Tilaria was grateful for Frigga letting her off so easy, and she shook her head as she walked under an invisibility weave. She wasn't supposed to be scanning others, and it was lucky Frigga wasn't going to do anything to her. After walking for a few minutes down random hallways Tilaria realized that she didn't know where she was going.
She was fairly certain that she could find her way to the dining hall from here, but she wasn't really hungry. Maybe she could go to the library and look at Asgard's spread of magic books. Frigga had said Loki was there to, right? Maybe he could show her around the magic books.
Unfortunately, she'd never been to the library and didn't know how to get there. Although she was wary to do so after Frigga's scolding Tilaria decided to scan one of the servants passing by her on their way to do chores to get a layout of the palace. She was still invisible, so as a young servant her age with bright blonde hair and fluorescent blue eyes walked by her Tilaria reached out and brushed her fingers against the girl's temple delicately.
The girl she scanned stumbled when she took a step and winced. To her Tilaria's touch had to feel like an unexpected breeze and a slight headache. Tilaria closed her eyes as the girl continued to walk after looking around for a few seconds and shrugging. She inspected the new three-dimensional map in her mind's eye and nodded after a few seconds. It turned out that she had been walking in the right direction to get to the library after all.
Of course Frigga was a mage, Tilaria chided herself for not knowing better as she began to walk more defiantly towards the library. There was nothing to do but be more careful, obviously these Æsir were better than she gave them credit for. It would be dangerous if she underestimated Loki in the same way she had done to Frigga.
Tilaria walked to the east wing where the library was, and hovered outside the doorway. She sent out a senseline to gather information on the interior of the library instead of using telepathy, and her magic told her that there were only two people in there currently. One of them was likely the library's keeper, but the other one she recognized as being Loki.
Cautiously, Tilaria poked her head through the open double doors. She gasped when she saw the interior of the library. This room was much larger on the inside then the outside, but although it was a difficult charm it was a very common one so that didn't surprise her. What did surprise her was the library itself.
The main entrance lobby didn't have any books, and instead had a giant tree with nine branches and nine galaxies. Tilaria assumed that it was a model of Yggdrasil. Past the model tree were two staircases that led up to an upper landing where the bookcases were. There were more bookcases underneath the alcove, and a series of witchlights hovered around the bookcases randomly to augment the light brought in by the lightjewels and the roof that had been charmed to display the sky outside.
"Wow," Tilaria whispered and stepped inside.
She looked around, amazed by the model of Yggdrasil. This library looked smaller than the one on Alfheim, but Tilaria doubted that it was. There were almost undoubtedly charms to fit many bookcases into a small area. Once she entered the stacks she didn't doubt that she would find as many books as in Alfheim.
"Are you looking for something?" A kind voice said behind her.
Tilaria stopped staring, and turned to the source of the voice. It was an Æsir woman with long blonde hair and blue eyes, like many Æsir women. She wore a dark indigo dress with red trim, but her appearance was kind.
"I'm looking for Prince Loki," Tilaria said politely, "but I'm not sure where he is here. Who are you?"
"I am Saga," the woman introduced, "and I suppose you could call me the keeper of the library. If you are looking for the young mage them I'm sure he'll be in the magic books."
Saga pointed to the upper level towards the left side. "It's near the front, the four leftmost ones. That's where I usually find him. You better look up if you do though for he's usually on top of the stacks."
"The top," Tilaria smiled, "all right thank you."
Saga nodded and Tilaria walked quietly up the stairs. She was surprised that Saga hadn't complimented on the fact that Tilaria was an elf, but grateful at the same time. Tilaria went where Saga directed, and soon vanished inside the stacks. Magic runes were engraved onto the spines of the books in Magescript, magic's written form. It soon became apparent that Tilaria wasn't going to be able to easily find Loki, so she sent out another senseline and followed it.
Amid the stacks of books were tables set up in varying places, and Loki was sitting at one of them reading a book with a very intent look. Tilaria thought about calling out to him, but figured that her voice might be too startling and it would scare him out of the reality of the book and back into the real world.
Instead, she whispered to him telepathically, placing the thought without prying into his mind. *Loki.*
Loki stared at the book in front of him, not really seeing the words. He knew he should be focused on reading the book. It was from the forbidden section, and he wouldn't have long to read it before Saga or someone else came and he'd have to return it, but he couldn't focus on it.
