Avengers: Legacies

Love on Fire

Sorcerer's Tower, Royal Palace, Asgard

Sigyn Thorsdottir passed through the corridors of the palace with a knowing smile on her lips, and it grew every time she met someone.

"A joyous day, is it not, Princess?" they would ask.

And Sigyn, resisting the urge to skip along like she had done when she was a little girl, would say, "It is, indeed."

By the time she entered the Sorcerer's Tower, she was ten minutes late for her magic lesson with Loki, who had waited for her with his arms crossed, a scowl on his finely carved face, and leaning against his work table, several ingredients and a couple of books spread out across its surface.

She closed the door behind her, her sunny expression crumpling into a grimace at the look on his face. Most days, her father's sorcerer and ward was understanding of her ways, but his patience with her sometimes waxed and waned like the moon.

"I'm terribly sorry, Loki." She scampered to her seat at the work table. "The earls and their wives are particularly chatty this morning."

"Is that so?" Loki's voice chilled her skin, coaxing goosebumps to rise all the way up the back of her neck. He pushed away from the work table and walked around it to look at her head on. Sigyn watched everything he did with rapt attention. Their days of teasing and tormenting each other were over, and in that time, they had grown up and apart until recently. Sigyn had an affinity for magic, and Loki was by far the most skilled sorcerer in all of Asgard, in all of the Nine Realms. Her family had been worried about her receiving instruction from Loki, given his hostility and hermit tendencies, but he hadn't turned her away like she thought he would when she had knocked a couple of years ago on the door she just walked through moments ago and begged for his tutelage. He had scoffed, rolled his eyes, and then had told her to sit. And it had been their routine ever since.

Sometimes, they would discuss and research the history or origin of a spell or a long gone sorcerer in the library, but they were often here, in this tower together, alone.

"Yes," Sigyn said at last when it was clear the question wasn't rhetorical. "Everyone is excited for the heir prince's return. Mother prepares for the feast we are to have this very evening when he is to arrive home again. Father says he has done well in benefiting Asgard with another trade route established, and well, I suppose, I have missed my dear brother very much. I am overwhelmed with joy at the occasion. He's been away for too long."

Sigyn trailed off when Loki scowled deeper, and she finally looked down at the materials in front of her, the page the spellbook was opened to.

"Again?" she said, the whine slipping into the question before she could stop it.

Loki set his hands on the table, his frown disappearing into a self-satisfied smile. "Yes, again. And keep quiet about your brother's return. You could lose focus and set us both on fire if you are not careful. Now, princess, the spell."

Sigyn sighed and lifted her hands above the pile of leaves and twigs Loki had collected and kept for this particular wind spell. She smiled up at him, the corners of her lips pressed up in apology, in embarrassment for his constant scolding. She wondered if he knew how much she looked up to him, how good of a teacher he actually was for her. In some part of her heart, she harbored great warmth for him, but she knew better than to show it to him. He'd destroy it if he knew she possessed any kind of affection for him. There was too much standing between them. But a princess could dream. In the meantime, she liked what they had, the mutual respect and belief they shared in each other.

She smirked a little as her hands glowed with warm yellow light, and a torrent of wind lifted the natural materials off the table and spun them in midair. It happened in a matter of seconds. A frustrated groan grumbled at the back of Loki's throat, and he had to stomp away from her and her acing his little test. She shook her head and followed him out onto his terrace, the sun-warmed stone deflecting some of the chilly air streaming past the tall tower. She traced her hand along the railing, soaking in the warmth, until she stopped beside Loki. He glared at her out of the corner of his eye.