Ch.3: Along Came A Mortal

Lancelot considered his cup. "He is inhuman", he said at last. "But why should he be human? Are angels supposed to be human?"
-T. H. White, The Ill-Made Knight

Loki was finally sleeping after lying in bed for hours, if fitfully, when he was startled awake from the pounding on his door. The snarl working its way up in his throat died at the sound of Naryu's voice.
"Loki, Loki, open up now."
He threw his bed sheets back, kicking them off when they made a snare around his ankles. He stalked across his chamber and opened the door.

Her appearance slightly alarmed him. Naryu was frantic and wild-eyed, silky hair coming loose from her long braid and going in all directions. She was paler than usual, and large violet rings rested under her eyes like bruises, her cloak pulled on haphazardly over her nightgown. Loki's forehead went into the rare and rarer seen crease of concern for someone else. He gripped her wrist firmly, darting his eyes either way as he pulled her into the room. He closed the door quietly. When he turned to regard her, she was standing completely still in the middle of the room, staring off, eyes wide and unblinking.

"Naryu," Loki said evenly as he approached. She didn't respond at first. Her shoulder gave a nearly imperceptible twitch as he stepped closer. Her gaze focused on his, dreamy and vacant for a moment, when he took her by the shoulders. She seemed to snap out of the trance, all of her urgency returning.
"A girl is going to die without our help," she whispered hoarsely. Loki stiffened, eyes narrowed.
"Who, someone we know?" he inquired. Her eyebrows contracted in confusion and focus.
"N-no...at least, not yet...but she's important to us, I can feel it."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Loki snapped impatiently.
"She seems...familiar. We have to-" Naryu broke off with a gasp. She probed Loki's face with her stare.
"Please...don't you trust me?"
The Liesmith held the contact and told the truth because he knew she always knew when someone was lying. "Yes. If I trust anyone, it's you. "

"Come on then," she said confidently. She waited as Loki pulled on his own cloak over his nightshirt, and then carefully cracked the door open. The corridor was silent and empty, the torches burning low on the walls as they stole away. They had to hide more than once to keep guards from walking into them, finding it necessary to silence and glamour their presence regardless.

As soon as the Bifrost came into sight, she broke into a sprint. He followed more slowly, feeling rather resigned. Heimdall didn't give any inclination that their presence was known. Naryu grabbed Loki, and before he knew it, they were standing in front of a hospital in Midgard. Becoming more irritated than curious by the moment, Loki followed Naryu as she walked briskly through the sliding doors toward the elevator.

"Why should we care? Why her? Mortal children die every day of things we can cure."
"Because she's important to us," Naryu replied while she pressed the elevator button until it lit up. She leaned against the wall to wait.
"She's important to you," Loki sneered nastily as they stepped inside. Slowly, her head lifted, her eyes finding his.
"No," she said calmly, firmly, "us."
Her eyes held confused but confident knowledge of the fact. There was a ding, and the doors opened up. Loki shut up, turning his head to regard the ward they stood in where the girl lay as if bored. He was actually as intrigued as he was spooked at the way Naryu acted sometimes. It reminded him of Frigga's knowing regard. Not infallible or omnipotent, but frightening enough on its own.

The ward itself smelled of disinfectant. The walls were a lurid yellow. The fluorescent bulb overhead flickered as they passed unseen by staff and families alike into her room, whoever she was. It was a single room, the curtain drawn around the bed and the monitor beeping faintly. Loki watched as Naryu walked up to the bleached hanging, pushing it aside to get to the bedside. She half turned, beckoning him forward. He silently glided level with her. She twitched the fabric back into place, closing the door without a wave or a backward glance.
"You must teach me how to animate objects," Loki murmured offhandedly. Naryu spared him a glance.
"It's pretty much the same principle as it is with everything else-know what you want and let yourself have it."

He watched her eyes go to the occupant of the bed, following her line of sight. The girl was sleeping, as far as Loki could tell. She was curled up on her side facing them. She had thick, curly brown hair that was slightly bushy spread across the pillow behind her. A few stands fell forward to hallow her forehead. One of her hands clutched a fistful of sheets. A faint sheen of sweat glistened on her, and she was ever so pale.

It was so sudden that Loki didn't notice at first, not until the deepest of chocolate browns was penetrating his own. The girl blinked once, twice, as if to clear an obstruction. Her lips parted, a small sound escaping, as she tried to speak.
"Who are you?" she croaked in a small voice, stare darting between him and Naryu. Loki startled.
"She can see us?" he asked curiously.
"And hear us," Naryu said calmly as those brown eyes darted back to her face at the sound of her voice.
"How?" Loki breathed, "No one can."
"Can you not feel it?" Naryu exhaled.

At first he did not, but after a moment, he did feel it, now that she'd mentioned it. He'd been too busy focusing on resenting the small ward in the dingy hospital on Midgard to notice, but he felt it then- magic tingling through the air around her, pulsing just underneath her skin and through her veins.
"What is she?" he inquired.
"Her kind would call her a witch, which I guess is not incorrect," Naryu replied. "Normally, even these so called 'Muggle-borns'-as is the so called coined term I believe-don't have to worry much about Muggle-as common people are called-illnesses. Their magic will usually combat the diseases easily, as they are most susceptible of their kind to catch both Muggle and magical bugs. This girl right here had the misfortune of catching one of each nature at the very same time, and a third opportunistic infection. Her magic is overwhelmed. Quite frankly, before we came she could barely turn her head, let alone speak. Her magic is drawing on ours for potency."

