The door closed behind Frigga, a muted sound amidst the silence, and quiet descended like a veil over the room.
"Loki?" Ásenthilay whispered. "Is it safe to come out now?"
"Yes, it's safe."
The vole dæmon crawled out from beneath the pale green pillow and gently fluttered onto the young boy's shoulder as an azure dragonfly.
"Loki?" she asked in an undertone.
"What is it?"
"Why must I always hide away?"
Loki reached up and gently ran a finger across Ásenthilay's wings. "Because they must not know about you. If they did, they would probably take you away from me."
The little dæmon's wings fluttered. "Why?"
"Because you are different. I'm not... I'm not meant to have you."
"But, you wouldn't want me to be taken away, right?"
"Of course not," he said, placing his hands on his lap. "You're the only one who really listens to me."
She fluttered her wings, emitting a soft humming sound. "Maybe soon others will listen to you too."
For a moment, Loki flashed her the briefest of smiles. "Maybe soon."
He'd gone to Midgard without his parents' permission, slipping quietly through a spatial tear in one of the many castle's rooms; feeling rising excitement race through his veins.
He'd stepped out onto dried grass, gloom shading his form.
Pain lanced through his chest, slicing apart his insides. He stumbled, fell down onto his hands and knees, retching in reaction to the horrific agony. Shards of ice slid through his veins.
Then, just like that, the pain was gone. Leaving little more than aches clinging to his bones, in its wake.
In place of the pain, there was a sense of something. This sensation reverberated through him, pulsing in time with his heartbeat.
He opened his eyes, and found himself staring down into eyes that reflected his own.
"Hello," the source said quietly. "I'm Ásenthilay."
It was a magpie, one that spoke in the same language as he. And yet, it wasn't just a talking bird but, something more. In that simple exchange of looks, ends of an invisible thread connected; it reached out and twined through them both, linking them soul and mind, binding them.
"I am your dæmon," Ásenthilay said. "I am your soul personified."
Words couldn't be said. Loki had expected mortals, he'd expected life far different from Asgard's own, not a bird that spoke, uttering that she was his soul.
His mind babbled on that it was almost impossible. That it couldn't be right, and yet, in reality, he stayed silent.
He picked her up, knowing, somehow, despite what his mind disputed, that what she had alleged to was the truth. He could sense it - this connection; he could feel it as much as he could feel the chill of the evening air against his bare skin.
With her, he stepped out into the open.
Immediately, he was witness to the crowds of mortals; their souls, bared freely to the world for all to see.
It was nothing like he had imagined.
He took it all in - Ásenthilay murmuring that it was alright - and he felt strange.
Was this what life was like for them? Exposing their souls for everyone to bear witness to? Knowing not that it made them vulnerable? Weak?
He felt uncomfortable. Ásenthilay rested her beak against his arm.
"Don't worry," she said softly, and promptly took the form of a wasp. "We're not as vulnerable as you might think." Taking to the air, she buzzed around his head and settled down upon his hair. "See? I can take many forms, I can protect you."
"Many forms?" Loki asked in an undertone, glancing upwards at Ásenthilay.
"Yes, you needn't worry about me."
"Really?" His gaze swept across the crowd, focusing on a dog dæmon casually talking to his mortal female as they walked on by.
"Mortals are not as weak as some may believe them to be," Ásenthilay said. "Remember what Mother told you?"
A flicker of a memory came to mind, his mother wearing that face she always wore when discussing things of importance.
"Yes," Loki replied. "But... How do you know about that?"
"I remember it, simply because I was there," Ásenthilay said. "I just had no voice of which to remind you about it with."
Odin's watchers, Huginn and Muninn, appeared an hour later. The ravens circled above, calling out to Loki in their hoarse voices. They wanted to lead him away from the villagers.
Begrudgingly, Loki pursued, telling Ásenthilay to lay low. She crawled across his left arm as a ladybird, and clung tightly to the underside of his clothes.
Loki knew that Father wouldn't like her. He wouldn't be pleased with her at all. Loki's soul was now as obvious and vulnerable to attack as the mortal souls that currently surrounded him.
He mustn't let Father know.
The ravens settled upon the highest branches of a tree, croaking loudly down to Loki. He stepped forward until he was surrounded by the rising trees.
