Eagles

"If we don't change the hinges the door will fall off". Sarthi raised to her feet from her crouching position, as she wiped the grease off her hands on a cloth tied to one of her belt loops. "We'll need new hinges from Downtown's blacksmith; and some varnish too, the paint on the wood is quite chipped". She swiped a hand over one of the stable's doors, making a point for what she was saying as she went on listing the things that were necessary while she walked out of the stables, a younger girl following quick behind, listening carefully.

"Oh and Helga, has anyone fed the eagles yet?" The girl looked at her with her eyebrows raised, round eyes open in a puzzled look.

"Well, boss, uhm…" She tapped her chin in a naïve gesture as she mumbled quietly "Adils told me he'd see to it…". She staggered in an effort to remember precisely what she had heard, the struggle clear in her face "…Then I saw Haki and reminded him as well, since it's been a couple of days since last time they were fed; and he told me Adils was actually too scared to do it himself and they were both wondering whether you'd do it instead".

Sarthi let out a heavy sigh "I can't keep up with everything, Helga, that's why you guys are here".

"Yes, I'm sorry Boss, I'll tell them both" The girl fidgeted with her nails as she let her head down in embarrassment, her golden locks curtaining over her face.

"Hey, it's not your place to apologize, you weren't the one to do that task." She lifted her chin tenderly, her eyes turning soft and a gentle smile appearing on her face.

"Okay, sorry Boss, I mean… yeah." She let out a cackle which Sarthi followed, as she swiped some of her hair out of her face with the back of his hand.

"You should keep your hair out of your face" Sarthi added then, tucking a rebel strand behind her ear, almost in a motherly way "It'll make it easier to move around".

"Now come on, it won't take long before those huge birds turn feral" She gestured Helga to turn around as she grabbed a piece of leftover string from her pocket and tied her hair in a makeshift updo.

Helga was not exactly a newbie in her workplace, but she was by far the youngest helper she'd ever handled. Orphaned at an early age, she'd been employed for some time now, but still struggled with communicating things the right way, or at least that's how Sarthi perceived the giddy teenager.

"Let's find out what those two are up to" Sarthi stated, referring to Haki and Adils, as they both started walking towards the eagles' cages, south from the training grounds.

Odin kept the majestic birds in a glass House, shielded from the rest of exotic animals that were kept in Valaskjalf's grounds. They'd been a gift from the elven King Gylfinn, as part of a peace treaty between Asgard and Alfheim a couple of eons ago. Odin enjoyed hunting in the mountains up north every once in a while. The sport itself was a useful activity to establish relations between ambassadors and royals in delegations from other Realms; and whenever they came to Asgard to discuss politics and treaties, a hunting day was always in schedule.

"Will you teach me one day how to feed them?" Helga asked curiously as they approached the transparent door that gave access to the glass cage.

"Of course!" Sarthi turned to face her with a smile. "I never thought you'd be interested, I've only seen you mingle with the goats and sheep" She let out a light chuckle before they both walked inside the large structure, careful to not make any loud sounds.

"About that, Boss, I wanted to-"

"Shh" Sarthi hushed her bringing a finger to her lips, signalling her to keep quiet. She averted her eyes towards the centre of the space before them, to which Helga turned her head, unable to repress a gasp of surprise.

Before them stood four gigantic eagles with their eyes closed and their heads tucked inside their wings, each of their nests as big as a hay wagon filled to the brim. Sarthi quietly walked on her tiptoes around the sleeping ensemble, her strides long and cautious, not wanting to make a sound. Then, she took a flight of metal stairs attached to the opposite wall of the class cube, raising to a makeshift platform that gave an overview of the animals from above, while maintaining a careful distance. With a set of keys that hanged from another one of her belt loops, she opened a drawer adhered to the wall, from which she took a string of frozen dead rabbits and wrapped it around her arm.

She then gestured for Helga to join her with a wave of her hand, the younger girl moving in rushed steps to the stairs and warily taking the steps to reach the top.

