No sooner had Foreseti pulled me from the hole that another change occurred; the mud pit shifted, vanishing and the warm air dropped, the change like a punch to the gut as icy air cut at my exposed skin and wounds like  a whip.

"H-holy shit,' I gasped, the curse slipping from my lips before I could stop it. "It's cold."

"Is that any language for a queen to use?" Even in the shock of the cold, I knew that voice. I turned my head and saw Loki approaching us, dressed for the weather in heavy looking coat and a long sword hung on his leather belt. He wasn't the sort I pegged to enjoy weapons but I let it go, I had a more pressing matter on my mind.

"What are you doing here?" I hadn't forgotten our last meeting, though my injuries had fully healed.

"I'm the second to last member of your squad Officer," he said with a smile that made my stomach turn as he flashed a bracelet embossed with the same symbol as Sif's tattoo. "Now hold still," he beckoned towards me, which made no sense and I was about to tell him so, as much as my chattering teeth would allow when the slushy mud began to float off me and the complaints stopped dead in my throat. "Did you know what sucks the heat out of your body faster than air?" he asked, cocking his  at me while he shrugged off his coat and held it out to me. "Here, put this on before you turn blue."

The mind-numbing cold cut through my resistance and I removed the makeshift rope from my shoulders and slung on the coat. I expected it hang on my frame, but the moment I slid my arms through it, it shrunk to accommodate me.  A variation of a shrinking spell I was sure. I looked once at Loki, who now stood only in a thermal shirt and pants.

"Won't you get cold?"

"No," he said, undoing his belt as well and handing it to me as well. My gaze flickered between him and the sword that he'd offered, not sure what to make of the gesture.

"Sif said I wouldn't get weapons."

"No, she said you wouldn't be given one unless you made it or took it from someone else." Loki corrected, rolling his eyes. "I was allowed to bring one in and I figured you'd need a better weapon than a stick." He said, eyeing my stolen staff with disdain for a moment and this his form rippled like and his back bowed and twisted until a black and white Siberian Husky  stood in his place. I sighed and the frigid air burned my throat lungs.

"Nod your head if you can understand me." I asked, tying the belt around my waist and just like the coat, it shrunk to fit. The heavy weight of the sword against my hip made me fell off balance but I wasn't going to turn my nose up at the gift no matter who it was from. With what still awaited me, having an extra weapon seemed like a good idea.

Loki furry head bobbed down once and then he looked back at me with wickedly intelligent eyes.

"Is anyone else here that you know of? Anyone who entered the arena with you?" I amended, recalling Sif's instructions before I entered the arena. She told me I'd have three allies before I reached the mountain.

He shook his head sideways; that was a no and I mentally back tracked through what I'd seen  upon entering the arena. There was one last obstacle outside of this; the mountain. If there was another person waiting, they would either be there or father into this landscape. i had to admit that I hoped it was the latter. "Let's get moving," I said at last, fixing my eyes across the vast, white landscape to the mountain on the far side.  "We stay here and we'll freeze." I slid my vine-ropes over my shoulder. "Loki, take point on this, if you smell anything that isn't us, bark twice. Foreseti, get that axe out and stay close, I don't like this." The white area was just like the field, flat, open and with nothing to cover us in anyway; the perfect place for another ambush and my shoulder was still stinging from that arrow. I was not eager to repeat that experience.

We moved slowly across the white field, cold wind cutting through Loki's warm coat like knives as I tried to peer through my frost-covered eyelashes for any sign of attackers or my last ally. So far my eyes could see very little through the thick flurries. What little I could make out was simply a  flat landscape covered in layers of ice and snow. It changed little until I spotted sheets of dark blue ice spreading out before us, the glossy surface just visible through the wind.

"Hold up," I said, turning briefly to Forseti and Loki padded to a stop next to me and sat down on his hunches, looking curiously at me.

"See anything?" the red head gruffly, hefting his axe and looking around warily.

"Still nothing but ice and snow," I replied, looking out as far as my limited vision would allow and the dark blue coloring spread out as far as my eye could see. This was a lake I was sure of it and it left my stomach in knots as I faced a dilemma.  Going around would be safer, I knew that already. Avoiding it all together would guarantee that none of my little group would fall through, but I had no idea how much time I had left and I still had a literal mountain to climb.

