Chapter Text
“There, there, Zera, that’s it…”
Zera’s mother watched her hands glow as she touched a pot in the kitchen. The water inside had just begun to boil, confirming her mother’s suspicions that Zera was gifted with heat as well as with light.
“Fine work, little one,” she said. “You almost rival Loki.”
Zera sighed. “Loki’s quite talented, mother. I don’t see need for rivalry.”
Her mother’s gaze on her daughter remained pleasant. “He’s talented because he gets the attention of a prince. You are a servant. To be as talented as someone with formal training makes you even more impressive. And you have to be impressive.” Her mother ran her fingers through her daughter’s red curls and shook her head. “You have to prove that you belong here, dearest.”
The girl had heard this speech close to a thousand times before in a thousand different ways. “You have to be twice as good to get half as far!” It was about as droning and repetitive as a drunken bard.
She understood her disadvantage. She was only half-Asgardian, she had dark skin, she wasn’t thin. But she didn’t feel the need to be reminded of something she saw in the mirror every morning.
Besides, her fate was set, she’d grow up to work alongside her mother in the kitchen, and when her mother became too old, she’d take over. If she was lucky, she’d marry someone and have a child of her own to train. But that would only happen if she were very, very lucky. Regardless, she was still very much a child herself, and there were days where the work, and her magical training, became a little difficult to stand.
Zera’s salvation came in the form of Prince Thor poking his head around the corner. She spotted him and let out a small gasp, he pulled his head back.
Her mother eyed her. “What was that, child?”
She cleared her throat. “Nothing mother…” She kept her eye on the doorway, she could still see a bit of Thor’s hair. “Mother, may I go for a walk? I’ve been in this kitchen all day, and it is stifling.”
Her mother smiled and kissed her on top of her head. If she knew where her daughter was really headed, she’d never let her go. As fond as she was of the royal family, she didn’t want her daughter getting involved with them, or getting her hopes up about them ever being equals. Zera had become close friends with both of the young princes, but she feared they were perhaps too close, and didn’t want to see her daughter’s heart be broken.
“I expect you back in under an hour, today’s lessons are far from done.”
Zera kissed her mother on the cheek and ran out of the kitchen. Once out of her mother’s sight, Thor grabbed her hand and they snuck down the hall, trying their hardest to suppress their giggles.
Thor led Zera outside of the palace and into the garden, they ran through the fields of flowers, and then into the forest. In the center, there was a group of trees that’d grown in such a peculiar way that they created a sort of hideaway. The two had been to that tree dozens of times, they’d even carved their names into the dark bark.
They sat inside of their hideaway and Zera caught her breath. She sat on her heels to avoid getting her clean blue dress too dirty.
“We’re going to need a bit of light, Zera,” Thor said.
His voice was only beginning to crack, and it was noticeably deeper than the last time they’d been together, which had to have been a month ago. She’d certainly missed him and, judging by the smile on his face, he missed her too. They were both changing, but their bond didn’t change.
“You cannot possibly still find that trick the least bit amusing,” she told him with a giggle before rubbing her hands together, creating sparks of warm light. It was dim at first, gradually becoming brighter. She opened her palms and the light shone between them, lighting their faces with a gentle glow.
“Still amusing,” Thor told her.
“Why are we out here, Thor?” she asked.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a necklace with a purple stone hanging from it, and he held it towards her. Zera smiled and gently took it from him. “My mother told her maidens to get rid of it, but I saw it and I thought of how it would compliment your green eyes.”
She looked up at him and then looked away. “Thank you, Thor. It’s gorgeous.”
“May I put it around your neck? Would you mind?”
She shook her head and lifted her hair up. He fastened the necklace around her neck and grinned. “I’m glad you like it. Will you wear it always? As a token of friendship?”
She nodded, batting thick eyelashes. “I’ll look at it and think of how you so often get me in trouble.”
“I don’t mean to!”
“I know you don’t mean to.”
He smiled at her and reached out to touch her hair, which was done neatly into three braids at the crown with the rest of her curls flowing freely. There were tendrils of s-shaped curls framing her face. She almost looked like her mother.
“Pretty…” he whispered. “Like the flowers in the garden.”
“Thank you, Thor.”
The light between them began to dim, which was perfect to conceal the sweet look in Thor’s young eyes. Zera quickly rubbed her hands together to bring it back. “My apologies, my mother tells me I’ll master that in due time.”
He nodded. “You will. My father says he’ll teach me to properly wield a sword next year!”
“Brilliant, Thor! You’ll be a great warrior.”
“I hope you’re right…”
“Are you nervous?”
He adamantly shook his head. “Never.”
“There’s no shame in it, Thor. I get nervous a lot.”
“What helps?”
She shrugged. “I have to believe in my heart that every problem has a solution, just as I believe that you will be great.”
“I will remember that.”
She started laughing again. “You almost have the voice of a man yet you still have the chubby face of a boy.”
Thor blushed. “Loki sounds worse than I do.”
“I doubt it!”
“He does, he sounds like he is croaking.”
"You sound like you are croaking, eldest son of Odin!”
“I give you a necklace and this is my reward?”
Zera nodded and ran out of their hideaway and Thor chased behind her. They ran back into the palace and he almost tackled her to the ground when he caught up to her. Frigga and Loki, who was reading a book of magic, spotted them and the queen smirked.
“Greetings, Zera,” she said. "Greetings, Thor."
Zera pulled away from her son and straightened out her dress, curtsying as she was told to do in the presence of the royal family. While she was extremely familiar with Loki and Thor, she hadn’t had as much contact with Odin and Frigga, they still made her remarkably nervous. “Greetings, All-Mother.”
“You look very pretty today, Zera, did Lady Cathenna braid your hair?”
“Yes, my mother braided it, All-Mother.”
“Zera, you know you don’t have to be so formal with me… Say, is that my necklace?” Zera shrunk, thinking she was in trouble. “It suits you. Exquisite choice, Thor.”
“It is a token of friendship!” Zera told her.
Loki laughed. “Right… Friendship. A gift of jewelry to a pretty friend. Thor is so friendly.”
Frigga noticed the blush on Thor’s cheeks and suppressed a pleased grin. “Ahem, focus on your studies, Loki.”
“I’m very focused!”
“Zera, we should start walking back towards the kitchen before your mother gets irritated,” Thor said.
“Wait, Zera, we should practice magic together sometime soon.” Loki said. His eyes moved to Thor’s. “That should be fun.”
Thor started gently ushering Zera along. “We really must be going, goodbye mother, goodbye Loki!”
When they left, Frigga crossed her arms. “Loki, that was unfair.”
“He’s never going to tell her how she feels, I’m expediting the process, mother.” He smiled. “No harm in trying to help my brother be happy is there?”
“Part of me thinks you’re also doing it to see the reactions from Lady Cathenna and Audhild, and that’s not very kind, Loki.”
“Well, Audhild, certainly. I doubt she’ll be able to restrain her emotions once she catches her Thor in Zera' arms.”
Frigga rolled her eyes. “Such a troublemaker, you are.”
At the doorway of the palace kitchen, Zera tucked the necklace into her dress and adjusted it so that the stone didn’t protrude. She touched it again and looked up at Thor.
“When do you suppose we shall meet next?” she asked him. “Please don’t make me wait another month to see you.”
He grinned. “I will meet you here again in two days.”
“It’s set then. Thank you, again, friend. The necklace really is lovely.”
“Anything, Zera. You know that. All you have to do is ask.”
She hugged him and rushed back into the kitchen and, as he always did, he left with a smile on his face.