My Sweet Flame

Chapter 8. The Power of Roses

I woke up late. It's something I'd never actually done consistently, but I needed the sleep.

The night before was Thor's 12th birthday, meaning that there was a huge celebration.Loki was to turn 11 in a few months, and I would turn 10 in a few weeks. I didn't get to bed until early morning because Thor, Loki, and I had been talking and playing games with our friends: three boys and a girl. The girl was my only female friend on Asgard, and her name was Sif. She wanted to become a warrior, and she was well on her way to becoming one. The three boys called themselves "The Warriors Three". They were friends of Thor, not so much Loki and I. They had also gone on an expedition after the party and I hoped that they weren't going to do anything rash.

I ran through the halls trying to find my friends. I finally made my way back to my room, but decided to check the courtyard one last time. I ran gracefully down the steps with my dress and hair floating behind me. Turning and twisting down the paths, I saw only servants here and there. Finally, I looked towards the path I had never gone down; The one that led to the garden beneath my balcony. I scampered down the pathway, hoping to see one of my friends. I weaved in and out through the garden, taking time to notice the small canopy of beautiful weeping willows, until finally, I saw Loki. He was sitting on one of the benches reading. A tree grew right behind the bench, and I could see that it went almost all the way up to the balcony. I shifted my gaze back to Loki and noticed that he had a new book. Come to think of it, he had a new book every few days.....

I walked over and sat down beside him. He didn't notice that I was there, so I gently placed my hand on his shoulder. "Loki?" I said softly. He looked up and closed his book.

"Oh Hello, Y/N. I'm sorry, I'm afraid I didn't see you there....What was it you needed?"

I pushed my hair out of my face and clasped my hands together, "Oh, I was just wondering where you get your books."

His face lit up and he stood. He held out his hand to help me up. I took it and as I stood, he smiled and said," Follow Me."

I kept my hold on his hand as we ran through the golden halls.

"Where Are You taking...me?" I panted.

"You'll see."

We reached an enormous open doorway. It was even larger than the doors to the courtyard. We walked inside and I let go of his hand as I marveled at the library I was in. I turned in a circle, taking in the view.

(A/N: Imagine all of these pictures thrown together)

I turned back to Loki.

"Like what you see, Y/N?" He said.

I gazed back up the library and bit my bottom lip, "Where should I start?"

He walked over to a shelf and looked for a moment before pulling a book out.

"I read this one last week. I think you'd like it." He handed it to me.

I scanned its cover,

"A map of the library. Very Funny."

"Most of the map isn't charted. Besides, you haven't seen the best part. Open it."

I opened the book hastily, wanting to read it cover to cover. When, to my astonishment, the pages were glittering with golden flecks dancing across them. Then, I realized that each fleck was a pair of footprints. A name was beside each pair of footprints. Loki turned the page and pointed to two sets of footprints.

"That's us!" I exclaimed. "Woah!"

I shut the book and shoved it back into place. "What else is there?"

(Insert the beginning of A Million Dreams from The Greatest Showman as you two are running around the library. Just the first part where the young boy is singing, that's you singing to Loki about this cool stuff. The song trails off once you pull the book from the shelf)

Soon, I had picked out a decently thick book filled with Asgardian fairytales. Thor came in a few minutes later, and I asked them of other places they hadn't shown me. A rose garden. That was what was left. Thor took one of my hands, and Loki took the other as they showed me the rose garden.

"Oh my gods!" I exclaimed, "It's beautiful!"

Not far from where we were standing, a couple of servants were busying themselves with taking out a dead bushel. I broke free of the brother's grasp and ran towards them, despite their efforts to hold me back.

"Stop!" I yelled, "Please! Wait!!! I can heal it!"

The gardener looked over at me, "You can?"

"Yes," I told him. I looked down at my hands, "Yes, I can."

The gardener and the two maids stepped away from the browned plant, and I stepped towards it.

I held my hand out towards the bush. In the blink of an eye, A small, purple orb of light floated centimeters above my hand. I raised my other hand above it, focusing energy on it, and making it bigger. I turned the ball, so that my hands were on either side of it, and I released it from my grasp. The orb floated towards the dead bush, and within seconds of the magic touching its branches, it began flourishing again. Only, when the flowers rebloomed, they were, not only a brilliant white, but purple at the tips of its petals.

I turned to the boys and smiled innocently at them.

"You can do magic?" Thor asked me. I nodded slowly.

Loki walked past me to the bush beside "mine". He made the same gesture I had, only his magic was green. The bush of light yellow roses turned the same brilliant shade of white mine had, and the tips of the petals were green.

Loki glanced at me and motioned towards Thor. I nodded and took his hand. We created a ball of light with our other two hands that was both green and purple. The third bush had white roses and red tips. Loki and I exchanged an awkward glance and let go of each others hands.

Thankfully, a maid came up beside us and told us that dinner was ready. The three of us scampered past her and into the castle.

After dinner, I asked Frigga about the library. She told me everything I wanted to know and more. Afterwards, I decided to go to bed early, and read for a while.

And so I did.