Hi!!

Sorry this is so short, but I'm a teeny bit busy today, and thought it would be better than nothing! :D 

Enjoy!

Love, Sierra

Chapter Sixteen

~Nobody's POV~

By the time Loki has caught back up with Thea, she has already made her way back up to the blocked-off hallway where Asgardian's stowaways will be staying and is sitting stormily on a bench with her arms crossed, listening to Steve and Tony bicker. Loki sees blood on her knuckles; he guesses that she had slammed her fist into the wall in anger. 

"You should know better than to run off," he scolds her. "What if you had been seen?" 

Thea regards him with an aura of disgust, and then stands up and flounces into her room. The door slams behind her. 

Tony and Steve look up interestedly. "What did you do to piss her off this time?" asks Tony shrewdly. 

Loki pretends he hasn't heard this, and rattles the door handle to Thea's room. It's locked. He tries shouting at her to let him in, but she refuses to even make a sound.

Normally, Loki would have been able to get in there with his magic, but at the moment, he has other things he needs to attend to. Giving Thea's dagger to Steve to give to her if and when she ever surfaces from her self-induced solitude, Loki walks out of the hallway. 

He finds Thor in the stables, helping Leah dismount from a shaggy black pony. "Where's Thea?" pipes Leah immediately. 

Ignoring her, Loki says to Thor, "Brother, if we wish to be prudent, we need to prepare for a visit with Myrinea carefully." 

Thor laughs as he hands Leah a brush to begin grooming the pony. "You worry too much, brother. We have been planning for a week. We may have never seen Myrinea with our own eyes, but she is surely no friend of the Velah. What have we to fear?" 

"Where's Thea?" asks Leah, her tone more and more impatient. 

"Wait a moment, Leah," says Thor patiently, cutting in for his brother, who looked like he was going to snap at the girl. Turning back to Loki, Thor says, "What other precautions could we possibly allow for?"

Loki squints, considering, then says, "She doesn't yet know how to handle a sword." 

Thor regards Loki carefully. Then, he says, "That is a concern I would have thought would bother you closer to Thea's evident encounter with the Velah." 

"We may never get another chance." 

There's some silence, and then Thor says, "Why haven't you volunteered yourself for this task? I would have thought this was something you would relish in."

Loki doesn't respond. 

Thor raises an eyebrow, "Brother, what did Thea do to make you angry?"

"Other than being an expansively stubborn idiot, nothing."

More silence. 

"Ah," says Thor, realization dawning on his now very amused face, "What did you do to her that made her angry?"

"Nothing," snaps Loki, much too quickly. 

Thor chuckles, "Whatever you did, brother, I surely hope that you're going to apologize." 

Loki snorts, "You amuse me." 

"Where's Thea?" asks Leah again, who has apparently tried her best to stay patient while the two brothers had been speaking. 

"In her room," Loki answers dryly, "Which she has locked." 

Thor's eyes are sparkling with mirth, "Very well, I will teach Thea how to employ a sword. You need not worry about her wrath for the time being." 

*

Thea only lets Thor into her room after she is positive that it's him. Even then, she only opens the door a peep. "Yeah?" 

Thor is trying not to look too amused, but he manages to say with a straight face, "I'm teaching you something, if you'd like to follow me." When she hesitates, he adds, "Unless you'd like Loki to teach you instead." 

That's enough for Thea to hastily walk out of her room and walk alongside Thor. "Um, what are we doing?" 

"Sword play," says Thor as he leads her around the throne room, avoiding several guards and courtiers. They head out into the sunlight, which is shining down on them, rays of heat that make Thea blink rapidly. 

"Why do I need to learn how to use a sword?" Thea asks. "I have a dagger." She holds up the star-infused weapon as an example. "And it has a star in it. See?" 

"I see," says Thor, without looking. "But Thea, there are very few ways to kill a Velah. One of them is to pierce them with a star-infused weapon," when Thea looks confused, Thor holds up his hand, "But Velah are also very strong and although a dagger would better be able to protect you from their ilk, it may not be resilient enough to stab through their heart."

