Choices

Chapter 15
Seraphina hated that her sister had gone with Loki. She was such a docile and kind girl that Seraphina was sure she was going to get hurt. They had argued right outside the throne room when she had made the offer.
"What are you doing?" Seraphina had said pulling her sister to look at her.
"He needs someone Seraphina," her sister said with wide eyes filled with sadness, "everyone is against him. You heard everybody, they all instantly thought it was him."
"Because it was HIM." Seraphina puffed out an irritated breath. "He is dangerous and unstable. He knows nothing about empathy and he takes joy in other's pain. Why would you want to be friends with that?"
"Because I can look at him with an open mind. You have judged him from the beginning. His brother and his friends have taken to making jokes about him behind his back in the arena. It's clear he is the black sheep."
"You pity him?"
"No, he dug his own grave on this one, but I think that, with a positive influence, he could learn to change." Cephera frowned.
"Change? Maybe he is not meant to change."
"And how will we know if he is never given the chance." The look in her sisters eyes at that moment, that pleading hopeful look was the only reason Seraphina had let her go. Now she couldn't stop thinking about what might be happening. It had been three days since their departure.
She stalked into one of the practice yards. This was were the veteran warriors trained daily. The clash and clang of weapons were the kinds of things that she found peace in listening to, but today she was not content to listen. She grabbed a spear that had been leaning against a wall and stepped down into the sandy pit. There were mutters as the fighting stopped. "Show me," she demanded more so then asked. She was in a foul worried mood and needed to beat up someone. A few heads turned to look toward Odin. She hadn't noticed he was even there. He looked at her and she stared back. He gave a single nod and his warriors turned back to her.
Seraphina smiled as she parried, rolled, and met blow for blow. The warriors were very well trained as she was brought to the ground again and again. Each time she hit the sand she got back to her feet with a wider smile than before. She felt a thrill running through her much akin to how she felt when she took charge over a man in the bedroom. It took a while for the men around her to become comfortable with her being there, but once they did she realized they were holding back. However, she was trained to fight from the moment she could walk, just like every one of her kind. Even her sister Cephera, though she didn't display it. Most thought her weak, but they were very wrong.
She watched their movements to learn them. She was not insulted to be defeated, but instead took it as a learning curb, what had they done to defeat her? She had bruises along her hip and her legs. Her arms also held signs of the battle. Her face was dirty and her hair askew, but Seraphina wasn't one to quit. She continued to take the onslaught until a horn sounded for dinner.
"You fight well ... for a girl." One man said to her. He sounded almost mocking and yet he sounded slightly surprised.
"One day I'll take you to your back." She promised him wiping her sleeve across her face only succeeding in marring the dirt further across her nose. The man laughed and with a short bow he left with the others. Odin had watched the entire exchange. Seraphina joined him with a feeling he was waiting for her.
"This is something you do often?" He asked curiously.
"Yes. All Mechanovians are trained to fight from a very young age. We pride ourselves as warriors." Seraphina told him.
"It's not often we see women who can battle here. Most are content to stay at home while the men fight. Over the centuries, it has become a social norm for woman to be excluded from such dirty tasks."
"You sound as if you are not surprised a woman can fight? Thor was certainly surprised."
"Cultures have a way of singling out those who might be different. A larger amount of people see the battlefield as a man's job, though I know of a female who is very adept at fighting. And have seen many in my years. I was surprised to see it of you, you are still very young. We have a lot to learn about your people." He smiled and led her inside.
"Sif wants to learn to fight." Seraphina commented.
"Yes, I've heard. This is where the problem lies. It is not wrong for her to want it, but she belongs to a family who are very set in their ways. They see a battle as something that would stain a women's hands red with death and break her. They believe, like most, that death is not a burden any woman should bear, least of all by handing it out by her own actions." Seraphina frowned.
"We see death in battle as honourable. Even though women tend to be physically less stronger than a man, she still has the capability of being just as good. I'm sad for Sif. She has a passion for battle, I can see it when she speaks of it. She wishes to be a warrior."
"She doesn't have the ironclad nerves needed for it." Odin replied. "Perhaps one day she will." Seraphina knew this to be true. To see Sif breakdown over something like her hair proved she was not ready for battle. You could lose much worse in battle than just hair. She wasn't strong enough yet. She was still an emotional woman who couldn't separate herself from those emotions yet. To be a warrior, you cannot allow oneself to break into tears during battle, no matter the reasons.
