I actually have a few chapters in this story written, just way too lazy to edit/post them.
Thank you for the reviews!
Adisa didn't know who the stranger who saved her life was, but she did know that he would come around to check on her. He spent a lot of time just watching her, which lead her to believe that he wanted something else then to just check on her.
The idea of him wanting something from her was terrifying because she had nothing to give him. She feared he would hurt her just like the others had, but then she remembered how Bran came to her, and now she couldn't see her life without the creature. This man, who had showed up a number of times, might turn out to be a friendship like Bran. With this idea in mind she would try to get the man to talk to her more, but sometimes she got scared and very much like him would pull away.
Usually the stranger came to her in the morning, but on rare occurrences he showed up during sun down. On those nights he would silently follow her home, to ensure she made it safely. She wished he would come out of the dark corners he thought he was hiding in, because to Adisa it would be more comforting if he was beside her, not out of her reach.
Adisa sat under a tree, the sun was unbearably hot and she could feel the hot muggy air clinging to her skin. Bran happily hopped from branch to branch looking around for nothing in particular when he spotted Loki. Clicking his beak he pulled Adisa from her the orange she was desperately trying to open.
Adisa had discovered that her new friend was very light on his feet, and oddly could sometimes easily hide from her. Other times it was Bran who warned her that he was nearby. Loki of course didn't know their strange language so he had no idea that the bird was warning her. Adisa liked to pretend that she didn't know he was there anyway.
"Will you come out of the bushes and help me?" Adisa snapped, frustrated that she couldn't open the orange. She wouldn't have taken one if her mother hadn't insisted she put one in her pocket. Although Adisa loved to eat oranges there were next to impossible for her to open. She usually ended up squishing them in her hand, and getting sticky. There was the rare occasion where she managed to open one and an overwhelming sense of pride would overcome her. It made her feel normal.
Loki shifted uncomfortably, he wasn't sure if she knew he was there, or if she was talking to the bird. Either way it made his heart pound. When she irratately sighed and leaned her head towards where he was standing he knew she was talking to him. Her frustration was evident. She finally gave up trying to open her orange and held it high in the air.
Loki would have easily been offended if it were anyone else. He figured there was no use in hiding, and if anything continuing to hide was creepy. He slowly stepped out from behind the bush, and gently plucked the orange from her hand. He then dropped his full weight onto the ground beside her and lazily peeled the orange for her.
If Adisa could see, she would have seen how he expertly used his hands. With a few quick twists of the orange he managed to pull the hide off. Loki personally hated the hide, thinking it tasted waxy so he took great care to make sure Adisa would not eat it. He didn't care if she liked it or not because he was even repulsed by the idea of someone else eating it.
When he was finished with the orange he tossed the peel off to one side. Adisa was siting patiently for him, her arms folded neatly in her lap. Taking her elbow gently he guided her so he could place the peeled orange into her hand.
Adisa took note of a few things here; the first was the firm grip his hands had, so she knew he was strong. She could also tell that he was not a large man, but he was a tall man, and that he was very gentle. His hands were also warm, which was nice because all of the people in her family seemed to have cold hands, and she hated that.
A smile of excitement broke across her face when she felt the cold skin of her orange touch her hand and she quickly brought it into her lap. Her fingers found the top of her orange and using her delicate hands, she split the slices. The smell of citrus wafted into both of their noses, Adisa was hungry and she could feel her stomach grumble but out of kindness she tried to offer Loki a few slices. Loki pushed her hand away not wanting any of her food.
She seemed pleased with his answer and silently ate her orange as he watched a few animals skip around the garden. Loki was suddenly aware of how quiet the garden was, and he could feel his body tense up. It reminded him of the silence in his cell, and he could feel his chest tighten.
There was an overwhelming fear to stand up and walk away from the garden when Adisa reached out and grabbed his upper arm. The sensation would have startled him if he wasn't hyper aware of what was going on. Her hand gave his arm warmth he hadn't felt in a very long time. He couldn't remember the last time someone had touched him.
"Calm down, your putting me on edge." She said softly giving him a comforting squeeze. She pulled her hand away from him, bringing it back to her lap. Her orange slices were now gone, and the only reminder they had was the strong citrus smell.
"It may not seem like it, but being blind has its advantages." Adisa shifted her weight almost leaning close enough to him so he could smell her soft perfume. He had caught small whiffs of it before but he had still yet to figure out what the scent was.
Loki couldn't see how there could be anything good about being blind, but he could tell by the small smile on her face that she knew something that most people didn't. He pressed his lips together waiting for her to continue, and she knew by the silence that he was going to allow her to continue.
