A few months had passed, but Kal had finally been released from the healing room after Healer Eir was satisfied that he was no longer in any danger, but it was a decision he was fast regretting.
Now, Kal was happy to be back in his room and was thrilled with his daily training sessions with Heimdall, who every day was teaching Kal something new about his new senses, but he was not enthused about his return to royal duties.
He was still a child, so he didn't have too many unlike Thor who was being given more responsibilities and roles seemingly every day now, but the ones Kal did have were dull and boring. It was just a lot of standing around listening to adults talk while trying hard not to fidget in the uncomfortable attire his parents made him wear.
The current cause of his dread was an event that he and his brothers annually loathed: the Yule celebrations.
For most, they were a ten day-long festival meant to celebrate the past year, family, and glories won. For Asgardian children, they represented a joyful time filled with presents and delicious treats. However, for the princes it meant ten days stuck in stupid outfits, sitting at the high table in the feasting hall having to be on their best behaviour for their parent's guests and not doing anything remotely fun.
Kal would admit that he did enjoy the food and gift-giving during this period, but those were outweighed by the sheer boredom he would soon face. Even worse, it was during this time that he had to interact with other noble children from the Nine realms and beyond, all of whom were weird, especially the girls.
He never had any fun during these feasts.
In Kal's mind, it was made even worse by the fact that his father, Odin, was absent during the celebrations along with many of the men of the realm, for every year the champions of Asgard embarked on the Wild Hunt.
Ten days of hunting saw his father and his warriors track down rogue spirits, escaped dragons from Muspelheim, and the rest of the bizarre creatures that became active at this time of year.
For the men of Asgard and their king, this meant ten days of glories which earned them a great feast and a grateful populace upon their return. For Kal and his brothers, it meant they had to watch in envy as the men went off and they were stuck behind.
Thor every year tried to argue that he was old enough to go with them, and this one was no exception. Having seemingly forgotten about the recent disastrous adventure and his subsequent punishment, he had begged his father to let him come. However, like every year he was refused and forced to attend another festival with his mother, the women, and children as well as their parent's guests.
This led to the first of a series of events that Kal always hated: the annual fitting of their Yuletime garments, which currently involved him trying to stand still with his arms outstretched as his mother's handmaids made adjustments to his clothing.
"OW!" Kal involuntarily moved as a small needle pinched him in the side.
"Apologies, my prince." One of the handmaidens apologised for the accident, however it did not prevent her from continuing her work without even looking up at the hapless boy.
"That wouldn't happen if you stopped fidgeting" Frigga stated as she herself was weaving a part of her youngest son's outfit whilst seated in the corner of the room.
"I'm not!" Kal defended "... and besides, do I have to go?"
"Yes you do, and before you say anything, so do Thor AND Loki, despite what either of them have said or think," Frigga stated with only the force a mother can provide, which quickly curtailed Kal's defiance.
Pacified for the moment, he gazed into the mirror at the current attire that his mother was making him wear. It was still far from done but Kal already hated it. It consisted of a tight sapphire-blue tunic with gold lacing, overtly snug matching legwear along with the deep crimson red cape his mother was making for him, and to tie it all together a circlet made of gold he had to wear on his head.
Kal did not in fact mind the colour scheme too much, he actually liked blue and the colour red, it was just how tight the whole outfit was, as well as the damned circlet he had to wear. Kal loathed the thing because it was heavy and snug on his head, but mainly because it looked stupid.
A dozen or so more agonising minutes passed before he was allowed to lower his arms when the handmaids made the final adjustments to his tunic and his mother provided him with his cloak that sat neatly around his shoulders while fastened with a Triquetra broach.
Kal looked at his reflection and resisted the urge to sigh. He looked like an idiot; a very pretentious, smugly arrogant idiot.
However, he forced a smile to his face as his mother clapped her hands together and asked him to give her a twirl so that she could see the back, to which he reluctantly agreed.
"Oh my, you do look handsome, you'll have to save me a dance during the feasts," Frigga stated whilst admiring her and her handmaiden's handy work.
"I will do so, mother." Kal kept a strained smile on his face. "Um, can I get changed now, I er…... don't want to get it ruined before the feasts."
