It started out as a slow walk, brushing past the green-eyed prince and out into the corridor but as the distance between he and her grew her pace quickened. A shake started from her fingertips and worked its way along her arm and up into her throat before venting through tear ducts as a caught wounded wetness. One foot in front of the other became a sprint, her body ached weighed down with fatigue but a certain level of energy was discovered stored away for such emergencies that needed escape.

She knew she was not equal on some levels, the hierarchy of royalty being one but the indication of being property had certainly never crossed her mind. Sure she was imprisoned in a kingdom but it was far from being shackled in a dungeon. They gave her a job, but it was nothing she was not used to and they did pay her. This just did not make sense; Loki must have been lying about something.

In search of answers, Kari made a left turn towards the gardens and entered unrequested into the queen's personal space. It was the perfect time to catch her alone, tending to her plants during the chilly morning where she had no doubt just spoken to Loki moments earlier. Frigga was surprised to see her and equally so worried when she noted the unkempt state Kari was in from her all night study session. Kari, on the other hand, was a burning mixture of incensed and confused, the latter of which holding her riled up nerves into a strict and taut heel. She refused to even wipe the now drying tears, streaked across her cheeks, away not wishing to lose sight of her target.

"Did you just give me to Loki?" She demanded an answer to her question.

"I transferred you to his services, if that is what you mean, dear."

"So you can just do that?" It was true then. "Give me to someone without asking me?"

"Loki came to make an appeal for an additional servant and after further discussion his request seemed most beneficial to you both. My son has always maintained an absolute minimal number of servants, preferring a strong level of independence. Working for him emits less stress than your previous position, I will have someone I know can care for him when he neglects himself and Loki remains at home, out of trouble when he is not bored. He seems eager to tutor you in magic. Is this not something you wished?"

"Yes but-"

"Then we all benefit from your transfer." Frigga turned her back to her once more; pruning back the dead leaves from a series of bushes.

"But I… I hate him!"

"You do not."

"Excuse me?" Kari could not believe what she was hearing. "Frigga, your son is a dick! I won't work for him!"

"Do not be so childish."

"No bu-"

"Not another word." The queen meant it, her usually caring tone soured by a fierceness risen to the surface.

Kari fell silent, breathing heavily through her nose as she gave the freshly turned soil beneath them a frustrated look of depression. There it was again, the accusation of being juvenile by everyone around her and like her actual formative years as a child and teenager, nobody was listening to what she wanted. Benefit her? No this would not benefit her as Frigga suggested. She liked her current job, she did not like Loki and overall the sense that being a servant for the prince would make her ten times miserable rang like a loud bell. It benefitted Loki and Frigga not her but what could she do about it?

Turning her head to the side, Kari spotted a set of golden eyes watching her diligently on a bench. She moved closer scratching behind the ear of the happy to see her feline as he purred deep and loud in response. The temptation to pick him up screaming 'you can't have him' brewed in the pit of her stomach but really that actually would be incredibly childish. Also, Griffin would no doubt just wander back to the queen by himself the moment an open door or window was presented. Cats!

With a venting sigh, she gave the cat one last pat on the head and turned leaving the heavily perfumed gardens. She was stressed, caged in and unable to escape from whatever horrors awaited her. The sense of being a soldier pending deployment in a war zone filled her nerves as she made her way slowly back to her room. Everything, the palace, asgard, it all felt unsafe all of a sudden; a feeling she disliked most strongly. Pending doom, an apocalypse already arrived that reminded her of her final foster home right before her sixteenth birthday. She may not have liked the last people that took her in but the fear of the unknown world she was about to be kicked out into was terrifying.

Kari groaned, running her hand through her knotted hair to push back the unrelenting memories and grabbed her iPod from its charger. She could not stop thinking now she had started and her mind to weak from lack of sleep to put up a superior fight. Scuttling across her room she opened the wardrobe door and climbed inside. Nobody would look for her in there and with enough looping music her overactive imagination would soon give up to have a mental karaoke party.

