Out of reach • A Loki fanfiction

Chapter 50 - Alfon House

"Lady Vera, are you alright?" Vera looked up from her novel to see Gertrud's brows furrow in worry. "You seem to be a bit heated."

Before she could reassure her, Gertrud already bent over from her place on the carriage's bench to place her soft hand on Vera's heated forehead.

"I'm a bit hot, yes, but I'm sure it's nothing. I've always been weak to changes in temperature."

"Are you in need of a healer?" Frode chimed in on the opposite bench, having gotten rid of his papers, and now simply enjoying the view outside. "We have a healer with us, only one carriage behind."

"Now we're just overreacting. I'm slightly red, not purple. I can survive a cold."

"And you get to do that in your own bed too." Harald shoved his papers and pencils to the side, before clinging on to the window closest to him like a child that walked into his first ever candy store. "We're home."

・𓆙・

It was strange, coming home, after so many hours of spending time in a world completely different from a life she had lived here. It was less eventful—some might say even dull. Her childhood memories were precious of course. But the rest she just lived in hoping to become something more.

Here she was, grasping that opportunity.

Vanaheim's beauty was unmatched, though. Gold might be rich, and precious to needy hands. But the wild nature this land dared to grow was unlike any other. None of it was planned, everything just grew. And as Vanir, people would take care of that nature wherever it would claim its land. Eventless or not, her home was beautiful. And no matter the season, it was full of colour.

The West laid closest to Asgard, fortunately for Frode's house. Vanaheim's castle was positioned in the realm's center, meaning that Prince Fjölnir would have to journey another day or so. But Frode's carriage, along with where his staff had been riding in, and the only Asgardian and golden one along, were the first to take a separate turn.

Vera couldn't stop her smile when she saw Loki's carriage follow its path to their home too. Only Frode could've given him permission to occupy a guest room in his mansion. And the fact that he agreed for Loki to stay underneath his roof meant a deal great enough.

Loki was just as thrilled once he saw his carriage following theirs. He knew that Vera's father had accepted his request to court her like she deserved to be courted. He had told him the day they left, earliest in the morning, that he would like to stay close, to get to know his daughter best, and to get to know their family as a whole as well. Frode had clapped him on the shoulder, addressed him as a prince, but told him that besides their rough past and building relationship Vera was still his only daughter. That he loved her. And that he'd kick Asgard's Prince out of his home if he needed to.

It was a yes, of some sort. But seeing the actual conformation made his heart beat faster.

Nothing screamed 'Vera' more than her home did. And suspicion ran big that it was her mother who decorated this mansion before the family moved in.

Their yard ran all around the massive house, with grass as green as his mother's garden. Bushes and trees lined the outskirts, as if accepting that a giant mansion stood on one place where they couldn't grow. A porch swing stood decorated with colourful flowers right next to a massive oak tree, and opening the window. He could hear that the stone path running along that swing lead to their own stables.

'Alfson House, Duke of West-Vanaheim's residence', was a silver plated sign they passed as the carriages made their way forward. And just like that, he was taught how Vera's great grandfather was called.