Kal's statement seemed to snap Frigga out of her musing "What? Oh of course, yes. Make sure you are careful so as not to crease anything."
He nodded and quickly followed his mother's instructions, getting changed back into his regular clothing while taking special effort to fold his Yule garments meticulously. With that Kal was excused and allowed to return to his room, but instead quickly headed for Glitnir where he knew his brothers would be.
He sometimes resented being the youngest. He was always last to do everything, especially the stupid boring royal duty stuff, not that he wanted to go first but going last meant he had to sit through Thor and Loki doing the same thing.
He quickly reached his destination, pushing open one of the great doors that lead to the sons of Odin's private sanctuary, the sight that greeted him caused him to break out laughing.
Thor and Loki were both trying to undo whatever their mother had done to their hair. Thor's long wavy locks were combed into neat straight lines and had been parted to the right providing the young crown prince with an unflattering look.
Meanwhile, Loki was faring little better and arguably had it worse. His usual shoulder-length black mane that was left wild and unkempt, like Thor's, had been straightened and combed, but his had not been parted.
Instead, it was combed back and framed in a way that made it look like Loki had maiden locks to which, if that was not bad enough, some sort of oil had been applied making his hair look greasy in most lights.
All of this was made worse by two glaring obvious facts:
First, they could not undo the damage. Whatever they tried, the hairstyles simply reverted back whenever they were finished.. Evidently, Frigga had enchanted their hair to stay as it was.
Secondly, Kal's hair was untouched.
"OH, BY THE BIFROST! YOU WILL OBEY ME, INFERNAL TRESSES!" Thor cursed as he tried in vain to undo the parting in his locks with a comb and a large bowl of water, but the instrument simply stayed still in his hair, unable to move.
Loki instead had resulted to magic, and was trying everything short of burning the whole thing off and wearing an illusion to the feast, all to little avail as he half-screamed half-yelled at his own mop.
"ARRGHHH!"
It was upon seeing Loki conjure a knife and try to shear his mane off that Kal could no longer contain himself, breaking out into laughter at his brothers' antics.
"'TIS NOT FUNNY!" Thor grimaced from across the hall.
"It is from this angle" Kal snickered, pointing to the comb that was still lodged in Thor's hair that he quickly pulled out, an action that Loki sniggered at.
"I don't know why you are laughing, dearest sister." Thor shot back at Loki.
Kal had expected Loki to come back with his own verbal quip but instead, Loki just went scarlet and lifted his chin before he responded trying to look as dignified as he could.
"Mother insisted, and besides, she says it makes me look regal." His voice was haughty and overly defensive.
Both his brothers went silent, turning to face each other before they broke out into massive fits of laughter so hard that Kal fell to the floor. The humour of the situation was made only greater by Loki trying to defend himself.
Eventually, however, even he started to laugh, losing his ability to try and keep up his false faith in his mother's choice of hairstyles.
"But seriously," Kal said, getting back to his feet and wiping away tears, "You two look so very ridiculous!"
"We know." Thor stated finally, throwing the comb away "but you know mother, everything has to be perfect for the celebrations"
"One must be the epitome of grace, majesty and manners before both the people of Asgard and royal visitors of other realms." Loki had briefly transformed into their mother in order to quote the statement she made every Yuletide.
"Urgh, don't do that, it fills me with dread when you do mother or father. Just feels wrong." Thor gave a quick shiver at Loki's eerily realistic illusion of their mother.
Kal had to agree. Their brother had very recently learned how to perform more complex illusions, which made for an eerie display anytime Loki pretended to be anyone that they knew personally. His very unique talent for pretending to be other people was something Kal was a little disturbed at.
"Is that any way to talk to your mother?" The fake Frigga scolded Thor with an all too realistic glare on her face.
"LOKI!" Thor raised his eyes at his brother who quickly dropped the illusion whilst grinning.
"So, I guess father said no to you going with this year?" Loki asked Thor, whilst pulling up a seat at the hall's great table.
"You know he did." Thor snapped back, a glum look upon his face.
"We can still have fun though, right? Just the three of us, and besides, in a few years, it will be us on the Wild Hunt" Kal stated whilst giving his eldest brother a pat on the shoulder to try to cheer him up.
