Fifteen minutes later, I was showered and ready to go. I was starting to had allocated more time to get ready, given the time crunch I had only time to blow dry my hair before heading back out into the hallway where Thor was patiently waiting.

"Wow," he commented as I came out. "That really was fifteen minutes."

"I like to be on time," I said, running a hand through my now soft hair. "So, you ready?"

"Um yeah, shall we?" he gestured sort of awkwardly with his arm and I left a sense of relief that he was at least just as awkward as I was.

"Yeah," we began walking silent mostly and I wracked my brain trying to think of something to say. I'd never win this contest if Thor didn't fall for me no matter how well I did in the trials. Finally, I opened my mouth, blurting the first thing that came to mind. "Thanks, by the way for humoring me with Eir. It really freaked me out with how weak he got after all that."

Thor smiled and stuck his hands into the pockets of his khaki shorts. I had only just noticed that he had changed his clothes though his button down shirt remained. I was beginning to wonder if the man had ever hear of short sleeves. "You're welcome. I know it must be hard for you, adjusting to all the magic around here. It's not at common on Midgard."

"It doesn't exist on Midgard," I corrected. "It's a thing of make believe. Shame though, I can think of more than a few times where runes would've been useful back home."

Thor laughed. "I bet you would. You train hard, I can see that."

            I looked down at my arm, expecting to see the various bruises Sif had left on me from the previous days training, but they, just like my fresh injuries were gone. Made sense in principle but it still freaked me out just a little. "I try to." I admitted. "Sif's been kicking my ass all week. I've barely landed three strikes on her since we started training."

"She's been training her entire life and she's much older than you," Thor pointed out. "It wouldn't make sense if you could keep up with her."

"True," I allowed as we walked into the foyer. "She's a much better teacher than Loki though, don't think I'll be asking him to train with me anytime soon." I wrinkled my nose as I recalled his merciless beat down. "Gets carried away doesn't he?"

Thor's smiled vanished like snow under a heat lamp. "The Trickster is a fool."

"Trickster?" I repeated. "You guys call him that?"

Thor sighed, his eyes a dark grey. "We didn't give him that name, the Jotun did."

             "He fights against them too?"

            Thor took a moment to answer me. The atmosphere between us changed, became charged and intense. "He and I used to fight them together," he said in a low voice and he wouldn't meet my eyes either. "He was like a brother to me."

I tried to process that. Though I didn't know either of the men very well, the interactions I'd had with both told me how different they were. Thor was more refined and controlled, Loki was so casual and almost wild. The injuries I'd sustained were proof enough of that, though they had been healed.

"You said 'was, what happened between you two?" I realized that was quite a personal question, so I pushed down my curiosity and added, "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

Thor's eyes didn't lighten one shade. "It's alright, it's a fair question. A few centuries ago, I put Loki in charge of a mission to confront a Jotun that on gotten loose on Midgard. I thought I could trust him with the responsibility and I was wrong. I made an error in judgement and I paid for it."

"We all make mistakes," I said, but I realized how useless that sentiment was to him. His grey eyes carried an emotion I knew well. I saw it in the mirror when I thought about Yuki. Someone had died; someone he'd loved.

"Most mistakes don't end in death" Thor told me with a grim voice. "My younger brother, Balder was on that mission and Loki's recklessness got him killed." His laced hands clenched tightly together and I had a horrible feeling that had he been holding anything, it would've been crushed to sand.

"I'm sorry," I said and I tasted something bitter in my mouth again. This time it wasn't from the pill. It was from my own memories. Sorry didn't give Thor his brother back. "I know what it feels like, well sort of. Yuki and I were technically cousins, but we grew up side by side and lived in the same house for over half our lives. She was my sister and even though I know she's gone, sometimes when I open my messages, I'm looking for a notification from her. We never went a day without talking before..." I trailed off, my throat thick.

"I know exactly what you mean," Thor said softly, his eyes blue again and reflecting my own grief back at me. "It's been hundreds of years, but sometimes, I feel like if I just look up, Balder will be right around the corner."

I nodded. "I don't think that ever goes away," my dad's face flashed into my mind. "But it's the price we pay for loving people; I think it's worth it."

"So do I."

We entered the foyer of the manor, a silence stretched between us but not so uncomfortable. "You look nice by the way," he said, a faint blush staining his stubble-covered cheeks. "Sorry I didn't mention it before."

