10: Taking measures


"Ehi, do you think it would be possible to bring another thing too?" Rebecca asked, and Loki gave her a fake-annoyed look from above the book he was reading.

Three days have passed from the night when they started speaking to each other, and things were changed a lot since.

"What do you want now, greedy girl?"

"Well, there was this other book on my desk … it's very tiny!"

Loki put a thoughtful expression on his face, then he made a fluid gesture and, when he has completed the turn, the book was there.

"This one, perhaps?" he asked, grinning of her surprise: she still had the same happy reaction of the first time he has made appeared a thing.

The first day they had spent it studying each others, reading, eating some take away food Loki had brought from the outside world.

The second day Rebecca was almost sure that the mysterious God was going to keep his word about leaving her safe, and she had dared to ask him to let her work.

Loki wanted to please her and he wanted her trust, so he had agreed.

He liked Rebecca's company: she was smart, fun and she didn't seem to care of many things Asgardian worried a lot. Maybe it was because she was a mortal, and she didn't want to waste her limited time of that life being unhappy. She always tried to make the most of her days: even there, in the limited space of the apartment.

It was strange how tiny tricks impressed her that much.

Loki was thinking about the first times he had practised magic: the sense of wonder from the other boys whenever he had materialized objects and small animals. It was the first time he had ever felt superior to everybody else… a feeling that had died when they started fight practise and he never won over Thor once.

In the meaning time, Rebecca was working hard: tired of the many days of nothing, she wanted to keep up.

Reading and working was relaxing for her. First, it made her feel like she was back to normal again; second, she had never liked to stay still.

However, her focus was broken by the presence of Loki, the god of mischief, who was reading in front of her.

He still remained a mystery.

"Again… how do you make it?" she asked him.

Loki sighed, but it wasn't obviously really pissed off by the question.

"All the universe is made of little pieces… let's say they are like pixels on a screen. They stand in a specific order and position. If you know where to look, you just have to reach your hand and take them. You move their coordinates."

"Do you think I might learn?"

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but it might be impossible for a human being".

"Oh. You have to be a God, I suppose"

"Yes. But being that it's not enough. – Loki smiled- You should have seen my brother trying to vanish things. In the end I was so sad for him, that I helped him out... I never told him, but he really believed he has done it!" he finished laughing, and she laughed with him as well.

Other two days were spent nicely in the flat, during which Loki and Rebecca woke up together, ate the same food, talked about everything but their pasts.

It was like being out of time and, strangely, it was very pleasant for both the God and the girl.

They found to have many things to talk about.

Rebecca was fascinated by the fact that he was even more stubborn than her; the so-self-proclaimed God was so strict in his judgments that she had to be the one who make the other reconsider his positions. And he had a brilliant mind as well: finally in control of himself, he was extremely lucid and cultured, with a surprising opinion on everything.

On the other hand, Loki was maybe more astonished than her. Rebecca was definitely on a different levels respect to the humans he had normally meet. Of course, he had friends between great writers, philosophers, commanders, governors, popes… all men and women with an important position or career on earth… that was just a girl he had meet (well… kidnapped) from the street. Rebecca had a sort of raw charisma, a great energy she put in everything she did. Not only she was pretty, and when she smiled he made him feel… satisfied by that vision… but there was more: she was competent, intelligent and, as result, they never stopped to pleasantly argue about things.

However, the more her company made him feel good, the more he worried about the fact that she wasn't there willingly and, most of all, about what he was supposed to do with her.

The girl never asked him to leave, but he saw the question lingering in her mind, the time he had touched it when she was looking reflective on something. And he was afraid of that, he didn't feel ready to let her go away… he didn't want to taste the loneliness once again.

That moment was one of that: it was rainy, a bit foggy for the smoke, and she was looking the people walking downstairs.

He almost appeared next to her, silent as always.

"What are you looking at, young Lady?" he said, trying to joke with a petty name.

It worked, because she smiled him back, surprised but not upset by his intrusion.

"People. They look so busy over there… this made me think of the first time I arrived here"

"Were you… lonely?" he frowned, comparing that situation to his.

"Oh no, that's not what I was thinking. That's another way to put it, I suppose. But when I moved in New York… I didn't like it that much. You know, I'm from a tiny city, and I have lived some years in Edinburgh too. Places where life was easier, more relaxed. Maybe I liked it more"

"So… why did you come here?"

"It's not that I don't like it now. I get used to it. It was just strange at the start"

"Not everybody can so easily adjust themselves to a new environment"

"They probably need more time. And some friendly help- Rebecca answered, wondering if Loki was talking about her or himself. She changed topic, lost in her nostalgia – Autumn is my favourite season. But it's not so charming here as it was in Scotland".

"Would you like to see it?"

"Are you kidding? – she gave him a playful flinch- I'd give my right hand for that!"

"Oh- Loki gave her an outrageous smirk, taking Becca from her arm and made a step- Lucky you I don't need it, then"

The moment they touched the ground again, it was on the naked earth, surrounded by a beautiful Caledonian forest.

"Are we… -she breathed heavily- did you… what the hell?!"

Becca exploded in a sort of surprised scream, looking around and touching everything: the leaves and the soil were definitely real, they were not in the big apple anymore.

The god didn't answer, he just stared at her discovering the place: he suddenly forgot about his worries.

The forest was definitely a beauty; ancient and blessed by silence.

"I've been here already, long ago" the girl couldn't keep her smile, and she started walking toward the sound of water.

"I know- he replied, walking next to her- that's where I saw it. He reminds me of other places too".

"Do you have forests in Asgard?"

"No, we don't."

"No?- Rebecca was negatively surprised- How can you not have them?"

"It's hard for you to think of other worlds, but all the planets are different … You will be surprised, but the Earth is the only one which owns a part of all of them. It has the icy lands of Jotunheim, as much of Hel's deserts. Asgard is a beautiful place, but its nature is… shrew. It's like a never ending garden. Peaceful, joyful…"

"It sounds…"

"Perfect?"

"Boring… Actually I think it sounds boring!"

The prince looked her in surprise: nobody had ever dared saying a thing like that of the house of the Gods, expect from himself.

He had always grow up restless in the domesticated meadows of Asgard, where a plain hill might looked like a challenge.

"Did you see them all? The other worlds?".

Rebecca was in front of him, standing on a rock and admiring a wild river. Her hair were messy and she has managed to dirty her jeans and sweatshirt already.

"Yes, there are nine. The first one is Muspelheim…" Loki started telling stories once again, and they kept going in the forest, their voices echoing all around the trees.


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