All The Little Pieces

An Inkstained Book

A wave of laughter rolled down the dinner table as Elizabeth pulled out her chair. She looked quizzically at Thor, who was chortling. "What's going on?"

He shook his head, still laughing. "Volstagg loves cheese. It's a very long story, but he has a great love of cheese. Oh, have you seen Loki recently?"

Loki slipped into his seat between them. "I'm right here, brother." He paused at a second wave of laughter. "What hilarity did I miss?"

"Something about Volstagg and cheese, I guess?" said Elizabeth. "I don't really know. I missed it too."

"Ah, that's what it is." Loki rolled his eyes sarcastically. He looked down the table and shook his head. "Good evening, Thor."

Thor nodded at Loki, then turned his attention to Elizabeth. "You have been with us over a month now," he said. "How are you faring?"

"Very well, thank you." She settled herself in her chair and pursed her lips. "I've been thinking about something."

"Yes?" Thor prompted.

"So, at home, I had a job, and I wondered if there was something I could do here." She smiled apologetically. "I'm not complaining, it's been very relaxing being here, but I kind of feel like I need to, you know, do something. I'm not used to just sitting."

"Ah." Thor thought for a moment. "Well, did you have something in mind? What did you do on Midgard?"

"I did research, spent a lot of time in libraries, archives, that kind of thing."

Thor turned to Loki. "Weren't you just complaining recently about our library?"

Loki nodded. "I believe my words were 'utter abysmal wreckage.' It's been disorganized for the better part of a century."

"In that case, I'll let you direct Elizabeth to that, if she likes. I have a job for you as well, brother." He glanced back at Elizabeth. "If it's all right with you, the library will keep you busy for some time. Loki can give you any assistance you need, but you have free reign to improve it as you see fit."

She beamed. "Thank you! I'd love to tackle that! I'll have to make sure not to stop and read too much along the way. Your library is amazing!"

Loki smirked at her enthusiasm before turning his attention to Thor. "What did you need from me?"

Thor propped his arms on the table and leaned forward. "I'm trying to locate a book, and I don't know where to start. It's called 'Life from the Great Tree.' Ever heard of it?"

Loki shook his head. "No, should I have? That doesn't sound like your sort of book. What's in it you need?"

"Not me, Elora. And, indirectly, you, Elizabeth." He nodded at her. "There is a certain frost flower that grows in the palace gardens. It's becoming sparse and I believe it's part of the medicine Elora's been giving you for your head."

"Your head? She's been giving you medicine?" Loki's brows had deep furrows. "It's been five weeks now since you woke. Is it still hurting you that badly?"

"Yes and no," Elizabeth said. "I don't have any pain from landing on the bridge, but apparently the Bifrost's magic can affect people from different realms with all kinds of symptoms, often lasting headaches. It's getting better, but Elora says I need to take the medicine for about two more weeks. It mainly hurts when I wake up. As soon as I take a dose, the pain's gone." She noticed Loki's crossed arms and set lips. "Really, I'm fine. I promise."

His eyes moved back to Thor. "So why does she need this book?"

Thor spread his hands on the table. "Apparently, it contains recipes for quite a few obscure medicines and solutions, as well as how to best grow the ingredients for the medicines. Elora thinks she may be able to find a way to keep the flowers growing in the amount she needs, but only if she can find the book. I know you two spend a good deal of time in the library, and now even more. Could you look for it?"

"Of course," said Loki. "We'll begin directly after dinner."

"Excellent!" Thor leaned toward his plate and picked up a knife. "I'll let Elora know you're working on finding it. If you don't mind, Elizabeth, can you do this before anything else in the library?"

"Sure, I'd be happy to." She took a sip of water. "Thank you again for letting me work in the library."

Thor threw back his head and roared with laughter. "You're thanking me? You couldn't entice me to sort and organize thousands of books with anything in the Nine Realms! I'm thanking you! Now maybe Loki will stop telling me what a mess it is in there, although, I don't think he's making it any better." He winked.

The corner of Loki's mouth twitched sarcastically. "I'm the god of chaos, what do you expect?" He took a bite from his plate and fixed his eyes on Elizabeth next to him. His amusement faded to seriousness, and his voice was hushed when he leaned toward her and spoke. "Does Elora have enough medicine for you right now?"

"Yes, I have at least three or four days worth in my room right now." She raised her eyebrows at the intense expression on his face. "Really, Loki, I'm fine, don't worry about me. Worst case, I'll deal with the headache."

Loki frowned and shook his head in silent disagreement. At another burst of laughter, he glanced down the table irritably, then back at Thor. "Did your fool of a friend actually compare a wheel of cheese to a beautiful woman? Really brother, why do you insist on surrounding yourself with idiots?"

Thor chuckled. "You and I were inseparable growing up, so you tell me."

Loki glanced at Elizabeth. "It's true, we did do nearly everything together. I'm not a fool, though." His eyes flicked to Thor. "You were the one that exasperated Mother most of the time."

"Possibly. She was patient, though." Thor grinned. "Do you remember the time we spent the night on a balcony and didn't tell anyone where we were?"

"Of course." Loki smiled at the memory. He turned to Elizabeth. "Thor and I were perhaps ten...you think, brother?"

When Thor nodded, he continued. "Our tutor had told us there would be a huge meteor shower in the night sky, so we decided to spend the night outside watching it. We pilfered our favorite foods from the kitchen and dragged some blankets up to an empty room near the top of the palace. It had a huge balcony and a stellar view of the sky and Asgard."

Thor was grinning at his brother. "It was a great view. We ate and watched the shooting stars, and Loki pointed out the planets by name and told me all about them, and we finally fell asleep. When we woke, Mother had brought us breakfast in the empty room. She never said a word about us being missing all night, and I'm sure she never told Father."

"It was a good night, wasn't it, brother?" Loki smiled over at Thor. "I haven't thought of it for a long while, but I had a grand time showing you all the constellations." He glanced back at Elizabeth to see her watching him with a smile and shifted self-consciously. "Come on," he said, pushing his chair from the table. "Let's go get started on the library."