Before the next chapter starts, I'd like to thank Anonymous, who took the time and trouble to write the awesomest and most uplifting review I've gotten ever since I joined FanFiction. I can't answer you directly, Anonymous, but thank you so much. I wanted to take down this FanFiction because I didn't think anyone liked it...but I'll keep writing it now.


Air is a curious substance.

I'd never been conscious of it before, but ever since the Hel potion entered my system, I could feel the air around me. It felt the same way that you would feel the presence of someone standing behind you; they're not physically there, but you can feel their breath on your shoulder.

If I concentrated hard enough, I could feel the air moving through my lungs and twisting around me to accommodate my body.

It was fascinating.

I sat on a bale of hay after the incident with my father, seething. What embarrassed me the most was the fact that Loki had been there. He'd seen how weak I was, how defenseless. I hated it.

I tried to collect my thoughts while playing with the air between my fingers. I found I could control it, sort of like bending a stiff pipe-cleaner; it took me a bit of energy and concentration, but after ten minutes I had it swirling in visible flurries around my hands.

Jasper sat down beside me after a while. He sat in silence, watching what I was doing; I could almost hear the gears in his mind whirring. I could feel the calculation in his gaze, as he must have been trying to find a scientific explanation to what I was doing. After a moment, he said, "So, what happened?"

"Nothing." I aimed a gust of dusty wind at his face, turning it back at the last second with just a bit of concentration. Controlling the wind was sort of like trying to grab slippery soap; it kept slithering through my grasp, but I could catch it quickly enough.

"Please, Kai. I know when something bad happens to you. You go all quiet."

I didn't answer.

"Hey, Kayandra. I practically raised you."

"Yeah, and I'm twenty four now; I'm more than capable of making my own choice."

"Kai…"

"Jasper, if I have something I need to tell you, I will."

"Was it dad?"

"No."

"Liar. Where's that alien friend of yours?"

"Loki?"

"No, Bob from across the street."

I snorted. "Jaz, no one lives across the street."

"My point precisely."

I smirked. "Thanks, Jasper."

I don't think he knew what I was thanking him for. We both proceeded into a comfortable silence. I could feel him watching the swirling mist around my fingers, so I turned my head towards him and smiled.

When I did, he exclaimed, "Oh my God!"

"What?" I asked.

He sat a bit away from me, his eyes on my face intently. "Kai, what color are your eyes?"

Confused, I answered, "Hazel. Why?"

"They're not hazel."

I stood up slowly, keeping my eyes on him suspiciously. Was this a joke? "What do you mean?"

He stood up also and beckoned to me. Still confused, I followed him up the ledge into his lab. Once we were inside, Jasper picked a small mirror out of a pile of metal and passed it to me. I took it and gave him a suspicious look, then lifted the mirror to eye level.
And nearly screamed.

My eyes were grey. My eyes have never been grey. But now they were a smoky, clear crystal grey. As I watched, the color swirled and turned purple.

I dropped the mirror. It clattered to the ground with a clang, fortunately not breaking. "Oh my God. No, no, no. This can not be happening." I rubbed my eyes furiously. "How am I supposed to go to work like this? Show up at the clinic 'oh hey, look, my veins are now purple and my eyes change color.' 'Oh, that's nice deary, now go operate on that dog over there'?"

Jasper sighed. "Well, I'm sure there's a logical explanation..."

"As always." My temper felt as if it had been hard-boiled, like an egg. If someone dropped it, it would easily crack.

"We could try contacts." Jasper suggested quietly.

"Yes, and I'll rub concealer all over my body." I groaned and slumped down on a bale of hay with a grunt. "God, this is so weird. Where's Loki? He should have the explanation to all this."

Almost as if on cue, footsteps sounded in the barn. I heard Eaglebeats nicker in greeting.

I walked to the door and peeked out. Loki was wearing the clothes I had gotten him, looking quite human for the alien that had killed a couple thousand people. His black hair fell across the back of his neck, spiking out at the ends. His pale skin stood out against his dark clothing.

"Do not bother." He said suddenly.

"What?" I asked incredulously.

"You're spying on me, and you're doing horribly."

