Gentle Heart

It felt like a faraway dream for Talen as her stormy grey eyes stayed glued to the television screen as breaking news of the horrific day Loki tried to take over the world. Her heart dropped seeing ungodly creatures destroying and infiltrating the city of Manhattan, no human stood close enough to capture any photos of what the monsters looked like, but knowing Loki, it was bound to be powerful beings. What have you done, Prince Loki?

Her thoughts were grim as she sadly watched the scenes unravel. Talen hoped that the Avengers succeeded in their task, the goddess didn’t know what happened between Loki and Asgard, but whatever it was nothing good became of it. Loki revealed his true colors that Talen felt all along, he too, felt like an outcast as he was in the shadow of his older brother. Instead of becoming friends with Loki, Talen stayed away from the younger prince, the dark aura that surrounded him made her uneasy as his green eyes were filled with misunderstanding and hatred. Hatred was the main poison that filled Loki’s veins and when she saw Iron Man direct the missile through the portal, she was relieved.

It was only a matter of time before Thor took Loki back to Asgard.

Talen’s heart sped up at the mere thought of the golden god; she nibbled her pink bottom lip in anxiety as days after the tragedy of Manhattan that they were slowly rebuilding the city that was closed to being destroyed completely. No matter how much she wanted to take a trip down to Manhattan, fear overtook her senses and made her stay glued to the place she called home for so many years now.

The pink haired goddess has been here so long; she doesn’t really remember how many years it has been since she arrived in Midgard. Time goes by much slower down on Earth than in Asgard.

Running her pale fingers through her pale pink curls, she dismissed the thoughts of seeing Thor. It was a stupid thought that flooded into her mind from time to time; it never meant that she went through with it. How could she be face to face with someone like him? The prince and future king of Asgard conversing with someone as low, demeaning, and pathetic as her would be degrading. It was outrageous! Nothing would become of it if she ever had any relations with him. Thor deserves the upmost talented and beautiful woman by his side; Sif would be a good contender.

A light pink tint of heat rushed to her cheeks as she fantasized her crush with someone else. Talen was an odd one that was for sure.

She shouldn’t be thinking about her home in Asgard, there was no future for her over there. She should be focused here, where she truly belonged, her brown boots thudded across the wooden floors as she jogged down the small flight of stairs on the porch. Wandering towards the stables that she currently owned, a soft smile played on her lips at the sound her beautiful horses was making. Nothing compared to the beautiful four-legged creatures that have become a huge part of her life since she was a child. When she arrived in Midgard, it was harder than she expected to own her own stable let alone her own house. It took some time before she settled in and slowly started to fill the stable that she built with a few friends that she made during her years here.

“Good morning, Ralph. How are you doing this morning?”

Ralph, one of the stable keepers, turned towards Talen as he softly smiled in greeting. “I’m doing great. Xanthos is doing better as well; surprised to see him up after the nasty fall he took yesterday.”

Talen walked up towards the ash colored horse as she softly patted Xanthos’ neck, “He’s a fighter, I tell you…stubborn too.” Ralph agreed as he continued to groom the stallion. Talen went around to make sure that all of her horses were taken care of, giving each one a greeting with a soft kiss on the nose and loving words. She truly loved every single one of her horses and seeing that her business was doing well enough to keep everything intact, Talen had a reason to smile more often than she would have.

Despite her vivid dreams of her past and Loki coming to Earth, she tried to come into grips of having the world staying in peace from beings from another world. There was no need for them to conquer Earth, there was nothing here, but humans that wanted to live as peacefully as any other. Talen knew better, she was aware that Loki wouldn’t be the only one that would want to take over this world and the pit of her stomach starting churning. Just the thought of having something else visiting Earth made her queasy and frightened. One other thing that she rather evade other than Thor was fighting. Fighting was the worst possible thing anyone could ask Talen to do, she is the goddess of horses and healing, what is so ferocious about her title?