"What's going on Suzume?" Foreset asked gruffly and I shrugged.

"Just a lake, looks solid but I could be wrong."

"No big deal, we can't risk teleporting when visibility is this bad, but Loki can just turn into some flying creature and bring us over."

"No way," I said, my voice lost as the wind howled through the snowy plain. "This wind is too strong." My arm shaking as I shivered, I reached with my staff and tapped the end on the sheet of ice. It made a dull clunk against the glossy surface, but it did not break. It was slightly comforting but even so, I couldn't stop the slow dread pumping through my system.

"We have to walk across."

"Alright," Foreseti said gruffly, "Loki can change into a polar bear and-."

"No," I cut him off, shaking my head. "He's not going to transform into anything larger than what he's at now."

"What?" The indignation in his voice was clear and I turned, glaring at the red-headed man. I hadn't liked him much when we first met, thinking he was the sort of man who thought kindness was currency for sex. That impression had been wrong but now I had a better idea of his real flaw; he was argumentative and I didn't have the time to deal with it.

"This is an open area and we could be ambushed at any moment. If that happens, you're a more experienced fighter than I am and I need you at your best." I discarded the stiff coil of braided vines from my shoulders and let it fall. It was too hard to be a good rope now. I then removed the sword and belt from my waist and then looked at Loki.

"Can you carry this if I tie it around you?" I was more comfortable with the staff, but Loki couldn't carry all the weapons we had between the three of us and stay underweight. The sword was the more practical choice whether I liked it or not.

Loki nodded once and his long tail wagged. I took that as a yes and secured it around his thin frame as best I could. I then looked over at Foreseti who was looking at me with disbelief in his eyes. "Give Loki your axe, he can carry it in his mouth. I'm going across first, you will follow behind me and if the ice breaks-."

"That's exactly why I should go first," Foreseti interrupted. "I'm bigger than you!"

My thin patience snapped. "You don't have to like my orders, you just have to follow them. If I get across in one piece, I'll whistle and you can follow. Loki will be on standby to grab you out if the ice breaks while you move. He'll do the same for me, need me to repeat any of that?" I directed the phrase to Loki as a question and to Foreseti as a scolding and thankfully, both men got the message.

Loki shook his head no  and Foreseti grumbled but stomped forward, snow cracking under his boots as  held out the axe to Loki. He took it gingerly from him and then looked back me, waiting expectantly. "You'll have to leave your shield as well." I told the red head and he rolled his eyes. Disrespectful, but I could live with it so long as he listened to me and he did, slinging the object from his back and dropping it onto the ground.

I checked Loki once more, just to make sure the sword was secure and then I looked out across the shining lake and swallowed my fear. I had a trial to win. "Follow me," I said as I took my first step out onto the ice. "And be careful."

I expected, the ice nearest the shore was thick, it held my weight as I moved, Loki padding alongside me. I made my steps careful, slow and shuffling to so I wouldn't fall. The farther out I went from the shore, the more my pounding heartbeat drowned out the wind.

The farther out we were from shore, the more the risk that the lake was frozen by fewer than five inches and would give under my weight. I had hope for Loki, but even then, I had my concerns. I knew we wouldn't drown, these trials weren't designed to be fatal and I knew if it got too close, Thor and his men would intervene. Death wasn't my concern, failing Yuki was. To do that would be unimaginable and that was what kept me moving forward, farther and farther into the uncertainty that awaited me once i reached the center of the lake where the ice would be thinnest.

Though I could swim just fine, I knew the shock of the cold water could paralyze me and then, it'd be up to Loki to bail me out. The prospect of being at the mercy of the Trickster freaked me out. I knew he wasn't going to let serious harm come my way, not with Thor watching but I also didn't trust him. Though he claimed to be an ally, I had a terrible feeling that he'd just as easily sabotage me in the trial as help me pass-!

My worried thoughts scattered as the solid ice shifted under me and sharp crack echoed across the frozen terrain like a bullet fired from a gun. My stomach dropped as gravity's merciless power took hold and I plunged into the water.