He took a breath in, then exhaled, clenching his hands into fists.
Father would soon be arriving.
There was a muted multi-coloured flash, a disturbance amongst the trees; the rustle of the branches were almost as loud as the rough cries of the pair of observing ravens. Then Odin stood before him, as towering and daunting as always.
"How did you get here?" he asked, his voice quiet and calm - as cold as steel. "You knew that I forbid you and Thor from leaving Asgard's grounds."
"I walked," Loki replied, daring to look into his father's eyes despite how his heart faltered.
"Lies. You found a way through, or did you make an entrance to Midgard yourself?" There was an inflection to his tone, as if he already knew the answer.
"I... I won't say."
Odin scrutinized him, the ravens swooping down to alight upon his shoulders. "For your ignorance and inability to listen to the rules I myself have put in place, you will be punished."
Loki opened his mouth to retort, but Odin's thunderous expression quickly made him close it again. Instead, he bowed his head slightly, Ásenthilay quivering in anger and apprehension against the underside of the fabric close to Loki's chest.
Odin took hold of his arm and the air around them compressed, the colours darkening and blurring before Loki's eyes.
Loki stumbled slightly as they silently returned upon the Bifröst bridge, and Odin released his hold.
"You are but a boy," he looked down at Loki, his expression unreadable, "and a prince. You are needed here in Asgard, not down there amongst them."
"But Father, isn't it right to learn more about them? You said once that it is our duty to learn as much as we can about the other realms, as it will help us in turn to learn how to keep the peace between us and them."
"No, it is not your duty, my son. Not yet."
Odin promptly turned away, and Loki quietly followed in his footsteps.
Together they walked back towards the golden city that was their home and kingdom.
The dawn had risen since Frigga had left Loki's room and he and Ásenthilay had conversed. Sleep had taken it's time in coming, Loki's mind revolving around Midgard, the dæmons and Ásenthilay. Why had Father and Mother never told him about this? The souls of the Midgardians so hard to miss, so easy to put in harm's way.
He'd imagine that it would have been an important aspect of his and Thor's learning, to let them know of the dæmons that the mortals possessed.
But, maybe... maybe Father didn't think that they were up to it. Didn't think that they were old enough yet to learn of such things. But, they were! They needed to learn about these elements if Father truly wished for them to one day rule in his place!
"Don't let it get to you," Ásenthilay said, brushing her wingtips against his neck in reassurance as she swooped down to settle comfortably as a starling on his shoulder. "Mother and Father surely just meant the best by their actions. They didn't intentionally keep this information from you to cause you annoyance."
"But, we do need to learn of these subjects, don't we?" Loki asked, pacing the confines of his chambers. He was not allowed outside of it; his punishment for his disobedience. "Shouldn't this be an important time in our lives? To learn as much as we can in preparation for the trials to come?"
Ásenthilay tilted her head, one beady brown eye focused upon him. "Yes but, you have many other realms to learn of, combative training to go through, new and profound spells yet to be taught to you. You cannot learn them all in one night."
"Maybe so but, you would think that I would be taught the most important aspects of the realms first and foremost. To me, the fact that the mortals walk around with their soul in tow is one of those important aspects."
Ásenthilay shook her head. "Maybe Father doesn't see it like that? He may well believe that what goes on in Midgard stays in Midgard."
Loki stopped, looking out of the window, at the brightening sky and the clouds that sluggishly moved across it. "What he believes is not what I believe. Besides," he glanced at Ásenthilay out of the corner of his eye, "why are you here? Father didn't suffer through the same pain that I did when I arrived in Midgard, so he has no dæmon to show for it but, you... you appeared after I went through that pain. Why?"
Ásenthilay dropped her gaze. "I do not know; I am as in the dark on that as you are."
He sighed. Everything, as of now, was a mixture of confusion and frustration. "Fine. For now, let's just pass the time reading."
"If you think that's best."
Loki settled down in his chair with a book in hand. Ásenthilay slipped into his lap as a small cat, bringing him as much comfort and reassurance as the text on the pages brought.
It was merely a day since Loki had been granted Ásenthilay, and yet it felt as if she had been beside him for a lifetime.