"Watch this" Sarthi whispered, her eyebrows wiggling in excitement. She brought two fingers to her lips and blew, making a loud whistling sound, to which Helga covered her ears as she flinched. Only a few seconds later, the eagles were opening their massive, round amber eyes, their pupils adjusting to the light, their necks slowly stretching to their full height, standing proudly before them. Sarthi looked at them mesmerized, realizing how she'd stop admiring such majestic creatures. A wheeze of fear from Helga brought her back from her trance, the girl at her side ogling the creatures like it was the first time she'd ever seen them up-close; it probably was.

"They won't hurt you" Sarthi noted, bringing a hand to the scared teen's shoulder "Unless you give them a reason to" she finished with a snicker, the younger girl turning at lightspeed to face her with a horrified look.

"Who wants lunch?!" Sarthi the shouted as she held the string of rabbits up in the air, earning a collective screech from the birds standing before them.

"Here, take these two; and aim for the beak" She advised Helga, handing her two rabbits while untying the others from the rope and raising them up again to show them off, making the animals screech loudly a second time. She threw the first one high in the air, making the eagle that was closer to them stretch its neck while opening its wingspan for leverage, causing a sudden wind to hit their faces and a bunch of loose strands of hay and straw to fly around the perimeter.

Helga mimicked her boss' throw, making another bird on the far back nimbly reach for the piece while also stretching it's wings. They both focused on how they feasted on the frozen rodents, the lump on their necks bobbing up and down as they swallowed their bodies.

"Good thing they're not fresh" Helga quipped as one the eagles caught a piece with the pointed side of their beak "It would've been so much gory". She heard Sarthi let out a chuckle at her side, amused by the comment. "That's why I've never been to a hunt. I wouldn't stand the carnage, no matter how small the prize".

They stood on the platform until the string of rabbits was finished, slowly moving towards the stairs to go down. Helga nearly tripped on her feet on her way down, having locked eyes with one of the animals and unable to withdraw her gaze form the distinguished bird's amber eyes. The eagle followed her movements with subtle shifts of its head, observing the girl with curiosity.

"Looks like Tourinn likes you" Sarthi chimed in as she placed a hand on the door's handle, already planning on leaving. She made a humming sound, contemplating the idea that roamed her mind for a second.

"Would you like to pet her?" She then asked, hopeful that the younger girl would accept.

"Can I?" Her eyes light up with excitement as a toothy smile appeared on her face, clasping her hands together in anticipation.

"Do as I do" Her boss assured, slowly lifting a hand in the air at the same time she folded her upper body in a reverence. The girl prudently followed her movements, keeping her eyes fixed on the bird's, only to find the creature slowly lowering her head, mimicking the humans' motions. Helga let out a surprised sigh as she felt her hand graze the baby feathers on top of the eagle's beak. She stroke them tentatively, the eagle making a small humming sound in response, closing her big round eyes at the touch, to which Helga let out an airy giggle, amazed by the scene before her eyes.

"Come on, let's go" She heard Sarthi rushing her "We'll come back another day".

Sarthi didn't notice the slight pout on Helga's face as they quietly stepped out of the glass cage, but they did gave the animals one last glance through the reflection of the transparent walls, as they walked away in the pursuit of Adils and Haki.

***

The landscape gradually changed with every couple of steps they took, leaving behind the mown grass and entering the grove of trees which surrounded the grounds. it was becoming a less tended territory, the further they went in, the less people they encountered. At some point of their walk, the all-familiar farms sounds had started to face into the distance and were replaced by the singing birds on the trees and the crackling of the grass and leaves under their feet.

"Boss, I wanted to tell you earlier is that- "

"Didn't those airheads told you where they'd be?" Sarthi interrupted her once again, sporting a frown on her brow, her mouth slowly turning into a grimace. "Haki and Adils, do you know where they could be?" Her tone had turn stern, and even if she didn't want to taker frustration on the girl, her creeping anxiety was starting come to the surface at a worryingly fast pace.

She hadn't stepped into a forest since the incident. She didn't know why she'd ended up here in the first place, she'd just started walking absentmindedly in this direction, without even knowing whether those two rascals would be among the trees or not. A tingling sensation creeped in the back of her head, making her breath hitch up as her eyes started to take in her surroundings, looking up at the tree branches, and down to the tree roots that intertwined with the soil. She had to make sure she was safe, she had to make sure she remembered the way back to the stables and the corrals.