The air was knocked from my lungs as I submerged, the black water like knives against my skin, burning cold and unforgiving. I wanted to move, tried to swim but the agony in my body make my movements slow and jerky. My lungs screamed as I pushed towards the surface, every cell in my body crying out for air.

White bubbles rushed against my numb face as I broke through the surface. The wind had died but the cold remained, I could feel my hair getting heavier and brittle as it froze while I clawed frantically at the surface of the lake, trying to hold myself above the water but it was no use. It couldn't hold me. The ice splintered under my stiff fingers and I felt gravity hold me in it's grip again, I was going back under-.

Something massive swung under me, bursting through the surface and I tangled my hands into the thick white fur, knowing I'd fall back without it. Loki looked towards me, the battle axe still in his mouth, though much smaller now that he was a nine hundred pound polar bear.

"T-thanks," I managed through my numb lips. "F-Forseti?" I wished I could've been more articulate, but I feared any attempt might end with me biting my tongue while I attempted to talk and shiver at the same time.

Loki jabbed his snout towards the shore and I saw a Foreseti's flame-colored hair on the color side. Of course, now that the white out conditions had passed, he could safely teleport to the other side. I had a nagging feeling that was intentional but the thought didn't stay very long as the shoreline disappeared from my line of sight and I found myself out of the water, light as a feather and then the ground came back up to meet me. I fell off Loki's back, limbs trembling and shivering so hard my jaw began to ache.

There was a clatter of metal . "Hold still," Loki said and for once I heard no mocking amusement in his voice. If he'd been anyone else, I would've said he was concerned. The weight on my hair and clothes left and there was a pattering of hard objects falling to the ground. I hadn't been able to see it, but I was sure Loki had pulled out the same trick he'd used to clean all that mud off me when we'd first got here.

"T-thanks." I said, stumbling to my feet. Though I was no longer soaked my body was still reeling from the fall into the frigid water. My fingers and toes throbbed with pain, an ache that went right to my bones. "Let's move on."

"We should have gone around Suzume" Foreseti huffed at me as we walked. The wind was still gone thankfully, so we had a clear view. I could even see the reddish-brown mass that was my last obstacle-the mountain.

"It was part of the test," I told him, unsure if my lack of shivering was good or bad as Loki returned my sword to me. "They kept the wind going so we couldn't teleport and gave us a time limit so we couldn't go around. We were forced to walk out on that ice." I hadn't realized it then, but I saw it now. Frankly I wasn't sure if my choice had impressed Thor or anyone else watching but I didn't have time to dwell on it.

"Well I'm sure you failed it," the ginger growled. "You were an idiot." At that I gave him a scowl worthy of Officer Burns, my former teacher at the Police Academy.

Anger flared in my chest like flames. It chased away the cold and I looked over at Loki. "Shift into some kind of bird and fly ahead, if you see anything unfriendly, circle back and warn us."

"Yes ma'am." A second later, Loki was aloft in the grey sky and Foreseti moved to follow him but i wasn't having it. I grabbed the tall man by the back of his shirt, halting his stride and glaring at him.

"Let go of me."

"Happily," I replied tersely, "but let's get one thing straight alright? You're allowed to dislike my orders, you're allowed to complain too but under no circumstances are you allowed to insult me in front of my peers. You have a problem with me, you say it to me one on one, is that understood?"

Foreseti looked away from me. "Yes...ma'am."

I released his shirt. "Glad we understand each other. Now let's go." I took one step forward and the tundra surroundings melted away. The cold air became dry and hot, much like a desert. A long, dark shadow hung over me and I looked up heart beating slowly in my chest as I saw the rough, red mountain looming over us.

We'd made it to the last obstacle.

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Surprise extra update this week! Felt like doing a little something to celebrate my birthday lol! This is much more fun than work! Dedicated to a new reader, RoyalJJ12; thanks for reading girly! You're comments made my birthday that much brighter!

New chapter; Loki is involved and that's certainly going to be interesting! Time will tell if he's there to be helpful or cause some mischief!  And in regardless to the cliffhanger-I regret nothing!

Write on! :)