NO REGRETS [l.laufeyson]

TWENTY THREE

     "Are you ready, Lyra?" Loki called out at the front door waiting to leave.

"Coming!" The little girl came skipping from around the corner with a small bag. Loki nodded at her and opened the door for the two to leave. Lyra followed a little behind him through the woods.

Loki had decided to visit the golden fields on the other side of Asgard. It was quite a trek getting to the place, almost a whole days time, but Loki loved going there with his family when he was young. The memories of Frigga, Thor and Odin flashed up. He remembered how happy they once were. Frigga would teach him spells whilst Thor was too energetic to sit and would run around and practise his sword fighting, and at the end of the day, Odin would tell the two boys the stories of their ancestors. He was glad he got to show Evelyn the fields while he had the chance. How Loki missed all that... a proper family.

Whilst lost in thought, he hadn't noticed Lyra trudging tiredly behind him. He didn't realise how much time had already passed and decided it would be best to let his daughter rest. He caught sight off a small tavern a little ahead of them and decided to head there.

As they entered, Loki was escorted to a table. Lyra held onto the back of Loki's robes, scared that she would lose him in such a busy place. She wasn't used to the noise, she was only ever alone with Thyra and Erik. The anxiety would take over in situations like this, like Evelyn. As they were seated, Loki glanced around the place. He noticed how busy it was and it was most likely popular from travellers.

Once sat down, Lyra wasn't so tired anymore. She was actually more wide awake. Loki had ordered some drinks for the two and were waiting in silence. Lyra found it boring so tried to make Loki laugh. She started doing impressions of Thor.

"Imitations?" Loki was confused at what Lyra was trying to do as she pounded her fist into the air as if she was holding Mjolnir.

"Not funny?" She asked.

"No, it's not." Loki replied bluntly. Lyra pouted and sat back down in silence again. Loki looked to the table beside them getting more agitated by the minute at a young boy not much older than Lyra, shaking his mother trying to get her attention.

"Mother! Look! Mother, are you listening?!" The young boy shouted while jumping on his chair.

"Come on, sit down!" The woman tried to reason with her son, but he wouldn't listen.

"No! Look at me! Watch what I can do!" The boy shook his mother's shoulders to get her to look at him. Loki rubbed his eyes trying to block out the noise, he was getting angrier.

"Stop it and sit down. You're embarrassing yourself." She quietly scolded him.

"It's because you're not listening to me!"

"Keep it down!" Loki raised his voice to the boy next to them and slamming his hand on the table, making Lyra jump suddenly.

"We're sorry, I'll try keep him quiet." The woman apologised and the boy shook in his mother grip. Loki huffed and rolled his eyes, focusing on his own table again. When he looked around, Lyra was nowhere to be seen.

"Lyra?" Loki called but there was no response. He huffed again but this time he slammed his head on the table. This seemed like a lot of work to try and keep an eye on one little girl.

~

Loki got up and walked around the tavern to find his daughter. It had been a few minutes when he decided to head outside. He heard someone sniffling from beside him. A small figure was leaning against the wall with her arms crossed around her small body to try and stay warm.

"There you are! Don't go running off like that!" He said. Lyra wiped her eyes and looked up into her fathers. "Were you crying?"

Lyra shook her head. But Loki could tell she was lying. "Don't lie to me."

"She said no crying." Lyra said quietly.

"Who did?" Loki questioned.

"Thyra." Lyra replied.

"She did?" Loki was shocked to hear this. "She's unexpectedly strict."

"But she said there are places I can cry."

"Yeah? Well where are they?" He asked.

"Anywhere private, where I'm on my own."

"Well, I guess you can cry without anyone seeing you." Loki leaned back against the wall, looking out longingly. "Personally, I think you can cry when you want to. It better to cry now..." Lyra looked up at her father, confused. "There are many times you can't cry, even when you want to once you're grown up."