Classes in the morning dragged. Thor did reasonably well in his studies, especially when they had a unit on a battle in Asgardian History. Loki did well in all their subjects, often doing more reading than was required, and then bringing up what he read in class. This annoyed everyone except the teacher and really made class drag for the other boys. Thor thought it was a waste of time since a king had advisors; he just had to know enough to understand context rather than memorize everything himself.

He rushed through lunch. Loki looked at him curiously, and then hurried his own meal and tagged along after Thor when he headed to the training center. That was one of the problems with having a little brother, they were always following you around. This time it didn't matter, so Thor just ignored him.

At the weapons training area the youngest boys were still training so the brothers sat down and watched, commenting and critiquing form. Loki had joined their group after just a few months in the beginning group. Watching his friends learn the forms and practicing by himself had speeded up his promotion.

Gradually the rest of their class arrived. There were fifteen boys in their class, but today Thor noticed that Hugir, one of the assistant trainers, had a girl with him. She was tall for a girl, her long dark hair braided and pinned up on her head out of the way. She stood straight and looked like she had some strength and coordination. So maybe not totally hopeless.

As the younger class was clearing out, Thor and his classmates went to their lockers and put on the padding that substituted for armor, came back out, picked up a short staff off of the rack, and spaced themselves. He saw that Sif had done the same and had placed herself toward the front of the class on the far side.

Hugir stood in front of then and said, "We have a new class member today, please welcome Sif. She has been training privately up to now, but she needs sparring partners and you all qualify."

That got a snicker form some of the boys, but most were frowning or shaking their heads. Looking around, Thor didn't see anyone that looked pleased or welcoming. Well, he was supposed to lead, so he called out, "Welcome, Sif!"

No one else said anything, and that got him a lot of looks, mostly frowns and a couple of stuck-out tongues. They thought he was sucking up to the trainer! Well he was a prince and he already had a reputation for courage and a bit of recklessness that wouldn't be shaken very easily, so he ignored them.

Sif herself looked around, but didn't know their voices so she couldn't tell who had said that. It had sounded sincere but maybe it was a taunt, she couldn't tell.

The head trainer took over and got them started on some simple routines. Thor and probably everyone else recognized he was easing Sif into the class, giving them something she could do capably to start with.

It made the boys angry and impatient. Some of them started adding extra twirls and flourishes to the movements, showing their boredom. Fandral was one of those, which made Thor's stomach tighten.

But the trainer made them go through all the routines in order. When they got to the more difficult combinations, everyone was concentrating. Thor could see Sif doing them, but her movements were lagging a little behind the class and she started hesitating on the final two routines. That told Thor and everyone else very clearly where she was in her training.

After the forms, they were encouraged to shake out their muscles, and then the trainer started pairing them for sparring. They would be assigned a partner and a weapon. With the addition of Sif to the class they had an even number, so no one had to sit out any of the sparring rounds now. One small point in her favor.

Thor hoped she would be assigned to one of the less skilled boys or even to him. He would win but he would drag the bout out and be sure not to hurt her. But the trainer paired her with Fandral using long swords.

Fandral was fast and accurate, and the family of lightweight swords were his best weapons. Thor's heart sank. The contests began as soon as each pair retrieved their assigned weapons, went to one of the sparring circles and donned their helmets. Thor watched as Sif and Fandral began.

But his named was called, matched with Volstagg with knives. Thor was glad it was knives, fighting the biggest boy in class with heavy weapons was hard and took all his attention. Loki got axes with Hogun. Hogun never seemed to care which boy he fought or which weapon he was assigned, he just sparred steadily with a nearly impenetrable defense and wore his opponent down until he made a mistake. He and Loki would be sparring carefully for the rest of the time period. At least Thor didn't have to worry about his brother.

Thor walked slowly to pick up his weapon and when he met his big friend at the weapons rack, he whispered, "I want to watch Sif, drag your feet." Volstagg nodded and they ambled over to an empty circle near the Sif/Fandral match.

The prince wasn't surprised to see it was almost over. Fandral was toying with her, feinting, drawing her off balance, leaving an apparent opening that closed like magic when she tried to attack. Finally he got bored with her, drew her weapon far out of alignment, and "killed" her. The trainer at their circle called a halt and named Fandral the winner. On his way out of the circle, the tall slender boy leaned in close to the new girl and said something Thor couldn't hear, but he saw Sif blush.

Thor and Volstagg danced around each other a bit, then Thor slipped in past his opponent's longer arms and "killed" him. Volstagg hated little, light weapons because he wasn't very fast or much good with them. But give him a hammer or a battle axe, and he was definitely dangerous.

Loki had "wounded" Hogun in the leg and eventually the match was called for Loki, but it was the last to finish.

After their matches, they were required to run three times around the training area. Thor and Fandral ran briskly, Volstagg lumbering behind them. Sif ran by herself, no boys coming anywhere near her. Loki and Hogun ran part of the way together, but Loki speeded up the last lap coming in a quarter of the loop ahead. When they were all finished the five boys went off together as a group.

Thor wanted to ask Sif to join them, but he knew it wasn't time. The others wouldn't want her, and Fandral was talking about how easy she had been to beat. He offered his opinion she wouldn't last the week, and Voldstagg ventured no more than three days. Thor said nothing, but wondered silently if he had that much time.

They went to the kitchen for a snack, then a ramble down to the waterfall pool where they took a skinny dip to cool off and sat around talking about nothing much while they dried. Then they went their separate ways, Loki for a magic lesson with Frigga and the others to play a game.

Thor's appetite lagged at dinner, he didn't hardly bother with any vegetables at all, and only had a slice of roast, a chicken leg, and a quarter of a duck. Loki noticed.

"Not hungry tonight? Feeling bad for your girlfriend?"

"She's not my girlfriend!" Thor replied hotly.

"She's something, I saw you watching her. Does she, by any chance, have anything to do with your summons to our father's presence yesterday?"

Loki is too smart for his own good, Thor thought. "It's none of your business."

"Perhaps Mother could help."

"No, definitely not. Just drop it."

Loki leaned in close to him and said quietly, "Talk to me, Brother, or I will make sure she doesn't make it through class tomorrow. You know I can do it."

Thor gritted his teeth. He was going to have to accept the inevitable. He knew Loki would not let it go and would make good on his threat.

"Fine. I will come to your room before bed. Now drop it."

His brother gave him a "I won" smug smile and went off to the bard's table to sing with them.