"I don't like seeing you so lonely, love," Frigga said gently and stroked her son's soft hair. He said nothing, but just sighed into the warmth of her embrace. He could barely see out of his one eye, it was bruised and swollen and it stung.
"I'm not lonely, mother," he finally replied and couldn't help but smile as his mother ran her fingernails across his scalp. So soothing. He could still here the others far off in the distance playing. They had accidently given him the black eye-they adored fighting so much, and he had been caught in the middle of it.
"I just want you to be happy, Loki. I don't ever want to see you sad," she whispered and hugged him tighter into her chest. Frigga turned her head as she heard the young Thor's thundering steps. Loki only acknowledged his presence by letting out his exasperated sigh and slowly letting go of his mother.
"Tell me what happened, Loki," Thor snapped when he saw his brother's bruised eye. He would crush whoever dared lay a hand on a son of Odin.
"We were just playing, Thor, you don't need to get so worked up about it," he said simply and made to go around his older brother only to have his shoulder taken roughly by Thor.
"You must tell me who did this, Loki. You cannot let people push you around like this!" he tried to say something his father might say, but hoped that Loki would take it to heart if it came from him.
"You mean like how you push me around all the time?" So much for that idea.
"I am your older brother; I am trying to make you stronger!"
"Yet every time you do I look weaker in everyone else's eyes!" Loki snapped back harshly and pushed his brother off. He heard Thor and Frigga calling after him as he ran away from the vast dining hall and out towards the large forest that was at the edge of Asgard.
Loki knew all the paths of the kingdom, all the secret doorways all the hidden tunnels. If he didn't want to be found, then no one but Heimdall could see him in all his hiding spots. The trees of the little bit of forest that was in Asgard were tall and thick and the dirt was soft and covered in stones.
He ran deep within them and found his favourite hiding place. When he first found it he thought it was a dead end-it was covered in a wall of ivy that fell from the trees above. But he found that he could move the veil of green and was rewarded with a small sanctuary of his own. It was like a small garden within the forest, a small pond was at one end of it and a large rock at the other end. It was a round clearing and long grape vines lined the sky above him. He had picked one of the lower hanging fruit and smiled at its sweet taste.
He sat in the middle of the clearing and dug the heels of his boots into the ground. He wrapped his arms around his legs and rested his head on his knees.
He didn't like to be lonely either. And he liked seeing his mother sad even less. Make a friend, she said, as if it was something he hadn't already tried. Other children just kept their distance because he was the brother of Thor and the son of Odin. They could not see him as Loki. He was a boy hidden in the shadows of greater men, nothing more.
He wondered what a true friend would be like. Would they be someone like him, or would they be completely at odds with his personality? Would it be a boy or a girl? Could she dance? Could she sing? Was her voice as sweet and soothing as his mother's? Would she always encourage him and believe in him? Would she be pretty?
Make yourself a friend.
Make yourself a friend.
Make yourself a friend.
Loki was a prodigy with his magical abilities, a fact that his mother was very proud of and others were wary of. He smiled to himself and stood up as he began to imagine what would go into to making the perfect friend for himself.
He looked around him, and saw everything he needed in the garden. A small, pale pink rose; she would pretty, like his mother, and she'd always smell of roses. She'd be soft and delicate like a rose petal. Her voice would be sweeter than the grapes hanging all around him. She would be funny and she would always bring a smile to his face. A lily from the pond-she would understand grief and heartache, she would be able to comfort him like warm water. Down in the bottom of the pond was a shiny pebble; she would be a gem, so rare a find, there would be no one like her in all of Asgard or any of the nine realms, she would be precious. He pulled a few of his own hairs and study their sleek black colour-she would be like him, she would understand him when no one else could.
He dug a small hole in the ground and climbed one of the trees to rip open a small hole in the canopy. He jumped down and heard birds tweeting above him. He looked up to see their nest and their mother buzzing about them. A little humming bird. Not often found anywhere in Asgard, the birds were native Midgard. Mother adored them, and asked Odin to bring a few to Asgard so she could see them more often. They were a very rare thing to see.
