Loki walked through the forest, seething at the young woman's arrogance. She was just like Thor and Odin and all the others! She didn't give a damn about him, she'd probably had some other ulterior motive for giving him the nights rest. Maybe she got off on making people thinking they could stay only to kick them out, it didn't matter.
Loki finally glanced around at his surroundings, only to realize that he had no idea where he was. He looked behind him but saw no clear path back to where he'd come from. Loki shrugged noncommittally and began moving forward again, deciding that it didn't matter; he would find his way out eventually.
Sunrise had almost caught up on her chores, she only had to exercise Oblivion for a while and she could go inside and write until the evening chores. She had a feeling however, that words would not come easily to her; her mind was too focused on the Asgardian god who had stormed into her forest earlier that morning.
After Sunrise had saddled Oblivion, she turned her in the direction opposite from where Loki had gone. The rumble and crunch of a car driving up the gravel road made her turn sharply and steer Oblivion back towards the house.
A black SUV parked next to the pick-up and Sunrise watched as four people climbed out. Lupa ran up and began sniffing one of the asian women while wagging her tail. The other asian woman and a well-toned man stared warily at Lupa while a balding man smiled as he walked up to Sunrise, who dismounted Oblivion and held the horse by the reins.
The older man walks up to Sunrise and extends his hand to shake hers while saying, "Ms. Foster, my name is Agent Coulson with SHIELD and—"
Sunrise swiftly withdrew her hand and cut in, "My name is Sunrise, not Ms. Foster, and not anything else you may have heard. If you have to address me at all, you will address me as Sunrise, got it, Agent?"
The harsh bite in her voice caused Dusk and Oblivion to lay back their ears and Lupa to snap at the asian woman before retreating back to her mistress.
"As I was saying, Ms. Sunrise. These are Agents May and Ward."
The asian woman who had been petting Lupa cut in, "And I'm Skye."
The other three agents glanced at Skye, who had the good grace to look at the ground and mutter an apology.
Coulson continued, "We're here about an incident that happened last night. There would have been a flash of light followed by the appearance of a dark-haired man. Did you notice any of that?"
Sunrise pauses, the flash of light doesn't sound familiar, but a dark-haired man appearing out of nowhere makes only too much sense. She opens her mouth to answer before something startling occurs to her.
"How did you find my house? And how do you know my name?" Sunrise takes a step back warily and Dusk and Lupa surge in front of her to snarl viciously at the trespassers.
Coulson smiled again, "I don't think—"
"No, obviously you don't think! If my sister told you anything, you can tell her to beat herself over her head with the stick she likes to keep up her ass!" Sunrise turned back to Oblivion and mounted, glaring down at the SHIELD agents.
"If this guy did magically appear in my forest somehow and I didn't find him, he's probably dead. These woods are filled with bears and wolves that would slaughter anyone that got too close to their den. Sorry I can't be of more help." Sunrise pressed Oblivion forward a tiny bit, forcing Coulson to back up. "Now get off my property before Dusk and Lupa decide to make you leave," Sunrise finished, clicking her tongue as the dogs lowered themselves to the ground and growled.
Sunrise jerked on the reins when Agent Ward pulled out a gun and aimed at the snarling dogs. Skye watched in morbid fascination as Sunrise's face contorts with rage, nostrils flaring and eyes widening while her lip pulls back over her teeth and a growl matching her dogs rips through Sunrise's throat. Coulson waves at Ward and he replaces the gun in his holster and stands at attention. Sunrise relaxes slightly, but continues to glare at Coulson until he gestures the other agents back into the SUV.
"Thank you for your time, Sunrise. I apologize for the intrusion and Agent Ward's actions," Coulson says as he turns to the SUV.
Sunrise says nothing as she watches the car drive out of sight on the gravel road. Once their out of sight, Sunrise dismounts and untacks Oblivion before putting her in the stall. Then, Sunrise turns to Lupa and bends down.
"Lupes, you found him last time, do you think you can do it again?"
Lupa barks happily and puts her nose to the ground before darting off in the same direction Loki had stormed off. Sunrise clucks her tongue at Dusk to follow before chasing Lupa into the undergrowth.
The sky had caught fire by the light of the dying sun when Lupa finally burst through a patch of underbrush to stand in the path of one Norse god. Said god froze in shock and stared while Dusk and Sunrise came crashing through after her. Sunrise bent down and placed her hands on her knees to catch her breath. When Sunrise finally looks up at Loki, he realizes that the primary expression on her face is worry.
Then, she speaks, "Thank the gods you're all right! I thought they'd found you, or you'd been attacked by wild animals." Sunrise pauses to stare at Loki, who is floored by her admission, but refuses to let any of the shock spread across his features. "You are all right, right?"
Loki masters his features into a look of scorn before replying, "Of course I am. Why, were you worried after you demanded I leave?"
