Muffins - Loki & Ylva alternate universe stories

Princess in the tower III

Chapter 3 - Ylva

When her lesson of that day is finally done, Ylva hurries back to her room. She throws her books on her desk and opens the balcony doors, stepping through to breathe in the fresh air. She has been holed up in a room for the better part of the day again, though luckily she had convinced her parents to let her take a break for the remainder of the stay of the Asgardian royal family. She can't help but being jealous of her brothers, who get to hang out with their friends the whole time. Stupid lady lessons! Like she will ever need to know about Jotun hospitality customs from centuries ago, it's not like a state visit to that barren realm is likely to happen anyway.

"Hey sis," a voice calls out from the balcony next to her.

Ylva turns her head and sees Ulf leaning over his balcony railing like she's doing. She's quick to walk over and step onto the side of the wide railing, lifting her skirt to step from one balcony to the other, like she has done so many times before already.

The girl takes the position next to her brother, their shoulders lightly touching as they look out over the gardens. From here they can just see the greenhouse, where they spot their mother and Lady Frigga, hunched over one of the plants. If she really was a proper girl, she would join them. Instead, she turns her head to her brother.

"Any plans for this afternoon?"

He smirks. "Why? Aching to spend some time with your beau?"

Ylva shoves his elbow from the edge of the balcony. "Will you cut it out already?!"

"Oh, come on, sis! You like him! All dark and mysterious..." Ulf's voice trails off with a snicker.

"I do not!" The indignant claim only makes her brother laugh some more.

He slings an arm around her shoulder. "We all know you do, sis, there's no use in denying it. You already liked him back when he used to pull your hair."

Ylva leans her head back against his arm in desperation. "You all know?"

Her brother gives her a fond squeeze. "Well, maybe not all of us. I'm pretty sure Loki himself is still oblivious to it, especially with the way you two keep bickering and trying to outdo each other."

"Loki? You think I like Loki?" Ylva tries to joke herself out of it, knowing full well her brother's not buying it, even though he laughs with her and they drop the subject.

***

As it turns out, there are plans for that afternoon; Ulf takes Ylva to the stables, where the other three boys are already saddling up their horses. Thor is putting the bridle on a soft grey gelding, one of the horses Ylva usually rides on. The horse pushes his nose against her shoulder as soon as she comes near, making Thor generously offer her the horse to ride on.

"No, it's okay. You can take Silver," Ylva says, patting the horse on the neck. "I'll take Holly, she loves a stroll in the woods."

The fox brown mare stands in the stable next to Dorian, the black gelding that is Loki's ride for today. He is just about done with the horse when he sees her coming.

"You're joining us for a ride?" he asks casually, fastening the horse's reins to the stable.

"I am," Ylva says, pulling the sliding door to Holly's stable open. "Is that okay?"
She doesn't know why she says that, much less does she know why her voice always has an edge when she talks to Loki, making everything sound like a challenge.

It's no different this time, judging by the way Loki narrows his eyes for a second before he shrugs. "Sure, if you can keep up."

Still, he remains a gentleman and goes to fetch Holly's gear while she gives the horse a quick brush. Not long after all five of them are ready to go, their horses forming a long line on the narrow path that leads them to the forest.

They go through a small patch of forest first, a well worn path winding through the trees. The Light Elves know this part like the back of their hand, Brann and Ulff spurring on their horses for a mad dash underneath the trees. Of course, the Asgardian princes will not let that go by unchallenged; Thor and Loki go in pursuit, Loki pushing his horse past Ylva with a call for her to follow them if she can. She does, although she takes a shortcut and comes out in the clearing before them, grinning triumphantly.

It becomes a race across the clearing, Brann leading them on his fast stallion through another small patch of forest and into the open fields. The princess is the first to let the reins go, letting her horse slow down to a comfortable trot.

"They make everything a pissing contest," she says with a sigh, patting the horse on the neck.

She watches the boys catch up with each other at the edge of the field, pushing their horses together to try and shove each other off.

It takes a while before the boys give up their antics and they all go into the forest again, to a small clearing next to a pond. There's a slab of rock that hangs over the water, giving the whole place the vibe of a fairy tale; you'd expect a deer to dart away when you break into the clearing, or a bird to start singing. There's no deer and no bird, though there are some small critters that dart away when the five teenagers reach the clearing with their horses.

Ulf stuffed his saddle bags with goodies he gathered in the palace kitchen, which makes for a perfect late - or second - lunch. They share the food sitting on two tree trunks that have been pushed to the edge of the pond. The clearing is a favourite spot for picnics, Ylva and her brothers come here often.

Thanks - or no thanks - to her brothers, Ylva finds herself close to Loki; she sits on the trunk perpendicular to where Loki sits on the grass, his back against the other trunk. She can't stretch her legs without kicking him and he has already bumped his elbow into her knees - for which he apologized.

She tries not to stare at him, which is a bit hard when Loki is sitting this close to her. His hair is longer than she remembers, curling up slightly over the collar of his jacket. Her hands itch to touch it, wanting to find out if it's as soft as it looks. It's a good thing Loki doesn't look her way, engaged in conversation with Brann; now Ylva can study his profile while pretending to listen to the boys talk about hunting deer. Ulf was right, she had always liked Loki; she enjoys his tricks and his smooth talks, because she also knows how his eyes light up when something fascinates him, or how he can get lost in a book for hours. And one of her fondest memories is of when they were lying on their stomachs in the shadow of a tree, watching a rainbow coloured beetle climb to the top of a blade of grass over and over again.

That was before puberty kicked in, before Loki suddenly developed a set of muscles that had not been there yet the last time she saw him, before his voice found that nice timbre that does funny things to her lower stomach.

Ylva blinks, feeling caught when she realises she had completely zoned out. Luckily nobody seems to have noticed yet - nobody but her twin brother, who smirks at her knowingly - and it only takes her a moment to participate in the ongoing conversation again. Ylva's resolution is to push down every dreamy thought about Loki from that moment on, a plan that is apparently doomed to fail from the start. Their fingers brush when he hands her the canteen that is getting passed around, leaving Ylva with a blush she desperately tries to hide and a twin brother who can hardly grin any wider.

Still, it's nice, sitting here together; it reminds her of when they were younger. She remembers one of the first times they took the Asgardian brothers to this clearing, having discovered it themselves not that long before. During the summer they used to play a game on top of the slab of rock, trying to push each other in the water. Just simply jumping off and try to make the biggest splash also worked wonderfully on hot days.