Thor forced a smile that he was only partly feeling at his brother's efforts to raise his spirits. "That is true, my wise little brother, but you know what will gladden me right now?"
"Ummmm what?" Kal asked with hesitation.
Thor gave Loki a subtle gesture with his head, causing his younger brother to move behind them whilst carrying something.
"Well, what would make me happy is for you to open your Yule gift" Thor turned Kal around to face Loki who was presenting him with a wooden sword and shield.
Kal's eyes immediately went wide and hesitantly took both in his hands, almost as if he was afraid it was a dream, but once he was sure it was real, he took to them readily and quickly began swinging both around, pretending to face a horde of imaginary foes.
Thor and Loki smiled at the sight. Both had talked about the gift at great length and had worked out what to get Kal with both feeling like they needed to make sure that this Yule was the best it could be. They wanted to make up for the disaster that had been most of the year.
"Ah-ha! Face me foul demons!" Kal brandished his sword at Thor and Loki, obviously wanting to play with them.
Both brothers shared a knowing look while raising their eyebrows at each other, before charging forward causing Kal to squeal in delight.
As the Three played, all thoughts of royal duties, past mistakes and failures filtered away. Only joy was left.
Only boredom remained.
Thor was doing his best not to yawn as a Shi'ar delegation arrived to attend the festival, the head of which was providing an exceptionally long-winded speech about their profound gratitude for being invited.
Thor was currently standing by his mother's side along with his brothers as they welcomed guests from across the cosmos into the royal feasting hall of Sessrúmnir and into the palace itself. The guests were a who's who of the upper echelons of the known universe's powers, barring a few exceptions that would never be allowed to set foot on Asgard outside of the holiday celebrations.
After the Shi'ar delegation had passed, a much larger group from The Sovereign took their place, Thor repressed a groan. The Shi'ar whilst overtly serious could at least be fun and took an interest in other races. The Sovereign, however, made Mímir look like a party animal by comparison, for the gold-skinned race was blunt, ungracious, xenophobic and prudish.
"We welcome you to Asgard, Golden High Priestess of The Sovereign. May you find joy, peace and knowledge during your stay with us," Frigga spoke regally with just the right mixture of command and gentleness.
Thor drowned out the rest of the pleasantries, he had heard them all before. His mother would welcome them, they would thank her, then more talking, a couple of veiled threats, maybe a gift, and then they would move inside.
"Don't you agree my son?" Frigga turned to face Thor offering her son a polite smile.
'Oh Skitr, they were talking to me. What in Helheim did they say…' Thor thought to himself as he fixed a smile on his face 'Alright, two options: try to figure out what they said via conversation, or just agree with mother.'
"Of course, mother" Thor gave his mother a bow of his head and his best princely smile at the Sovereign delegation.
Both Loki and Kal snorted by his side attempting to keep themselves from laughing, which made Thor instantly regret his choice. He had either just made a fool of himself or had agreed to something he was going to greatly hate.
"The Crown Prince is most kind." The golden-skinned priestess before him gave him a deep regal bow and promptly moved off with her large retinue following behind.
"I'm so proud of you Thor." His mother whispered giving him a quick kiss on the cheek before the next delegation stepped up to be greeted.
"Psst, what in the name of the Norns did I agree to?" Thor half turned his head to whisper to Loki next to him, who was currently grinning ear to ear.
"Oh, nothing too difficult, just to be the official host of The Sovereign delegation during their stay on Asgard," Loki stated in the sickly-sweet voice he used when he was happy.
"Rgggh" Thor groaned in frustration before turning back to his brother "Trade with me."
"Ahem" Frigga's cough caused him to fully turn back to the current delegation and meet her glare with a sheepish expression of apology.
After a few moments, Loki responded in a whisper "Not for all the gold on Asgard."
"Oh, come on, think of the fun you could have with those snobby golden dunderheads! Besides, who did you get?" Thor whispered through gritted teeth trying not to alert their mother to their conversation again.
"I said no. Mother gets the Shi'ar, you get the Sovereign, and I get the Alfheim delegation" Loki sounded smug in his triumph.
