Author's note: the letter ð (eth) is pronounced like the "th" in the word "them"

"I'm still not entirely sure how you got me to agree to this, Ada," Jane said disdainfully, adjusting her hairband. The two stars sticking up from it on springs bounced back and forth for emphasis.

"Oh come now, Doctor Foster!" Ada said, stressing her friend's new title. "I hardly think coming with me to a Halloween fancy dress party will be that painful. It's only with the university faculty. Besides, you still owe me for finding someone to translate that article so you could cite it in your dissertation!"

Jane closed her eyes and exhaled slightly, frowning. "Well, it wouldn't be painful if I were wearing something other than... this," she gestured to her costume, stars bobbing angrily. She wore a floor-length midnight blue gown with thin straps, made of imitation velvet, with a variety of glittery star stickers haphazardly scattered across it. "Also, I'm pretty sure this is at least the second time you've called in that favor. Anyway, I thought our costumes were supposed to be based on our academic specialties. Shouldn't you be dressed like a rune or something?"

"The thought crossed my mind... and it would be an amusing pun on my name. Aðalrun, "noble rune"", she smiled, pleased with herself. Although years of mispronunciation by friends, colleagues, and telemarketers had reduced her to introducing herself with the (still mispronounced) nickname "Ada", Aðalrun would announce her full name and its meaning fairly regularly given that...

"Ha-ha, yes, I know, you're a linguist focusing on Old Norse with the word "rune" in your name, how craaaazy," Jane said sarcastically, but with a smile. "You may have mentioned it once or twice over the course of our academic careers."

Ada grinned sheepishly. "What do you think of my costume though?"

She held her arms out in a grand gesture. She wore a long black cape affixed to her shoulders with metal plates over a flowing green wool dress. Around her waist hung a brown belt with a large pouch, and a small black veil covered her short red hair, held in place by a green band with two miniature golden deer antlers sprouting from it. To finish the ensemble, she wore a bronze gorgette and several strings of beads around her neck and carried what looked to be a spinning needle that lost a fight with a bedazzler.

"It's... er... more seasonally appropriate than my costume," Jane said, pulling on her coat and throwing a handbag over her shoulder. "What are you, anyway?"

"I'm a volva!" Ada threw a preemptive dirty look at Jane, anticipating the poorly muffled snort her friend gave at the sound of the word. "A Norse seeress and practitioner of seithr, Norse magic... I guess you could just call me a seithkona. It's easier, I suppose", she conceded, opening the front door of her flat onto the busy London street.

"Yeah, well, we wouldn't want the sexual studies and anatomy professors too excited, would we?" Jane laughed as she walked out the door. "Come on, let's get this over with."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The fancy dress party was in full swing by the time Jane and Ada arrived. It was being held in one of the classroom buildings on campus, as the university students were having a similar gathering in the student union, and the professors and staff were not too interested in living it up with their pupils. Jane, as a visiting researcher, had been invited by the astrophysics professors she worked closely with, but had only just agreed to attend the day of the party (due to Ada's incessant prodding). Ada, a doctoral candidate in linguistics, was technically not on the guest list, but had managed to sweet talk her way into an invitation after analyzing a particularly stubborn bit of data that one of her busy professors simply did not have time to deal with.

Ada made her way to the punch bowl with Jane in tow. "I see an awful lot of white lab coats," she said over her shoulder accusingly. "Aren't you glad you went with the creative option?"

Jane, clearly not used to maneuvering in a gown, looked down at her feet somewhat nervously. "Not particularly," she glanced up to shoot Ada a look, then quickly returned to monitoring her feet. "I feel like a loon..." she said, mostly to herself.

"Cheer up!" Ada said, smiling brightly and handing Jane a cup of punch. "You look lovely. And you're going to have some great photos to send to that long-distance boyfriend of yours!"

The remark caused Jane to momentarily look up with a sort of deer-in-the-headlights look, then turn her face away slightly. Ada regarded her with concern. "Is... everything alright with that?" she asked hesitantly.

"Oh, yes, it's fine. Just fine," Jane waved her off unconvincingly, staring into the middle distance. Ada furrowed her brow, obviously not buying it. Jane sighed, and looked off to the side slightly. "It's just... we haven't seen each other in over a year, and he's not really the best at keeping in touch..."

She was interrupted by a tap on her shoulder. She spun to face the source of the contact, one of the several individuals in attendance wearing lab coats, visually glad to be distracted from that topic of conversation. "Doctor Miller! Hello!"

"Jane!" the middle aged man said, smiling. "I really didn't expect the pleasure of your company tonight. I must admit that when Doctor Yates said you would be in attendance, I was skeptical," he laughed. "And I do compliment you on your inspired costume; I fear we old English astrophysicists lack the bravery of you young Americans!"

"Oh, you can blame this disaster of an outfit on the humanities, thankfully," she gestured to Ada, who had gathered a selection of grapes, cheeses, and crackers onto a plate for them to share. She smiled and nodded in the direction of the doctor. Doctor Miller looked at Jane questioningly. "She's a linguistics doctoral candidate. We did our undergrad together, we were in the same honors society," Jane clarified.

