Helka Lokidottir

The Banquet

Helka's POV

A few nights had passed. I watched as more people filed into Asgard, women on their husbands' arms. Dresses dragging behind them on the golden entrance. The men in colorful drapes, strapped with silver and gold links. Thor had made the decision to leave and travel the Nine Realms, so he claimed. I rubbed my thumb against my own dress. The black silk ending just above my toes with thick straps held up by my shoulders. Emerald beads ran down the front of the skirt in one single file line. Silver cuffs pressed against my wrists, each designed with serpents and wolves. My hair was combed on one side, meeting the other behind my head, straightened to where the ends brushed against the curve of my back. Several golden clips held my hair in place.

Fandral went on with his discussions with a couple of unaccompanied ladies. Volstagg was with his wife and three daughters, two of which were sitting on his shoulders. They held onto his hair for support. Hogan stood off to the side, his hands at his side and his eyes low. Sif stood next to him, nodding and smiling at other warriors.

Walking into the banquet hall, the voices echoed throughout the golden room. Rows of tables were angled so people could chatter and tell stories among other tables. At the front was a long golden table with numerous chairs. A large throne was placed in the middle for Thor and the others following next to him were for my father (as Odin), me, and the other warriors.

I thought back to my time on Earth when I went searching for my father after his disappearance.

I had been working for S.H.I.E.L.D. when the tesseract started acting up. When the beam of light shot out, I moved to cover behind a wall. As my father appeared from the smoke, I waited for the other agents to make the first move. When he had slayed them all, I put on an act. Using magic, I attacked and got his attention. I kept a figure of me in front of him. As he reached the scepter out, the image faded, and I stood behind him. 

"There's only one person in the Nine Realms that knows that move." He whispered.

I stood in place long enough to get captured. I pretended to struggle until he was close enough to me where I could hear him whisper, "fake it".

I was escorted by one of the guards to the vehicles where we made our escape out of S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters.

"Get down," Father had instructed while gun shots were directed towards us. Once outside, I sat back up just as he was aiming the tesseract at Fury's helicopter. I pushed my palms forward and forced more of the energy into the air. We watched the helicopter go down and Fury jump from the open hatch.

We sat there breathing for a moment before sitting back in the bed of the truck.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, his breathing returning to normal. "Why are you not back on Asgard?"

"Looking for you," I said, meeting his eyes. "They had told me you fell into an abyss and-" my throat started to burn.

"Shh." He spoke. "You found me. It's alright."

"My, my, don't we look dashing this evening." Someone said.

I returned from my gaze, seeing that I had been staring at the wall for the past few moments. I clinched my fists and took a deep breath before I spoke. When I turned around, I saw Gustav. His red drapes were covered by armor, the breast plate just small enough for his torso.

"Gustav, thank you for joining us this evening." I spoke politely.

"It's Sir Hansen."

"And its princess Helka. Well, now that we have titles in order, I have other guests to welcome."

"Come now," he said, grabbing my arm as I tried to turn. "I was hoping to be able to dance with you this evening as we seemed to hit it off at the last banquet."