Chapter V: Where We Start

A/N: What a fun chapter to write. I would like to thank theicemenace for her beta work. She helps make writing things much easier. Enjoy the chapter my readers… ehehehe SSD

A few days earlier in Asgard…

"What do you think, my Queen?" Heimdall asked Frigga. They had been watching the events in the library.

"It seems that my son, even in his search to find an apprentice, still finds a way to amuse himself in the process. He is lucky that her brother listens to her." Frigga smiled slightly at the girl who would soon be arriving in Asgard.

"It remains to be seen whether she will remain a pawn or become a queen." Frigga murmured as she left.

###

Loki watched the girl as she recovered from her first trip through the Bifrost. He hoped that she did not throw up. It would be her first strike if she did.

Shockingly though, Hanna managed to retain her breakfast. She still looked a bit unsteady on her feet but that was nothing to be ashamed about.

Figuring that he should probably make some semblance of caring, Loki asked, "How are you feeling?"

"I have had better days. I should not have eaten as much as I did." Her feet were now much steadier and some color was returning to her face.

After nodding a greeting to Heimdall, Loki led Hanna to where some horses were waiting. Turning to her, he asked,

"You can ride, can you not?"

Giving him a dirty look, Hanna replied, "Of course I can." And with no help at all, she levered herself into the saddle.

###

A short time later, Hanna had been shown to her rooms. It was bigger than both her and Ragnar's room put together. Everything was done on a truly massive scale here in Asgard.

"My father made the understatement of the millennia when he said everything was big here."

After hearing a knock on the door, Hanna went over and opened it and a servant stumbled in with a huge stack of thick books her arms. Hanna steadied her saying,

"Let me help you with those books." As Hanna did that, she now knew why the servant was struggling these books. They were damn heavy!

"They are for you to read, my lady. Preferably within the next few days, according to Prince Loki," the young servant said without looking Hanna in the eyes.

Hanna took in the stack of books. There were five of them, and they looked like they were quite thick. If she gave up the luxury of sleep, she might manage to read all of them in the specified time frame.

Smiling at the girl, Hanna said, "Thank you for bringing me the books…" Hanna then realized that the servant had not given her name.

"My name is Lucia, my lady."

"Thank you Lucia."

With that, the young servant girl left. Hanna had a lot of reading to do and not a lot of time to do it in!

###

As luck would have it, Hanna did manage to finish the books in the timeframe expected. She had only stopped to eat, perform her morning routine, and unfortunately sleep. It had been the longest she had gone without sleeping, about 36 hours.

After waking up in shock, Hanna got dressed, and stacked the books so she could take them back to the library. There had been a note in one of the books, giving her directions to the library from her room.

Struggling with the stack of books, Hanna finally got them under control enough for her to start walking.

On her way back from the library, with some books in her arms, Hanna heard two people talking. It seemed to be Loki and Sif.

"Now that you have gotten your apprentice when are going to start teaching her?" Sif asked.

Hanna was wondering that question herself. Why was he having her read all of these books.

"I am not going to teach her. The terms of the bet were for me to take on an apprentice. Overloading her with the books, most likely will make her give up."

"I think that you are underestimating how stubborn Hanna is."

Hearing footsteps towards the doorway, Hanna moved as quickly as she possibly could with a huge stack of books in her arms. She did not want to be seen.

###

It had been one week. One week of doing absolutely nothing but reading books and no learning of how to actually utilize her abilities. Needless to say, Hanna was getting rather irritated with Loki.

Hanna now knew that Loki had not truly wanted an apprentice. The situation was the result of a bet that he had lost with Sif. And judging by his behavior, the prince was doing everything in his power to try and make her give up and go home.

He obviously did not know who he was dealing with. She would have to show him that she was worthy of being taught.

"But how to do that?" Hanna thought. "How do I prove to him that I am worth the time and effort?"

She tossed ideas around in her head all day, during breaks in her reading, each of them more ludicrous than the last.

