"What did she say?" Thor was rubbing his hands together.

"Nothing of consequence. She and I spoke about books, stories. That sort of thing. But she always directed the conversation back to you, brother," Loki was sitting, twirling a pen in between his fingers, and smirking slightly. He was smiling because Thor was off to Alfheim in the morning, by Odin's design. The All-Father had arranged for a meeting to take place between the Princess Saga and Thor.

And Loki could move in sans the hindrance of an overzealous Thunder God.

"She's a clever one, then?" asked Thor with a slight smile.

"Well enough."

"Not smarter than you, no doubt. But all the same, I'm unaccustomed to having a lady who may outwit me," he fastened his belt.

Then I imagine you are not as successful with the ladies as you claim…"Never fear, Thor. I'm certain that there are areas wherein you are more accomplished than the lady," and he set the pen down, and rose. "I shall keep her entertained in your absence," he paused. "Are you seeing her now?"

Thor's grin broadened. "Aye…for a short spell. Tell me, brother, what am I to do about this? I fear that if I do not seize this chance with Jane, it will all be too late…I vowed to myself long ago never to live with regret."

"You're asking me advice?"

"I suppose I am," he looked at Loki, standing there with his smile, disbelieving and doubtful. "You are the wisest person I know…"

"…don't let Odin hear you say that."

He grinned. "…and I value your opinion."

"I am shocked, Thor, by these revelations. Never would I have guessed that you held me in such esteem. But I digress," and he walked toward him. "You should do what is right for the Throne, but only if it doesn't interfere with your heart."

"That…" he laughed. "Is likely the worst advice I've ever received."

Loki shrugged. "Go see your Lady," he patted his arm, then turned and left.

He thought it was particularly amusing that Thor was asking him how he should act… as though Loki would give him sound advice! Thor was merely fishing for information about whatever Odin had in store for him. He cared not about Loki's opinion.

And so he didn't offer one.

Thor would go and have some fun with Jane, and Loki would visit her tomorrow.

And then it would begin…

Jane heard a disturbance at her window, and she went to look out of it.

There was Thor, tossing pebbles up to it, like some lovelorn schoolboy. She smiled at the sight, and almost giggled, but didn't, for obvious reasons.

She opened the window. "What are you doing?" she hissed.

"I've come to see you, my Lady. Can you meet me?"

Jane nodded, then closed the sash. She grabbed a wrap, and extinguishing a candle, ran downstairs.

"…I thought you were reading and then going to bed…" came her father's voice.

"In a bit!" she yelled back, and ran into their small garden. Jane smiled and curtseyed, and in a breath said, "You're the Prince, my Lord. You can knock."

Thor took her hands in his. "But wasn't it more romantic and exciting to meet this way?"

Jane nodded. He had used the word romantic. And her heart missed a beat. "Where shall we go?"

He answered by taking her hand and leading her to the small stream in the lower gardens surrounding the palace gates.

The air was warm and sweet. Jane's back was against a tree, and Thor was pressing into her, his hands roaming her body, examining her…he touched her neck, her shoulders, and skirted her breasts slightly…all the while devouring her mouth.

Jane kept her hands on his shoulders and arms, until finally she pulled away from him. "Thor…please…"

"Am I hurting you?"

"No, but…" she wanted him to stop. "I need some space," and she walked away from the tree. "You are too experienced, and you aren't taking into account my lack thereof."

"Apologies, my Lady. Perhaps I was too eager."

Jane swallowed and nodded. "Why are we here?"

"Well," and he cleared his throat as he approached her. "I am to leave for Alfheim in the morning."

"Oh."

"Jane?"

"What would you like for me to say? I imagine that you are off to see your intended, all the while making love to me here," and she crossed her arms in front of her. "I have no desire to be a mistress, my Lord. This is not a game I had bargained on playing."

"What am I to do, Jane? The All-Father demands it."

"Demands that I be a whore?" she spat. "And what of my desires and feelings? Have you considered them at all?"

"I…"

"No. You have not," she turned away from him. "I like having this time, too. And I fully expect that this to be fleeting. But I won't be used in such a manner. No daydream is worth that."

"Jane…" he touched her back with his fingertips.

"What."

He swallowed and dropped his hand. "What would you have me do?"