"Of course I was!" Sunrise shrieks, flinching as a flock of birds are startled into flying away, cawing raucously. "I didn't mean to tell you leave." Loki raises a skeptical eyebrow and she continues, her words falling over each other in her desperation to get her point across. "Sometimes my mouth moves faster than my thoughts and I was scared and angry, and I'm doing it right now. And I really am sorry! And right now I'm rambling a bit, aren't I? Sorry I do that a lot and—".
Her words are cut off when Loki strides forward and presses a hand against her mouth. She rears back in shock and Loki backs away shrugging nonchalantly.
"I didn't know how else to get you to shut up," Loki responds with a smirk— the type of smirk saying that one knows something you don't and will relish in watching you stumble around trying to figure out just exactly what that thing is.
Sunrise scowls as she mutters, "Yes, you did, jackass".
Loki laughs, a sound that starts low in the hollow of his throat and is carried out of his mouth on great, airy breaths. Sunrise watches Loki warily as he moves closer slowly, eyeing her carefully with each step he takes.
Loki bends down and quietly asks, "Why have you come begging to me? Do you truly regret what you did?"
Sunrise moves back and places her hand on a tree to steady herself before responding, "First of all, I'm not begging. Second, I'm not in the habit of regretting my actions; I can't change them, I might as well accept them instead. Third, I came to find you because I want to know who the hell SHIELD is."
Had Loki spent any less than a millennia practicing a look of disinterest, his shock would have been written for all the realms to see. Loki's eyes narrowed as he scanned Sunrise, seeking to deduce some detail about her that he had missed before, some reason for her to know about SHIELD.
"How do you know that name?"
Sunrise raised an eyebrow. "Because a group of them showed up at my house looking for you."
Loki growled, "What did you tell them?"
Sunrise raised her hands slightly, "Nothing! I swear!"
"Oh really, so you lied to them?"
It was Sunrise's turn to growl as she said, "Of course not; I don't lie. I told them that if I hadn't found you, you would have died. It's not my fault that they assumed that meant I hadn't found you."
Loki smirked again, letting it grow slowly this time, unnerving Sunrise the slightest bit, though she would never admit to it.
"You tricked SHIELD agents? For a man you had recently cast out of your home?" Loki asked, dropping his smirk when Sunrise nodded, slowly, definitively. "Why?"
Sunrise smiled, tilting her head and stepping forward, "Because, I owe the world a debt. It's time that I start repaying it. Don't ask me what that debt is, because I won't tell you; it's none of your damn business."
Loki nodded in acquiescence, shocked by the sudden seriousness he felt coming from the woman who, before, had always given off an air of happiness and childish abandon excepting the brief moment in which she had yelled at Loki to leave.
The trip back to her cottage was silent, the only sounds the crunch of ground underneath their feet and the occasional bark from one of the dogs. The sun had started to set by the time they had gotten back and Loki walked inside the house while Sunrise paused in the stable to settle Oblivion in for the night.
When Sunrise walked back into the house she found Loki looking through the books on the shelves, brushing his fingertips along them the way that only someone who truly loves books does— with reverence and the bone deep knowledge that they are touching something with a power that is mystical and wonderful and ancient and dangerous all at the same time. Sunrise hesitates a moment before disappearing into her room and returning with a book.
Loki takes the book from Sunrise's hands and looks at the cover; "Seraphim" is embossed on the cover while underneath it 'Aubrey Winters' is written in smaller letters. Loki raises his eyebrows and stares at Sunrise curiously.
Sunrise responds, "That is the first book I ever wrote. I published it under the name I had before I changed it to 'Sunrise'. If you're looking for a book to read, I would be honored if you would read that one and tell me what you think of it. I'm always open for more constructive criticism."
The first thing about her little monologue that Loki notes is her voice; uncharacteristically quiet and humble. The second, is the fact that Sunrise just asked him to read a book she wrote and give her advice about it. Loki stares at the woman before him as her hair falls into her nervous eyes and her teeth worry at her bottom lip while she waits for his answer.
"I didn't know you were a writer. What makes you think I even want to read this?"
"Nothing. I just noticed you looking at the books and thought you might be bored. If you don't want to… never mind," Sunrise mutters and turns away.
Loki feels something sharp in his chest and scowls for a second before calling out, "I will let you know what I think of it when I finish with it."
Sunrise doesn't turn around, but a small smile appears on her face and she walks to the kitchen with a bounce in her step to begin finding something to throw together for dinner. And for the first time in a very long time, both members of that little cottage have begun to think that the world may not be so lonely after all.
AN: Sorry this is getting put up so late, but I had a pretty jam-packed day. Also, my beta was unable to edit this, so please forgive any grammar errors. I did my best editing, but I almost definitely missed some things. Please leave a review! I adore you guys!