"Darling, I hate to wake you, but we need to be leaving soon," Loki's voice woke you the next morning. You actually opened your eyes, instead of just snuggling closer against him, since he wasn't actually in the bed. You had to see where he was. You sat up and soon had a giant plate of breakfast in your lap, courtesy of the silly Trickster boyfriend. You smiled up at him. You rubbed the sleep from your eyes and saw that it was just barely dawn.

You opened your mouth to ask Loki if he'd eaten, but shut it again, frustrated that you'd forgotten. You really didn't want to knock Loki out again. He would get annoyed if you kept doing it, no matter if it was an accident. You really needed to get rid of this power ASAP. It was nothing but trouble, which is exactly what Balder wanted. He had wanted you to be dependent on him as the only person you could communicate with. You weren't going to let him win, you just needed to remember that you had to keep your mouth shut. [Have you eaten?] you signed at Loki. You didn't want to use telepathy right now, just in case he did need to borrow power from you to teleport across the realm.

"I have," he replied. You gave him a look. He lied too often and too well. "No tricks," he added with a chuckle. You accepted his word then and dug into your breakfast. Thor burst back into the room from the bathroom while you were eating. You was just glad he had put pants on. Loki looked equally relieved. He was wearing a different outfit, so you assumed Loki had conjured some new clothes for them both. They didn't have any bags or anything. You finished your breakfast and got out of the bed, automatically checking to make sure your dagger sheath was in place. "Kat..." Loki started. You looked over at him, giving him your undivided attention. He only used your real name when he had something important or difficult to say. "If you are up to it, there is one more slight deception we should do..." he started.

"Just ask her, Brother. I am sure she will agree," Thor grumbled as he finished putting on his shirt and started on his armor. Loki hesitated, so Thor continued instead. "It is a good idea for you to appear in front of the court when you get back to the palace as though you just escaped from Balder. In the same dress and condition we found you in. It will gain our position against Balder favor with the court and those hiding there who might be sympathetic towards his cause. Much as you do not want to admit it, sister, you are a favorite among the court, especially when they can see how you have tamed Loki,"

"She has not tamed me!" Loki protested and spluttered.

You laughed at that. You couldn't help it. He looked like a drowned cat when he spluttered like that.

"They will be horrified by what Balder did to you and took from you, but they will also appreciate your strength for escaping, especially if we can show them exactly what condition you were in when you escaped," Thor explained carefully. It was strange to hear him speak so calculatingly. He wasn't jovial for once and was actually serious, and speaking like the heir to the throne.

[You want you to lie to them?] you signed. You were trying to save your magic for helping Loki teleport us across the realm. Loki translated instead of just answering you himself, which was very considerate of him.

"Not lie," Thor hedged. "I am not asking you to exaggerate or lie, just to show them what he did to you," he added. You nodded and used magic and a couple well placed illusions with the help of the mirror in the room to get the look correct. You were back in the torn, dirty, shift dress, barefoot, with illusion injuries on your wrists from the manacles, your feet from walking through the woods, and your face and split lip from where Balder had hit you. your hair was a dirty, tangled mess.

[Happy?] you signed at them as you went to pick up Loki's cloak from where it was draped over a chair.

"Thank you," Thor replied, catching the gist without Loki's help.

"Darling, does it not defeat the point if you steal my cloak?" Loki asked gently.

You shook your head as you fastened it around your shoulders. /You love me too much/ you projected the telepathy so Thor could hear too. /The court will believe that you would choose to use magic to get you home faster instead of fixing my clothes and appearance first. They will not believe that you would not give me your cloak at the very least before you teleport us across the realm/

"She is correct, Brother," Thor replied.

Loki sighed came over to you and settled the cloak over your shoulders and fastened it for you. "I love you, darling, and I will do my best to make sure this ordeal with the court is over quickly." you nodded and hugged him. "You crafted your illusions through the soulbond, didn't you?" he asked with a chuckle. You nodded. Crafting them that way meant that Loki could touch them and they wouldn't break. Illusions generally didn't survive physical contact. "We should get going. Thor, will you be alright until Father arrives?" Loki asked, looking over you to Thor.

Thor rolled his eyes in reply. "How many missions is this, and still my little brother worries over my safety?"

You laughed at the familiar line.

"We will see you back at the palace," Loki replied instead of dignifying that with an answer.

"Get her home safely, Brother," Thor replied.

[Are you sure you don't need help?] you signed at Loki.

"Actually, that is a better idea, darling," Loki smiled and kissed the top of your head. He pulled out a familiar spellbook and looked for the spell. "You do not need to say the words, just call up your magic and think them," he added when he found the spell and held open the book in front of you so you could both see it. "Thor, when you and Father are done, let me know and I will open a portal for you," Loki instructed. "I could not open a portal to you yesterday, since I had to use the soulbond to find your exact location. We can use one to go home, though, since we know where home is," he explained to you. You nodded. That made sense. You liked it when the magic made sense.

