Unforeseen

Challenge Made

Fulla played around with my phone for the better part of our midday meal, flipping through my songs and commenting on the range of Midgard's music when she flipped from one of my songs, which was a instrumental piece composed by Dmitri Shostakovich, to Sleeping with Siren's cover of 'You Belong With Me' to '北京欢迎你', which was a song presented by China at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. After our meal, though, she had to bustle off to her other duties that had been put on hold while she'd assisted me during the morning and the early afternoon. I thanked her again as she strolled away under the garden's trellises leaving me to myself.

Stretching as I stood up from the bench we'd been eating on, I sighed to myself. Still feeling mentally overloaded from earlier, I didn't want to go right away to sit down and shove more information into my head in the library, especially if that information was dry, complicated information about Asgard's legal systems. Maybe I'd stroll around the grounds a bit before heading back inside... It wouldn't be procrastinating if I did... no, it would be considered 'exploring'.

Smiling to myself about how proud Loki would be of my logic, I started walking out of the gardens and along the edge of the grounds along the stone walkway, one hand brushing over the balcony-like railing. I was lost in my thoughts as I strolled, not really paying attention to where I was going until I heard noise in the distance that caught my attention, metal clanging against metal. Instinctually at hearing the sound, my hand moved to my belt where I'd tucked my silver device, hovering over it as I looked around for signs of battle. A second later, I relaxed my suddenly tensed muscles, realizing that the sounds was not coming from some sort of breach of Asgard's palace's defenses, but from combat training in the training grounds off in the distance.

Had I heard the training horn earlier? I couldn't recall, but my curiosity was spiked. Loki and I had just caught a glimpse of the einherjar's training when he'd given me his tour, but I wondered what training for Asgard's illustrious army really looked like. I wondered how it differed from my own training to become an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Would it be okay for me to go and watch for just a minute? I brushed away my hesitance a second later. I was an official lady of Asgard. I was allowed to wander wherever I liked, and I could be causing no issue by simply watching as long as I didn't cause a scene, and I was not one to cause a fuss or wish to draw attention to myself.

I followed the clanging sounds towards the training area, the rushing sound of water flowing from the palace's aqueducts affirming that I was heading in the right direction. The training area was filled with perhaps a hundred or more training soldiers, some in full uniform and others in lighter, less regal armor as they moved about the multiple layers of the training grounds. In the afternoon sun, the stone of the training ground's arches, columns, and levels of balconies and stairs and large flat sparring areas took on a sandy shade.

My eyes flicked around, trying to take everything in as I walked under the shade of an archway. While there were several groups of people being trained in archery; throwing daggers, spears, and battle axes; weaponless hand-to-hand combat that looked like a mix between boxing, martial arts, and wrestling; and strength training; the main attraction seemed to be sparring. From my distance, I watched as about two dozen pairs of sparrers fought each other. Sword against sword, spear against spear, they fought, their training weapons flashing with sparking white light on each impact with metal or armor.

The energy attracted my attention the most. It certainly wasn't like normal electricity. No, like I'd made note of before, this energy was uniquely Asgardian. I supposed that these weapons were designed not to slice and cut like normal weapons, but instead would deliver shocks of energy to let the sloppier or weaker opponent better recognize the hits they took. Leaning against an archway's column, I studied a soldier as he fought with a kind of trident against another who wielded a double-handed sword.