To be fair, he couldn't blame him, for the Light Elves of Alfheim were exactly what Thor wanted: They were free-spirited, cared little for protocol, knew how to have fun and, as Thor had recently started to notice, Light Elf girls were extremely pretty.
A few more hours passed until finally the very last delegation arrived and had been welcomed. The final guests were very strange, they appeared to be large humanoid trees that spoke only three words, but his mother somehow easily conversed with them.
After welcoming them in, the Royal family, minus Odin who had already departed for the Wild Hunt, took their places at the head of the great feasting hall. From a raised section of the vast room, they were ready to commence the festivities.
His mother took centre stage and clapped her hands together, a sound that shouldn't have made it more than five feet before being drowned out by the sheer noise of everyone under one roof, but which was heard clear across the room. Instantly, everyone became silent.
"Welcome all, to the halls of King Odin. We have here today beings from not only the nine realms but all across the cosmos, and it warms my heart to know that you all see Asgard as a powerful friend. Now, to begin we shall start with the burning of the Yule Log, after which please mingle and enjoy the bounty of Asgard." Frigga's voice was light and sweet, carrying clear across the room.
A host of Einherjar guards came in as she finished speaking carrying a massive single log that almost spanned the entire hall, runes and images carved the length of it. As the guards reached the steps that led to the raised section the royal family was currently standing on, they carefully lowered the log onto the burning embers of the fire pit that ran the length of the room.
With that, the festivities commenced and Thor begrudgingly moved off to stand with the Sovereign delegation. His brothers split off, Kal standing next to his mother and Loki happily racing off to take his role as host to the group from Alfheim.
For Kal, everything was just as oppressive as it was to Thor, every part dull and uncomfortable. His clothes were too tight and they itched, his hair looked just as stupid as his brothers' after his mother fixed it into a stupid style just before they had started, and even without his newfound gifts the party was loud and noisy.
Currently, he was sticking by his mother's side as she drifted between groups of guests. More accurately she was keeping him by her side constantly as she kept an eye on the visitors.
He wasn't sure if she was watching so closely out of motherly concern over the fact that he had only just left the healing room, or if she was making sure he wouldn't run off and cause trouble by trying to make some fun out of the whole tiresome affair.
Kal at that moment was fiddling with his cloak as his mother talked to a very tall, very muscular woman who possessed red skin and even redder hair, along with the greenest eyes he had ever seen. The woman stood a foot taller than the Queen, and despite being at a party was wearing gold and green armour along with a very ornate crown.
Kal hadn't been paying too much attention to the conversation. Whenever his mother talked to people it was always boring, and he didn't understand half of the conversations being made anyway.
Unfortunately, his idle thoughts and fidgeting caused him to stumble slightly and knock into a person roughly the same height as him.
"Oh, my apologies." Kal was quick to offer.
As he got a better look at the person, it turned out they were in fact a girl, one he believed to be around his age and who looked like the spitting image of the woman his mother was talking to only in miniature, down to the clothing and the crown.
"Of course you should be sorry. Do you have any idea who I am?" The girl spoke in a manner that he sometimes heard Loki use, what did Thor call it. Highly? No that wasn't it. Haughty, that was the one. Kal didn't like it at all.
"Um, no sorry, I don't" Kal bluntly stated whilst shrugging his shoulders, which caused the girl to huff in anger.
"YOU have the pleasure and privilege to be in the presence of the serene and powerful Crown Princess of Almerac, Princess Maxima of the Imperial House of the Blood Royale. Just who are you?" The now-identified Maxima delivered her speech in the same tone as before, speaking as if to an insect.
Despite the information provided Kal had still had no idea who this she was. He was only 6 going on 7 now and had just barely learnt all the Nine Realms, so Almerac meant nothing to him. Kal however quickly remembered what his mother taught him when addressing foreign royalty.
"It's very nice to meet you, Your Highness. I am Kal, son of Odin and Prince of Asgard." Kal offered Maxima his best bow and felt like his title was a little short compared to hers, but at least it was easy to remember.
The princess simply raised an eyebrow as she re-examined Kal. She looked him up and down a few times tilting her head to one side after she was finished, making him a little self-conscious.