"It's alright," I said, smiling slightly at the compliment. "So, what exactly are we doing today? You said you were going to show me around Asgard?"

Thor smiled again and I saw him toy with the thick leather watch on his wrist. "That is the plan yes. You don't mind heights do you?"

            I shook my head and laughed. "No so much heights as falling from them."

            "That's fair, but don't worry, I won't let you fall."

            If this had been Midgard I would have thought that promise was completely irrational to make. But as this wasn't home and Thor was not like any man I'd dated before, I had a feeling he would have a much easier time keeping that promise than other guys. I smiled at him, suddenly more excited for this than I had been earlier.I didn't know much about Asgard as a place, but I knew whatever I saw today wouldn't be replicated anywhere else.

            "What's first on the list?"

He reached into his pocket, "take this first." Caught between his long fingers was a simple band of braided leather, but as I took it, I noticed it wasn't exactly ordinary either. Runes were etched into the material.

            "What is this? Is it something to make me invisible?"

            "Why was that your first thought?"

            I shrugged. "No idea, maybe all those Greek myths I had to read in high school rubbed off more than I thought."

            "I know what high school is, but what's a Greek myth?"

            "It's sort of like the stories Midgard has about Asagrd and you, but from a different culture. What is this?"

            "I know you said you get sick when you have to teleport, so I asked Eir what we could do about it. He put a charm on the bracelet, if you wear it, it'll help keep the nausea at bay. He just finished it this morning."

            "Oh, thank you," I slipped the bracelet on, surprised by his thoughtfulness.

            "It's nothing," he said with a shrug. "So, ready to go?"

            "As I'll ever be."

            He smiled again and held out his hand to me, which I took. But rather than just hold my hand, as I expected, Thor pulled me swiftly to him so I was pressed against his chest. "Oomph," air rushed from my lungs and his arm locked around my waist to hold me upright.

            "Sorry," he said, "you're not hurt?"

            "No." I said, my face becoming very warm. I opened my mouth to ask why he was holding me like this when just keeping a grip on my hand would work for taking me along in teleportation. However, I held my tongue. I figured I'd find out later.

            "Good." I felt Thor take in a deep breath and something tingly ran over my skin, almost like static electricity. I shut my eyes and not a moment later felt my feet leave the floor. However, the crushing, twisting sensation that I'd been expecting didn't come and when I landed again, the usual nausea I'd come to associate with teleporting was gone.

            I looked at the bracelet on my wrist and beamed. "It works, I'll have to thank Eir when I see him again." I beamed, delighted that I could make use of teleportation now without risking vomiting. "Where are we?" I straightened up a bit, leaning away from Thor's chest and squinted through the dim lighting. Wherever we were, it wasn't the hostel, or hotel I'd been staying at. It was shaded and cool, the trickling sound of water echoing all along the walls. With a cautious hand, I reached out and my fingers brushed something hard and mossy-rock, I was almost sure of it. I blinked a few more times and the dim world before me started to take shape as my eyes adjusted.

            I was in a cave, or rather a series of them, if the far off gaping black holes were anything to judge by. The grey-brown stone was tall, the curves of the ceiling were well-worn, but not so fine that I thought this was made by human, or rather Asgardian hands. I peeked over my shoulder at Thor who was standing behind me, grinning. "I know you don't like surprises," he began, "so I'll tell you where we are. Our first stop on my little tour is a place my people call the Starlight Caverns. A natural series of caves on the western side of the realm."

            "Starlight Caverns?" I repeated, a bit louder than I intended and the sound echoed, as though several of me were speaking at the same time. In a softer voice I added, "How'd it get that name?" That helped a little, but even so, the sound of my voice reverberated back towards me again.

            "Follow me," he said and his bass voice echoed as well, the effect was eerie. "And I can show you."

            "I don't like surprises," I admitted. "They're not really my thing."

"I wouldn't surprise you if I had another choice, but I can't even begin to describe this place." Thor replied, shrugging at me. "And I grew up knowing about this place."

            That piqued my interest. "Fine," I threw my hands up. "I'll go along with it." Knowing how magic ran rampant around Asgard, I had a feeling the name of this place wasn't as literal as I wanted to think. I liked being in the know, but magic wasn't my area of expertise.

