I really did try to have this out before Christmas Day, but being the sleepy old lady I am after work most days, I had to resign to this being a belated gift to you all instead of an on-time gift. I would've had this out this morning if I didn't have to work Boxing Day! Some days I really hate being a retail worker :D

Thank you for all your patience and continued support! ^_^

Enjoy this long chapter!

Edelweiss Say I'll Be with You Till the Day You Leave

Chapter Ten: A Deal is a Deal

After a morning dip in the pool with Daisy and Amelia, Loki brought his youngest daughter to the library where she was set to begin short, daily classes with a tutor to hone her understanding of maths and english. The twins had undertaken similar classes at her age and it was time for Daisy to be taught by a professional, though it pained Loki to leave his daughter in her new classroom with just the tutor and a guard to watch over her.

The girl gave him a comforting smile and a little wave as he left the room, one that he was sure to return before the door closed shut. It was Loki's hope that Daisy would enjoy her time in the classroom, to the point that as soon as she was reunited with her parents later that day, she would be talking only of how excited she was to start her next class the following day.

It was eleven o'clock, so Loki had a little bit of time to relax before attending lunch below the gazebo with his daughter and her friend, so he headed purposefully to his and Amelia's chambers, knowing he would find her there changing after their swim earlier.

When he arrived, he slunk into the room, hoping to steal an hour of time with his darling wife, but unfortunately he did not find his wife in the best of moods. He faltered, watching Amelia flitter around with almost frantic breaths escaping her as her gaze tore over every surface in the room. Her face appeared pale and there were panicked tears in her eyes.

"Amelia, what's wrong?" Loki asked, approaching his wife with outstretched hands in a bid to offer some comfort. She had just been with him not fifteen minutes ago and she'd been perfectly fine then, so what exactly could have happened in that brief period of time to put her in such a frantic state?

"It's gone. It's gone," she whispered frenetically, before quickly dropping to her hands and knees beside the bed, pawing under it in search of something.

Loki hovered over her, waiting for an explanation that did not come. Instead, Amelia merely made vague noises of desperation and nervousness as she continued to prowl and peruse wildly.

"What's gone, love?" He pressed. If he knew what Amelia had lost, he would be able to help her find it.

"My ring!" Amelia squeaked from her crouched position, and then let her face fall against the bed where she let out a tearful whine, before continuing to speak, heavily muffled, "My engagement ring is gone! I took it off to go swimming and now it's gone!"

Loki frowned, swallowing hard.

Though they had been married for a while, Amelia still wore her engagement ring on the same finger as her wedding band, the two pressed together as a beautiful reminder of the day Loki proposed and the day they became husband and wife. Amelia took such good care of these particular pieces of jewellery, it was difficult to believe she could've just lost them, which led Loki to assume one very unfortunate incident had taken place.

His eyes went to the balcony door which was shut tight, but he approached it anyway, giving the handle a try to see if it was actually locked. It didn't budge, which made sense given that he had ensured it was locked before they left the room that morning. The two windows on either side were also tightly closed.

"What are you doing?" Amelia asked with a sniffle, watching her husband wander around and check the windows closely.

Loki sighed, "I didn't want to worry you," he murmured, "but there's been reports of theft throughout the palace."

"What?" Amelia gasped, her hands lifting to cover her mouth, "Why didn't you tell me?"

Loki pinched the bridge of his nose, "Ugh… because you overthink things. I know if you felt there was a hole in our security, you would worry constantly about the children."

"Yeah!?" Amelia exclaimed almost sarcastically, "Maybe, but if you'd told me, I would've locked my rings up tight rather than leaving them both on the side table!" She pointed dramatically at said side table that she was collapsed beside in a heap on the floor.

Loki stopped, turning to his wife, "You left them both on the side table?"

"Yes, I left them both here."

"And they were both right beside each other?"

"Yes!"

With a furrowed brow, Loki peered between the side table and his disgruntled wife, eyes dropping to her hand which housed her wedding band but no engagement ring.

"What kind of thief is met with two expensive rings and only decides to steal one?" Loki questioned aloud, finding the situation all too strange.

Amelia pressed her face into her hands and shook her head, "I don't know."

Loki gave a dismissive shrug, "Well then it probably wasn't stolen. Perhaps it fell to the floor without you noticing, or maybe you left it somewhere else entirely and you're misremembering."

Amelia looked up at her husband, glaring at him with glistening eyes, "I might be a bit forgetful, but I'm not senile. I clearly recall taking off both rings and placing them down. Neither of them rolled away, they were sitting still on the side table." Her snapping tone was a result of her woe due to the disappearance of the ring that meant so much to her - Loki knew this, and he too was fighting the urge to show his disappointment. That ring held beautiful memories for Amelia, but it held a significant amount of sentiment for Loki too; after all, it was the piece of jewellery he had used to ask Amelia to marry him.

Loki tried to think rationally though. How could a thief conceivably have entered the room?

"The door and windows are locked, Amelia. The thief couldn't have gotten in here, especially not in broad daylight, without being seen. The only other entrance is fully guarded."

Amelia struggled to wipe away welling tears, shaking her head miserably, "The bathroom window is open."

Loki stiffened, and then crossed the room, walking through the open door to the bathroom to find the window ajar, and he silently cursed himself for not giving the entire chambers a thorough check before leaving to go swimming. He looked out the window at the significant drop below and couldn't help but think that any thief bold enough to scale a wall in the middle of the morning with guards patrolling below had to be very fast and sure-footed.

Breathing a discontented sigh, Loki closed and locked the bathroom window before rejoining his wife in their bedroom, observing her sniffling form with a lamenting gaze. She was devastated and there was guilt in her eyes; she put the blame on herself for losing the ring, and while Loki had the brief, receding thought that Amelia should've taken better care of the prized possession, Loki knew really that he was at fault for not informing his wife that there was a thief on the loose in the palace.

"It's my fault it's gone," Loki admitted, coming to his wife's side and helping her to her feet, "I'll file a report with the guards."

Amelia held his gaze for a few seconds before she dropped her head to his shoulder and cried, prompting him to wrap his arms around her more tightly.

