Suddenly, a loud explosion was heard behind him, in the direction of his home. He turned around and started running, Gwenevere and Larissa's laughing sounding farther and farther away as he ran.
Loki rushed down the stone pathway that led to his house. He knew his father was all right, but it still worried him each time something went wrong. Reaching the cottage in record time, he went to the side of the house and reached to open the doors to the cellar. As the doors opened, he was blinded by a large cloud of smoke.
"Father!" Loki coughed, "Father, are you all right?"
Answering his question, he heard his father's voice shout, "How on earth did that happen? I was so sure that I got it this time!" Loki coughed again and descended into his father's "Inventing Cave" as he was so fond of calling it.
"Father, what happened?" Loki rushed to his father's aid. Somehow, his father had managed to get his lab coat pinned to the wall with an axe, "I didn't know your invention even used an axe…"
"I'm about ready to give up on this hunk of junk!" he said as he kicked the contraption, then turned his attention to his son, "Oh, yes, that. I'm not sure, really. One second my lab coat was on my back and the next, it wasn't!" Laufé stumbled over to his lab coat and pulled the axe from it and propped it against the wall. He tugged at his coat, ripping it even more than the axe had ripped it. Loki took the coat from his father when he managed to pull it out of the wall.
"Father, why do you keep this old thing? It's so worn and stained. You have another, why don't you use it? It's much sturdier." His father's lab coat was a faded blue color with blue designs covering it. It was ripped at the cuffs and holes had made their home at the elbows. The hems were frayed and it was missing all of its buttons, and it was stained with most every color imaginable.
"Yes, yes I know. Your mother used to tell me the same thing," he paused for a moment, reminiscing of some memory Loki didn't know of. After a few moments, his father came back to reality, "Ah, Loki! I just had a most wonderful idea!" he waited for Loki to respond.
"Yes…? What is this most wonderful idea, dare I ask?"
His father walked to a pile of dusty boxes in the far corner of the room and started digging through them. Three minutes and many sneezes later, he walked back over to Loki, "My idea is this: take my lab coat and sew it up. Patch up the holes using the cloth from this lab coat," he handed Loki the unused one, "and put the buttons from this one onto mine! Genius, no?"
Loki sighed, "You're not going to get rid of it, are you?"
"Negative. Now, hand me that dog-legged clencher. It's on the work bench next to my various bobbles and whatnot." Laufé layed down and slid under the machine, "I'll get this to work, and I mean it this time!"
Loki handed his father the tool he asked for. He never did and most likely never would understand how his father remembered the names to all these strange tools. He always said that industry tools could never be trusted, so he would make his own. Loki thought it was silly, because his father used the tools me would buy to make the tools that he used. Sometimes Loki agreed that his father was quite the crazy man.
"Oh, father. The baker gave me some bread today. His apprentice, Clint, made a new flavor. He calls it 'banana nut.' I thought we could have some tonight with dinner. Speaking of which, do you want pork or chicken tonight?"
Laufé slid out from under his invention, "You decide, boy. I've got to worry about my invention. I have to make sure my invention wins first prize for the fair in two days!"
"Of course, father. Chicken it is, then!" Loki said as he walked out of the cellar.
"What a good kid. Always doing what's right..." Laufé sighed to himself as he tightened anything he could see that could possibly be tightened.
. . . . . . .
Loki set the cooked chicken on the table then went to get the plates, forks, and knives from their various respective cabinets.
As he was setting the last of the utensils, his father walked in the door.
"Who taught you how to cook like that, eh? I smelled it all the way in my Inventing Cave and it distracted me so much that I had to stop my work."
Loki laughed, "Mother taught me. Don't you remember?"
"I don't remember much of anything these days. I'm concentrating on my inventing too much." Laufé sat down in his usual seat just as Loki sat down in his, "I'm never going to fix that blasted pile of junk." Laufé's shoulders sunk.
