Adisa had found her way to the garden she liked to sit in every morning. There she would pull out a small little bun of bread and slowly pick at it, as the morning slowly warmed up. She loved the sensation of the bitter cold, and hot sun on her skin. She would sit until she grew board of dreaming of what the garden looked like or even if the sun looked like she remembered.
Running her hand along the stone bench she sat down, before pulling her bun out of her pocket. There she pulled a small piece off and stuffed it in her mouth. She was unaware of the small black raven that waited for her, and it twisted its head in thought. Although the creature had a small brain, its intellect in no way matched that description.
When he was positive that this was the woman he was told to befriend he hopped out onto the stone bench its nails clicking on the stone. Befriending this woman was of course his given task, but the creature had decided that he also had another. He wanted some of the bread she was eating to fill its empty gullet. The strange man had not fed him. The strange man had only stuffed him into a bush as he waited for morning to come. Thankfully an owl or a cat hadn't found him.
The clicking of his nails had startled Adisa, and never hearing such a sound terrified her. One click after another, he slowly inched towards her. The sudden need to defend her kicked in and her hand swatted at the sound. The raven had seen her sudden jerk, and tried to take flight away from her. Instead he only managed to jump a few feet, before grabbing on to her hand and holding on for dear life.
Adisa screeched not understanding what was going on, and in terror that she was actually going to hurt him the bird let out a squawk. Adisa's only reaction was to cover her face, and as she waited for the bird to attack it didn't come.
The bird let out another squawk, tilting its head and looking down at her food. It figured it was now or never. With no grace the bird jumped from her hand and landed into her lap. There he tried to rip off chucks of bread.
Adisa at this point had figured out that the bird meant no harm and instead was just very hungry. She couldn't see what he was doing, but she could feel it trying to lift the bread up. She was still terrified that the bird would bite, so she prayed that the bird wouldn't do too much damage to her. She reached a shaking hand out for the bread, stopping when the creature squawked at her touch.
"Here." She murmured finally finding the bread and ripping the hard shell open to expose the soft inside. The bird chirped in excitement, finally being able to eat and eat more then he usually got. Although the creature doubted his orders in the beginning, if he could eat like this every day, he wouldn't be one to complain.
He ate until his gullet was exploding and used Adisa's dress to clear his face. She sat frozen as he preened what little feathers he had, and when he was finished leaned into her warmth falling asleep within seconds.
Gathering up her skirts she stood up carefully cradling the small creature in her lap. She normally didn't return home until she could feel the chill of the night air, but today she would head home only about an hour after she left. Her mother hardly gave her a second look as she crept up the stairs, way too busy with preparing supper.
Adisa listened for a soft creak in the floor boards, before making a sharp turn to her left. There about two paces in front of her was her room. It once belonged to both her and her sister, but since her sister had gone off and gotten married, only one of the beds was used.
Keeping her hand on the door she slid into her room, shutting it awkwardly behind her. The soft click let her know that she was finally alone, and that her mother wouldn't see the small creature she brought into the house. There was a time when her mother wouldn't even let the cat into the house, this was until one night the tabby had crept into the house and pulled a large rat from underneath her mother's bed. More frightened that there was more rats in her home, the cat was suddenly allowed unlimited access to every room in the house.
Adisa shifted her weight listening for the sound of another floor board before slowly walking across the room towards a small cradle tucked away in the corner. The cradle use to be her sisters, Adisa had no use for it after she had lost her vision. She stopped a few feet in front of the cradle, and crouched down being sure she didn't squish the bird. She reached out a single hand to make sure the cradle was where she thought it was, and then scooped up the bird in her hands. She had managed to startle him awake, and the sudden squawking made Adisa cringe.
"Shhh, if mother hears you she will feed you to the cat." At the mention of a cat, the raven instantly clamped his beak closed. He couldn't fly yet, so any cat would be the death of him. Adisa would protect him until that time, and until he could fly he had to be careful.
A strange silence hug between the two, and it made the house sound even more eerie then Adisa could imagine. The raven tilted his head as he watched his young mistress think, what about he wasn't sure.
"You don't have to stay if you don't want to. I know I wouldn't stay here." The raven let out a short squawk in a response, not that she could understand him. He had no intentions on leaving, he wanted her to feed him more bread, and he wanted to be one of those fat birds that someone took care of. Not one of the many raven Odin had flying about the realms. Those birds got cold, and sometimes starved for many nights.
A smile spread across her face. The thought of having a friend was forin to her; most people wanted nothing to do with her. She didn't even think it was odd for a young lady to make a friend with a creature she had only met moments before. She didn't even know what kind of bird it was, and she didn't really care.
"I would like to call you Bran, if that is alright with you." She asked, again the raven squawked in agreence, he didn't care what she named him. Another large smile spread across her face. Bran could clearly see why the sly prince had taken such an interest in her. The blind human was quite beautiful when she smiled, and without sight she couldn't see monsters.
Loki didn't keep as close of an eye on Adisa as he would like to think he did. His life was often busy avoiding his family, and when he had the chance he would skim by the gardens to see if she was present. He had only seen her a handful of times playing with a raven that seemed to explode in size over the couple of months she had him.
