Children in Asgard were a gift, a celebration.  They were something Sigyn cherished, even though they weren’t hers.  In the time they’d known each other, Loki had discovered all of her hiding places.  Her favorite, at the moment, was the library, reading to the children.  Why, he had no idea.  It was simply an occurrence he accepted as fact.

            He swept into the room, his cape billowing heroically behind him.  The padded door shut quietly, not giving him the grand entrance he’d wanted.  It made sense that the door was padded, but it was still momentarily disappointing.  He stood still, watching her.  So often, she’d watch him while waiting either for him to finish or for him to simply notice her.  It was interesting to have these roles reversed.  She was perched on a short stool, her white lace skirt flowing to cover her feet.  The sleeves of her white top came down to her knuckles, covering half her hand as she turned the page of the Midgardian picture book.  They were her staple, the Midgardian books.  She loved them; she always brought back a bag of them when she visited.  She was the most frequent visitor of the Asgardians, so it was no surprise that there was no competition when it came to collecting the books she loved so.  He really didn’t understand her love for them.  They were not challenging, nor were they terribly interesting.  In fact, he could no longer count the number of times he’d stumbled upon her pacing, simply reciting one of the books by heart.  He’d asked her why she did that, but she always gave him an answer he didn’t understand -- she referenced another Midgardian book where people memorized a book, then hid away because books were illegal.  He couldn’t wrap his mind around the idea, but that, she insisted, was the point.  It was a commentary on Midgardian life at the time; it was crafted to make one think about the possibility of a future similar to it.

            “What do we say?” Sigyn suddenly asked.  Loki brought his gaze into focus, locking in on her.  She was sitting just as she was, but the book was shut and cradled gently in her lap.  He wasn’t paying attention to any conversation that could have happened after she had finished the book, so he was at a loss.  What was she expecting him to say with her? He immediately felt foolish as he saw the children all standing up, some knocking into others as the younger ones fought for balance.  He was so used to “we” and “us” and “those two” being Sigyn and himself; they’d been inseparable since they were younger.

            “Good afternoon, Prince Loki,” the children all chorused, each bowing or curtsying with varying degrees of success.

            “Good afternoon, Prince Loki,” Sigyn repeated with a smile, bowing her head.  It was rare that he heard her refer to him as “prince.”  It only ever happened in front of the children.  If she wasn’t with the children, she was with him, Thor and him, or at a banquet -- he could only assume that she didn’t refer to him as “prince” in her private, solitary thoughts.  “How can we help you?” she asked, once more bringing him out of his thoughts.

            “May I speak with you a moment?” he asked of her, deciding to be polite in front of the children.  She always worked so hard to set an example for them; he tried to help where he could.

            “You may talk quietly with one another,” she told the children before standing up and walking over to him.  The top of her head barely reached his collarbone; when they spoke, it was a game of angles so she wasn’t craning her neck upwards nor was he bending way over.  With plenty of practice over the years, though, they were able to almost immediately look each other in the eye before she spoke again.  “What did you need to speak with me about?”

            “Mother would like to take a walk with you tomorrow evening,” he explained, his voice clearly audible to her over the noise level from the children, but not loud enough to carry over to the children.  “She complained that I had my nose buried in my books today, so she asked me to relay the invitation.”

            She smiled, a small dimple appearing in the center of her right cheek.  “I would love to accept her invitation.  Are you to carry the message back to her, or shall I go see her?”

            He shook his head a bit, though it wasn’t a very coherent response to her question.  “You don’t need to do that.  I am capable of letting Mother know.”

            This time, she shook her head.  “Nonsense,” she grinned.  “I can accompany you.  In fact.”  She tapped her dimple with a fingertip, a tick that alerted him that she had an idea.  “Who would like to go see Queen Frigga?” she asked the children.  All of them perked up, yanking themselves out of their conversations to eagerly answer in the affirmative.  “If you can all be respectful, you can accompany myself and Prince Loki to go see her.  Can you all do that for me?” Again, the children all eagerly answered in the affirmative.  Loki watched, intrigued, as Sigyn lined the children up; she knew which children couldn’t be near each other, which ones should be near each other, which quiet ones would keep which loud ones in line.  What was even more interesting was that each child listened to and respected her like she was there own mother.  She then put the book that had been in her hands on a shelf before coming to him and signaling he should lean over slightly.  He did so, tilting his shoulders downward as she rose to the balls of her feet.  “I’m going to have to carry Sofia; her foot is hurt.  I’m warning you know: she’s very curious.  Be prepared for a great number of questions.”  He nodded, indicating that he would be fine.  She then walked back to the rug where the children had been sitting and gathered a small girl of no more than six in her arms.  It was oddly right to see a child in her arms, he decided.  Blinking, he tucked that thought away for another time as she came to stand by him.

            “Hello, Prince Loki,” Sofia chirped.  Though her foot was bandaged, her spirits were by no means dampened.

            “Hello, Sofia,” he responded, offering a small smile.  “How did a small maiden such as yourself sustain such an injury?”

            The small girl blushed, burying her face into Sigyn’s shoulder, who simply laughed.  “She pushed a boy who said that you would lose in a battle against Thor.  That boy then stood up, pushed her down, and stepped on her foot.  Sofia is a great fan of magic,” Sigyn explained.  She then bounced the small child up and down on her hip.  “You mustn’t be afraid to speak for yourself,” she told her.  “Prince Loki wouldn’t be upset, nor would I.”

            Sofia adjusted her head so that it was still lying against Sigyn’s shoulder, but she was now facing across Sigyn’s chest towards Loki.  “Prince Loki?” she asked.  He made a noise of acknowledgement.  “Are you courting Lady Sigyn?”