"Get home safely," Thor bid you. You waved to him and turned back to the spell. You and Loki both recited it, though your recitation was silent. You felt the power drain from both of you into the portal, but it was much less than it would have been trying to do the spell alone. The portal flashed to life in front of you. You stepped through and it snapped shut behind you again the instant you were through.

You ended up right outside of the throne room. You both paused to catch your breath before continuing. "Ready?" Loki asked you softly. You straightened your spine and nodded. You needed to show them that even though you looked like hell, you were still their princess and still a strong capable warrior.

Loki opened the door to the throne room and you both strode inside. There were gasps of shock and horror as you made your way to the thrones. Sif jumped to her feet when she saw me, Frigga was close behind, though more slowly, as she still had to maintain her regal air. you noticed as you was walking that one of your feet was leaving a blood trail. Oops. Apparently you had actually cut it during your hike through the woods yesterday. It must've reopened at some point.

Loki was following you in guard position, just as he had done through your junior year of high school. This was your show, your story. He was here for support. /You're bleeding/ he thought at you.

/Apparently/ you replied. /Will you fix it after this?/ you asked. You couldn't heal yourself. You could only heal others. It was the one limitation of your healing abilities.

/Of course/

Sif ran off of the dais that the thrones were on to wrap you in a hug. "Kat! You're ok. We were so worried!" she exclaimed. You nodded and hugged her back. Frigga joined you an instant later.

"Daughter, I am glad you are safe," she said as she wrapped you in a hug next.

/Thank you/ you used telepathy to speak to them both.

"What Loki reported is true, then? Balder used some kind of magic to turn your voice into a weapon?" Frigga asked gently.

You nodded. /Shall I show them?/ you asked. You needed her permission to terrify the court. It was a whole big thing of being royal.

/Are you up to it?/ she replied telepathically.

/I am. They need to know/

"I would hear your testimony, daughter. Show us what happened," Frigga ordered loudly enough to be heard by the members of the court. She and Sif went back to their places. You stood below their thrones with Loki, who held your hand, a silent offer to feed you power if you needed it, as well as offering you support.

You closed your eyes in concentration and summoned the magic for this, and used illusion to play back your memories as a movie for the entire court to see. It was the same set of images you had shown to Loki and Thor the day before. You heard the gasps of horror and people wanting to disbelieve, but they couldn't, not with the evidence standing before them.

"Thank you for your testimony, daughter," Frigga said once the playback of your memories was over. You sagged against Loki. Your job here was finished, and that was two big spells you had done in a short period of time. He wrapped an arm around you, keeping you on your feet. "Loki, take your soulbond to the healers. We will discuss this further later,"

Loki bowed to Frigga, then swept you up into his arms, wrapped securely in his cloak. /I am taking you to the suite, not the healers, do not fear/ he thought at you. You just laid your head on his shoulder in reply. You only had one wound that needed healing and he could do it himself. You closed your eyes as he carried you home, content in his cool arms.

"You can drop the illusions now, darling," Loki told you once you were safely in the family wing, away from prying eyes. You dropped the illusions then so they weren't draining your power. "What on Midgard did you do to your hair?" he asked gently when your bird's nest didn't go back to normal when the rest of the illusions vanished. "This will take me forever to fix," he whined, but it was a show. He loved playing with your hair and brushing it. Yes, he would be annoyed at all of the tangles, but he would enjoy fixing it. You just laughed in reply. When you got to the suite, he set you down on the couch so he could kneel in front of you to heal your foot. You kissed him when he had finished.

After you got a way too hot shower and dressed in pajamas you was fairly certain were stolen from Loki's closet on Earth, he spent an hour brushing out the tangled mess your hair had become. It took an effort of magic, the hairbrush, and a generous amount of curse words, but he finally got it back to soft curls down your back. Once he was finished with that, you grabbed his hand to drag him from the suite. "Darling, where are you dragging me?" he asked, but didn't try to stop me.

/Library/ you replied. /We have to figure out how Balder created these/ you pulled the power sphere you had stolen from Balder from where you had vanished it earlier, holding it to Loki so he could see it.

"Very well," he replied. "But wait a moment," you paused and dropped his hand. He used magic to summon real clothes for you instead of pajamas. It was a very simple casual dress. You would have protested, but you did have to pay attention to propriety when you were wandering the palace during the day. You walked together to the library and soon had a huge pile of books in front of you both to try to find out any information you could about the power spheres. Especially how to get the power back out of you.