1. Trees, Rocks, and Water

She first appeared on the surface of the water in his bath, red spangles of hair waving around Loki's knees. He was still trying to accustom himself to new visions, appearances, his dreams that told the future; it was with a bolt of fright he pulled his legs close to his chest when he saw her reflection. "Who are you?" he asked. The girl was too beautiful to be dangerous – or so he hoped. He had already found beauty sometimes hid a sharp tooth.

The red curls floated around her lovely face, but she didn't reply. Instead the girl simply regarded him with those steady eyes, green as his own. Green as the moss in the woods where he dallied with the elms – he had found a young tree that very day and coupled with the nymph inside, rolling with the slender leaf-maiden among bark, leaves and sticky sap until they both exploded with pleasure.

Hence, the bath.

Loki tried once more. "Can you hear me? I wish you could talk." Still no reply, merely one quizzical eyebrow and an outstretched hand, as though she were stretching out to find him. Quickly he reached for her, but his eager fingers dappled the water's surface and she disappeared.

"Were you talking to the water in there?" Thor ended his question with a loud laugh, not waiting for the answer to his question.

"More interesting than talking to you." Loki tried to evade Thor in the corridor, but his brother found the edge of the towel; with a sudden jerk he ripped it off and ran away, hooting and waving the linen overhead like a flag. Loki was left in the hall shivering, cold, and entirely nude. He uttered a long slew of curses, covered his privates with one hand and dashed back to his room. Luckily he didn't run into Sif on the way; the very thought made him shudder.

Perhaps he should request a private bath attached to his rooms so his brother could no longer steal his towels. But if he did, would She appear in the water? No, it was safer to use the same place. However, next time he would bring his clothes and hide them near the tub so Thor couldn't fill his pockets with frogs or make him run naked through the palace.

And when his brother went to bathe that evening Loki would be certain to have a surprise waiting as revenge – perhaps a few snakes under the soap would make Thor think twice about stealing towels in the future.

He ignored the luxurious suit of clothes left out across his bed and dressed in simple jerkin and hose. As he combed his hair back from his face with his hands, a red-white-green movement at the corner of the mirror made him catch his breath. Was it her? Quickly he turned to see if he could find the stunning redhead, but the corner of the room was empty.

Very late after dinner that night, Thor crawled into Loki's bed. They had shared a mattress when they were young, and it was still a comfort to cling together under the covers or converse about the day when all others were asleep.

Loki was already lost in a dream about the green eyes of the beautiful woman in the water. The garments she wore were strange – black, made of a material he had never seen before – and tight, closed up over her neck. Her breasts strained against the midnight clothes; he would have given his right thumb to be able to touch them, feel their weight in his palms.

So when Thor thrust his cold feet against his legs he awoke in a bad mood, angered at the sudden loss of the girl's vision. "What the Hel are you doing?" Loki demanded. "Get out."

"Sif allowed me to kiss her after we danced together." Even in the darkness of the room Loki could see his brother's grin. "Nidhoffer's belly, it was amazing! Did you know a girl's lips are warm? And not wet at all – very pleasant."

"Congratulations, and by the way I was asleep."

"And having a good dream by the way your sheets fly like a standard over your pole." Thor pretended to grope for Loki's groin.

"Get off! And if we speak of that, I imagine your own hammer is straining against your breeches after you shared kisses with Lady Sif."

"Mmm. 'Tis true, I cannot lie. I'faith I nearly stole to her bed instead of yours! However Mother would beat me senseless with a cooking ladle if I did."

They moved closer; their proximity allowed both erections to press against the other's hip. It was an old dance, one they had done many times: the fact it was forbidden gave them both pleasure. Loki thought of telling Thor about his dream and the red beauty he saw in his bath, but his brother strained in release and muffled his cries against Loki's chest.

"Gods!" Thor marveled when he had caught his breath. "It gets better each time. I cannot wait until I can do this at Sif's side."

Although he chased his previous dream, Loki was never able to recapture the girl. Instead he tumbled into nightmares of a long fall among the stars, horrifying discoveries in a frozen land, torture at the hands of a being with no face, his own imprisonment in a circular, glass cage. When a large flying snake found him and began to wind its metallic body around his own to strangle him with its coils, he awoke with a loud curse.