Shortly before going to bed, one idea popped into her mind. It was arguably the simplest, but it would still require a great deal of planning. Also, it would land her in a great deal of trouble if the wrong people saw or overheard any part of it.

Hanna was going to attempt to manipulate the master manipulator. By using powers that had been used to topple everything from royalty to farm boys: feminine wiles or better known as "pretty girl powers".

###

Three days later…

Hanna smoothed her hands down the front of the dress she was wearing. Green with black accents, this dress was more suited to for a feast rather than every day wear. The reason for that being was that it was lower cut. It was not like some of the dresses Hanna had seen Astrid wear, but it would still get the job done. Whoever was sitting across from her would get an eyeful.

"I cannot believe that I am going to do this. Then again this is a high risk, high reward idea."

Hanna did have a few books to bring back to the library, so she had a reason for being in the library.

Taking a deep breath, Hanna picked up the books in her arms, and made her way to the library.

###

After returning the books to the librarian, Hanna went to the part of the library where she knew her instructor would most likely be located.

Sure enough, Loki was exactly where she thought he would be. His back was to the doorway, completely absorbed in the book. He had not given any indication that he was aware of her presence.

Smirking to herself, Hanna walked up and trailed her fingers across the back of his shoulders, making him jump in apparent shock.

With a purr in her voice, Hanna asked, "Might I have a word with you, your Highness." She walked around to sit on the other side of the table, leaning forward slightly as she sat down, giving him an eyeful.

Keeping the purr in her voice, but toning it down slightly, Hanna continued, "It concerns those books you are always having me read...they don't seem to be doing anything for me. I was think that maybe some hands on practice would be more useful to me." Hanna mentally smirked as she noticed his eyes dropping to her chest. "How predictable," she thought to herself. It did not matter that he was a prince of Asgard. He was still male. Getting up, she walked back around to where Loki was sitting, swaying her hips.

"There is only so much that I can learn from books." Hanna whispered in his ear while trailing the backs of her fingers up and down his arm. "I would be most grateful if that happened." She had a sultry smile on her face.

Swallowing audibly, and squirming slightly in his seat, Loki replied in a slightly strangled voice, "And how would you show that gratitude?"

With a smirk on her face, Hanna replied, "I am sure we can think of something agreeable to us both."

Looking at her up and down, Loki nodded his agreement. For the first time in a very long time, Prince Loki of Asgard had been rendered speechless. Feminine wiles had won the day. And she would be learning magic properly in the short term future.

Hanna strode from the room with a smile on her face. She had a feeling that she had just shown Prince Loki, just what he was dealing with.

###

What had just happened? The demure Vanir girl that was his apprentice had turned out to be quite the vixen.

Loki had the feeling that she had never really done something like that before when it hit him. The girl had just played him like a fiddle. She really was not going to do anything that she had implied. Hanna had everything to gain, and he had just given her what she wanted.

His first reaction was anger, then, as he slammed his fist into the table with anger, he felt another emotion, one he did not expect to feel. Loki was impressed. She had used her feminine wiles, to successfully beat him at his own game.

"Perhaps the girl is worth teaching after all."

###

Unfortunately, neither Hanna nor Loki realized that they had not been as alone in the library as they previously thought. Frigga had been going to see her son to ask him questions about when he was going to start teaching Hanna properly (she knew what her son was trying to do and hoped to talk him out of it) when she happened upon something she had not even thought she would ever hear.

It would seem that Hanna herself had taken matters into her own hands when it came to her tutelage. Perhaps she had caught wind of what Loki was trying to do. The girl was outright manipulating Loki. And it seemed to be working! Frigga was content to just listen and hear what the girl would do.

After Hanna had replied with, "I am sure we can think of something agreeable to us both." Frigga couldn't help but smirk. Even she could tell that Hanna had no intention of doing anything that her son may have in mind.

She heard the door open, and watched as the younger woman walked down the hallway, obviously pleased with herself. Frigga could hear a fist slamming down on the table. Loki had apparently figured out what Hanna had just done.

