Chapter 9

"Mother, that's enough! I'm suffocating!"

"It's not enough. Now stand still, I can't get this on."

When my cape was ready, courtesy of Fryga, I turned around to look myself in the mirror. I was dressed quite elegantly. My vest and my breaches were a smart combination of sapphire green and white and my cape was nearly entirely white, with intricate designs marked on it in azure. I eyed myself from head to toe and couldn't help but smile at my reflection. It felt good, having a true prince of Asgard smiling back at me. Next to me Fryga was looking at me, obviously appreciating her work. I spared her a smirk, then turned around and hugged her tightly.

"My dear boy. My son. Spare a thought for me when you are with Pan, ok?"

"I don't know if I'm leaving yet mother. Maybe Pan will let me stay?" I said doubtfully.

"We can't know. And you'd better not mention it either. It's a great honor as it is that Pan has accepted to become your mentor. It would be disrespectful of us to compromise his offer in such a way."

"He'll notice that something is wrong anyway…" I mumbled. Fryga shook her head and smiled.

Truth is I was nervous. I couldn't remember the last time I had to deal with this amount of stress. I had no idea what my future had in store for me, if i would live up to everyone's expectation or if Pan would even consider me worthy after all those years. And no matter how calm my demeanor may have seemed, I know I couldn't stand the idea of being rejected again. The young man in the mirror seemed confident enough, so it seemed like blasphemy for me to doubt him. Still my nervousness didn't go away, it only intensified when Fryga put her hand on my shoulder and said:

"It is time."

I nodded at her reflection, and watched her leave the room, whipping a stray tear off her eyes. With a sigh I straightened my cape for the last time, took my spear –a gift from Heimdall- and followed my mother. If I were honest with myself, I would say that I could have never imagined the pain our imminent separation would bring upon me. Too bad I'm still such a good liar. On the positive side of things, this situation wouldn't be permanent. Hopefully.

We made our way through the palace doors and kept on walking. It had been arranged that pan would meet us in the front gates of Asgard, were the ceremony of our binding would take place. I heard it was customary for tutors and their apprentices to be bound through "blood and fire", whatever that meant. I kept my head bent, Fryga always in front of me leading the way. Since it was already dusk people should be rushing from their jobs, their fields to their houses, the weariness of hard labor creeping up to their features. However, since it had been made known that the great Pan was coming to Asgard again, in a time space shorter than a century no less, every house in town seemed abandoned, as all the people of Asgard rushed to the ceremony site. With some bitterness I thought that it was probably considered insignificant that one of their princes was leaving. Then again, I wasn't really their prince, was I?

"So you're leaving, huh?"

I turned around, searching for the source of the all too familiar voice. I would have smiled freely at the sound, if not for the sorrow that surrounded the words. Seeing no one behind me, I turned again to continue my way when I came face to face with some sturdy pieces of body armor. I fell to the ground, my cape swishing awkwardly around me. Looking up, I saw a very concerned Thor staring down at me. He offered me his hand, which I accepted gratefully. I smiled sheepishly at my own foolishness, but Thor's frown only deepened.

"Why so serious brother?" I said, giving him my most elaborate impish smile.

"Do not concern yourself brother. I shall be serious if and when I deem it appropriate. Are you alright?"

"I'm quite alright, thanks. Though I think my face left a permanent stain on your breastplate."

Thor's lips actually twitched a little upwards for a moment, just for a few seconds, and then he turned sober again. He scanned me head to feet for any injuries who's existence I might have withheld –my brother knows me and my stupid pride all too well. When he saw none he reached to straighten my collar, then backed away slowly and glanced at the aforementioned breastplate, simply stating:

"I shall have many more of these in my life, brother. Thus is the life of a warrior. Some will be different than others, but all will do the same thing. What I can never have again, what is different from everyone yet stays the same for me…" his eyes suddenly raised to meet mine "is the one thing that is leaving me today."

Words cannot properly explain everything I felt at that moment. I think my eyes were a bit watery -probably from all the dirt the wind had lifted from the ground. I hugged Thor like there would be no tomorrow and said:

"It's not forever brother…"

"I hope not. Otherwise I will have to hunt Pan down to return you, and that we both know will only succeed in making father furious."

I laughed out loud, the image Thor described combined with the picture of the All-Father red with fury too comical for words. When at last my laughter eased into giggles I heard Thor say:

"Promise me you'll be carefull."

I eyed him weirdly, my head bent a little, before I replied "I promise."

Thor seemed appeased, but also at a loss of what more to say. He nodded twice, patted me on the shoulder a couple of times, and then started heading towards the palace. I kept looking at his retreating back until he was a good distance away from me. At some point I found myself calling his name as loudly as I could.

"Thor!" When he turned around I continued "Promise me you won't forget me."

He stared at me for a while, nodded and kept on going. It might have been my imagination, but I think his shoulders hunched just a little in defeat, and I thought to myself:

Don't forget me brother, please don't forget me. You forgetting me is what started everything last time.

And then things hit rock bottom.

Sorry for the BIG delay. My university studies and real life have taken their toll on me. I shall update again as soon as I can. Thoughts?