You walked up to the library in silence with Loki at your side. You felt his questions burning as he tried to figure out what was going on. You took a step from the open familiarity toward formality. He didn't remember and until he did, it was best to stick to protocol.

You opened the door to the library for him and watched with a fond, warm, smile as he stared at the wonder of all of the books. Some things would never change and placing Loki in a room full of books led to the same reaction no matter how many centuries had passed. Even the mystery of his missing memories couldn't compete with a new library.

He wandered off without a word, enthralled by all of the books. You chuckled and settled on the couch by the fireplace, summoning the book you were currently reading from your bedroom. He would come find you when he was ready and nothing could drag him away from the allure of new reading material until then.

His nose was in a book as he walked over to the couch. You smiled and tossed one of the apples you had summoned his way. He caught it without looking up from his book and bit into it before he realized what you had done or what he was doing. Some things really did never change. He curled catlike on the other side of the couch and finally seemed to remember that there was more in his environment than books. He blinked quickly and closed the book, looking over at you. "Hi," you smirked at him. He chuckled.

"I should apologize..."

You shrugged. "I knew what I was getting into when I brought you up here," you told him. You got his attention back at that.

"So, would you care to explain why you seem to know us so well, but Thor and I don't remember you?" he asked, a hint of anger and hurt in his tone. You summoned a plate of sandwiches on a plate on the middle cushion and nodded. He took one absently. Asgardians were bottomless pits when it came to food.

"I promised you an explanation." Now that it was time, it was hard to get the words out. "I don't know what you remember. I'm going to assume it's nothing, since your Lady Mother would have been thorough when the Allfather ordered her to modify your memories when I was exiled from Asgard,"

Loki glared at you. Exiles were not good, usually only for extreme crimes. "What did you do to get exiled?" he asked incredulously. Especially since you had obviously kept your rank when you were exiled.

You smirked at him. "Kissed you," you replied. It was worth the open shock on his face and you laughed aloud at it.

"I didn't think that was an exileable offence. Unless the kiss was that bad..." he teased, then looked shocked, like he wondered where the hell the teasing came from.

"I assure you the kiss was more than satisfactory," you glared at him, crossing your arms over your chest defensively. He gestured for you to continue when his laughter died down. "So I'll start at the beginning. I trust that you've learned about your heritage by now?" He inclined his head so you continued. "Thank the Norns. If I had to tell you that too, I swear by Odin's beard I would have slapped the Allfather for adding that torture too, exile or no," you grumbled. Odin wasn't exactly your favorite person for what he did to all of you. "I'm Y/N, daughter of Sigun of the Valkyries," Loki nodded recognition. He knew your mother at least. "During the war with the Jotuns, Mother went to Jotunheim in the guise of a frost giant as a spy for the Allfather. She ended up marrying one of the giants to keep up her disguise. I was born shortly before the end of the war. When the treaty was signed, Odin took you to Asgard and Mother returned there with me. She was actually your wet nurse," you paused again there, hating that he didn't remember, that you had to spell all of this out for him.

"You're half Jotun?" he asked in the silence. You nodded and stripped off one of your gloves. With a faint shimmer of magic, your hand turned blue, confirming that you were at least part Jotun. You shook your hand and it turned back to normal.

"Neither of us were told of our parentage. Your Lady Mother thought I would be a good companion for you, though. She wanted you to have a friend who you couldn't hurt if your Jotun powers went out of control. Oh don't give me that look," he was glaring. "You know as well as I that magic in children goes awry. Often and creatively."

He chuckled. "You're right. Go on," he urged, sounding nearly desperate.

"So we grew up together. Your Lady Mother taught us both magic, mine taught us the fighting arts. Your idiot brother and his idiot friends were annoying companions and the butt of so very, very many pranks over the years,"

"I don't remember any of this!" Loki protested, frustrated. You saw the hurt in his eyes.

"I know. I'm getting there," you told him quickly. He didn't look appeased. "I'll skip to the end. We were 150, had been best friends from the cradle, and well, one thing led to another and were making out in one of the alcoves, the one behind the statue of Yggdrasil growing out of Ymir's body. We were found by some of the maids. That wouldn't have been bad on it's own, no one cared about a few kisses in an alcove. Except that both of us were mostly blue and our eyes were bright red. Your brother and Sif saw us too. They had been looking for their own alcove to enjoy," you explained. His face blanched when he realized what all of that meant.

