Hearing Loki ask me, with the word "please" added into the request, not to wander on my own - had my assurance that I wouldn't slip from my tongue before I could consider another answer. The soft smile it earned me had the same undercurrent of energy pulsing under my skin that had pushed me to need my walk in the gardens to begin with -

"A bath," I blinked, as his smile grew. Soft laugh to cover my embarrassment, and I shook my head. "I think I'll have a bath before I turn in, to help me rest."

Loki looked down, not at me, but at the stone beneath our feet - and then he finally allowed those blue eyes of his to meet mine again. "Does it help?" Confused, I waited for him to clarify his inquiry. "The bath, does it help relax you?"

Ah, that bubble had returned and I'd gotten trapped in it again. "Sometimes," I thought of last night, how I'd bathed and then read until I'd fallen asleep. "And I read -"

"The book you had on the window seat," he nodded, thinking back and clearly recalling that it wasn't there when he'd arrived to wait for me to wake this morning. He wasn't ready to be deterred from the topic of my bath just yet, however. "What is it you add to your bath to help you relax?"

"Chamomile and lavender," Loki looked thoughtful, as if he wasn't entirely certain that would work - "Added to VERY hot water." The smile that spread across his lips with the additional direction for one of 'my baths' was breathtaking. "Are you looking for suggestions?"

"Perhaps," his eyes were locked on mine and I felt trapped, yet I couldn't think of where I'd rather be. "A few drops of mint," my confusion must have been evident because he chuckled. "You've been more physically active today than normal, Sigyn. Mint should help with any discomfort." Oh. "If you don't have any on hand -"

"I do," I liked the clean scent of mint - the coolness of it. "Thank you." It was a broad banner of gratitude, but I did sincerely feel it. "I shouldn't keep you -"

"You're not keeping me," he looked as startled by the admission as I felt by hearing it. "I - I have only my own book waiting."

"You could always have a bath," the offer - did I sound as if I were suggesting - the heat of my mortification at the insinuation of my words.

"I could," Loki was quiet, but my eyes had dropped to the stone beneath our feet, wishing it would swallow me up. One long, cool finger touched my chin and gently tipped my head back up so he could look into my face. "The warmth coming off of your face right now could heat my bath, Sigyn." He wasn't mocking me, nor laughing, and for that I was grateful again. "All you've done is offer me a suggestion for my evening, alone." A small nod from me and a small smile returned to his lips. The pad of his thumb brushed my lower lip. "Another time and place -" the air was gone again, everything was still and silent. "And I promise you, that suggestion will be accepted in the vein that caused such a fetching blush to heat your skin."

I couldn't move or speak. I wasn't entirely sure I was breathing or that my heart was still beating. I wanted Loki to - I didn't know what I wanted him to do. And then, his hand was gone, and he was telling me to have sweet dreams. Turning toward his own rooms and leaving me panting against my doorway - unsure of what just happened.

I added the mint to my bathing ingredients, once I managed to get inside my rooms and collect myself. Hot water, gown gone, hair free and my improvised weaponry set aside, I finally felt the soreness that Loki had alluded to before the bubble had burst between us - again. How could EVERY part of me ache so?

Learning to use daggers was very like dancing, in fact that was how he started my lesson, by comparing the two. And it was an apt description, the push and pull, moving around one another while trying to move under and around, all the while staying a step ahead.

Dancing never hurt this badly though, I thought, soaking up to my chin. The scents of my three fragrant ingredients mingling and mixing with the hot water to relax my muscles and the tension that had crept in with the bubble. At least I'd shown Loki that I was a natural at it - one lesson and I was perfectly capable of taking care of myself - even if he still didn't want me to put theory into practice.

I woke up and knew, from both the slight chill that ran up my spine AND the scent that was becoming more familiar to me than my own, that I wasn't alone. Sleep had come easily for me after my bath, I hadn't even been able to escape into my book. Sitting up, I found him lounging in the window seat, reading.

"Good morning," his gaze didn't leave the pages of his book. "I was thinking that today -"

I was taken aback. I assumed that after yesterday, I'd be back with Frigga - at her side and returned to some semblance of my routine. "Today?" He glanced up and his smile was almost blinding. "I thought -"

"That you were finished training because you did so well once?" Loki was back to looking amused by me and I was back to wanting to toss something at his head. "When Mother taught you, did you ONLY do everything she taught you ONCE?" Glaring at him was all I'd grant him, but it did nothing to lessen his good humor. "I thought not. You've done well, Sigyn, but that doesn't mean you won't continue to hone that skill. Over and over, until I feel you're -"

"Fine," I sighed. "Fine." I slid out of my bed, letting my nightshift, a pale white one slide down the length of me. "Fine." A gown - no matter which one - undergarments, shoes, and this time I chose to braid and twist my hair in a less heavy manner. I didn't even flinch as I changed, ignoring Loki entirely as I worked. Faster by far than I had been during the first morning we'd gone through my morning routine. When I looked up, I realized that his book lay forgotten and his eyes were far darker than I'd ever seen them. His jaw was tight again, and I thought that I might have pushed him too far. "Does this meet the harsh standards of my prince and teacher?" Was it my imagination or did his nostrils flare just a tad more at my words?

"It'll do," he managed, leaving his book on the seat and standing. "Come along, Lady Sigyn, we have much to do before we can go on your much anticipated journey to Midgard."

Loki didn't offer me his arm. Leaving my rooms and heading toward his rooms at a clip that forced me to rush to catch up with him. Obviously I'd pushed too far, but I wasn't quite ready to apologize - he kept showing up in my rooms unannounced and uninvited after all. While I was asleep and - I was out of breath by the time I caught up to him - his balcony was set for our morning meal.

"Sit," he commanded and I did, startled to see that he'd gone back to his semi-polite self and was holding my chair for me. Sliding my seat in, his breath against my ear stunned me once more, "first we eat, and then -" his lips felt close enough for them to touch my skin, but as quick as the thought came to me, he was gone - in his own seat and staring across the table at me. "Eat."