Sharp-Edged Diplomacy | Sif & Clea
Though Asgard was a realm that took great pride in the strength and prowess of its warriors, it was also not a realm that existed solely on bloodshed and warfare. Peoples like that--such as the ice blue Jotunn--were soon wiped out by destructive forces of their own making. No, Asgard was a diplomatic realm as well, whose rulers worked to create and maintain strong alliances with the rulers and peoples of other realms. Usually, Sif understood and appreciated that. At this moment, however, she could not understand why Asgard was seeking out an alliance with the queen of the Dark Dimension. Sif was not very familiar with the place; it was not often spoken of in Asgardian lore, but she had heard that its former ruler was an untrustworthy demon with near-infinite powers, and she wasn't sure what made the new queen so different. She might have been able to master her suspicion if the All-Father and Lady Frigga treated this queen with a certain amount of distance or reserve, but they were welcoming from the outset... too welcoming, if you asked Sif.
So welcoming, in fact, that the All-Mother had gone so far as to invite Clea to take a tour of their armory to inspect some of the weapons they had recovered from a demon raiding party. That had been years and years ago, long before Sif was even a Shieldmaiden, but that didn't make the weapons any less dangerous. And that didn't make Sif any more comfortable being chosen as the Asgardian who would show Queen Clea around the place. She'd have guards, of course, but as per Frigga's instructions they were to wait near the door, as this was a diplomatic matter and the armory, or at least the area where they kept the demonic weapons, was fairly narrow. And Sif could take care of herself.
That didn't mean she wanted to, of course. She didn't want to be in this position in the first place. And she didn't want to allow the new ruler of the Dark Dimension to get an eyeful of all the Asgardian weaponry... but she didn't have a choice about that, either. Frigga had blocked all of Sif's protest and though she still felt like this was a very bad idea, as a loyal Shieldmaiden of Asgard and one of Thor's closest companions, she was bound to the decisions her sovereign made. Which was how she ended up here, at the entrance to the armory, holding open the door for Queen Clea, with whom she was determined to keep up a cold but irreproachable politeness. "Right this way, Your Majesty," she said. Clea didn’t look too threatening, and she had been nothing but nice so far... but Sif still had her reservations.