Part 13: Vanaheim

Years had passed since he banished me. The people of Asgard had truly grown to accept Loki as their king, due to him being a fair and kind ruler who was still suitably stern, just as his father was. People had forgotten his act of treason and learnt to move on with their lives. Thor had never grown suspicious as he had not visited Asgard since he left. Yes. Things have changed very much.

After years of fair ruling, surprisingly, Loki decided to open the gateways to Asgard, with some security to tell him if anyone left, yet no one did. By opening the gates Loki had further instilled trust into the Asgardians. All of this seemed to be impossible all those years ago, but now all was forgiven and everyone had learnt to move on.

Not only that but, Loki had set Ake with a new job, to be Loki's advisor. Which I suppose made some sense as Ake was a very wise man, I always wondered if Ake ever knew the reason to why Loki banished me, he never came looking once the gates were opened so had he forgotten me? Had he bought into what ever lies Loki told him? Rumour had it that Loki would make Ake his successor if he did not produce an heir. I could imagine Ake as king easily, he was everything a king should be. But that only shows how brilliant Loki was at manipulation, he had even fooled Ake into believing he was now reformed. Lies I had not been sucked into.

During my time in exile I had become aware of how males treated me, how they used me. I had not allowed myself to fall into the same 'stupidity' I had before in Asgard. Well to be honest, any male who treated me with disrespect was executed or flogged. Things in my life had changed too and I would be more than happy to fill you in.

Years earlier:

After Loki had banished me I cried for days on that grass, screaming Loki's name into the stars. I felt betrayed and used. But soon my screams caused my throat to feel swollen and misused, I got up slowly from the ground I had been laying on for days, and looked at my surroundings. I saw lots of wood and greenery, it was a beautiful sight and I had some clue as to where I had been banished to, at first I had thought that I was in Midgard, but Midgard is not as clean or as green, that left one place.

For a few hours I wondered through a large forest until my legs began to buckle beneath me, I fell to my knees and felt myself begin to cry again, why had Loki banished me to Vanaheim? Vanaheim is a realm also ruled by Gods- Vanir- who are believed to be a different race compared to the Asgardians, they have power over weather, fertility and crops, they are supposed to be wiser and have the ability to see into the future, and even though all of this is true, Asgard is still the realm eternal.

As I cried the clouds above opened and a refreshing rain fell gracefully onto my body, and with this rain I began to feel cleansed. I looked up into the sky with a small smile and closed eyes, it was the most exhilarating feeling I had ever had. As more time went on I heard a snap in the woods surrounding me, my head turned into place and my eyes searched the trees.

I saw something shift and jumped to my feet, only to see a man whom I recognised well step out "I know you, you're..."

I struggled to find his name in my mind so he finished my sentence for me "I am Fandral" I saw a man with blonde hair and light eyes, one of the warriors three.

"From Asgard?"

"Yes" he said lightly, like he had almost forgotten "you're from Asgard?"

"Yes I am... How did you..."

"I was banished with my fellows by Loki" I felt close to him now, though I had never met him, he knew what was happening to me, he had been through this before.

"As was I" I held my hand to myself and smiled.

But he did not "I am now prince Fandral" wait... Rewind! What in the nine realms was going on? My eyebrows furrowed as he bowed to me "come, we should get you out of those wet clothes"

I looked about me for other signs of life "we?"

"Yes" he said it plainly as if I was supposed to know "come" he ushered me forward and then I followed his lead, to a large palace built of stone, more humble than the house of Odin... Or Loki. It looked like a medieval castle from the text books on Midgard, it was simple but very tall, there were guards stationed outside and I imagined it to be impenetrable.

He lead me inside to a throne room, with many thrones "I don't understand" I looked about me confused, from my knowledge Vanaheim already had its own royal family.

A woman with hair as black as Loki's stepped forward, a wide grin on her face and wide, open arms "greetings Asgardian, to what do we owe this pleasure" I recognised her as Sif and she was fashioning a tiara in her dark braided hair, she had on a long silver and red dress, she did not sound like Sif or look like her but I knew it was her.

"I'm sorry... I don't understand what's going on..." I stuttered out eventually.

"Come over here" to the side of the room was a small table, we sat at opposite ends of each other "when Loki took power in Asgard he banished us here, we tried to get back but every gateway was sealed off, some Vanir found us and declared us royals as we had come from Asgard, they married Fandral and I..." A look of disgust filled her expression "... And Volstagg and Hogan became our... Special guards"

I looked around to a large man with a beard, in armour, and a second small man in armour too, he was Vanir I could tell from his face, they both held spears and stood before the thrones "am I dreaming?"

She laughed for a moment "no I'm afraid not" she looked around and then leant in close "I can tell from the smell of you you're a warrior, you must not use that here"

"Why?"

