Time continued to pass and when his life and schedule permitted it, Loki returned to the little cottage in the forests to check on the little girl. In his mind, he tried to convince himself that it was because she was his investment, so to speak. But part of him was curious about the child.

From a perch on the oak tree, he watched her as she practised her seidr on a flower, trying to get it to close from bloom. He chuckled slightly to himself as he recalled learning that spell many moons before; she lacked finesse, but had yet to even hit her most significant development age, so she would probably become more graceful as she grew.

"There you are." He glanced down at the girl, who was staring up at him beaming in delight and relief. "I was worried about you. Stay there." Loki watched as she darted into the small dwelling before arriving back outside again, with a napkin in her hand. "This is for you." She looked up at him. Opening the napkin she placed some fruit bread and some meat scraps on the wall for him, looking up to see if they had caught his interest.

Trying to act like a regular raven and not a disguised prince, Loki forced himself to look at the scraps as though keenly interested, and then at the girl.

"I won't harm you." She promised, but Loki remained where he was. After a few minutes, she realised he was not going to come any closer, and waved at him. "Okay, I'll leave you to eat in peace, see you soon." And with that, she turned on her heels and went into the cottage.

Loki eyed the food for a moment. Anything she would have put out for him would never compare to the food he ate at the palace, but a part of him felt almost obliged to go down and at least hide it, so to not hurt the child's feelings. He shuddered at what he was even thinking, but he found himself justifying it for some reason by seeing as keeping her innocence while possible, the outside world would take such from her soon enough when none would be so selfless as to be able to save her from her fate. Swooping down, he glanced at the food. In truth, the bread smelled delicious, and the meat was not simply discarded grizzle, it was clearly supposed to be part of her own lunch. Picking up some of the food in his beak, Loki flew off again, knowing that little Aurora was watching from inside the cottage and flew off so she did not know what he was going to do.

"Loki." The raven haired prince threw his eyes up on hearing Thor call for him, but he turned around anyway. "I have been looking for you all day."

"What a coincidence, I have been avoiding you for close to a month."

Thor frowned at Loki's words. "I need to speak to you with regards something."

"Well then, get on with it. Just because I have a lifespan of a few millennia, does not mean I wish to spend the most of it here waiting for you to get to the point." Loki growled.

"It is regarding King Frederick and his wife." It was then Loki's turn to frown. Thor had not attempted to discuss the Vanir royal family with Loki in many years, so his mentioning of them now led Loki to think that the king was aware of his secret trips to Aurora. "They have had a son," Thor explained somewhat nervously.

"You say this as though I should in some way care." Loki dismissed, relieved that Thor had not been aware of his actions.

Thor bounced from foot to foot for a moment. "I am leaving for the boy's naming ceremony tomorrow eve."

"My, are you not the lucky one?" Loki's voice was thick with sarcasm; Thor just looked at him with a peculiar face he could not place. "What?"

"You are not going to…?" Thor was half scared to even ask, terrified that he was going to Loki ideas.

"Going to what? If you have something to say to me Thor, then just say it." Loki snapped, his patience becoming thinner by the second.

"Are you going to repeat your actions with this child too?" Thor questioned nervously.

Loki shook his head. "No." Thor looked at him sceptically, not expecting such a simplistic reply. "No, that debt to me was repaid with the last one, why would I seek another?" The look on Thor's face answered Loki's question. "You think me a mindless maniac set on needless destruction?" He growled.

"Your actions against an innocent girl…" Thor argued.

"Were justified, as well you know. That common hussy owed me a debt." Loki interjected.

"But that child is innocent."

"She had to be made an example of Thor; one cannot make a deal with a God and simply go back on it." Loki retorted. "I did not wish to harm the child, she merely had the misfortune to be born to the woman she has."

"It is unfair Loki."

"Well life is by no means fair Thor, is it?"

"Loki." Thor sighed but decided to not discuss it any further. "So you have no intentions of hurting the boy?"

"I did not even harm the girl," Loki stated factually. "But no, I will not do anything to wreck the little brat's day."

"Right, well." Thor cleared his throat. "You are faring well?"

"Really Thor, the false pleasantries are not necessary; you have not spoken to me in private in over five years."

Thor rubbed his neck. "I did not think such an amount of time had passed."

"Well of course not, because you have been too busy ignoring my very existence while enjoying the company of anyone bar me."

"I am not alone in being at fault for our distance; you did not seek my company either." Thor pointed out.

"I did, one eve." That stunned the Aesir king somewhat. "And do you recall what you said to me?" Loki's voice was calm, startling him. Thor's face was blank since he did not recall the occasion. "You told me 'I have matters to attend to Loki, I will call on you in a few hours' you were playing chess with Lord Vidar while discussing his latest conquest. I left, and I waited, but you never called on me."

Thor then recalled the evening and guilt filled him. "I am a large part of why you became the person you have, I can only express my regret for my past actions Loki. I should have called you back. I should have never sent you off in the first place. I should have postponed my talk with Vidar there and then to speak with you. To say you came to me at all meant you truly wished for someone to listen." Thor apologised.

"It does not matter now." Loki dismissed. "I best be going."

"Why did you not mention the Queen's bargain?" Thor asked.

"Does it really matter now?"

"No, not really. I just wish you would have said something, together we could have thought of a suitable punishment that did not involve the young princess." Thor stated, turning his back to Loki and walking away, leaving the raven haired prince alone in the hall.

Loki sighed, that was exactly why he had sought Thor that eve, but he would never admit to such now, not after over five hundred years.

X

"There you are." Aurora almost sang the words when she saw the raven again. "I was beginning to think you were avoiding me."