"Hey, shh," Loki whispered, "Amelia, it's okay, listen, it's…" he paused, getting stuck on the words in his mouth, it upset him to say what he tried to say in an effort to bring his wife some comfort, "It's just a ring."

It was just a ring, but at the same time it wasn't.

It wasn't just a material object, it held such high sentimental value and it meant so much to Loki.

"Not to me, it's not," Amelia whispered, concurring with Loki's unspoken words.

"I know," Loki responded, forcing a small smile as his wife lifted her head, "But we still have what it represents," he cupped her face and brushed her cheek with his thumb, wiping away the tears there. "I still have you, and you still have me. That's what matters most."

Amelia put her hand over his, managing to give Loki the smallest of smiles, and nodded her head in agreement. Then, Loki lifted her chin and pressed a chaste kiss to her lips, "Sooner or later, the thief will be caught, and when they are, I will find our ring and bring it back to you."

Amelia's smile became a little more genuine, and she gave a gentle nod.

"I will file that report now, I still have time before I meet Aster's friend," Loki told her, playing idly with the curls of Amelia's hair.

Amelia nudged Loki's nose with her own as she kissed him, and then murmured against his lips, "Make them feel welcome, okay?"

"Of course," Loki promised.

Aster was at her wit's end.

At the entrance of the gardens, she stood waiting for the countdown to the moment her father would demand she presented Eske before him, but she already knew things would not end the way he expected. She had laid awake last night trying to come up with some sort of plan to permanently put her father off of the hunt for her elusive friend, and yet she had come up with nothing but ideas that would only delay the inevitable.

Nothing she could say would have the lasting and desired effect of her father backing down and deciding to let it go; she rued her carelessness with that damned diary - if she hadn't let it fall so easily into Loki's hands, she wouldn't be standing beneath the beating sun worrying herself over the dilemma to begin with.

Back and forth, she paced, wondering if her footsteps would burn an everlasting mark into the cobblestone path if she continued for long enough; her brain had given up by now. Where once her mind had felt sharp enough to come up with an escape plan to this situation, she was now currently suffering from a distinct lack of sleep and it was making her thoughts foggy.

What was she going to do?

"Aster."

The girl almost jumped out of her skin as her father's voice sounded directly behind her, and she turned slowly to face him, trying to fight the wary expression off her own face. It wouldn't do good to arouse his suspicion, if at all she could - by some miracle - think up a plan and put it into action between here and the gazebo.

"Where is your friend?" Loki questioned, brow furrowed in frown. A reasonable inquiry given he had expected Aster to arrive side by side with Eske.

"Um… going to meet us there," she murmured, motioning in the vague direction of their would-be lunch spot.

"Good. Come along."

He strode down the path, lifting his hand to shield his eyes from the glaring sun, and nervously Aster followed behind him, taking much slower and shorter steps as she was in no bid to actually keep up with him. She picked at the skin of her fingertips, keeping her eyes low on the ground in front of her.

She realised then that she'd ruined any chance of buying more time for herself by confirming that Eske would arrive. She should've just come up with an excuse that would've given her more time to cook up an actual plan, but her befuddled brain didn't think to point that out to her moments prior.

Well, that was it. There was no turning back now; when she reached the gazebo she would likely have to come clean. Eske was not coming.

She drifted past the shallow pond, peering down at the colourful fish swimming innocently beneath the surface, and that was when she was struck with an impulsive idea, one that only a sleep-addled and desperate mind could supply. Without wasting a single moment, she fell forwards and submerged herself in what was barely a foot deep of water.

By some level of misfortune, she was assaulted with the discomfort of having water shoot up her nose, and flailed briefly in the water before pushing herself up on her forearms so that her head surfaced and she could breathe.

Coughing and sputtering, she heard the footsteps of her father as he rushed back to her side and pulled her from the pond, all the while asking, "Aster? Aster, what happened? Aster?"

His voice was high pitched with disbelief, wondering how she had tripped and fallen in.

On her hands and knees, drenched and groggy, Aster finished choking on water and groaned, peeling her wet dress away from her skin and hoping she hadn't flattened any fish in the fall.

"I… I got dizzy," she bluffed, putting a hand to her head in an attempt to sell the lie more easily.

Loki's face softened with concern, eyes shifting searchingly between Aster's as if assessing her exhausted appearance and coming to his own conclusion. It seemed her sleepless night actually aided her fib, because she must have looked disorderly in both mind and body for her father to nod his head and buy her excuse.

He placed his hand atop her head and an incredibly odd sensation overcame her as he used magic to instantly dry her and her clothes, then he scooped her up and began carrying her back towards the palace, proclaiming, "I'm taking you to Inga."

Aster rested her head against his shoulder, trying to keep the expression of wonderment off her face, totally amazed that she had managed to successfully trick her own father. However, the feeling didn't last long as anxiety once again began to fray her nerves. He was taking her to Inga. While she had been victorious in her ploy, her luck would soon run out as the queen and expert healer would quickly deduce that she was not, in fact, ill at all.

She resigned herself to her imminent fate, catching the eyes of guards who passed them and peered back with curiosity, clearly wondering why the grown princess was being carried like a sick child.

Closing her eyes, Aster flushed with embarrassment and tried to ignore the guards, thinking about the fact that she could not recall the last time her father had carried her in this way.

When they reached the infirmary, Aster was placed on an available bed and shortly thereafter examined by the queen of Asgard in her natural habitat. Loki hovered close by the whole time, watching as Inga scrutinised her face and asked her questions.

"Did you sleep well last night?"

"Not particularly… the heat makes it difficult."

"Have you eaten today?"

"Yes. I had breakfast this morning."

"Are there any other symptoms besides dizziness that you think may be relevant?"

"I don't know."

"Have you been drinking plenty of water?"

Aster paused, squirming under the watchful eyes of the queen. It was remarkable how intimidating she could be, even if it was unintentional, but Aster could tell where the line of questioning was headed, and she'd already lied once today - what was another few to add to the pile?

