Death's Princess

The Search Begins

Dinner was by far the most awkward experience Hela had been forced to go through. Her grandfather spoke cheerfully to Armar as old friends would, but Armar rarely gave reply, simply nodding and commenting here and there. Father was silent through the meal, which was not unusual. Thor chattered on to everyone, to Natasha, the Warriors Three, Lady Sif, to anyone really. And then there was Luk, who sat across from her and ate quietly.

Hela couldn't help but continually glance up from her plate to look at him. He only spoke when he was spoken to, and that was not often. And the entire time Armar seemed to ignore his son completely, and when Luk did speak he was watched carefully by his father.

The worst thing about it, however, were her brothers. They seemed relentless as they fired questions at Luk. They asked him idiotic things, of all nature. "Do you like sword-fighting, Luk?" Vali asked, and the older boy smiled.

"I do," he answered calmly.

"Do you go swimming a lot? We know a great place to go swimming at, don't we, Hel?"

Hela cringed. "Yes, we do," she replied meekly.

Luk laughed nervously. "I'm not a fan of swimming, honestly."

"Boys, leave the young man alone," Loki chided, shaking his head with a little chuckle under his breath.

"It's all right, sir," Luk reassured, nodding a little at Loki and then smiling at the boys. "There aren't a lot of places for me to swim, actually. The closest body of water is the Black Lake, and that is not a good place to go swimming. People who go in there tend to never come out again. Dark magic, in that lake. We try to keep our distance whenever we go out hunting."

Nari and Vali's eyes widened and their mouths popped open. "Wow," the two said in unison, looking at each other with little grins. "What's it look like? Can we see it? Hela, why are you looking at us like that?"

Hela glared at the two furiously. She had opened her mouth to tell the boys to stop acting like children when she heard Luk say, "Hela? Are you feeling all right?"

The girl turned her attention to the older boy curiously. He was watching her carefully, seemingly trying to decipher something. "I'm sorry, I thought I saw something," he said finally. Pausing, he then smiled. "Your birthday is coming up then? How old will you be?"

Hela felt her cheeks hearing and she looked away a moment. When she looked back at him, she met dark eyes waiting tentatively for her to answer. "I'll be thirteen," she said, clearing her throat. She offered a smile to him. "What about you? I mean, I don't think your birthday is coming up. What I mean is, how old are you anyway?"

"Seventeen," Luk replied, smiling somewhat. "I'm seventeen."

"You're a bit older than me," Hela said, letting out a giggle. She flushed, not realizing what she'd said until she'd done it. "I'm sorry, I hope I didn't offend you."

Luk laughed. "No, not at all. And yes, I am just a bit older than you." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, and Hela smiled to herself watching his curls ruffle as he did. "I'm sorry. I'm not used to talking to many people even near my age. Most of the people around the palace are older than me. I have to say, this is refreshing."

"You should like to visit Midgard then," Hela said casually, "The population seems to rise every day. The school I go to has about three hundred students. I'm only in junior high, though, the high school is also very large." She looked down at her food, cutting a small piece of meat off as she waited for him to speak.

Luk smiled. "That's right, I forget you spend most of your time on Midgard. Is it nice there?"

Hela shrugged. "Some of the time," she answered, "I stay with at the facility known as S.H.I.E.L.D. They've been taking care of me all my life. I'm often in the company of agents and the Avengers. My childhood has been... Chaotic," she smiled, "but worth it. What about Niflheim? Will you tell me about it?"