Chapter 5

Frigga and Loki have been showing Sylvie around Asgard for at least half an hour and she hasn't said a word. She's been smiling like an idiot the whole time, though, which is probably why neither Frigga nor Loki are concerned by her silence. She's enjoying this more than she can say; that's why she's not saying anything.

Loki, meanwhile, has barely stopped talking long enough to take a breath. He goes on and on about Asgard and the good times he's had here. "This is where Thor and I adopted a frog! ... Father made us put it back." "See that stump? Thor accidentally struck the tree with lightning and it never grew back so they cut it down." "I made those bushes invisible once and Volstagg tripped over them and I'm convinced he would have killed me for it if he'd had the self-control to put down his chicken leg for a minute."

Sylvie doesn't know who a lot of these people are. She's decently sure she's never even heard the name Volstagg in her life. But the brief stories Loki tells throughout their walk make her excited to meet them. It's been a long time since she's met a non-Loki Asgardian. She was a little nervous at first; now she's just excited.

Frigga politely waits for a break in Loki's storytelling before she asks Sylvie, "Does any of it look familiar?"

Sylvie shakes her head. "It's familiar enough that I know I've been here, but I don't remember anything." She wishes she did. She wishes this felt more like coming home. But she can't force herself to remember anything, and she can't make her homeland any more homey.

"Oh, that's okay," Frigga assures her. She rubs Sylvie's back comfortingly. "It may come in time, or it may not. There's no reason you can't build new memories in their place."

Sylvie smiles at that. "I look forward to it."

Frigga kisses her cheek, and Sylvie beams. All she really remembered about her mother before today was that she loved her. It's only been about an hour since they re-met, but she can already understand why.

"Mother, you know what we should do later?" Loki asks excitedly. "We should show Sylvie the fireworks!"

"We can do that," Frigga agrees. "If she'd like to, of course. I think we should give her the option to choose what we do tonight, don't you?"

"Oh, definitely," Loki says quickly. "Sylvie, what do you want to do tonight?"

"Loki, I'm still trying to wrap my head around everything happening now," she tells him. "How am I supposed to know what I'll want to do later?"

"Good point," Loki says. To Sylvie, he says, "You have plenty of time to think about it. Just let us know. After dinner, just..." He gives her two little thumbs up. "Fireworks. Up to you."

Sylvie bites back a laugh. God, he's adorable. He almost looks like a completely different person here. She's never seen him so excited, and it's constant. He's like a child, in a way; that glimmer in his eye he's never had before. She couldn't be happier to see it.

"Ooh, over there —" Loki begins, pointing emphatically in front of them as he launches into another story, and though Sylvie finds herself ignoring his words because she barely understand what he's talking about, she relishes in his excitement.

"You'll start to understand what he's talking about once you meet them," Frigga tells her. "I expect Loki to spend most of tonight introducing you to people."

"Oh, definitely," Loki says. He pauses. "I hope they still like me — or at least that they don't hate me."

"They don't hate you," Frigga assures him.

"Are you sure?" Loki asks warily. "Because last time I was in Asgard..."

"They don't hate you," Frigga repeats. "All of Asgard was in mourning when we thought you'd died. You're still our prince, Loki." She takes his hand and gives it a gentle squeeze. "They're going to be so excited to have you back."

Loki smiles sadly. "I hope you're right."

"I always am," Frigga says, which brightens Loki's expression a little bit. To Sylvie, she says, "And they're going to love you, too. You'll feel right at home."

Sylvie smiles. "I already do."

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