All The Little Pieces

The Importance of Cheese

"Not in this pile, how about yours?" called Elizabeth.

"Nothing." Loki stood up and pushed his hair off his forehead. "I honestly don't know where else to look, short of pulling every book off the shelves, which, by the way, I would definitely not recommend."

Elizabeth stretched. "Ugghh, I feel like we've checked every small yellowish book here. Even ones that don't have an ink stain."

"I know. It must be somewhere else. I need to clear my head and then maybe I'll have some inspiration where to look. I think I'll go play a prank on Volstagg." Loki's eyes twinkled and he held out a hand. "Want to come along?"

"How can I turn that down?" Elizabeth laughed and grabbed his offered hand as she stepped carefully over books. "So, Volstagg, huh? Do you already have something in mind?"

Loki snorted. "Of course Volstagg. Have you ever met a bigger imbecile? And after all that business night before last about cheese..." He broke into an imitation of Volstagg's voice. "There's a special one, aged perfectly, better than the company of a beautiful woman, and ready in two days at long last-what?"

Elizabeth was breathless, eyes filled with tears of laughter. "You sound exactly like him! Oh God, he really is such a jackass." She drew a deep breath as he closed the library doors behind them. "Okay, so what do we do, steal this amazing cheese?"

"Of course! And then we enjoy it for lunch with a bottle of wine." He descended the curving stairs from the library lightly, then spun to look up at her with a grin of pure delight. "Ah, I'm glad you're coming with me. This will be such fun!"

She laughed at the infectious happiness on his face. "That sounds fantastic! Give me a minute, though, I'm trying not to fall down the stairs. Damn this skirt."

"Here." Loki bounded back up the steps and held out a hand with an exaggerated flourish. "Allow me, my lady. We have to keep you from hitting your head, you know." He winked mischievously.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "I'm fine, seriously. Why did I tell you that? Now you're being exasperating on purpose."

He tipped his head back. "Ehehehe, me, exasperating? Not at all, I'm lovely!"

"Hmm, I suppose that's one way to put it." She reached the bottom of the stairs and let go of his hand. "Now where do we go?"

"This way." Loki led the way down the corridor. "There's a little door up here that we can use to get down to the cellars without walking through the kitchen. The staircase runs from this floor all the way down to the storage rooms beneath the kitchen. Here we are."

He opened the door and held it for her, then closed it softly behind him. Loki gestured to the right on the landing. "That door goes to an armoury room. Thor and I used to go in there when we were little and wear the helmets and pretend we were on great adventures. He was always a Valkyrie, at least until he discovered they were all women."

Elizabeth laughed, then stopped abruptly. "Wow, it echoes like crazy in here!"

He surveyed the rough stone ceiling above them. "It's from the stairway going so far down with no windows to break up the sound. You think it's loud in there, you should hear the armoury. There is a window, but somehow the echoes can be heard out in the hall. Every time Thor and I played in there, someone ended up dragging us out because we were causing such a commotion."

A smile stretched slowly across Elizabeth's face. "I would have liked to see the two of you as kids, running around in oversized helmets. Thor really didn't know the Valkyrie were women?"

Loki's grin was devious. "Not at first, and then I may have convinced him otherwise for a while." He jerked his head toward the stairwell. "Come on, it's a bit of a walk down."

Elizabeth snorted with laughter as they started down the winding stairs. "So, what you're telling me is that you were an annoying little shit."

"Ehehehehehe, you don't know the half of it, although once he learned how to control lightening, he more than evened the odds."

"That sounds painful." Elizabeth grimaced.

Loki chuckled as they made their descent. "It wasn't as bad as you'd think, especially at first. When he got older, it did get a bit more unpleasant." He ran a hand over his hair with a chuckle. "That's when I started oiling my hair. I learned that if Thor so much as hit me with his shoulder, I looked like a frightened cat for the rest of the day."

Elizabeth stifled a laugh. "You know, I have a question for you." She picked her way carefully down the steps. "The weather is so mild here. Do you-we-ever have thunderstorms? The weather's been gorgeous, but I have to say, I really miss a good thunderstorm."

"You like thunderstorms?" Loki sounded appalled.

"You don't? I love everything about them!"

He shook his head. "I do not. I don't mind the rain, in fact, it's calming, but I'm not overly fond of what follows. I've been burned a few too many times."

"I guess that makes sense. You really have to have the right setting for it to be enjoyable." Elizabeth glanced at him. "There is nothing better than being snuggled up in a toasty blanket, watching brilliant lightning in a dark sky and then going to sleep to the sound of rain and rumbles of thunder."

"Hmm, I would never have thought of taking pleasure in a thunderstorm, but now that you've put it that way, I'm a little intrigued." He drew a deep breath. "Ah, I haven't been down this way in a while. Thor and I used to use this stairway to take our favourite foods from the kitchens and bring them up here to eat while we played."

"And what was your favourite?"

Loki grinned. "Desserts. They still are. Although, I'm also not going to turn down much of anything else. There aren't many things I won't eat."

After a moment, he stopped and held a finger to his lips. "Shhhh, we're getting close to the kitchen. I don't want anyone to hear us."

They tiptoed down, Elizabeth holding her skirt up in each hand to avoid tripping, until they reached the bottom of the stairs. The cellar was cool and quiet and smelled damp but clean. Loki selected a flat round package wrapped in white paper off the long shelf of cheeses. He handed it to Elizabeth and turned back to the empty space. A flutter of his fingers, and an identical package appeared.

"Impressive," Elizabeth whispered.

Loki's pleased grin lit up the dim room. "Thanks," he whispered back. "Now wait until that idiot unwraps it at dinner tonight. There's a rock in that one." He selected a bottle of wine from another shelf, nodding in satisfaction before heading toward the stairs.

Elizabeth stifled a giggle and tucked the cheese into her skirt pocket. They were part way up the stairs and nearly opposite the kitchen door when they heard two young women's voices.

"Don't forget we need vegetables to go with the chickens for dinner tonight. We're out of everything but onions in the basket up here."

"I'll bring them up. I have lots of time today. Fandral isn't going to be around until after dinner. He's reading that book that he says has an elixir he wants us to try, you know, later tonight." A nervous giggle followed the second girl's words.

"Fandral a chemist?" the first voice asked.

The second girl giggled again. "No, he borrowed it from an Advisor. I hope he knows what he's talking about. The book looks like a mess, old and covered in ink, but Fandral says the potions are supposed to be amazing."

The voices faded as the two women moved away from the door.

Loki and Elizabeth dashed up the remaining stairs to the nearest landing and burst out into the corridor.

"What do you think?" panted Elizabeth.

"I think," said Loki, "we may have found our book."