"You are smaller than most of the opponents you will be facing, but you can use that to your advantage." Thor said, correcting Susan's stance.
"I never thought anyone would be calling me small. I've always been the tallest kid in my class." She snorted, bending her knees more and clenching her fists.
"That is wonderful!"
"I dunno, some of the other kids made fun of me. Especially in sixth grade because I had just gone through a growth spurt."
"They were probably jealous," Thor laughed, "Lift your elbow."
"My mom and I took self defense classes once. I can judo throw dudes."
"What does that even mean?"
Her eyes lit up. "I can show you! I'll throw you."
"Throw me? I am far too large to-"
"Here, grab my shoulder and just above my elbow. Perfect. Okay, are you ready?"
"Please do not hurt yourself. The queen would be furious - to say nothing of Loki."
"It's fine. Watch." She quickly positioned her feet and began using his weight to pull him down as she slid to the ground and used her foot to help throw him. When she was done he was on his back on the ground and Susan was jumping to her feet.
"Odin's beard!" Thor shouted, grinning wildly, "That was impressive!"
"Thanks!" She offered him her hand and helped him up, "But that's pretty much the only trick I can remember."
"Then I shall teach you more!" He began helping her into a fighting stance and directing her every movement until she had a few basic moves down. By the time they were done with learning the basics, the sky was growing dark and, much to Susan's dismay, Eiliff appeared at the entrance to the training area.
"Your Highness," The guard bowed, "May I escort Lady Sigrid to the dining hall this eve?"
"If she wishes it." Thor shrugged.
"My dear?"
Susan inwardly groaned, but smiled on the outside. "Yeah, that'd be awesome. Can we make a quick stop at my room so I can get changed out of these sweaty clothes?"
"Of course." Eiliff offered his arm and she took it. They began strolling through the halls, leaving Thor to tidy up the training area.
"Training was fun." She commented as they walked.
"I'm glad you enjoyed yourself because you won't be doing such a thing again."
Susan tried to drop her arm from his, but he held firm. "Why can't I train with Thor? I thought you said you wanted me to spend more time with him!"
"Yes, but I don't wish for you to learn how to fight."
"But if Odin sees me fighting then maybe he'll like me more. After all, Loki told me he hated training when he was younger and Thor loves it. So if I love it too then Odin will see less of Loki in me and trust me more."
Eiliff scowled and squeezed her arm. "You are a clever one, aren't you? Very well, you can keep training, love, but only if the next time you see Odin you tell him that you have thoughts of courtship."
"Ugh. Fine." She stopped at her room and went inside, grabbing the dress from the previous night, as she had no other at the moment.
"You're going to where that again?"
"Frigga hasn't had me measured for new clothes yet… I was kind of busy hanging out with Thor." Susan ducked behind a changing screen that was in the corner and began tugging off her sweat drenched clothes.
"We'll have to remedy that soon. If you dress like a Midgardian no one is ever going to want you on the throne."
"I don't think anyone will anyways. Even the guys in the dungeon were grossed out by the fact that I'm part frost giant."
"Please don't remind me," He gagged, "The thought of marrying a Jotun is disturbing my appetite."
"Then don't do it!" She shouted at him through the screen, "We don't need to get married at all, ever!"
"Ah, but the plan!" Eiliff sighed, "The plan requires it."
"You know, if you weren't evil," Susan said, stepping around the screen, "You'd actually be a pretty decent guy."
"Thanks." He gestured for her to turn around and when she had he finished fastening the dress buttons and then pulled her hair up.
"What the heck are you doing?" She snapped, turning around and allowing her partially done hair to fall flat again.
"I was doing your hair, but you messed it up."
"Why?"
"Because letting your hair go wherever it wants makes you look like a child. We need to make you seem grown up enough to court."
"I can do my hair by myself, thank you very much." She grabbed a handful of her locks and began brushing through it. When it was smooth she began twisting it into a braid.
"No, no, no! That'll never do. Let me give it a go again."
Susan dropped her hair and reluctantly turned to allow him access. He quickly and efficiently swept it off her neck into a simply updo.
"What'd you do?"
"Nothing fancy. I don't really have much experience with hair."
Susan stepped over to a mirror. "Not bad."
"And you look much older now. We've accomplished what we set out to do and now we are running late for dinner." He grabbed her arm and pulled her out into the hall. The two began running in the direction of the banquet hall. Just the action of behaving in such a juvenile way in the palace made Susan giggle as she ran. The joy spread and soon Eiliff found himself smirking and then laughing right alongside her. When they finally got to the doors of the dining hall they were both out of breath and had to stop before entering.