I sighed and let myself drop off the ledge. It wasn't that far off the ground, and I landed with a soft thump. My leg flared in pain. I would have bruises for work tomorrow. "That's a pity. I felt like a ninja momentarily."

"Ninja?" He questioned.

I laughed. "Japanese warriors."

"Nothing you humans could conjure could ever equal up to the strength of Asgard."

I walked up to Sleipnir's stall and began stroking his muzzle, keeping one eye on Loki the whole time. "As I recall, we defeated you quite easily."

"That was luck."

"That was humankind." I sighed, and Sleipnir pressed his face into my shirt, nearly bowling me over. "Ow, Sleip, ow." I pushed him away, then turned to Loki, keeping one palm on the nose of my affectionate Clydesdale. "Anyway, I have a request."

"Oh? Another one? Besides helping you master your powers and being your bodyguard?"

Immediately tensing up, I said, "I never asked for your help."

"I get the feeling your drunk father would have killed you." He scoffed. "Weak."

I nodded in agreement, which earned me a surprised look. "That's my second request. Teach me to fight."

"What will I get in return?"

I sighed in exasperation. "Is that all you think about?"

"Besides world domination and being extraordinarily handsome? Yes."

I couldn't help laughing. "Well, I can't give you much. I can't even think of something I could give you in return for, well, turning me weird. Maybe I should call S.H.I.E.L.D about that? Or maybe I should ring up famous astrophysicist Jane Foster and let her know that her boyfriend's brother-you are Thor's brother, right?- and then you'd have the Avengers all over you again and-"

"Enough!" Loki shouted, startling Eaglebeats, who turned in circle and neighed loudly. Loki held up his hands in surrender. "Alright. I will teach you to fight and to use your power. Just don't. Tell. Thor."

I smirked. "That's more like it." I wondered what he had done to be so afraid of his muscly brother with the hammer. The Avengers had defeated him in New York, and he had been taken back to his home planet….whatever it was called. I made a mental note to ask him how he had escaped when he should be in prison, facing life sentence.

I suddenly realised there were flurries around my hands again, sweeping dust off the ledge of Sleipnir's stall door. But I haven't been concentrating…..It felt strangely natural, like I've been doing it all my life.
Loki's eyes fell to my hands. I could see greed swirling in their green depths.

"What is this?" I asked.

"Power." He answered shortly. "It's like my magic. I think. Try to form it into some shape."

I concentrated harder. The air around me became a buzzing, slippery mass, made up of building blocks that I could shape and reshape. I moved my hands, bringing the blocks together into a spherical shape that hovered right above my palm. I glanced at Loki expectantly.

"Curious. So it's not like my magic. It's not a part of you."

"Well, I can't make building blocks a part of me." I said vaguely. I loosened my hold on the sphere and it vanished.

"THAT'S IT!"

Loki, the horses, and me all jumped at Jasper's yell. I turned towards him, my arms spread out slightly in surprise. "Yes, Jasper?" I said sweetly.

"MOLECULES! YOU CAN CONTROL MOLECULES!" He thundered. "The blocks that you were talking about were molecules and I think that you can somehow sense them and when you do you influence them with your movements and the reason it's so easy for you to move the air is because air has simple molecules and they are spaced further apart so you can easily bring them together."

"Jaz…"

"No, listen! Back when it attacked you the icicles you told me about made out of water? Well you were in a panic so your mind grabbed onto the first thing it could which was the rain and you sub-consciously moved it into a shape you thought would protect you."

"But I can't do it anymore."

"Because H2O is more complicated than air….."

"No….air is made out of more components, like Nitrogen and Oxygen and…."

"Still, it's easier to grasp."

"Well, yeah." I said, not really understanding, but still agreeing.

Jasper rubbed his palms together, his eyes a swirling vortex of knowledge. I wondered whether this was the way Einstein had looked when he discovered something. Wild and insane. "This is beautiful. This is wonderful!"

Loki leaned against Eaglebeats' barn door with a sigh, thumping against it. "You sound like Thor when he learns a new battle move."

I gave him a sideways glance. "I thought you hated him?"

He didn't answer.

