When Darkness Falls - LOKI - Book One (Editing)

13. Indescretion ✓

     By the time Athelia had left the dungeon, darkness had claimed almost all of Asgard. The suns peaked below the golden towers in the distance, casting a daunting silhouette into the dark purple sky that, for once, she found quite beautiful.

     She strolled through the dimly lit village, her cloak covered in a dusting of snow and her heart finally feeling at ease as the cold swept around her. The stiffness in the air was settling, and as she wandered about, she found herself not wanting to return to her chambers just yet.

     She had no idea where she was going, but her boots left a trail in the snow around the village as if she had been lost. Up and down the roads, taking in everything she couldn't stand to look at in the day with every pass. She had always felt better in the village as it lacked the overbearing glamour of the palace, especially when night had swept the town into a timid darkness. There was no blinding reflection of statues or great slabs of gold carved into the likeness of the gods Asgardian's worshiped, and the stones in which they built their houses refused to glisten in the moonlight - leaving the extravagant world in the dullness that she craved.

     Athelia knew she wouldn't be expected at the palace anytime soon as everyone that she knew was still celebrating, so she made her way across the Bifrost Bridge, hoping Heimdall wouldn't mind if she sat for a little bit. It had become a habit when she couldn't sleep, and she appreciated that the fiercely protective man was also a man of few words - and only conversated with her when she provoked it. 

     "Why are you not celebrating?" Athelia asked him with a small smile.

     "Duty calls, My Lady." 

     She grinned at him, her brows furrowing. "I thought I asked you to call me Athelia?"

     "And I thought you told young Freya that you had no plans on making friends." He quipped back, a playful smile on his otherwise stern face. "The loss of formalities can only mean one thing."

      She let out a soft chuckle as she made her way towards the edge of the golden globe and stared out into the sea of twinkling stars that surrounded them. She had lost count of the days she had spent in this very spot, soaking in the only beauty this world had to offer and one Athelia desperately wished she could someday share with the people of her planet - if not for them to admire, then to prove to them there was life beyond the industrial haze that coated her home planet like a thick blanket. 

     "How was your time in the dungeons?" Heimdall asked her, raising a dark brow as she gave him a stern look. "Have you made any progress with the young prince?" 

     "Not today," she said, folding her hands in front of her. "Have you found anything on the dagger?" She asked in return, hoping the change of subject would not raise a concern with the man who could see all but the world directly around her. 

     "I regret to say I haven't." 

     Her arms folded in front of her as the warmth that had embodied her for the last hour faded, and she shivered. Heimdall had been her only hope in her quest for answers, and though she had been vague when she entrusted him with her request, she didn't for a moment doubt him when he told her he would do whatever he could to help her find some connection to her father and Thor's last adventure. "I am very sorry," he continued. "Perhaps if you tell me more about the dagger -"

     "That won't be necessary," she told him, trying to keep her voice spirited. "Perhaps you may be able to help me with something else then. Your sight allows you to see all realms? Including Midgard?" 

      He nodded in response, but she could read his weary expression clear as day. "This wouldn't have to do anything with Jane Foster, would it?"