The Marriage of Loki and Sigyn by MorganLeFay

Chapter 5: Very Good Advice

Loki left the library. He was angry with himself, angry that he couldn't just say the things he wanted to say to Sigyn. Nothing had ever infuriated him as much as this did, as the way she made him feel did. She made him feel weak, unsure of himself. And he liked it. No, he loved it. He loved that she made him unable to find the right words to say, he loved that she made his heart flip-flop and his stomach twist. He loved her, utterly and entirely. And there was nothing he could do to change it.

He hadn't told anybody this. He couldn't. He had a hard enough time fitting in with his brother and his friends. He didn't them believing he was weak on top of everything else they thought of him.

He had tried talking to Thor, but it had always seemed too embarrassing in his head. So he never said the words out loud. He wasn't too eager to admit that he was having trouble speaking with a girl, that his infamous silvertongue had failed him yet again. Because of Sigyn, because she was different. And he didn't understand why.

He found Thor in the training room, sparring with an off-duty guard. That was Thor's idea of training - sparring. Loki had never seen him do much of anything else.

Loki preferred magic to combat. He left the throwing punches to Thor, and stuck to more technique driven things like knife throwing and sword welding. Once he had tried his hand at archery, but it had never felt right to him.

Today, though, he just sat and watched. He tried to concentrate on Thor and the guard, from what he could tell Thor was winning. But Sigyn continued to distract him. His mind kept wandering back to her. To the way she threw her head back when she laughed. How she kept flattening out her skirts to keep her hands busy. The way the sunlight reflected off her hair making it look more golden. How her dark blue gown made her skin milkier and her eyes bluer. Everything about her was a distraction to him, and it was getting out of hand. He needed to do something about it. The only thing he could think of was to ask for her hand himself. But could he do that? Would his father allow it? Was it what he wanted? He didn't know.

Someone shook him hard. He looked up and saw Thor standing beside him looking annoyed.

"Where's your mind today, brother?" Thor asked.

"I do not know what you're talking about," Loki said stubbornly.

Thor laughed.

"I was talking to you, for about a minute, and you made no response. So do not lie to me, Loki. Something is troubling you. Talk to me, brother." Thor said.

He was sincere, he truly did care about his brother's troubled mind. And he was sure he knew the reason, he just wanted Loki to tell him. To talk to him. To trust him for once.

Loki thought about denying it further, but he didn't see the point. Who else did he have to talk to about this? Also, Thor was closer with their father, maybe he could soften him up.

"You have to promise not to laugh. Or tell your stupid friends." Loki said.

"It's about the Lady Sigyn, isn't it?" Thor asked him.

Thor had heard rumors of the Lady Sigyn's betrothal. And he knew how his brother felt about her, even though he tried to hide it and avoid the subject.

"Yes," was all he said.

"I'm sorry," Thor said.

Loki shook his head.

"No, it's my fault. I should have said something, done something." He said.

"What would you have done, brother? What would you have said? There is no way you could have known you would have so little time to do either." Thor told him.