After lunch Loki and I headed out to the island again so I could teach some basics in light manipulation. I still found that weird: that the god of magic still needs instruction. In no time at all we arrived at the island. We went to the centre as before, but this time there was a small item glistening in the sun. Before I could inspect it, however, he scooped it up and put it in his pocket.
"What was that?" I asked, looking up at him.
He shook his head. "Later," he said, going and standing in the middle of the clearing. "Now, what do you have to teach me?" he asked, a smirk planted on his face.
I stood in front of him and sat down, crossed legged, motioning him to join me.
"I think it would be better to see what you've mastered on your own," I said. "Show me. Any light you can manipulate."
He nodded and closed his eyes, a look of serene peace flowing over him. Slowly, a small band of light materialised in front of him as dots, as if a tiny pixie were leaving a trail as it flew by. This line grew and changed into a spinning circle, changing colour as it spun. A little colour wheel, showing every hue in the light spectrum.
He opened his eyes and the circle disappeared. A smug smile spread across his face.
"Impressive," I said. It took me quite a while to change the light's colour. (Technically it's the light's frequency, but it's a lot easier to say colour). "That makes my job a whole lot simpler."
"Glad I can be of assistance," he said.
"What exactly was it you wanted to learn, again?" I asked.
"Anything you have to teach me," he said. "I would particularly appreciate something that would help with my mischief making, though."
I laughed. "To be expected," I told him. I thought about it for a moment. "I can teach you to make shapes with the light you create. If you can already change the colour, that cuts down the time considerably. Eventually, and with a lot of practice, you will be able to make any shape out of light: including doubles of you. Would that help?"
He smirked. "Yes, that would help. A lot more than you'd think, actually." He cocked his head to one side. "However, I often find I learn quicker with a demonstration."
Well, a demonstration I could certainly do.
I'd done this sort of thing often I didn't even blink. One moment there was just me, the next there were two. Loki jumped back a little in amazement. I smirked, and made my copy do the same. He got close to my double, and just stared.
"What can she do?" he asked quietly.
"It isn't a she," I said. "It's an it. And not much, really." I shrugged. "Its mouth can move, but it can't speak. Its eyes move, but it doesn't see. The double is completely aesthetic. It doesn't do a thing unless you tell it to, so it won't react to its environment. As such, the illusion only lasts for so long before someone notices something."
I made my double disappear and Loki sat back.
"You'll have a long wait before that, though," I said. "We'll start off small and get bigger."
I made a small, baby bunny appear in between us. Admittedly, it didn't look like an actual rabbit as it was just white light in the shape of a rabbit, but we were starting small, after all.
"For the time being, I'll just teach you to change the light's shape, and then we'll work on colour to make it look more realistic." I gestured to the rabbit in front of me. "This is what I like to call a sparkle bunny. 'Bunny' being a term used for the Midgardian animal called a rabbit. You know what one of them is, right?" I asked. He nodded.
I continued. "It's one of the very first thing I learned to do, and the simplest. I find that creating a ball of light and then moulding it to look like the rabbit works best for me. You want to have a go?"
He nodded and stretched out his hand in front of him. His eyes closed and a small ball of light appeared. Painstakingly slowly, the ball stretched and grew until I saw two ears pop out of the top of it. Then, from the other end, a smaller ball of light appeared, making a fluffy tail. In no time at all for a first go, there was another bunny to match my own, even if it was a bit smaller.
I smiled. "Very impressive."
Loki smiled, obviously pleased. However, when he did, the bunny sizzled and vanished. His smile dropped. It was then I noticed that his head was covered in sweat and he was breathing heavily. I'd forgotten how much this sort of work took out of you at first.
"Maybe you need a bit of help with stamina," I said gently.
"Maybe," he mumbled.
I took another look at him. "I think we should leave it there for today, I may have pushed you a little too far for your first lesson. Sorry," I added quickly.
He smiled thinly. "No trouble," he said, sounding more like himself. "If that is all for today, maybe I could see a few more demonstrations? So that I have an idea what I may be able to achieve. Eventually."