Messing with his older brother was always fun, but Loki sighed at the thought of Fandral running off with Tilaria. Thor and Fandral were just old enough to start taking an interest in girls, and it seemed they were both interested in Tilaria. Loki didn't understand their point of view, but he knew that he would like to be friends with Tilaria. Her blood magic was dangerous, but at the same time powerful and Loki had a feeling she'd be a good friend if he could earn her trust.
He wasn't sure what would happen now that Fandral had gotten involved however. Although he was young, all the girls Fandral's age seemed to swoon over him. Loki didn't understand that either, but he wished that Jonelle would be one of the ones that followed Fandral around. Instead, that brat was forever following him around for whatever reason and Loki really didn't care for her.
Girls, Asgard's girls at least, rarely said anything useful and the ones of noble birth who lived at court were particularly bad. Lorelei and Amora were real people at least instead of dressed-up dolls trying to get power by attaching themselves t someone in power like Jonelle was doing to him. If they weren't doing that then they were far too busy gossiping in whispery hisses and laughing in soft giggles.
It had seemed to Loki that Tilaria wasn't like that, and since she hadn't been raised on Asgard she probably like that. If she had been raised on Asgard then Loki would never consider having her as close friend, but as it was he figured she might be a good friend. Loki turned the page of the book he was reading and made a face. Girls, they always gave him a headache one way or another. He figured that if he had to deal with one more girl he was going to throw one of his blades.
That was the moment when he heard a girl say his name softly. He was so distracted that he didn't realize the voice was telepathically and instantly assumed it was Jonelle yet again. The throwing blade he kept hidden in the underside of his right bracer fell into his palm.
Someone stepped around a bookcase near him, and Loki whipped around and threw the blade in his palm without looking to see who his target was first. The girl gave a start when the blade embedded itself into the edge of the bookcase near her left eye, and Loki was surprised to hear the sound of a blade leaving its scabbard.
Jonelle didn't carry a blade, and he would have expecting her to give at least a little scream when he threw his blade at her. He curiously turned around in his chair a little more fully and realized that it wasn't Jonelle he had attacked, but Tilaria. Loki stuttered softly when Tilaria reached up with her hand that she had not drawn her dagger with and pulled Loki's blade from the bookcase.
"A little wide if you were aiming for me," Tilaria told Loki in what could have been a scolding tone.
She held the two daggers, and shifted her weight back warily as if expecting to be attacked by him like Arlen had done to her last month.
"Tilaria," Loki's jaw dropped. "I – I tho, thought you were someone else."
Tilaria didn't look impressed by his stuttered excuse. "So your Star Guard are always drunk, and Asgard's Princes are going around throwing blades at people. A very civilized realm. You're living up to the stories I've heard on Alfheim so far."
"The-There's a girl named Jonelle," Loki tried to explain. "I thought you were her. I wasn't going to hit her, just, just get close. She's been pestering me and I wanted to scare her away."
"Interesting way to deal with someone." Tilaria commented, but she seemed to accept his explanation because she offered his blade.
It rested in her open palm and she stared at it. After a moment it started hovering and going over to Loki. Tilaria lowered her hand and bit her lip, and Loki didn't move as the blade levitated closer to him. When his blade was midway between the two of them her magic slipped and it fell to the ground. Loki caught it magically an inch from the ground and brought it back to his hand without any trouble.
Tilaria was surprised by the ease of his movement and Loki slipped the throwing dagger back into his bracer where it belonged.
"I don't have any true telepathic skill, but I am telekinetic. It's not as easy for me as using my ice, but I can manage." He explained quietly and lowered his hand from his bracer where the dagger was now secured once more out of sight.
The two stood staring at each other for a moment before Tilaria broke the awkward silence. "You seem to have natural talent with your ice, yet Odin seems to rather you not use your skills. Why is that?"
Loki sighed, wishing Tilaria had picked almost any other subject to mention except that one. "It's a long story. The short version – I lost control of it once, and it ended badly."
Loki's emerald eyes turned distant as he got tangled up in the memory, and the memory was traumatic enough that he lowered his guard. This allowed Tilaria to catch an image of Asgard's throne room covered in swirling snow and giant icicles. She instantly saw the problem for in the memory the snow was red, and Loki was kneeling beside Thor's limp body. He was frantically trying to use healing magic on his brother as the red stain on the snow continued to grow.
