn around. The intention isn't cruel, or anything, but she hasn't found her footing or self-worth to realize when a man is walking all over her. I think this is a hesitant start, but there's far more rocky roads to travel with this relationship before we get to what happened in the prologue.

Much love to all my reviewers, adders, and lurkers!