She sighed and rolled her eyes, then turned toward him. "I would have you act as your heart demands, not your father. I would rather lose you to your own lack of feeling than what Odin desires for you. Your duty to the Realm can be fulfilled with an Aesir, can it not?"

He took her face in his hands. "I do not know, young Jane…"

"Do you love me?"

He searched her face. "I don't know."

Her gaze fell. "Well, when you sort it out, do let me know," and she turned, leaving him alone in the garden.

There was a knocking on his door. It was persistent and he was agitated by it. He checked the light…still rather early, but late enough that he should not be disturbed.

Loki chose to ignore it.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

It was louder.

He sighed and opened his door…

"Brother…" he said in a breath.

"Thor?"

And he went in, stumbling about…"Loki…you must help me…" his voice was hoarse.

And Loki rolled his eyes. Such theatrics were part of Thor's persona, and it was irksome in the extreme. "Of course, but what…?"

"Jane," and he looked at him. "She is cross, and I am leaving on the morrow. Please," and he grasped his arms. "Tell me. What am I to do?"

Loki searched his brother's face, looking for some indication that he was exaggerating.

He found none.

"Have you apologized?"

"I haven't done anything."

Loki shook free of Thor's grip and stepped back. "Tell me."

"Everything was fine," he ran a hand through his hair. "And then we began talking about my departure, and she asked me if I loved her."

There was a pause. "…and?" Loki supplied.

"I told her I did not know."

He crossed his arms in front of him. "I take it that the Lady was less than pleased with that response."

"She wasn't making sense! She was saying that she did not wish to be a whore, that I needed to live my own life! She doesn't know me Loki!" he was overwrought. "But by the gods I love her!"

This stopped him. "You love her?"

"With all my heart."

Loki was momentarily taken aback by this, but collected himself. Thor was not in love with Jane Foster. He was merely having a tantrum about being made to do something he did not wish to do. He resented the whole of it, and Jane would be his scapegoat. Loki nodded. "What would you have me do?"

"Tell her for me. I cannot face her. She is too cross," he said softly. "You have a way with words…you can tell her, then report to me in a day or two."

"You want me to tell her that you are in love with her?" this was a bit much, even for Loki.

"Please, brother. It is the only way."

"Only way for what?"

"To win her," he replied.

And now he saw more clearly still…Jane was but a prize to him. He did not truly care for her.

But to Loki, she was a ticket out of Asgard and away from Odin.

Either way, the Odinson's had successfully utterly objectified the young maid, whose only crime was falling in love too easily.

She was mixing herbs from the garden, making elixirs for her father when he fell ill.

And then there was a rap at the door.

Jane wiped her hands on her apron, and opened the door.

She did not expect to see Loki standing there.

"Good afternoon, Jane," he said with a smile.

"Loki," she smiled in return. "What brings you here?"

"I have a message, but I think we should perhaps walk the gardens. It is a lovely day."

She hesitated a moment, then nodded, and went into the house. "I'll be back in a bit, father!" she called, and took off her apron, and wrapped herself in her shawl. "Apologies for not receiving you properly," and she curtseyed. "I was merely surprised by your presence," she rose. "Your Majesty."

"Jane, I have asked you to call me Loki. That has not changed," he smiled and offered her his arm.

She wrapped her own in his, and they began to walk. "You said that you have a message?"

"I did, didn't I?"

She looked at him. "Are you always so playful?"

"I am. It is no fun to always be serious."

"I had heard that you were taciturn and solemn. Often abrasive, even."

"Such lies are spread about that which no one understands," he replied, but he was smiling. "'Tis true, I am often melancholic, but it should not follow that I am abrasive or solemn. I am playful... it is an excellent diversion from such fits of gloom."

"Are you gloomy?" she looked at him as they found the path.

"Are you?" he returned her look.

"I…" she looked ahead of her. "I suppose that I can be. But certainly not always, nor indeed, most of the time."

"That is no answer Jane. Everyone has the ability to be anything at all."

She chuckled slightly. "Then no. I wouldn't say that gloomy is an apt descriptor for my person."

He nodded. He enjoyed talking with her. She was more than bright, as he had thought but two days ago. "I think it very apt for me. Gloomy is something that I am quite often."