She had to make sure they didn't step on a trap.

Helga observed her boss look around in all directions with a startled expression. "Is everything all right, Sarthi?" she whispered, scared of what her answer could be.

"I…I…" She stuttered, unable to find the right words to describe how she was feeling, an expression of distress plastered on her face. "I think we should go back, see if they're somewhere around the troughs or the riding arena" she said distractedly, her eyes not stopping from exploring their surroundings.

With the same confused expression, Helga started to retrace their steps, still puzzled by her boss' sudden mood change. Sarthi followed close behind, now using Helga as her guidance to get out of the grove, blindly trusting the teenager into getting them both out of there. Her breath started to relax the moment she started to clearly hear the mooing of the cows and the distant chatter coming from the training fields.

The way back to the pens was awkward, neither of the girls wanted to bring up what had happened back in the grove, and Sarthi, as much as she wanted to reassure Helga that she was fine, was trying to find an explanation for her sudden anxiety. She picked at her nails nervously while going over the scene, trying to justify the sudden outburst of fear. There was no trap to be seen, why would there be a trap, just for her to find it? Of course not, there was no reason for there to be a trap anywhere. She should stop thinking about it.

But she couldn't.

"What did you have to tell me before? Was anything important?" She asked Helga absentmindedly, in an attempt to focus her mind somewhere else.

"Uhm" Helga muttered as if unsure of whether she should speak or not "It's about the prince, boss, he's…" She hesitated for a second, thinking of how to voice her thoughts "He's been somewhat hindering our work in the animal pens".

Wonderful. Sarthi thought to herself. Just wonderful.

"What has he done, exactly?" She replied with a sigh, her face clearly showing she was already fed up. They were slowly approaching the wooden feeders next to the pens, which were surprisingly still empty given the time it was already.

Helga stammered again, probably worried of what'd be the consequences of her snitching "You see, the problem is not what he did, but what he didn't do, today we were supposed to shear the sheep and... well I understand that he has never learned how to do it, but all his sheep had leftover fur patches and we had to shear them all over again, and that has delayed us in everything else that we should have done today". Helga paused for a second to swallow with uneasiness, yet determined to keep going, for her own sake "no one dares to say anything to him because we know of his status, and what he's capable of..." She let out a troubled sigh "… but if the troughs are not yet full and the water has not been brought from the well, it's because the sheep were not sheared so quickly this morning and we are all against the clock".

Helga sighed once more, with newfound confidence on her confession, her face hardening with resolve "and on top of that, he keeps complaining about how fast we work and how he can't keep up, he's distracted some of us while doing our tasks and keeps forcing us to stop and chat with him instead, which makes it the more difficult to meet our usual schedule. Adils and Haki spent so much time with him this morning… I'm sure that's why they forgot about feeding the eagles, that's why they told me that excuse when I asked them about it."

Sarthi ran a hand across her face, letting out a sigh of exhaustion. Listening at Helga's complaint was enough to make her feel drained, not because of the girl of course, but because she should've seen the problem in advance. "Foolish Sarthi" she thought to herself "to think he would've just followed orders and tackled the job like any other colleague under my command.

She gave a quick glance to the pens, double checking if by any chance he was on sight, but of course, could she expect for the God of Mischief to be where she had ordered her team to keep him? Probably not. If what Helga said was true, her colleagues must've had an exhausting week trying to keep up the usual work pace.

"You go look for Haki and Adils" She then commanded the teen. "I'll go find Loki".

Helga's eyes widened at the boldness with which her boss had called the prince by his first name, but with a quick nod she turned and walked away to the fighting grounds, probably to ask the trainees if anyone had seen the rogue pair.

***

After searching the pens, the riding arena and even the courtyards surrounding the palace, Sarthi started to wonder if the banished prince was able to conjure vanishing spells, in order to hide from his responsibilities. She'd silently walked around for a couple of hours now, and the King Star was starting to set, painting an orange and purple watercolour in the sky. She had sat for a moment on a bench next to one of the wells that were scattered around the gardens, and she was tempted for a moment to give up her search and just sit down and gaze at the sky, for how mesmerizing it looked during these early days of Sumarr. She was also trying to avoid the scenario in which she'd have to complain to Thor.

