The portal opened with a quiet whoosh, and Loki stepped out onto a pleasant, if cold, beach. He still wasn't quite sure if he was ready to see this version of Thor, but he could at least take a distant look at what passed for Asgard now. He took in a deep breath of the air from the fjord, tinged with sea salt, and closed his eyes, feeling the wind whip through his hair. It wasn't home. The smells and sounds were too different, but if he tried hard enough, he could imagine the sound of the waves was the distant roaring of the great waterfall spilling into space.

"I know who you are."

The voice nearly made him jump out of his skin. He'd sensed absolutely nothing. Spinning around, dagger out, he got his first view of the speaker. It was a child. He lowered his dagger, but not too much. After all, things could look like children to lull their prey into a false sense of security. He'd done it himself more than once.

"And who am I then?" he asked, watching her carefully.

"You're my Uncle Loki," she said, grinning at him. "Uncle Thor told me all about you."

"Uncle Thor?" Loki said, doing a bit of quick calculation in his head and grimacing. "Please tell me you're not Hela's daughter."

"No," she said. "Uncle Thor says if I ever see her, I'm supposed to disappear fast."

"Wise," Loki said, chuckling, "though probably not possible."

He was immediately stunned to find the child was no longer there. He whipped his head from one side to another but could find no trace of her. That left only one other possible explanation.

"You've proven your point," Loki said, and the girl, grinning, reappeared again only a few feet away.

"I'm good at magic," she said. "Like you."

"Are you?" he said, smiling in return in spite of himself.

"Yeah, and Uncle Thor says I can be a pain in the ass like you, too," she said, giggling.

"And I'm sure he also told you not to use such language," Loki said, giving her a severe look.

The girl shrugged, not looking particularly concerned, but there was just a hint of worry around her eyes.

"Luckily, I'm not a tattletale," Loki said, flashing her a broad smile. "So what else has Uncle Thor told you about your dear Uncle Loki?"

"That you're dead, unless maybe you aren't," she said, sitting down on the sand. "He's not really sure about that. You don't look dead, though."

Loki crouched down and sat across from her, studying her face.

"No, I'm not dead, or at least not this version of me," he said.

"Also he misses you. And you have a bad temper. And you were always playing tricks and a lot of the time they didn't turn out the way you thought they would," she explained, putting her chin in her hand and returning his gaze. "Sometimes he tells me stories about you to try to show me what I'm not supposed to do."

"Does that work?"

"No," she admitted. "Mostly it just gives me ideas, like the time I turned Axel's hair green."

"Who is Axel?"

"Heimdal's son," she said. "His father died, of course, but so did mine. We have that in common."

"I am sorry to hear that, little one," Loki said, and she wrinkled her nose in dislike at the term. "Who was your father?"

"Gorr, the God-Butcher," she said. "I miss him. But Uncle Thor took me in when he died. He's nice."

"He is."

"He's also a little stupid sometimes," she said in a quiet voice.

"Also true," he said. "So you're adopted?"

She nodded.

"And you do magic."

"Yes."

"And, judging by the shirt you're wearing and the color you chose for Axel's hair, you like green."

"It's my favorite," she said.

He chuckled and muttered, "Apparently my damning fault was not having been born a girl."

"Do you want to see your brother?" she asked. "He should be at home. I'm not really supposed to go to the beach by myself, but sometimes I sort of need to. I can't explain it. I just feel better here."

"I understand. I always I felt the same way near the great waterfall," Loki said. "No, child, I don't think I'll see my brother just now."

"Okay. I won't tell him I saw you. I'm not a tattletale either," she said, standing up and shaking the sand out of the cuffs of her jeans.

"I thank you," he said, standing and bowing to her as though she were a great lady. "May I have the honor of knowing my niece's name?"

"Love."

Loki rolled his eyes.

"That must go over well in school," he said.

"It didn't at first," she said, "but they shut their mouths about it after I hung Owain from the flagpole by the seat of his pants.

Loki laughed, shaking his head, before saying, "You are most definitely my niece. I am very pleased to make your acquaintance."

She dropped a surprisingly graceful curtsy that could have been straight from the court at Asgard.

"I really should go," she said. "Uncle Thor worries when I'm too late."

"One moment."

He reached into his pocket universe and began rummaging until he found the small bag he was looking for. He hadn't been sure it would even still exist inside this timeline, and it had been many years since he'd untied the golden cords that kept the green velvet closed. Carefully, he undid them now and took out a golden necklace that glimmered with the soft radiance of magic. It was a simple design: a herringbone chain that had a clasp on one end shaped like the head of a snake with a single tiny emerald as an eye. Long ago, he had stolen it from his mother's dressing table for some petty slight, but he had kept it because he liked having something of hers with him. He motioned Love to come closer.

"Please accept this from your Uncle Loki as a token of his esteem," he said, fastening the necklace so that the snake was biting its tail, forming an ouroboros. "This belonged to your Grandmother Frigga. I believe she would like you to have it."

"It's pretty," she said, "but what should I tell Uncle Thor when he asks where I got it?"

Loki straightened the chain and then looked up at the cloudy sky.

"Tell him the sun isn't shining brightly enough yet," he said. "Perhaps someday soon it will. Farewell, Love, and be sure not to behave yourself."

"I won't!" she said, waving as Loki stepped back through the portal and disappeared.