Loki was shocked at the rate the young princess was growing. She had begun to grow into her features that always seemed a slight bit too big for her.

"Don't leave me again, I do not wish to be alone today, I am not particularly used to such." Loki gave as much of a raven's call as he could muster. "My mother is gone to a celebration, one I am not welcomed at it would appear, so I am all by myself." She explained sadly.

Loki cawed again, her carer, who she clearly was being told was actually her mother, had seemingly gone to her brother's naming ceremony, leaving her to fend for herself. Clearly the filthy wench of a woman that had bore her and a poor excuse of a father did not wish to see her daughter again, not now they had another brat to spoil. It angered him greatly. For the first time in all the years, he had come to check on her, Loki broke his rule with regards staying in the trees and flew down onto the garden wall, eyeing the girl.

"Well hello." She smiled. "I am honoured that you finally decided to join me. Look how beautiful you are." He ruffled his feathers slightly at the compliment, earning a laugh from her. "And you know it too, don't you?"

Loki remained just out of reach, watching her intently. He had become too used to the security the trees provided, so when the cat launched itself at him, Loki did not see the brutish creature until it was almost upon him.

"Oh no." Aurora cried out as the cat collided with the raven.

If Loki had chosen to disguise himself as any smaller a bird, he would have perished and more than likely been eaten, but thankfully, he was able to peck and scratch the blasted beast until it scurried off, being helped in large part, by Aurora catching a watering can and tipping it upside down on the feline. When it was gone, Loki was better able to assess himself, only to wince when he realised it had broken his wing.

"Oh you poor thing." There was genuine upset in Aurora's voice as she realised what damage had been done. "Look what she did to you." Before Loki could do anything, she had scooped him up as gently as she could and carried him inside.

Loki knew for some part, he should not have permitted her to capture him and enclose him in the dwelling, but injured, he also knew he could not simply change back into himself either. So, peeved at the situation, he waited as she gently placed him on the table and watched as she retrieved several items from around the small cottage.

"I am so sorry about Genevieve, though she is a cat, so she probably was just thinking as one does." Loki did not feel particularly forgiving toward the fat feline. "Now, you are going to have to hold still if we are to set this wing," Aurora stated, laying out what it was that she had gone in search of. Scanning the items, Loki realised she wished to make a crude, but effective splint for him. "Do you think you can do that?" He was unsure if she was actually expecting a response but held still all the same. "It may hurt slightly."

Slightly was a tad of an understatement, but it was not due to any fault on young Aurora's behalf. She even used her seidr, which as Loki had assumed, she was growing into, to wrap the wound, not wishing to touch and hurt the wind further. When all the bandages were done, she looked at her work proudly.

"That is actually better than I expected, considering I had to use magic." She looked at the bird inspecting its wing. "Can I tell you something, my friend?" Loki was slightly uncomfortable with the manner in which Aurora seemed to act as though he was human, as though she knew something. "I think you are the only thing in this world that actually half cares about me."

The sad tone in her voice made Loki's stomach feel heavier than Mjölnir to one who was not worthy. She was lonely and seemed to realise none really cared for her in her environs. One thing he recalled of Edna, her carer, was his mother's words that though Edna was a good being, she was not a natural mother, clearly she had been right.

"I know I am probably being silly, I am after all just a young girl, but I feel as though you are my only true friend."

Loki went from feeling guilty to feeling as though he was covered in some form of filth he would never rid himself of. The young girl was alone, because of him and his curse.

"Now I am just being more than silly, utterly ridiculous even." She wiped a tear from her cheek. "Let us see what we can feed you to allow you to recover as fast as is possible, shall we?" She asked, rising from her seat and walking around the room. "Of course." She stated as she recalled something. "When I last fed you this, you seemed to like it." She walked over to the small kitchen and pulled out some of the fruit cake once more, cutting off a slice that would have been slightly hardened before cutting another that would be fresh and handing it to Loki. "Eat this, it will help."

The bread smelled mouth-watering, and knowing it was fresh, Loki decided to actually try some. So, somewhat precariously, he pecked at the bread, finding it as tasty as it seemed.

"I baked it myself." Aurora beamed proudly. "Do you like it?" Loki attempted to give an approving look, or at least what he assumed one from a bird would be. Seemingly satisfied, Aurora grinned happily and decided to leave him alone as she did some tidying. She hummed as she worked, and it was then that Loki took the time to assess her.

Her nature was far more pure and kind than her dams had been, she held all the graces of royalty, without even a day of training in such from what he had seen, it all seemed so natural to her. She was nearing her ascent to adulthood, and in so, had blossomed from an awkward youngster getting caught in thorn thickets to a beautiful young woman. Again he felt abysmal for what he had done but knew there was nothing he could do about it.

Edna would be away for the night also, he knew this because there was no manner for her to get from the palace to the small cottage, so he knew it was safe for him to rest in the makeshift nest Aurora had designed for him. He had a restless night's sleep as he kept thinking of the good-natured maiden that cared so deeply for what she thought was a simple animal and the words she had said to him.

By morning, the wing had healed, and gently, Aurora unravelled the bandage and removed the stick she had used as a splint. "There you go, good as new." Loki stretched and flapped the wing a few times to test it, sending anything light in weight nearby off the table. "See, perfect."

Loki was about to caw in return when he sensed something. Realising it was Edna; he flapped his wings and went to the window, pecking at the glass.

Slightly disheartened, Aurora walked over and opened it. "You will come back soon, though, won't you? I promise I will keep Genevieve away." Loki gave a caw and flew back to his branch, safe above the ground. A few moments later, a slightly worn looking Edna came into view of the cottage. He hoped that the old seidr wielder was too tired to sense him close by.