The doors closed behind Kat, and she found the group that had been dismissed waiting for her.

"How did it go?" Loki asked, noting her rigidity.

"Think I insulted him." Kat replied, and saw all their eyes widen.

"How did you insult him?" Loki prompted.

"Well, he was being an ass and called me a fool. I said... Well, I guess I can show you the memory later. But I said something cool." Kat shrugged. "Anyway, your mom wants to teach me."

"What?" Thor asked this time.

"Yeah, Queen Frigga basically told me she was gonna teach me." Kat said.

Loki relaxed. "Well. What did they tell you to do in the meantime?"

"Uh," Kat said. "Take a tour, see you at supper, lessons after you've gotten the tour?"

Loki nodded, relieved. The safest person on Asgard was one that his mother liked.

"Why would the Allmother wish to instruct you?" Hogun asked.

"Because magic." Kat replied.

"You have magic?" Volstagg asked.

"Yep." Kat replied. "So, what about that tour?"

~~~~~~

"Wait a second," Kat said as they walked down a hall. "I know this spot."

"How could you know? You've never been here-" Thor frowned, but Kat took off down a side hallway. "Where are you going?"

Loki realized what had happened, and smirked, following her. He did quicken his pace though, so that he could get to her before she started a commotion. The others followed suit.

"Aha! The training grounds! I was right." Kat said proudly.

"How did you-?" Sif asked.

"I recognized it from Loki's mindscape." Kat said, grinning as she examined the training grounds in person.

"You've been to Loki's mindscape?" Fandral asked, a smirk in his voice.

Kat heard it, and turned narrowed eyes to him. Then she ignored him, looking instead to Loki and Sif. "Am I gonna have to wear a dress to supper?"

"It would make a better impression." Loki said, but she also heard, 'But you don't have to'.

Kat sighed. "I can't do anything longer than what I wore to Pepper's party, though." She said in reference to the tea-length dress.

Loki's head tilted slightly in thought. "It isn't the fashion here, but I think we can find something."

"Speaking of, we should have a guest room prepared for you." Sif said.

Kat hadn't realized that would be the case, and felt a burst of panic in her chest. Loki gave her a concerned look, which the others caught on to. When they followed his gaze, they just saw a blank-faced Kat.

"Are you alright?" Fandral asked.

Kat blinked. "Yeh. I'm good."

"Let's finish the tour then." Thor prompted.

As they walked, Loki made sure to stand beside Kat. {What is wrong?}

{I just didn't expect that.}

{Expect what? To have your own room? You are a Queen, Ylva, you don't have to share with a convict.}

 Kat elbowed him. {You are not a convict. And yeah, I wasn't expecting to have my own room, and that's what, uh, freaked me out. It was stupid.}

{Why did it freak you out?}

{That's the stupid part.}

After a pause, Loki prompted her. {What, you aren't going to tell me?}

{I'm on an alien world, among gods, and trying to keep up a ruse that I am a normal, mortal, midgardian, so that they don't freak out because I'm Roman. Which is going to be tough. But I guess I was so used to us being close all the time...}

A warmth filled Loki's chest, and a protectiveness. She was scared of being away from him. He wondered for a moment if it was only because of his magic in her head.

He sent her a series of telepathic images, so that she would be able to find her way to him. She didn't reply, but he felt her relax as they walked.

~~~~~~

Sif and Loki managed to find her a 'tea-length' dress. It was a light green shade, and flowy. She also got a pair of dark brown flats. While Loki changed, Sif got Katha into the dress, and Loki did Kat's hair while Sif changed.

Unfortunately, her blue hair stuck out quite a bit here, so Kat turned it back to it's natural color. She could always have fun with it later.

While Sif talked to Kat about proper mannerisms and such, she let Loki style her hair simply. Sif and Loki wouldn't say they were 'friends', but since Sif had seen Loki as a woman some years ago, they had an odd respect for each other.

They joined Thor and the warriors three on the way to supper.

"My, don't you look lovely." Fandral greeted Kat.

"Uh, thanks?" Kat blinked.

"Don't encourage him." Sif said.