"You're an Asgardian Prince?" Maxima scoffed with disbelief.
"Yes." He answered a little more forcibly than he had anticipated due to his dislike of her tone.
"I was told that Asgardian Princes were great warriors, giants amongst the males of the cosmos with the power of armies running in their blood." Maxima retorted.
Kal had no idea what she was on about, "Um well, I'm only 6." That was all he could think of in response.
"Hmmm, disappointing, you are clearly no warrior." Maxima declared.
"Yes I am!" Kal declared this time not caring about civility.
"Prove it then" Maxima stated, lifting up her right hand offering a contest of strength that Kal had seen Thor play once or twice.
Kal took her offered hand in his and planted his feet as the two began to struggle against each other. The game was simple enough, from what Kal figured it was simply a standing arm wrestling match where the victor would be the first one either to make their opponent concede or knock the other one over.
The two struggled for a moment with Maxima's face quickly losing her grin as she furrowed her face in concentration, the veins on her hand and arms quickly beginning to bulge as she put all her effort into pushing the impudent boy over.
Kal for his part was struggling, but only barely. He had play-wrestled with Loki and Thor many times, he and Thor had once grappled for an hour with neither able to move the other. So, this was fairly easy. He just had to get his grip right, square his shoulders, and…
He quickly put all his effort into the contest, which immediately resulted in Maxima being spun in the air once before crashing to the floor with a loud bang. The result caused Kal to grin smugly before he heard a voice that reminded him where he was.
"KAL! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" His mother's words cracked like thunder as she and the larger woman she had been talking to came over, who Kal guessed was Maxima's mother.
"Um, I was, we were just…"His face went pale as he tried to figure out what to say.
"You were just besting my daughter, young Prince." Maxima's mother responded in an even haughtier tone than her daughter.
"I do apologise Queen-" Frigga started before the Almerac Queen cut her off with a dismissive wave.
"Oh, no harm done, children will be children. Maxima! Get up and congratulate Kal on his victory." The instruction sounded more like a royal edict than a suggestion from a parent.
Maxima quickly got up and bowed before Kal which surprised him slightly, especially given the strange look she now had in her eye. "Congratulations my Prince. We should spar again later, but until then how about we get to know each other more?"
"Excellent idea, my daughter. Why don't you two run along whilst we mothers talk?" The red-skinned queen gave a wide and clearly fake smile.
As the two quickly walked off to sit at a nearby table with Princess Maxima asking many questions at a clearly flustered and confused Kal, Frigga herself found herself in a rather awkward conversation with the girls' mother.
"So Kal is your youngest son?" the queen of Almerac's eyes never left Kal or Maxima.
"Yes, he is almost 7 now," Frigga answered. She had a feeling about where this was going and was not happy in the least.
"Truly? My Maxima has just turned 7, you know she is my only child." The Almeracian Queen gave Frigga a clearly-fake look of maternal affection.
"Yes, I was aware." Frigga stated diplomatically, whilst privately thinking 'Because you terminate all those that you deem too inferior for your precious bloodline.'
She knew well of the Imperial House of the Blood Royale, a collection of petty despots that were fanatics about selective marriage and eugenics. With the royal family over the millennia taking mates from other species as breeding stock, their goal was to bring forth the perfect leader from their bloodline.
'A perfect commander for a band of imperialist eugenic zealots determined to conquer the universe at least.' Frigga privately thought
"Well, she gets very lonely as the only royal child…." The Almeracian queen gestured to the young ones "...and she gets on well with your son, maybe we could organise a few playdates between them?"
"Well, Kal is very busy unfortunately, what with his royal duties and his training. He has inherited the sight from his father so he has little free time, but perhaps in a few years." Frigga gave a polite smile as tried to manoeuvre around the Almeracian Queen.
"Has he?" The gaze upon her son became one of clear desire. "Well, it is no matter. A few years, a few decades, they are of little consequence to ones who live as long as us, no?"
"Yes, the benefit of extended lifespans, so much time to arrange meetings." Frigga agreed as she hoped the conversation on this topic was over.
