Astyr awoke to find herself being carried in Hakon's arms. He was holding her tightly to his chest and cradling her gently as he waited for someone to open the French doors that led to her bedroom. Astyr was feeling dizzy and couldn't remember falling but with her face pressed up against Hakon's soft shirt she felt safe and secure. He noticed that she had her eyes open as he looked down at her.

"Hey," he said softly, "You're back. How are you feeling?"

She couldn't think of any words at the moment and there seemed to be some kind of faint buzzing sound inside of her head that made it too difficult to come up with an answer so she just nuzzled her face closer to him, inhaling the pleasant, warm smell coming from his clothes.

Grima pulled back her bedspread and moved aside so that Hakon could lay her down. He had to almost crawl onto the big bed himself to get her situated away from the edge and he was halfway lying down against her for just a moment. He looked at her with an expression of tender concern on his face and he couldn't resist the urge to brush back a long strand of hair that had fallen across her face.

There was an impatient cough from behind him as his fingers lightly caressed her face and he jerked his hand away and started to make a motion to get up when he was stopped by Laure.

"No, Hakon, don't get up." Laure said quickly. "The extra body heat will do her good and keep her from going into shock."

Grima agreed and Hakon had no choice but to swing his legs up and press his body up against Astyr as Grima settled the heavy duvet over the two of them. Grima then went around to the other side of the bed and pulled Astyr's arm out so that she could check her vital signs as Laure sent Gunnar to get some blood for Astyr to drink to help speed her recovery.

Glin meanwhile was standing close by the edge of the bed with his arms crossed over his chest and a murderous look on his face; even Tyr seemed to be frowning and neither of them seemed to be in any hurry to leave the room. Hakon was intensely aware of their close scrutiny and he was trying his best to keep his mind and body away from Astyr's sweet-smelling softness.

Oh God, Hakon thought to himself, don't even think about it. Of course the more he told himself to not think about how good she felt in his arms, the harder it was to drag his thoughts away from how perfectly she fit curled up against him. He couldn't readjust his position without making it seem to the witnesses that he was doing something inappropriate so he started to try and think of how many physics equations he could think of off the top of his head. Hakon really hated physics; he had hated it four hundred years ago when his parents had invited Galileo to come and lecture him to death about the universal characteristics of motion and he hated it now when he had to sit in class with a bunch of children memorizing the same tired formulae that had been drilled into is head centuries ago.

Fortunately, Gunnar returned with a glass full of blood at that point, saving Hakon from his painful dilemma. His arm was still behind Astyr and so it was easy for him to lift her into a sitting position so that she could drink. The debate that had been going on before Astyr fainted resumed once again and her loss of consciousness was added to the list of speculations and assumptions that didn't seem to be leading towards a clear verdict on what had happened on the balcony.

"I think she would have been fine if she had known how to discharge the energy." Laure was saying to the others. "Any build-up of power like that can be dangerous if there is nowhere for it to go."

Grima agreed with this and added, "Until her body starts the regeneration process we will have to be careful that we don't let her try to absorb energy on her own."

"Yes," Tyr interjected, "But we should also teach her ways to use it so that if she needs to she will know how."

"I'll handle that." Glin said forcefully, giving a sour look to Hakon as he said it. "And Hakon, Astyr looks much better now. I'm sure the risk of shock has passed by now so get up."

Astyr was looking better. Color had returned to her cheeks, whether it was from feeling better or from the embarrassment at having everyone staring at her while she lay in bed with Hakon, it was hard to tell. The dizziness and buzzing had gone and she felt perfectly able to hold herself up now but she felt a brief moment of disappointment when he removed his arm from around her shoulders and slid out from under the bedspread and off the bed.

He joined the group standing at the end of the bed and faced Glin. "I'll help with teaching her." Hakon said. "She's half-Aesir and she should know how to use that aspect of her abilities."

Glin snorted. "I hardly think she will be interested in learning a few paltry tricks when she will be learning from me the full range of capabilities of the Alfar race."

Tyr and Grima were seasoned diplomats and were able to hide their annoyance at Glin's arrogance well but Hakon and Gunnar both gave the prince looks of distaste. Even Laure looked mildly ashamed of the blatant display of bad manners by Glin but she wasn't in a position to call him out about it.

Astyr felt no compunction about it though. "Actually Glin, I would be interested in learning from Hakon." She said with a cold voice. "He's right, I am only half-Alfar and it would be better for me to be prepared in case my grandmother, Queen Elianna, changes her mind again."

Astyr had stressed the grandmother part and Glin got a look on his face that showed clearly how little he liked being reminded of Astyr's elevated status.

"Fine," Glin answered with a tiny bow of his head. "We'll start this afternoon since it's probably too much to hope that you can stay out of danger for longer than a day." He stormed out of the room through the French doors that led outside without any kind of farewell and everyone else took that as a sign to let Astyr get up and get dressed. They all had a kind word for her before they went out the door and she felt reassured about her condition and not at all worried about what had happened earlier.

