"My Petal." Eldrid heard her mother's voice. She knew something was very wrong with her body, her health if she had fainted like she did. And now she was hallucinating her mother's voice? But, if she truly was ill, why would she hallucinate her mother and not Loki? "My Petal you must wake up." She hears her mother call to her again.

"Mo-" Eldrid stammered but her mother's voice shushed her. She then blinked her blue eyes open slowly. Her eyes took in the vines and greenery around her and she knew she was not in Asgard. She was still on Alfheim.

"Rest, my Petal. Your body and spirit have been through much." Frigga said softly to her daughter. Her hand laid upon Eldrid's weak and pale hand where she laid on the bed in the infirmary. Eldrid took in her mother's form and once her vision cleared, she was in shock.

"Mother.." Eldrid whispers, her voice was hoarse. "How-"

"You have been asleep for a long time, my daughter. Nearly two hundred years." Frigga says suddenly and Eldrid's eyes widen as her mouth goes agape. "I know, it must be a shock to you."

"Wh- What?" Eldrid asks as tears fill her eyes. Her heart sank with dread as her mind began to wander about everyone she loved. Her family. Her beloved. What did he think? Did he even know? What had father done in Eldrid's absence regarding the peace on Alfheim? "That's not-" Eldrid stammered. She was in complete and utter shock as she laid there in her bed in the infirmary of Alfheim.

"I made it so." Frigga interrupts her daughter so Eldrid doesn't strain herself. "The poison was overtaking you constantly. It regenerated even sometimes." Frigga explains to the best of her ability without causing Eldrid to be more distraught than she already was. Frigga knew Eldrid would panic, demand answers and be worried about the fate of everything else other than herself. That was just how her daughter was. El was more concerned about Alfheim's peace than her own health. It was probably a factor as to why the poison overtook her as much as it did. She was overworked. "I had to put you under one of my sleeping spells so your body could heal properly and with the help of Eir and the Alfheim healers." The queen explained as best she could but Frigga could tell from the look on her daughter's face, Eldrid was mortified.

"What about-"

"Loki and Thor do not know." Frigga says and Eldrid's cheeks cascade with tears. So much information was being thrown at Eldrid all at once. And she could only sit there and absorb it to the best of her ability. It was absolutely crippling for the young princess. "Your father forbade them to know you were ill and near death." She tells her daughter and brushes some hair from Eldrid's face, wiping her tears with her thumb. "I tried to do what i could."

"My letters... Loki..."

"Your brother... he has grown cold and sealed off his emotions to everyone but myself. I fear your absence of letters caused his mind to wander and hurt him." Frigga says softly with a sad tone of voice. Frigga had watched her son's happiness decline the moment she heard word about Eldrid falling ill to poison and nearly dying. Only Odin and Frigga knew about Eldrid's condition. They kept it secret from everyone on Asgard, especially Loki and Thor. Frigga knew her sons would trample everything in their wake had they learned of their sister being on the verge of death. But it cost them both greatly.

Loki fell prey to the shadows he felt he was being cast into. Thor became more and more boastful, prideful. Frigga feared her daughter would not recognize her brothers when she eventually returned to Asgard.

"I never meant for this to happen, Mother." Eldrid sobs out as she slowly sits up in her bed. "I wanted to make Father proud, to make Asgard proud." She was fearful of her father being angry with her. For falling prey to poison instead of detecting it sooner and overcoming it.

"Your father knows the progress you had made before the poison took over. He was very pleased with your work. He wishes for you to continue it." Frigga says and Eldrid's eyes widen. Continue her work in gaining peace? It had been so many years since she arrived. Though, the only realm that was affected so quickly after hundreds of years was Midgard. To Asgard and the other realms, hundreds of years go by like a decade on Midgard.

"Everything continues as if i never was ill?" Eldrid asks hopefully. She knew her relationship with Loki was now strained, she didn't know how to explain herself to him. She had been ill for so long, had he given up? His letters to her made her believe that he would always love her. But Loki was prone to believe the lies his mind told him. The deceitfulness of one's mind was a dangerous thing. It was very possible he became angry with the lack of responses from Eldrid and had given up.

Or something far worse. He had found someone better.

"You have letters from Loki to read, but yes, everything will go on as if you were never ill, my Petal." Frigga answers and Eldrid breathes a small sigh. "But, you must not exert any energy if possible. Your body has gone through so much, you need rest."

Eldrid chuckles as she looks at her mother, "I slept for two hundred years, Mother. I believe i have had my fill of rest."

"That may be true, but heed my word." Frigga states, "If not for me, then for Loki. He may be angry, but he still loves you." She tells Eldrid and the Princess's heart leaps within her chest.

"He- He does?" Eldrid asks.

Frigga nods with a heartbroken smile on her lips. "He has turned down every match your father has put before him. Prince, princess, noblemen and women alike. He does not want them." She tells her daughter and Eldrid's eyes widen and tears fill her eyes once again. "He wants you, but with your absence of letters, he fears you do not want him."

"That is a lie!" Eldrid exclaims and winces at the pain that surges through her. "I want him, Mother. My heart aches for him. It hurts."

Frigga smiles softly as she calms her daughter down and nods. "I know, my Petal." She reassures Eldrid. "But you cannot tell him that you have been sick."

"So i am to lie to him? He will see through it instantly." Eldrid states with a scoff. Her beloved was the god of lies. How was she to tell him something that wasn't true? He would instantly see through it and know something was amiss.

"I do not know what you should do, but i know you should not wait a moment longer to talk with him." Frigga states and she conjures a quill and paper for her daughter, "I will deliver it myself."

Eldrid smiles, she was forever grateful for her mother. Frigga was the only person outside of Heimdall that knew she and Loki were together, hopefully still are. She didn't know in this moment where she and Loki stood and it frightened her.

