I Will Follow You Into The Dark~ On Hold

Chapter 21

Lilja walked around the garden. She had prayed that she would see the acres of wildflowers, pristine trimmed hedges, and water fountains again; but she never thought it was possible. When she fell, she thought she was going to die, so making plans on what to do the next time she was in Asgard wasn't the first thing on her mind. So, she wandered around the place like a chicken who had lost its head. She wanted to see her friend Sif, but according to the Allmother, the four warriors were out keeping up the peace and were not scheduled to return for another week or so. Frigga had offered to send out a messenger, but Thor had shot down that idea, claiming that it would be better if he, Loki and Lilja went for a ride to find them.

Lilja couldn't wait. She had missed Sif over the last two centuries. Don't get her wrong, Freyja, Howard, Peggy and finally Tony were great friends and were truly her family; but there wasn't anyone like Sif. From what she had seen, she suspected that Natasha would be close to it if the two were to ever hang out, but in all honesty, she didn't trust the woman. A woman who could so easily change allegiances so quickly just by a man batting his eyelashes, was not someone Lilja would trust to watch her back. Tony had told her that the assassin used to work for Russia; a country that Lilja hated with a passion. But Barton had gotten her out of the agency she worked for and into Shield. Of course, Lilja never judged a person before she got to know them, too many had done that to her, but she did always form an opinion pretty quickly. And her opinion was correct, majority of the time. It didn't mean that Lilja didn't like the woman, it was the opposite to that; she enjoyed the other woman's company a lot, and the woman was the only one to really talk to her after Freyja had gone to deal with Wanda. Well, besides Pietro and Tony of course. Only time would tell if the assassin proved to be worthy of the title of warrior.

Loki had gone with his mother to talk about everything that had been happening on Midgard while Tony, Natasha and Thor were talking to Odin about the possible upcoming battle with Thanos. That left Lilja to reintroduce herself to the place she had once called home.

Smiling she found her old hide-out, the Tjener Sanctuary. Coming up to the opening, she feared for a moment that she wouldn't be welcomed in, that the seiðr would repel her backwards, but her fears were nought. The seiðr parted for her, giving her entry to the wonderous land that laid beyond the veil. Giggling the first thing Lilja heard was the soft cooing of Tjeners singing with the birds echoing to their songs. The water ran from the waterfalls sounding chimes in the wind; while the fauna nipped at one another playing a game of tag. From her time in Midgard, Lilja could only describe it as a Siren's lair, as everything about it lured you in, to bask in the peacefulness.

Peace was something she needed, especially after the feast the night before. The night went for hours, it rivalled one of Tony's parties, which she had attended many of. Thor had gotten drunk, so obviously he hadn't changed in that aspect. The amount of times Lilja had to help the Allmother with healing the idiot from drinking too much; it had always been exhausting. It was funny how nobody seemed to know that she had seiðr; well, that was until the day she healed Loki on the bridge. Lilja had to be thankful that the Warriors of Three weren't there, cause if they had been; Thor would have had to been carried off to bed, as would have Loki. As her time as a Tjener, she had seen the dark prince cajoled into getting drunk by his brother and his friends. The Warrior of Three were by no strength of the imagination Loki's friends, but because of Thor the group were often found in taverns drunk. She remembered the amount of times the Allmother had sent her after the group; and she always found them, with Loki huddled into the corner and the other four with any women that they could find. Sif would be watching over them and would always find ways to show Lilja where to find them all. Ironically, the Prince of illusions could never see through hers; she always took the form of either Eirik or even one of the training Einherjar. It wasn't uncommon of the Einherjar in training to be made to trail the drunken warriors to ensure they didn't find themselves in trouble. So Lilja always had a well-planned illusion and often carried them home, with the help of Sif and the actual Einherjar that would finally catch up with the Tjener.