He placed all the items except the rose and covered it in dirt and water from the pond. He made sure the small ray of sunlight that sprung from the canopy engulfed the small mound and began to place the rose in the mound when he heard a sound behind him that made him jump.
For a moment he felt his chest close up as he thought someone else had found his hiding spot and he would forever lose his sanctuary. He turned around and saw it was nothing but a baby bird. It had fallen from its nest in a desperate attempt to get food from its mother. He edged towards it and felt sadness well up inside him when he saw its broken neck. The chick was still covered in white fluff and it was soft and still warm when he cradled it in his hands.
He looked back to his little mound of dirt and then back to the lifeless bird in his hands. She would be warm and soft and she'd never leave him. He buried the little bird along with his other items and placed the stem of the rose inside the ground. He took a deep breath and held out his hands over the flower and let the smoke-like essence spill from his finger tips. The flower began to grown larger and green leaved vines sprung from the ground and wrapped around the mound like little arms.
He took another deep breath and whispered out a soft poem.
"Soft as a petal, sweet as a grape
I say these words to create thy fate
Warm as water, rare as a gem
I am in need of thee, as I am in need of a friend
Thou shalt be my friend, and I will hold thee dear
With you by my side, I've nothing to fear
I shall wake thee in three days
Thou shalt know it be me, when I call thy name."
He took one last look at his creation and smiled, before running out of the woods. It was late, and his mother would be worried about him. It was his 11th birthday in three days. He would come back to check on her then.
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Loki's birthday had been predictable. They all gathered together in the great hall and feasted and laughed. The elders drank and the younger children stole the drinks to try for themselves. He got gifts of swords and shields and magical weaponry from his father and his brother. His mother had secretly given him a music box, such that when he opened it, the song of a sweet hummingbird would sing.
The music box was rectangular and it had a lock on it. It was rather large, given its primary function, but his mother had said that he could put all his secrets in it and that the magic of the box would always keep it safe. The box was intricately decorated, engraved with delicate golden vines crossing all over the box and connecting at the lock. Only his key could open it and if anyone else, like Thor, tried to open it, the thorned vines would lash out and attack the would-be thief.
He was eager to leave the birthday celebrations, so that he could get back to his garden and to his friend. He was also dreading it; he was worried that the magic may not have worked, or had gone wrong some way. He had a name for her. His mother had helped him.
"If you had had a daughter, what would you have called her?" he had asked her, running his fingers along the golden vines of his new music box.
She just laughed at his question. "If I had had a daughter. Well, it would have been a dream come true! But alas, Odin only gave me two fine strong warriors," she chuckled and pinched Loki's cheek. Loki just pushed her hand away and looked up to her pleadingly.
"Fine, if I had had a daughter, I would have called her Edda," she said and smiled, "It means poetry. I would have taught her how to sing and dance and all the graces of being a woman in Odin's house. She would write poetry for me and stay with me instead of going out and fighting all the time."
He looked up to her, worried for a moment, but pushed her playfully when he saw her cheeky grin. She saw that he was about to get up and run away so she forced him into a hug which he struggled to get out of.
"Mother, let go!" he said, trying to push against her strong arms. She just giggled and let him go once he stopped struggling.
He ran as hard as he could to get away from his violently affectionate brother and made his way to the garden. When he reached his sanctuary, he'd almost forgotten about the music box in his hands. He arrived at the wall of ivy and looked over his shoulder, paranoid, before entering and smiling at the strange new plant in the centre of the garden.
It seemed more like a sapling now, with vines and roses wrapped around it. Shiny pebbles surrounded its base and grapes intertwined with the roses. He slowly stepped towards it, suddenly unsure of what to do.
"Your name is Edda," he whispered hesitantly and watched as the centre of the sapling split open and feathers fell from it. He sat back suddenly when something seemed to jump from within it.