She had people around her who cared about her well-being and despite the novelty of it and her own nervousness about letting any of them down, she was happy to be here. It was almost like having a real family. Actually, Astyr thought with some surprise, it really was her family. Her father was here and Glin, even though he was prickly and gruff, was actually some kind of cousin to her. Astyr wasn't sure exactly what she could call him since his father had been her great-uncle, maybe a second cousin or a first cousin once removed. Whatever he was called, he was related to her by blood, and that made them family.

Astyr felt almost giddy from the sudden realization and she jumped up off the bed with a spring in her step as she headed into the bathroom to shower and brush her teeth. She took her time and let the hot water run over her for a long time, luxuriating in the warmth around her and the happiness she felt inside.

When she finally made her way downstairs to find something to eat, she discovered that almost everyone had run off. Gunnar answered her question as to everyone's whereabouts by informing her that Tyr, Laure and Grima had gone somewhere to find out something about something in order to make something else safe for someone.

"Wow, Gunnar." Astyr said sarcastically. "You should be one of those anchorman people who like reads the news on the TV."

Gunnar, who was sitting on the sofa in the family sitting area that was part of the large kitchen, threw one of the throw pillows at her.

She caught it easily in one hand and lobbed it straight back at him as they both descended into helpless gales of laughter.

"Keep it down, you two." Hakon said loudly over the sounds of their hilarity. "This is my holiday. I'm supposed to be having a break from spending my days with preschoolers."

Astyr and Gunnar stopped short and looked to Hakon in shock. They slowly turned and gave each other a conspiratorial look before they both launched themselves at him. They were wrestling and tickling each other; or rather Hakon and Gunnar were wrestling and Astyr was trying to tickle Hakon but in the melee was getting Gunnar as often as his brother.

The three had fallen to the floor in all the ruckus and were rolling around like kindergarteners at recess when they heard a girl's laughter coming from by the door.

They immediately stopped where they were; that meaning Gunnar face down on the area rug with Hakon laying over his back facing up in his attempt to shield his soft spots from Astyr's fingers which at the time they ceased moving were splayed across his taut abdomen while she was sitting on top of him with her legs straddling his body. The three of them were frozen in this embarrassing pose while they looked up to see who had caught them.

Upon seeing that it was Jenny of all people standing just inside the door laughing at their frivolity they sprang to their feet, or they tried to anyway.

What actually happened was that they spent several moments awkwardly trying to disentangle themselves. They did finally get to a somewhat more dignified upright position and after straightening their clothes and trying to make themselves look slightly less disheveled they gave her a curious look, wondering what she was doing here in the Falkor's kitchen.

Jenny was holding an arm across her ribs and trying very hard to smother the last of her laughs but Glin was standing straight with his arms crossed and an expression of pure fury on his face.

"What," Glin said through clenched teeth, "Is going on here?"

Gunnar flopped back down onto the couch and left Hakon and Astyr to deal with the angry prince.

Astyr knew that if Hakon answered a fight would almost certainly ensue and so she jumped in before he could say anything.

"Hi Jenny!" she started brightly. "It's so nice to see you. I can't believe you managed to come over today. This is such a great surprise."

Jenny looked nervously to Glin for a moment but seeing his stony look turned back to Astyr.

"Well, I asked Glin if I could come over and hang out since I didn't want to have to wait three whole weeks to see him again and he finally agreed and so he came and picked me up just now and we came here and, my God, Astyr what were you all doing on the floor just now?" Jenny finally came to the end of her sentence which she had managed to say on only breath.

"We were just playing around." Astyr told her. "It was just us being a little silly, that's all. So, you got Glin to pick you up and bring you here to spend some time with him." Astyr smoothly changed the subject by stating the last part with an air of admiration in her voice. "Nice work, Jenny."

Glin's eyebrows shot up at that and he hastily uncrossed his arms and took half a step towards Astyr.

"She wanted to come over. What was I supposed to do? She wouldn't stop asking!" Glin tried in earnest to get across to them that this wasn't his idea but both Jenny and Astyr had big smiles.

Even Hakon was grinning at Glin's discomfort.

"It's not like she dragged you to her house, Glin." Hakon said. "You could have said no if you really wanted to."

Glin got even more flustered and angry and he grabbed Jenny's arm and pulled her back to the door. "Come on," he said to Jenny roughly, "You want to spend time with me, so let's go spend time at my place. I'll see you two this afternoon for that thing we have to work on." This last part was addressed to both Astyr and Hakon before Glin slammed the door forcefully behind him.

Astyr busied herself with making some breakfast for the three of them who were left alone in the kitchen and they spent the rest of the morning lazing around. The boys were trying to keep Astyr from doing anything too tiring and they were doing a good job of it by insisting that she sit and watch Lord of the Rings with them. They had a great time making hilarious comments about the elves; Astyr hadn't realized before that the word elf had come from Alfar and that the elves of legends were based on her mother's people, but now that it had been pointed out, she couldn't stop imagining Glin as Legolas. Gunnar had them holding their sides in laughter telling them to picture Legolas standing with a sneer on his face and his arms crossed looking down at all the hobbits.

They got through the first two movies before lunch time and by then, Frey and Gerda had returned from their morning shopping trip to get Christmas presents. As they all sat down together to eat a light lunch Hakon filled his parents in on the events of the morning to explain why Tyr, Grima, and Laure were gone.

