As one. Always. (A Loki fan fiction)

Chapter 10

I was exhausted. This morning’s training had actually been a grueling workout! Not that I didn’t love it. Working out was one of my favorite things to do. I loved knowing I was healthy and active. But this was still a whole new level of workout.

I was making my way up the stairs to my room to clean up a bit before meeting Loki in the library for my lesson. It seemed to take forever. Why are there so many stairs here? Asgard needed to invest in elevators. Or a magic lift or something. Maybe I could convince Loki to design one.

My morning training was overall…okay. I was in an all-girls class, and seemed to stand out a bit. The girls were obviously not interested in combat. But everyone had to learn basic combat. Most of the girls were daughters of nobles, all my age or younger. They stuck together. There were only a few girls who weren’t nobles, and they stuck together as well. They were just unsure about me. Even the instructors didn’t know what to make of me. I think they assumed I was weak or just incapable of learning Asgardian fighting styles.

At first, we started off with drills, doing some stretches and such. It felt like high school gym class. We ran for a bit, worked on cardio. And then we learned the first moves of self defense. We had to stand in lines and punch, kick or duck when the instructors told us to. Every time they would pick a student and evaluate their punch or kick. They picked me last.

I had done martial arts as a child and learned how to properly punch someone. I had to try not to roll my eyes when the instructors had to show someone how to properly punch. When they got to me, the instructor spent at least two minutes making sure my posture, hand position, anything that had to do with our drill, was correct. He then asked me to kick. I did so, and again, he had nothing to say.

We did that for the rest of the class. They said soon we would move onto partner exercises, when everyone caught up to the high standard now set in the class. While they said that, they glanced at me. Great. I thought. That won’t help me make friends.

It was kind of boring for me. I had already done all of this in martial arts. I just had to grin and bear it for another week and a half.

When I reached my room, I unlocked the door and tugged off my boots and armor. It was a good thing my father had thought to provide it. I would have had to go into the city to buy some. The armor was a perfect fit: a breastplate that covered my chest, stomach and back, some shin pieces, shoulders pieces and some wrist to elbow pieces. They were silver and dark green.

I was tempted to flop on my bed, but I didn’t want to get sweat all over the sheets. So, I went to the bathing chamber and filled up a small basin of water and grabbed a cloth. I would have a sponge bath now, to save time.

I then picked out a gold dress with one shoulder, and undid my hair from the bun I had put it in earlier and brushed it out with a silver brush that had been in one of the vanity drawers. I left it loose and put on a pair of gold flats. I looked at my bed, longing for a nap, or at least to lay on it. But then I would be late for my lesson with Loki. I could nap afterwards.

I made my way along the halls, watching servants as they bustled along, or nobles running around. I did spot the long line for the bathing chambers, which, if I remembered correctly, serviced eight people at once. I was sure glad I had my own bathing chamber. I saw some of the girls from my combat lessons in line and waved to them. One of them waved back, but the others she was with just stared at me. I guess they just weren’t that friendly.

The walk to the library was longer now that I was in the outer parts of the palace. I didn’t mind, but it gave people an opportunity to whisper about me. I could see them doing it when they thought I wasn’t looking. I would catch snippets of conversation, people staring at me. Right now, Asgard felt like high school, and I was the new girl.