Mischief

one

"Breathe... Concentrate..."
I stood in an empty open field. Taking in my surroundings with my eyes closed. I hold my hands out in front of me slowly. I feel the energy start to build up. I concentrate on keeping it controlled, like Frigga wanted me to do. I slowly make a forcefield around me, growing bigger and bigger. I quickly extend my arms out and I feel the forcefield expand -taking out what would be opponents around me, figuratively- and go up into the sky before disappearing.
"You could do that quicker and more force, I've seen it." I hear a shout from behind me. I turn to see Loki walking towards me. "How'd you find me?" I ask him back while walking towards him as well.
"You think I'd forget where the three of us would play. Sometimes with Sif and, now, Warriors Three when we were children?" He asks me now close. "You guys played..I only came along cause you pitied me." I chuckle but Loki just looks back. "What are you doing out here anyways? And not practicing to your full potential? Weren't you the one apart of the Valkyrie for a moment?" He teases with a smirk. My stomach sinked when he brought of the Valkyrie.
"It's called conditioning. You know what your mother tells us." I say starting to make my belongings levitate and float towards me.
"We should head back now. The coronation is today and I still have to be made up and such." I shrug to him as we start to walk back. "Someone doesn't sound happy about that." Loki says with a small smirk. "My own mother would let me dress myself. Then I came here and 3 women are helping me with just choosing my undergarments to wear! It's exhausting!" I complain but for Loki to only laugh at me.
It was culture shock to go from a normal life to a royal life while being a small child. Some good did come out of the palace.. Discovering my powers, working on my powers, basically becoming royalty before becoming a woman.. Odin said I was born to be a Goddess.. I guess that's why I was taken in.
We walked in silence for a moment. I had grown tired of walking and give a mischievous smirk. I grab onto Loki's waist and before he could object, I lift us until the air, soar through the skies of Asgard, before landing in the entrance of the palace. I laugh at the thrill but Loki, not so much. He places his hands on his knees and looks almost discombobulated. "You should.. really.. give me a warning, Thalia.." He says out of breath.
"Thalia!" A voice interrupted my laugh and I turn to see my head maiden, Dagmar. "Where have you been?!" She says walking up to us quickly. "Just for a stroll Daggie." I smile but she only frowns back. "If we hurry back to your quarters, we'll have you ready just in time. Come!" She turns and starts to walk away, expecting me to follow. I turn to Loki, "Exhausting.." I mouth to him before Dagmar again shouts for me, "Thalia!"

