The third time travelling through the bifrost was certainly better than the first two times. Kari groaned contemplating throwing up, as Heimdall stood a good distance away from the green-tinted midgardian, but managed to keep her pride intact this time. Griffin on the other hand was 'raowing' loudly in his carrier, eyes wide in fear and equal viciousness at the asgardians hovering around him.

"The allfather allowed you to bring this creature to our realm?" Heimdall stared, red eyes meeting gold in a battle of wills.

"Yeah, sure." She grunted, Fandral swooping in to take her suitcase from her. "Hey, I thought you said I had to carry it myself?"

"Only too asgard, my dear." Her grandfather held the back crippling weight as if it were nothing.

"Thank god, my back is killing me."

"If I might suggest, you should probably discontinue throwing the word 'god' around so casually in asgard."

"Hmmm." Kari frowned, following him across the in-need-of-health-and-safety rainbow bridge towards the palace.

The moment they arrived back at 'her room', Fandral propping the case on the bed, she sat the pet carrier down on the floor and released the latch. Nothing happened at first, Griffin staring up at them both with equal annoyance but without warning there was a streak of fur that whizzed out into the room and dived straight under the bed. Kari bent over, looking at the golden glowing eyes peering back at her like some children's storybook monster then straightened herself with a sigh.

"He's going to be mad at me for a few days."

"He will come around when he sees the gardens." Fandral consoled with a smile.

"Yeah, probably. Look…" She suddenly looked uncomfortable, eyes trailing from left to right and downwards suspiciously as he raised an eyebrow at the display. "I uh…" Biting her lip, she moved two steps forwards, wrapping her arms around his surprised torso.

It was very awkward, the pair of them frozen in that position for a moment or two before Fandral released the breath caught in his throat and mimicked her action. A slight blush trailed over her cheeks as he gave her a light squeeze – it felt a lot nicer than she thought it would, to be held in this manner by family again. Feeling suddenly embarrassed by the prolonged hug, Kari cleared her throat and pushed away from her grandfather – quick to conceal the watery nature of her eyes by turning her back to him and wiping them surreptitiously.

"I uh, I better start unpacking." She moved towards the bed and unclasped the lid to reveal half the amount of items that were first placed within.

"Yes, of course." Fandral excused himself with a nod.

Almost instantly, as the sound of the door clicked shut, she turned, slumping onto the bed next to her old life and began to cry. So many things running through her head at high speed, she couldn't tell which of them she was crying about and lifted her knees up till she was in a ball shape. Something warm and fluffy brushed against her side, followed by a diligent and soothing purr. She sniffled, looking down at the tawny-eyed cat and returned his affection with a slow motion of back length strokes.

"You and me and a bunch of gold obsessed gods, Griffin." She giggled as he answered her with a curt 'meow'. "I bet they have huge rats here for you too eat." He meowed again, slipping onto her lap and plucking at her overly worn clothes.

As several days went by, Kari finding her way around the winding corridors of the palace with greater ease, she began to find herself with friends – or at least friends of friends. The moment she let Griffin out of their room, he'd instantly began charming the flowing skirts off all the women in the servants quarters with his seductive cat ways. Every time she went down a corridor, seeing a crowd of women cooing over something, it was almost always the flirtatious feline rolling on his back giving kitty eyes and purrs for the giggling fan-girls. At least it made the number of suspicious looks she had been receiving decrease, as people had actually started to talk to her now – if only about what an adorable pussy-cat she had. Whatever, she'd take it over death glares any day.

She hadn't seen much of Fandral about, apparently he and a bunch of his warrior friends had gone out on some wild adventure but that was just fine. After so much contact and bonding all in one go it felt nice to have a break from pretending to know how to be part of a family again – she got the feeling he wasn't much good at it himself either. A lot of time had been spent hanging around the gardens, Frigga giving her a lesson in gardening now and then but she apparently lacked a green thumb. Her guard had finally been dismissed after he'd made several complaints to higher-ups about having to listen to her truly awful singing-along, worse still her attempts at rap, to her iPod during the evenings – the solar charger had been working well with asgard sunlight, if a little slow to recharge.

Really, nothing interesting had been happening of late, which was certainly a good change of pace after the whirlwind of activity previous. Though, walking through the palace, on her way back to her room a sense of anticipation filled her about what awaited in the morning.

"Fandralkin!"

"Kari! My name is Kari!" She turned on her heels to face her accuser.

"I know your name quite well." Thor slapped her across both shoulders, effectively pinning her between his hands so she couldn't go flying in either direction for a second round concussion. "I have been informed you will be officially joining the palace as a server in the morrow."

"Yeaaaah?" She was suspicious and achy from his friendly attack. What did the bimbo want?

"Then you shall bring my midday refreshments to the training ground tomorrow."

"What? Why?"

"Fandral, my friend, has requested I keep an eye on you." Thor laughed at her terrified expression. "And I wish to see how the kin of the greatest swordsman in all asgard fares with a blade."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Good, tomorrow then." He swished past, cloak trailing behind him carried by a dismissive air, and care-freely neglected to register the woman's questions and worried noises.

"Oh… goodness." Kari squeaked, he couldn't be serious – what was she supposed to do with a weapon?