Chapter 1
The road was rocky and would continue to be for a awhile. They had been traveling for quite some time and Sif’s patiates was running thin. The princes were meeting with Princess Hnoss, their cousin to discuss an anomaly among their people. Sif didn’t really know much of the details. Her job (along with The Warriors Three) was to accompany the princes on their journey and provide assistance if needed.
A task she normally would be delighted to take part in, if it were just Thor they were accompanying. Thor, herself, and The Warriors Three went on countless adventures together. Her and Loki struggled to even spend an hour together.
“You can’t be serious,” commented Sif as she listened to Loki’s remarks (to Thor) on the potential dangers of the mountain pass near their Vanaheim’s palace and why they needed to avoid it.
For the better part of the day Sif had been trying to ignore him, in hopes Thor would make him drop this cowardly topic. Loki always tended to be a bit paranoid and would go on rants about why they should or shouldn’t do very particular things.
When Sif was a child, Thor, her, and The Warriors Three (or Thor’s Loyal Generals as they used to call themselves at the time) would play a multitude of adventuring games. Thor, the leader of the group, would often drag his little brother to join them on these “glorious quests”.
At first, Sif didn’t have any strong opinions on Loki. He was simply just Thor’s little brother. He could be a bit annoying at times but it wasn’t much different than her little sister.
This remained the case for a while until Loki grew jealous of Thor. Everyday he would try to sabotage his brother. Everyday he would lie and cast illusions as ways to fool others into thinking he was strong. Everyday he would cause mischief with no regards for anyone but himself. His actions bothered Sif to no end.
She worked hard everyday to prove she wasn’t just a farm maiden from the edges of Asgard. No she was Sif, a fierce warrior who’s battles will someday go down in history. It took years of her own self training to even join those born of noblemen or members of the royal army. Hours of hard labor just for Loki to treat it as some kind of joke.
Sif’s comment went completely ignored by Loki, except for a mere glance in her direction. As did most things Sif said to Loki did.
“The mountain pass is directly in between the Western and Eastern Barri Woods. Both highly concentrated energy areas; it would be completely idiotic to even think to step foot inside,” Loki explained to Thor.
“Brother I-“ Thor began to say but was quickly interrupted by Volstagg announcing their arrival at the Goddess Falls.
The Goddess Falls were nothing short of breathtaking according to Fandral. She was not finding that to be the case. “Aren’t they just wonderful?” asked Fandral somewhere behind her.
“They’re just waterfalls, we have much grander ones in Asgard,” said Sif as she stood next to Thor and began overlooking the falls.
They really were just a bunch of waterfalls. Sure they were sort of pretty but Fandral made it sound like these were the most beautiful of sights. Which was ridiculous considering he lived in the golden city of Asgard and was friends with one of their princes. Fandral had a lot of quirks like that, over exaggerating and hyping up anything that even slightly caught his eye. He always had a ridiculous overconfidence in his own tastes.
It was just one of those things that made Fandral truly Fandral. Just like his weird obsession with mermaids or collection of rocks. One has not met Fandral until they have seen his favorite rock or at least that’s what Fandral says. In Sif’s opinion it was just a stupid rock that he carried around in his pockets. A childish activity, if you ask her.
The Goddess Falls were a collection of waterfalls that fed into a large river near the heart of Vanaheim. It was one of the most visited places in the realm because it was one of Vanaheim’s main water sources. Similar to several of the large lakes in Asgard, the river current was magically slowed so the Vanir could swim it during the summer. These were just a few of the many facts Fandral decided to share before they started their journey.
“Just waterfalls?! Have you gone mad? Hogun, you’re from Vanaheim, tell them how beautiful the Goddess Falls are,” urged Fandral as he gestured towards the falls. Hogun gave him a quizzical look.
“I hold the same regards for these falls as Lady Sif does, my heritage doesn’t change the vanity of these falls,” explained Hogun. “Besides there are much more beautiful things in Vanaheim than some silly waterfalls.”
Fandral gives an offended gasp, “you wound me, my friend.”
“Your trouble with my words does not bother me,” replied Hogun in a gruff tone.
Hogun usually held that tone, whether that was just a him thing or a Vanir thing; she had yet to find out. Sif hadn’t actually meant any Vanir beside Hogun and he didn’t exactly count. His mom was from Asgard and his dad was from Vanaheim. He was considered an Æsir when visited Vanaheim and a Vanir when he visited Asgard.
Seeing the looks people gave him often angered Sif. She saw similar looks, looks that meant you didn’t belong. Though as Sif grew, both her and Hogun bonded over coming from different backgrounds. It never mattered whether they belonged or not, they crave out their own place to belong.
Thor, Fandral, and Volstagg were great but they would never understand the work Sif went through to get to where she is. Only Hogun would understand the need to prove herself worthy to even join the playing field. Hearing Hogun openly talk about his heritage was something she never would have expected to hear even a year ago. She was beyond proud to see him feel comfortable enough in their friends to speak of it.
Her thoughts were soon interrupted by Loki yapping about something. She wondered briefly if there was ever a day where Loki didn’t complain. “Give it back, you fool!” Loki yelled, trying to catch something Fandral and Volstagg were tossing between them. Upon a closer inspection she realized that it was one of Loki’s daggers, a passion he loved more than people. Though Loki loved most of his passions more than people, so it wasn’t very special. Sif chuckled to herself as she watched. Eventually their game is cut short by Thor easily catching the dagger and tossing it back to Loki.
“What a wonderful game my friends but we must get moving,” explained Thor as he readjusted his supply bag. Sif watched as Loki rolled his eyes. He mumbles something incomprehensible before making his dagger disappear.
“What was that brother?” asked Thor.
“Nothing,” grumbled Loki back.
“Are you sure?”
This is how most of Thor and Loki’s conversations went and is definitely hard to watch over and over again. Thor was incredibly kind and for some unknown reason was kind to Loki. Sif knew they were siblings but if her sister acted anything like Loki did, she would probably avoid her indefinitely. She was surprised Thor hadn’t punched Loki yet.
“We should get moving, remember Thor?” asked Sif.
“Yes yes,” hummed Thor.
“Which way are we going?” asked Volstagg as he began munching on an apple.
“Hey! Those are our rations,” exclaimed Fandral, hitting Volstagg’s back gently.
“Oh no, how will we live without one apple?” scoffed Loki in a monotone.
“We could starve!”
“Fandral, if you don’t shut up, we’ll be eaten by monstrous creatures before we run out of food,” argued Loki.
“My question still stands: where are we going?”
This was going to be a long journey.