He watched as, smiling, Naryu brushed the younger girl's hair away from her unblemished but flushed pale face. The girl seemed to have been listening with rapt attention.
"It'll be all right now," Naryu whispered, "Sleep."
At first she seemed to fight it, but then her eyelids drooped shut tiredly and she sighed.
"So, what? We just have to stand here gawking until she's skipping around again?" Loki scoffed.
Naryu smiled oddly, again finding humor in his biting remarks.
"Yes and no. Our presence helps, but having contact helps more."

Loki could feel his eyes widen. "You expect me to touch some strange girl?"
The odd smile remained as Naryu perched on the foot of the bed. "Something like that. All you have to do is hold her hand or something."
She shrugged, standing. "Stay here while I snag some snacks from their...'vending machine' as I believe it is called."
She walked calmly by him, exiting the room just as a blinking orderly entered, a new IV bag in hand. Loki watched him idly as he changed it and left them alone. As soon as the white-clad worker was gone, the girl's eyes opened.

"You're still here," she rasped in surprise.
"Yes, against my better judgment," Loki replied, crossing his arms and gazing at the painted circus animals around the walls as if they held the secrets of the universe.
"Well you've obviously got nothing else to do," came the wheezy reply. His eyes darted to hers in surprise. "Excuse me? I was sleeping peacefully before my sister drug me here for little you-and you're not even Asgardian."
The girl, though it seemed to strain her, pulled herself up more in the form of dragging more of her body across the lumpy pillows underneath her.
"Not peacefully," she croaked, meeting his stare.
"And if you didn't care, you wouldn't have come. Besides, the Aesir are supposed to be a beacon of hope or something..." she trailed off as a cough racked her body.
"What do you know of the Aesir?" Loki questioned, intrigued. She blinked blearily, wincing. It took a minute, but she did respond.
"I'm sorry...but it hurts, you see..."she whispered. Loki didn't know what made him do it, but he eased forward to touch her wrist lightly. She gasped, her entire body jerking upward slightly.
"Oh!" she exclaimed, "That feels good!"
And it did, to an extent, for Loki as well. There was a pleasant, almost soothing thrumming occurring where his cool fingers grazed her hot, feverish skin. She fell back onto the bed with a sigh.

"Now, tell me-what do you know of the Aesir?" Loki reiterated. Her head turned toward him, a slight frown forming. "Not much...only what I've read from Library books, and they're vague and incomplete at most. The best sources can't be touch. Stuffy old duffers," she muttered, obviously speaking of the owners or caretakers. Loki's lips curved upward in amusement. He sometimes felt the same way about the keepers of books at Asgard. He sat on the edge of her bed, much closer than Naryu had.

"What is your name?" he asked, straightening the covers and smoothing out the wrinkles.
"Hermione," the girl whispered, watching his long fingers work. She reached out her hand, shaking slightly, to still his. Loki was so surprised that he couldn't react at first, much less hear her question until the third time she repeated it. He was still stating at their hands.
"And yours?" he heard her repeat. He shook his head, eyeing her.
"Loki Odinson," he found himself answering softly. He started to pull away, but she grasped onto his hand more tightly.

"Please," she whispered, "It makes it all go away. Please don't go."
He normally would have, but something in those pleading brown eyes or that desperate voice made him stay, take her hand between his and start rubbing small circles into the hot flesh up to her elbow. She hummed, closing her eyes.
"The Aesir," she said after a fashion, long enough to make him jump and wonder where Naryu was," are Asgardians, obviously. They live with Odin the All-father-hang on-" her brow scrunched in confusion "-you're Loki Odinson?"
"Did I stutter?" Loki retorted casually, tracing a faint design along the artery from her palm down the inside of her lower forearm to her elbow joint.
"No," she shuddered.
"Then continue," he said smoothly, and after only a little more hesitation, she did.
"They're a race made immortal by their golden apples of youth. I've come to the conclusion they have magical properties, mind you. I know about the warriors and the Bifrost and Heimdall..."
"Yes," he whispered," go on."
"Although, I've never heard of you before..." her eyes traced his face in a way he hadn't known he had hungered or longed for, a rapt appreciation and fascination of sorts.
"Albeit, plenty of gaps exist, and humans are bound to get some details wrong."
"On that, we can agree," he remarked, smiling at her in a way he hadn't smiled before.

He got up, not expecting her sudden panic.
"Loki, Loki please don't leave," she all but whimpered. He paused.
"Don't mewl like that," he scolded, "it makes you seem weak-pathetic."
Hermione flinched, but extended a hand as if reaching for him.
"You'll at least stay until I'm asleep?"
He stood, contemplating. He could walk out right then and never see the mortal girl again, with her large brown eyes consuming him with that look. His interest was piqued, though. She was thirsty for knowledge, ready to question authority, not afraid to ask questions, obviously intelligent for her age...magical on top of it...
Loki went to the other side of the bed, crawled in behind her and took up one of her hands once more.

"Thank you," Hermione whispered.
"Think nothing of it," he murmured as her breathing slowed and evened. His own eyelids felt heavy about then. He hoped Naryu would be back soon.