It was a girl. A tiny girl. She could probably fit in the palms of his hands, like a fairy. She seemed so delicate he thought a gust of wind might shatter her to pieces. Her attire was simple, a pale pink dress with a green sash around her waist with strips of shimmering material coming from it. Her hair was black and long and flowers and vines were entwined within it.
She kneeled on the floor with her head down and did nothing, but he gasped when she turned her head up to look at him. She had bright, glistening blue eyes, and they stared at him so deeply, he hadn't realised that he'd leant forward slightly. She was so beautiful; the most beautiful creature he'd ever seen in Asgard. Even more beautiful than his mother.
"Edda," she said in a soft melodic voice, "My name is Edda?" She sounded hesitant at first, as if she wasn't quite sure what she was saying, or if she was saying it correctly.
"Yes," Loki replied, just as hesitantly, "And my name is Loki."
"Loki."
He smiled as she tested the word and said it a few more times.
"Yes, Loki. I am your friend," he said, still smiling so wide it hurt his cheeks. She seemed to like this idea. She smiled widely and jumped up suddenly. Loki fell back as he saw two small feathery wings protruding from her back.
"You can fly?" he asked dumbfounded and watched her flit about him in tight circles. She didn't seem to hear him. She just kept flying and giggling as if this were the happiest moment of her life. It took him a moment to realise that she was dancing, dancing in the sky. He laughed at her frivolity and jumped up to dance with her as well. He was sure that if anyone found him he would be completely mortified, but in that moment, Edda seemed to exude joy.
"What is this?" she suddenly asked and landed on the large music box. She was almost insect-like in the way she buzzed around it, totally absorbed in her curiosity.
"That's a music box," he replied.
"What's a music?"
He opened up the music box and saw how easily she begun to sway to the simple tune. Edda started humming and then she started singing, not any words, she just let her beautiful voice fill the silence of the garden.
She stopped singing after a time, and began asking questions. She seemed to want to know everything about the universe, and Loki was unable to give her the answers fast enough. As the forest began to grow dark Loki got ready to leave, but he was hesitant once more as he didn't know what to do with Edda.
"Where are you going?" she asked him as he picked up the music box. She looked up at him with an intense eagerness in her eyes.
"I have to go home now, and go to sleep. My mother will be worrying about me," he replied and began to run his fingers across the engraved box.
"Can I come?"
He stopped his movement and looked at her endearing stare. He didn't feel safe leaving her in the forest, even if it was until he came back the next morning. He looked down at his magical music box again. It wasn't too big, but it could fit all his secrets. The secrets he didn't want anyone to find. What would people say if they found his Edda?
"Maybe," he said, and then looked at her sternly, "But you must stay in this box. You can't let anyone see you. Understand?"
She nodded vigorously and quickly flew towards the opened box. It was a rather large box, to her, and she could fit rather comfortably in it. It seemed larger on the inside than on the outside. He closed the box and she felt it shake as he ran towards his home. A home. A place where you live and you eat and you have family.
Did she have family? Perhaps Loki was her family, perhaps he was her brother and they would play together forever. Loki was sad, she knew. She didn't know why, he wouldn't tell her. She just wanted to see him smile, to see him happy, and sometimes she could make forget about what was making him sad, but then he would remember and he would get that sad look on his face.
When they arrived at his home, he didn't unlock the box. She heard a woman's voice, someone he called 'mother' and then there was another boy's voice, Loki called him 'Thor'. Thor sounded very angry, but he sounded concerned about Loki, because Loki had been out for so long. Edda felt bad, if it wasn't for her, Loki would be home with his family, at his home where he lived. Then there was another man's voice, he was 'father'. She didn't like the sound of father's voice. He sounded angry and mean. He didn't sound very happy at all.
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The years went by so quickly to Edda. Loki grew up so suddenly, as did she. It was confusing and at times funny. She remembered many years that were spent with permanent smiles on their faces. She saw Loki begin to distance himself as he and Thor became greater friends. Loki began to make other friends of his own, and his need for her began to ebb over time. She felt bitter at that sometimes, because she could never really be angry with him. She loved him like a brother, and so she made no complaints when he had to leave her alone in the garden at night when the box became too small for her. She always sang for him whenever he asked, and she never let him see her anger when he ran off whenever he heard his name being called.