I glance down at Mjolnir. "Would that work too?"

"Indeed it would. But both Loki and I think it's wise for you to learn how to employ a sword so that, if necessary, you could kill them yourself." 

"So this is Loki's idea?" Thea asks. Evidently, this isn't something she's excited for. 

"A bit of mine as well," supplies Thor mildly, "Might I ask what he did to anger you so much?" 

Thea's jaw is so clenched, Thor is surprised that she doesn't break her teeth. Then, under muttered breath, she explains what had transpired. 

Thor shakes his head as she finishes, just as the two of them walk across some small meadows behind the stables, well out of sight of the castle. "Well, Thea, I apologize on behalf of Loki. I do not think he realized faking his death would have such effect on you." 

"He should know that by now," Thea mutters. 

"True," Thor smiles gently. "But I cannot imagine that Loki is very limited in what he will do to succeed in anything, even if if is the smallest thing." 

Thea huffs, but doesn't comment further. She is distracted by the sight of a small training field with swords, small blocks, and a few javelins. Fandral is also there, probably as a look-out. 

Thor smiles at Thea again. "Shall we begin?"

*

~Thea's POV~

An hour later, my arms feel like they're going to fall off. The small sword that Fandral handed me is about longer than my arm, but much heavier. The dagger feels as light as a feather compared to this weapon, and the sword is clumsy and slow. It's like transitioning from a motorcycle to an eighteen-wheeler. 

Fandral, as it turns out, is a hilariously cheerful man, and also gives good sword-fighting pointers. Unlike Thor, however, he doesn't go easy on me just because I'm a beginner. He beats me again and again, all the while, laughing as if this is the most fun he has had in months. 

And when I beat him in combat with my dagger, he doesn't even look upset. He just claps me (hard) on the shoulder and says merrily, "Never have I seen a girl so young have such prodigious skill." 

I doubt Sif would like it if she heard that, but the compliment makes me smile. 

Thor doesn't give me a sword of my own, more likely than not because I'm still rather bad at swordfighting. However, he is confident that with practice, I will do perfectly fine. 

On my way back to sneaking to my room, I run into Loki. He raises his eyebrows at me and says coolly, "Are you still not speaking to me, kitten?" 

I ignore his entire presence, whatsoever and stalk haughtily into my room. I unfortunately forget to lock it behind me, apparently, because half an hour later, he appears in the doorway. I promptly turn my back on him and pretend to be fascinated in the column work. 

"You can either eat dinner with us or in here."

"In here." I say shortly. 

"In that case, you can either eat dinner with us, or I'm eating in here with you, and that means it will just be the two of us." I hear the smugness in his voice.

I feel my cheeks flush with anger, and I snarl, "Fine. I'll eat out there. Now get the hell out of here!" 

"You seem so...angry at me." says Loki in a tauntingly obvious voice. 

"OUT LOKI!" 

"You're a stubborn dolt." he says shortly, "I hope you know that, Thea."

"And you're a selfish ass," I hurl back at him. "Now get out before I make you get out!"

"Oh, I'm so frightened," says Loki, sarcasm dripping from his words. 

"You should be. Now get out!"

Loki finally does leave, closing the door behind him. I make a face at the door and then throw the dagger at it. When it strikes the door, with a deliciously metallic clang, I glare at it, as if it were responsible for all the anger I am feeling at Loki right now.

Hope you liked it! Please VOTE and COMMENT. 

Three Tasks Fact: 

I got the idea for this chapter, because although Thea is learning how to fight with a sword, which is obviously different than with a dagger, there's a parallel there. When she and Loki argue, it's usually much more vindictive or (in the case of Thea) violent, but this passive agression is... a different kind of fighting :) 

What sort of music do you like? 

I promise a longer chapter tomorrow! :D

Love Sierra