Unexpected

The Stories of Childhood

As I approached Loki's door I considered telling him about my fears, then as I raised my hand to knock on the door, I thought better of it. Loki was the god of mischief in Norse legends; I couldn't really trust him. Even if I saw a good man in him under all the hunger for power, pain, and bitter anger, I couldn't allow myself to get too comfortable around him. Rationalizing this out, I waited for Loki's response to my knocking. There was none, so I knocked again. I had been expecting for him to be here tonight since he had alluded to it this morning after breakfast. After about a minute of waiting I decided that I should just drop it off inside the room as I had originally been told to do.

Opening the door I stepped inside to see that Loki was indeed in the room. Upon catching sight of him sitting in his chair with his scepter in hand, I gasped a bit in surprise, then mumbled an apology and started to turn back around when I noticed something was off. Standing there half-in, half-out of the doorway I gave Loki another look and saw that he was staring off into space straight ahead of him, his green eyes not truly seeing. There was also a barely perceptible golden aura floating around his head and his scepter's gem was glowing brighter than usual, casting of an unsettling feeling of power. His face was set in a determined expression, confidence and an aspect of a ruler lacing his features, yet his mouth was in a slight frown and his eyes as he stared grew wide occasionally as if he was possibly uneasy or maybe even frightened. I could not imagine what he was doing. I knew it had to be some sort of magic, but besides that I had no idea what this strange situation was supposed to be for.

Truly, I hadn't realized how long I had been simply standing there watching him, but as soon as I noticed I snapped out of it and started shutting the door again, but just as I gripped the doorknob to pull the door shut, Loki's eyes moved. They flicked from their spot in space and landed directly on me, catching me by surprise. His eyebrows furrowed a bit, maybe in anger that I was in his room or maybe in confusion as to why I was there, but whichever reason it was as soon as he looked at me I started spewing apologies.

"Sorry! I knocked and there was no response so I thought I would drop this off. I didn't mean to barge in on you or interrupt you from-"

"It is no problem." Loki interrupted me, waving his hand as if to fan my apologies away, "Come in."

Nodding I re-entered the room and made my way to the chairs and coffee table. Uncovering the food I set Loki's portion in front of him and my own in front of myself. "Tuna noodle casserole, peas, and rolls." I said simply in explanation for the meal.

Loki merely nodded and stuck his fork in the noodles. It was not difficult to tell that his mind was elsewhere, so I shut off my yapper and started eating my peas. I was halfway finished with them when Loki spoke again.

"How long were you standing there?"

I knew exactly what he was talking about. Shrugging, "Maybe a minute?"

He nodded, "Then you're probably wondering what that was about."

I didn't answer but my face most likely gave away my curiosity that was eating away at my mind. Anyway, after a moment he gave me a bit of a smirk then continued, "Let's just say that I was in a conference with my..." He paused a moment trying to find the right word for it.

"Business partners?" I suggested, recalling what he had called them at breakfast.

He huffed a humorless laugh, "Precisely."

I nodded, unsure of what to say or if I should say anything at all. Part of me was just afraid that if I opened my mouth at all in the awkward, rather tense silence that it would ramble about something, both embarrassing me and annoying him. A few seconds of silence passed between us, tensely at first, and then slowly it changed into a more relaxed, comfortable one.