Everything was numb, she felt as if floating or nothing more than a ghost caught up in a mist. Where was she? Kari blinked, perhaps for the first time in a long while, and continued to stare at the polished floor. This was inside, she knew this fact but her memory was unable to add any further information or description. Warmth spread through her palms and up her arms that she could not quite place until finally remembering it were possible to tilt her head and look down at the area. A cup - gentle wafts of steam curling upwards towards her carrying the scent of something familiar.
Her mind continued to be blank of all knowledge spare the odd basic data. Sensation was returning somewhat slowly, she could feel her chest again, a heart beat slow and steady pounding out a reassurance she was not as dead as she felt. She blinked again, something heavy on her shoulders weighing her down but also comforting – a blanket, that's what it was called. Softness below her; swirling patterns on silk fabric that mesmerized her in their reassuring complexity and cushioned her snuggly on a couch.
An idea had surfaced, or perhaps just a basic need or desire, lie down and go to sleep. As much as she might wish to do so, however, she still was incapable of reasoning how to achieve such a simple task.
"Drink your tea." Loki was standing in front of her, a solitary finger indicating the cup grasped in her hands but she only blinked at the order not truly understanding. When had he appeared? "Kari-"
"Did you really fuck a horse?" It was the only line of thought that she could clutch hold of in the mist of her mind.
"What?"
"Then give birth to Sleipnir?"
"Wha- oh."
"That's sick man."
"You have misunderstood or been told a great falsehood."
"What's it like being the mother of a horse?" She was staring at his knees, her mind only focused on tumbling out the stream of questions and statements without absorbing any of his responses. "Did you have tits or udders or whatever horses have because that would just be so very weird?"
"Kari, focus." He snapped his fingers in front of her nose - like one might do to a dog during training.
"Huh?" She blinked at the sound and movement, some of the ringing in her ears dissipating as neurons fired and took over once again. "Where am I?"
"In my rooms." Loki was squatting, green capturing her blue and holding her gaze steady. "Drink your tea."
"Is it poison?"
"It is not." He reached down, strong hands encasing her own and helping to lift the cup to her lips. "The tea will help, you are in shock, Motter."
"Am I?" She blinked again, his eyes still holding hers focused as the edge of the cup reached her lips and she swallowed down a sip of the warm liquid. "He has your eyes."
"Who does?"
"Sleipnir."
Loki sighed a long tiring sound. It was not the first time he had heard this particular rumor spreading around but definitely the first time someone had made an accusation about the eyes.
"I assisted my brother, Thor, in the creation of Sleipnir from the bones of his beloved steeds wrongly devoured by starving humans." He tried to explain, coaxing the pale woman to take several more sips of her drink until she was managing the action by herself. "I am not his mother."
"Oh." She breathed, her breath warm from the tea and insides buzzing with further sensation.
He shook his head, peeling the empty cup from her hands and turned to set it down on a low table. There was a light 'thump' behind him, on closer inspection the sound having been created by a body dead weighting onto the couch. Loki snorted, unamused by the situation and aggravated at being further detained. It had been a laughable surprise to return from the city and catch the bizarre show outside the stables. An even greater opportunity to hold something new over the girl's head when she had fallen and yet the day had not stopped giving when he got the chance to further irritate Balder by swaggering off with the damsel. Now, however, he had a carer's role and just at the point he thought she might be well enough to leave she had collapsed in a mess of tangled hair in his room.
Loki hummed a low rumble deep within his throat, lifting her dangling legs to join her and tugging the blanket out from the twist it was in around her torso. As long as she was asleep, she would not be pestering him with ridiculous questions and he could unpack the miracles of alchemy he had returned with.
When next she awoke, Kari was feeling decidedly better than before but now her bladder was full of tea. She groaned pushing herself up on the couch and letting the blanket draped over her descend by its own volition. It was still light outside but just barely as she noted the pink nature of the sky and lowering sun on the horizon. Loki was further to her left, tinkling vials and bottles over several tables paying her no mind.
She really needed to pee. No use in fighting it, she hissed from the stiffness in her body and stood before speedily pattering barefoot to the bathroom. It probably would have been polite to ask first, seeing as is was a prince's private lavatory but really he was to blame for bringing her here and feeding her tea. There was no way she would have made it to another toilet anyway. Also, where were her shoes?
Upon exiting the bathroom, Kari began searching the main room, her socks keeping her warm from the coldness of the floor. On closer inspection she found her footwear under the couch, sitting down to put them back on as she then realized her sword was missing. She growled at the frustration of having to start looking again, being in a room with Loki was very confusing after the mismatch of their last two encounters. One minute horrible, next minute lovely.