"Maybe not as much as I should have," she murmured her little half-truth, not quite outright lying but speaking with a certain level of candidness when it came to technicalities. It was always wise to drink as much as possible during hot weather, and Aster had been drinking a regular amount, which meant technically she could've been drinking more.

"Have you experienced any fatigue or headaches?"

Aster nodded slightly, "I'm very tired. And my head was hurting a bit earlier." The tiredness was obviously as a result of the very little sleep she had achieved, and she had woken that morning with a bit of a stress headache, perchance.

"Hmm," Inga hummed in acknowledgement, and Aster genuinely wasn't sure if the woman could tell she was bending the truth behind her answers just a little. Eventually, the queen lifted her gaze to Loki, "Dehydration is the most likely cause for her dizzy episode, it's especially possible given the weather and your natural aversion to heat. My advice is bedrest and to drink plenty of water. Eat some fruit to replenish any lost sugar, and something salty to replace lost salts; you'll be feeling right as rain in no time." Her eyes flicked back to Aster and lingered, a somewhat knowing look on her face that made her pulse quicken in panic.

Inga knew something wasn't entirely right. Perhaps her symptoms weren't severe enough to warrant a diagnosis for dehydration, or maybe the woman could tell Aster was just trying to get out of doing something. Either way, Loki trusted Inga and Inga seemed to be holding her tongue for whatever reason.

Aster was thankful.

Loki insisted on accompanying Aster back to her bedroom to ensure she didn't faint on the way there, and ordered the guard to have water and food brought to her chambers.

"It is a shame, I was looking forward to meeting your friend today, but it looks like it will have to wait until tomorrow," Loki told her after her refreshments were delivered, and Aster averted her eyes, her worries beginning anew.

For almost the entire week, Aster was forced to concoct half-assed excuses in order to delay the meeting between her friend and her father, hoping that surely, eventually, Loki would just stop trying to arrange it.

Her fabrications were flimsy at best and she could see the frustration in her father's eyes with each new reason she gave that explained why Eske could not make it to the lunch date; Loki was growing weary and yet he insisted every time that it would have to be delayed till the next day. Aster was driven practically insane by Loki's demand for this encounter; all she wanted was for her father to leave it be and let her spend time with her friend without the worry that Loki would pop up at any moment and pressure Eske into joining them for lunch.

But then, Aster couldn't just tell her father no. That would rouse suspicion and get him asking questions, or worse, he'd ask guards to spy on her in order to find out just who Eske was. It was a blessing that Loki seemed to have forgotten Eske's name, or he probably would've just asked palace staff for information on them, and then the jig would most definitely be up.

Aster's bag of excuses were wearing thin as the week rolled on.

On Monday, Eske simply hadn't been working that day.

On Tuesday, Eske had been unable to attend to their duties because their elderly grandmother had taken a tumble and they needed to take care of her.

On Wednesday, Eske had fallen ill, and then on Thursday, their ailment had yet to clear up.

On Friday, Aster stayed hidden deep in a little cove in the library all day to avoid having to attend lunch under the gazebo, and when she'd been caught that evening sneaking down to the kitchens to finally eat something after an entire day of starving, she'd awkwardly told her father that she'd been swept away by a really good book and she'd been unable to put it down, and in doing so had unfortunately missed lunch and dinner.

There was absolutely no chance that she could continue to offer up her fragile lies as unaccountable truths; there would come a day in the near future in which Loki simply wouldn't accept it anymore - he would demand she bring Eske forth and then Loki would finally know why Aster was so dead set on hiding them from him.

On Saturday, Aster sat in her favourite spot, the bench in the clearing surrounded by trees, and slumped with her head in her hands, completely out of ideas and growing resigned to her upcoming fate. Her fears and dread came to a swift end when a familiar voice pierced through her woes, and the feelings were instead replaced by vexation and resentment.

"Hello, sister," Kari greeted his twin, stepping up to the opposite side of the bench with his hands in his pockets trying all too hard to look like one of the cool kids he followed around like a puppy at school. It was enough to make Aster physically recoil and cringe from the horror of it as she was reminded that she was unfortunately related to this moron.

And what kind of greeting was that, anyway? Was he trying to mimic their father and uncle with the way they always acknowledged each other with a curt nod and the word 'brother' like it was the linguistic substitute for the word 'hello' in their minds?

"Hello, halfwit," Aster greeted instead, scowling at the boy the whole time. She wondered what he was doing there and why he had decided to finally talk to her in the middle of her mental crisis - he really knew how to pick the absolute worst moment to stop acting like she didn't exist.

"Ouch, you wound me," Kari proclaimed in a monotonous voice, pressing a hand over his chest like he was physically pained by his sister's insult.

"What do you want?" Aster groused with an abundance of attitude; she was not in the mood to deal with the annoyance and teasing her brother loved to dole out, she had a dilemma that she needed to work through and Kari's presence was only going to make things worse.

"I guess I'll jump straight to the point. I know about Eske."

Aster felt her whole body tense as the words left her brother's mouth. She observed him carefully, dissecting the slightly smug curl of his lip, and the anger she felt for him that had been building over the past few months steadily grew a few more levels. Aster was hardly quick to jump to violence, she preferred it only as a last resort and instead used her words to contend rather than her fists, but by Odin's beard, she wanted to punch that smirk right off of his face more than anything.

"So what? I have a friend in Asgard, big deal," Aster tried, hoping that Kari was bluffing - just because he knew Eske's name, didn't mean he knew other more important facts.

Kari's smirk widened.

"A friend?" He repeated with the exact same intonation and level of sarcasm that Aster had spoken with the day he'd been invited to sit with Maya Green at lunch.

Aster's mouth twitched as Kari took a seat uninvited beside her, keeping his self-satisfied gaze on her, but she remained silent, waiting to see what her brother had come to blackmail her for.

"Well, you and your friend sit suspiciously close to each other when you like to read books together here," he motioned the clearing with a hand gesture, "oh, and let's not forget the other day when I saw him kiss your cheek before leaving."

