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"I feel…strange." Adisa said, interrupting the silence that hung over her daily tea with Frigga. Frigga had noticed that lately the girl had seemed off. Frigga was hoping that she was going to be a grandmother soon, but she didn't dare bring up the subject yet. Adisa and Loki had only been married for about six months.
Frigga didn't have her first child for a few years. She wanted the couple to enjoy most of their young adult life together before they had decided to have a child. She wanted them to travel, and do many things that she wasn't able to. But then again, she wouldn't be upset if a small bundle of joy was on the way.
"Strange how?" Frigga asked pressing her lips to her tea cup, she waited for the right words to pour of Adisa's mouth. She wanted to hear Adisa speak of morning sickness. Adisa tilted her head as she thought of the right words to say, but she couldn't.
"Like something is going to happen." Adisa answered folding her hands in her lap. The words stunned Frigga, she knew better than most then to trust these feelings. She after all had visions at a young age, and wished she had heeded these warnings.
"Do you have any thoughts to what that might be?" Frigga asked sitting on the edge of her chair, if they could figure out what the warning was, maybe just maybe they could avoid whatever danger she was sensing. Frigga didn't even know if this was a warning, and for all she knew she was quick to jump to conclusions.
"No." Adisa said simply, she couldn't even really explain how she felt. It was as if she was lighter than normal, and not fully grounded. Frigga reached across the table and gently squeezed Adisa's arm. She understood how Adisa was feeling; it was something she experienced almost daily.
"Let's hope that it's nothing." Frigga said pulling away from Adisa. Their discussion was cut short when a guard walked into the room. Frigga never had guards fetching her unless it was something serious. It was normally the maids who came to tell her various things. So when a guard came to get her, she knew it was serious.
Nodding her head, Frigga excused herself from the tea room following behind the guard her skirts twirling around her in a furry. Frigga waited until they were quite a distance away from Adisa before she asked any questions.
"What has happened?" She said, turning the corner sharply she knew they were on their way towards the throne room and the fear that something had happened to her family fluttered to her chest. The guard's face was almost stone cold but Frigga could sense his uneasiness. He didn't want to say anything to Frigga and that worried her even more, so without any more chatter he held the door open for her and she rushed in.
She didn't expect the throne room to have her sons inside, her husband, and a small family of three. It was obvious something had happened to this family, because the mother and daughter were both crying. Neither of them bothered to turn to see who walked into the throne room.
"What happened?" Frigga asked running over to the cluster of people. Loki had a look of horror on his face, while the others fought with what kind of emotion they should have. Friggia finally made her way in front of the small cluster of people to see the girl who they were all circled around.
The girl who was not much older than Adisa mirrored her in almost every way. If Frigga hadn't met her sister she would have assumed that this girl was Adisa's sister. But the thing that was most shocking about the young girl was her eyes, which were clouded over much like Adisa's, and a black smoke like magic snaked its way across her face. The stink of magic was strong and it was very clear that this girls blindness was new. No one had to tell the Queen what had happened, because at that moment she instantly knew. Horril had blinded another victim.
"No." Friggia muttered bringing the young girls face into her hands. The magic on her skin flexed knowing that a magic user was nearby. They could cure the inky blackness of her skin, but the curse was much more difficult then she expected.
"Tell them what he said." The father pressured the daughter who, was crying fat tears. This is how Frigga imagined Adisa family looked like when they had first discovered what happened.
"He said that this was for Adisa." Frigga felt her lungs tighten and she quickly ushered over a guard giving them the order to take the young woman to the healers to have the black magic removed from her skin. This left her alone with her family, who she knew were all waiting to discuss what was happening.
"I will start a search party, when Horril is found he will be executed." Odin commanded, this was the only way that they could keep Adisa safe. Loki was now more worried than he was before, it had been months since he had attacked Adisa but now he knew Horril would not rest until she was dead. The overwhelming fear of keeping her safe ate away at him, and part of him, the darker side wanted to lock her away never allowing her to have any contact with anyone.
He knew she would never forgive him.
"Where is the girl now?" Odin asked motioning over a guard to his side. The guard came swiftly, and waited at his side for an order.
"She was in the tea room." Frigga answered, she had been last one to see her, and she doubted Adisa had gone anywhere. She usually lingered in the tea room for a bit, because next door to the tea room was a garden filled with birds. She liked to sit a listen to them for a bit before she returned to her rooms, or her own garden to read a book.