"Hey, language is a science too!" Ada said indignantly, coming to stand next to Jane. She offered her cheese plate, and Jane accepted a grape.

"Well, now that I'm speaking to you outside of the lab for once, I must ask- how is Erik doing? I trust he is recovering well from his injuries?" Doctor Miller enquired. Jane swallowed the grape hard.

"Ah, yes, I actually just recently spoke to him on the phone from his hospital in New York. He sounds desperate to get back to work! I'm pretty sure he's smuggled in some of his equipment, so he doesn't get too bored," Jane said, a little too perky.

Ada had been with Jane when the disaster happened in New York; she was in Norway for research anyway, and was visiting Jane at her unexpected new post in the lab at Tromso when the news broke. Shortly after, Jane's intern, Darcy, burst into the room and hauled Jane off in a hurry somewhere. Jane called her the next day to apologize, and told her that her mentor, Erik Selvig, had been injured in the attack, but had been rescued by the same team of heroes that saved the city- the Avengers. Ada had resisted making horrible excited noises to Jane over the appearance of not one but TWO Norse gods, out of concern. The resulting flood of academic funding for both Ada and Jane's subjects of study after the incident brought the two women to where they were now- University College London.

"That Erik!" Doctor Miller said with a chuckle. "He never could sit still for long! Although, how could you with this influx of new data on Einstein-Rosen Bridges? He must be bouncing off the walls, especially having seen one first hand!"

Jane smiled and stuffed her mouth full of cheese. Jane would usually avoid the subject of Doctor Selvig with Ada, due to what Ada could only assume was anxiety over his condition and the trauma he suffered. She knew that when Jane and Darcy had flown out to visit him in the hospital, he was apparently worse than they expected, although Ada never heard what exactly his injuries were.

A jingling sound from inside Jane's purse broke the increasingly awkward silence. She fished her phone out from within its deep pockets as it continued to light up and vibrate. Her eyes widened. Ada caught a glimpse of the name displayed on the screen- Erik Selvig.

Jane thrust her purse onto Ada's free arm, answered the phone, and covered her other ear with her hand in one quick motion. "Erik! What... are you sure? Where?!" Jane proceeded to shove her way through the party-goers and out the door.

Doctor Miller and Ada watched her go, then faced each other, both with the same confused expression. Ada shrugged, and felt the weight of Jane's purse on her arm.

"Lovely meeting you, have a good night!" Ada said hastily as she handed what was left of the cheese to a rather shocked Doctor Miller. She dashed through the crowd after Jane.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As Ada stepped into the chilly October air from the stuffiness of the party, she saw Jane disappear around the corner of a neighboring building. "Jane! Your bag-" she called, jogging after her.

Jane made a winding path around the university buildings, bits of her phone conversation drifting back to Ada; she was having trouble following Jane's apparently random but determined trajectory. From what Ada could hear, most of the conversation was Jane excitedly (anxiously?) asking about Erik's certainty of some event and Erik apparently reassuring her and giving directions. She began to feel guilty about following her friend... whatever was happening, it seemed important, and she didn't want to invade Jane's privacy... or work... or whatever was going on.

A distant clap of thunder sounded, causing Ada to involuntarily look up. Clouds were scooting across the sky at great pace, despite the peaceful breeze on the ground. The moon and stars flashed through them, creating an unusual glow on the buildings and trees.

Again, thunder rumbled, closer this time. Ada broke from her thoughts to see the bottom of Jane's star-studded dress receding around yet another corner. She huffed and resolved to just call Jane in the morning. It was obviously going to rain, and Ada didn't want to be wandering around in a long woolen dress when it started. She hiked Jane's purse up on her arm beneath her cape and turned to go back to her flat.

Ada had barely taken two steps when it seemed the entire campus was bathed in light. She wheeled around to the source of the sudden illumination to see a particularly wide bolt of lightning pulsing down to earth, apparently striking the square on the other side of the building that Jane had just disappeared behind.

"JANE!" Ada screamed, as the lightning bolt evaporated and thunder roared overhead. She sprinted between the old stone buildings that blocked her view of the square to find smoke rising from within a grove of trees. There was no sign of Jane and no light was being cast by a fire, which slightly reassured her. Why would Jane's mentor direct her into a park in the middle of the night, anyway? Ada laughed, quietly and nervously, at the absurd thought. She entered the small wood to find the source of the smoke... just in case.

As her eyes readjusted to the relative darkness after the blinding thunderbolt, Ada entered a small clearing to see two figures. She immediately recognized the glint of Jane's star boppers, and broke into a wide grin of relief. "God, Jane, you scared me to death!" she said, marching toward her friend. "I thought-"

It was then that Ada's eyes became fully accustomed to the dim light of the grove, and she got a better look at the second figure and nearly dropped her spinning needle. Tall and almost impossibly broad-shouldered, his red cape stirred in the gentle wind and the moonlight shone on his armor. He held his hammer limply at his side, gazing at Jane with equal parts adoration and sorrow. Jane met his eyes with similar emotion.

