You spread your wings as you walked through the gates into Valkyria proper. Besides the servants, everyone here was a Valkyrie or a Valkyrie in training and they all wore their wings all the time.

"This way, we need to tell the Matron we're here before anything else," you told Loki. He nodded and let you take the lead. Of course you were taking the lead. You had spent a year of your life here and it had been a year of hell.

You remembered the first time you were here, the day after you turned 100. You were nervous at being here, nervous at the start of the trial, and nervous at being away from your family at court for the first time ever. Your mother was there for the year, but she couldn't aid you during the trials. You had to face them alone.

You shook off the memory of being a teen in this place and strode confidently in the front doors. "Lady Valkyrie," the servants at the doors greeted you as you passed. You nodded to them in reply. They looked at Loki, who followed a step behind you and looked like they wanted to argue with him being here, but they knew, the entire kingdom knew you were married. "Lord Consort," they finally greeted him, admitting him past them without you having to kick their asses for it. Loki had a right to be here.

You turned and smirked at his indignant expression once you were inside the castle and away from those particular servants. "They called me 'lord consort'," he spluttered, whining indignantly.

You laughed. "What'd you expect, Lohk?" you teased.

He glared at your teasing. "My usual title?" he suggested. "My name perhaps? It's not like they don't know who I am," he grumbled, just making you laugh harder.

"Loki, it's tradition," you told him. He huffed, but waited for you to continue. "The Valkyrie rule Valkyria, even your father has no power here. He's not even allowed to step foot through the gates and he rules the entire realm. You're only allowed because you're married to me," you reminded him.

"So it's tradition that I lose my title?" he grumbled.

You laughed. "No, it's tradition that your only status here is as my husband. That's why your title here is Lord Consort. They're actually being respectful calling you 'lord', the only other husbands I've seen here have only been addressed as 'husband' or 'consort'," you explained to him.

He sighed. "Your people are strange," he finally told you, but seemed to have gotten over being upset at his lack of station here. "I dislike you outranking me," he teased.

You laughed and took his hand. "Now you know how I've felt my entire life, husband," you teased him. He kissed your cheek with a grin.

"Mmm, 'husband', I do so enjoy hearing that," he told you with a warm purr and stole a kiss. You smiled warmly at him and kissed him back.

You smiled and squeezed his hand. "C'mon, Lohk, let me show you the castle," you told him and led him through the stone halls of the giant castle. It reminded you of Hogwarts in a way, at least every time you read Harry Potter you imagined the castle of Valkyria as Hogwarts.

"I've been wanting to see this place since I learned about the trials and how you would have to face them alone," Loki confessed. You nodded.

"I know. I researched with you while we were children to find out what the trials entailed," you reminded him. Neither of you could find out any more than that the trials were a year, and you would have to leave your best friend for an entire year with little chance to communicate with him. "You can know about them now," you reminded him with a grin. You could see how much the additional delay was killing him, but he wanted to see this place too.

You led him through the ancient halls, his hand in yours. The women in the corridors gave him strange looks, surprised to see a man in their midst. There weren't many husbands who came here, even though they were allowed. You nodded to the servants, Valkyrie-in-training, and the lower ranking Valkyrie who bowed to you as you passed.

"Why are they all bowing to you?" Loki asked you softly as you walked.

You smiled at him. "The same reason everyone at the palace bows to you, silly prince. I outrank them all. You know that there are ranks among the Valkyrie, based on how we do during the trials, and our assignments after we pass the grand trial," you reminded him. "I rank high among the Valkyrie," you add with a smirk. You were one of the highest ranked Valkyrie and not just because of your assignment to Loki.

You led Loki straight to the Matron's office first. You had to let her know there was a guest in her castle. You were always welcome and always had rooms here, every Valkyrie did; every Valkyrie had a home here, as did any woman in the realm who needed sanctuary. Men however, were treated warily at best. You knocked on the Matron's door. "Enter," she called.

You opened the door and stepped in, pulling Loki with you. "Matron," you greeted her politely. "I have come home to visit and brought my husband with me," you told her politely. You technically outranked her, but everything that went on here was her domain. She looked up from her desk and gestured you into the room.

"Welcome home, Sister," she greeted you warmly. She looked at Loki with a nod and a smirk. "Your highness, welcome to Valkyria. You are welcome here as Y/N's husband, as is any spouse of a Valkyrie. I must warn you, however, that your station outside of Valkyria does not grant you any additional privileges inside our walls," she warned him again. He would be kicked out if he broke their rules. That was the only privilege his rank got him. Others would be killed for breaking the rules.

"I understand," Loki replied graciously, especially considering that he was basically being threatened.

