Loki yanked her forward as soon as their fingers met and between one step and the next she found herself in a wide hall. The sudden change left her dizzy, but it wasn't nearly as bad as the rainbow bridge had been and he gave her a moment to lean against the nearest wall. There was no door on the inside either.
"How did you do that?"
"If I went around revealing the secrets it would hardly make for an effective test." Loki didn't notice or didn't care that she stuck her tongue out at that.
"So why does it float?" she asked a moment later. Loki had taken her hand once again as he guided her across the ballroom-sized entryway. "Is that part of the test?" She half expected him to be annoyed at all the questions. Not that she could really help asking or would try if she could. She was a little surprised when he answered as if they were having an actual, honest to goodness conversation.
"It is a necessity for the wards that keep wayward spells contained."
"Wait. So if someone messes up in a big boom sort of way…"
"The mistake would effect no more than this single structure and the safety of Asgard would not suffer." He said it as if was the most reasonable thing in the world.
Darcy laughed. "So asking as the fragile mortal that just came in – that doesn't happen often does it?"
"Fairly often." The twitch in his lips was just enough to be reassuring. Or at least to make Darcy more than hallway sure he'd been joking. She punched his arm lightly with her free hand.
"Oh ha. Very funny." They'd reached the far door by this point, and Darcy blinked as it revealed a corridor of arched doorframes – not the stairs she'd expected from the size of the platform outside. "Holy…" she stopped herself before she said something that led to god puns. "It's bigger on the inside."
Loki gave her a look that clearly said he thought she was mentally slow. "Obviously."
"Yeah, well it figures you don't know anything about the Doctor." The comment was defensive, and as he had with her Hogwarts analogy Loki only ignored the reference he didn't understand.
"Come." The command was unnecessary since he hadn't dropped her hand yet and simply pulled her along to match his pace.
The first few rooms they passed didn't look much like classrooms. Most had a modest stack of books along the wall, others had far less modest mountain ranges of texts. Here, Darcy thought was where Loki's ideas of library organization had been born. None of the rooms has desks or chairs, though a few had tables holding a variety of objects both fantastical and ordinary. Darcy hadn't expected wands and kids shouting spells and jinxes, but she had expected it to look like a school. Halfway down the hall she could here voices from a room ahead. Loki put a finger against her lips before peeking into the room. A moment later and he shifted so she too could see the lesson going on inside.
There were only three children, all standing and younger than she'd expected, or maybe her thoughts on Asgardians being too tall was coloring her judgment. They were watching a man who was merely staring back at them. Then, without warning, the man launched a ball of fire towards the only boy in attendance. Only Loki's finger still resting on her lips kept Darcy quiet. But the boy deflected the attack before she could overly panic. Though, probably not as well as he should have, since one of the girls was beating the flames off the edge of her dress and glaring daggers at him.
"That's… really crazy and dangerous," Darcy said when they'd left that room behind. "They're just kids."
"Shielding spells are vital and basic. A firm understanding –"
"But he was throwing fire at kids!"
Loki shrugged. "The boy survived, did he not? His form was poor, but with practice… what?" He'd caught her look.
"Did teachers throw fireballs at you as a kid? Cause that could explain so much."
"Not often." He sounded smug. "I learned to throw them back."
"See the face I'm making and how I don't look at all surprised?"
Loki laughed and for once it didn't sound forced and wasn't at another's expense. "You would be if you knew how such a difference worked," he said at last. "To control the flame enough to give it direction is to manipulate its energy. It is an entirely different form of magic than a simple shielding charm. However similar such a thing might look to an observer."
"Not really." Darcy paused and tugged her hand free to adjust the ponytail that had begun to slip. "I mean, you're stubborn enough that wouldn't matter much."
Loki looked slightly lost at the words. "Thank you," he said after a moment. "That was… kind." He took her hand again before she could puzzle over the emotion he'd let slip. "Come, I don't imagine you came only to see what is taught to novices."