Loki went to Frigga and kissed her cheek. "Mother, I fear we cannot stay. Duty calls. If you have need of anything, send word," he told her warmly.

"I will keep watch. Your Father will wake again. Don't fear, my son," she told him kindly and reached up to touch his cheek.

You stepped over to join them. "I'm sure he will wake soon, Queen Mother," you told her kindly. She gave you a warm smile and nodded in agreement.

Loki kissed your cheek. "Come along, darling. We have work to do," he told you warmly and offered you his arm. You placed your hand lightly on his arm and noted that he carried the staff in his other hand.

"So, what's first?" you asked when you were safely out of the healing room.

He sighed. "First, we must tell the people what has happened," he told you, and you caught the edge of nerves in his tone. You squeezed his arm.

"You'll be fine, Loki. You've trained for this your entire life," you reminded him.

"Darling, I don't think think you quite appreciate just how poorly it went the last time I was on the throne," he told you dryly. Really, it had gone terribly.

You rolled your eyes. "I've heard the story, Lo. From you and Thor both. Things have changed. You've changed since then. And I'll be by your side. We'll do this together,"

He relaxed and kissed the top of your head. "I love you, my darling," he told you warmly.

You stood up on your toes to kiss him. "And I love you, my king. Now let's go tell the people what's going on." You used magic and donned court clothes, including your tiara. Loki did the same, donning his ceremonial clothes and helmet. The guards opened the double-doors to the throne room and you and Loki stepped through. Your hand remained on his arm as you walked together past the gathered. You felt the shock of the crowd as you walked up the steps toward the throne. Loki turned to you, kissed your cheek, and took the last steps up to the throne alone. You took your spot standing in Frigga's usual place, just below the throne. Stupid patriarchal society didn't have two thrones, or equality, but that was a problem for another day.

You saw Sif and the Warriors Three at the foot of the stairs to the throne itself, staring in shock and hoped that Thor's stupid warrior friends wouldn't do anything dumb today.

Loki stood in front of the throne and turned to the assembled court. He banged the staff once against the floor, the noise making a loud echoing noise through the giant chamber. "Father has fallen into the Odinsleep. We do not know when he will wake." He announced to the crowd. You knew that his use of the word 'father' here wasn't sentiment, but calculated to remind the court that his claim to the throne was legitimate. "In Thor's absence, the responsibility for Asgard and her people falls to me,"

The crowd was shocked and confused. So you helped them stop being stupid. You turned to Loki and dipped a low curtsy. Sif and the Warrior's followed your lead, dropping to one knee and bowing, their right fists over their hearts. You could have sighed in relief that they were being reasonable and doing the right thing. Even if they didn't trust Loki entirely, they trusted the crown as a whole and knew that Frigga and Thor wouldn't have agreed to this if it weren't the best course of action. The court feather-heads finally remembered what they were supposed to do at such announcements. They all bowed and curtsied and a chorus of 'my king' rang through the hall. You looked up and saw Loki's quick glance of gratitude.

Loki banged the staff again and the court rose and the long boring task of listening to petitions began. It was really long and really boring and you could see the dull questions grating on his temper. Around lunch, you had your chance and moved from your place and up to the throne and your Loki. He looked up at you with an indulgent smile as you leaned down to kiss his cheek. "Yes, my darling?" he asked you warmly.

"My King, I know duty to our people calls, but you mustn't forget to eat, and surely the court should not skip lunch either," you reminded him warmly, giving him as escape.

He gave you a warm smile and stood to kiss you in front of the entire court. "My Lady Healer is correct," he reminded the court that healers were over-protective about the well-being of their charges. You were giving him a great excuse to get out of here and he appreciated it. "Petitions to the throne will continue tomorrow," he announced to the court and with that, you could escape the throne room.

Loki sagged the second you were safely away from the court. You wrapped your arms around him. "Thanks for saving me, Sig," he told you with a warm smile and kissed the top of your head.

"You did great, Loki, and I told you, we're in this together," you reminded him. "Now, let's go find something to eat,"

*

The next morning, you took over Frigga's duties at head healer in the healing wing. You were nervous doing it, but they needed a leader and with Frigga busy, you were the strongest healer in the palace. You were also technically a member of the royal family, though you weren't married to Loki yet. "You'll do fine, Sig," Loki told you warmly as you ate breakfast with the court that morning.

"I don't know how to lead anyone," you whined, realizing that it wasn't that long ago that you were a shy ghost of a foster-kid. There was no way you were supposed to lead anyone.

Loki chuckled and kissed your cheek. "You're a natural, love. The healers already respect you for your skills. You're the strongest healer in the palace, a princess of Asgard, and my queen. You'll be fine, my Sigyn," he told you more firmly and kissed you again.

You left breakfast together and kissed goodbye when you had to separate to your tasks for the day. You kissed Loki deeply, him wearing his golden horned helmet and you in your tiara. It would have made a lovely picture.

"Be brave, my darling. You can handle this," Loki told you warmly.

"You as well, my king," you teased. He huffed and rolled his eyes at you. With that and you both relaxed and set off to your respective tasks.

You steeled your spine and stepped into the healing wing, trying to look more confident than you felt. The healers all looked up at you as you entered the healing wing. "The Allmother is currently unable to attend her duties as head healer," they all looked concerned at your words, looked between each other to try to figure out what to do. "I will be taking over that responsibility in her stead,"

*

You sent illusions to check on Loki throughout the day, knowing he was still nervous, and caught him doing the same. It was adorable of him to worry over you. "I'm fine, Lo," you told him when you caught him at it. The illusion smirked and vanished. He grinned over at one of your illusions when he caught you at sending them to check on him.

/I appreciate the concern, Sig/

/Love you too/ you replied. You were getting better at telepathy with practice, but only practiced with him. Telepathy was one of those powers that could go terribly wrong.

*

On top of your duties in the healing wing and helping Loki keep his temper dealing with feather-brained petitioners you had to start working on wedding preparations. It was awful and you hated every moment of it.

You teleported into the throne room one morning while Loki was between petitioners. "Pardon the interruption," you told the court who offered you the proper bows and curtsies due your station. "Loki~ can you sign this for me?" you asked and handed him a piece of parchment and a feather quill.

He raised an eyebrow. "What are you up to, Sig?" he asked and scanned the page, while the court, used to the antics of the two of you by now, was watching on amused by Loki indulging his tiny adorable healer of a lady. They had come to respect Loki's work. He had a mind for politics and negotiations and when he was focused on helping the people instead of destroying Jotunheim, he was a good king. So they indulged his adorable side when it came to you.

"Darling, you're the mischievous one, not me," you reminded him when he scanned the document too long.

"That doesn't mean I'm signing a strange proclamation without reading it, my love," he reminded you with a warm smile.

"I wrote up a declaration so our friends on Midgard will be allowed to attend our wedding, even after you Father wakes from the Odinsleep," you explained. You'd been pouring over law books in your free time to make sure that any declarations that Loki signed while he was temporarily king would still be binding when Odin woke and reclaimed his throne, and had written your declaration carefully so it would be.

Loki smiled up at you, impressed with your work before he signed the declaration with a flourish. He handed the parchment back to you. "Well written, darling," he praised. You leaned down and kissed his cheek.

"Thank you, love," you told him warmly.

"Anything for you, my darling," he kissed you again in front of the court. You apologized again to the court and vanished back to your own duties, glad your friends would be able to attend your wedding.