The matron nodded. "Then I bid you enjoy your stay with us," she told him kindly. She turned her attention back to you. "Your rooms are as you left them, the servants cleaned them and aired them out. I expected you would be bringing your husband here," she added with a smirk. "He was always so curious about our ways,"

You and Loki both laughed in reply. You took Loki's hand and gave him a tour of the general castle, the great hall where the meals were served, training yards, classrooms, stables, and finally the sleeping quarters. You showed him to your rooms, where you'd be staying while you were here. The rooms were simple, not much more than the bed and desk. "Not the fanciest place for our honeymoon," you teased.

He chuckled and pulled you into his arms to kiss you. "Yes, this is part of our honeymoon, but we're not here for riches and comfort," he reminded you.

You nodded. "We're here so you can find out about the trials," you told him. You went to your desk and pulled an ancient journal out of the drawer. "I had a feeling you would be here someday. I wasn't allowed to let this leave the castle, but, I was allowed to keep it here," you handed the journal over to him.

His eyes lit up. "This is-?" he opened it to see your careful writing filling the pages.

"Every day of the year I was here taking the trials. Ok, I couldn't write every day due to the nature of some of the trials, but that is an accounting of everything I went through to earn my position," you told him. Your predictable Loki sat on your bed and began to read. You laughed and settled next to him on the bed.

He looked up at you, concerned by something that kept getting said, but he hadn't quite appreciated. "The Valkyrie are born Valkyrie," he commented. You nodded. That's why there were little toddlers running through the halls with wings, and only the Valkyrie had wings. "But you have to pass the trials to become a full Valkyrie..." he continued. You nodded again, wondering where he was going with this. "All those little girls have to take the trials?"

You nodded a third time. "Every girl who is born a Valkyrie has to be trained and take the trials whether she wants to or not," you told him softly, finally figuring out where this was going. You would still make him ask on this one.

"And those who fail?" he asked softly.

You looked away. "Every trial goer makes it to the grand trial, no matter how they do on the smaller trials. Those who don't so well on the smaller trials do not tend to pass the grand trial," you told him softly. It was every trainee's nightmare for a very good reason.

"And what happens if they fail the grand trial?" he pressed. He needed to know what the stakes had been.

"They die," you told him, looking into his eyes. You saw his horror when he realized just how high the stakes had been the year you were gone. Just what you had risked. If you had failed you wouldn't have returned to court to be a court lady like he'd always thought.

You would have died during the grand trial.

His arms wrapped around you and he held you too tightly, his grip tightening even more when he realized that he may have lost you forever. "You told me goodbye," he said softly, his voice pained. "The night before the grand trial started. You-"

You'd met Loki through illusions throughout your year of trials and they were almost, almost finally over. "One more trial left," you told him when you met him at the halfway point between the palace and Valkyria's castle. Your illusions both sat by a little pond where you could talk and catch up. You'd been talking for awhile already that night, catching up on events at the palace and what you could tell him of your time in Valkyria.

"It's still a month before our birthday," Loki told you, wondering how this could be the last trial. You couldn't tell him what the trials consisted of, but you could tell him there was just one left.

"This one's the grand trial. It lasts a whole month," you explained. You'd very carefully found out what exactly you could tell him. You sighed heavily. "Everything hinges on this trial," you couldn't tell him that your life was part of 'everything'. "My whole future,"

He smiled reassuringly at you. "Kyrie-love, you've been training for this since you could walk. You'll do just fine and then you can come home and get your assignment," he flushed a little. "Technically the assignment should go to Thor, but... he's already agreed to step aside, to give me the honor,"

"Of course he did, Lohk. He couldn't stand having me shadow him for the rest of his life. He'd get annoying with me in five minutes," you teased. Your body heard the belltower chime. "I have to get going," you told him sadly. Neither of your illusions were strong enough yet to be corporeal. "I won't be able to contact you again," you told him softly.

"I understand. This is important, little Valkyrie," he told you warmly, so full of joy and excitement that you were almost done. He didn't know, didn't understand what was at stake.

So you told him the only way you could.

"Goodbye, my prince. No matter what happens through this trial, I will love you for all of my days," you told him with tears in your eyes. Before he could answer, before he could demand information that you couldn't give him, you let the illusion vanish.

You nodded. "I told you goodbye. It was the best I could do," you told him softly and held him tightly as well.

"I didn't - I didn't know," he told you horrified. "You could have died?" he asked, still disbelieving that that was the possible outcome.

You nodded. "If a Valkyrie doesn't pass the grand trial she dies. There are no exceptions,"

"I could have lost you and I didn't even know!"