"You always say that. But you know what, papa?" Loki rarely called his father papa. It was a special thing he called him whenever he was trying to make him feel better about his inventions.
"What?"
"You're going to fix it. I know you will, because you always do. No one else in Asguardé is an inventor. You've got me to go into town and make meals for you, so you're always in your Inventing Cave, tinkering away on whatever suits your fancy, learning more and more about inventing and how you can improve your inventions."
"You… you really think so?"
"Yes, I do. And you'll win first prize at the fair in a few days, and become a world famous inventor!"
"Do you really believe that?" Laufé asked again, very unsure.
"I always have."
"You are quite your mother's son," Laufé said as he reached across the table and patted Loki's hand, "Well, what are we waiting for? We shouldn't let this delicious food go to waste! Let's eat!" Laufé ripped a leg off of the unsuspecting roasted chicken and took a bite, "Did you remember to feed the animals today, Loki?"
"Of course, father. I never forget!"
"Ah, of course. You're too good for your own good, you know?" he laughed.
Loki smiled in response.
A few minutes later, Loki broke the silence, "I got a new book today."
"A new book? You mean old Maurice Hill got a shipment of new books? Surely you've read every book in that library already!" Laufé said through a mouthful of rice and beans.
"Sadly, no. Monsieur Hill let me keep the book that I always borrow. The one about far off places, daring battles, magic spells… Ring a bell?"
"Ahh, yes, that one! How many times have you read it? Ten?"
Loki chuckled, "Only twice, father. I wish I read it ten times, though."
"You spend an awfully large amount of time reading, don't you? How are you doing with the girls around town? You're the right age to consider marriage, you know. You ought to be thinking about them more than reading."
Loki thought for a minute, "Well, it's-it's just… I guess I'm not especially interested in them. Shouldn't a man my age be more interested in girls? It worries me."
"Ah, well, maybe you're just a late bloomer. What about that Gwenevere? She seems to be very interested in you."
Loki groaned, "Don't remind me…"
"Why? Has something happen?"
"The real question is what hasn't happened? She's beautiful, as you well know. She's just too… I don't know, conceited, I guess you could say? She ran into me today at the market, and I mean literally. She crashed right into my back, which made me drop my book in a pile of mud. I wasn't too happy about that, and she didn't seem to care. Then she said to me," Loki clasped his hands together and raised his voice a few octaves and mimicked, "Hey, how about you and I go to the tavern and have a drink? We could get to know me a little better. Then when it gets late we can go on a long walk and talk more about me and I guess we could talk about you, then I can show you my hunting trophies and you can learn even more about me!" he batted his eyelashes pathetically.
"Well nevermind her, then. You'll find the right one for you, someday."
"I hope so…"
They finished their dinner in silence. As Loki was cleaning the last of the dishes and his father was in his own world, trying to mentally fix his machine, he remembered about the bread.
"Oh, father. We need to try this bread! I've been craving it all day long, and I haven't even had a bite of it yet!" Loki wiped his hands and took the package to the table and opened it up.
"My my, Loki, this smells wonderful. Get some plates and knives and I'll cut it for us."
Loki made his way over to the cabinets for the second time that evening and took out two plates and a cutting knife, and came back to the table where his father was waiting eagerly. Loki handed him the knife and he cut two substantial slices and put them on the plates.
Laufé took a huge bite of his bread and was done before Loki was halfway done with his.
Loki took his first bite and was in heaven. The bread was so moist and delicious, and it reminded him of his mother's baking.
. . . . . . . .
Laufé leaned against the doorframe as he watched his only son sitting by the fire, stitching up his old lab coat.
"You really raised him like a daughter, didn't you?" he said to the memory of his wife. Laufé sighed and walked into his room to get into bed.
. . . . . . .
The next morning, Loki awoke to the rooster's crow. He opened his eyes and immediately shut them again. He groaned and rolled over and tried to go back to sleep, but he couldn't. He had gotten up at this hour for as long as he could remember, and he was used to it. He managed to get up and stumbled outside to feed the animals.