She didn't even go to look for him when he stopped visiting. She would go weeks without seeing him sometimes, and she'd never let him see her puffy red eyes when he returned. She grew into a beautiful young woman, and he a handsome young man, and he just didn't have the time for childhood friends anymore.
She also didn't tell him about her manifesting magical abilities. It would seem as he became more powerful so did she. They shared a powerful bond, one which he was flouting in her face, but she never grew angry. She never abandoned him. She would always be his friend, until he sent her away. It was when she realised that she wanted him to send her away that she knew she must venture past the garden and confront him.
She stared at the large green trees at the edge of the forest and wondered why she had never flown past them before. Her wings were bigger now, and stronger. She could fly way above the tops and easily see the grand city of Asgard, why had she not left?
Small birds sat on high branches and their inquisitive stares and eager chirps. They seemed to dare her to fly out, to follow them through the trees. A race, to see who the better flyer was. A game. She always loved games.
She was in the air and trees were whistling past her before she even thought about flying. She gained speed and raced the ravens the surrounded her. They were Odin's birds Loki once told her. He had told her never to let them see her. They were Odin's spies. Loki also said that he'd never leave her, so she was slightly sceptical of anything that came out of his mouth.
She was awed by the city of Asgard. It seemed to go on forever. She flew higher and higher and began to follow the ravens all around the city. She noticed when the people down below saw her; they would look and point, as if a little flying woman was out of the ordinary.
She spotted Loki immediately; he was with a blonde-haired man and some of his comrades. She didn't know who Thor was; she'd never seen any of them. They were inside a grand golden tower and food was piled up on a long table. A rather large man with red hair and a red beard was wolfing it down as if it was his last meal. A grim looking man sat on a chair at the table, but touched no food, and thin man with brown hair sat next to him. Loki sat near one end of the table across from a woman with long brown hair and between them sat a very tall very muscled man with blonde hair. He smiled brightly and drank happily. Loki smiled with him, but his smiles were not nearly as genuine.
Edda found that she rather liked the look of the blonde man. He seemed to embody happiness and power and grace. All of his comrades, except for the grim one, were laughing along with him, and she could see a hint of jealousy in Loki's eyes.
Loki liked to play tricks on people. Edda liked to play tricks on people too.
She looked around and saw an open door that lead into the room, and flew behind it so quick that no one saw her. She would show Loki the powers that she had developed. She would show him what she had been doing to entertain herself.
She made herself grow. Grow larger, grow as tall as an Asgardian. She let her wings disappear into her back and she felt her dress shift and change as she stretched towards the ceiling. The dress was now strapless and long. So long it covered up her shoeless feet. It retained its normal pale pink colour and the green sash was still tight around her waist. The green shimmering material now flow from the sash and created an upside down 'V' in the front. Her hair was platted but strands of it were left untouched to from her face.
Loki had called her beautiful once. A beautiful creation.
She leant on the door and let a small smile grace her lips. She would like to see what he said now about his beautiful creation. She was about to enter the room when she felt ashamed of herself. She was being so petty. She could be happy in that forest. That forest was her home. She didn't know why she was so bitter towards Loki. He had grown up, and she had to as well.
She'd lost the nerve to confront Loki when the door suddenly fell open and she landed at the feet of the blonde-haired man.
"Oh, many apologies, Lady, I did not realise you were standing there!" he chuckled out and helped her up.
"No, I'm fine, I mean, I am not hurt, I mean, I shouldn't have been leaning on the door for so long," she stuttered out. He held her by her arms and looked at her earnestly. She didn't know who this could possibly be, which one of the people Loki had mocked in her presence.
"Why were you leaning on the door?" he asked her. He seemed extremely close. It made her uncomfortable, but it made her heart flutter at the same time. She'd never been this close to another person before.