"He is unmatched, correct?" Maxima's Mother asked bluntly, causing Frigga to choke on her drink slightly.
"Yes, yes he is." Frigga bites her lip, trying to remain calm and diplomatic.
Whilst Almerac was no match for Asgard she could not very well cause a war whilst her husband was away by telling this upstart what she really wanted to say.
"Well, would you and your husband be open to talks? A union between Asgard and Almerac would be mutually beneficial, and your son would be King nearly in his own right. We respect strength above everything, after all." Maxima's mother proposed.
The Queen had presented her proposal calmly but in a tone that Frigga did not like, as it strongly implied that the proposal was agreeable to all and all but done in reality. Which was far from the case.
"I would need to discuss it with my husband, and we both of course would need to see what the future holds for both our families. The fact remains that on Asgard, although they need royal approval to marry, the princes are free to choose as they desire." Frigga answered as diplomatically as she could.
"Of course. Like we said, plenty of time to work out the details." The Almeracian Queen provided yet another fake smile.
After a few more minutes Frigga quickly created an excuse that her son and she had to, unfortunately, circulate around the room, quickly grabbing Kal who was more than happy to move on before they departed toward the next group.
Maxima returned to her mother, who was still watching Kal from a distance like a hunter assessing her prey.
'Skinny, but he has the right frame for muscles and with his bloodline, he will have a marvellous physique when older. Not to mention the power and allegiance he would bring.' The queen thought to herself.
She begrudgingly knew Thor was beyond her means since Odin would never allow the match. Almerac, despite its relative might in the cosmos, was not nearly enough of a prize for a crown Prince of Asgard, but the third son of Odin? That she could get. Besides, good genes were good genes.
"Did you enjoy his company, my dear?" She asked the little princess.
"Sort of, mother. He fought well, but he hardly spoke" Maxima revealed.
"That is splendid, because he will be your future husband." The queen smiled to herself as she contemplated the youngest son of Odin.
Thor was about ready to declare his resignation from royalty and leave Asgard forever if this is what was needed from him.
The Sovereign were not just stuck-up and boring, they were agonisingly stuck-up and boring.
Thor was in the middle, well supposed to be in the middle, of listening to the storied history of the Sovereign regaled to him by the Golden High Priestess herself. Instead, he was imagining slamming his head into a solid block of Uru repeatedly until he was unconscious.
It simply wouldn't stop! The High Priestess just continued on and on about the 'great Sovereign people' and all their many, many accomplishments.
Thor was politely nodding his head and occasionally uttered "How interesting" or "Please go on" in order to keep the conversation moving and make it appear as though they had his full attention. In fact, he was searching around the room for something interesting, a tactic he had learnt from attending many events like this one.
He grinned as he saw his brother easily flip over an Almeracian girl in a contest of strength across the room, both proud of the victory but also happy that at least someone was having fun at this gathering.
Speaking of fun, Thor quickly scanned the room for Loki and furrowed when he was unable to see his brother or the Elvish delegation. The Light Elves were friends of Asgard, so not seeing them was no concern, but he always felt uneasy when he could not put eyes upon his brother.
Whilst observing the room Thor thought he saw someone familiar amongst the nobles' guests from Asgard. It was a girl about his age with long flowing black hair in braids wearing an elegant crimson dress with silver highlights and a dazzling necklace around her neck.
She was quite beautiful, but that was not what was interesting to Thor at the moment. He could swear he had seen her before, and looking at her made his left side feel numb. Her movement and that of the crowd caused him to lose sight.
"Very interesting, your serene Highness, but I have just remembered that I am needed for the um, the… Gathering of The Cups ceremony, and I have to go, and eh, do that. My sincerest apologies, I will return… shortly." Thor gave the Sovereign High Priestess a quick bow and promptly moved off towards the crowd of Asgardians.
He winced at his lousy excuse, but in all felt relieved to finally be free from the blathering gold peacock, at least for a little while, and knew he would have to return at some point to smooth out any ruffled feathers. The Sovereign offended easily after all.
Making his way through the crowd of nobles, he quickly spotted the girl: she was standing next to a table near a group of Asgardian men that were talking, one of which had jet-black hair like hers, so Thor believed he was likely a relative.
