Loki felt his eyes growing heavy and his head bobbed. He was about to fall asleep in the chair again. Straightening, he shook his head to try and stay awake. He managed a small time spell that told him it was just midway to dinner.

Yawning, he gave a small stretch. Slítas was asleep on his lap and he didn't want to wake him so Loki didn't stand up to try and coax his body awake. As he lowered his arms he looked at Tilaria as she slept. Why wouldn't she wake up?

*Why don't you go find a bed?* a voice whispered in his head.

Loki almost fell out of the chair in surprise from the voice, and Slítas fell out of his lap. Slítas hissed as he landed on his back upside-down, having been woken up quite rudely.

"Tilaria?" Loki asked.

Tilaria opened her eyes, and said *hello* telepathically, not trusting her voice.

"You're awake," Loki smiled and brightened. "Don't move, I'll be right back."

Tilaria watched in amusement as Loki tripped over the leg of his chair as he tried to run to the door. He fell with an oomph and got back to his feet in a flash. When Loki pushed open the door to the main medical ward where the healers were he almost slammed it open and startled the Silver Arrow who was standing guard by the door.

She half-drew her shortsword at Loki's loud exit as he ran past her calling for Fey and Eir. His voice was cheerful, and the Silver Arrow curiously peered inside the doorway to try and figure out what had happened. Tilaria was sitting up in bed and rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand, awake at last. There was no cause for alarm here, and she sheathed her blade with a click. Her collapsed recurve bow in her hand was clipped back onto her belt.

Slítas rolled over onto his belly and shook his head. He lifted his head off the ground and stuck out his tongue in the direction Loki had went in an immature fashion. Loki hadn't even bothered to make sure he was okay before running from the room. His Jötunn friend could be quite annoying Slítas thought as he slithered up the leg of the chair and coiled on the seat cushion with a sound that sounded distinctively like a huff.

Loki came back before long with Fey at his side. Fey went and checked on Tilaria, motioning for the girl to lay back down for the moment, and Loki stood by his chair. He thought about sitting down, but saw his cobra had already occupied the seat.

Slítas raised his head and stuck his tongue out at Loki again before laying his head down. Loki stared, wondering what he had done to deserve that. Then he remembered he had left Slítas lying on the floor and shyly knelt in front of his cobra.

"I'm sorry for leaving you on the floor Slítas," Loki told him honestly. "I was excited that Tilaria was awake finally."

Slítas half-tilted his head towards Loki without raising it, and Loki reached out and scratched Slítas behind his crystals. The place was something of a sweet spot, and Slítas flared his hood slightly in pleasure. Loki smiled victoriously and risked picking up his snake. Although Slítas had never bitten Loki using his venom that turned blood to ice before, he did not want there to be a first time.

Slítas looked at Loki as if debating whether or not to do just that, but settled down and slithered up Loki's right jacket sleeve to his usual perch with his head poking out of Loki's collar. His crystals were a relaxed dark blue. The crystals Slítas had were ice as well as mineral, and a trait unique to a few creatures of Jötunnheim.

There were three crystals in a bunch that grew from the outer corner, or lateral canthus, of each of his eyes. They were shaped like narrow pentagonal prisms, about twice as long as they were wide, and tipped with a pentagonal pyramid. The crystal in the middle of the three was slightly longer and larger than the two on either side of it.

He had a total of six crystals, two bunches of three which mirrored each other with bilateral symmetry. His crystals didn't do much but provide him with an exotic look, but they did change color depending on his moods. The dark blue they were currently colored was because he was relaxed and willing to forgive Loki.

Loki and Slítas were both shooed away by Fey suddenly. Fey had decided that Tilaria had recovered and now needed the boys to leave so she could change back into her clothes in peace. They did so, leaving Fey to shake her head that they had hung around to begin with.

"I'll have some food sent up while you change," Fey informed Tilaria.

Tilaria nodded, and Fey also left. Once the door closed Tilaria changed from the temporary clothes she had been given back into her pink outfit. Her right bracer had been badly torn from Arlen's strike, and Tilaria used a touch of magic to fix it. The effort of the charm left her a little dizzy, but she put the bracer on anyway.

Food came in due course, and Tilaria gladly ate to restore her strength sapped by the blood magic and the forceshield.

The matter of the forceshield was a fierce debate between the mages. As non-Asgardian magic the barriers that protected Asgard should have shut it down immediately. That wasn't what happened though, and the barriers didn't sound the alarm that there was a hostile foreigner trying to kill Prince Thor and his brother.

How had Arlen managed to skirt the barriers senses? The barriers were Asgard's first and primary line of defense so for Arlen to have managed this was troubling. Whatever had happened, it was clear that Arlen knew something he shouldn't. It was unfortunate that he was dead and his secret to dodging the barriers had died with him. Now the flaw in the barriers would never be found, or fixed.

If Arlen knew of this weak link then it was possible the other Ljósálfr with him did as well, which meant that the ambassadors were a security risk. So once Tilaria finished eating, she and the three surviving members of Arlen's escort were ushered to the Bifrost so they could return to Alfhiem. Hallien wanted them and Arlen's body back as soon as possible, so the action did not look as suspicious or desperate as it could have.

They were there now, and against Odin' judgment he had allowed his sons to see Tilaria off. The princes stood with Tilaria as Arlen's escort left with his body. Tilaria was the next to leave despite awakening less than an hour before. She understood that Asgard wouldn't be thrilled to have the Light Elves here since Arlen had gone around the barriers, and Loki had said she had used shadow magic. Although the element of darkness was not forbidden like her blood, its use still made the Æsir uneasy.