•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•

My Darling Beloved,

Words cannot express how sorrowful i am over not responding to your letters in the past years. I have been overrun with work and my duties. I have been accomplishing much in the time i have been here and i know there is an end in sight.

But i know you must be furious, your temper can get the better of you. I have not written you at all for so long and my heart aches. I am forever going to be trying to make it up to you, i firmly believe.

I want to know everything you have been up to since your last letter. If i recall, your last letter to me stated you and Thor are working within Asgard? And that our boisterous brother was trying to take you on adventures with Sif and the Warriors Three? How have those been? I know you enjoy them despite not wanting to admit it.

I have been as well i can be given the circumstances. I think the stress of obtaining peace has gotten to me. I feel ill every now and again, but i am all right. My ladies here are keeping me well and i praise them for it because you of all people know i am stubborn like Father. I must have pushed myself too much and was needed on bed rest for a while. They have not let up on me since then.

I hope you are kind to yourself and others, especially our brother. He can be a brute and not know his words hurt. I know you must be playing tricks on him constantly, the two of you bickering worries me. I am not there to stop it so how am I to know you two are not at each other's throats constantly?

Within my letter, i enclose a small token of my Alfheim magic i have learned over my time here. I hope you cherish it as much as i have cherished your rose.

Yon light is not day-light, I know it, I:
It is some meteor that the sun exhales,
To be to thee this night a torch-bearer,
And light thee on thy way to Mantua:
Therefore stay yet; thou need'st not to be gone.

I eagerly await your response,
Your angel.

•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•

Eldrid breathed out and enchanted the letter before she folded it. She then handed it to her mother with a small smile, "You will deliver this to him?" She asks softly. She was worried that Loki would be mad, refuse to read the letter and burn it. But Eldrid had done all she could do in this moment.

Frigga nodded and held onto the letter with her hands as she stood. "Yes. It will be the first thing i do when i return home." She states and places her hand on Eldrid's cheek. "You take care, my Petal." She instructs her daughter, "I have given you a charm to detect the poison again, it is your necklace. If it glows, the poison is near you."

Eldrid nods and places her fingertips on her necklace, she understood that what she went through was an assassination attempt that thankfully failed. But it took two hundred years to fail. She couldn't afford that again if she wanted to succeed.

"I understand, Mother. I will be on guard." Eldrid states. She would not let this happen a second time. "I will make you and Father proud."

Frigga smiled as her lips met her daughter's forehead, "You already have, my Petal." She states before turning and walking out of the infirmary and back to Asgard.

When Frigga arrived back on Asgard, she looked at Heimdall and saw the expression on his face. "Gatekeeper, what troubles you?" She asks.

"My Queen, the two have not heard from each other for over two hundred years. His heart has hardened." Heimdall stated his observation and concern. He cherished the times he watched over Eldrid, and the pain he felt when he watched the Elven nobleman prick her with the poison nearly made him leave his post in the Bifrost to inform the king and queen.

"I know, Gatekeeper, and i thank you for your faithful service of overseeing them and the Nine Realms." Frigga responds with a nod and a sad smile. "But they must work this through without interference.

"Yes, my Queen." Heimdall responded with a bow of his head.

Frigga waved her hand and teleported to her gardens, knowing Loki would be there for their mid day tea and talking. Despite Loki's demeanor and heart hardening, he was still kind and loving to his mother. He would never betray her.

"Ah, Mother. I was beginning to question if you had forgotten me." Loki said as he put the bookmark in his book. The Shakespeare book of Romeo and Juliet was nearly falling apart with how many times he read it over the centuries. But he faithfully read it to remind himself of the pain the two forbidden lovers felt. A reminder of why love was a false idea, a child's fantasy.

"Never, my son." Frigga responded and then stepped closer to her son and extended her hand that held the letter. "This is for you." She states.

Loki eyes the letter and his eyes widen ever so slightly when his emerald eyes take in the handwriting. The curvature of the letters that spelled his name on the front. He knew only one person that did that and it was the woman who caused him the most pain.

"I do not want it." Loki snapped quickly and turned his head away from his mother. He wanted absolutely nothing to do with Eldrid as his lover anymore. She was his sister, and that was it. She was away on a diplomatic mission and abandoned him for greater things.

"My dear, if you would only read it." Frigga tried to persuade her son. But she sadly knew he would hear none of it. He was stubborn, and he was hurting. Those are not a good combination.

"I do not want it, Mother! Must i repeat myself?" He shouts at her. "I want nothing to do with her concerning trivial matters of the heart." He snaps harshly and Frigga sets the letter on the tea table beside her.

"Very well." The queen says before walking off, "I am needed with the ladies of the court today, so i will not be joining you today, Loki." She says before disappearing from Loki's sight.

The god of mischief looked at the letter. It was just sitting there on the table, mocking him. Pleading with him to open it and read its contents. But he couldn't. He wouldn't endure that pain again, it was unbearable the first time. It was crippling and all consuming.

He would not put himself through that again.

And with a wave of his hand, the letter on the table caught fire. It slowly burned and he went back to reading his book.

Until he heard the faint sound of his sister's magic. His emerald eyes looked up and saw light blue butterflies trying to fly out of the fire that had consumed the letter. His eyes began to water as he watched the butterflies created from magic wither in front of him and vanish within the fire. His heart ached.

Loki quickly wiped his cheeks and shook his head, steeling himself and regaining his composure. He glanced around, making sure no one caught him in his moment of weakness.

"Trivial matters of the heart." Loki stated to himself with a scoff as he stood from his seat in his mother's gardens and walked off. The letter still burning slightly. His heart burning with it.