            "Great," he smiled, "It's a bit of a walk, but it's worth it. And mind you're step, the path is a bit steep."

            "Thanks for the warning," I said as we made our way farther into the cave. The mouth of the passage swallowing us both and becoming darker and darker the farther in we went. I knew it would only be a matter of time before it got too dark to see and Thor picked up on it as well.

            "You're not afraid of the dark are you?"

            "No, never have been."

            "Really?" he asked, the light behind us growing even dimmer and his features started to become shadowed to my vision. Whether or not he was getting the same picture I wasn't sure. I knew Asgardians outranked me in strength and speed, but I wasn't sure about the five senses.

            "Yeah, why so surprised?"

            "It's a common fear in children. I used to be scared of it, when I was a boy at least."

            "Darkness never scared me," I repeated. "Spiders were another matter though." I shuddered. "Those things are completely unnatural! Nothing should have that many eyes or legs!" Thor snickered and I shot him a look; I wasn't sure he could even see it. The shadows were longer now. Everything was tinged with grey and I was sure as I looked ahead that complete darkness was getting pretty close.

            "Sorry, I don't mean to insult you. I just find it ironic is all. When I met you, you recounted a near-death experience with a Jotun and you didn't look the least bit afraid. And today, when you were sparring with Loki, you were badly hurt and you didn't seem afraid then either. But spiders do frighten you."

"Loki didn't scare me, I knew I wasn't in real danger. The Jotun do scare me. I just try not to think about it, they're not exactly a threat I can handle." I sighed and stopped walking which didn't go unnoticed.

"You alright?"

            "Did you bring a flashlight or something?" I asked, "you might have forgotten, Midgardian's don't have built-in night vision."

            "We don't have that either," he replied, "but don't worry. You'll be able to see pretty well once we get farther ahead. Trust me."

            I wasn't sure what his logic was with that, up ahead looked pretty dark to me, but I stayed quiet. This wasn't Midgard, I couldn't treat anything like it was, not unless I wanted to run into some serious trouble. And when the darkness swallowed us, no trace of the daylight behind us, I realized what he'd meant. Inlaid in the rocky walls were streaks of glowing sliver. Not blinding on their own, but there were hundreds of them crisscrossing the walls. The metallic shade in the dim rock and its cracked patterns reminded me of kitsungi. Grandma Hamda had brought the old art with her from Japan and taught both Yuki and I how to do it, fix broken pottery with gold lacquer. Looking at the silver-streaked walls in the rock now, it was all I could compare it to.

            "Is this why it's the called the Starlight Cavern?" I asked, turning on the spot to watch the silvery cracks. "Because you can only see this when it's dark?"

            Thor smiled, his blue eyes flashing metallically in the new light. "Sort of us, like I said, it's hard to explain."

            "This is so cool," I said, smiling. "Wonder if this is what glow worms look like."

            "Glow worms? What's that? An animal on Midgard?"

           "Yeah, in some States, they live in caves like this and if you're quiet, they light up. I've never actually seen them. Massachusetts doesn't have things like that. I did always want to see them one day though, visit the caves in Alabama that had them. Supposedly it's one of the most spectacular ones in the world." I shrugged, "Not sure though, not much of a world traveler."

"You said you wanted to travel."

"I do, but funds are tight," I shrugged, "and my mom wouldn't have taken it well. She didn't take my leaving Boston for this well either."

"Your mother?" Surprise colored his voice so I explained further.

            "Don't get me wrong, I love my mom, but she's...anxious about everything. It's not hard to imagine why,I mean her parents died when she was eighteen and then her husband died when she was in her thirties-she's lost a lot of people." I omitted Yuki, Thor already knew about her.  "And it made her fearful-she can't stand to be alone. That's why my uncle moved in with us after Dad died and why I haven't traveled more than twenty miles from Boston. Until now at least." I heard the bitterness in my words and I winced at them. "I know I sound like a terrible person-."

            "No," Thor interrupted, which caught me by surprise. He hadn't done that before. "You don't sound terrible. I know exactly what you mean."

            "You do?"

            "Not exactly that situation but I have a good friend who's a bit like that. Kindest person you'll ever meet but not always reliable in a crisis."