It had only been a week since Loki had been handed to her as a new worker, now she felt guilty of not knowing how to handle the task at hand. It was not entirely her fault the work was behind, but she'd been avoiding the idea of literally taking the God under her wing like a newbie apprentice. In fact, she didn't want to deal with him at all. She'd been avoiding the new addition to her team like a plague for a whole week, using Helga or Johann instead to give out orders for him. She didn't feel like talking to him, or even look at him. She remembered the hateful grimace with which he'd looked at her when he'd been brought to the grounds, and she recalled the bolt of fear that ran through her body when their eyes locked. She was terrified of the God, as much as she wanted to avoid thinking about it.

However, being this permissive wouldn't take her anywhere. From the first minute she'd gotten involved in the prince's punishment, a recurring thought had settled in her mind: The faster he learns, the sooner he'll leave. She'd expected him to get a hold of their tactics and usual tasks by now. How foolish of her. To think he'd willingly work like a peasant having spent his whole life as a prince, a spoiled one at that. She recalled a few times where she'd gotten Sleipnir ready to ride and no one had come to pick up the stallion, a servant informing her hours later that "His majesty had changed his mind in the last minute" Did he not know how long it took to get a six-legged horse ready for a royal? That was time wasted that she could've spent doing something else!

With newfound rage she stood up from her seat, determined to find the God even if it got dark in the process.

Surprisingly enough, she didn't have to go too far.

The last lights of the day faintly peeked through the ajar door of the stables as she gently pushed it open to search inside. The horses had already been fed (thankfully) and they rested peacefully in each of their rightful sections. Sarthi walked in slow strides, making sure to look from side to side in case she found him lurking around a shadow or hiding behind an animal. Only when she'd reached the end of the long building, she noticed the empty stables on the far back, one of them had been where she'd found Strudel the first time. "I'll be damned if he's hiding here" She thought to herself, not really contemplating the idea of finding him in such a place.

The look of disbelief on her face when she peeked inside the stable could not be compared to anything she'd witnessed before. Before her, laid Loki: peacefully napping on a makeshift bed of hay, curled up in a ball, a saddle over his body, "as if it was doing anything to hide him from anyone" Sarthi thought, still not believing the image before her eyes. Maybe he thought no one would dare to look for him as thoroughly.

She let out an exasperated huff, her brows furrowing in anger, as she tried to exit the stable as quietly as possible. She was experimenting a sudden clarity in her mind.

Odin was right, she deserved revenge.

She proceeded to walk decisively to the well she'd been sitting next to moments before, grabbing the nearest bucket she could find and filling it up to the brim. The thick rope handle was denting on her skin from how heavy it felt, and she had to use both hands to carry it, some of the water slipping around the brim as her strides turned faster and shorter, but she'd managed to get back with most of the water still inside the bucket.

Once she was standing outside the door that shielded the prince's sleeping state, she took a couple of deep breaths before slowly pushing it open and sliding inside the cubicle. It was not very spacious, and it reeked of dirt and sweat. She set the bucket on the ground to stretch her palms and arms for a moment, gathering the courage and strength she needed before picking it up by the brim and the base, chucking the water towards the prince's sleeping figure in one swift movement.

The God's startled face only fuelled the smugness on her eyes and her smirk of satisfaction. Revenge did feel great after all. She stood with her hands on her hips as she watched the God's eyes scrunch in shock at the unexpected feeling, his mouth letting out a startled gasp. He then opened wide his round eyes and looked around in confusion for a second, his glare landing onto Sarthi's standing figure.

"What exactly do you think you're doing?!" he shrieked, his eyes moving from the bucket to her face a couple times.

"This is not what we agreed on" she simply answered, turning around, and opening the cubicle's door for him. "Out" she ordered.

Sarthi observed as the banished prince hastily stoop up, unable to hide the anger on his face, his brow equally furrowed as he ran a hand through his now soaking wet hair.