Despite being near the group, the girl was half turned away from them and none were paying her any attention, as he moved forward Thor was trying his best to figure out how he knew her. Suddenly one of the men, clearly a little drunk, made a gesture which sent a goblet on the table next to them hurtling towards the floor.
Except it didn't fall. No sooner had the cup started to move than the girl effortlessly struck out her hand, grasping it and placing it back on the table in one fluid motion. She did this all whilst still half-turned away, meaning she had reacted to something moving in the corner of his eye.
Thor suddenly felt like he had been struck by a bolt of lighting 'The girl from Folkvang, of course! Oh, what was her name? Stiff, Snaff, Slif?' He tried to force his brain to recall the label he had heard before.
Deciding it was best just to get it over with he tried to slip up alongside, but when he moved close to her then she whirled around and released a heavy sigh
"I'm not interested." She spoke bluntly without really looking at the boy before her.
"I'm sorry, what?" Thor asked, flabbergasted.
"I'm not interested in a dance, or conversation, or a walk in the snow, or whatever else you were going to say." The girl's voice had a polite tone, but it was restrained, a restraint Thor knew all too well.
'Of course, pretty highborn maiden, Yuletide feast, she must be fending off idiot noblemen's sons left and right.'
Thor could sympathise with that. Lately, he had started to notice that the girls around him had started acting strange, well, stranger. All they wanted to do was spend time in his presence, they just agreed with whatever he was saying, and then when they were finished he could always see their grinning fathers off in the distance watching him.
Thor thought for a second before he smiled and responded.
"Well, how about a fight?"
The girl's head suddenly snapped up and stared at Thor for a few seconds as her eyes widened in recognition.
"IT'S YOU!" she hissed, not wanting to alert the men next to them, she quickly grabbed his arm and steered him to the one side to have a little more privacy.
"Yes, and it's you, the girl with the nice counter strike and a vicious backswing." Thor grinned.
"Shhhh, you can't tell anyone. My father would kill me if he learnt that I was fighting, let alone how I fought Prince Thor." She gave a quick glance over to the men they had just left.
Thor chuckled and gave a quick dismissive wave. "Peace. I will tell no one, but you should be proud you're the best I have fought so far."
"I know," She said with a smug grin. "But my father is more traditional in his views, and so is my step-mother." She said bitterly.
"I am the Lady Sif Daughter of Ullr from the Plains of Ida." She gave an impressive courtesy, obviously well-practised. "But you can just call me Sif"
"Nice to formally meet you, I am-" Thor puffed out his chest but was interrupted.
"I know who you are, Prince Thor, I think every child on Asgard knows you and your brothers' faces now because of the whole Folkvang incident,'' She said as she raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, right. Well, you can just call me Thor, and… sorry for the whole calling my parents thing" Thor apologised.
"No need, your brother needed help." She gave a simple shrug, but then sighed "It is a shame though, Folkvang was the one place I could truly be myself, you know?"
Thor looked at her as Sif sighed and looked off into the distance with a slight longing in her eyes, before an idea formed in his head.
"Why not come here?" He suggested.
"What?" Sif looked at him with disbelief.
"You come here to the Palace, and you can use the courtyard to train. I could even get a few Valkyries to help you out." Thor offered, a laugh forming as his eyes lit up with childish glee.
"I couldn't possibly, my parents would never agr-" It was Sif's turn to be interrupted.
"What? Never agree to let you come to the Royal Palace by the invitation of the Crown Prince?" Thor was feeling pleased with himself 'See, brother? I can be clever too.'
Sif's face broke out into a wide grin but before she could answer a new voice interrupted them.
"Well isn't this sweet, young love." The words were dripping with fake sincerity.
The speaker was a girl of similar age to them, but where Sif was beautiful the newcomer was stunning, and Thor felt blood rush to his cheeks and… other places.
The girl was tall, slender and curvaceous for her age, she had impossibly emerald eyes, and golden locks that flowed freely around a face which was so enchanting Thor could only describe it as angelic. She wore a glittering dress that matched her eyes, it hugged her figure nicely and revealed the tops of her shoulders.