"But why?"

"Because my father does not love me as he loves Thor. Because people fear me. Because no one cares enough to understand…" and he looked at her and stopped. "But these are the musings of an adolescent child."

"What do you want, Loki?"

He looked at her very steadily. "Someone to understand."

She swallowed. "I know what that's like," and she dropped her arm from his and went to the stream, softly rippling in the glow of midday. "It's difficult, living your life in a dream. I'd always been smarter than my fellow girls at school. They assumed that I'd never marry," she pulled her wrap closer. "They said that no one would want me, for honorable men want a dutiful wife, and I would never be," she paused. "They also said that I was too ugly to attract a worthy man," she finished.

"They were all fools," Loki said, coming up beside her.

"They weren't. Not exactly, anyway. I'm very much alone, and I learned to live with that. Perhaps that's why I was so taken with Thor. He was safe," and she turned toward Loki. "But then, I became enamored of him, and that was that," she smiled. "What do you want people to understand about you?"

"That I am a Prince also, and that I am more than a pawn in a larger game," the irony wasn't lost on him as he uttered this.

"A Prince, to many, is everything."

"Not when you already are one, Jane. Perspective is key to a happy and wise life," he plucked a bloom from the riverbed and handed it to her. "For instance, your schoolmates were absurd. You are the loveliest creature in the Nine."

Jane blushed as she took the flower. "Thank you, Loki. But you are too kind. I am no such thing, and I'm happy for it," she turned and began to walk toward the palace once more. "And I think that you are so much more than what people say."

"And what is that?"

"That you are a spoiled brat and a dangerous manipulator."

His hand went to his chest. "I am not spoiled!" and he laughed…a slight sneer behind his mirth.

…and Jane laughed heartily.

They had been walking for some time, and Jane was lost in the conversation she was having with him. She thought he was an invigorating interlocutor, and was having some fun. "…but you never gave me the message," she observed, sipping wine on the terrace.

His face fell a touch…he had been lost in the day, in the conversation with Jane, that he had rather forgotten his purpose. "Ah, yes. I am sorry…the company has been so diverting," and he took another sip. "My brother wanted me to tell you to enjoy yourself during his sojourn to Alfheim, that he will return as soon as he is able…and," Loki paused, then held Jane's gaze. "He loves you."

Jane's face hardened. "He loves me," she returned.

"That was his message," Loki thought it best to be honest at this juncture. He knew that if he withheld this information, it would come back to haunt him.

"I need to go," and she stood. "Thank you for a lovely afternoon," and she turned.

Utterly bemused, he stood also. "Have I offended you in some way, Jane?"

"No," and she faced him, her hands holding her skirts, balling the material, her breath coming heavy. "But your brother has," and she turned once more, taking up a quick pace.

Loki stood and followed her. "Jane!" he called.

"I need to get home!" she called behind her. Wretched man! He has used me for the last time!

He caught up with her and took her arm. "Jane, what…?" he saw the tears welling in her eyes. "How has Thor upset you?" he paused. "Other than the obvious."

She laughed. "What's the obvious?" and she wiped her eyes.

"His lack of bathing, for one. His table manners for another. Shall I go on?"

Jane was laughing. "No, but that makes me feel slightly better."

"Then tell me…how has Thor's love reduced you to tears and offended you?"

"I gave him the chance to declare himself, and he waits until he's in Alfheim and in the arms of another," she looked down and turned away. "I think that he must be telling lies…for he cannot be true, if he were, he would have told me to my face."

Loki sighed. His brother, for all of his experience with ladies, was painfully daft when it came to them. "Jane, I cannot tell you what Thor meant by it, but I can report that he was since and upset when he asked me to tell you this. He is seldom moved thus…" this was marginally true.

She looked at him through her tears, and smiled. "Thank you," and she leaned toward him, and pecked his cheek. "When will I see you again?"

"I think that tomorrow is a very fine idea." Loki smiled.

Jane nodded, then turned, and made her way down the lane.

…and he thought that tomorrow, he might take her someplace romantic…

A/N: I'm trying to respond to a few reviews, but for some reason, more recent ones are not popping up on the page, and when I try to respond via the email, it says that the link is broken :/

So…apologies. I'll keep trying!