"The very reason your Lady Mother thought I was a good companion for you as a child was the exact reason the king saw fit to exile me the very day those maids found us. He ordered the queen to modify yours, Thor's, Sif's, all of your memories so you wouldn't remember me, and so none of you would remember that you were a frost giant. He erased all of the fun and friendship of your childhood so his secret that he had taken you from Jotunheim would remain intact. He ordered all of the adults to never speak of it again.

He granted your Lady Mother a boon and let you say goodbye before he sent me off. I'm still not sure that was a kindness, though she had meant it to be." You would never forget the heartbreak in his eyes, the tears you both spilled, his shouts of grief when you were sent away for no more of a crime than kissing him. No matter his protests that you wouldn't be caught again, that you wouldn't do it again, the Allfather hadn't been swayed. He was taking no chances with his secret. You had only been 150, the Asgardian equivalent of 18ish year olds. "He let me keep my memories at your Lady Mother's request, saying that I was no danger to you in Midgard. She also told me that if I ever met her sons again, one of us should know what your childhood was really like...she said to tell you that you did not grow up in Thor's shadow like you thought, but in fun and friendship and achievements of your own," you tried to gauge his reaction to the words, but it was impossible. His reaction was hidden behind a millennia of living in the court of Asgard. You sat in silence with him for a few minutes. He needed time to process, and if you knew him as well as you thought you did, he needed space and solitude too.

"Would you like for me to show you to your room?" you asked, sticking to formality right now. He wasn't up to opening up and you felt bad for pushing when he just got here. You just felt awful for what Odin had done to his memories after you'd gone through the Bifrost, and felt he needed to know now as opposed to hiding it from him any longer than absolutely necessary.

"How can I know your story is true?" he finally replied, thinking through the possibilities.

You rolled your eyes and huffed at him in exasperation. "You're telling me the god of lies can't spot the truth?" you asked incredulously. "Fine, read my mind and my memories if you don't believe me. I know you know the spell. Your Lady Mother taught it to us when she taught us all of the telepathy based magic. We were... 50ish? You have my permission,"

He looked taken-aback. "You would trust-?" he started with such open disbelief.

"Of course I would," he hesitated, confused and overwhelmed. You slipped your glove back on and got to your feet. "Come on, Lohk-your highness," you corrected quickly, offering him a hand. "Let me escort you to your chambers,"

Hide behind formality, allow him to do the same. His court mask fell back into place and he stood, not taking your hand, but acknowledged the offer. "My lady Valkyrie is most gracious," he replied formally. You nodded and led him back to the elevator. You took the elevator down a couple of floors to the floor your suite was on.

"This one is yours," you gestured to the door when you reached it. You took a step back, unwilling to press yourself into his company or invite yourself to the solitude he needed to think over what you had told him.

"You're not going to come with me?" his voice was teasing, but tentative, afraid of opening up. "I thought a Valkyrie's duties were to devote her skills to the crown,"

You rolled your eyes. "I have no skills that will help in the bedroom, your highness," you teased back, putting emphasis on the sarcastic way you said his title. Just like old times indeed, or almost. It was too hesitant and timid of teasing and banter.

"You're over 1000 years old surely-" he teased. He stopped when he saw your expression.

You sighed heavily and answered only because it was a direct question. "I haven't even kissed anyone since I was 150," you told him softly. He would know exactly what that meant. "Unlike you, I can't control my Jotun abilities that well. Anyone I come into physical contact with gets frost burned," you raised a hand to indicate the gloves. "So, no. I have no skills that will help you in your bedroom. I'll leave you to your solitude. If you need anything, my chambers are across the hall. I will see you later, my prince," you bid him fondly and took a couple steps toward you room, fighting back tears. That had been harder than you'd expected.

"Until later, Lady Valkyrie..." he hesitated a moment, the word stumbling on his silver tongue. "Kyrie..." he said the word softly, tentatively, not understanding it, but seeming to know it was important.

You turned and smiled warmly at him. "You have called me 'Kyrie' since we were children," you told him. "Your Lady Mother used to call me her little Valkyrie so often that she said you thought my name was Valkyrie for ages, but we were children, so you shortened it to Kyrie," you explained kindly. You made a shooing motion with your hands. "Go brood oh tall, dark, and handsome trickster. You'll feel better when you've brooded it over," you teased. You stuck your tongue out at him while he spluttered and ducked into your own suite.

Maybe things had a chance to work out after all, and despite Odin's meddling.

You knew better than to let yourself be that hopeful.