Instead of the serpent, he found he was being smothered by Thor. At some point during the night his brother had flung one heavy arm and a leg over his body so Loki was held in a warm, possessive embrace. He put his sharp elbows to use and hit Thor in his midriff. "Leave me alone, you great idiot," he grumbled until he was able to break free and spring out of the bed.

Now, what mischief can I wreak today? At once Loki thought of a large stone he had seen by the Gopul River; he knew there was a naughty spirit imprisoned within. If he could release it for a few hours there could be delicious loveplay as a result; he imagined a sultry afternoon by the water and a dryad tickling his prick.

Quickly he pulled on the same tunic and hose he wore the day before and stole out of the room. His plan was to find something in the kitchens and run outside before Petro, their empty-headed tutor, found him and dragged him by the ear to the schoolroom for long, boring lessons about The Art of War. Naturally Odin would have a long lecture when he returned, but probably he would be in trouble for something else as well: not bashing his opponent over the head hard enough, not eating enough for lunch. And so, he reasoned, he might as well receive punishment as well for something he wanted to do.

Loki held his breath as he found a roll of bread, heel of cheese, several apples. With the loot in his shirt, he jumped out an open window and ran off without a backwards look.

"I dream of stars and rain, snow and flight. Although I cannot move, I soar through a thousand different voyages each day."

The stone spirit swung his feet in the water and stared into the distance. He was indeed beautiful: a brown youth with long curls and dark eyes. Loki pulled him closer with one arm to rest his head on the boy's shoulder; casually he played with the fellow's hair. "I like that," he said. "To journey without moving – it makes it seem all things are possible. Were you something else before you were a stone?"

"It is almost too long ago to remember. I think I moved within ice, within fire – but is it all a fantasy? Probably it is mere phantoms, splinters of imagination. Would you like me to suck you now?"

Loki grinned. Stone dryads were always so ready to jump straight into a tumble; perhaps it came from being permanently hard. The very thought made his sex jut between his thighs; he had abandoned his breeches as soon as he arrived in the hidden vale by the river. "How about a kiss first?" He captured the youth's lips with his own and climbed onto the boy's lap in one fluid motion.

He would have liked to prolong the ecstacy, but the dryad pushed him down with muscled arms onto the soft grass by the river and pummeled his hips forward in an escalating rhythm. Although Loki protested, the youth got his prick between their stomachs and thrust faster until he spent all over their bellies where they were pressed together.

As soon as his ejaculation was over the youth curled forward and became motionless, until he became cold rock once more.

Loki pounded his fist into the mud with frustration before he rose and stalked into the water. He had forgotten how lusty stone dryads were; nymphs were far more patient at loveplay. His next trip would be a return to the forest. Could no one last as long as he needed? He had yet to find a partner lasting long enough to truly satisfy his desires.

Without hesitation he clutched his hardness under the water; he would simply have to release his own seed. Returning to the palace in that tumescent state simply wasn't an option, especially with Thor around to torture him.

A spangle of red light on the surface of the water made him stop. One hand still curled around himself, Loki felt his heart beat faster as she appeared – the lovely girl from his bath. "Hello," he whispered. "I wish you could talk to me."

Her mouth opened and she said something – a word with three syllables. "Datassa," he thought it was; Loki repeated the word reverently. "Will you not come out and visit me?" he asked.

"Natasha." The word fluttered on the breeze. "My name is Natasha, and I can't come out, dumbass. I'm stuck in here."

He was delighted they were finally able to speak, even though this Natasha was nothing more than an image on the waves. "'Dumbass'? What does that mean? Your words are filled with mystery…" Belatedly Loki realized he still clutched his erection; quickly he released his 'old chap' and tiptoed closer to where her reflection wavered on the water. "One day I will find you and see you in the flesh. You are very beautiful."

"Yeah, whatever. Hey, are you naked?"

Loki spread his arms wide. "Do you like it?" His breath caught in his chest, and he felt a wonderful heat spread through his belly.