"Tilaria," Loki asked had while he had the chance as Heimdall reset Bifrost for her departure. "Why were you spying on us while Thor was sparring?"

Tilaria shrugged, a little unsure how to answer. "I was curious more than anything. There are many stories about the Æsir on our realm, and about Asgard's princes."

"Stories about us?" Thor asked in surprise, imagining the tales told about him.

Tilaria nodded. "It's said that Mjölnir, the weapon forged from the heart of a dying star, has chosen you to be its wielder, Thor. Once you are old enough and worthy of its power you will wield it."

"That's right," Thor said excitedly.

"Until Thor masters his connection with Mjölnir all he does is make it rain," Loki interrupted, earning a scowl from Thor. "You've been bonded to Mjölnir to a century Thor, you should know by now how to control the storms."

Thor looked away with a humph, wishing he did know. The sooner he got control over Mjölnir's magic the sooner he could wield it.

Tilaria wondered if the brothers always picked on each other as she kept speaking. "There are also tales about something else that happened a century ago. Loki, did you really use the Tesseract? No mortal can even touch it without being vaporized from its power, and you not only survived, but used its power."

"I did," Loki nodded, "but it's not like it dosed me or anything. A mortal like me getting a dose of energy from the Tesseract would vaporize me."

"And you lost the Tesseract right after that," Thor reminded his brother.

This time Loki gave Thor the irritated look at the reminder that Loki had thrown the Tesseract into the Void around Asgard where it had vanished to keep it from Nira. As it was the Infinity Stone of Space, it could have teleported itself anywhere once its power activated, maybe even to a place outside the Nine Realms. The Tesseract's current location was unknown, and "up for grabs" so to speak.

"We'll tell you about what happened last century when you come back," Thor promised Tilaria. "There was a lot of stuff like Nira, an attack by the Jötnar, Freyr's betrayal, and then Nira coming back again."

"Thor," Loki interrupted in an exasperated tone in, "you do realize that you're missing a few events?"

"But that's the important stuff," Thor defended.

"That's just the battles," Loki argued.

"Exactly," Thor agreed. "The important stuff that makes it interesting to listen to."

"You're a moron," Loki sighed and closed his eyes.

"Heiress," Heimdall interrupted the children gently, "I am ready to send you home."

Heimdall had been ready for some time now, but he hadn't wanted to interrupt their conversation.

"Very well Heimdall," Tilaria said respectfully.

She turned to the princes, and both looked sad.

"I'll be back as soon as I can," Tilaria lied smoothly. "Maybe a week or so when Hallien sends another ambassador, if he does, and if Odin allows him."

"A week," Thor agreed with a sad look after a pause.

*A week* Tilaria repeated telepathically.

She knew that she was lying. After all, she had killed Arlen, the person Hallien considered his brother. Hallien would make her pay for ending his life even if it was done to save Odin's son, or perhaps because it was done to save Asgard's heirs. It was doubtful that she would live for more than a few minutes after she returned to Alfhiem.

The brothers didn't know that though, and Tilaria didn't want them to know that. Her eyes flickered over to Loki, and decided that maybe she could still end her visit with them smiling.

*Do you want to help me with my spells when I return?* She asked Loki without moving her lips.

Loki had figured out how to respond telepathically and he did so, although he was surprised Tilaria was speaking to him.

*Sure* Loki agreed with a smile. *If you'll show me some of the Ljósálfr's spells.*

*Agreed* Tilaria told him and let her telepathy fade.

"Goodbye," Thor said.

"Bye," Loki said as well.

"Goodbye both of you," Tilaria told them.

Then she walked over to where Heimdall was patiently waiting. The gateway to Bifrost activated and the brothers stood still as lightning crackled around the Observatory, watching it activate in awe. Tilaria's image became a silhouette in the intense light of Bifrost and then she was gone.

The Princes stood there for a brief time, looking after her, and Heimdall did not make the princes leave. They finally left and walked over to where their horses were. Although the mages had teleported the Ljósálfr over to Bifrost, Thor and Loki had caught up to them on their horses.

Trying to run the length of Bifrost was insane, and Loki's magic was still drained from being used in Tilaria's blood spell to teleport them. The brothers mounted up and started to walk their horses along the Rainbow Bridge to Gladsheimr.

"Wait a minute," Thor said suddenly as something dawned on him. "Her lips weren't moving."

"Hmm?" Loki asked.

"When she said 'a week!'" Thor explained. "Her lips weren't moving. How did I hear her?"

"She's a telepath." Loki answered Thor as if it were common knowledge, taking pleasure in Thor's stunned appearance.

"She's a WHAT!" Thor demanded. "WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN!"

"She was born with the ability, like all true telepaths are," Loki assured Thor. "It's sort of like my ice."

Loki wondered briefly why he could manipulate his ice so well since he was an Æsir and not a Jötunn. He brushed it off as he usually did, deciding it couldn't be that important.

"Hey wait a minute," Thor demanded suddenly as he realize something suddenly. "She said something to you after she said a week. I know she did. You smiled!"

Loki clicked his horse into a trot with a soft laugh, daring his brother to catch him silently.

Thor put his heels to his horse to catch up, with a complaint of, "BROTHER!"

Tilaria had gotten her wish, and the visit had ended for them in a smile.

Are you surprised that Tilaria is going to be killed? She knows she is, but she's going back anyway. I suppose she's doing it because she doesn't trust Asgard enough to tell them what's going on because if she had then Odin might have let her stay as a sort of protective custody. Believe it or not, Hallien is going to be very grateful to have Tilaria's help shortly. How well they can work together remains to be seen.