"I am certain they will make you their princess too and you may not be an aggressive royal, they will not approve" her arm reached out for mine, she and I were similar, and she had already been through this, so she must have known how hard it was going to be. No one knew much about Vanaheim, they were a private and peaceful race of person, I didn't know how they worked but I found it strange that they would make Asgardians royals just because they are Asgardian.

It wasn't long before the ruler of Vanaheim came into the room and did exactly as Sif had predicted, she declared me princess, just like that. It was like I was living in a surreal world, nothing seemed certain for a while. But I was guided by Sif and the other three, who had become my closest friends, and suddenly, everything became normal. I had learnt to be the perfect princess, suppressing the warrior wasn't hard, I had basically been doing that in Asgard.

Until... The Vanir decided I needed a husband "why me" I groaned in my chambers as Sif rubbed my back.

"I would take your place but..." She held up her hand with the wedding band wrapped on her finger.

"Thanks but I wouldn't let you" I gave her a small smile.

She sighed "I wouldn't be able to anyway, even if I wasn't already married, they'd marry off the youngest, you're... Purer" I could tell her statement didn't make her any happier but I suppose she was right.

"Great" I sighed deeply and then a thought came to me "I won't have to marry Hogan or Volstagg will I?" then all of a sudden she exploded with laughter, and started fidgeting around the bed we were perched on "what?" I said through a quiet giggle, giggling at her.

"You thought..." Then she started laughing again, eventually I joined in as I saw what an idiot I was being, but it didn't stop me from wondering who they were going to pair me off with, from the sound of Sif's marriage I didn't have much of a choice who married me.

Then I was called for a meeting with the highest of the royals...

(A/N not much is actually known about Vanaheim so I can't delve into this leader person, and I have no idea how their system works compared to Asgard so I'm winging it)

... She was a stunning lanky woman with curly long blonde hair and brown eyes "do you understand?"

"Yes"

"Are you sure Eerika, because I need you to understand why we must do this" she looked at me with such sincerity and purity I knew I could have faith in her, she and Sif had guided me for the last couple of years and they were my family now.

I swallowed hard "I understand" but was my heart in it?

"Good. We are planning not to marry you to a fellow Vanir"

"Wait what?" I stepped back a little, everything I thought my life would be wasn't true, yet it wasn't a lie, it was based on my own assumptions, I always assumed that if I were to be married then it would be to Vanir.

"We would like to help form an even stronger alliance between Vanaheim and... another realm. Since the war between Vanir and Aesir, things haven't been quite the same, even though yes, we did put our differences aside"

I took a second to think over her words "which realm?" She took a deep breath and then knew she wouldn't tell me, but she already had. She mentioned the war between Vanir and Aesir, the Aesir are Asgardians. Suddenly I had a deep sinking feeling in my stomach and I wanted to throw up "at least tell me who I shall marry" I thought I already knew and it made me sick.

"We aren't sure"

"Aren't sure?!" My voice began to rise "aren't sure? There's only one royal in Asgard and I will not..." She cut me off before I could dig myself into a very deep hole.

"You are mistaken" I furrowed my eyebrows, had Loki spawned a child? Even if he had, he'd be much too young for marriage.

A thought came to me "Thor? Has he returned? But he loves an Earth woman"

She shook her head slowly "no, not Thor"

Now I was truly confused "who then" my tone calm now.

She took another deep breath "tell me, Eerika, have we ever told you of the lost prince?" I searched my mind for such a story but I could find none, which she read on my expression that I was clueless "long ago, before Loki sealed Asgard, our youngest prince, he'd be about your age now, ran away to Asgard so that he could lead a normal life away from responsibility"

I wondered if I knew him, I looked through every name and face in my mind but none stood out "what happened to him?"

"We don't know, Loki sealed us off before we could get to him, my point is, if we can find him, you will have a choice on whom you marry"

I saw a flaw, a gaping hole in her theory "but he is not Asgardian, better yet he's not even a prince in Asgard"

"The Vanir cut the prince from our culture not too long ago, granting him Asgardian citizenship" She wasn't sure, her eyes told me that, this wasn't her idea.

"But the alliance still wouldn't work, the Asgardians wouldn't call this prince theirs, to them he'd still be Vanir"

A small smile came to her "but you are" I had almost forgotten "we can allow the prince back into our culture if he agrees to marry you, the Asgardians will view it as an Aesir- Vanir marriage, even if the technicalities are faulty" this theory was weak, it was a risk, and the chances of it holding up were slim.

"And if we don't find him or he doesn't agree to marriage? Will I be forced to marry Loki?" another sickening feeling.

Her eyes left my face and she was saddened, I had filled her in on my Loki history and she knew how much I detested him "I'm sorry, but yes you will" I felt my legs turn to jelly and I wanted the ground beneath me to suck me up and swallow me whole. Of all people, Loki was the one who I would have to spend eternity with.