Sorry for the delay. I've gone back to work full time and still trying to get into a writing groove. More to come soon!

Chapter 13

Mia shifted uncomfortably. "Ever since I can remember my mother told me I was special. That I was magical, just like my father. She told me fairy tales, but unlike the ones that most mothers told, my father and other dimensions were the main focus. She claimed that when she was a young woman, barely eighteen, that she accidently found a portal to another realm. She was lost there for two days and thought she would die in a strange land all alone, but that is when my father found her."

Mia paused, looking at Loki like she didn't want to continue. "Please go on. No one here will think you or your mother crazy," he said with a squeeze of her hand.

Her voice cracked as she continued. "I used to think my mother was crazy for believing these stories. Maybe she would have been okay if at least I had believed her when I got older…"

"It wasn't your fault." Loki said emphatically.

"You don't know… when I was little of course I believed her, I didn't know any different. I believed in the world of magic she talked about. I believed my father was some elvin prince destined to come back and take us to another realm on day. And by my believing her I think it made her still believe herself." A tear fell from Mia's eye as she continued. "As I got older, as I learned what the rest of the world believed to be true, well I started to think that my mother had made it all up. Not on purpose, I knew she believed it but well I thought she was crazy like everyone else did. I tried to hide her and her perceived imbalances from others. I lied at school so that they wouldn't take me away. I tried to pretend she was just teasing people. But the older I got the harder it became to hide her and her stories. She truly lost touch with this reality. She couldn't keep a job. We couldn't keep a place to live. I started working at fourteen to try to keep us afloat, but it wasn't enough. Social services were called in. I was taken away and put in foster care. My mother was put in a mental hospital, one that she never got out of." Mia cried steady tears now.

Loki wrapped her in his arms, letting her cry as he stroked her hair gently. "There is nothing you could have done. I know how the human laws work, home humans view everything in black and white. You were so young, there is nothing you could have done."

"But I didn't believe her. I could tell that she believed what she said, I knew that she wasn't lying and yet I didn't believe her. And now it turns out everything she said was true! What if I had offered her support and belief? What if I could have saved her from losing her mind?" Mia continued to cry. Loki held her to him, practically cradling her in his lap, waiting for her to calm down. He had all but forgotten that his mother was there watching and listening to everything. All that matter right now was convincing Mia that she was not a monster now.

Once Mia had calmed down some, "I'm sorry. I usually don't lose control of my emotions like that. I tend to keep everything bottled up inside."

"You never have to hide anything from me." Loki said, still trying to sooth her with his touch.

She looked up into his eyes, her own still filled with tears. "Thank you Loki."

They just stared into each other's eyes for a while, moving ever closer to each other when Loki heard his mother clear her throat. "Right, back on topic." He said, moving slightly away, but not letting go of his grip on Mia's hands. "Tell us what she told you about your father. Perhaps we can determine what realm he was from."

"She said he was an elf. The most beautiful being that she had ever laid eyes on. That he was kind and generous. That he was magical and that I was too." Mia said.

"Alfheim." Loki said, looking over to his mother.

Frigga was nodding. "Yes, it would seem your father was one of the light elves my dear. They are very beautiful and kind, and some can be very magical."

"If he was so kind why did he never come for me? For my mother? Why let us both suffer?" Mia asked, pain and bitterness warring in her voice.

"He may not have been able to. He may have left you here for your own protection. We have no way of knowing unless we can find him. But do know that it is not so easy to travel between the realms, nor are outsiders often looked upon kindly in any of the realms. Your father may not have been staying out of your life because of disinterest." Frigga said.

"Then we shall go to Alfheim and look for him. No one will dare tell me to leave." Loki said with conviction.

"You would do that for me? Help me search an entire realm?" Mia asked.

"Of course." Loki gave her a brief kiss. "And stab anyone who tried to say you didn't belong."

"Loki!" Both Mia and Frigga chastised his at once.

"What? Some people deserve to be stabbed and I am of the disposition to do said stabbing." Loki answered.

"And that is part of the reason you were banished to Midgard by your father." Frigga answered.

Loki looked at Mia, "Being banished here is not so bad after all."