Believe in Magic [a Loki fanfic]

Let there be Light

The next day Ella waited under the tree where she had found Loki reading, hoping that he would come back to see her. Eir had very kindly organised some paper and a kind of pencil for her, so the girl had spent most of the day drawing to keep her mind occupied. The sun was low on the horizon now and Loki had not come. It had probably been a silly idea to think that he would be interested in seeing her again. The thought stung a little but Ella let it go. She was alive and very well looked after - enough to be grateful for. It was likely that Loki was simply busy pursuing whatever his role in this world that he called his home demanded of him. Judging by his appearance, he was one of the noble men here - Ella had not thought to ask anything about his life. But those things did not really matter. She did not care about his status, or who he was in this world. He made her feel safe, that was what mattered.

The air was balmy and heavy with the sweet fragrance of the flowering trees. Soothing. Ella stretched, then curled up on the soft grass at the foot of the tree and drifted into a light sleep, only to wake up, startled by a noise. The tingle of adrenaline rushed through her body. She froze. What was that noise? Her heart pounded wildly in her chest and her breath went shallow. Had they found her? She listened intently, but did not dare to open her eyes. Like this she lay for a while. Frozen and terrified. Only when nothing happened, she did she allow herself to become aware of her surroundings - the feeling of warm air on her skin, soft grass underneath her. Where was she? Still anxious, she cautiously opened her eyes. Asgard. She remembered. Her body relaxed slightly, yet she was still unable to move. A little bird hopped towards her pecking curiously at the sheets of paper that lay scattered on the grass. It cocked his head and eyed her up, making Ella smile. She was safe. Her arm stretched out carefully towards the small creature.

 "Hey, little one," she whispered, "You gave me a fright, you know? But fortunately you are not the monster I was afraid to see when I opened my eyes. You are much too sweet to be a monster."

"Making friends?" the familiar velvet voice made her flinch and sent another prickly wave of adrenaline through her body. "I did not mean to startle you," Loki said apologetically. He sat close by, leisurely leaning against a tree watching her. 

"How long have you been here for?" 

"As long as it takes to get through the thirteenth chapter of Magical Weapons and Dwarf Sorcery," he joked which made her smile. Now that he was here, she relaxed completely and stretched to get the feeling back into her body. Loki's eyes rested on the girl as she sat up to collect the sheets of paper and store them away in her bag. 

"You are a skilled artist." 

"You had a look at my drawings?" She blushed a little. 

"From afar," Loki lied. He had looked threw them when he arrived. Intrigued to find most of them being very good portraits of the God of Mischief himself, amongst other sketches of trees, birds and one that led him to wonder what had happened to the girl in Niflheim. It was the sketch of a demon of some sort, devouring a smaller creature.

"Are you ready to go and explore more books?" The God asked and, longing to stay in his company, Ella nodded. 

"I will need to get something to eat first. I am starving." 

"Very well, I shall be waiting here." With that he brought his attention back to the book he was reading. 

Ella rose to her feet and made her way back to Eir's quarters, who had arranged a room for the girl in her own private chambers. The Goddess of Healing had taken a liking to the mortal girl, and also could not cast off the feeling that Ella had a vital role to play in Loki's life. Eir knew the prince better than anyone, since she had tended to him ever since Odin brought him back from Jotunheim. She had always had a special fondness for the adopted prince and now that the he endeavoured to redeem himself, and maybe due to the loss of his mother, Queen Frigga, Eir and Loki had grown even closer.

Ella found her host standing by one of the large windows, sipping tea from a small clay cup, when she walked in. 

"Are you not going to sit down to have your dinner?" Eir asked curiously when Ella grabbed a piece of bread, some cheese and grape-like fruit and proceeded to wrap them in a silk napkin. 

"Loki is taking me to the library, I do not wish to keep him waiting." 

"In that case," the Goddess smiled, "You should take something for him too. He likes Dragonfruit – and the sweet sticky slice on the silver tray there." Ella face lit up. 

"Thank you, Eir." Putting a piece of the slice into her own mouth, she carefully wrapped two more in a napkin and took a piece of Dragonfruit. Delicious, she thought as the piece of Aesir pastry melted in her mouth, dissolving on her tongue with the malty sweetness of caramel and something that resembled bitter sweet chocolate. Ella waved at the Goddess before she pulled the heavy wooden doors closed behind her. 

"Eir said you would like this." 

The mortal girl knelt on the grass beside him and handed the God of Mischief some Dragonfruit and a mysterious item wrapped in a serviette. Loki had already taken his evening meal with Thor and Odin, but the way the girl offered the food to him, he did not have the heart to decline. So they both sat and ate in silence while dusk settled in. With a flick of his hand, Loki produced a sphere of blue-green light that illumined the spot where they were sitting. Ella almost choked on her food. The floating orb was breath-takingly beautiful. She sat and stared at the glowing globe until she became aware of the pair of green eyes resting on her, and she pulled her gaze away. But not for long. It was too mesmerizing. 

A floating ball of light. Magical. Loki chuckled softly at her reaction. He had never been able to impress anyone with the mere manifestation of a light sphere.

"Can I touch it?" she asked finally. 

"Go ahead." Ella was going to rise to her feet, but the sphere floated towards her, dimming as it came closer. 

"Incredible. This is so beautiful!" she blurted out. 

Her outstretched hand touched the light, fingers dipping into it as if it was water. It felt liquid, but strangely different to water. When she retracted her hand, small drops of light stuck to her fingers and she glanced over at Loki a little worried. The smile on his face gave away that there was nothing to worry about. 

"You can just shake it off." 

Ella did as he said and gasped when countless sparkling drops of light fell from her fingers, raining down on the grass like miniature fireworks. She giggled, completely enchanted by the sight and without hesitation dipped her hand into the glowing orb again to repeat the spectacle. 

"This is amazing!" She laughed. Loki watched, amused, as she dipped her fingers into the light again and again. It felt good to see her laugh. He remembered how enchanted he himself had been by light spheres as a little boy. Never tiring of the beautiful sparks that flew off his fingertips. 

Light. It had always held a special place inside the God's heart. Until the day he found out that he was born a creature of darkness. How can you hope to claim something that you were denied from birth? It was nothing short of delusional. A lie. The enchantment of Light was but a cruel temptation to those who had no choice but to dwell in darkness.