Who knew how long she sat there, knees tucked under her chin nodding her head to a medley of sorry-for-yourself songs. At some point she had dosed off to a Donna Summer's disco ballad about last chances and dancing or something. It was probably around the afternoon when she started to wake again, the push to stir her consciousness being her aching stomach cantankerous at hardly being fed over the last two days. What pulled her awake enough to open her eyes however was something entirely different.

A hand pushed the loose strands of hair covering her ears away, tugging loose the buds blaring music out and reeling in the iPod draped on the floor besides her. She opened her eyes confused by the sensation and sudden quiet as she blinked in the half-light flooding in through the open wardrobe door.

"Granddad?" She yawned, covering her eyes with an irritated sound at the slight headache forming across her temples at the abuse of unexpected burning light.

Strong arms wrapped around her, helping her up onto unsteady feet and out into her messy room. She leaned into him, resting her head against his shoulder as he guided her towards the bed but something made her senses grow abruptly alert. The smell was all wrong. Pushing away from him she tumbled into a sitting position on her bed and stared up at a familiar looming presence.

"Loki, the hell?"

"I am unsure which is less attractive, your hair or your room at this moment." He commented dryly, kicking a pile of dirty underwear on the floor with his toe.

"Get out of my room!" She stood erratically caught off balance by the dipping nature of the mattress beneath her as well as her pent up fury clouding her judgment. "You can't just come barging in like you own the place! This is MY space, not yours!"

"Karian-"

"Kari! My name is Kari!"

"Motter," he smirked as she growled at his infuriating behaviour, "I was simply searching for my missing servant. I knocked several times on your door without answer and hearing your snoring within assumed you must have fallen into a sleeping sickness of some kind."

"I was not snoring, that was my stomach making whatever sound you heard and secondly, sleeping sickness? Really? We're going into Jane Austin novel made up illnesses again? Especially when there is a reason I might be taking a nap that you know very well you are the cause of!"

"Let us not quarrel over the past. We shall start a new this day."

"Don't touch me." She slapped his hand away as he tried to place it upon her shoulder in a friendly gesture.

"Very well." His eyes refocused, dangerous and predatory in his study of her. "Clean yourself, your aroma is repugnant and arrive at the library within the hour."

"Fuck you."

"Do not fight me on this, Motter, my patience is hardly infinite."

She bit her lip, frowning harder than she had previously thought possible as they stared one another down – or in her case up. A feeling overwhelmed her reasoning, his expression though outwardly neutral and calm radiated the knowledge he was a man on the edge only needing the slightest of provocation to watch her burn to ashes. Breathing heavily through her nose again, Kari stiffened her muscles to hold in the desire to start a bigger fight and made her way to the closet for a fresh towel. He said nothing, but his smirk reeked of victory as she past him heading towards the bathroom.

How she wanted to kill him right now. Not even a relaxing bath could calm her rage as she scrubbed the dirt out of her skin a little too hard. This was going to be hell. He was going to make her study, order her around and she would be left with nothing more than the right to fantasize about murdering him. Unless he used some psychobabble nonsense to stop her from thinking about causing him pain too. Why was he doing this anyway? He hated her as much as she hated him. Why else would they argue all the time and he act like a dick to her? All right, maybe he had been nice a couple of times too but that was all to an ends. This was all to an ends too right? He just wanted to beat his brother, Thor, in a stupid bet. Maybe as soon as the bet was over things would go back to normal? She could go back to her old job? A month is all she would need to get through with the prince of douchebaggery, which sounded a hell of a lot better than a lifetime.

Having found some sort of possible silver lining, Kari got out of the tub having cleaned herself to the point of redness. Loki was not around when she exited the bathroom and headed back to her room but he had managed to annoy her despite his lack of presence. The god of mischief had been busy, apparently, her room had been tidied to the point of anal neatness. As a show of defiance she pushed everything on her bedside table onto the floor sending a clutter of items spraying outward and under the bed. What was he thinking? Argh, and he had left her an extra present the little bastard.

