From that day and forward, Frigga did indeed start to teach Loki, all that she knew in the art of illusion, and Loki ate every last little bit of it raw.
He was no longer as annoyed when he got ill and was confined to bed, because he could use this time to study further, spend every last single moment trying to practice and master all of these secrets.
Friggas prediction about his failing health had indeed been correct, as Loki grew, his days of sickness became less and less frequent. What ones had happened many times every year, was now only a few times a year.
And when it happened, Loki barely even noticed, far to consumed with his studies.
"What use is it though?" Thor asked wondering. "It is only mere illusion, any spear or hammer you conquer up wont be real. It can't really hurt anyone at all."
Thors question was asked with an extreme innocence, and very genuine confusion over why Loki would spend so much time trying to learn all these things.
It was the kind of question that was asked without Thor thinking to much about it, only a few moments after he would have forgotten he had even asked that as he moved on to his next project.
Not Loki though, the question would annoy him deeply… So you think you're better than me Thor? So you think mere illusions can't harm you? He was about to be proven wrong.
The illusions Loki could do were still extremely limited, and they were extremely taxing on him, he would only be able to do so much before he would be knocked out due to pure exhaustion.
on top of that, he would always have to deeply concentrate, any distraction and the illusion would be broken.
Also now as he was sitting outside in the grass, he had to concentrate deeply… he had never truly succeeded at this before, but then suddenly… It happened. Loki opened his eyes and the world around him was so much larger as he was in the grass, rattling his long tale… He was a snake. He had to lay still, break the concentration and the spell would be broken.
Right on cue an excited blond child came running, then he stopped and turned, gaping at the, in his eyes, emerald green snake on the ground. His mouth split open in excitement and at ones Thor ran for it picking it up. "Wow!" he gaped astounded. "I never seen such a specimen before!"
The moment the snake was held up, in a flash it turned from snake to black haired boy, whom were up in the air above Thor.
Thors eyes were wide as Loki fell down dagger in hand, and then rammed it right into Thors shoulder, making Thor scream out in hurt and surprise as blood poured out the wound.
Loki smiled as he stood there, merely holding the bloodied dagger. "So illusions cannot harm you dear brother?"
Wide-eyed Thor looked up, holding his wound.
"Let this be a valuable lesson." Loki encouraged. "Can illusions hurt you…? Yes. Very much so."
Thor was pale as a sheet as he looked at Loki, clearly he was still in a great state of shock.
Loki frowned. "Brother, you ought to be happy that was just me and not some frost giant." he pointed out.
Thor still looked frozen, but then slowly he nodded. "ye… Yes." he finally got over his lips. "You… You're right Loki. Thank you for the lesson." he swallowed still holding his wound as blood was emerging through his fingers.
Loki glanced at it then up at Thor. Then he reached forward a hand and pulled away Thors hand, then placed his fingers on the wound and the next moment it closed up making Thor look wide-eyed at it.
Then he brightened up in a big smile. "THANK YOU LOKI!" he beamed happily.
Loki just blankly looked at Thor… As if he was going to stab Thor if he couldn't close the wound again. If Thor was to go to their mother or father with a stab wound, there was no question they would find out about its origin, and that would spell real trouble for Loki, he didn't even want to imagine what they might do.
How-ever, with no wound… No proof. Thor could claim it all he liked, no one would believe him when there wasn't even a wound.
It didn't even look like Thor was going to claim anything as he rolled his shoulder around, satisfied to see it was indeed entirely healed up. Then he grinned. "Now you're outside, you should come to the arena!" he cheered.
"To practice… Fighting?" Loki asked.
Thor nodded. "Heimdal is going to teach today! How to wield swords!" he exclaimed.
Loki frowned annoyed, the truth were… swords made by the dwarfs of Asgard were to heavy for him, he couldn't even lift them. At least not yet. Thor how-ever, had no such issue at all.
"I suppose I could come to observe." Loki then finally stated.
"Perhaps Heimdal will have a smaller sword for you to use." Thor continued.
Thank you Thor… Thank you.
It was okay though, Loki wouldn't need such a big clumsy weapon to beat Thor in a fair fight, yes his approach would have to be different, but he would figure it out, some day.