You leaned up and kissed Loki's cheek when Thor and Bucky were gone. "Is there a shower somewhere in this palace of yours?" you teased, but you really did feel disgusting for not bathing in days. It was extremely polite of your Loki not to point out just how gross you were.

Loki chuckled. "No showers, darling, sorry. But I can ask the maids to prepare you a bath if you wish," he offered instead.

You couldn't help huffing at that. "Again with the maids," you grumbled sarcastically, still not used to being pampered. Or maids, or really any of this, but you'd play along. This wasn't your culture and you could respect that things worked differently here. You didn't think you'd ever get used to "But if that's what it takes..." you sighed. You'd put up with maids to get properly clean.

Loki stepped into the hall and stopped one of the maids. He asked her quickly to prepare a bath for his lady in his chambers immediately. You couldn't help smirking, amused by his change from sweet, caring boyfriend, to prince of the realm. The maid bobbed a curtsy and rushed off to make sure Loki's orders were obeyed.

You stood and stretched, a little wobbly-legged, and feeling the strange sensation of your lungs and heart actually working, but you were relatively ok, especially given what you'd just been through.

You couldn't help glancing at the end table where the cake had been and pouting. "Guess your mom is like mine. No cake unless you finish your meal," you whined at Loki. It was hardly fair not to get cake when you fell asleep before you could eat it.

Loki chuckled and made the cake reappear. "I vanished it because my idiot brother was going to steal it," he reassured you quickly. You lit up in delight and quickly devoured your chocolate cake with a moan of pleasure. Loki chuckled at your enthusiasm.

When you finished the cake, Loki herded you quickly to his chambers so you could bathe and change into proper clothes instead of grungy sweat-soaked pajamas. The maids helped you bathe and dress in a slightly different black and green asgardian style gown, it wouldn't do to wear the same dress again. You were reluctant to let them help you bathe and see you naked, but it had been worlds better with their help.

Loki was predictably reading when the maids were done with you. You curled up next to him on his sitting room's couch and kissed his cheek. "Hey, Lokes," you greeted him warmly and kissed him when he looked over at you from his book.

He smiled brightly and happily returned the kiss. "I simply adore you in my colors, kitten," he purred.

You laughed. "Of course you do, silly noodle. You're quite fond of claiming what's 'yours'," you made the finger quotes as you teased him.

Loki laughed and kissed you softly. "Wearing my colors means something here, darling, besides just telling the other nobles that you are off limits to be courted,"

You nodded. You understood that and you didn't mind, especially when Loki's colors looked so good with your coloring. You remembered something else that you were going to ask. Loki's comment sparked the memory. It hadn't seemed important to worry about then, but now that you were back on Asgard... "I meant to ask earlier, but we kinda got distracted by other things..." you paused and held up your right hand, which bore the ring Thor had given you for your birthday. "Hammer-brain made it sound like there's more to this ring than just that all the noble ladies wear them. What's the real reason behind the tradition?" you asked Loki bluntly so he wouldn't be able to squirm out of an answer. You didn't want a nasty surprise at dinner over your ignorance on the subject.

Loki was surprised by the question for a moment, but nodded his agreement to answer your question. You gave him the time he needed to find the words he wanted. "It is true that all of the noble ladies of Asgard wear them. Thor giving it to you at your birthday was a way to show that he and Mother approve of you. They would not have made sure you fit in among the other nobles of Asgard if they did not," you knew it meant a lot to Loki that his brother and mother approved of the woman he was courting. Mostly that Frigga approved. Loki paused before he continued. "The other tradition of the ring is that," he paused again, looking for the right words. "The lady will give her ring to her gentleman suitor on the day he proposes marriage to her, an exchange for the ring he presents her," Loki explained in careful terms that said he wouldn't be pressuring you to marry him. He leaned in to kiss you softly, tentative, worried. "Are you alright with that?" he asked gently. He didn't want you uncomfortable with Asgardian customs.

You kissed him back, pondering what he'd said. You had noted his careful words, his lack of pressure, and his simple explanation. "It's good to hear that they approve," you replied and stole another kiss. "And thank you for letting me know about the tradition, I just wanted to be prepared. You never know with that brother of yours..." Thor liked to tease and wasn't always the best at explaining things.