"Sure," I said, trying to think of something to do. It hit me. "Do you know what Chinese New Year is?" I asked him.
"Is it different to normal New Year?" he asked, leaning back on his hands.
"A little," I said. "There's this country called China, and traditionally it runs on a slightly different calendar to the rest of us. They have a cycle of these twelve divine animals that represent each year. This year is the year of the Dragon. So, to celebrate Chinese New Year, I created a little show for the Campers."
I stood and went back a little. Concentration, I imagined the Chinese dragon I'd created in January. It flickered into existence curled around me. An audible gasp escaped Loki. The fifteen feet long crimson dragon raised its head, its black eyes and pearl of wisdom shining in the afternoon sun – well, not really, but that's what it looked like.
"I called him Lóng (龍), which Frank – a Camper who's half Chinese – assures me means 'dragon' in Chinese," I said, beaming at the look of amazement on his face. "It's not very original, I know, but it's all I could come up with on such short notice."
"It fits perfectly," Loki said, his voice quiet.
"And that's not the best part," I said, closing my eyes to focus more on Lóng.
I took a deep, centring breath before I began. Lóng slowly uncurled himself from around me and soared into the sky. As he flew around the clearing, circling the perimeter and then around Loki, he changed colour: orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, the whole spectrum. To finish off, he soared into the sky from the centre of the clearing and exploded into fireworks, the characters 新年快樂 (Happy New Year) fizzling into existence before dissolving into the sky. I sat back down next to Loki, out of breath.
"Of course," I puffed. "It looks a lot better at night when you can see the fireworks."
"It was amazing," Loki said. "Even I couldn't do something like that. Your mastery of light is awe inspiring."
I flushed a little – and not from exhaustion. "Well, I've had a lot more practice," I said. "Anyway, I'm sure you can do a lot of stuff that I could never dream of."
"Maybe tomorrow I can show you some things," he said. "I take great pride in my mastery of the elements, something I know appeals to many people."
"That sounds amazing. Even though some demigod's can control elements I haven't seen much," I said. "I suppose being able to control nature has always fascinated me. It'll also be nice to see what can be done and what is just fiction," I said, thinking back to all the fantasy novels I'd read.
"I suppose it will be," he said. He reached behind him into one of the pockets of his tunic. Out of it he pulled a necklace. "This is for you," he said, a little bashfully.
It wasn't fancy, wasn't extravagant, wasn't noticeable, but it was beautiful. Obviously handmade, the necklace had a simple string like band with a small charm hanging from it. The charm was a pebble with a rune carved into it. It was exactly my taste, and I loved it instantly.
I took it from him and looked closely at it. Holding it, I could feel the power emanating from it.
"It's a Kenaz," he said. "One of its meanings is 'the power of light'. I thought it was fitting, seeing as you can control light." Loki looked more self conscious the more he spoke.
"It also means vision, revelation, and knowledge, right?" I asked, trying to remember from my research. "Isn't it also associated with you, because it means 'vital fire of life', and you're associated with fire?"
He looked shocked.
"Yes, it is," he said. "But if you don't want it, that is understandable. I mean, it isn't very -"
"Are you kidding?" I asked, cutting him off. "It's beautiful. Did you make it?"
"I did," he said.
"I love it," I said. I smiled brightly at him. "Thank you."
"I can help you put it on, if you wish," he said.
I was about to accept his offer when I had a better idea.
"Can you take the charm off the string for me?" I asked. He nodded, if looking a little bemused.
Taking the Camp necklace from my neck, I untied it and pulled off one of the charms. When he handed me the rune charm, I slid it on and put the other one on next. Then I took Loki's offer to tie it back around my neck. His charm hung in the hollow part of my neck just above my collarbone. I fingered it gently.
"What was it in aid of?" I asked, still holding it between my fingers.
"I need an excuse to make something for my first real friend?" he asked, smiling slightly.
I leaned up and kissed his cheek, making him flush.
"Thank you, Loki," I said. I leaned back against the grass, relaxing in the day's late sun.