Feeding animals when you're partially unconscious is a challenging task, but not for Loki. Somehow he fed the chickens without hitting too many of them with the grains. Sometimes, he would give the horse the cow feed and the cow the pig feed and the pigs the horse feed, but that was only on his bad days.
Loki took a basket from where it was laying by the chicken coop and collected the unfertilized eggs. He was just about to go back inside when he heard his father shouting from the cellar.
"It works! It works!"
Loki put the basket of eggs down and ran to the cellar, surprised to find the door already open and his father attempting to push the contraption out the doors.
"I'm guessing you figured out what was wrong?" Loki asked as he tried to find a part of the invention to grasp.
"That I did! You were right, Loki. You said I could do it, and I did! I've got to get this into the wagon and head off to the fair."
Loki and his father pulled the machine up onto the grass and rolled it to the wagon, "It's a good thing you put wheels on this, or else we might never have been able to get it to the wagon. Should I make you some breakfast before you go? You need your strength," Loki and his father picked up the invention and heaved it into the bed of the wagon, "Especially since this weighs so much."
"Nah, I'll get some brutes over at the fair to get it out for me. I've got to get going now, no time to eat! It's a full day and a half's ride to the fair; I've got to leave immediately! Hitch up Sleipnir, Loki. I've got to collect some things for my trip."
Loki was going to protest, but his father was already walking toward the house. Loki walked to the stable and took the reins from a nail in a post, "Hey, Sleipnir. How's my good boy?" Loki cooed as he patted the grey stallion, and he whinnied in response. Loki put the reins on Sleipnir and guided him to the wagon and hitched him up, "I'll come back with a snack for you in a bit."
Loki walked inside to put together some food for his father's journey. He wrapped up half of the remaining bread, some fruit, and cooked chicken from the previous night's dinner and put them in his father's satchel. He filled up a water skin and placed it in the satchel next to the food.
"Where is it? It always disappears on me!" Laufé complained as he came out of his bedroom.
"Looking for this, father?" Loki held up the satchel, "I put some food in there for you."
"Ah, yes! Thank you, Loki. What would I do without you?"
"Let's not find out, hm?" Loki laughed.
Laufé took the satchel from his son and put his lab coat and a few random tools into it.
Loki grabbed an apple from the table and followed his father outside to the wagon.
"Be safe, father. Be sure to rest when you need to and when it gets dark, find somewhere safe and warm to sleep. It's getting colder now, so keep warm. Do you have your scarf, coat, and gloves?"
"Yes, Loki. I am a grown man; I think I can take care of myself!" Laufé chided.
"I know, father. I just worry."
Laufé hugged his son, "You don't need to worry. I'll go to the fair and come straight home with the first prize!"
"I know you will. Have fun!" Loki gave Sleipnir the apple, and he gobbled it up appreciatively as Laufé climbed up to the seat and sat down.
"You be safe, too, alrigh'? Don't do anything stupid." Laufé winked at his son, snapped the reins, and was off.
. . . . . . . . .
Laufé and Sleipnir had been traveling for a few hours, but it didn't seem like they were making much progress, "We should be at the first Inn by now. Maybe we missed a turn. I guess I should have taken a map... wait a minute." Laufé lifted his lantern to illuminate a sign giving directions to Anaheim and Valencia and thought for a moment, "Let's go this way."
Sleipnir looked right, at a dark, overgrown path, then left towards a more inviting route, and began to go left.
"Come on, Sleipnir!" Laufé pulled the reins to the right, leading him down the darker path, "It's a… shortcut. We'll be there in no time!"
Sleipnir and Laufé continued through the dark path.