+++

I stood between Sif and Frigga in my all black fighting armor, my hair now in a braid down my back, and with my weaponry for show. My asgardian necklace hangs low on my neck as I look on the other side of the throne as Loki and the Warriors Three stand waiting for Thor's arrival. Finally cheering and hollers come from the entry as Thor had raised his hammer into the air with a confident grin.
I smirk and roll my eyes as his ego filled up the entire room. "Oh, Please.." Sif mumbles making me chuckle a bit.
Finally he made his way to the throne and kneels before Odin.
"Thor Odinson, my heir, my firstborn." Odin begun his speech. "So long entrusted with the mighty hammer Mjolnir, forged in the heart of a dying star, its power has no equal, as a weapon to destroy or as a tool to build. 'Tis a fit companion for a king. I have defended Asgard and the lives of the innocent across the Nine Realms from the time of the great beginning. Though the day has come... Do you swear to guard the Nine Realms?"
"I swear." Thor says with a grin.
"And do you swear to preserve the peace?"
"I swear."
"Do you swear to cast aside all selfish ambition and to pledge yourself only to the good of the Realms?"
"I swear!" He ends with a excited shout.
"Then, on this day, I, Odin Allfather, proclaim you..."
Suddenly we feel the ground shake and subtle roars fill the halls. "The Frost Giants!" Odin says interrupting the coronation. Odin lifts his staff and hits the ground with it, awakening The Destroyer, then everything is calm again. Odin motions for Thor, Loki, then I to follow him.
We walk into the weapons vault and the walls and floor was frosted over, the guards on the ground. I try to feel for a pulse but they were gone.
"The Jotuns must pay for what they've done!" Thor says quickly enraged.
"They have paid, with their lives.. The Destroyer did its work, the Casket is safe, and all is well." Odin says facing the casket as I make my way to stand by Loki.
"All is Well? They broke into the weapons vault! If the Frost Giants had stolen even one of these relics.."
"They didn't." Odin interrupts him turning to face us now. "Well, I want to know why!"
"I have a truce with Laufey, King of the Jotuns." Odin says still thinking little of the events.
"He just broke your truce! They know you are vulnerable!" Thor argues back.
"What action would you take?" Odin asks him, but Thor already knew his answer.
"March into Jotunheim as you once did. Teach them a lesson. Break their spirits so they'll never dare try to cross our borders again." They began to go back and forth as Loki and I could only watch.
"You're thinking only as a warrior."
"This was an act of war!"
"It was the act of but a few, doomed to fail."
"Look how far they got!"
"We will find the breach in our defenses and it will be sealed."
"As King of Asgard...."
"But you're not king!" Odin's booming voice rings in the vault. I glance at Loki who was too interested in the conversation. "Not yet.."
Thor stormed off leaving Odin with Loki and I. "Is there anything we can do for now, Allfather?" I ask him but he was glued to the direction Thor stormed off in. "Everything is fine, Thalia. Clean yourselves up and relax." He tells us but never looking me in the eyes, just Loki. It had always been that way..
Never looked at when spoken to, never respected, just treated as a flea on a dog. Tired of even trying with Odin, I walk out too with Loki behind me.
"I joined the Valkyrie to get that man to see me with at least an ounce of respect..But do I get it? Nope." I say agitated. "You did come back home after only a few years -Never telling us why you did.."
"Because I had to. And that's all I can say about it and wish to." I say giving a small smirk. Loki leaves it alone as we always did until we walk onto the patio of the dining hall. I hear crashing and plates smashing from inside. I peer around a corner and see Thor had flipped a table. "She's all yours." I say letting Loki walk in first. He slowly approaches as Thor sits on the steps to the patio. "It's unwise to be in my company!right now, Brother." Thor tells him. Loki doesn't listen and begins to sit by him. I sit on the other side of him.
"This was to be my day of triumph." Thor complains.
"It'll come. In time." Loki says softly to him.
"What's this?" I see the Warriors Three and Sif walk in shocked at the view of a flipped table, fruit and plates everywhere.
"If it's any consolation, I think you're right." Loki quickly says quietly to Thor making me turn and raise an eyebrow. "About the Frost Giants, about Laufey, about everything. If they found a way to penetrate Asgard's defenses once, who's to say they won't try again?" Loki tells us making me try to think of this in their eyes. I couldn't help but want to agree with Odin but what has he ever done for me?
"Next time with an army." Loki finishes. "Exactly." Thor agrees.
"There's nothing you can do without defying your Father." I say but Thor begins to show the face of a man with an idea. "No, no, no. I know that look." Thor begins to stand as do I after him, Loki stays seated. "That's the only way to ensure the safety of our borders." He says to both Loki and I. "Thor, it's madness." Loki interjects.
"Madness? What sort of madness?" Volstagg asks us from across the room. I make my way to Sif who had become like a sister to me, training and fighting together as much as we could.
"We're going to Jotunheim." Thor proposes. "What?"
"This isn't like a journey to Earth where you summon a little lightning and thunder, and the mortals worship you as a god. This is Jotunheim." Fandral argues back. "My father fought his way into Jotunheim, defeated their armies and took their Casket. We would just be looking for answers." Thor persuaded.
"It is forbidden!" Sif shouts to him. Thor only smiles and makes his way to us as well. "My friends, have you forgotten all that we have done together?" He asks us. "Fandral, Hogun. Who led you into the most glorious of battles?" He asks them.
"You did." Hogun answers.
"And Volstagg, to delicacies so succulent, you thought you'd died and gone to Valhalla?" Thor asks him as Volstagg was snacking.
"You did."
"Yes!" He then looks to Sif and I before inching closer to us. "And who proved wrong all who scoffed at the idea that a young maiden could be one of the fiercest warriors this realm has ever known?" He asks us.
"We did." Sif asks with a raised eyebrow making me chuckle. "True, but I supported you two." He says. making me roll my eyes.
"My friends, we're going to Jotunheim."