"I don't remember agreeing on anything with you, woman". He declared as he unceremoniously walked out to the stable's corridor, approaching her menacingly. Sarthi gulped as her glare hardened, deciding to keep still, forcing herself to not back up. "Allfather said you'll be here until you learn the job, and it doesn't look like you're learning anything now does it?" She finished with a brow raised with sass, a newfound boldness settling in her words as she pronounced them out loud.

"I've been fulfilling my duties all day!" He exclaimed; his palms upwards as he turned to look around. The furrow in his brow didn't fade, it was clear the water had not done him well.

"Have you?" Sarthi retorted with sarcasm, her eyes opening with feigned surprise. "If so, then why is it I only get complaints on how you're distracting everyone around you on top of not doing as you're told?" She had no problem exaggerating and dramatizing a little what Helga had told her, at the end of the day, it was still a punishment what she had at hand.

"All your little minions do is follow orders without complaint or distraction" He snarled with mockery "I can only imitate what's going on around me do hoping it will be right. It's almost as if the one in charge to give orders does not really care whether I work or not" He replied, mimicking the sarcasm with which she'd approached him before.

"Don't you dare disrespect my colleagues like that. They're not my minions." Her glare had now turned severe at the insult. She decided she'd ignore the last comment, which of course was directed to her. "You're distracting them from their work and you're making us fall behind our schedules and I won't tolerate that. Life in the palace might be slow but it's certainly not here, if we have tasks to complete in a certain time it must be done, and well done at that. How come you can't even skill a sheep for Norn's sake?"

"I am a prince woman, why would you think I'd bother with skilling sheep or collecting fodder for the cows, do I look like a milkmaiden to you?" He finished with a disgusted grunt, wrinkling his nose at the image he'd just created in his mind. He could throw up at that thought and he wouldn't even be disgusted, he'd get sick on her in return for throwing water on him.

"No, you don't look like a milkmaiden. You look like a sopping waste of time" Sarthi replied abusively as she eyed him up and down with revulsion.

Out of the blue, the same odour she'd noticed inside the cubicle then reached her nostrils, making her take a whiff subconsciously, and instantly regretting it, wrinkling her nose with nausea. "Oh Norns! Is that you?!" She raised a hand to cover her nose and mouth as she made a gagging sound, scrunching her eyes at the God standing before her.

Knitting his eyebrows once more, that ever-lasting impassive glare still plastered on his face, he took an experimental sniff of the air around him. He tried to keep a straight face as the smell hit his senses like a slap to his face. It was him indeed.

"Do you even bathe? Norns, you stink!" she grimaced while retreating a few steps, dramatizing her disgust. "No wonder no one's coming close to you!"

"Of course I bathe! are you stupid?" He let out a sigh, his eyebrows slanted, the stern look slowly switching to what it looked like shame "I haven't washed these clothes just yet" he added, looking down at the crumpled vest and the stained sleeves of his current shirt.

"I assume you have heaping amounts of clothes you can choose from, why would you keep those for so long?"

"Well you suppose wrong, because I don't have any more clothes!" He growled the last bit with anger while baring his teeth, unable to hide his rage.

It felt as if she'd touched a sore point given the way he'd answered. "You can't… get more clothes?" Sarthi asked warily raising her eyebrows in confusion.

"Oh come on, don't act as if you don't know it already" The God huffed in disdain as he started to pace around the hallway "I was banished from the palace. The guards keep their eyes on me day and night to make sure I don't come near any of the entrances. All access to my chambers are locked now with a powerful spell I cannot remove… probably my mother's making. Besides, she's also tracing my seidr, so it's not like I can appear inside my room or anywhere else, she'd sense it".

Sarthi blinked perplexed a couple times. She didn't expect such an answer. She didn't know what answer she was expecting, but definitely not that. Had he been sleeping here for the whole week? Where did he live now if he wasn't allowed inside the palace? A voice in the back of her head kept repeating over and over that the God's new situation was none of her business, her task here was to make him work as much as she could and that'd be the end of it. That way she would make Allfather proud for achieving his goal.

Her desire to make the banished prince suffer almost outweighed the impulse of giving him clean clothes and a bar of soap. Almost.

"At least I won't have to suffer that stench any longer" She thought to herself.