"Shut up!" Aster hissed, quickly turning her head to gaze around the area in search of spies; when she faced her brother again she could tell she'd turned bright red by the way Kari immediately began to laugh, and she floundered at once in an attempt to defend herself, "P-platonic friends can kiss each other's cheeks!"

"We both know he's your boyfriend, stop trying to deny it, I already know the truth. I have a proposition," Kari spoke, sitting back in his seat like he knew he was about to get anything he wanted from his sister. Aster deplored the fact that he probably would, because she was so desperate for her father not to find out about Eske that she would swallow her pride and do whatever her brother was about to ask of her.

Still, she couldn't help but bring the snark.

"Wow," she said, her voice saturated with derision, "proposition is a big word for you," and gave him a quiet little slow clap of her hands.

Kari ignored the jibe, clearly too focused on what he wanted to feel any sort of offence, "How good is your invisibility spell?"

Aster's face fell in shock.

Her penchant for seeking knowledge often landed her in the library, checking out spell tomes that were full of incantations and charms that Loki believed were beyond Aster's sorcery level; unbeknownst to him, Aster spent her free time practising her magic in secret, and the truth was, she'd achieved far more than her father believed. She kept her magical advancements a secret, biding her time and using what she knew to her own advantage, including sneaking past the occasional guard in order to find and spend time with Eske.

"Do you just constantly spy on me!?"

She'd thought herself to be in complete privacy during her self-taught classes, but apparently her brother was never too far away.

Kari snickered, "I like to climb up high and listen to the world around me," he lifted a finger, pointing to the tall trees above, and Aster cursed herself for not being more aware of her surroundings when she believed she was practising in the clearing all alone.

"Well, how good are you at going invisible?" Kari pressed.

Aster sighed, crossing her arms over her chest, "Iffy at best. I can hold the spell for only a few minutes at most, and even then it's not one hundred percent fool-proof. I tend to visually flicker in and out of existence, so I have to be strategic if I want to get anywhere without anyone noticing." In truth, she didn't know exactly why she gave her brother such a detailed explanation on the skills she had come to acquire and kept completely quiet up until this point; perhaps she was that worried about her father finding out about Eske's identity that she'd rather just give in to Kari's every whim, or maybe - just maybe - deep inside herself, she had missed talking with her brother and was making up for the lost time over the last few months.

"Good, a few minutes is all we need. I need you to steal something for me," Kari turned to her fully, sharing his reason for being there like he hadn't just spent months ignoring her, and as if 'stealing' wasn't a heavily punishable crime.

"Oh, is that all?" Aster snapped, eyebrows furrowed in agitation.

"No, it's fine, it'll be easy. You're smart, you got this," Kari commended his sister. Aster frowned, doing absolutely nothing to keep the glare from forming on her face; if her brother's words were actually genuine, she might've appreciated the praise, but he was clearly just trying to butter her up.

"What do you need me to steal for you? An iced lemon cake from the kitchens after supper?" She was only halfway being sarcastic, hoping that all he wanted was just an innocuous sweet treat that would glean only the lightest punishment if she were caught, but as Kari leaned forward and whispered the actual object of his desire into her ear, Aster felt her soul just about leave her body for a few solid moments.

"What?"

"Aster-"

"Are you absolutely insane? Do you know what will happen if I get caught stealing that? I think Uncle Thor would personally see me placed in a jail cell overnight if father hasn't disowned me first."

"You're being so dramatic. They'd give you a slap on the wrist and maybe ground you, nothing crazy - besides, that's only if you got caught! And you're not gonna get caught, remember?"

"I'm not gonna get caught because I'm not gonna do it!" Aster hissed. "And not only because I don't want to suffer the consequences of being caught stealing, but because if I got it for you, you'd probably end up getting yourself killed!"

"Aww, do you care about me?" Kari gave his sister a toothy grin, and once again Aster fought the urge to strike her brother and knock a tooth from his skull.

"No, I care about mum and Daisy, and they'd be sad if you died, so for their sake, I refuse."

Silence fell between the twins, and Kari sighed, sitting back against the bench and facing forwards, staring off into the peaceful clearing. The colourful flowers growing from the verdant grass swayed in the gentle but welcomed breeze that passed between them.

"That's a shame. I figured it could help us both out," Kari mused, purposely averting his gaze, waiting for Aster to inquire as to why exactly stealing such a valuable and potentially dangerous item could be beneficial for her.

"Okay, I'll bite," Aster grumbled sardonically, "How exactly is stealing it going to help me?"

"I'm glad you asked," Kari pinned his sister with an overly joyous expression, "because, once you steal it for me and I'm able to disappear from Asgard, it won't be long before father realises I'm missing, and once he does, Eske will be forgotten about and he'll focus solely on me and how to punish me for the rest of the summer."

Aster surveyed her brother's expression. There was an edge of imploration in his eyes, a little burrowing slice of hope that she would agree to put her reputation on the line for him, and she almost scoffed in response, but her thoughts branched into the what if scenario Kari had presented.

If she managed to attain the object from the secure and heavily guarded vault below the palace, and if Kari was actually right about the proceeding events, which Aster had to admit, did sound very plausible, then Loki's attention would be completely centred on her dumb brother. For the whole summer.

It was rather suspicious, though, how her brother seemed to almost want to get caught.

"Why are you so set on doing this if you know you'll be found out? You'll be punished severely, you realise that, right?"

Kari shrugged his shoulders, tapping his fingers distractedly against the bench, "I dunno. I don't care about the consequences, I just wanna get away for a bit."

Aster squinted at her twin, trying to work him out, but his stance on this was rather enigmatic.

The offer was tempting. Loki would forget all about Eske for sure given the severity of what Kari was up to, and then she'd be able to spend all the time she wanted with the palace servant without the fear that her father was lurking nearby.

But…

"What if you do get killed? What makes you think everything's going to go your way? Where you're endeavouring to go is dangerous, we both know it all too well," Aster argued. She might have thought her brother to be a selfish idiot for these past few months, but he was still her brother, together they were like two sides of the same coin; she was too used to his presence to imagine what the world might be like without him.

Kari snorted, shaking his head, "I can handle myself."