Susan, hands on knees, couldn't stop laughing as she panted. Elbowing her, Eiliff set off a whole new set of giggles and they both erupted again.
"We need to stop." He gasped, straightening up and grinning.
Susan snorted loudly, which caused them both to start laughing again. So it continued, every time they would attempt to quiet their amusement they found something else to laugh at. The guards at the door were looking at them with concern, but made no move to help. They heard footsteps behind them, but were too consumed with merriment to turn and see who it was.
"I see why you asked to begin courting! You two are clearly in love." Thor's voice boomed from behind them. Both of the younger folk froze, all laughter come to a dead stop. They glanced at each other and realized that Susan was holding onto Eiliff's arm for support and Eiliff was gripping her waist. They jumped apart.
"Sorry," Susan muttered, "We were just…" She could think of no explanation.
"I told a joke." Eiliff tried. Thor only chuckled and went for the door handle, winking conspiratorially.
"I'm sure."
Susan blushed profusely and tried not to look at Eiliff. He was her enemy and her she was laughing with him as if he was her best friend or something. Cringing at what Loki would say to that, she followed behind Thor to the dining room. The guard captain fell in line behind them.
"As you were," He snapped at the two guards by the door, straightening his tunic.
When the meal was over, Susan was somewhat alarmed to find that she and Eiliff had talked amiably the whole time. She wasn't sure if it was the giggle fest they'd had before hand or just because he was trying to fool Odin into thinking there was a connection between the two young people. Either way it irritated her.
On the other hand, this meal was considerably more enjoyable than the previous night's. Of course, any event was usually brighter than an attempted murder by an angry father so the standards were not very high.
Even as most of the diners departed Susan found herself still telling Eiliff about some of her friends on Earth. He seemed genuinely interested, but then again, so did Odin. The king had been watching them throughout the evening with an unreadable expression. Frigga kept glancing their way with curious looks, but she was as hard to read as her husband.
"...and so Jermaine's braces got caught in the Astroturf and the coach was yelling at him to get up, but of course he couldn't and the ref finally went over to see if Jer was okay. It took them fifteen minutes to get him unstuck and there was an imprint of his face in the ground for the rest of the football season." Susan was laughing at her own story, but Eiliff seemed mostly confused.
"What is Astroturf? And a ref?"
"Uh," She shook her head, "Nevermind. But yeah, Jermaine is my boyfriend on Earth. Or, I guess he was."
"You'd do best to forget him." Eiliff warned.
"Oh shut up. Have you ever had someone you loved or have you always been this evil?"
"Please, you don't love that boy. You were infatuated. And for your information, yes, I've courted before." He crossed his arms, fingers fiddling with a metal decoration on his jacket.
"Whatever. I think I'm going to bed for the evening. Good night!" She rolled her eyes at him and turned to leave the dining hall.
"Sigrid, wait a moment." Odin's deep voice stopped her in her tracks.
Not sure how to address her grandfather/guardian/new monarch, Susan approached him slowly and curtsied. She gave him a small smile, which she was pleased to see him return.
"Yes sir?"
"I have time now to go over what we discussed this morning," He put a gentle hand on her shoulder, "If you have time, that is."
"Oh yeah! Absolutely! That'd be cool!"
"Wonderful. I must attend to something this moment, but if you will meet me in my study in say… fifteen minutes we can discuss the history of the realms and the role Asgard has played in that history."
"Okay! I can't wait."
"You are very eager to learn," Odin commented, "Much like your father when he was your age. Remember that knowledge is power, but wisdom is knowing what to do with that power. Choose wisely how you use what I teach you."
Before she could formulate any sort of response to that sage advice, the king left to attend to whatever matter he needed to sort out. Susan looked to Eiliff, who gave her a questioning look. She gave him a thumbs up and his almost pleasant face broke into a sinister grin.
She sighed and wondered if she'd ever get used to how quickly he could turn from human to monster. The optimistic part of her hoped she wouldn't have to be around him long enough to get used to anything he did. But, that was wishful thinking and she knew it.
A/N: Wow, we're ten days away from the one year anniversary of the last time I updated this story. I AM SO SORRY LOYAL FOLLOWERS! I AM A REALLY BAD UPDATER! I'll go sit in the corner of shame and work on another chapter.
Thanks for reading/reviewing/favoriting/following! You da bomb diggity!