The girl laughed, and a teasing little dimple appeared in one corner of her chin. "You're a little young for me. Cute, but young. But right now it seems you're the only one I can communicate with while I'm in this hole."

"Hole? You are in a well? Imprisoned, perhaps. I will rescue you!" A quest for a maiden – surely she would reward him with kisses when he found her. Gods, had his prick ever been so rampant? It was as though he had a dragon made of flesh down there, ready to spew fire any instant.

"We were on an op in Latveria and it all went downhill; not sure of my exact location, although I think I'm near a lake held inside a castle. I'll find my way out eventually, but there is some seriously weird shit going on here."

Loki was used to understanding everything as soon as he heard it, but he could make no sense of what she said. Quickly he consigned her statement to memory and held out both hands. "I will find you, maiden, and win your freedom. Will I win a taste of your lips if I do so?"

"Get over yourself!" The red-headed beauty added a loud snort and disappeared.

What if he could find her and save her from certain death within a dungeon? Such a lovely flower should never have been held underground – the flames of her hair had to burn freely outside, among the stones and trees. And if he did find her, if he were able to impress her with his courage and daring – would she indeed allow him to press his lips to hers, taste her tongue, perhaps even…

But it was too late. The mere notion wrought his body to the highest peak, and his entire frame shuddered. Thick gouts of seed spurted into the water, and Loki threw his head back to shout within the torturous delight of his orgasm.

Frigga often told Loki it was important to preserve his innocence until he was certain of his abilities. "Magic comes more naturally to those who are pure of heart," she explained, "and virginity gives great depth and subtlety to the student enchanter."

He growled and complained he didn't want to talk of such things with his mother, but an uneasy feeling persisted: was he cheating by seeking out those beings of nature as comfort for his aching flesh? And he supposed he had to count the foolishness between him and Thor at night, meaningless as it was.

Because the truth was this: laying with the creatures held inside the trees and rocks made his powers stronger. He could feel his magic rear along with his sexuality, and even Frigga exclaimed at what he could already achieve in their lessons: control over elements, shape-shifting, summoning, all manners of illusions. Thus he continued to lay with the dryads and nymphs.

But the appearance of Natasha was something different. He could feel it. And he could hardly ask the queen about such a delicate subject.

Instead he sought out Thor. His brother was in the stables, but when Loki peered into the horse stall, he found Sif was there as well. The two were entwined, mouths working against each other's lips, hands thrust under shirts and inside breeches.

Loki cleared his throat loudly and they sprang apart. Sif gave him a look filled with bitterness as she swept out of the stables, calling loudly for a groom.

"Was that really necessary?" Thor slumped against one wall of the stall and covered his heart with one hand. A moment later he regained his usual good humor. "By the Norns, she is a spitfire! Not five minutes hence we were dueling, and the next thing you know she was in my arms. I am not quite certain how it happened."

"Good for you." Loki didn't care about Thor's dalliance. "Have you heard of a place called Latveria?"

"Latveria." Thor repeated it. "No, I have not. Gods, Sif's hair! Could you imagine it spread out over your chest? What wouldn't I give for such a sight?"

"Mother would flay you alive. Concentrate, you idiot. I have to discover where Latveria is."

"Perhaps Petro would help…?"

Loki made a sound of loud disgust. "That fat old namedropper! He does not know the location of his own balls, let alone an unknown realm. I would rather ask a bilgesnipe."

"Heimdall, in that case. He is Sif's brother, you know."

Pondering, Loki nodded. "Not bad – not bad at all. Except he does not like me since my little trick with the goat. Would you ask him?"

"But why do you want to go there in the first place?"

Could he trust his brother? If rescuing the maiden required a trip across the Bifrost, it would be good to have him along. "I have heard of a quest to save someone in grave trouble in that unknown land."

"Aha." Thor clapped one hand on Loki's shoulder. "And would this someone be a female?"

"Naturally your coarse mind would immediately rush to that conclusion!" When Thor raised his eyebrows Loki added in a haughty tone, "She is the loveliest woman I have ever seen."

Thor was already chuckling. "A quest, and a fair lady with it! I will help you, brother, as long as you promise not to interrupt me again in the middle of a tryst with Sif."