Aster wasn't entirely satisfied with that answer and let her displeasure be known in her long sigh, "If anything happens to you, it'll be on me. Especially if dad finds out I was the one that enabled you." Her words were calculated and disguised the true intention of her protest; she did not want to see her brother harmed, or worse, and it appeared as though Kari could read between the lines because his face softened.

"Well firstly, when I get caught - because let's face it, I will be caught relatively quickly - I won't even bring you into the equation. As far as dad will know, I stole it myself and made off with it, you were never there. And secondly, I'm confident my status will protect me. Thirdly, I'm stronger than you think, and I can do some pretty whack stuff with my magic too. Maybe I can't turn invisible, but I'm not a sitting duck," said Kari, rising to his feet and taking a few steps into the clearing. He turned, hands placed upon his hips, and gazed at his sister imploringly.

Aster considered asking him to beg, because it would have been an amusing thing to hold over him, but she had a better deal in mind, one that would have a better outcome for everyone involved, "Listen, you've been a real jerk for months-"

"I didn't come here to talk about Louis," Kari rose to the defensive, crossing his arms stiffly, and Aster let her silence linger for a moment - she didn't even have to mention Louis's name before Kari was the one to bring him up, and that told her a lot.

"I'll do this for you. But, when the summer is over, you have to take the initiative and apologise to Louis."

"He's the one that owes me an apology, Aster-"

"I've made my terms clear," Aster quickly cut her brother off sharply, and Kari's nostrils flared, his face unreadable. "I don't care who is responsible for starting this fight between you both, but you're both continuing to hurt yourselves and each other by ignoring one another. First day back at school, you are going to go up to Louis and make amends. Promise me this, and we have a deal."

Kari dragged a hand down the lower half of his face as he eyed the ground at his feet, deliberating with himself. It took a few moments, but he seemed to weigh out what he truly wanted in his mind, and the moment he decided he would lay down his pride and make an effort with Louis was practically palpable. His eyes, so much like Aster's own, held a flicker of remorse that made them glisten, only for a moment. Then, he steeled his expression, pulled his hand away and held his head up high, and nodded.

Aster's chest swam with relief. She looked forward to things going back to normal.

Kari gave his sister a grateful smile, "Thanks for being with me on this."

Aster rolled her eyes, returning the small smile, "Of course I'm with you. I've been with you since the womb."

Kari snickered, taking a moment to appreciate his sister's words as he returned to his seat beside her, "So, it's probably best we do this sooner rather than later if you want to avoid dad inquiring more about Eske. Do you think you'll be able to do this by tonight?"

Aster took a deep breath and let it out slowly, and then quickly gave the area another perusal, just to make sure there was nobody lurking nearby. The plan they were about to discuss was full of sensitive information, she wouldn't want any ears to overhear.

"Dad will put Daisy to bed around seven o'clock. If I can get it between now and then without the guards realising it's missing, I can bring it to your room under the guise that I'm wishing to make amends with you - it should work, the entire palace knows we've not been on good terms, so I'm sure they won't suspect any scheming. I'll return to my room then, but you need to wait for dad to check on you before he retires to his and mum's chambers for the night. If you disappear before he can check on you, I guarantee you won't get to your destination in time before you're found out, so wait until after that point. How are you going to get out of the palace without the guards seeing you?"

Kari hung onto every word that left Aster's mouth, his confidence growing as she proposed the plan, "I'm a good climber, remember? I can climb up from my balcony once it's completely dark out, scale the walls and make my way to the stables, steal a horse and boom, once I'm outside the palace walls riding my horse, I'll be out of here in no time."

Aster faltered, "How long exactly do you plan to be gone?"

Kari shrugged, "Till morning, I guess, when someone realises I'm missing."

Aster shook her head, "No, that's long enough for something bad to potentially happen to you. I'm gonna give you until two o'clock in the morning, that'll give you several hours - enough for you to enjoy your brief freedom - and then I'll think of a way to prompt dad to enter your room. He'll see you're missing and raise the alarm."

Kari rolled his eyes, but reluctantly agreed, "Fine. It should be enough time." He turned and gave his sister his full attention, "Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet… thank me tomorrow when you're back home safe, okay?"

"Yeah, okay."

Amelia nuzzled her nose against her youngest daughter's face, showering her with goodnight kisses as the sound of sweet giggles filled the air; she finalised her assault by laying one big kiss right on Daisy's forehead, making a substantial 'mwah' noise with her mouth. Daisy found it all dreadfully amusing, wrapping her arms around her mother's neck and giving her one last squeeze before her father coaxed her away.

"Come Daisy, time for bed," Loki prompted. Daisy walked into his outstretched arms and smiled as she was lifted up from her parents' bed, giving her mother a wave with her small hand.

"Goodnight, my love. Sleep tight," Amelia blew the girl a kiss from her spot on the edge of the bed and she rose up as Loki carried Daisy away and out of the room. It was typical of Loki and Amelia to rotate each night when it came to putting Daisy to bed, allowing the other to wind down and shower or read a book; tonight Amelia was going to have a quick shower while Loki put their daughter to bed, and this time she was careful to keep all the doors and windows locked lest the mysterious thief strike twice in the same week.

Loki brought his daughter to her bedroom, passing the guards outside and giving them a nod of acknowledgement.

"Night night," little Daisy sang, waving to each of the guards individually as Loki took her into the room; despite their vow to remain completely professional and serious, they couldn't help but melt a little at the young princess's sweet demeanour, the two of them cracking a brief smile before forcing themselves to once again remain aloof.

Loki took the girl first to the wardrobe, picking out a pastel yellow night-dress and helping his daughter to change her clothes, before then helping her brush her teeth in the bathroom. When she was all ready and prepared for bed, she climbed up onto the mattress of her large bed and pulled back the thin sheet - a special summer blanket for the unbearably hot nights - before shimmying below it and sinking back into the large, comfy pillows.

As ever, she looked tiny and snug amongst her bed covers, a sweet little gem who Loki would willingly give his life to protect. He sat on the side of her bed, leaning down to kiss her cheek and brush her brown locks out of her face.