            I breathed a bit easier. "Well, I'm glad you know what I'm talking about. I've said similar stuff before and it didn't go over well." I was about to say more, but the path was changing, became steep and narrow. I moved slower, watching inches ahead of me and bracing my hand along the wall for extra security. Probably wasn't going to be easy to carry on a conversation now.

            "Need help?"

            "No, I got it, but thanks anyways." I didn't mind the slower pace, it gave me time to take note of my surroundings. Dimly, several feet up ahead, I could see a light and not the metallic glow that my eyes had gotten accustomed to during this leg of our hike, but blazing light. "Hey Thor, what's up ahead there?"

            "Our final destination," he replied, "just keep moving, I'll be right behind you." Well duh, I thought as I moved, the path was too narrow to walk side by side now. "But whatever you do, when you reach the opening where the path widens out again, don't walk out by yourself."

            That caught my attention. I remembered all too well how powerless I'd been when the Jotun had attacked us in that store and how both Loki and Sif had beaten my butt every time we sparred.  "What's up there?" I asked, hating that fear was creeping into my veins like sickness.

"Don't worry,"he said fast, apparently catching onto the fear I was trying to hide. "It's nothing that is going to attack you- it's just a safety measure. Trust me." I heard Thor clear his throat behind me. "Which in retrospect is a lot to ask considering that you don't really know me."

            I appreciated how frank he was about that. "Yeah, but I trust Sif and she thinks the world of you. That's good enough for me."

            "You and her get along? Her constantly beating the tar out of you day in and day out hasn't built any resentment?" I could hear the amusement in his voice and I rolled my eyes.

            "She hits me harder than Mathew did, but I appreciate that she doesn't take it easy on me. Long-run it's just going to hurt me."     

            "Who's Mathew?"

            "My partner; has been since the day I joined the BPD. Great guy, great officer. He actually got me into this fighting style called Krav Maga when we were paired up. Kicked my sorry butt most of the time. Still does-when he can catch me at least. Speed is the one place I have him."

            "Sounds like you two are close."

            "He's like the big brother I never had," I said cheerfully. "Hey, what's that?" I saw a bright, blue-white light pulsing ahead of me, not blinding but still painfully bright compared to what was behind me.

            "You're seeing a really bright light?"

            "Yeah."

            "That's our destination, get up and over and wait for me." The phrase was more ominous than I liked but I moved, one foot in front of the other up the narrow hill and made it over the crest where it widened out and leveled. I could still see the bright, dancing light but I stepped aside and remained where I was, waiting for Thor just as he'd instructed. I wasn't sure that this light I was seeing was dangerous, but appearances were deceiving and on Asgard they were doubly so.

            I heard a grunting behind me and Thor made his way up as well and shrugged. "I love the cavern, hate how narrow that gets."

            "It wasn't so bad."

            He gave me a blank look. "Look at me and then look at you."

            Considering he was at least six feet tall and much broader in the shoulder than I was, so that made my statement look pretty stupid. "Then why didn't we just teleport to here?" I asked, pointing downwards to illustrate what I meant by "here". "It would've been easier."

            "And miss the journey?" Thor shook his head. "No thanks. Now, we just need to get around this bend, but keep your hand at the level of your eyes and stay close to me-this can be a bit blinding and I don't want you to get disoriented and fall. That wouldn't be good."

            I raised my hand automatically to eye level. "Thanks for the warning," I said even as we began to walk and sure enough, the moment we started to turn, the dancing light turned brilliant, so bright it hurt. "Wow," I managed, closing my eyes against it. "This is intense."

            "Give your eyes a second to adjust," Thor advised, his gruff voice tight and I realized the light was bothering him too. I could've made a sarcastic comment about how that was my only choice, but decided against it. After several seconds, the assault on my senses lessened and I took the risk to lower my hand. "Is it safe to open my eyes yet?"

            "I think you'll be okay," Thor's hand slid into mine. "But just in case, I need you to hold my hand for a bit okay?"

            I cautiously opened my eyes and gasped in surprise. We were in another cave, but not like one I'd seen before. The stone walls, towering high and curved above us as well the jumbled green vines and moss around was familiar, but the source of light was not. Rather than creeping in from some sort of opening, or cracks of silver in the walls, there was a large pool in the center of the place. It looked like LED lights, but even that was wrong, but it was all my mind could compare it with. The stuff inside the rock basin was changing colors. When I'd first seen it, it was bright, blinding white. But now, the color was cooling, darkening to blue.

