"Small? Jotun?" Loki said dubiously, seeming to turn that information over in his head as Gjalp swept up the crab-shell pieces. When her coming-of-age ceremony came, she could use them on her ornamentation rather than have Greip and the other women work themselves to the bone finding opalescent rock-slivers for her.
"Yes. That is why we tend to rely on magic a lot, and the army is always standing." she murmured. Picking up the fishbone, she added that to the pile of crab-shell. "You saw the frost beast that chased you. That was a domesticated one, slightly smaller than the wild variety. The shrieker eels once grew to be twice as long as I am tall. The wolves we have here come up to my waist and travel in packs of about fifteen. We train them as hunters, but their numbers are dropping also. The rocs will not hesitate to carry off unattended infants and toddling younglings. The fa are as tall as a warrior, with huge antlers and powerful muscles. We learned to domesticate those too, but their numbers are dropping like everything else."
"And you said that you fear trolls." Loki snorted.
Gjalp was quiet, bangs falling into her face as she looked at him.
His amusement died away.
"... Trolls," she began carefully, "Are huge, the size of the fa's ancestor, the mammut. Four times as tall as a warrior and five times as broad, they have long arms and powerful haunches, with long, greasy fur. Their faces are squashed in, their tusks sticking out all over the place. They have five eyes and small ears. Smarter ones will uproot trees and use them as clubs. They prey on jotun and anything else that moves. But the previous king, Laufey's father Farbauti, led a campaign shortly before the war started to wipe them out. He did not succeed, but he considerably cut down their numbers and drove them into the mountains. I am lucky to have never seen a live one... but... at the very end of the war, I'm told, Laufey left Queen Nal and their newborn son in the temple outside Utgarda for protection. When he returned, neither was to be found. Many were eager to blame it on the Asgardians, for their blood was everywhere, but the temple bore the damage of a troll. To this day, we don't know who got to them— Odin or the trolls."
Loki was quiet.
Sighing, Gjalp forced a shiver. Her pupils widened, tense muscles relaxing.
"Lie down." she ordered, pointing to the sandy floor.
"Why?!" he demanded.
"I want to take a look at the spell on your skin. It'll be easier for both of us if you're relaxed."
He seemed to go through a brief internal argument before lying hesitantly down. Gjalp sat crosslegged at his side, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. Putting her hands out, palm-down and fingers splayed, she touched his chest and reached out for his magic with hers—
"Stop! What're you doing?!" he yelled, thrashing when he felt her influence.
"Damn you! I'm looking for the spell! Stop resisting or you'll hurt us both, drift-brain!" she snarled back, quickly withdrawing. Just from that flailing, she could feel twinges of agony running along her jaw.
"No! I know that! But isn't that like giving a physical?!"
Gjalp stared.
"... It's not...?"
"... Asgardians are dumb as rocks." she decided, shaking her head. "Yes, spells have physical effects. But the spell itself isn't those effects. Spells like this are wrapped around the magic force that all beings possess. So you need to intermingle your magic in order to find such spells."
Looking curious and thoughtful, he laid still again for her. Gjalp waited, glaring at him, then sighed and began again. Her fingertips touched his chest, and she reached out once again. Keeping her eyes closed, Gjalp moved one hand up so that only two of her fingertips were touching his forehead. Her other palm pressed against his stomach.
As she'd thought, his magic was strong. Had he grown up in Jotunheim, she thought, he'd be saturated with it, oozing spells and arcanity from his ears. That was how strong this magic she was brushing with hers was.
Gjalp carefully ran her one hand down to his throat, adjusting how she was touching him with her other hand so that her fingers pointed to his feet.
There was something there... something not his...
With a loud hiss, she sucked in another breath, reaching out for it—
Gjalp was thrown back, hands clapping to her eyes with a scream. Her skull connected with the rocky floor, and she could feel her spine twisting as she writhed, trying her hardest to keep her eyes in their sockets, gut heaving. There was bile in her throat and everything felt way too hot!
"Hey! Are you alright?! Hey?!"
Hands ghosted over her stomach and shoulder. Coldness was left in their wake.
Slowly, Gjalp calmed. Her head still hurt, and not all of it was from the newly-made gash on the back of her skull.
Eventually, she opened up her eyes, removing her hands. Tears ran from her eyes, which was bad. They should've been freezing, creating icy ridges on her cheeks. That meant she was too hot.
Loki was hovering over her, eyes wide in shock.
"... Wh... what happened...?" he all but whispered.
"The spell on you... It's strong. And it doesn't want to be touched. It reacted to me leaping at it like a fool. If I want to understand it or get anywhere with it, I'll have to be a little calmer." she growled, voice rasping as she rolled over and moved on all fours to the cave-mouth. The ice of the outside air rolled over her, cooling her too-hot skin. A soft sigh left her.
"But if it's that dangerous..."
"I'm not giving up. I'll take a day or two to recover, but I'm going at it again." she said stubbornly, flexing her hands. They felt scalded, though there were no wounds. Spotting the doubtful expression on his face, Gjalp pulled out her black card, hissing, "Don't you want to understand?!"
Slowly, Loki nodded.