"I should wash up." Seraphina noted looking down at her hands.
"Would you like me to send a healer for your minor wounds?" Odin offered.
"No. They will heal on their own." Seraphina replied with a smile. Odin gave a nod and went his separate way.
(Loki)
Their horse had thrown a shoe, that was what delayed their return to Asgard. It took near a day to find a small town to tend to the horse. The area they were currently in was not able to be reached with the Byfrost, not without destroying something and Odin had also given instruction so that Loki's journey would not be that easy to get there and back. He was made to work for the hair he now had in the satchel he'd brought with him.
They were now in the middle of a wooded area. It had grown dark only an hour after shoeing up the horse and Loki hadn't wanted to ride through the night. Cephera was sat across from him on the other side of the fire-pit he'd created. Oddly, the younger princess hadn't bothered him once with questions like he thought she would. He had expected her to prattle on the entire journey, but instead she was silent, too silent.
"I know you felt you had done the right thing. That you made a point that you are not to be insulted, but why?"
Loki rolled his eyes. He knew the question would come eventually. "Why? Is it so complicated?"
"No, I just find it odd. You clearly held some kind of feelings for Sif and yet she deserved this for saying some badly choiced words."
"She insulted a prince." Loki snarled.
"And had it been Frigga, your mother. If she had insulted Odin and he had humiliated her that way would that have been acceptable?" Loki froze staring at the princess unsure how to respond. The thought of his mother being put through anything like that made him feel nothing but anger, which, he supposed, was what Cephera wanted.
"It is not the same, my mother is the queen. She is my fathers equal, Sif is below me."
"But not so low as to deserve your desires? You are a confusing man, had you courted her and married her, would she not have become your 'equal'." Loki growled and slipped a hand through his hair. He hated this conversation. It was causing feelings of regret to rise up. Feelings he felt he shouldn't have to feel for what he had done, and yet he felt them.
"Perhaps I overreacted," He finally said after a very long silence.
"What's done cannot be changed, but I'm sure Sif would be happy to hear a heartfelt apology, not just a forced one." Cephera gave him a soft smile, almost triumphant. He could have hated her for it, but he didn't. He sat thinking of the past few days and how differently things could have ended.
Loki looked at his student a long moment. It hadn't escaped him what she had done. She made him feel bad for his own actions. Where everyone else had simply yelled and became angry over what he had done, she just pointed out the situation through a different view. A simple tactic that worked far better than he would ever admit. He had overreacted and yet he couldn't help but still feel that Sif deserved something. Some form of punishment. Perhaps in the future he would be more careful to create his punishments as a more subdued and secret approach. After all, it would be well enough for him to know he had done so without anyone else knowing.
"What are you thinking?" Cephera's voice pulled Loki from his thoughts. He had been staring blankly at her this whole time.
"I was contemplating what to train you in next." He lied so easily. Not even a second thought ran through his mind as to the excuse he would give.
"And have you decided?" She leaned forward with great interest. Loki smirked at her eagerness. At how easily her mind was taken off his actions that had sent them on this quest.
"Well, invisibility seems to be something of a struggle for you and so perhaps we will return the lesser magics such as lighting minor fires." He leaned back against a tree crossing his feet at the ankles.
"I don't know why you jumped past so many minor spells anyhow." She commented tilting her head to study him. Loki only smirked. He had a reason for wanting her to learn how to become invisible, but there was no need for her to know it.
"Get some rest. At the crack of dawn, we ride and we'll be in Asgard by dinner time." Loki closed his eyes slouched against a tree. He heard the soft sound of her lying down on the bed of grass, at least she wasn't complaining about the lack of a bed, she wasn't as spoiled and stuck up as he had once thought she'd be.
Her sister was another matter, he hadn't forgotten her role in all of this. He would have to step lightly on how to enact punishment on her. A way that even Cephera would not know it was him. It wasn't so much that he feared what Cephera might think, but he saw her as his key to proving his worth to his father. That his time spent with magic was not a waste. He would make the princess into much more than she was. He had let his anger take him over and could have easily frightened Cephera off, but she had proven she wasn't so easily scared. This was a good thing.

Notes