            Both Loki and Sigyn immediately blushed and glanced at the other.  He was not formally courting her, and she had no right to be courting him.  They’d been mistaken as a courting pair before, though; it had never bothered them this much.  It was because the question came from the innocence of a child, they both decided.  Peers would tease them that they sometimes acted like they were courting.  Loki was under near constant pressure to being courting a suitable young woman from adults.  To have a child see a deeper, hidden layer in their friendship, though, was highly unsettling.

            “Of course not, silly,” Sigyn smiled, rubbing her nose against the child’s.  “Loki is a prince.  He’s going to court a princess.  Like in all those books I read to you.”

            Sophia frowned, mirroring Loki’s inner thoughts.  He was bothered by the fact that her answer was ‘of course not.’  Why couldn’t he court her? Was this her way of deterring any advances he might present in the future? Surely not.  They got along so well; often times, he couldn’t imagine marrying anyone in fear of losing her.  He was drawn out of his musings when the little girl spoke again.

            “You’re a princess, though,” Sophia insisted.

            Sigyn laughed.  “I’m not a real princess.  That’s very sweet of you to say, though.”

            Sophia pouted.  “Who’s the real princess?”

            “We don’t have a princess,” Sigyn answered.

            Yet, Loki mentally added.  When he or Thor would marry, their wife would be made princess until they both ascended to the throne.

            Sophia gasped.  “Why not? Every kingdom needs a princess!”

            Sigyn smiled wide at Sophia’s distress.  A smile that Loki couldn’t ignore.  He continued to look at her, a smile nudging at his own lips, as he answered the small girl.  “I don’t have any sisters.  It’s only Thor and myself.  You’ll get a princess when one of us marries.”

            “Then just marry Lady Sigyn!” Both adults closed their eyes for a moment at her answer; they really should have seen that coming.  It had been building to that point, but neither saw the trap until it was too late.

            Sigyn’s eyes flew open as small hands clutched at her skirt.  At first it was one pair, then two, before all the girls were scrambling to hold onto her.  All of them, eyes wide, asked her a variant on the same mantra.  “Is it true? Are you going to marry Prince Loki?” No matter how much she hushed them, tried to pull their hands off her skirt with her one free hand, they wouldn’t give up.  She glanced up at Loki, now trapped on her knees as the children clambered around her, but he was surrounded by boys, all of whom seemed a bit jealous of his supposed ability to marry their favorite court member.

            As both of them fought to get the children under control, aware of passersby, a gentle voice managed to pierce through the clamor.  “Oh goodness, children.  Are you all here to see me?”

            “Mother!” Loki softly exclaimed, straightening up at the same moment that Sigyn gasped, “My Queen!” Frigga crouched down and opened her arms, gathering the dozen or so children into a group hug as Loki and Sigyn quickly straightened themselves out.

            “What brings you all out here?” Frigga asked as she stood up.

            “I wanted to accept your invitation,” Sigyn explained with a small curtsy.  “We didn’t think it would turn into such a ruckus if we walked with the children.”  Immediately, though the words had no venom, all the children bowed their heads and mumbled apologies.

            “Why was everyone trying to talk to Lady Sigyn at once?” Frigga asked the children.  All of them talked over each other, but one phrase continued to make an appearance: ‘She’ll be a princess!’ “A princess?” Frigga smiled.  “How so, Lady Sigyn?”

            Sigyn blushed a bright red. She bit her bottom lip for a moment before answering.  “By marrying Prince Loki, my Queen.”  The children made their way back over to her, pulling at her free hand before she spoke again.  “The children believe that I should.  To become princess.  I’m afraid their imagination got away from them.”

            Frigga, without saying a word, took Sophia from Sigyn’s arms and held her out to Loki.  He simply stared at the young girl before rolling his shoulders -- magic-ing away his metal armor -- before taking the girl in his arms.  Frigga then walked back to Sigyn and gathered her in a hug.  Sigyn rested her cheek against Frigga’s shoulder, still blushing furiously.

            “What is this about?” Sigyn murmured, hugging her make-shift mother.  “Not that I’m complaining.”

            “If it were up to me,” Frigga whispered, petting Sigyn’s hair, “I’d let you become a princess.  I can see no one better for this one.”

            “My Queen!” she squeaked, squirming in the hug.

            Frigga held fast, hushing Sigyn as she grinned widely.  “Silly child,” she soothed.  “Surely you must have known of this.”  She let go of the smaller woman before cradling her face.  “I already think of you as a daughter.”  Sigyn couldn’t stop her watery smile.

            “Are you two done whispering?” Loki asked, struggling with a wiggling Sophia.  Sigyn wiped under her eyes with the collar of her top before stepping out of Frigga’s embrace with a stronger smile.  “Are you okay?” he murmured as Sigyn took Sophia from him.  Balancing the small girl on her hip, she smiled and grabbed his hand.  He squeezed it, replying with a small smile of his own, before lifting her hand and kissing the back of it.  She wrinkled her nose at him, though her smile stayed in place.

            “Everyone say ‘goodbye’ to Queen Frigga!” she cheerfully commanded of the children.  Frigga laughed, delighted at the ensuing chorus of ‘goodbye.’

            “Goodbye, children!” she responded before turning her attention to Loki and Sigyn.  “Goodbye, my sweets.”

            “Goodbye, Mother,” Loki smiled before turning his attention to some of the boys at his feet.

            “Goodbye, Queen Frigga,” Sigyn said quietly.  “Thank you.”

            Frigga nodded, but mouthed ‘mother’ at the blonde.  She then smiled at left, leaving Sigyn changed.