He told his parents about the different theories that had been bunted around but there wasn't really much that could be added until they heard what Grima and Laure were doing.

Since the three didn't return by the end of lunch, the subject was put on hold and life moved on. Gerda went off to wrap presents in secret and Frey went to his library to look up some things that he thought might be useful. Gunnar decided to take off in the new Chevy Avalanche he had gotten on his birthday to go do some shopping of his own.

Hakon and Astyr went into the billiards room to wait for Glin and Hakon decided to go ahead and start teaching her a small way to use energy.

"Ok, Astyr," he said turning to face her. "This is relatively simple and doesn't use much power but it's a handy thing to know. What I want you to do is put your hand on my arm and concentrate on sending a very small trickle of energy through your skin. Don't push it too hard and don't send a lot or you'll risk hurting me."

"No problem." She reassured him as she laid her hand against his skin. She thought for a moment of this morning and of how the energy had felt as it had passed through her skin and she tried to imagine making the feeling go in reverse.

She felt the tingle in her fingers and she concentrated on keeping it a very small feeling before she let it pass from her and into Hakon.

He jerked his arm away and swore loudly, "Dammit, Astyr. I said a little bit!"

Astyr tried to keep herself from laughing but she was quick to defend herself.

"It was just a little! I promise I made it as small as I could."

Hakon rubbed the sore spot on his arm where she had been touching him. "Well, it wasn't small enough. You have to let it happen without thinking about it too much. Try again."

He bravely held out his arm again and she put her hand on him again with an apologetic smile. She tried once again to think about the feeling of the energy but this time she drew it back until there was no tingle, just a faint sensation of warmth in her fingers and sent it through her skin.

This time, instead of jerking back, Hakon shivered like he was standing in a cold draught and he gave a small moan.

Astyr jerked her hand away and looked up at him in surprise.

"What was that!" she asked him incredulously.

He gave a small chuckle and instead of answering he brought his hand up to her face. He looked in her eyes with an impish look on his face and brushed his fingers along her cheek.

She felt a bolt of pure pleasure shoot through her like she had the last time he had done this. A wave of heat flooded her body and seemed to gather itself at her center and she couldn't stop herself from closing her eyes and giving a small sigh of enjoyment.

He pulled his hand away from her face and she opened her eyes. He was still standing right in front of her looking into her eyes. She could feel the heat coming off of his body, he was standing so close and the smell of cologne was filling her nostrils and making her head spin as she stared up at him.

"Why do I always seem to be interrupting you two?"

Hakon looked up sharply and Astyr actually jumped back in surprise as Glin's irritated drawl broke into their moment.

"You could always stop by leaving us alone." Hakon answered him in annoyance.

Glin walked over to Hakon slowly and stood right in front of him, trying to be menacing.

"My job is to protect Astyr. I may not agree with my aunt but I am honor-bound to follow her orders; and I will. So the next time I find you in a compromising position with my cousin I will do what I have to so that you will get it through your head that She. Is. Off. Limits." The last four words were punctuated by Glin pushing Hakon on his chest with every word.

Hakon appeared to very close to losing the small amount of patience he had for Glin so before he could do something violent Astyr stepped up behind Glin and grabbed his arm. She put what she had learned from Hakon just now to use and applied a bolt of energy to his skin. She tried to make it the same as the first time she had tried on Hakon but she was angrier than she thought and so it was a lot more powerful than she had meant.

Glin fell to his knees in agony and Astyr let go right away.

"I'm so sorry, Glin!" she apologized fiercely. "I swear I didn't mean to make it so strong, I didn't mean to really hurt you. I'm really sorry."

Glin was looking from her to the angry red patch on his arm that perfectly matched her handprint and back in amazement.

"Where did you learn how to do that?" Glin asked her.

Hakon answered for her before she could say anything and apologize more. "That was what I was showing her before you showed up. I just didn't tell her anything about making it quite so potent."

Astyr jumped in as soon as he finished talking. "I'm really sorry, Glin. I don't know why it was so strong; I only meant to make a little shock. Is there anything I can do? Do you want me to go get the first aid kit?"

Glin and Hakon both looked at her like she had something very funny.

Hakon even chuckled a little as he stopped her, "Astyr, it's not going to need medical intervention. Look at his arm; it's already starting to heal."

She looked again at Glin's injury and was amazed to see that what had started out as a painful-looking, blistered red wound was now only a puckered pink patch on his arm. She watched, fascinated, as the pink skin quickly shrunk, leaving his arm looking smooth and his skin as clear as if the whole thing had never happened. She reached out to touch it to find out if it felt as smooth as it looked but Glin quickly jerked his arm away from her.

He laughed at her confused expression, "I'm not in any hurry to go through that again. Keep your hands to yourself, girlie."

Even Hakon couldn't resist laughing at that and Astyr felt a twinge of annoyance as the two guys were getting so much amusement at her expense.

She jumped up from beside Glin and spoke to them sharply. "Are you two just going to make fun of me all day or are we here to get something done?"

With that, Hakon and Glin put their differences aside and got down to the business at hand.

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