Wringing her hands, she walked alongside the horses that were getting their daily walks along the contraption she still didn’t know what it was called. A gentle smile was placed on her lips when her dearest and closest friend came to a halt when she saw Talen, the mare craned her neck towards her owner, but the reins kept the horse from reaching all the way, so the goddess in return reached out and touched her.

“So nice to see that you are still here, my friend.” Talen scratched between the poll and her ears before running her fingers along the horse’s forehead, “You are the only one I can truly count on to make me feel better about myself.”

The Isabelline colored mare, Daisy, was a gentle creature when she wanted to be, but as well as a firecracker too. Daisy snorted as Talen lightly grazed her fingers under the horse’s chin before releasing the mare. Gripping the reins with her fingers, she guided the mare away from the exercise mill when she heard a booming voice coming from the left of her. Furrowing her brows, Talen scoured the area to see who it was that was making so much noise. The only time there was such noise was when children visited her stable.

“Come now Jane, for what am I about to teach you is absolutely essential to travel from one place to another.”

“That is what a car if for, Thor. Wait…you were serious about horse riding?”

Talen was now feet away from the couple as the young woman, clearly beautiful from where she was standing, crossing her arms in doubt as she wearyingly looks across the barn towards the horses that were being groomed. Uncertainty flashed through the human as the thundering voice that haunted her dreams echoed in her ears, “Of course! It will be fun.” As she watched Thor practically carry the woman, Talen’s heart skipped a beat as she saw the face of a man she never thought she would physically see again. Watching the two coming towards her, Daisy bumped her nose on the back of Talen who jumped in surprise.

“Right.” She muttered, gripping the reins on Daisy, she walked over to the couple with a warm smile, “H-Hello, Welcome to Sunlight Stables. Can I help y-you with a-a-anything?” she stammered.

Talen felt incredibly stupid as she felt the sympathetic stare of the human woman who was standing next to Thor acted like his princely self, answered without skipping a beat, “Why yes! We would like a couple of your finest and noblest steeds.”

Talen smiled nervously as she guided them towards the stable as she turned towards the brunette woman, “Should I assume that this is your first time riding?”

Her gentle tone sent Jane at ease as she lightly smiled, “You can say that, I’m more of a riding things with a motor instead of a beating heart.”

The goddess nodded in understanding as she placed a hand on Jane’s shoulder, “Don’t worry. I know the perfect horse for you…” she trailed off wondering what her name was, well, she heard it, but it was common courtesy for anyone to introduce themselves.

“Oh! I’m Jane and this is my boyfriend, Thor.” Jane had this goofy smile on her lips as she peered up at her perfect boyfriend, Thor smiled back.

Talen nodded, “Nice to meet you, I’m…” she contemplated on changing her name to hide her identity, but seeing that Thor had not recognized her, there was no reason of hiding it, “Talen Calloway.”

Thor’s eyes still had no recognition when he glanced at the goddess in front of him; she wasn’t surprised that it hasn’t occurred to him that she was Asgardian. Talen hasn’t changed a bit since she left except for her clothes; she now dressed like a human with her Capri pants and wife beater, completely different than her wardrobe back in Asgard. It did leave her a little heartbroken that Thor didn’t recognize her, with her name and pink hair that she didn’t change, she thought that maybe there would be a slight change that he would remember his friend.

What can she say?

Thor wasn’t really the type of person that would remember everyone’s names and faces if they were gone for fifty plus years or that is what is felt like here on Earth.

The smile on Talen’s face was stretched wider forcefully when Jane politely greeted the goddess, after much awkward tension, Talen excused herself to get the horses. She tried to ignore the booming voice of Thor when he commented on Talen saying she was an odd woman to be working as a stable girl. “She’s just shy.” Jane defended her, “There’s nothing wrong with that.”

“You are right, there is nothing wrong with it, makes it easier for a man to dominant her as he pleases.”

Talen frowned as she collected the two horses that would be best for Jane and Thor, walking towards the couple, she saw Jane scolding Thor to be more polite as the blonde god just laughed pointing out that he was right, if this Talen woman resided in Asgard she would be the perfect example of what all women should be like, obedient.