Although the few months that had passed felt like nothing, they were indeed long enough for Adisa and Bran to develop a kind of language between them. It was a language only the two of them could understand and that's all that mattered.
Bran would hop along walls carefully watching Adisa walk, and would squawk when she got to close to anything the creature dreamed possibly harmful. He would guide her through hallways, and down stairs. With Bran by her side it was now impossible for her to get lost.
On one of his many checkups Loki finally heard what he was waiting for. A ring of laughter echoed through the garden Adisa like to hide in, and the sound was even better then what he imagined. It was almost impossible to laugh when you were in a dark place. He would after all know, living in darkness sucked any joy or happiness out of you and any true laughter would be impossible.
Adisa was on her way out of her darkness, and he wanted to be the one who finally pulled her from its clutches. It was hard for him to keep the smirk off his face, and he knew it didn't really matter. Quietly turning into the garden he followed the charming sound of laughter.
In the garden Adisa and Bran were playing a game. Adisa would stand in the middle of the garden and wait for Bran to fly down. She would listen intently for him to fly by her so she could catch him in midair. Somehow she would manage to catch him without hurting him, or grabbing his wings. He would nip at her fingers for her to release him so their game could start again.
They were playing another round when Adisa started to back up. Loki couldn't see the smile on her face, but he knew it was there, and he couldn't wait to see it. So when she finally stumbled into him and turned around in confusion, pressing her hands into his chest. She jerked back in shock; fully grasping she had bumped into a man and not something else.
"I'm sorry." She gasped, stepping back too quickly. Her heel caught on a branch that she was more than aware of and before she could tumble backwards onto her bottom he reached forward and grabbed her upper arms steadying her.
"Thank you." She whispered, he watched her as she instantly became shielded and he didn't expect anything less from the young woman. She didn't trust him yet, but he hoped one day she would. He just had to continue on with his plan.
"It's quite alright." He hadn't realised how terrifying it was for her, approaching her in the garden and the look of terror on his face finally reminded him that she was not like others. His mind quickly buzzed with things he could say, and he had to stop himself from saying most of them because they sounded a bit odd.
"I didn't mean to frighten you. I just heard you laugh and…" he couldn't believe that he was a bumbling idiot at that moment. He had only felt this stupid once in his life and that was when he was 10 years old and Thor had convinced him to speak to a young girl he liked. She ended up punching him in the nose, and he had to go to his mother to nurse his broken nose and ego.
He had a feeling that any moment now, Adisa would do the same to him.
"I know you." She said softly, interrupting him before he could ramble on anymore. It was probably a good thing she interrupted him, because the feelings in his chest were starting to become unbearable. He wanted her to reject him quickly, so he could lock what little feelings she had pulled out of him away.
"You're that stranger, who told me not to…." The realization that he had been the one to pull her from the wall all those months ago hit her hard. She could feel her chest become heavy, and her head light. She never even thought of the possibility of that stranger to come back, now of all times.
Loki had seen her distress and was filled with instant concern, he cupped her elbow and guided her to the stone bench a few steps from her and quickly sat her down. This was not one of the reactions Loki was planning for, he never even thought about the idea of her figuring out that he was the man from before.
He wanted to ask her if she was alright but he couldn't form the words. Instead he chose to wait in silence for her to come down from shock. Her raven hopped up beside her jumping onto her leg. This seemed to be enough to pull her out of the state she was in. Gently guiding her hand down to Bran she brushed his feathers allowing him to turn his body the way he wanted her to touch him.
The bird was even larger up close. Loki couldn't get over the sheer size of the creature, and wondered what she had been feeding him. It was honestly the largest raven he had ever seen.
"Thank you." She said softly, keeping her head straight forward. It was still odd for him to not see someone turn and talk. It bothered him a little because you could tell so much from a person when they looked at you.
Loki could only manage out a soft chuckle in response. There was absolutely nothing funny, but it helped him relieve some of the tension in the air. He couldn't find himself to look at her, and he had to keep his head forward in order to keep his eyes away from her. She would surely drive him mad.
"It wouldn't be worth it. To throw yourself over a cliff, because even if you don't see it…there is always a solution." Loki whispered, he himself couldn't believe his words of advice as they sunk in, because even now at times there had been times when he didn't believe there was a way out. He would much rather be gone. No matter what gone really meant, but sometimes it meant the pain would just stop.
Adisa nodded her head as she pretended to agree with him. She knew he didn't really believe what he was saying to her, but on days like today she was happy to be alive. Other days, where another matter entirely or even days she spent moments with her family.
Loki could no longer stand the silence between them; he stood up startling the raven in her lap. Adisa jumped during the commotion and turned her body towards him a look of panic on her face. She didn't want him to leave, but she didn't know what to say to him either. He was a stranger, and although he had been one of the very few strangers to be kind to her, he made her nervous.
"Will you tell me your name?" She asked, she had hoped he hadn't gone far enough that he didn't hear her.
"No." He said simply, walking out of the garden without looking back.
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