Cover image by Alois Heinrich Priechenfried
She jumped off the balcony, floating down until her feet touched the ground, spinging into a haste run.
Her father was riding a white horse across the city towards the palace, bringing her her brithday gift from her mother.
It was her favourite day of the year. Everytime her mother sent her something, it was incredibly rare and useful. Last year her gift was a golden neckless with a big emerald in the middle of it. Even for Asgardian standards, that stone was of incredible dimentions.
She saw the people parting to let Loki pass and positioned herself in the middle of the road, her arms crossed to her chest.
"Father!"
The horse stopped just in time and she raised a hand to pet the animal's head.
"Amora, I have told you before to wait in your room, haven't I?"
She looked up to her father and upon meeting his eyes she looked down, ashamed. "Yes, father."
"Then why didn't you?"
"I wanted to see my gift."
"I see. Jump on."
"You're not showing it to me?"
"No, I'm not," aswered calmly the god.
"I should've waited at home," she mumbled floating up to sit before Loki on the back of the animal.
"It is what I've told you when I left, isn't it?"
The horse started slowly through the city and Loki sniggered to his daughter's annoyance.
When they reached her room he made the gift appear and she jumped on it like a cat on a mouse.
It was a dagger, with intricated, golden decorations on it and a blade that could cut diamonds.
"It's called Adamantium and it's not an Earthly material. Your mother had to kill a few people to get it for you. It cuts almost through everything."
"Almost, father?"
"I haven't tested its limits, yet. Why don't you go and do that for yourself?"
"I will, but I have a question."
"And I believe I have the answer."
Amora hesitated. She was going to regret it. "Why did she leave me?"
Loki's expriossion flashed between the surprise and the hurt never actually settling. "I knew you'd ask me about her at some point."
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have."
"No, you have the right to some answers. Come, sit with me."
He sat down on the couch and took a deep breath, waiting for her to join him. "She is human, as you know and that makes your life uncomprehensibly longer then any human expectation. You will live thousands of years and you have powers that on earth are a mare myth, but thats not the reason why she accepted to be separated from you. Your mother was an assassin, Amora, the best of them, skilled and wickedly smart."
"But way did she send me away?"
"So you'd have a good life."
The girl said nothing for a long time and when she did, her eyes were still far away.
"Can I see her?"
Loki looked away from his daughter and searched for an answer that wouldn't hurt her.
"I can't, can I?" She closed her hand around the dagger in her lap and held it so tightly her fingers became white. "When did she die?"
"Three years ago."
Amora looked up to her father surprised. "What about this, the necklece and the skaters. Did you give them to me?"
He shook his head and circle her shoulders with his arm, kissing her head and closing his eyes. "She left you a thousand gifts for a thousand more birthdays."
Amora held the dagger to her chest as Loki tightened his hold. "I'm sorry, my love. She wanted to save you the pain of losing her."
Her voice was weak and uneven when she spoke."I lost her anyway." Tears were streaming down her face but she didn't bother drying them.
"You lost someone you never knew." Amora could swear she heard his voice wave. "She wanted me to tell you that if you hated her for sending you away, she doesn't blame you."
Amora shook her head. "I couldn't. Even if I wanted to."
They stayed like that until Amora's tears stopped. "Can you show me what she looked like?"
He looked down at her and gestured into the air making her image appear.
Amora stood up circling the tridimensional portrait, looking at the woman carefully.
She was beautiful, she decided while green eyes stared blankly back at her. Amora smiled with her mother when her father's memory changed.
"She was beautiful," murmured Loki standing up with her. He took out a small emerald and gave it to her. "Whenever you want to see your mother, just think about her. She'll appear to you."
Loki moved passed her to exit the room making the portrait disappear.
"Father."
"Yes," aswered he, not turning.
"Thank you."
He turned, his eyes shining with tears. "You're welcome."
She stayed in her room the next year, having learned her lesson. She looked at the small emerald between her fingers and her mother's image appeared.
Amora stared at it for a long while.
"I should hate you, and yet I can't. Father told me that you wouldn't blame me for not loving you." She looked towards the bridge and huffed when she didn't see the white horse. "I wonder what you'll give me this year. I hope is something as useful as the dagger. Woëbern laughed at it calling it a toy." Amora laughed out loud. "He wasn't laughing anymore when it cut through his new shield. Uncle Thor brought me to Midgard, once. I'm not sure I want to go back again."
She looked to the bridge and smiled when she saw the horse. She put the emerald in her pocket and the image disappeared.
Sitting on the couch she grabbed a book and pretended to read.
Not too long after her father entered her room and did not comment on her indifferent façade.
"I have your gift."
She stood up and when the gift appeared she did not jump over it. She couldn't believe what she was looking at.
"I convinced your mother to join me on a trip to Alfheim, a long time ago and she won this from an elf. Don't ask me how she did it."
"Is it real?"
"It's real wolf skin, yes. The elf to whom it belonged before he met your mother made a sorceress tempest it with protection spells. It's the best shield that can exist."
"It's incredible."
"Well, she did try."
Amora smiled."Tell more about it."
"Alfheim?"
She nodded. "Well, it is a long story."
"I have all day long."
Loki smiled and started talking.