"Can I have a bedtime story, dada?" She asked, her eyes shimmering with hopefulness, and it truly was Loki's weakness that he couldn't say no to Daisy. He smiled, crossing over to the low bookcase and kneeling down to peruse the titles.

"Which book would you like me to read for you, my little bumblebee?" Loki asked softly, his voice already quiet and lulling, knowing that he would likely only get three pages into the storybook before Daisy was fast asleep.

"The one with the squirrel," Daisy requested, pointing towards the miniature bookcase, "the blue book."

Loki nodded, picking the book off the shelf. He straightened to his full height and observed the surface atop the bookcase which was more of a table, housing a candelabra and a large silver dish full of trinkets.

The content expression fell from Loki's face and he performed a double-take, staring at the dish with growing trepidation and shock; he blinked a few times as if to reset his vision, knowing that surely what he thought he was seeing wasn't actually real.

Piles of jewellery lay stashed in the silver dish - necklaces, bracelets, rings, earrings, and then a spattering of shiny coins; and yes - Loki spotted the distinct golden band with a small circle of petals, where there sat an emerald in its centre. Amelia's engagement ring.

How? Why?

What were all of the palace's stolen items doing here, sitting in a dish in his youngest daughter's bedroom?

Loki's stomach dropped as his head turned to his child. Surely not. Daisy hadn't stolen all of these pieces of jewellery, she wasn't a thief. There was no way a girl, who was four months shy of turning four years old, could sneak throughout the palace and take these items without anybody noticing. She wouldn't do that. She was a good girl.

He stared back at the missing items for several seconds, gears turning behind his eyes, and he felt Daisy's eyes on him as she wondered why he wasn't returning to her bedside to read her her bedtime story.

"Dada?"

Loki drew in a breath, "Daisy. What are these doing here?" He pointed at the dish, and she followed his hand with her gentle, brown eyes.

The girl smiled, her face devoid of any guilt or admittance of wrongdoing, and gleefully declared, "My friend gave them to me!"

Friend? What friend?

Loki's gaze subtly darkened with dread. Who had been talking to his daughter and coaxing her with pretty, stolen trinkets? Who had convinced her that they were her friend and somebody to be trusted?

"Who? Tell me, Daisy." He tried to keep his voice level, but there was anger towards this unidentified individual that he was fighting to keep buried while he spoke to his youngest, not wishing for her to hear his tone and believe his anger was directed at her.

"He comes to my window," Daisy pointed out innocently, gesturing with a finger to the drawn curtain in front of the window.

At once, Loki placed the book down heavily and stomped towards the window, throwing back the curtain and unlocking the latch, opening it wide and practically sticking his whole head out, scathingly scrutinising the ground several stories down and the balconies on either side.

"Who, Daisy? What's his name?" Loki demanded, his patience regrettably trickling away. How could he have let this happen? Had he and Amelia truly not paid enough close mind to Daisy at all times of the day? How had they reached the window from the outside of the palace?

Daisy pouted, looking a little nervous, "His name is Raisin."

Loki faltered, an eyebrow shooting up, "R-Raisin?"

What kind of name was that?

"Yeah!" The girl exclaimed with renewed excitement, quickly throwing back the cover and slipping out of bed to pad quickly towards the window. "Look! I'll show you!" She clambered up onto the armchair that was pushed up against the aperture and Loki reflexively took a hold of her so that she didn't tumble forward out of the window in her haste.

She cupped her hands around her mouth and squeaked out a rather shrill sounding 'ca-caw' then sat back with a big smile on her face, waiting for something to happen. Loki just stared at his daughter, frowning in absolute confusion.

And then he heard it. The flapping of wings.

He looked up out of the window just in time to see a dark shape zipping through the air towards them and took a recoiling step back when a large raven invited itself into the room, settling down on Daisy's window sill with all the gall of king - acting as if it owned the place.

"Careful," Loki was quick to warn his daughter, but the girl was already giving the raven gentle pets with two tentative fingers, dragging her fingertips from the top of its head down its body. The bird preened under the attention, giving a few appreciative squawks before tilting its head and peering up at Daisy with an expectant look.

"Is okay, Raisin," Daisy sang, "I got you some yummies," she reached for a little pile of sunflower seeds that Loki hadn't noticed until that moment, positioned at one end of the window sill intentionally.

Loki came to realise in that moment that for the past few days at lunch, he had watched his young daughter reach for handfuls of small seeds and nuts on the banquet table and shove them into her pockets; he had only thought that his daughter was saving them for a later time when she grew peckish, and plus they were a healthy snack, so Loki hadn't questioned it at the time.

Now, he understood.

The raven helped itself to the sunflower seeds in Daisy's palm, pecking them up and swallowing them gratefully before awaiting more pets to its little head. It almost seemed to eye Loki with a challenging look, as if Loki was encroaching on the bird's territory.

"Daisy. What is this?" Loki asked eventually, once the shock and befuddlement had passed.

"It's my friend, Raisin. He brings the shiny things."

Loki looked back to the silver dish, finally figuring it out. This bird - somehow his daughter had befriended the raven, feeding it seeds and nuts each night, and in return the bird would bring to her window sill sweet little shiny trinkets that belonged to staff and nobles in the palace.

There was no thief, it was just a bird. A bird had caused the advisors to be all fearful that there was an intruder who could walk through walls or slip in through small gaps. It was actually hilarious.

Loki snorted, covering his mouth to hide his amusement, and then he placed an affectionate hand on Daisy's shoulder, "Say goodnight to your friend, Daisy. You need to be getting to bed."

Daisy gave the bird's neck a little scratch with her finger, the raven making a happy, squeaky noise in return, and she waved her little hand in farewell, "Goodnight Raisin, hope you sleep well tonight." As if reacting in perfect understanding, the raven flapped its wings, like it was mimicking the hand motion, but when it failed to immediately turn and fly away, Loki stepped forward and shooed it out gently.

Loki closed the window, pressing a hand to the side of his face as he wondered just how he was going to dissuade the raven from stealing everybody's jewellery. He supposed they would just have to put an alert out to everyone to be on the lookout for a crafty corvid, they couldn't exactly stop the bird from taking what it wanted, they could only take action to make it more difficult for the raven known as Raisin.