"I can usually pick up people's emotions. I mean it's not hard when I don't have faces to read, but it's better than nothing I guess. The only real drawback is when someone's emotions are really strong they start to affect me." Her bird flew between them strutting and casually eyeing Loki as if he was sending a warning. The things Adisa was telling him was indeed something he shouldn't go around telling everyone. If he wanted her to trust him, whatever was said needed to remain between them. Not that he had anyone to tell anyway.
"That is indeed interesting." He said, not completely sure about how he felt about the information. The bird picked up an orange slice and tossed it farther away in front of him then necessary and continued on with its insanity to keep an eye on Loki.
For a moment Loki thought about shooing the bird away but Adisa would hear the ruckus and he knew she wouldn't be impressed with the way he was treating her only friend. She would then never speak to him again and he didn't want that at all.
"and…irritating." He said, carefully choosing his words. Irritating wasn't quite the word he was looking for, but completely horrible wasn't one he wanted to use either. A gift like that would be ghastly it would always get in the way of mischief, and Loki had never thought or cared about most people's feelings. But then maybe if he had this gift he could truly tell if his parents really loved him, or if it was just obligation.
"You're doing it again." She said, softly shifting herself away from him. Adisa suddenly looked ill, and Loki could understand why. It was these thoughts that had got him in trouble, and it wasn't easy to always be in turmoil like he was. It took its toll on the body, but he was used to it.
Loki muttered out that he was sorry and leaned back in the grass using his elbows to support himself. Adisa turned to Bran scooping him up with a single hand. The creature used his beak to bite down on her fingers gently and to steady himself. He shook his wings, and cooed when she sat him in her lap. Her fingers then went to work scratching the skin under his feathers.
It was unlike anything he had ever seen, usually his father's crows scowled. He would have never attempted to touch one as a child or even as an adult. He had always been told that their jaws were powerful, and could easily snip off a finger. But oddly the creature loved Adisa's small fingers under his feathers, and even turned his neck so she could reach spots he wanted attended to.
"Watch this." She said, pulling her fingers away from the bird. Loki had been captivated by what he was watching, so she really didn't need to tell him. He was sure even his mother would have been in awe of how much the bird trusted this woman and she had been around the crows a very long time.
She pulled her hands away from the bird and let them hover, a small smile was etched on her face. The bird seemed to come down off of some sort of high and twisted his body even more then Loki thought possible. It was almost as if he were laying on his back, and reached up with a claw to where her fingers where hovering. With a strong grip the bird pulled one of her hands back down and latched onto her with his mouth, cawing in frustration that she had stopped.
The bird was unnaturally gentle with the girl, and there was no doubt in Loki's mind that it would ever hurt her. He had to keep reminding himself that the bird of course would never even think of harming her, because he told the creature if he did, he would squeeze him until his lungs popped.
But still the odd relationship, and the wanting of attention made him chuckle. Loki wasn't very fond of animals, but he had a few in his lifetime. Those creatures included a few horses, a small spotted dog (that he a Thor shared) and a fish or two.
He loved and cared for each of those animals, but unlike Asgardians they didn't have long life spans, and if anything they lived less than a fraction of what he did. In Asgarud relationships among their people were so strongly valued that they would die for their friends. To throw relationships away or to betray a friend was madness, because they believed that friendship and love was the ultimate gift.
Loki had descended into madness and thrown it all away. People pitied him for it, but mostly people hated him for it. He was still in his early stages of forgiveness, of not only himself but his family. There were days where he felt what he did was just, and what he had done was right. Then there where others where he felt as if he had done a terrible crime, and wished that everything could go back to where it was before. But most of the time he was angry.
"You shouldn't be angry." She hummed, turning her head towards him. She caught him off guard; it was almost like she knew what he was thinking. He wanted to tell her to mind her own business, but for some reason he couldn't be angry with her. The idea of being angry at someone as innocent as her felt completely wrong. Instead he stiffened his body.
"I don't know why you're angry, but I can only assume that it's because of someone, or maybe even you're angry with yourself. But if you really want revenge on who ever made you this angry, it's not through your anger or revenge. You just have to live well, and be happy. That makes people even more angry, then just lashing out on them." Her words almost seemed to sting, because she was right. She was right and it made him angry.
Loki could not fathom the idea of making himself happy to get back at those who had wronged it, because the anger in him was so strong that he could clench his fists so tight until they bled, screamed, and beat someone to death, and still be overflowing with anger.
"What do you know about anger?" He snapped, Adisa frowned and removed her fingers from the bird. Unlike last time, the creature didn't grab for her hands instead it quickly rolled back onto its claws and fluttered away. With one hand she waved her hand in front of her face, to painfully point out her blindness. All the anger Loki had before was now gone, and he felt horrible.