"This can't be right. Where have you taken us, Sleipnir?" Sleipnir snorted, "We'd better turn around," Laufé tried to turn Sleipnir and the wagon around, but they got stuck between the trees, branches getting into their faces, scaring Sleipnir because he couldn't see. Acting on instinct, Sleipnir started to rear, "Whoa, whoa boy, whoa Sleipnir! Oh, oh! Look out!"
A swarm of bats flew out from behind a tree. Sleipnir ran through the forest, avoiding everything in his path until he was out of the forest and came to a cliff.
"Back up! Back up! Back up!" Laufé shouted as he tried to pull Sleipnir away from the edge of the cliff that started to crumble under the weight, "That's right, good boy, that's-back up! Steady. Steady! Hey now. Steady, Sleipnir!" Laufé's words didn't help, and Sleipnir bucked him off, throwing him to the cold ground, "Sleipnir!" Laufé called after the retreating horse, "Sleipnir?"
Laufé stood up and ran back into the woods in the direction Sleipnir ran. He was a good five minutes into the forest before it started to rain. Suddenly, Laufé heard growling and howling coming from his left. It distracted him, and he tripped over a root.
Laufé stood up and saw a pack of wolves looking hungrily at him, "Oh, no…" he ran as fast as he could, the wolves chasing him. He stumbled down a hill, and landed at the gate of a castle. He grabbed the locked gate and tried to shake it open.
"Help! Is someone there?" he pleaded.
As if in answer to his question, the gate opened, and Laufé ran in. He slammed the gate in the faces of the wolves. The wind was picking up and it blew his hat right off his head, landing next to him. He left it there, not even aware that it had fallen off. He ran to the castle doors and banged on it. It creaked open and he looked in cautiously.
Unsure if he should enter, he took his chances, and stepped inside, "Hello? Is anyone here?" he called.
He didn't know that he was being watched. He never would have guessed that the clock and candlestick were the ones watching him.
"Old fellow must 'ave lost his way in ze woods," Lumiere the candlestick said, just barely over a whisper.
"Keep quiet! Maybe he'll go away." The clock, Cogsworth, scolded.
"Is someone there?" Laufé could have sworn he heard voices.
"Not a word, Lumiere. Not one word!"
"I don't mean to intrude, but I've lost my horse and I need a place to stay for the night." Laufé said pathetically.
Lumiere looked at Cogsworth like a child having just found a lost puppy, "Oh Cogsworth, 'ave a 'eart."
"Shush!" Cogsworth put a hand over LUMIERE'S mouth, and Lumiere promptly proceeded to touch his lit candle hand to Cogsworth's own hand.
"Ow, ow, OUCH!" Cogsworth yelled, giving away that there was, in fact, someone in the castle.
Taking the chance, Lumiere said, "Of course, monsieur, you are welcome 'ere!"
Laufé looked around in confusion, and picked up the candlestick for light, not realizing that the speaker was in his hand.
Lumiere tapped him on the shoulder, "Over here, monsieur!"
Laufé spun around, moving Lumiere to the other side, "Where?"
Lumiere tapped Laufé on the side of the head. Laufé looked at Lumiere, very confused.
"'Allo!" Lumiere said cheerfully to Laufé.
"Odin's beard!" Startled, he dropped Lumiere onto the floor, then realized, in awe, that a candlestick just spoke to him, "Incredible!"
"Well, now you've done it, Lumiere," Cogsworth said as he hopped over to Lumiere, "Splendid, I tell you. Just peachy—agh!" Laufé had picked up Cogsworth, inspecting him.
"How is this accomplished?" Laufé was turning Cogsworth in all directions, trying to figure out how it was made possible.
"Put me down at once!" Cogsworth commanded.
Laufé tickled the bottoms of Cogsworth's feet, causing him to laugh. He began to wind the spring on the back of Cogsworth's head, twisting his face around with the clock hands. Laufé opened the front of Cogsworth and began to play with his pendulum. Cogsworth promptly slammed the door shut on his finger.
"Sir, close that at once, do you mind!"