"Oh, I was, I don't know, I just," she stuttered shamefully unable to get the words out of her mouth. She felt so stupid, she knew she had to get her emotions under control before this man would step aside and let everyone else see her.
"Never mind!" he cried out and laughed heartily as she blushed a deep red. His comrades laughed with him, all except Loki who was silently fuming. He stared at his old childhood friend, who had somehow transformed herself into a beautiful, fully grown woman, and had decided to venture out of the little garden. She would pay for her insolence. She was his creation, she was supposed to do his bidding.
"What is your name, Lady?" he asked her, staring intently into her eyes.
"Edda," she said and let him hold her hand and kiss as he introduced himself. "Lady Edda, my name is Thor Odinson. These are my comrades, Loki, Sif and the warriors three. Come and join our feast!"
"I don't think she wants to join our feast, Thor, I'm sure she has somewhere to be-don't you, Lady Edda?" Loki asked keeping the venom from his voice. He would talk with her as soon as he could get out of this stupid feast.
"Oh, I'm sure it can wait, brother, you must tell us about yourself!" Thor said and gripped Edda's arm tightly, "First you must regale us the reason as to why someone as beautiful as you has gone unnoticed for so long!"
Edda blushed. She certainly liked Thor more than she liked Loki, and he wasn't nearly as oafish and unruly as Loki had described him. He seemed arrogant, like any child of a King, but there was good in him. He seemed almost like an over grown child himself.
"I'm very good at hiding," she giggled, feeling her confidence well up inside her, "I'm as silent as a mouse."
"You're much prettier than a mouse, Lady Edda, perhaps as silent as a fairy? And fairer by far," the skinny one said and winked at her. He was charming and flirtatious and very cheeky. "My name is Fandral, my dear, and it is an absolute pleasure to meet you." He stood up and bowed before placing his hand on the hilt of his sword.
"And I am Volstagg! Are you hungry? You look very thin," the large red-headed one said through between bites of his pork.
"No, thank you," she mumbled out and looked up at the man she assumed was the last warrior. He seemed to be analysing her every move.
"That is Hogun the grim, he doesn't talk much," Fandral explained and all but jumped over the table to slide next to Edda. She flushed slightly and giggled nervously but sidestepped his wandering hand.
Thor had somehow led them into an easy superficial conversation where they talked of their previous battles and laughed at Loki's pranks. Loki's smile was fake and cruel whenever Edda looked at him. He showed no remorse in his eyes, she could feel the hatred in his gaze. It saddened her. They used to be such good friends, he was all she had but he was yet to realise it. She was completely alone in that forest.
It was obvious to Loki that Thor was taking a liking to his young friend, and it irked the trickster. Thor was an idiot and he could never possibly comprehend the inner workings behind his master piece, Thor could never be an adequate suitor for her. But Loki could also sense that she would not care that her own intelligence far trumped any others' on the table, bar him. He had to speak with her alone. They were no longer children. It was time to end this silly fantasy.
Loki used his silver tongue and was able to convince Fandral and Sif to do battle outside the feast hall so that he may take Edda back to the forest, but even that plot was foiled when Thor grabbed her attention first and took her on a private walk into the gardens of the palace. Loki would have followed but he had to put a happy facade up once again as Fandral challenged him to duel.
Edda would go home to the forest, and that would be when the snake would strike.
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"Where do you come from, Edda?" Thor asked with the utmost sincerity. He held her arm within his home and they walked slowly around the beautifully decorated gardens. Birds of all shapes and sizes flew about in pairs and flowers bloomed all around them. The garden was impressive but it could not equal the beauty of the forest Edda had lived in.
"Around," she said dreamily and breathed in the scent of roses and wild flowers. The wind was nothing but gentle breezes that twirled around and made her feel a sense of nostalgia. She didn't realise her longing sigh until Thor had stopped and placed his hand over her own.
"What is it that saddens you, Lady Edda?" he asked and looked deep into her eyes. He was not at all as Loki described. He seemed rough and arrogant for the most part, but there was a good man inside of him. A good, caring man who would die to protect his brother.