The memory made it clear enough to Tilaria what had happened. She wondered why she hadn't just gone to the dining hall after all because Loki's body language and the subdued purr of his magic made it clear he wasn't in the mood for company.
"I thought you were with Fandral." Loki asked curiously before she could back away, trying to distract himself from the memory.
"I was, but he, he is different than the boys on Alfheim," Tilaria remembered his disdain when Fandral mentioned that a woman shouldn't have a blade darkly. "I also met someone named Jonelle, probably the same one you wanted to scare. She's… hostile."
Loki snorted in a very un-princely like manner, and rolled his eyes. "Her father Akir is head of Asgard trade and internal affairs so she thinks she has rights to anything she wants, but she's mostly just a pest. The only reason she tries to cling to me is because I'm one of Asgard's princes. I wish she would leave me alone."
"Well if you greet her as you did me she just might." Tilaria mused with a glance to the gash in the wood where Loki's throwing blade had been embedded.
"That's the hope," Loki hung his head, "but she'll just go to her father and Akir will tell Odin, so I'll end up in trouble again."
"I got the impression that you're used to being in trouble, and causing it," Tilaria offered. "Am I wrong?"
"No," Loki admitted with a knife-like smile and raised his head. "You're not."
Tilaria's magic echoed off the spells in the book, and Tilaria finally realized why the book Loki was reading had made her magic ring.
"What are you looking at?" She asked casually as she walked closer to Loki and his book. "Is that a grimoire with some new spells to learn?"
"Old ones more than anything," Loki dodged and waved his hand, magically closing the book before Tilaria could see what was inside.
The movement was not fast enough, and she hissed softly when she saw the runes on the pages. "Why are you reading a book with blood magic in it? It is forbidden for a reason."
"You don't seem to mind using it," Loki defended, "and it is still magic. If I want to be the greatest sorcerer in the Nine Realms then I need to know about forbidden magics considering that if I ever fight a Dark mage they'll probably be using blood or something like it, right?"
"The reason so many blood mages are as you call them 'Dark Mages' is because extended use of blood magic for most people destroys their sanity," Tilaria warned. "The very use of it damages their soul. I can use it because I was naturally born with the ability to manipulate blood, but someone trying to harness it artificially will only suffer."
Loki's eyes darkened at the scolding and he looked away back to the book again. The air became awkward again, but a distraction showed up before long and ran up the stairs to where Loki and Tilaria were.
"Brother!" Thor exclaimed when he caught sight of Loki sitting there. "I knew you would be in here!"
Both Loki and Tilaria looked towards him and saw Thor standing near a bookcase, his blonde hair a mess and his sapphire eyes sparkling. Thor was surprised to see Tilaria with him, and he waved enthusiastically at her instead of trying to be a gentleman as Fandral had. Tilaria kept her telepathy to herself and nodded, better prepared to deal with Thor's energetic personality then Fandral's flattery.
Loki curiously leaned over the table slightly, and he smiled mischievously again at what he saw. "I see you got your boots back on. Let me guess, mother undid my hex."
"She did not!" Thor shot back in a bluff. "I conquered your knot myself."
Loki eyed him in disbelieving amusement. "Unless you're a mage all of a sudden, mother did it. It should still be an hour before my hex faded."
Thor glowered at his brother's point and changed the subject. "It is almost lunch time. If you stay in here much longer you will miss it."
"Ah," Loki mused in light humor. "You're working on the assumption that Volstagg hasn't already eaten everything."
"Are you hungry?" Thor asked Tilaria in the same bright manner as before, seemingly unaware of how askew his appearance was.
"I suppose I could eat something," Tilaria admitted, "Loki?"
"I'll catch up," Loki promised and picked up the book on blood magic.
He needed to return the forbidden book before someone realized it was gone. Tilaria nodded acceptance and walked out of the stacks and down the steps with Thor. Once their footsteps began to fade, Loki went to the back of the library where the magic books were and levitated his book back up to it. If Tilaria could master blood magic then he figured he could to. After all, what was the worst that could happen?
Loki isn't quite old enough to understand his brother's attraction to girls and it's cute. He innocently wants to get closer to Tilaria so he can learn her type of magic even though learning forbidden magic is not the safest idea. As if that will stop Loki though.
Tilaria really likes using her telepathy too much.