Endlessly

Laufeyson

After the prince and majordomo give you some final words of wisdom, Aster removes his large, midnight-blue cloak and wraps it around your shoulders. While the lavish fabric of it could easily catch the attention of a well-trained eye, its dark color and large hood will certainly help you mask your identity as you find your way to Loki.

"Thank you." You nod, unexpected tears welling up in the corners of your eyes.

"May the Norns guide you." Aster gives you a reassuring nod, before taking a step backward and sliding one hand onto the small of Bragi's back.

Bragi takes a step toward you, whispering the word "Dróttning" as he reaches his palm outward toward you. The golden glow of his seidr illuminates the space between you just enough for you to see his lips mutter something under his breath right before he shoves you backward and you begin to fall.

Once again, there is the blinding flash of light before you're consumed by total darkness; but this time, the feeling surrounding you is different from when you'd accidentally fallen into the roots of Yggdrasil. This time, you are most certainly being plummeted upwards. You twist your fingers around Aster's cloak, pulling it tightly around you as you attempt to keep your equilibrium.

To the land of the gods.

Once you become aware that you are no longer moving, you open your eyes, only to be forced to snap them immediately shut again. The warm, blinding light surrounding you is so overwhelming compared to the dark corridor you'd just spent the last several hours wandering through, that it brings tears to your eyes.

You force yourself to open them again, blinking rapidly to ease the burning.

You know without a doubt that you've arrived in the correct realm, as the smell of the poppy and milkweed fields flood your senses. The unbelievably soft grass and clover tickle the skin of your heels, composed of that enrapturing silkiness that you've only ever felt in one place before.

Asgard.

You force yourself to fully open your eyes, only to have a sob leap from your chest, catching in your throat.

The palace.

It's only a few hundred meters away.

You pull the large hood over your head so it drapes over as much of your face as possible and bound toward the castle as quickly as your feet will allow.

As you near the palace, you swing wide to avoid the attention of the guards at the front gate, edging your way down the foothill that leads to the rear entrance used by the kitchen staff. Nearing the small doorway, you push yourself up against the smooth rocks at the base of the castle's foundation, cautiously sliding yourself closer to the sound of the clamoring staff.

You'd snuck into the palace kitchens once- in fact, that night happened to bring about one of your fondest memories of Asgard. You and Loki had slipped away into the observatory, far past the expected curfew of a Lady, and shared a large tankard of mead. He'd teased you that night, for the first time you think, but perhaps it was just the first time you'd taken notice. It was a benevolent kind of teasing- he'd grown to have quite the affinity for making you blush.

That night, he'd teased that you were far too much of a "good girl" to sneak into the kitchens and steal an extra portion of the raspberry pastry that was served as dessert after the evening meal.

And that night, you proved him wrong.

It hadn't taken you long to heed the fact that Loki had quite the sweet tooth, and you knew for a fact that a part of his taunting was fueled by a genuine desire to indulge in another portion of dessert.