"I lost a friend," she said softly, "Many years now, and this place just reminds me of him."
"I am sorry, Lady Edda. The loss of a loved one can be difficult. Do you not have anyone to help you?"
"No. He was all I had and when he left I didn't know what to do with myself," she said and smiled in a bitter way.
"Have you no family?"
"He was my only family."
Thor remained silent as they began walking again. He had noted how Loki had not kept his eyes off of Edda the second she walked in the room. Thor would assume that Loki had been as mesmerised with her beauty as he was, and Thor new that a delicate and precious rose like Edda would be the perfect woman to keep Loki happy. She seemed wistful and dreamy where Loki was cheeky and brooding. She would be the one who could make Loki a good man. And Edda would be welcomed into the Odin house with open arms.
"You should come by the house of Odin again, Lady Edda, on the morrow," Thor said after another 15 minutes of walking. They had reached the ends of the garden in silence and he saw a sad smile touch Edda's face.
"I'm not sure if I would be able to," she said hesitantly.
"Please, Edda, it would please me greatly if you would, and I'm sure my brother, Loki, would have no qualms."
It was obvious that Thor would not take no for an answer, so she nodded then bowed and walked away until, all the while feeling Thor's gaze on her back.
She changed her shape once more when Thor had left and flew lazily back towards her lonely home. She did not dread Loki's appearance. She would accept whatever he said. She had come to realise that she no longer cared what he thought; she had come to realise that his betrayal had made her feel all the negative emotions that she had avoided her entire life. Resentment, frustration, loneliness, hatred. They spun around her head making her eyes blurry with tears.
She landed softly in her garden and wiped her eyes when she heard Loki's footsteps. She expected him to yell and scream at her, she expected him to unmake her. But he did none of those. He grabbed her around the waist roughly and shoved her in a bag. She heard her wing break and she screamed as the pain shot through her body. The bag was enchanted and no one, not even Loki, heard her cries of pain. She never knew what he did after that, she just heard the sound of rushing water and her music box playing for the last time before it faded away.
Loki had told her once that at the edge of Asgard sat a room of sorts that lead to all the worlds of the universe. A Bifrost, he had called it. It dawned on her what Loki was doing, and she sighed sadly. Her world had revolved around him and making him happy. That was why she was created. She had failed. She met certain oblivion with that thought in mind and so felt nothing when Loki finally tossed her over the bridge.
Loki watched the small blue satchel and felt a twinge of guilt. But he shook it away and stormed back to the house of Odin. His brother's coronation was on the horizon, and he had plans that would make it a day that no one would forget any time soon.
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The box landed heavily on the cement and splintered around its hinges. The sound of it breaking went unheard in the silent streets of New York, but one mutt that wondered about looking for food. The large skinny dog had ratty black and sniffed at the box quizzically. It smelt very strange – it smelt like old trees and forest and fruit, yet it smelt like nothing at all. With its sensitive hearing it heard another small object falling through the sky. It smelt another odd thing that smelt like nothing, yet something and jumped back when a small blue bag landed with a crunch about 2 feet away from the dog.
It walked over to the bag and smelt the blood the soaked through satchel. It sniffed at it and bit and pulled at the opening of the bag but yelped and jumped back in surprise when something began crawling out of it. It made strange noises the dog whimpered and edged back slowly as the thing began to grow larger until the dog realised it was just another human.
The clothing it wore was torn and matted with blood and the dog heard its bones crack as the human stood up straight and stared around in wonder at all the flickering lights. The dog walked up to the human and sniffed at its hands, hoping it might have food.
It had nothing, yet the dog felt compelled to follow it, as the woman picked up the broken box and began to explore the dark dangerous streets of the city. Not one person came out their house when they heard her soft mournful song, and not one man dared come near her when her dog barked viciously at their heels.
"Oh, it shall rain, it shall pour, there shall be a great flood," she sang into the cold depths of the night, "No one will survive the night I spill Loki's blood."