Sigil: The Agent of Mischief

Chapter 3 - An Asgardian Welcome

When Emerald could finally breathe again, she was standing in a golden dome, staring at a tall black man in golden armor.  Emerald glanced back at Thor just as he let go of her arm.  "That was more thrilling than the Gatekeeper at Cedar Point when Clint took me!" Emerald exclaimed as she took her bag and walked around.  She stared at the architecture in amazement.  The black man raised his eyebrow and looked at Thor. 

"Emerald, this Heimdall, the Gatekeeper," Thor introduced and Emerald suddenly felt her confidence plummet into her shoes.

"Eh he!  Oops," Emerald said as she approached the Golden Guardian.  "Nice to meet you.  I'm-"

"Emerald, daughter of Loki, the God of Mischief, and Tia the mortal.  I've been watching you since that incident in the park.  I know who you are," Heimdall said.  Emerald sudden felt really embarrassed.

"How closely have you been watching me?" she asked indignantly, putting her hands on her hips.  Heimdall smiled, knowing exactly why she was asking him that.

"Whenever you are with your mortal, I look away," Heimdall told her.  Thor's face went red and he began to splutter.  Emerald realized that, while her father most likely knew, Thor had just been caught unawares. 

"You and Clint Barton have known each other?!" he asked.  Emerald turned to him and shrugged.

"Yeah, we've 'known' each other.  We've been knowing each other a lot actually," Emerald told him snidely.

"But it is forbidden-" Thor started to say before Emerald cut him off.

"So sue me!" she told him and that was when they heard the sound of horses coming their way.

"What kind of father is Loki?" Thor muttered to himself as Sif and the Warriors Three came into sight.  Emerald gave Heimdall one more warry look before she walked to the exit of the Bifrost Gate.  When they pulled on the reigns of their horses, Emerald was standing there with her hands on her hips.

"Hello," she said with a smile.  Sif and the Warriors Three raised their eyebrows at her and dismounted.  Emerald was shorter than all of them, but they could all tell by her posture and expression that she was a little spitfire. 

"Fandral the Dashing!  At your service," the blond man with a pretty beard said as he took Emerald's hand and kissed it.

"Don't bother Fandral.  She's taken," Thor said between clenched teeth.  Everyone heard the tone and they gave him a look.  Emerald rolled her eyes as she withdrew her hand from Fandral's grasp.  Fandral still gave her an approving look before he stepped back. 

"I am Volstagg," the might man said as he came forward.

"Ever heard of Subway?" Emerald asked with a raised eyebrow as she carefully extended her hand.  The voluminous man made a face but accepted her gesture of good will anyway.

"I am Hogun," a darker man said as he approached her.  Emerald could tell he was a little sun spot. 

"You must be the grim one," Emerald said, taking a well guided stab in the dark.

"Loki tell you all about us?" the dark haired woman asked as she came up to Emerald.  Emerald gave her a look and instantly knew that she was Sif, the Goddess of War.  Loki had mentioned all of his old friends, and he had told Emerald that Sif had always been distant to him, but as soon as he left Asgard, her bitterness towards him had shown itself.  

This woman doesn't like who I am just because my father's Loki, Emerald thought to herself.   "Dad may have mentioned a few things.  Like you: he said that you're a tight wad," Emerald said.  Sif hissed at the daughter of mischief, but Thor came in between them.