"Huh?" Kat voiced. What was she encouraging? Loki sent her an image of Fandral with his arms around the shoulders of two women. "Oh." Kat said, then turned to Fandral. "No."

The others laughed(save for Loki who only had a small smile) while Fandral pouted.

Then they were in the dining hall. Kat felt like she was in a fantasy movie. Then Kat realized how many people there were. "More people than I expected."

"A prince returned home. There is cause to celebrate tonight." Hogun said.

Loki told Kat where to sit, and he was comfortable with his mother on one side and Katha on the other. Odin announced Kat as 'Lady Katha, Queen Frigga's new student'. Frigga was saving Kat's hide through the whole dinner, with light conversation.

It made Loki's heart warm to see a twinkle in his mother's eyes. He did his best to ignore Odin, as did Kat, who thought the king looked a bit constipated. Thor didn't seem to notice anything out of the ordinary.

Sometime later, music began to play. Loki practically felt Kat's gaze snap to him. He calmly finished speaking, and set down his silverware before standing up.

"And what poor lady shall fall victim to your dancing tonight?" Fandral called out.

Loki pulled out Kat's chair and offered his hand to her. 

Fandral raised an eyebrow. "Does she even know how?"

Kat would have flipped him off, but she needed to be nice. Instead, she accepted Loki's hand and the two joined the dance floor. Kat caught some of the women giving her 'short' dress funny looks, but little did they know her dress would look much better while she was dancing.

Dancing in a room full of people was much different than dancing alone, or just with a partner. She'd realized that at Pepper's party. But there were way more people here now.

While they danced, Odin looked at his wife. "You saw something, didn't you?"

His wife's eyes sparkled in a way he hadn't seen in decades. "She will be the best thing that has ever happened to our family."

Odin leaned back in his chair, and looked into the dancers. He couldn't remember the last time he had seen his second son so peaceful.

~~~~~~

Loki escorted Kat the following morning. Outside the door to Frigga's study, Kat suddenly became nervous.

"You will be fine." Loki said.

"She's the Queen, and your mom. I really, really don't want to mess up." Kat replied.

"Then don't."

"So helpful."

Loki reached forward and opened the door. "Good morning, Mother."

"Good morning." Frigga smiled, and gave her son a hug. "I've got her from here. Go see what Thor's up to. He's been distracted lately."

"With what?" Loki asked.

"Many things, I believe." Frigga replied.

"Alright." Loki said, and gave a look to Katha.

She tapped her temple. "I'm only one call away."

Loki gained a soft smile before he left the women to their lesson.

Kat turned to see Frigga with a large smile. "What?"

"Nothing," Frigga replied. "Yet. So, show me where you are. What you can do."

~~~~~~

Over the next few days, Frigga tested Kat's abilities, and then began to train her in something different. She was the goddess of the between, and Frigga was going to teach her how to use her domain. She would give Kat spells to practice on overnight, in case she got bored. But usually it was all about her domain.

One day, Frigga presented Kat with a parcel. She opened it to find what looked to be Asgardian armor. Or at least, the lighter kind that Loki wore. It was a light blue, but more like a sea-green. The top came up to her collarbones, but left her shoulders and arms bare. She had fingerless gloves, but they also reminded her of vambraces, coming up to nearly her elbow. Her boots came up to her knees.

There was also a sleeveless over coat thing, that went to about mid-calf. She didn't have to wear it, but it was a little more fashion-appropriate here.

"I- Thank you." Kat said to Frigga.

"Of course. Now, Sif could use a little company at the training grounds, don't you think?"

Kat grinned, and when she arrived, Sif gave her a curious look. Obviously noting her armored attire, Sif finished instructing a dozen Asgardians before joining Kat.

"What brings you here?" Sif asked.

"Allmother sent me." Kat replied. 

"She gave you those?" Sif gestured to Kat's attire.

"Yup." Kat said. 

"Oh." Sif said. "Can you handle yourself in a match?"

"I think so." Kat replied.

"Well, let's see if you're fit to join us." Sif said, and gestured to those she was training. Kat realized the whole dozen were women.

