Eldrid giggled from her corner of the gazebo as she tucked her feet underneath the bench as Thor counted. She could see Loki hiding in a tree not far from the gazebo and he smiled at her as he perched himself into the tree and conjured a book. El rolled her eyes at the confidence her brother had in Thor not finding him to the fact that he could read the book their mother had given him comfortably. It was something she found annoying and intriguing about her brother Loki. How he could act confident in his skills. He would often tease Thor that he was progressing in his magic.

"I'm coming!" Thor announced from where he was counting in their mother's gardens. The three children had decided at breakfast that the day was going to be beautiful and had agreed to spend the day in their mother's gardens. They adored the gardens. El found it to be her sanctuary, the gazebo especially. She could hear the wind rustle the trees, the smell of the different flowers blooming was calming. And the sound of the water flowing from the fountain not too far away was gentle. Asgard was a paradise. But the gardens were El's paradise.

Eldrid giggled softly as she looked up at Loki. "At least let him find you." She whispers to him and he looks up from his book with a small smile. El knew Loki had no intention of letting Thor find him. Thats why he had volunteered Thor to count first. Thor would not be able to find his siblings no matter how hard he tried.

Loki had cast a cloaking spell.

The most recent spell he and Eldrid had learned from their mother during their classes with her.

"Perhaps." Loki teased as he contemplated the idea, "But i would like to finish this chapter before he comes barreling towards us." He stated back to Eldrid and his sister rolled her eyes.

"Do not speak rudely of him. He is our brother and he loves us." El reminds Loki and the green eyed brother sighs. He nods as he looks down as El's vibrant blue eyes, much lighter than Thor's blue eyes. His were lightning blue, El's eyes resembled those of snowflakes. Her magic was proof of that. While Loki's magic was green, El's was light blue. "Is that the book mother gave us to read?" Eldrid asks softly and then both of them are quiet as Thor walks past the gazebo, passing by his sister, who is still underneath the gazebo bench, as he walks over to the fountain in the gardens.

Loki watches his brother to make sure he is out of hearing distance and then he turns his head back to Eldrid, nodding. "It is. It's quite fascinating. The different spells in here are exciting." He says with a smile as he holds up his book. "Have you read it yet?"

"Not yet." Eldrid responds and then glances around for Thor before teleporting herself to the tree beside Loki. The tree was one of the largest in the gardens and the branch could easily fit the two of them.  Eldrid leans over his shoulder and smiles softly as she then looks up, seeing a leaf in his hair. She pulls it from his hair and sets it down on her lap. "Why don't you read it to me?" She asks.

Loki looks at El with a small smile, a slight blush on his cheeks before he clears his throat quietly and nods. He begins to read the book of magic softly as Thor continues to try and find them in their mothers gardens. They could hear Thor calling for Loki and El but the younger two paid him no mind as they were both invested in the words of the book.

The three siblings were close, sometimes inseparable, but out of the three. Loki and Eldrid were always together. They shared much in common and in interest. Eldrid adored both her brothers, her protectors from the evil. Eldrid and Thor could be twins if she hadn't been born years after he was. She had striking blue eyes and blonde hair like her brother. But she was intune with magic like her mother was. Eldrid often wondered why Loki looked different, but she never cared. All she saw was her beloved older brother.

When Thor and Loki faught, Eldrid was their peacekeeper. She always could diffuse the anger and tension. She could see right through them both within seconds of understanding the argument. And the brothers never liked to make their sister upset. Seeing Eldrid cry was something that could instantly tear down any walls they had up due to their fighting. Her smile could light up a room within seconds. The brothers often tried to see who could make Eldrid smile first when she was sad.

Loki often won, much to Thor's dismay.

While Frigga taught her son and daughter magic and the art of spell casting. Odin would teach Thor how to rule Asgard. Eldrid was always intrigued by the aspect of diplomacy and strategy to find peace. So Odin began to teach El how to conduct diplomacy, the ways of creating peace.

And she was a natural.

She loved learning about the realms, their cultures and what it takes to keep the Nine Realms in peace. Odin often thought that if Eldrid had been born first, she would've been queen. There was no question about her skills as a ruler. The love she had for the people of Asgard. Odin and Frigga knew that Eldrid would do great things when she would come of age and receive her goddess titles.

In the eyes of Midgardians, the three siblings looked to be ten, eight and six. Thor was the oldest of the three, and he was Eldrid's big protector. He would always be there for her to lift her spirits, to make her laugh. Loki was her comfort, the person she could turn to in the dead of night when she would have a nightmare. Thor and Loki were polar opposites. Where Thor would be loud, Loki was quiet. Thor would go into things head first, Loki would calculate what was needed to be done. It was how the brother's operated so frequently.

"I found them, Thor." Frigga's voice stirs Eldrid and Loki out of their slumber. El rubbed her eyes as she lifted her head off of Loki's shoulder slowly. Her blue eyes looking around and realizing she was still in the tree with Loki. The book had fallen out of Loki's hands when he dozed off after Eldrid did. They don't know how long it had been, but by the look of Thor. It had been long enough for him to sit on the steps of the gazebo and wait for their mother to help him.

"Mother?" Eldrid mumbled in confusion. She was still groggy from the unforeseen nap with her brother.

"Your father requests all three of you in the throne room." Frigga says and then picks up the fallen book from the grass. "I suspect the book is not too boring?" She questions and Loki shakes his head as he yawns.

"No, Mother." He mutters to Frigga, "It is most fascinating... it was just..." Loki trails off as he looks at Eldrid for help to figure out the reason as to how they fell asleep.

"It's nice up here, Mother." Eldrid says with a small smile, "The breeze is warm and the shade is cool."