"You are awake." Loki, having looked away from his work for the first time, commented.
"Yeah… w-where's my sword?" Kari bit her lip, not quite managing to look him in the eye.
"In your room, I thought it would be best if you had not a weapon at hand."
"Around you, you mean?"
"Precisely." He grinned a toothy smile, swirling the contents of a beaker round and round.
"And whose fault is that?"
"I saved you, remember?" He shrugged.
"Yeah well… you also… what you did was… it was… it was heartless, cruel and horrible!"
"Your saliva on my meals, I thought it was only fair that you too sampled my fluids."
"Ewww." She cringed at his use of 'fluids'; sure he meant a lot more than just spit. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
"I am quite healthy I assure you." He was smirking again – the bastard. "Care to try this concoction?"
"What?" She eyed the beaker of pale blue liquid between his fingertips. "No!"
"I assure you it is not poison."
"No!" Her voice was low and dangerous.
"If you drink this, I will teach you a little of magic." He offered up an incentive, followed by an insult. "Not that I believe you could ever wield it."
"Your mother is already teaching me to read it."
"And you believe reading will be enough to satisfy the allfather?"
They locked eyes, a smug, genuine twinkle heightening the depth of green persuasion he was emitting towards her. Perhaps he was right in this case. Odin was after perfection after all.
"It's not poison?" Wary as she was, a form of confidence drifted into her tone with ease.
"It is not."
"And you promise to teach me?"
"I promise as a prince of Asgard, bound by my honor." He sounded sarcastic and theatrical but held his clenched fist to his chest as if he really meant it.
"Hmmm…" Kari squinted at the mischief-maker, sizing him up as she continued to mull it over. "What exactly does it do?"
"Drink it and we shall find out."
"What, you don't know?"
"Drink it, do not drink it." Loki indicated the door and beaker in turn as he gave his ultimatum. "Decide."
"Argh…" She reached a hand out to receive the beaker. "Fine."
Hesitating, Kari stared at the liquid with some trepidation at arms reach and gave a great sigh. She should not drink it, especially with Loki staring so intently and holding a notebook and quill in hand expectantly. He did not know what it would do, or at least he was not going to tell her but it was not poison. She really needed that magic training, as much of a liar as he was; it was very plausible that he was right about reading not being enough.
Closing her eyes, she took a steadying breath and pushed the beaker to her lips downing the contents. Over fast, don't think about it, don't taste it and done. She coughed, patting her chest several times as a dull minty-copper taste flooded her throat and expanded her nasal passages like cough syrup. Was something supposed to happen? She felt oddly fine as she handed the now empty beaker back to the trickster still intently eyeing her.
"Nothing is happening." She shrugged, Loki placating her with a raised finger.
"Give your body a chance to absorb the formula."
"What is it supposed to do?" She asked again, idly scratching her arm from the scrutiny of his gaze. "You can tell me now that I've already drank it right?"
"That is indeterminable. It is supposed to react differently with each person that drinks it."
"Well… uh… what does it most commonly do then?" Kari tried again, hoping for a better answer now as she clawed at her arm worried by his scribbling of notes. "What are you writing?"
"You should stop scratching, you are making yourself bleed." He continued writing, not bothering to look up from his notes.
She looked down at her arm then gasped at the great lengths of marred flesh and bobbling of blood forming in pockets along the gashes. Halting her digging nails, Kari tugged her arm away and stared bewildered at the wounds she had caused herself. It was not that she felt itchy but tingly all over like the prickling of fear racing across her skin.
Loki grasped hold of her wrist, tugging the limb she was admiring upwards towards his eye line for further study before releasing it and scribbling down more notes. He paid no mind as she frowned at him, even when he grabbed her by the chin and looked directly in her irritated eyes.
"How disappointing." He said out loud to no one in particular. "I had hoped to see something more but…" He trailed off hopelessly and turned his back on her to resume his previous work. "You may leave."
"Seriously? That was it?" Kari scowled, disbelieving and somewhat disappointed at the same time. "A tingling arm? What was that?"
"A failure." He responded darkly. "Find me in the library tomorrow when you bring my lunch."
"Hmm…" She grumbled, staring at the back of his head and hoping it would catch fire. "For lessons right?"
"I gave my word."
Kari stared at his back a little longer, his words hardly ever meant much but once more she supposed she had to try and trust him.
