Asgardians

People always asked how, in Asgard where gender roles were so important, Lady Sif had joined the warriors three and created her own legend.

Really, Loki didn't think it was that big of a deal. He recpected her for doing it and wished he could be so brave, but he wasn't really sure why it was such a big deal. Lady Sif had a mean punch and could work bloody wonders with any weapon she was given, and personally, when Loki was fighting an opponent, their gender wasn't a major concern. It also didn't occur to them to pick a fight with someone who could and would punch their point across.

People were always curious though, even if now very few dared to critisise it. At least, not infront of her, or Thor. Loki was not sure if Thor specifically fought because he genuinely cared about Sif's honour, or because he just liked to pick a fight, but they liked to think it was the former. Not that Sif needed Thor or any man to back her up.

In truth, Loki did not really remember where Sif had entered his life. She'd just always been there as far as he was concerned. Hogun had joined them ages ago, but still as a fighter, the best in his realm, joining the prince of Asgard. Volstagg was the same, but from a different realm. Fandral had grown up with them in Asgard and so had Sif.

Odin had plans for Thor to marry her and Loki thought that was probably the reason they had known each other, because marrying someone you'd known your entire life and filled the role of sister was a great idea.

Once, when Thor and Sif were young, they had given a romantic relationship a go, but that had failed miserably and neither of them brought it up again. Presumably this dissapointed their father, but Loki absented himself from conversations involving marriage prospects, so he wasn't really sure.

There had been raised eyebrows when Sif had started training with weaponry with them. No one had said anything then though, except a few words to their parents. A little sword play with girls was not too uncommon, though with a Lady, it was certainly not normal.

Then she had started getting good. They all had. By the age of seven
they could all defeat a trained soldier, Thor could take on many at a time and Sif and Loki were not far behind. That was when some of the soldiers had started to complain. They did not like being defeated by a girl and their sore egos had sent them whispering amongst themselves and spreading rumours across Asgard.

At that time, they had not cared though, they had scarecly even registered it as a problem, too preoccupied with the joys of childhood. Those had been simpler times. They would play in sun-kissed meadows and race up mountains to look out over the cities. They would sneek down to the palace kitchens and sweet talk the cooks into giving them something, Loki had excelled at that. The four of them had run away for entire days, and once, half the night and returned covered in mud, laughing hysterically and very hungry. Their parents scolded them on those occasions, but it had never made a difference. They had taken classes together, learning basic medicine and the histories of the realms and fighting and other similar stuff.

In those days they were inseperable and when Volstagg and Hogun joined them they too fell into their close friendship. That was roughly when the comment about Sif had started getting to her. They had been arround the time they were fourteen.

For a while, the others had not seemed to notice Sif's feelings, but Loki had.

He remembered one day he had walked in on her leaning on the rail of a balcony in the palace that looked out over Asgard. She had been crying, he had been able to tell even without seeing her face. Normally, he did not like people crying, he had no idea how to deal with that, but he equally hated letting people down and upsetting them further, so he had approached her, half expecting to be gutted where he stood.

She did not lash out at him though and they summoned the courage to ask her what was wrong.

She had told him a lot that day. A lot that he had already known, but had always chosen to ignore about his people and his realm.

Loki was bad at comforting people, but they remembered what he'd done that day, and the conversation had stuck with them.

He been leaning on the railing as she spoke, looking out over the glimmering tips of the Asgardian buildings. She'd been in the same position right next to him, so close their shoulders touched. She had talked for a long time, raging and furious, telling him everything, the names she had been called, the men who had picked on her in the street in an atempt to 'put her in her place', the women who had shunned her also for not following the accepted way, they way Thor and the others never seemed to hear those comments or understand how it affected her. Loki had never heard her talk so much or in so much detail about her feelings and had no idea why he was facing the brunt of it. Or at least, that aas what he had told themself, but Sif had never seemed class him the same as the others, as thouh she had always known.

When she stopped talking and just stared blankly at the city, tears silently tracing their path over her cheeks and eyes unusually blank, he had rested his head on her shoulder. She, in turn, lent her head on his.

"Why does it have to be this way?" They had asked quietly after a while of silence and shared pain, "Why do people even care?"

"One day they won't," she had replied and there had been a kind of steely determination in her voice.

He had stepped back and looked at her. A cold fire seemed to be in her. One that made him know, once and for all, that even if she was a girl, she was still the feircest warrior had had, or would ever, meet.

"How do you know?" He had asked suspiciously.