Frigga then saw a vision of the future…

Hanna was in a suit of armor sitting on a bench. In one hand she held a hand and a half sword, in the other hand was a blue-green ball of flame. She had to make a choice between her two most important loyalties, but was unsure….

Frigga had learned long ago that these were just possibilities, but the shock of the visions never fully left.

It would seem that Hanna would be around on Asgard for some time to come. She needed to speak to Hanna about a few things, and now was as good a time as any.

###

Hanna had been in a very good mood for the rest of the day. Nothing could take her down from the emotional high she was on.

This evening before going to bed, Hanna decided that she would try and work within the current limits of her abilities.

Holding her hands out towards the fireplace in her room, Hanna called to the flames, smiling as the flames encased her hands without burning. They had always been blue flames for some reason.

Focusing on the area between her hands, Hanna began working on creating a small fireball. This would take almost all of her focus to not have it go wrong. Distractions would be a bad idea.

Once she got it to the size of an orange, Hanna began playing around with the by floating it around the room. After doing a few circuits of the room, Hanna heard someone say from the doorway,

"So you can do some magic without things going awry."

Spinning around in surprise, but still keeping the control of the fireball, Hanna saw a woman with reddish-blonde hair, with a regal bearing. Queen Frigga.

Quickly sending the fireball back into the fireplace and extinguishing her hands, Hanna bowed. She had no idea why the queen would come to see her.

Sensing that her presence was making the poor girl nervous, Frigga decided to get to the point quickly.

"I was in the library earlier today looking for my son. I was intending to discuss with him his actions in regards to your apprenticeship. Imagine my surprise when I overheard you talking to him."

Frigga watched as the girl's face drain of color, then start to blush.

###

"Oh NO. I can NOT believe what is happening. She heard everything?" Hanna was thinking frantically.

Gulping slightly, Hanna asked, "How much did you overhear, your Majesty?" hoping that the queen had not heard very much. Her hopes were to be dashed.

"I heard enough to hear that it sounded like you were trying to seduce my son."

Having a really bad feeling about where this was headed, Hanna cut in with,

"Your Majesty, I can explain everything!"

With a slight smile on her face, Frigga went on with, "Relax, Hanna. As amusing as it would be to hear you try to explain yourself, I am not here to scold you. I wanted to tell you good job."

Hanna could not believe her ears. She was not in trouble?

Still smiling, Frigga continued, "It has been a long time since someone has beaten Loki at his own game. I am reasonably certain that he will more than likely keep you around. Good night, Hanna."

With that, the queen left. Hanna slowly began breathing again. She would live to learn another day. And it could have been much worse, who had heard her.

###

Sleeping soundly for the first time in three days, Hanna still woke up that morning with the sunrise. Today she would wear a simple blue tunic and breeches. She was going to practice her magic today on her own if she had to, and the sleeves on her dresses were too long for her comfort.

She wondered if she would actually see Loki today. After the incident yesterday, Hanna was unsure if she could look him in the eyes.

Almost as if thinking about him had summoned him, Hanna heard Loki say behind her, "I realize that you were manipulating me to get what you wanted from me."

Hanna nodded at this and waited for the other shoe to drop. He was probably quite angry with her.

Tipping her chin up with his fingers so he could look her in the eyes, he continued, "If I was angry at you, you would know it already. On the contrary, I am quite amused."

Hanna grinned despite herself.

"Perhaps practical application would be a more efficient use of your time, but you still have to read those books. For understanding magic is equally important as knowing how to use it."

Walking away he said, "Come on. You want to learn how to use it practically or not?"

Hanna quickly caught up to him (not an easy feat as he was a good head taller than her at least) and followed him back to the library, excited that she was finally on the road to controlling her magic, instead of it controlling her!

A/N 2: So… What did you all think? There's a reason why Hanna's plan worked so well, wanna guess? What do you think the precognitive vision is referring to?