Kari growled as she looked down at the perfectly arranged, matching set of clothes lined out on her bed awaiting her. That blue dress had been a favourite of hers to wear on special happy days but now that she knew he liked it she would have to burn it or something. Throwing the clothes off the bed onto the sparkling clean floor she headed over to her chest of draws and worked her way through her clothing. He wanted her to dress nice for him did he? Well two could play at that game and she knew just how to distract him.

Selecting her weapons of choice carefully, she put on a pair of tight, jean shorts and an older white blouse now too big for her teenage form but perfect to wear with just the three middle buttons done up. Legs on display, her best asset, a little stomach showing and a black bra under a white blouse drawing attention to her – not as big as it used to be – cleavage. If he did not react to this he was definitely gay.

Pulling her hair back into a loose braid she chuckled at the thought of the tricksters upcoming expression. It actually made her look forward to studying in the library under his strict attentions now she had a way of winding him up. A little make-up too, the perfect finishing touch to her plan and it dually made her feel better about herself than she had for a while. Why had she ever-stopped dressing up and making an effort again?

Grabbing up a pair of red ballet flats, she made her way out of Fandral's rooms, slipping on her shoes and heading towards the library. She could hardly help the giggle that kept working its way out between her lips as she strutted through the palace getting a flush of curious and pleasant looks from several guards. She still had it even if she could not remember when she had exactly lost it.

"Fandralkin!"

"Hey Thor." She gave the grinning idiot a half wave as they closed in on one another.

"Where go you dressed so?" The god of thunder halted just ahead of her freely taking in her appearance not unhappily.

"Just to the library." She shrugged bored though he appeared startled by her declaration.

"With Loki?"

"Yeah, studying." Kari groaned quietly through a sigh as Thor continued to look confused as if not sure what exactly was going on around him.

"I am on my way to the stables where Balder the brave waits."

"Oh? You guys going off on a trip or something?"

"A visit of midgard."

"Earth? Argh, can't you hide me under your cloak and take me too?"

"Haha! Even so covered Heimdall would not so easily be fooled."

"Aww well… tell Balder I say hey and uh… technically he owes me dinner seeing as he didn't actually eat with me."

"I shall relay your message." Thor visibly seemed to relax at her interest in Balder; no longer quite so confused. "Good luck in your endeavor, Fandralkin."

"Uh, yeah, I could do with some luck." She laughed giving the bimbo a tap on the shoulder as he normally did to her causing him to join in with her humor. "Same to you, both of you."

With a final farewell she continued on her path towards the library, leaving Thor to get on with his trip to midgard. Sudden realization dawned on her as she hit her forehead with her palm; she should have asked them to bring her back a souvenir or something specific seeing as they were going to her world. Pouting, Kari held her stomach as it rumbled angrily at its lack of feeding and made the conscious decision to bypass the library in order to pick up some lunchtime leftovers from the kitchens.

She was only a little late when she finally got to the library; really an hour was not enough time for a girl to get ready and to work anyway so it was his own fault for setting such a stupid deadline of arrival. Still, he did not look angry when she walked in carrying a plate piled with yummy things. Instead Loki was sitting at his desk with a book in one-hand and a cup of tea in the other. He could not get more relaxed looking if he was a puppy getting a tummy rub.

"Hey Loki." She sounded a lot more cheerful than she probably needed to be but she had just been nibbling on a sweet pastry and those things were delicious.

He turned to eye her with what was probably supposed to be suspicion and malcontent but was rapidly disrupted as he spotted her walking over and placing her lunch on her desk besides him. There was an abrupt spray of pre-swallowed tea heading in a diagonal firing pattern right across her desk that she barely managed to hop out of the way of.

"Oh my… eww that's disgusting." Kari cringed as she noted some of Loki's germy tea had landed on her lunch.

With a defiant head-shaking sigh she reached forward and took another pastry off her plate eating it anyway. It really was not the most unsanitary thing she had ever put in her mouth and wasting food was bad anyway. The act also came with the added bonus of making Loki looking further flustered amongst his embarrassed discomfort.