Chapter Text
When Sylvie was very young, even before she was Sylvie, she was Loki. “Loki, God of mischief” always sounded wrong to her, but she didn’t quite understand why. The mischief part, of course, was spot on, but the title still felt wrong.
She finally got her answer when her mother showed her and Thor the paintings and stories of the legendary valkyrie. Sylvie stared in awe of the beautiful women riding their winged horses into battle, shining like stars prepared to battle the darkness. She wished more than anything to do that, to be that.
“Mother, I’m going to be a valkyrie.” She said, more sure than ever before
Frigga smiled with motherly warmth “That might be difficult,” she said “The Valkyrie are all women.”
“Well then I'll be a woman!” she exclaimed “A beautiful, strong woman, fighting evil atop my pegasus, it would be wonderful!” Frigga and Thor giggled as she jumped up.
“Imagine it!” she yelled “Loki: Leader of the valkyrie!”
“Loki isn’t a girl's name!” Thor teased “How are you gonna be a Valkyrie with a boy name?”
“Now, Thor,” Frigga scolded her son “Loki can be a name for anyone!”
Sylvie considered “No, I think he’s right, what kinds of names did the Valkyrie have?”
Frigga opened a book of legends and started showing the children pictures of the Valkyrie, reading their names as she went across the page.
“Well, there's Kára, Reginleif, Ölrún, Brunhilde of course, she was the leader of the Valkyrie...”
Right in front of her, on that page was the most beautiful, powerful woman she’d ever seen. Sylvie knew just from the picture that if she could be half the leader Brunhilde ever was, she would be happy with herself.
“Brunhilde is a beautiful name, what does it mean?”
“Brunhilde means battle armor,” Frigga replied. “Many of the Valkyries got names of strength and power.”
“I want a name meaning strength, I’m going to be a great fighter!” She was nearly shaking in excitement at this point.
“Well if you want a girl's name meaning strength, then there are names like Birgitta, Gertrud, Magnhild, Sylvi or Sol…”
Sylvi. That was it. That was her.
“Sylvi! I love it, I love it! It’s such a pretty name”
“I like it too,” Her brother replied “Sylvi is a really nice name for you!”
She was jumping, dancing, she didn’t know exactly why, but she felt like she was celebrating
“Oh thank you so much! I love this name, thank you!” She hugged her mother and brother and ran off to her room.
She wanted to write something like ‘Sylvi: Leader of the Valkyries’ or ‘Sylvi: Goddess of mischief’, so she sat down and started spelling it out
S - Y - L - V - I - …?
No, that can’t be right. Her name can’t end with an i, Loki ends with an i, her new name can’t be anything like Loki, she is not Loki.
S - Y - L - V - I - E
Sylvie. A smile crept onto her face, it was the most wonderful thing she’d ever seen. Sylvie.