Silvertongue & Golden Wordsmith (Loki Fanfiction)

Chapter 2 Vanir

"Then why did you summon me here? If i don't mean that much to you?" Loki asked, thinking he was getting to the bottom of her motive by now.

"I was curious," she started, her tone almost playful as she turned away from him. Loki noticed how quickly her emotions changed, and he wondered whether he should play along with her. She certainly seemed to be playing with him. "Curious about what? Because i will not just sit here and be stared at like an animal in a cage. I already had that when i was in prison, and at this point i think i'd prefer prison," Loki said, straining his wrists against the straps.

"She never told you, did she?" the girl asked, a flicker of hurt crossing her eyes. Loki didn't know why, but he suddenly felt something in him tighten, like a kind of instinct that he suddenly needed to comfort the girl. He'd never felt it before, but it was strong. Was this, affection? Or was it just some empathy gone awry in his body?

"She? Told me what?" his voice calm and soft as the feeling continued to stir in him. He still wanted answers, but he knew he wouldn't get any by being an arrogant Asgardian.

"Do you know that there was a race of gods, more powerful and more advanced than the Asgardians?"

"Wait, you're not talking about the Vanir?" Loki said, not believing what she was saying.

"Yes, the Vanir. The Asgardians, better halves as it were. Counterparts even, between the two god races. Odin and Nyord, Thor and Freyr, even Frigga and-,"

"Don't you dare compare Frigga to some weak, cowardly Vanir goddess," Loki growled, protecting his mother's name.

"Then don't you dare interrupt me, stupid, bloodthirsty Asgardian god," the girl growled louder, coming so close to his face they were almost touching. Loki imagined if he was Thor he would have taken the chance to either headbutt her or kiss her, but he did neither. There was a glimmer, a spark of that same gold he'd seen earlier that made him slightly afraid of the girl.

Loki frowned, looking at her eyes again before making a realisation, "Hang on, you're a Vanir, aren't you? Odin told me you'd all perished," Loki said, making her turn away. There was a hint of embarrassment on her still fuming face that she didn't want him to see.

"Not perished, we just kept to ourselves. We Vanir are concerned with better things," She said. She sounded more snobbish than she really was, but she almost hoped Loki would get angry again so she could yell at him a bit more. She didn't want to admit it, but she was heavily enjoying their banter.

"Where were the Vanir when Jotunheim almost took over?" Loki said, his voice louder as to acuse her.

"Where were the Asgardians when the Vanir tried to make peace? Off fighting anything and everything that so much as looked at them the wrong way! All the Asgardians care about is their wars and their stupid shiny castle!" she yelled at him.

Instead of getting angrier though, Loki burst out into a smile. And it was genuine too. "I couldn't agree more," he said, his voice slow and charming. The girl wondered whether he knew that smile would calm her down, or whether he was just doing it to mock her.

"So, what do they call you? The Goddess of Capturing Gods and Banter? Though it is marvellous i must say, having someone who can match the speed of my wit," he said, still smiling at her.

"You could almost say a perfect match," the girl said, giving him a slight bow, "Lady Halldora, the Golden Wordsmith and Goddess of Wit."

Loki was, for the first time in his life, speechless. Halldora looked up at him with curious, soft eyes. "Well?" she asked, "Lost for words, Silvertongue?"

"I just," Loki stammered, surprising himself, "I'm just surprised my father didn't try to marry us off when he had the chance. Probably for the best though, I don't think he could stand the intelligence frankly."

"Well, it was- ," Halldora started before quickly stopping herself.

"What?" Loki asked, leaning forward against the straps.

"I'm bored of you Asgardian, goodbye," she said, waving her hand over him. Curls of spirally gold magic circled around him and he woke up back in his cell in Asgard's vaults. He was upset. He already, frighteningly, missed the girl. He wondered whether he had dreamed her up, but he dismissed the theory quickly. If it were a dream she wouldn't have been half as quick with her sarcasm as she was.

There was a scuffling at the wall of his cell and he turned where he lay. What the guard told him, he didn't want to admit it to himself. But his mother had just been killed.