A ruffle next to her revealed that the stunning girl was not alone, next to her was someone Thor reckoned to be about his brother's age, she had the same emerald eyes as her sister but had yet to grow into her looks. In all, she looked like a younger version of the other, except she did not yet possess the figure for curves and her hair was red, not blonde.
"Amora, it's so nice to see you again" Sif forced a smile on her face, and Thor could tell the girls were not friends.
"You as well my dear Sif, and who is this charming companion of yours?" The now-named Amora gave Thor such a smile that he couldn't speak for a second.
"This is Thor Odinson, Prince of Asgard and my close friend" Sif responded, placed a hand on Thor's shoulder and gave Amora a look that he thought was slightly smug.
"Oh my, a prince? Well you are certainly aiming high in life aren't you?" Amora addressed, but her eyes never left Thor's.
Despite being enraptured by her beauty, he felt something was off with the girl before him, Sif had a natural air about her, honesty that he felt he could trust despite having just met. Amora, however, he felt as though everything about her was false and the look in her eyes held a sense of possession that Thor was not comfortable with.
"Nothing of the sort, we are just friends. I prefer to leave social climbing to you." Sif's statement, although delivered with a sincere voice, was about as earnest as Loki after one of his pranks.
"Why thank you, such generosity, to concede to my superior skills." Amora shot back with equally fake sincerity, causing a crack in Sif's façade as a scowl started to form on her face
"Ahem, well it's nice to meet you Lady Amora, and who is this?" Thor intervened and tried to alleviate the tension gesturing to the girl next to Amora.
The red-haired girl looked surprised that someone had noticed her and gave a small shy smile. She opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by her elder sister.
"Oh, that is my younger sister Lorelei, please forgive her manners, she is as quiet as a mouse," Amora answered with a dismissive gesture. "Anyway, you were speaking of invitations to the Palace when I arrived?"
Thor was again flustered; he had not expected his offer to Sif to be overheard and had an odd feeling that Amora desired her own invitation and that if Thor granted it to her, it would somehow cause trouble.
"Um, well yes. I was inviting the Lady Sif here-" Thor began to try to explain, but Amora took control quickly.
"Oh, how lovely, well Sif would of course want her oldest and closest female friend for company, and a prince can't refuse a lady," Amora spoke as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
'Some lady, why don't you trip and just throw yourself at him?' Sif thought.
Thor was currently trying to figure out the best way to respond. 'Oh, dammit, where is Loki when I need him, this is better suited to him by far.'
However, Thor was saved when he felt a slight tugging on his sleeve and looked down to spot his youngest brother pulling on his arm with a wide grin. Everyone in the small gathering suddenly looked at the new arrival, shocked by the unexpected appearance worthy of Loki himself.
"Hi, Thor!" Kal beamed up at his brother.
"Kal, what are you doing here?" Thor asked whilst turning around to spot their mother who he saw talking to the Shi'ar ambassador.
"Oh, mom sent me over to tell you four things!" Kal smiled.
"Which are?" Thor asked carefully.
"One, you have very pretty friends," Kal said whilst furrowing his barrow in concentration, as he tried to recall his mother's words.
The statement caused several reactions: Amora started to giggle at the implied complaint, Thor went bright red with embarrassment, and Sif started blushing trying to hide her face by turning away. This caused her to see Frigga who whilst standing with the Shi'ar delegation was facing her and gave a subtle smile and nod.
"Two, you are far too young to be inviting girls to the Palace without talking to me first, I think she means her not me" Kal clarified oblivious to the growing discomfort his brother was suffering from.
"Three, you have to go back to the Sovereign delegation right now, or else explain to father why you started a war whilst he was gone." Kal provided the last one whilst pointing to the clearly irritated Sovereign delegation.
"Oh, Skitr" Thor cursed causing Amora to raise an eyebrow in surprise at the Prince's impropriety and began to make ready to head off, but turned at the last second to address his brother again. "Wait, you said four?"
"Oh yeah! She wants to know what in the name of Valhalla The Gathering of the Cups Ceremony is and why half the guests are demanding to observe it?" Kal asked with confusion, as all eyes turned to Thor.
"Well you see, I mean that is… oh, Streð mik."