            "What is this?" I asked, too dumbstruck to even try and guess as I tried to absorb the breathtaking sight.

            "How the place got its name-its star light." I turned my head to stare him. "No, I'm not kidding," he said, reading my expression. "This is starlight."

            "That's not possible."

            "This isn't Midgard," he reminded me.

            "You can take a girl out of Midgard but you can't take Midgard out of the girl," I remarked, edging closer to the glowing substance which was now turning from the clear blue to a ruddy, orange-red. "Can I get closer? Or is that not safe?" Though the place was beyond beautiful, Thor's warnings hadn't gone from my mind completely.

            "It is, but be careful. Don't try to touch it."

            "Well of course not, stars are just burning balls of flame. Or they're supposed to be." I was seeing stars in liquid form right now so that point was sort of moot. I let go of Thor's hand and edged closer to the pool of light. This close, I could see that it wasn't all one color, as I'd previously thought. It had flecks of yellow, glints of midnight blue-all the different colors that flames had.

            "Cool huh?" Thor asked, edging closer as well.                      

            "I'd say it's a severe understatement," I muttered transfixed as the main colors changed again, shifting from the ruddy shade to a bright red. "There is nothing even close to this on Earth. How did this get here?"

            Thor shrugged. "The story goes that a star just fell here and the magic in the caves-what you saw coming here, mixed with it and created this."

            "Is that a story or is it the truth?"

            "Depends who you ask." Thor said with a shrug. "It happened before we had written records."

            "When did that happen?"

            "When your Vikings existed on Earth. We learned their system and adopted it."

            "So all the runes I keep seeing around here, those are from Earth?"

            "Yes."

            I looked out at the glowing pool again. "So if I fell into this, it would kill me?"

            "Likely," he admitted. "We've never had Midgardians here before, but I know what it could do to me if I fell in, so I don't think it's far-fetched to think it could do worse to you."

            "What would happen to you?"

            "Pain," Thor said simply. "Agony beyond words."

            The starlight in front of me suddenly looked more sinister. "Would it kill you?"

            "It hasn't happened yet," he replied. "But some have gone mad from it."

            I swallowed hard, shivering with revulsion. "I think I'd rather die." I cringed internally, realizing how morbid I'd turned this conversation. Too late to take the words back now.

            "I would too," Thor replied, looking at me strangely. "If I had to alive but not be me. It doesn't sound like a life. Not one I'd want to live anyways." He sighed, lost in thought a moment as his eyes-now iron grey, stared across the starlight which had turned back to white again. I wondered what he was thinking about, but I decided not to ask. "You ready to go? Or would you like to stay here a little longer?"

            "I'm ready to go," I said, "this is beautiful but I don't want to push my luck staying here." This place was like standing on a cliff, a breath-taking view for sure, but not an edge you should stay on long if you valued your neck. "What's next? Is this a stop you can explain to me or do I have to be surprised again?"

            Thor sighed. Apparently he'd been hoping for a different answer. "I'll do my best, but some of these things I have no idea how to explain; not to someone who won't have anything to compare it to. This one I can though; ever hear of the Yggdrasil?"

            "Yes," I saw surprise flicker over his face. "Sif mentioned it. The Tree of Life? That's what we're going to see?"

            "Yep, but this is where we compromise. You know where you're going, but you have to close your eyes." At my dry look Thor threw back his head. "Oh come on! Let me have a little fun with this!"

            I caved. "Fine," I shut my eyes. "Just don't lead into any walls or other solid objects, okay?"

            "Okay," Thor's warm, calloused hand enveloped over mine and not a second later, a slight rushing sensation, the teleportation at a lessened stage (God bless Eir and his bracelet) and even though my eyes were closed, my other senses realized I was no longer in the cave. I could hear the high-pitched chirping of birds, a fresh, clean breeze was sweeping across the place, chasing away the damp smell of the Starlight Cavern and I grinned as I felt long grass tickle my legs.

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New chapter! Thor's not bad for planning dates is he? Who else would love to see the Starlight Caverns? (By the way, they're not part of the Norse lore, I made them up.) As always, COMMENTS and VOTES are wonderful!

Write on! :)