Loki chuckled. "Too true, darling. Now, would you like to go find Bucky and my aforementioned idiot brother?" he asked warmly, enjoying the simple pleasant conversation.

You couldn't help laughing at that. "Bucky yes, I'm sure he's overwhelmed at being off of Earth and he's our friend so we should be nice to him. The oaf?" you shrugged. "Could care less about finding him," there were times Loki greatly appreciated you going out of your way to reassure him that you preferred him to Thor.

Loki laughed, knowing what you were up to, and you could see the appreciation in his eyes. "Then let us go find the Cyborg," he said and took your hand to lead you wandering through the palace looking for your friend.

You giggled and held his hand as you wandered the palace with him. "You realize the morons probably have him trapped in their lair, right?" you asked after you'd been wandering awhile.

"True. I just wanted to show you more of my home before we have to deal with the imbeciles," Loki replied warmly. He had been showing you around the palace and pointing out interesting sights as you walked. You smiled and wrapped both of your arms around one of his. You were still his ball of sunshine, that hadn't changed with the transition to Asgardian.

You noticed the looks you were receiving from the palace staff. You knew some were about you, about how bright and sunshiny and unlike the prince you were. They were also amazed at how different the reserved prince was around you.

Unfortunately, you both had to face the inevitable and brave the lair of the morons. When you opened the door to their lair, you saw they were doing their best to get Bucky drunk. So you and Loki had to go in to save him.

More unfortunately, you were spotted by the warriors three when you entered their lair. "LOKI! AND HIS LITTLE LADY!!" they boomed and hauled you both further into the room.

Bucky was sitting on one of the couches with Thor, dressed in Asgardian clothes, a mug of ale in his hands. Luckily for him, the serum Hydra had used on him when they were replicating Steve's had made his metabolism as good as Steve's so he could actually drink Asgardian ale.

Loki glared at everyone in the room. He was willing to spend a small amount of time with them. On his terms. "You are not to try and get my lady drunk. She is in no condition to deal with you lot right now. She just got out of the healing wing and Mother will skin all of us alive if your actions lead to her ending up back there," he warned them firmly.

"BOO!" they complained loudly.

"You're no fun, Loki!!" they whined

"No, not this time," Thor interjected quickly. "Loki is correct. She just got out of the healing wing today and Mother will wring all of our necks if we cause her to end up there again," none of them wanted Mama Frigga killing them. Thor did at least get them to stop trying to shove ale into your hands. You didn't know if you'd be able to tolerate it now, and you weren't in the mood to find out.

Loki, of course, got ale shoved into his hands.

He scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"Come sit with us~!" The morons also seemed to realize that the way they could get Loki to stay was by making sure you couldn't leave. So they tried to herd you to one of the couches. They surrounded you and tried to steer you to the couch. Bucky jumped to his feet to help you.

You tried to summon a blade, but your magic fizzled out. You were too drained from the transition and didn't have enough power.

However, the lovely little staff Loki had gifted you with wasn't limited by such restrictions as low magic. You slid your ring off, flipped it and caught the staff in one move before you swung it firmly with both hands, straight into the side of Fandral's head.

Fandral went flying away from you and the other morons backed off quickly.

Loki chuckled. "Darling, you do know that isn't what the staff is for, right?" he teased you warmly, though you could tell he was glad you appreciated your gift and that it worked for you when you were too low on magic to summon your own weapon.

"It's not?" you asked too innocently while Fandral cursed from where he was lying on the floor. You were breathing heavily from just that bit of exertion. Your lungs and heart weren't used to working that hard anymore. "I would have just stabbed them, but..." you didn't want to admit to them that your powers were basically shot. Loki would understand though.

He nodded. "I understand," he promised as his arm wrapped around you and he guided you to sit on one of the couches so you could catch your breath. You let him steer you to the couch. You were glad the idiot boys seemed to realize that they'd overwhelmed you and backed off.

"I forgot...How much... Needing to breathe... Sucks ass," you told Loki softly as you fought for air.

You noted that the warrior boys were all watching confused. "Her heart beats now," one of them said stupidly. Your heart was racing, in fact, so it wasn't odd that the men had noticed, even as drunk as they were.

"No... Shit... moron..." you wheezed in reply