Ada was frozen in place, eyes and mouth wide open, unable to fully compute the reality of the situation, and unnoticed by either party. OH MY GOD oh my god Ada don't wet yourself it's just a NORSE GOD AND SAVIOR OF EARTH in a forest oh my god I wonder what language he speaks WHAT IF IT'S PROTO-NORSE

Ada's face contorted into wild expressions as her mind raced, not realizing Jane had begun to gingerly approach the god.

"Thor...?" Jane almost whispered, inching toward him. "I thought... after New York... you had forgotten..."

Thor dropped Mjolnir with a thud, and closed the gap between them with a single stride. He placed his large fingers under Jane's chin and tilted her face up to look him in the eye. "Never, Jane," he said with gravity. "I could never forget you. All the armies of the Nine Realms could not prevent me from keeping my promise."

"Although we did try," a third voice, eerily silky, chimed in.

Ada saw another figure materialize from the darkness behind the god of thunder. Every element of him seemed to contrast with the shining figure of Thor, from the dark green of his tunic and the dull black leather of his armor to his raven hair. Even without his horned bronze helmet, Ada recognized him as Loki, god of mischief, and leader of the attack on New York.

Afraid for the safety of her friend and unsure of Thor's awareness of the situation, Ada made a rash decision. Slipping Jane's purse off of her arm for better maneuverability, she lunged at Loki with her bejeweled spinning needle. In a move that seemed to surprise both he and Ada equally, she struck him directly under the ribs. Unfortunately, though, she had underestimated Loki's leather chestplate and overestimated her wooden needle; it simply snapped at the hilt, and Ada staggered back. Loki's expression quickly turned from surprise to aggravation, and he flicked his wrist in Ada's direction.

Ada felt the remains of the needle droop in her hand, and looked over to it, horrified. Where there was once a needle, there was now a small black snake beginning to curl around her hand. She screamed and shook it off.

"Oh, you Midgardians never learn, do you," Loki purred menacingly. He advanced on Ada, who stepped backward onto her cape and was forced to sit, hard, on the wet grass. He flicked his wrist again, a small dagger appearing in his hand, as he tucked his left arm behind him. "You must be taught to respect your superiors! I suppose I-"

Several things then happened then in quick succession. Thor snapped his fingers, Loki froze mid-threat, and Jane punched Loki square in the jaw. Shock and rage flashed in Loki's eyes, though he made no move to retaliate. In fact, he made no move at all. Jane shook her hand to ease the pain of the impact and peered at him curiously. He produced a low growl in response.

"A binding enchantment, entrusted to me by our father, Odin, King of Asgard," Thor explained, placing a hand on Jane's shoulder. "After my brother's previous… excursion to Midgard, our father deemed it necessary to put some security measures in place. I am thankful that he did, as it seems the volur of Midgard still presume to meddle in our business." He removed his hand and pointed down at Ada, still sitting in a disheveled state on the ground.

"You! Volva! What reason have you for making an attempt on the life of a prince of Asgard?"

Ada looked up at Thor with eyes as big as saucepans. I'm going to die here, she thought. My friend's boyfriend is a Norse god, possibly the best academic source in the history of the world, and he's going to kill me. Not the worst way to go I guess…

Just as Ada was beginning to imagine what an interesting read her obituary would be, Jane grabbed Thor's arm. "Thor, it's just a costume! She isn't really a volva, she's my friend Ada! We were at a costume party, see?" She gestured to her bobbing stars and Ada uncertainly collected herself off the ground. "And I'm fairly certain anyone would react that way to seeing Loki…" she mumbled.

"Ah, I did wonder about the significance of your unique headdress", Thor said, gently poking one of the stars to see it bounce back. He grinned. "It is quite amusing!"

"Jane, can you please explain to me what the actual fuck is going on here," Ada asked in a gravelly voice, placing her hand to her forehead. Encountering her antler headband, she pulled it off and removed her veil; she immediately felt that her hair was an absolute mess from being unwillingly contained, but she really didn't care at the moment.

She could see Jane's cheeks flush even in the dimness of the forest. "Um, this… this is Thor!" Jane gestured to him and smiled awkwardly.

Thor's arm shot out to grasp Ada's, and she was sure she was going to be the recipient of a very strong and possibly painful handshake. Instead, he brought her hand up to his lips and kissed it ever so softly. Ada found herself blushing.

"My apologies for frightening you, Ada," he said, releasing her hand. "But I must request that you make no further attempts on my brother's life. Asgard sincerely asks your peoples' forgiveness for Loki's misdeeds while in your realm. As part of his punishment meted out by our father the King, he is to remain strictly monitored within the castle walls at all times. However, in planning my journey to fetch the lady Jane, I decided it would be more prudent for him to be under my direct supervision, rather than left to the devices of the palace guards, so…"

Thor's voice trailed off to Ada's ears, although his lips kept moving. She stared hard at the back of her hand where Thor had kissed it. This was all way too much.

As she lost consciousness, she could've sworn she heard Loki emit what sounded like a choked snicker.