"Because," she said, placing a hand on his shoulder, "I will make sure of it. And I am sure you will help."

He had smiled then, and he had a suspicion it was that same infamous smile he gave when he had a brilliant plan for a new prank. Sif had returned the expression.

He was not sure how much help they had really been to her. He did not pick fights with everyone who said anything against her like his brother and he did not have full shouting fights with his father over it, but they also suspected that was not really what Sif wanted. She could take care of herself, Thor's protection as prince of Asgard was probably helpful, but it was not what she really wanted and something told him she had been talking more about him when she had told him that. They were still there for each other though and on occassion Loki had found himself explaining to Thor why Sif was so upset by some of the things that were said to her.

Thor could be so brilliantly, infuriatingly, thick sometimes. He could not seem to understand why anything people said would upset Sif and why she would even care. No one had ever had prejudices against him for anything, and he simply did not understand and Sif refused to explain it to him like she had done that day to Loki.

The day things had really changed was when they were a fair bit older.

They had been sent to fight a group of bandits that had been being troublesome somewhere or other in the realms. It had been a relatively frequent occurrance at the time. The six of them were keen to show off their strength and Odin was keen to make sure the realms stayed securely in his control.

These bandits had been different though. They had been giants.

The six had all fought feircely, but against giants there was only so much they could do.

Giants were always a problem, but they more often featured in stories their father told them than real and the six had only ever face them with their father and many guards.

There they were though, three, huge, ugly giants glowering down at them.

Thor began to attack the biggest, because that was what Thor did.

Hogun and Loki attacked another, while the other three worked on the third one.

All they did was of little impact though. They worried the creatures' legs with their assortment of weapons and yelled curses at the stubbornly resilient creatures, but the giants swung at them with rough-hewn wooden clubs and they were forced to scatter and dodge lest they be thrown into the air like golf balls.

It had not been long of them darting in to stab at the giants seemingly impenetrable legs and dodging back from their clubs when Thor got over confident.

The giant swung at him, but Thor failed to dodge and was knocked as like a childs toy.

Loki had heard the crunch of bones when Thor landed some twenty meters away and crumpled into a bleeding heep.

Fandral had immediately run over to him, followed closely by Hogun, but Loki had just stared. They did not think Thor was dead, but the shock froze him in place and memories of Thor rushed before their eyes. What if they never saw him again?
The sudden realisation of how dreadful that would be stuck them like a punch to the gut and for a moment they could only stare at the crumpled body of their brother.

They were jerked out of their thoughts by Sif's shout.

"Loki!" She screamed.

On instict, they dropped to the ground, but the felt the whistle of air as the club whipped above them.

"Thanks," they said, possibly to quiet for her to hear.

"Loki, Volstagg, help me!" She called.

Loki was not sure what she meant. How could they help? There was nothing any of them could do.

Volstagg looked just as confused as was still staring in horror at Thor.

"Volstagg, launch me. Loki, your magic, i need a distraction," she explained.

Suddenly grasping the plan, Loki created another version of themself. This version was about fifty feet tall and laughed as it pointed down at the giants, which looked small in comparison.

It was not the kind of illusion he was used to creating, but it served the purpose and a moment all three giants were completely engaged, yelling at it waving their weapons pointlessly at it.

In their distraction, Volstagg grabbed Sif and threw her upwards at the giant. He really was very strong when he wanted to be.

Sif cilmbed the rest of the way up to the giant's head and grasping her spear tight, drove it through the thing eyes.

The giant gave a hideous roar of rage and pain as it began to sway, clutching its eyes.

Before it could grab her though, Sif jumped to the next one and as the first dropped, the second began to scream.

Within minutes, all three were on the ground, Volstagg and Sif finishing them off with vicious blows.

Looking back over to Thor, Loki saw with some amusement that he had regained consciousness and was staring at Sif as though he was seeing her for the first time. The other two looked equally as awestruck.

When they had got back that evening and the story of what happend had spread, people opinion of Sif seemed to change for good. The odd person made some comment that they might be lying and it couldn't be true and someone even brought that opinion to Sif in the tavern that evening. Maybe it was that Sif was tired or still filled with the rush of what she had done, but she very loudly and firmly told them where they could put their opinions, and punched them. After that and everything else Sif was already known to have done, very few dared comment on her gender again. She also seemed to get a lot more vicious to anyone who did, prehaps she had found some little missing confidence in that victory. Whatever the case, Loki was happy for her.

So it was always Lady Sif and the warriors three who helped Thor and Loki. They were an unstoppable group.