"What weapon do you use?" Sif asked. "Bow?"

"No. Me and bows, nuh-uh." Kat said firmly.

Sif cocked a brow. "Then what?"

Kat summoned her haladies.

Sif grinned, and drew her sword.

Kat hadn't fought someone with a long weapon before. It was much different from two daggers to two daggers. Kat put up a good fight, but ultimately Sif won.

The Asgardian grinned. "Let me introduce you to a few ladies." She called over four of them.

"This is Katha, from Midgard." Sif told the ladies, and then gave them a look.

"I'm Asta." The first woman introduced herself. She had silver-blonde hair and blue eyes, with a spear in her hand.

"Lily." This woman had longish brown hair, and pale skin.

"Cortney." The third said, her hair in loose brown curls with  intense blue eyes.

"Astrid." The last said, another with brown hair and blue eyes. Astrid and Cortney looked like they might be sisters.

"Nice to meet you. Like Sif said, I'm Katha, but you can call me Kat." She said.

"You handle those blades well." Asta said appreciatively.

"Care to spar with me?" Cortney inquired.

"Sure." Kat shrugged.

Lily and Astrid sighed.

Kat did much better this time, having some experience with how to handle a sword. Cortney and Kat were pretty much even when it came to skill. Kat however, had much better footwork.

~~~~~~

The next couple weeks passed in a similar manner. 

Thor and his friends had a living-room lounge or whatever you wanted to call it where they would hang out. This was where Kat found herself one evening after dinner.

Loki joined her on one of the sofas, bringing with him a bottle of alcohol. 

"Are you planning on drinking that whole thing?" Kat asked.

"Considering it's nectar rich, I thought you might appreciate some." Loki replied.

"Ooh." Kat voiced. She had been running on much less of the golden stuff. Frigga always had some available during their lessons, but she would prefer more.

"Nethuran?" Fandral said when he saw what Loki was pouring out. "Are you trying to give Katha the hangover of a century?"

"Bet I can take more than you." Katha replied.

Loki had told her a while ago that the Asgardian's 'nectar' and 'ambrosia' were like cousins to the Greek and Roman version. Which meant that it just had really potent magic to it.

Fandral didn't believe her. She ended up drinking against Fandral and Volstagg, while the other three Asgardians watched.

By the time they went to bed, it took Hogun and Sif to carry out Fandral who had become incredibly tipsy and rowdy. Thor slung one of Volstagg's arms over his shoulder and guided him to his room. 

Kat began to head off in her own direction when Loki took a hold of her shoulders and led her a different way. "No, Ylva, if I let you go off on your own you'll do something incredibly silly."

Yes, she was drunk. But not as bad as Fandral and Volstagg. 

When they got into Loki's room, he sat her down on the foot of his bed. "How about you just sit here and meditate until that goes away?"

"Sure." Kat said, and crossed her legs before closing her eyes.

Loki breathed a sigh of relief. Then he checked that his wardings were in place, and went to sleep.

~~~~~~

Fandral and Volstagg were tending to hangovers in the morning. Kat bounced in unaffected. "Now who's got the hangover of a century?"

"I do." Volstagg said, shoving some egg in his mouth.

"What about you, Fandral?" Kat asked.

Fandral didn't answer.

"It's a miracle!" Sif said, "He's learned to shut up!"

"I think we should keep Katha," Hogun observed.

"The Ylva does have her uses." Loki said, serving his breakfast.

Many eyes looked to him with a curious glint. "Ylva?" Volstagg asked.

"He's called me that for a while." Kat said, serving her own food.

"After last night, I think you might have earned it." Hogun noted, looking at Fandral.

After they finished eating, Kat went to her lessons with Frigga, and Loki returned to his own studies.

Hogun looked to Thor. "It would appear that our Thor is not the only one to have fallen for a Midgardian."

A/N

This chapter's guest characters belonged to:

@I_Aspire_to_Inspire 'Asta'

@HelloEveryone25 'lily'

@ManHater4Life 'Cortney'

@Raspberrypopcicle 'Astrid'

If you gave me a character and they haven't shown up yet, don't worry, they will.