Unforeseen

Sleepless in Asgard

The next few days were a blur as the ceremony for my title bestowment drew ever nearer. From the time I awoke in the morning to late at night when I could tamp down my nerves just enough to fall asleep, it felt like my world was a whirlwind of preparations.

Loki's lessons grew steadily more intense as he helped prepare me for the ceremony, but he also taught me more about the duties I would have to preform once I was officially a lady of Asgard. As a lady of the court and the official companion to the king, my responsibilities would revolve mainly on helping run the palace and being a support and advisor to the king as I helped him with his own duties.

I would have to help set up and run events that the palace would hold including celebrations for national holidays and formal gatherings for the royalty and courts of Asgard and the other realms. I would have to know how to speak and negotiate with dignitaries while also being a problem-solver for the social issues and the needs of the Asgardian people. I would have to stand beside the king during meetings of war or politics or on topics of trade, agricultural needs, and the planning of new buildings. I would have to help the king make decisions on running Asgard, bringing in my observations and perspectives of issues, which means that I would have to be aware and competent of many things that I'd never been trained in before.

It was a lot to take in, but Loki was a patient teacher. He started explaining documents and Asgard's current standing on many topics to me, allowing me to ask as many questions as I needed. He started bringing me in on some minor decision-making for the kingdom, and even allowed me to stand by his throne as an advisor during a legal discussion with Lord Forseti, who was the head judge of Asgard and whose word on legal justice was just a step below that of the Allfather's final word.

Beyond these lessons on how to actually perform the duties of a lady, I was brought into the preparations for the feast that was to celebrate the ceremony itself. It would be the first official social event of Asgard's high society I would be invited to and it would all be centered on me as the guest of honor. Because of that, the palace's staff wanted to make sure that the food would all be to my liking and had me taste-test several options for the feast's fare one day. Never would I have imagined that there were so many different ways to cook goat and boar! I was so bloated for the rest of that day after sampling so many different kinds of meats, cheeses, soups, pies, salads, vegetables, fruits, cakes, desserts, and other dishes that Loki didn't even bother to ask if I wanted dinner that night, instead settling down with me in the library until late in the evening.

That evening, along with any amount of time that I wasn't trailing Odin-Loki or having lessons or being followed by maids and palace staff with questions about the celebrations after the ceremony, I was studying more about Asgard from the library's books. At night, it seemed that my brain was so packed with new information and stress and apprehension about the upcoming ceremony that it was nearly impossible to fall asleep. Even when I did manage to drift off, my busy mind would twist everything into uneasy dreams of panic.

Tonight, the night before the ceremony, was far worse. I'd been staring up at the canopy of my bed for hours in the darkness, my mind anxiously replaying instructions for the ceremony over and over again as my stomach pinched and squeezed in my nervousness. My nightgown felt like it was clinging to me, the collar choking me as little prickles of sweat spouted on my skin. I tossed and turned, trying to force myself to keep my eyes closed and yet I would once again find myself staring into the shadowy folds of fabric.

This was ridiculous. It was doing me no good to just lie here. I was just becoming more anxious with each passing hour, and I knew I needed some sleep. Tomorrow was important. I had to be alert and rested for it. That fact didn't help me nod off though. In fact, it probably made my situation worse.