Chapter 3.1 Coming Together Part 1

After leaving the Midgardian town they were in, it took about two weeks for Thor and his men to get back to their guild. Just seeing the outskirts of his settlement filled Thor with a unique happiness that always rose from within whenever he returned from a mission. Once they finally made it into the settlement, Thor couldn't keep a smile off of his face. Seeing the faces of his people again put him in a good mood, and he couldn't help but point everything and everyone out to Loki as they passed landmarks or people in the settlement.

The community wasn't as run down as Loki originally believed it would be, but it could use some work. He just hoped the money they received from King Surtr would be used to help fortify this settlement. Loki was also relieved to see that there were some Jotnar in this settlement, and found himself wondering what his life would be like now that he was actually here.

He nodded along politely when Thor pointed out various places or people to him, making mental notes of his surroundings and the people of importance that Thor showed him. When they got close to the home that Thor resided in, Loki was surprised to see that it was so small and wondered why there was a woman outside waiting for the Aesir. "Is that your wife?"

Thor almost scoffed when Loki asked this and shook his head, wanting to reassure the niouvi. "No, that is Sif. She is… an old friend."

"Are you married?"

Thor shook his head no again. "I am not. You will be my first and only wife."

Being the first wife of a man was a high honor, and Thor telling him that he would be his only wife was astounding. Polygamy was quite common in all of the kingdoms of this land, and he was fairly shocked that Thor felt this way about their impending marriage. "Really? You're Drott of this guild; it's uncommon for a ruler to only have one wife."

"I am not like other men."

Thor's answer was curt, and Loki was surprised to see that Thor had a dark look on his face. The Aesir didn't seem to be upset with him, but it appeared that the issue of polygamy was something that pained Thor to speak about, so Loki dropped it, not wanting to do anything that could possibly jeopardize his remaining here with Thor as his wife. "Well, I'm relieved to hear that."

He wrapped his arms a bit tighter around Thor's torso then, hoping to draw him out of his mind and whatever dreadful memory was brought up by the issue of polygamy. Thor relaxed from his touch, so Loki sighed softly in relief, beginning to wonder why Sif was waiting outside of Thor's home. She seemed confused to see him riding behind Thor on his horse, and Loki decided that he would remain silent in order to gather information from her exchange with Thor.

Thor was also confused to see Sif outside of his home and pulled at the reins of his horse until it came to a complete stop. "Sif… why are you here? Has something happened?"

The woman blushed slightly and shook her head, tucking a section of hair behind her ear. "I was hoping we could celebrate your return. I can make your favorite dish… we can share a bottle of wine… and see where the night takes us?"

Sif's love for him made Thor quite uncomfortable, and he hoped that by marrying Loki, she would take the hint and back off. "I'm afraid I must decline. I will be quite busy for the next few days." Climbing off of his horse first, he helped Loki down next, praying that Sif would take his polite rejection and leave him alone.

Instead, the woman eyed Loki up and down, thinly laced annoyance on her face. "Why have you brought a Jotun here?"

"This is my intended, Loki."

The woman inhaled sharply, her thinly veiled annoyance turning into overt jealousy. "What?!"

Thor honestly didn't have time for her and sighed, walking his horse to its stable and leaving her behind.

Loki was amused to see Thor be so dismissive and laughed softly, unintentionally catching the woman's attention.

"Who the hell are you?"

Looking the woman up and down, Loki scoffed, an unimpressed look on his face. "Are you hard of hearing? I'm going to marry the man that you can't accept wants nothing to do with you." She drew back like she'd been stricken, which made Loki laugh again. It looked like he guessed right. "I hope you didn't think I was a person with no tongue, love. You can't just walk around saying whatever you like and believe that no one will respond in kind."

Sif sputtered, full of indignation. "Where did Thor find such a despicable man like you?!"

Loki noticed Thor returning and sighed, shooting the woman another unimpressed look. "I'm not in the mood to go back and forth with a lonely woman that I barely know. Please leave."

"I will do no such thing!" Huffed Sif, crossing her arms. "Who are you to demand that I do something?"

Thor was annoyed to see that Sif was causing issues and frowned deeply, coming up to stand beside Loki. "Sif, please leave. I don't appreciate your attitude with my betrothed."

Now the woman seemed hurt and looked down and away from Thor's disapproving gaze. "...Fine. If that's really what you want."

Loki was surprised that Thor stood up for him - a part of him originally worried about Thor being annoyed with him for snapping at the woman - and patiently waited for him to unlock the door to his home, beginning to wonder if Thor expected him to live here in this small house for the rest of his life. "Your home is… smaller than I expected."

Thor looked around once they entered his home, not bothered by the quaintness of it all. "We can have a large home built for us after we marry."

"When would you like to officially get married? Jotnar do not live with their intended until marriage." Asked Loki, looking around at Thor's place and taking it all in. There was a small living room with two couches and a coffee table, a small kitchen, and a small dining room, with what looked to be Thor's bedroom off to the left side of the house. Loki's closet back at the palace in Jotunheim had been bigger than Thor's entire home, and he frowned when he suddenly realized that he was going to have to get used to living a significantly less grand life than he was used to.

"Then we can get married tomorrow afternoon. Aesir weddings always take place at high noon." Stated Thor, heading to his kitchen. "Are you thirsty? There's a well out back that I can get water from."

"Some water would be nice," Murmured Loki, still looking around at Thor's place. He began to wonder if Thor would expect him to cook and clean and frowned deeply as he realized he would have to learn how to do those things now that he would be living without servants.

There were many things that Loki realized he would have to do differently now and it made his heart race a bit. Thor asked if they could conceive on his wedding night, so that meant in nine months, he and Thor would have their first child. He would be responsible for this child, he would have to cook, he would have to clean, and this was on top of being a Drotta. Before he could psych himself out completely, Loki decided that he would sit down and ask Thor about his expectations and looked up when Thor reentered the home, following him into the kitchen. "Betrothed?"

Thor opened up a cabinet and pulled out two cups, pouring water into them. "Yes?"

"What are your expectations of me?"

Thor handed Loki his cup of water before taking a sip out of his own, thinking about the question seriously. "I would like help running this guild. Because we are not affiliated with a single kingdom, our existence is a liability. I would also like it if you could help train other users of seidr in this settlement if they want to grow stronger."

Humming softly, Loki sipped at his water, mulling over this. "How many people are in your settlement?"

"About 2 million, I believe. I personally have 100,000 men in our guild that I command, and most of my time is spent organizing their missions and the like. As Drotta, I need you to help with the actual running of this settlement. I have a council of ten that helps me run this settlement as well, so you'll be working closely with them."

This was definitely something that Loki could do, and he nodded, trying to determine how he would do all of this while taking care of children. "What about our lives at home? Are you expecting me to cook? To clean? How will I raise our children and be a Drotta without help?"

Thor had honestly never considered any of this and frowned, trying to come up with a solution. "Uh… I suppose I can hire a cook and a housekeeper after we get married and our new home is built. Until then, I suppose that we can make meals together… will this work?"

Loki had no idea how to cook, and blinked rapidly a few times, processing Thor's statement. Admitting a weakness to anyone was something that he was not fond of doing though, so instead he nodded, telling himself that he would research how to cook once he could get his hands on a book. "This works."