My Undying Fidelity

Chapter III: I Changed My Mind

       School for the Odinson brothers was different than that of the common folk. They were taught arithmetic and language skills, but mainly battle strategies and how to act in polite society. Well, polite society by Asgard's standards. In these classes, they were put with other children around their ages who were near their caliber in the social hierarchy. They were expected to form bonds with them, Loki thought, like a breeder studding dogs. On some occasions, it was very successful; hence Thor's three closest chums darkening Loki's doorstep. It was dawn on the first day of classes.

"YOO HOO!" Volstagg, the dimmest of the self-proclaimed "Warriors Three", boomed. He banged on Thor's bedroom door.

"Friend!" Fandral's lilting voice went through Loki's head like an arrow. "Let me help you with that." Loki opened his door just a crack to see what was going on. Fandral was taking a hairpin to Thor's lock and giggling wildly. Loki rolled his eyes and took out a book. While this was going to be interesting, he thought, it didn't require his full attention. He knew for a fact that Fandral had absolutely no idea how to open a lock. Last time they were assigned to play a team-building game, part of the task was getting into a locked room. Immediately, Fandral flashed a bobby pin he had found in his sister's room and went to work on the lock. He fooled around with that damn pin for thirty minutes. Loki was going to explode, so he used a simple telekinetic spell to open the door and make Fandral think he'd done it. It took Loki thirty seconds.

"I'll just kick it down," Hogun, the third "Warrior", whispered loudly.

"Alright. At least try to be a little discreet," Fandral said.

"Don't worry," Volstagg said, "He won't know what hit him!" He burst through the door. "Good morning, beautiful!"

"What the hell?" Thor said, wiping drool off of his face. He reflexively flung his arm behind him.

"Ow!" a voice behind him groaned. Sif, with nothing but bed sheets covering her, propped herself upon her shoulder and yawned. Thor looked at his friends, losing all color in his face.
       
But the Warriors Three barely noticed this. Vostagg had fallen flat on his ass laughing, which had shaken the entire tower. The other two tried to hoist him up, but they couldn't get a hold of themselves either. They ended up a giggling, slobbering mass of stupidity. Of course, they were always like that, but when it all culminated so poetically it was truly a sight to behold.
       
Loki could hear Sif and Thor talking and laughing at each other. She pushed him against the headboard and whispered something in his ear. It would have been quite cute if Sif wasn't... Sif.

Loki turned away and started getting dressed. To the untrained eye, he would have appeared jealous of Thor and Sif's courtship (if you could even call it that). But jealous wasn't the right word. What he was feeling was more of a confused bitterness. How could Sif be the one who had won Thor's heart? If she were a spice, she would have been flour. The subjects of the five total words she had directly spoken to Loki were the following: 1. Thor and 2. The current weather situation.

Loki looked in the mirror for the first time that morning. He had bags forming under his eyes from the last few nights. After weeks of reading, he had finally finished a 1,000 page behemoth of a novel. It was a promising book when he had started reading it. The characters were good together, but the plot was completely bonkers. One of those books that would have been a fine read had all of the characters not ended up being complete idiots by the end. Beautiful prose, though. He would have given it an eight out of ten, had anyone actually cared about what he thought of the books he read. Donning a new blue tunic (a change from his usual green) and black pants, he started walking out of the room, grabbing the green necklace on his way out.

***

"You knew this was a very important day, did you not?" Ragni said softly from the threshold of her daughter's chambers. Her hands were folded in front of her, completing the portrait of neatness she created. It was in stark contrast to her surroundings.
      
"Yes," Sigyn replied, bolting straight up in bed.
       
If that is so, then why are you not prepared to leave?"
       
"Mother, we aren't due at the palace for another hour." Sigyn yawned.
      
"You have to be alert, well dressed, and attentive this morning. So far, you are none of that."
       
Sigyn's lips tightened.
       
"I expect you to be dressed and ready in thirty minutes. And don't wear green."
       
"Why not?"
       
Ragni's eyes widened at her daughter's defiance.
       
"Yes, Mother," Sigyn said, bowing her head. Ragni left without closing the door behind her.
       
Sigyn hoisted herself up. For a few moments she sat at the foot of her bed, staring off into space. She caught a glimpse of the book she had been reading the night before. Far too late into the night, as a matter of fact. She thought about how nice it would have been just to fall into those words instead of tutoring a delinquent.
       
In theory, this was the chance of a lifetime. A chance to socialize with the most important people in Asgard. But why did it have to be with such a weasel? How Loki, a greasy skeleton, could be related to a creature as beautiful as Thor was a mystery to her.
       
She opened her wardrobe. After fishing through her semi-formal dresses for longer than she should have, she settled on a deep blue number with a gold sash around the waist. Her mother said it brought out Loki's supposedly blue eyes. She wore it because it brought out Thor's. She scurried out of her bedroom, still fixing her hair as she ran. Portraits of her ancestors flew past her eye like a smeared painting until she reached the main hall.

Her mother was alone, but she filled the room. Sigyn walked over to her, head slightly bowed, smiling expectantly. Ragni responded by pulling a barrett out of her hair.
       
"Too much," she said.
       
"Thank you." Sigyn sighed. "Mother?"
       
"Yes?"
       
Sigyn opened her mouth to speak, then quickly shut it. "I'm ready for today," she said.
       
"As you should be," Ragni said. She picked up Sigyn's hands excitedly. "Sigyn, everything I've taught you has been leading up to this. You are worthy of this job, daughter," she said. She stared into Sigyn's eyes. "I have complete faith in you."
       
"And I trust your judgment more than anyone, Mother. Thank you." Sigyn said. She hugged her mother and walked away.
       
"Daughter," Ragni called.
       
"Yes?"
       
"Posture."
       
Sigyn straightened her back. How lucky she was, she thought, to have a mother who cared so much. She drifted outside to the carriage that awaited her.
       
Asgard was truly beautiful, especially in the springtime. Even on a cloudy day, the budding leaves of the countryside filled Sigyn's senses. They were only complemented by the palace, a gleaming edifice on the mountain. But instead of it getting larger on the horizon and greeting her, it became smaller.
      
"May I ask where we're going?" she asked the driver.
       
"Today's lesson is in the town square, milady."
       
"The town what?"
       
The carriage halted in front of an ancient fruit stand. The old hag proprietor grinned widely at Sigyn before she even left her ride.
       
"This is your stop, miss," the driver said.
       
"Yes, thank you," Sigyn said insincerely. She lowered her foot toward the ground. It was a lot harder getting in and out without the help of a servant. "Can somebody please help me get down?" she asked into the crowd.
       
"I will!" a boy about eight years old ran over to her with his friends.
       
"Thank you very kindly." She put all of her weight onto his hand as she stepped down.
       
"I changed my mind." He let go of her hand and kicked her in the shin as she fell. She went flying into the mud, the mob of boys cackling. In between strings of cusses, she thought about how interesting this occurrence was; it was a paraphrasal of what her relationship with Loki would probably be like.