Daisy was peering up at her father as he stood there in silent thought, but soon he gave the girl a warm smile, glad his initial read on the situation had been incorrect.

"Do you know where Raisin has been getting these pieces of jewellery?" He asked her, and Daisy blinked, shaking her head sheepishly. Loki believed her, mainly due to the fact that the girl was just a few months shy of being four years old, and she perhaps hadn't yet developed the idea that pretty trinkets didn't just appear out of nowhere, they had to be taken from somewhere else.

"The bird has been taking them from peoples' rooms. The jewellery belongs to other people, and they've been wondering where their possessions have gone," Loki explained gently. Daisy's lip wobbled in a pout at the knowledge, and she softly defended her little friend.

"I think… Raisin didn't know." She didn't want anyone to think ill of her feathered friend, and Loki had to chuckle at her innocence.

"I'm sure he didn't know. It's okay, if he brings you anything else then you can let me know, and I will return it," Loki spoke as he walked back over to where the silver dish sat carrying all the treasures. He picked out his wife's engagement ring and slipped it in his pocket before motioning a hand towards the bed, prompting Daisy to skip away from the window and hop back up onto the mattress. "How about tonight, you can look after all these items, and then tomorrow morning I will take them back to where they should be?" It was too late in the day to gather the trinkets and wander around returning them to their rightful owners - save the special ring in his pocket - so he deemed it safe to leave them in his daughter's room for one more night.

Daisy was happy with the arrangement and nodded her head eagerly, "I'll look after them, dada."

He helped tuck the girl back into bed and made himself comfortable next to her, lying above the covers, and opened the storybook. Loki got maybe three pages into the story in which the main character, a squirrel, went on a heroic adventure throughout the forest, before he heard the quiet telltale sighs of his daughter falling into a deep sleep.

He smirked, knowing the little princess had exhausted herself that afternoon by running around in the gardens; it was so incredibly easy putting Daisy to bed, something Loki was very thankful for.

Now he could spend some time with his wife.

Loki pressed a kiss to his daughter's forehead and shifted, rising and slipping from the room like a slithering snake not making a sound. He checked on his other children as was customary for him and Amelia, even if to just peep their heads in to bid them goodnight; Loki wasn't sure how old the twins had been when they stopped wanting forehead kisses before bed, but he didn't expect them to be content to receive them for ever.

Aster was sitting at her desk reading; she looked somewhat tense when Loki entered, and looked over at him with an expression of barely constrained trepidation; he saw it immediately, of course, even though she tried to hide it.

"Are you well?" He inquired, and Aster forced a smile and shrugged before giving a nod. He wondered if this was all about how she had seemingly been avoiding him due to his insistence at wanting to meet her friend. He wasn't stupid, he knew some of her excuses were exaggerated or just plain made up, but he let it sit and hoped to figure out just why she seemed so uncomfortable with the whole idea when he'd assured her many times that it would be perfectly fine for her friend to have tea with them. If she feared things would be awkward, she did not need to - Loki was perfectly able to hold the flow of a conversation and make a guest feel comfortable to talk, if her friend felt intimidated, he would make it not so, if only Aster gave him a chance.

He considered suggesting that they could have lunch tomorrow with her friend, but he stopped himself, knowing that if he gave her a heads up, she would most definitely come up with an excuse by midday as to why their lunch absolutely could not happen; so he smiled back at her and inclined his head.

"Goodnight, Aster."

And there, he spotted the way she visibly relaxed because she'd anticipated that he was going to bring up her elusive friend. Deep down, a part of him was beginning to entertain the idea that she was making the whole thing up and did not have a friend, hence the multitude of endless excuses that kept falling from her mouth, but then he remembered the diary, and that there was definitely somebody on the other end of it.

"Goodnight, dad."

She turned and went back to her book and Loki shut her bedroom door as he exited; Kari was next, and he made his way purposefully towards the guarded door of his son's chambers.

Since arriving in New Asgard for the summer, Loki had barely seen his son, to his dismay; the boy kept to himself during breakfast, lunch and dinner - when he bothered to turn up - and he tended to either stay in his room doing gods knows what or head down to the lake to partake in some swimming. Loki didn't know why his son couldn't just swim in the palace pool like the rest of them, but made sure the guards chaperoned the boy whenever he went. Anything to avoid a tragic drowning incident.

He knocked on his son's bedroom door and entered when Kari voiced back 'come in', finding the boy lying on his front atop the covers of his bed in his thin nightclothes, gazing into his phone screen which had the brightness turned all the way up.

"You're going to ruin your eyesight if you play on that thing in a dark room," Loki felt the need to point out, "at least light some candles."

Kari sighed, and instead lowered his phone's brightness just a tad, which wasn't exactly what Loki suggested, but he supposed it was the only compromise he was going to receive.

"Right, well… goodnight, Kari."

Kari looked up, quiet for a beat, and then smiled, "Love you, dad."

To say Loki was surprised was a bit of an understatement; he stared at his son for a few seconds searchingly, trying to find some ulterior motive in the boys eyes. It was… simply uncommon for his son to say those words, especially since the beginning of the year when he'd turned fourteen years old. Loki assumed Kari had hit the age where any proclamation of 'I love you' - particularly from his parents - was returned with the rolling of his eyes, but it seemed as though the boy still had a few more sentimental moments in him before he reached that stage in his life.

Loki himself had had a stage like that in his life too, except it lasted from his mid-teens, all the way to the day Amelia first admitted that she loved him.

"I love you too, Kari," Loki told his son, smiling with warmth in his eyes, "sleep well."

Loki left as Kari went back to his phone, and exhaled softly as he began to make his way back down the hall towards his and Amelia's room, lightly patting his breast pocket that housed the ring Daisy's raven had pinched.

A sweet little idea hatched in his mind, he knew exactly how to present it to her and reveal the good news.