I moved my gaze back to Jasper, who's excitement was starting to rub off on me. "So you're saying that I can move molecules? Are those the building blocks?"

"If that's what you mean, I think so. If you can move the air, I think with a lot of practice you could move water."

I thought for a moment. "But doesn't that mean that I could also move any molecules? Like, heal people or destroy them?"

"If you can turn liquid to solid, you can do any of those things. But the molecule components may be too complex."

"Well then. I could be a superhero!" I exclaimed giddily. "Kaia Coast, new Avenger." I struck a pose.

"No." Loki mumbled.

"You could meet Tony Stark! Man, what I'd give to meet that man…."

"Enough with that, Jasper." I was still smiling, but I didn't want to begin to feel like I could do anything. "Alright. Let's get down to business. Jasper, can you concoct something that will cover my eyes or turn them normal?"

"Well, if the reason is as I suspect and your influence in the molecules also cause the colour coding of your eyes to reformulate."

"I don't even think that's scientific." I point out.

"It's a possibility."

"I thought the colour of our eyes was decided by genes?"

"If that were so, my eyes would be red." Loki said quietly.

Both of our heads turned to him. "What do you mean?" I asked.

He stood up straight and crossed his arms in front of him. "Look. On Asgard, we don't have science. We don't have magic, either."

Jasper says, "And Asgard is…."

"His home planet."

"Not really, but my home. Anyway, on Asgard, science and magic are the same. They cannot be explained, they just are."

"That's unscientific." Jasper stammered.

"Well, that's the point, Jasper." I said, irritated.

"You're big on this science thing, but some things just can't be explained."

I scoffed. "Yeah, like Thor's arms."

Loki almost smiled, but then he scowled instead. I don't think he knew how much hate and affection showed in that gesture at the same time. It was the most emotion I'd seen from him up to date. On television, they showed him as a cold and heartless villain that would kill children just for pleasure. In reality, he was more than that, if only a bit more.

"So, when do we start?" I asked Loki after a moment.

He shook his head. "That's my line." He turned to Jasper pointedly. "And doesn't your brother have something to do?

Jasper, giving me a look, said through clenched teeth, "Kaia, tell the alien that I will punch him in the face if he talks to me like that again." Then he turned around and stormed up the ladder and disappeared into his lab.

I gave Loki a glare. "Both of you are boneheads, you know that?"

He smirked. "He is. I'm not. Anyway, let us move on."

"Yeah. You said you could teach me how to control it."

"Yes." He walked outside and beckoned for me to follow. "It will be harder for you than it is for me." He towered above me, so I had to look up to watch his face. He stood with his arms slightly outstretched, like he was about to take flight but couldn't decide whether to flap or glide. He was waiting for me to ask why, so I did.

"Why?"

"Because my magic is a part of me, while you have to grasp the molecules, if it is like your brother said."

"Oh." I held out my hands. "So how do I do anything?"

"Would you like me to teach you to fight or to use your power?"

I smiled. "How do I fight with my power?"

He didn't answer. Instead, he said, "I won't be nice."

I cracked my knuckles. "Neither will I."

"Then let's get this started."


Loki and I trudged back to the barn at the end of the day. I was panting, while Loki seemed only slightly tired. We were both covered in bruises.

We began with something Loki called 'simple' and I called 'doomsday'. I practiced moving large amounts of air and lifting hay off the ground, whirling it. It exhausted me and I fainted once.

I woke to find Loki watching me from a hay bale. I groaned, then sucked it up as we continued to practice. Loki, instead of moving air, teleported them from one place to the other. At one point, he thought it would be hilarious to drop a hay bale on my head.

It wasn't funny for me.
Okay, sort of.

He then asked me to attack him. After putting me to the ground twice by teleporting himself behind me or tripping me, we called it a day.

Before night fell, I visited my house one more time, taking a shower and getting my docotrish-uniform-thingy, as one of my fellow veterinary trainees put it, ready. I dressed in my pajamas and fell asleep in the living room. Dad wasn't anywhere to be seen, and I hoped he would stay away after Loki knocked him unconscious.

I fell asleep thinking about summer storms, tempests, and air.


-eaglenation, over and out