Frigga nods as she glances around at her vast gardens. "It is a beautiful day out." She states and then turns to walk back to the palace. "Perhaps if you should sleep, do not sleep on a branch?"

Loki and Eldrid smile softly as they both teleport down to the ground. "Yes, Mother." They respond and then look over to where Thor stands beside their mother.

"Could not find us?" Loki quips and Eldrid smacks his arm in reprimand.

"Do not think i didn't sense a cloaking spell, Loki." Eldrid points out, "You didn't want to be found."

Loki rolls his eyes but smiles softly as Thor's mouth hangs agape. "I said no magic!" Thor states. Eldrid smiles softly and wraps her arms around Thor.

"I didn't use magic." She tells him, "Loki just wanted to read his book undisturbed." Eldrid explains and Loki begins to speak but El looks at him and his mouth closes.

"Reading is boring." Thor says as they walk together to the throne room as their mother requested. "But... What book was it?" Thor asks, intrigued by the book that had captured his brother's mind.

"New spells Mother will be teaching us soon." Eldrid says and Loki nods.

"Illusions for the most part. It is very exciting." Loki adds further to El's response. Thor nods, magic doesn't intrigue him as it does his two younger siblings. He would much prefer fighting with fists and weapons like he sees the guards do, but he knows they enjoy it. So he tries to show interest, it's worth it if he gets to see his sister smile.

When they reach the throne room, the doors are opened wide and they see their father standing by a table, trying to figure out something from his maps spread out on the table. "You wished to see us, Father?" Eldrid says and Odin nods as he looks over at his children.

"I did." Odin responds and motions for his children to come over to him. The three run towards their father and then look over at the table. "Take a look at these maps, what do you see?"

Thor and Loki look over the maps but El looks up at her father, her head tilts but then she looks back over at the table. "The Nine Realms." Eldrid says and her brothers agree.

"What more than that?" Odin asks.

Eldrid looks back over the maps, "Cultures and the people of those realms. Alfheim is the home of the light elves. Muspelheim, the realm of fire and where Surtr reigns. Svartalfheim, where the Dark Elves reside. Jotunheim, land of the Frost Giants. Vanaheim, home of the Vanir." Eldrid lists off the Nine Realms with ease. "Niflheim, or, Hel is where souls go when they do not enter Valhalla. And Asgard, which is where we live, Father."

"And?" Odin asks his daughter, smiling at her softly as he watches with pride.

Eldrid looks over the map again and then gasps, "Midgard!" She exclaimed, "Home to those that give Asgard praise."

"Why do they worship us, Father?" Loki asks curiously.

"We aid their progression, giving them rain, and protecting them from threats." Odin explains and then motions for his children to follow him, "Once, mankind accepted a simple truth, that they were not alone in this universe." He says and Eldrid smiles. She loved listening to her father tell her and her brothers stories and memories of a time before them. "Some worlds man believed to be home to their gods. Others, they knew to fear."

"Like Jotunheim and Svartalheim?" Thor asks curiously and Odin nods.

"From a realm of cold and darkness came the Frost Giants-" Odin continued.

"Monsters..." Eldrid whispers as she shivers in fear briefly. Loki looks at his sister and then takes her hand to show her he'll keep her safe.

"Threatening to plunge the mortal world into a new ice age." Odin states as he walks towards the Vault of Asgard with his children. "But humanity would not face this threat alone."

"You, father!" Eldrid grins and Odin nods, caressing his daughter's cheek as the guards open the doors to the Vault.

"Our armies drove the Frost Giants back into the heart of their own world. The cost was great. In the end, their king fell. And the source of their power was taken from them. With the last great war ended, we withdrew from the other worlds and returned home to the Realm Eternal, Asgard. Here we remain as a beacon of hope, shining out across the stars. And though we have fallen into man's myths and legends, it was Asgard and its warriors that brought peace to the universe." Odin says as they walk up to the Casket of Ancient Winters. The Frost Giants source of power.

"Wow..." Eldrid whispers beside Loki.

"But the day will come when one of you will have to defend that peace." Odin says to his three children as he stands behind the Casket.

"Do the Frost Giants still live?" Loki asks his father.

Thor turns to his sister and brother, "When I'm king, I'll hunt the monsters down and slay them all!" Thor says as he throws punches and swings an invisible sword to prove his point. Eldrid giggles at her brother. "Just as you did, Father."

Odin looks between his three children, "A wise king, or queen, never seeks out war. But must always be ready for it." He says as he walks ahead of his children.

Loki, Thor and Eldrid look at each other with smiles as the run to catch up to their father. Eldrid glances past a hammer laying in the vault as she grabs onto her fathers hand with a smile. "I'm ready, Father!" Thor says.

"As am i!" Eldrid states with a smile.

"So am I." Loki tells their father eagerly. He wanted to be recognized by their father as much as Eldrid and Thor were.

"Only one of you can ascend to the throne." Odin tells his children. "But the three of you were born to rule." He says as he guides them out of the vault and towards the throne room where their mother was waiting for them.

At dinner, Frigga and Odin conversed to themselves as they watched their children. "Are you sure?" Frigga asks her husband.

Odin nods as he watches Eldrid with her brothers, "She is gifted, and she hasn't come of age yet." He points out.

"Give her until she comes of age, Odin. Do not rush her into this." Frigga pleads with her husband as she smiles at her children, "The boys love her dearly, breaking them apart will destroy them."

"They will be apart when they are older, they must learn that." Odin says, "But i will wait to send her." He adds and Frigga sighs in relief, "I will send someone else for the time being until she is fully ready to assume the position."