"I beg your pardon, it's just that I've never seen a clock that, well, I mean-" he was cut short by a sneeze that landed on Cogsworth's face. Cogsworth proceeded to wipe his face off using his clock hands in a windshield wiper manner.
Laufé sniffled, indicating the cold he had caught from being in the rain.
"Oh, you are soaked to ze bone, monsieur. Come, warm yourself by ze fire!" Lumiere offered.
"That's just what I need right now, thank you."
Lumiere led Laufé down the corridor towards the den, with Cogsworth running after them.
"No, no, no, do you know what Master Thor would do if he finds you here?"
Little did they know, Master Thor was viewing the action from an overhead walkway, and rushed off as the trio entered the den.
"I demand that you stop right there!" Cogsworth tumbled down the steps.
Laufé took a seat in a large chair in front of a roaring fire.
"Oh, no, not the master's chair!" Cogsworth whined as a Footstool rushed past him barking up a storm, "I'm not seeing this, I'm not seeing this!"
"Well, hello there, boy. You're quite the cheerful one, aren't you?" Laufé said to the Footstool.
As the Footstool propped himself up under Laufé's feet, a Coat rack entered and removed his cloak.
"My, what service!"
"All right, this has gone far enough! I'm in charge here, and I say—" Cogsworth was cut short and was knocked to the ground due to the entrance of a teacart driven by Mrs. Potts, the teapot.
"How would you like a nice spot of tea, sir? It'll warm you up in no time," she assured as she poured some tea into a cup, which hopped over into Laufé's open hand.
From face down position on carpet, Cogsworth shouted, "No! No tea, no tea I say!"
As Laufé sipped the tea, the teacup started giggling, "His moustache tickles, momma!"
"Oh, hello!" Laufé said, startled by the teacup.
"Hello, sir! I'm Chip!" Chip said, delighted to see a few face.
The door to the den slammed open and a strong gust of wind blew into the room, extinguishing Lumiere's flames and the fire in the fireplace. Cogsworth dove for cover under the armchair. Mrs. Potts began to shake, and Chip jumped back onto the tea cart and hid behind his mother. Laufé was too afraid and startled to move.
A large, threatening shadow was cast into the room. The shadow's owner scanned the room in the darkness. Laufé looked at him from the side of the chair. It was on all fours, and was larger than a Draft horse. Golden fur covered it from nose to… tail! It had a tail! Its vibrant blue eyes were filled with fire.
"There's a stranger here." He growled.
Lumiere, who had relit his flames, said, "Master Thor, allow me to explain. Ze gentleman was lost in ze woods and he was cold and wet..." his last sentence was drowned out by the very loud growl coming from deep inside of Master Thor, which put out his flames once again. Lumiere looked down, dejected.
"Master, I'd like to take this moment to say... I was absolutely against this from the start. I tried to stop them, but would they listen to me? No, no, no!" Again, Master Thor's growl drowned out Cogsworth's ranting.
Taking in Laufé's presence, Master Thor demanded, "Who are you! What are you doing here?"
Laufé stood up and was backing away from the advancing Master Thor, "I–I was lost in the woods and a pack of wolves were chasing me..." he trailed off.
"You are not welcome here!" Master Thor swiped at him, putting four ripped slices in his shirt, and sent him crashing to the floor.
"I'm-I'm sorry! I didn't think…" Master Thor truly was a horrid sight to see.
"What are you staring at?" Master Thor barked.
Cowering under Master Thor's large figure, Laufé stammered, "Noth -nothing!" he attempted to get to the door to the den to make his escape.
Racing around and blocking the entrance with surprising speed, Master Thor spat, "So, you've come to stare at the Beast, have you?"
"Please, I meant no harm! I just needed a place to stay!"
"Oh, I'll give you a place to stay, all right!" Master Thor picked up Laufé in one large furry paw, and carried him out of the room. He slammed the door, causing Lumiere, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts, and Chip to plunge into pure darkness.