When he slipped in through the door to their chambers, he found his wife freshly showered and clad in her bathrobe, lying back on the recliner with a book in her hand. She looked up as he walked in and smiled, "You took a tad longer than usual, everything alright?"

Loki said nothing, merely smiling in a way that betrayed he was up to something, even if that something was relatively innocuous and not full of mischief like it usually was. Amelia's brow furrowed in suspicion and she put the book down, pushing herself up onto her elbows as Loki knelt down before her on one knee.

Amelia gave him an amused look, "What are you doing?"

"Well," Loki murmured, "I figured I'd try again seeing as I didn't quite do it correctly the first time."

Amelia frowned in confusion, lips parted as she tried to decipher his somewhat odd remark; and then he reached into his pocket and pulled out her engagement ring, and it all became clear at once. His wife's eyes grew wide and her face lit up in a way that rivalled the sun at its most intense, she clapped a hand over her mouth and there was a slight moisture in her gaze as though she was slammed with a wall of emotion.

"You found it!?"

"I did."

"Where?"

"Well, I fear you wouldn't believe me if I told you."

Amelia sat up, quickly offering her ring finger so that Loki could slip it on to join up with her wedding band, which he did, and his wife admired it gleefully and uttered, "Try me!"

"It was exchanged from a thieving raven by the name of Raisin, to our youngest daughter who bought it with a sunflower seed, and its been sitting in her room ever since. It seems she's been amassing a small collection of every stolen jewellery item in the palace."

Amelia's jaw dropped, "Huh?"

Loki laughed at the ridiculousness of it all, "Told you you wouldn't believe me."

"Oh, shut up and kiss me," Amelia commanded, grabbing him by the collar and pulling him forward, showing her thankfulness in the form of a long kiss, the added vibrations of a moan permeating the back of her throat.

Loki smiled delightfully into the kiss, knowing what was coming next. He lifted his wife and took her to the bed where he proceeded to indulge and ravish her from head to toe, all the while managing to keep from breaking the kiss.

Loki was jogged groggily awake by the sound of a hasty knock on the door of his chambers.

He groaned, rubbing his eyes as Amelia also stirred where she laid, sprawled naked atop his chest; it was still dark outside, the world beyond their room was quiet to the point that Loki could tell it must've been a few hours past midnight, because around four o'clock in the morning was when the telltale sounds of maids and servants waking began to make themselves known.

But not including that irritable knock, there was nothing.

"My prince?" Called a voice from outside, "There is an urgent matter!"

Loki regrettably pulled away from Amelia's arms, hearing her moan of protest and wishing he could simply ignore whatever it was the guard demanded his presence for, but he dutifully went in case it was genuinely important.

He threw on a robe, stepping into slippers, and opened the door, scowling at the man who had interrupted his peaceful slumber.

"My prince, your daughter, Princess Aster, has expressed concern that she may have heard somebody creeping around outside on her balcony. I've got men investigating, but so far they've turned up nothing," the guard's voice then lowered slightly, "do you think this may be the work of the mysterious thief?"

Loki sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. He knew there was no bothersome thief to be wary of, but he had not yet had a chance to inform anybody else of this, so he shook his head and stepped out of the room, allowing his wife some privacy and the pleasure of falling back asleep.

While he knew there was no thief about, that did not mean there could not have been somebody hopping balconies out there with the intent to cause trouble, and with his children sleeping in their rooms on the other sides of those balcony doors, he could not afford to be blasé about it.

With long strides, he made it quickly to his daughter's room, instructing the guards to check on his other children while he checked on Aster.

When he walked into his daughter's room for the second time that night, he found Aster to be standing in her nightgown, shifting nervously from foot to foot, next to a bed which had suspiciously neat sheets. If she'd been fast asleep when the frightening noise of an intruder had woken her, when would she have had time to adjust her sheets?

He shook it off, his sleepy mind writing it off as unimportant, and he stopped beside his daughter, "Are you okay?"

Aster nodded, "Yes. I'm sure I heard something… sorry to wake you." She was motioning towards her balcony.

"Nonsense. You can always wake me if you feel unsafe, Aster," Loki told her.

He inspected the balcony, peering towards the ground below, and then lifted his gaze up the rest of the building, searching for some sort of scuff in the painted brickwork, anything to suggest somebody had been climbing it.

Then he was interrupted yet again.

"Sir! Prince Kari is not in his bed!"

The guard rushed into the room and Loki swung around, filled initially with fear, but it quickly bubbled down to agitation as his sleep-addled mind still managed to put two and two together.

"Ugh… have your men search the palace for my son. My bet is on the astronomy tower, or the kitchens; and when you find him, let him know that he is in big trouble," Loki groused. The only thing that made sense was that Kari went off climbing about the palace again - like the time Loki had caught him red-handed breaking into the astronomy tower from the window - and his lack of grace had been what woke his sister.

Aster continued to simmer with anxiety as every available guard, save for a few that remained posted at the rooms of Daisy and Amelia, searched all the hotspots that Kari was known to frequent. The girl was on edge, despite Loki coming to the conclusion that it was her brother who was sneaking around, and if he wasn't still on the verge of sleep, he probably would have questioned it more.

Half an hour later, the guards returned empty-handed.

Tired and irate, Loki stormed in his robe and slippers to the room of Heimdall, knowing the talented watchman would be able to find the boy in a heartbeat and put this unnecessary game of hide and seek to rest.

Heimdall did not seem groggy or annoyed at being woken in the middle of the night, not like Loki, whose hair probably looked all over the place given he had not had time to check it, and was more than willing to assist Loki the moment he explained the situation.

His eyes infused with golden light and Heimdall stared into the vast everything at his fingertips, pouring through it till he found young Kari, and when he did, he pursed his lips and gave Loki a somewhat grave look.

"The boy is with his uncle."

Loki's face creased in confusion, "He's with Thor?"

"No," Heimdall clarified, "Kari is with his other uncle."

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas, if you celebrate it, and I hope you're enjoying the holiday season as a whole. Please leave me a comment if you're enjoying this story! ;) I'm gonna allow myself a little break before I start writing the next chapter as I have been writing most nights since I uploaded chapter 9.