Adisa's garden was a gift to her from Frigga, and was the very garden she and Loki met in. Since Adisa had taken over the garden it looked less and less abandoned. The garden now had people to tend to it, and slowly it was becoming more beautiful. Sadly they had to lock the garden up, because people were starting to frequent it. They were all hoping to catch a glimpse of Adisa or even Loki. Adisa had a few scares of strangers sneaking up on her, excited to finally meet her.
"Send three guards to fetch Adisa, and have her taken to her rooms. She will not be allowed to leave unattended until Horril is found." Odin dismissed the guard and tuned his back to his family, what little conversation they could have was over. Odin would not discuss any more of his plans, he had taken over the situation and there was nothing they could do about it.
"Is that all we can do?" Thor asked, not liking how little it seemed they were doing. Horril had managed to sneak a creature not of their realm into the palace. It would be easy for him to trick the guards and get to Adisa.
"You could give me my magic back…all of it." Loki snapped, his father turned around to look at his youngest son. Loki had asked for his magic many times, and somehow he had managed to get little bits a pieces of it back.
There was no doubt in his parents' eyes that he had somehow managed to force this magic back to the surface through potions and other means. Odin was of course angry that Loki had managed to squeeze a little magic out of him, but he had no proof of how Loki had done it. So there was no possible way of stopping it.
Part of his punishment was to live without his tricks and spells for a very long time, and Odin honestly thought that he would never give back Loki his magic. He was too powerful with it. Odin didn't know what to say to Loki at that moment.
Loki stood stiffly in front of his father, and everyone in the room waited for something to happen. It was if all oxygen had been stolen from the room as everyone waited to hear the king's response. Loki was expecting to hear Odin argue with him, but when the old king casted his eyes to the ground he did not expect him to nod his head.
"I will think about it. Giving back magic is not as easy as one would think." Loki was indeed stunned that Odin would even think of returning his magic. The response before was always an astounding no, before anger had Loki locked back up in his rooms. Loki decided that he would not fight or push Odin. Instead today Loki nodded his head and left to find his wife.
Loki found Adisa in their rooms. She was sitting on a couch waiting silently for Loki to show up. A guard was standing behind her looking around stiffly, while two other guard stood in the hallway. When Loki stepped foot into the room the guard removed himself into the hallway knowing that the prince would not be happy to see him there.
Adisa didn't speak to Loki when he entered the room, even though she knew it was him slinking around like a cat. He fiddled with a few vials that he had at the back of the room, an experiment he had given up on a long time ago.
He could tell by her stiff shoulders that she was waiting for something to say and it was only a matter of time before she figured out how she wanted to say it. He waited for a soft sight to pass her lips and the words to come pouring out. He didn't have to wait long.
"I tried to crawl home on my hands and knees, when I was blinded. When they found me, my hands and knees were so bloodied that they worried they would scar." It was not the response Loki wanted to hear, and it worried him that her parents first reaction was fear that she would scar. He found himself wondering what the reaction of anyone's parents blinded by Horril was.
"I know how terrified that girl was, and I…." Adisa couldn't speak anymore; the memory was a painful one. She could still remember how the stones embedded in her hands shot pain up her arms.
Loki took her face into his hands, he wasn't sure if she needed comfort but he needed to touch her. That way he knew she was safe. That she was real, and that she was there with him at that moment. He was afraid that Horril would harm her, and that he would be left to his own madness.
"I will keep you safe." He said, he didn't fully trust the words himself but he felt as if he needed to say them. Adisa reached a hand up to grasp his, her eyes started to water and she held in the urge not to cry.
"Do not make promises you can't keep." Loki felt as heart sink, the statement was truly terrifying. It was possible that he or anyone couldn't protect her. If Horril was anything like he was, then Loki knew he would succeed in murdering Adisa. Loki had to some how find and murder Horril first. It was the only way to keep his wife safe. But how could he find someone who couldn't be seen, even by the keeper.
"I wish to speak with her." Adisa said, pulling her face away from Loki's hands. Loki didn't know why she wanted to speak to the girl, but was sure that she wanted to say something to her. Loki sat beside her, resting his hand on her leg.
She use to flinch when he would touch her, he remembered the first time he had tried to guide her around something. She stiffened her entire body up, and pulled away from him. Walking into the very thing he wanted her to avoid.
"I'll have her brought to the tea room by the end of the week." He said softly, Loki felt that their conversation was now over, and after he gently pressed his lips to the corner of her mouth he stood up a moved to his desk. He would spend the remainder of the day rummaging around, making little notes in his book as he searched for the cure of her eyes.
He would wait for the young woman to be called on. He would give her and her family a few days to process what was happening before she was whisked into the royal tea room to speak with Adisa. He was also sure that Adisa wanted time to think about what she was going to say, her mind flooded with many emotions.
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