“Here are your horses.” Talen spoke softly, pulling on one of the horses reins in front of her, she decided to give Thor his first since he didn’t need any instruction on riding a horse, “This is Alastor, one of my finest steeds.” The chalk white colored Anglo-Arabian stallion was handed towards Thor who inspected the horse thoroughly, while he was doing that, Talen focused on the nervous woman that took a few steps back.

“Don’t worry, like I said before, I chose a horse for you that is gentle and obeys quite easily. She won’t cause you any trouble.” Talen patted the American Painted Horse, spotted with black and white throughout its body.

“Looks more like a cow than a horse…you sure she’s nice?”

Talen nodded as she brought the mare closer to Jane, “Positive, most of the children that come here ride either the ponies or Raine.” She held out her hand towards the human, “How about I help you up? To get a feel of Raine, I promise you, she won’t do anything.” Her comforting smile won Jane over as she got help from the goddess as Jane hoisted herself up on the mare. Talen smiled at her as she handed Jane the reins, “Now make sure that your feet are always in the stirrup and have a good grip on the reins-”

“That will be all, my dear maiden. I can take it from here.” Thor trotted alongside Jane as he shooed Talen away from the couple.

The pink haired goddess bit her lip as she bowed her head slightly, “Of course. If you needed anything else, just ask.” Turning on her feet, she walked towards her abandoned horse that neighed at her as Daisy stomped her hooves on the ground.

Talen quickly apologized to the horse as she softly explained why she was such a wreck. Sure, the goddess was somewhat withdrawn and shy, but when it came to Thor, seeing him again made her a nervous wreck. She was pleased to see that she didn’t trip or make a fool out of herself while she was in his presence. As Talen continued to work around the barn, leaving Daisy and most of the horses to trot freely in the grassy plain field, she was hosing down the stalls when her sensitive ears picked up a scream.

Talen was alarmed as she recognized it to be Jane’s voice, dropping the hose; she sprinted towards the cries as she felt Raine in distress. Running up the hill as quickly as possible, she almost caught her breath to see Raine panicking and Jane on the ground clutching her body as she writhe in pain. She quickly went to Raine’s aid first, not wanting to cause any more damage than the mare already had done, within a few minutes the horse heart beat slowed down tremendously.

Now, she had to focus on Jane.

Turning towards the couple, Thor was trying to aid Jane, but she refused to be touched. Talen went around the prince as she knelt by the human’s side, “Let me see.” When Jane heard Talen’s soft voice, she realized that the woman was kneeling right beside her, let go of her leg to see that her ankle was swollen. Touching the injury softly, Jane hissed as Talen examined, “It’s definitely broken.”

“Shouldn’t I go to the hospital?” Jane inquired as she looked at Talen.

Talen was in her own little world as she pressed her hand, wrapping her long slender fingers around Jane’s ankle as she warned her, “This is going to hurt…a lot.” Within seconds, Jane was screaming in pain.

Thor glared at Talen, “How dare you d-” he paused when he saw the faint green glow emitting that outlined Talen’s hand before it faded. Talen let go of Jane’s ankle as she asked her to move it, Jane was skeptical on whether or not she should, but when she moved her leg slightly, she felt no pain, only soreness.

In awe, Jane pulled her ankle towards her as she examined it, “It should be broken still…What are you?” Jane looked up towards the pink haired woman.

Talen stayed still as she heard Thor’s voice that was filled with surprised, “Talen?” this time, she can hear the disbelief and voice of recognition as she lifted her grey eyes towards the golden god.

Sending him a soft smile, she confirmed, “Yes, my prince.” Talen didn’t know how exactly she ended up in Thor’s beefy arms, but the feeling of being suffocated by the large Asgardian prince was something she cherished as his booming laugh filled her ears.

“My dear friend, how good it is to see you again.”

The goddess wrapped her arms around his larger frame as she murmured, “Likewise, my prince. Likewise.”