"I have every right to be angry, more so then most." She said, pushing herself off the ground. She used her hands to balance herself then started to walk out of the garden. Loki felt as if he had missed his chance, he had let his anger get the better of him and now she would never want to speak with him again.
Another part of his brain told him good riddance, he didn't need anyone he only needed himself, but he knew how wrong that was. He was lonely, and he wanted a friend or even someone who would talk to him without prejudice.
"I'll be here tomorrow, that is if you're willing to come back." She said softly, stopping at the edge of the garden. She listened to make sure he had heard her, before continuing her walk out and the garden and appeared what to be home.
The next 24 hours were painful to him and his family had noticed. He was deep in thought and for once in a very long time, fear bubbled up in his stomach. He feared rejection from the young blind maiden, but then he argued what was one more person to reject him, when so many had already done so. The next morning he appeared at what he was now calling Adisa's garden.
She didn't seem to notice or mind, because she was busy humming a song she clearly was making up as she went and played with the dull fabrics on her dress. He had seen her parents wear bright clothing, but Adisa never wore anything that wasn't earth toned. It had nothing to do with wither or not she could pull them off, because Adisa was a pretty girl but Loki suspected it had something to do with her blindness so she had no idea what colours she wore. It was much cheaper to wear browns, and her parents must have dressed her in such colours because she didn't know any better.
"I knew you would come." She said, softly a smile so large on her face that it actually tugged on the corners of his own lips. His family would have believed that Adisa had bewitched him, he had never acted this way before, and in a way he felt like she had. He couldn't stop thinking of her.
Adisa reached a hand out for him to grab, and as odd as the gesture was to him he took it. Her hands were warm and soft much like he imagined, but there was a bit of strength behind them. He sat himself down beside her and was fully aware that she had not yet let go of his hand. It made him want to wiggle his fingers because he suddenly started to sweat more then he normally did.
She said something to him, but his mind was off elsewhere. So when he clued in that she was waiting for a response, he had no idea what he was going to say until he saw a small book clutched in her hand.
"What's that?" he asked, nodding his hand towards the brown book in her hands.
"What is what?" She asked, clearly confused. Loki wanted to slap himself, momentarily forgetting that she was blind. His hands where now shaking in nervousness, and he took a deep breath of air into his lungs trying to settle himself down.
"In your hands, what do you have in your hands?" Adisa smiled and tilted her head so she could hear him better.
"Well, in this hand I have your hand and in the other I have a book." Loki couldn't help but chuckle, her joke was indeed cute. It was odd to see a blind woman walking around with a book, but that some people could read braille. He himself had never seen a brailled book, but he knew they existed.
"Is it braille?" he asked, Adisa nodded her head in excitement. Most people assumed that she carried around a book for fun, not that she could actually read. Then there were the couple of people who would ask her about the books, and always made a snide comment about how they didn't understand how she could read little dots on a page.
"Do you like to read?" he asked a little too excited, people liked to read in Asgard but none as much as he. Loki could read many books in a day where as others would take a very long time to finish one. He accounted this to not having many friends, so when he found a possible connection with Adisa he was going to take it.
"Well, in order to read you need more than one book. I haven't any other books, and books with braille are hard to come by, not to mention expensive." The large smile on her face disappeared in an instant as her thoughts where consumed with something else.
"Would you like to learn how to read braille?" she asked, shifting her weight around on the grass. Loki was grateful she had asked him, because he could feel the awkward silence creeping up on them.
"Yes." He said, softly it was only at this moment that she let go of his hand and used her fingers to pry open the book to a page. He could see the bumpy paper and he wanted to run his fingers of its surface and see how the tiny bumps felt under his fingers.
Loki found that learning how to read braille was a lot more difficult then he thought. His mind would get ahead of himself and he quickly learned that he had to close his eyes in order to actually read anything. The book she read was indeed boring, he wasn't quite sure what the book was actually about because he spent more time focusing on trying to figure out words.
They had been there for hours, and Adisa would giggle every time he would make a mistake. Then with great gentleness she would reposition his fingers so he was reading the right letters, and not making a jumbled up mixture of words.
It had honestly felt like they had only been there moments until she had stopped him, pulling his hands away from the book and shutting it softly.
"It's getting late, I have to go home." She said softly forcing a small smile on her face. If she could she would have stayed with him all night reading through the book she knew off by heart. But her parents would be furious, and they would probably condemn her from visiting her new friend in the gardens. A swift flutter of wings was heard as her bird landed on her shoulder, reminding Loki that the creature was even there.
"Shall I see you tomorrow?" He asked, as she stood up ready to walk out of the garden, the smile on her face grew. She nodded her head, trying to contain the joy she was feeling then slowly made her way out of the garden. They both didn't know it yet, but this was the very beginning of a daily ritual that would be carried on unnoticed for months.
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