HIDDEN (#1, Gods Among Us)

Chapter 37 - Spatial Manoeuvers

The next couple of weeks leading up to our trip to Australia were packed with training. Since Loki was taking a few days away from filming his series so we could spend time with Thor's mortal family, he had even less time on Asgard. It gave Mist plenty of time to help me practice air fight manoeuvres.

"Yes!" Celebrating, I pumped a fist into the air.

Finally, I'd managed a ten-metre aerial climb at full speed, with a flip off the top, landing behind Mist gracefully and silently, having slowed my landing for stealth. It was the first time I'd completed the entire sequence at speed, with no mistakes or slips.

"That was absolutely perfect. Now do it again. Speed and stealth."

Mist was a hard taskmaster, but I didn't mind. She drilled me so I could do the manoeuvres over and over, correctly, and without thinking about them. After I'd mastered each one, it gave me the confidence to combine them in unexpected ways.

Again, I raced up into the air, flipping to land silently.

"Now do it from the opposite direction."

Quickly, I repeated the sequence with a single slip. Annoyed at myself, I repeated it again, and again, and again, backwards and forwards, for the rest of the day.

"Now do it with a random step pattern upwards, not a spiral," Mist told me the next day.

While harder, it was also more unpredictable, so an enemy wouldn't be able to anticipate my movements. After several days, she had me running up and down in the air.

"Now forward dives with a roll, instead of steps."

Again, it took me several days to keep the distance of the air support with me through the dive and roll, but eventually, I could combine it with steps, dives, and rolls in the air.

As I got better, I got faster, and we started to spar in the air. I didn't need to specifically think about the air supporting me anymore. Instead, I was manipulating it instinctively now, thinning it to increase my speed, thickening it to slow me down, and provide a push or support from the direction I needed. My training was serious, and this was essential for my protection. But it was so much damn fun. We had to stop numerous times to catch our breath from laughing.

Mist and I were giggling like loons after some mid-air, hand-to-hand, where we'd both been entirely upside down. Kara had been shouting suggestions up at us and was shaking her head at our antics.

"Are you two going to come down anytime soon?"

When I tilted my head from where Mist and I floated, I found Loki smiling up at me. Amused, I shoved Mist's head off my abdomen. She'd been telling my unborn son about her awesomeness and how she couldn't wait to meet him.

Mist shoved me back playfully as we landed next to Loki. "Shannon's skills have really progressed. Our warrior princess will give you a run for your money now, Loki."

He tugged me into his arms. "I'll have to test that... after our son is born. Until then, I'd be fighting my instincts."

"I know." As I tilted his head down, I leaned up to kiss him with a quick peck on his lips. "I'm hungry! Let's eat!"

"You are always hungry now," Mist complained. "Your son is a bottomless pit!"

It was true. Between the pregnancy and the energy I burned with the training, we were having to take more breaks for me to eat and recharge. Healer Moja had warned me to watch my energy levels. Although the baby was putting on weight as he should, I'd noticed my face had thinned out a bit.

"By all means, let's feed both of you. We could all use a break." Kara led the way to the lounge, near the training grounds.

"I want carbs. Oh! Pasta looks good." I looked over the offerings on the buffet table. Taking a plate, I heaped it high with chicken bacon pesto pasta primavera, two slices of garlic bread, and Caesar salad. "I hope you are having some of this, love, because I'm eating lots of garlic!"

Loki laughed. "I'd kiss you regardless, darling," he said, even as I noticed he made the same choices.

Kara shook her head when she saw my plate. "Given how much that child has you eating, I think he'll challenge Thor for his appetite once he's born!"

"All teasing aside, Loki, I think we need to figure out what Shannon is the goddess of, so she has more recharging her energies," Mist added as she sat down with her plate. "I'm concerned about her energy usage."

"I completely agree. Have you noticed feeling more energetic in certain circumstances or environments, Shannon?" Loki asked.

"Sex with you always revs me right up," I quipped, and laughed as Mist and Kara clapped their hands over their ears.

"Oh, for the love of all the gods! We don't want to hear about your kinky sex life!" Kara complained, wrinkling her nose.

Loki grinned. "But we have such fun!"

"Ugh! Shut up! Seriously!" Mist said, as she threw a bread roll at Loki.

He caught it and bit into it, chuckling. "Okay, other than sex with me, since we know you must also have a fertility god or goddess in your genes. Anything else? You might notice it not so much as feeling energetic, but perhaps a sense of calm, peace, or just rightness. I'm not sure how else to explain the sensation."

I thought about it, considering what he meant. "In the past, I'd have gone for a hike in the forest around my home, or for a swim in the ocean when it's warm enough. That's where I've felt the most content."

"We have a few hours before we need to meet up with Thor. I haven't taken you out of the capital yet. Why don't we go for a walk in the Mimameidr Woods? It's a forest of towering redwoods even Thor can't put his arms around, out past the western gate of the city," Loki suggested.

"I'd love that," I agreed, as I finished up my plate. "Let's go!"

"Do you two want to come?" he asked Kara and Mist.

They looked at each other for a minute, then smirked.

"Nope, we don't need to witness any of your freaky sexcapades. There is only so much brain bleach in the world," Mist teased in a mock disgusted tone.

I rolled my eyes as I stood to leave. "Whatever, losers. We are going for a walk, not sex against a tree!"

Loki's eyes glinted. "Why darling, l love how your mind works. Later ladies!" He tucked my hand in his elbow as he led me from the room.