My Undying Fidelity

Chapter VI: Peacemaker

"I swear Sigyn, I can explain. This is just a misunderstanding on my part," Loki said as he put his hands in his pockets.

"How so?" she replied, arms crossed.

"Um, I suppose misunderstanding is the wrong word. I meant more like a mistake."

Sigyn narrowed her eyes.

"Well, it was definitely a 'mis' something. I really don't want to fight you. I'm not in the mood."

"Well I'm not thrilled to spend time with you either, but I thought we agreed that we were going to do everything in our power to make sure you did well," Sigyn said.

The sound erupted again, this time in Loki's direction. Sigyn noticed that Loki had his hands behind his back. "That's it!" she said.

"What?"

"Behind your back, that's the same thing that was bothering me when I was stationing my soldiers. What the Hel is it?"

"It's, it's a bug I found," he said with a fake smile.

"Why are you holding it?"

"I want to... keep it for a pet," Loki said. Sigyn rolled her eyes, to which Loki brought his hands forward. "Alright, it's a fairy of sorts, if you want to call it that," he said. He opened his hands to what looked like a piece of living metal. It was rocking back and forth in a panic. Its wings were tucked down under its sides like the ears of a scared dog, making tinkling sounds as it sobbed into its hands.

"You used this to spy on me, didn't you."

"I wouldn't call it spying. I would call it resourcefulness."

"Well, is it alright?"

"It's a she, and yes, she's fine." Loki exhaled. "I can't believe I just said that out loud."

Sigyn surveyed her surroundings. There was no one within miles of where they were. "Looks like the map was bigger than I thought."

"What?"

"Oh, I'm just thinking out loud." She checked once more for other people, then squatted down next to Loki.

"Is she... crying?"

"She's being dramatic. Says someone swatted her."

A look of understanding came across Sigyn's face. Her lips tightened. "Does, does that hurt them?"

"Not really. Feer are tougher than they look."

"Feer?"

"Yes, the plural of Fe?" Loki said, looking at Sigyn like she should have known what he was talking about.

Sigyn paused. "We don't have 'Feer' on Asgard."

"You don't think I know that? I'm the future king, Sigyn, I'm not an idiot. That's the other one."

"Well, the only time I've even heard of a Fe was in—" she laughed, "In this book I read as a child."

Loki straightened up. "What book was it?"

"Oh, it was obscure. I've never met anyone else who read it; it was called The Adventures of Arne."

Loki's lips tightened. "Did my brother tell you about that?"

"Why would your brother talk to me about anything, let alone books?"

Loki ignored her question. "What's the plot of it?"

"Um, Arne was taught sorcery by his grandmother and one day he goes to the forest and finds a dragon. And the dragon was interesting because—"

"It spat ice instead of fire," Loki said, his face lighting up. "How far did you get in the series?"