Safe and Sound

A sudden rhythmic banging on Loki's cell door cause Eyfrida to jump slightly, although it had become a nightly routine for the guards to call Eyfrida away from Loki for the night. Eyfrida and Loki had been sat at the small stone dining table, adorned with a couple old melting candles and parchment spread about the surface. A great deal of time had passed since Loki's lips had been permanently sewn shut, a few months of Midgardian time, and Eyfrida had learned a great deal about reading and writing. Loki thought that she had to be getting help from some other source rather than himself, such improvements seemed impossible. He had questioned her but Eyfrida wouldn't divulge his wondering.

She had made them both tea for the remaining time she had with Loki that night and they continued reading and writing lessons. Loki looked up from her practice writings on the parchment to the door heard a guard's voice immediately follow.

“Time's up girl,” he called from outside Loki's cell, his voice muffled severely by the heavy metal and solid stone. “It's bed time.”

“Alright,” Eyfrida called back, barely lifting her head, her concentration barely faltering on what she was writing. She finished her sentence before adding, “Please give me one minute to settle Loki in.”
Loki smirked, feeling the slight discomfort of his stitching tug at his lips. The grotesque stitching had somehow bonded with his own skin over time, and they began healing up as if his own flesh had been used. It was a very unsettling sight and Loki avoided his reflection but the girl seemed fine with the deformity.

“Have I done well today?” She asked, looking up to meet Loki's eyes. He nodded simply, picking up his tea with his right hand, holding a napkin under the brim of the cup with his left as he drank more of the tea she had prepared. This is how he had to drink now, he couldn't open his mouth but a few millimeters. He also had a very hard time eating, usually resorting to simple broths and soups. Passing solid food through his stitching seemed more of a chore than it was worth.

“Do you need anything more from me, Loki?” Eyfrida asked, setting her quill down and wiping her ink-smudged hands on her dress. Loki would have tried to discourage that sort of behavior but nothing the girl owned seemed to fully come clean, or was remotely nice.

He shook his head, setting his tea back on top of the stone table. He then grabbed for her paper and quill and simply wrote, “Goodnight Eyfrida.”

She took the parchment from him, slowly sounding out the two words before she understood what he had written. “Oh, goodnight. Goodnight Loki,” she said, looking back to Loki with a smile, before standing and bowing slightly, making her way over to the cell door. “I'm ready to leave now,” she called and the door slowly swung open for her. With one last look back at Loki she disappeared through the threshold and the door closed, locking him in. Loki remained seated at the table, resting his chin on the backs of his hands, staring blankly at Eyfrida's work. There were many mistakes and her writing was sloppy, that of a young child, but he could still understand it.

He sighed through his nose, feeling the inevitable loneliness settle in fast around him. He moved forward in his seat, gathering up the papers before standing and walking across the room, slightly around the curve, and stashed the parchment in a chest under where Loki kept most of his books that had been brought to him from his old chambers in the palace. Eyfrida wasn't skilled enough to read let alone comprehend their context, but that's what Loki was eventually aiming for. With all the time in the universe Loki would eventually be able to teach Eyfrida to read each and every one.

After staring at his books listlessly he eventually wandered back to the table, quickly finishing his tea before setting it on the stone counter of his simple kitchen near the ever-flowing stone basin. After, he blew out both of the candles (that had melted and sealed themselves in their places n the table) before walking, now nearly blind from the dark in his cell, to his bed. He kicked off his shoes, picking them up and placing them neatly on top of another chest across from his stone bed where he kept his clothes. He then withdrew from his robe, laying it across the dresser before also removing his chemise, folding it neatly and placing that on top of the dresser as well. As he turned back to the bed he undid the fastenings of his trousers, loosening up the ties enough for them to be semi comfortable when he laid in bed.

He made sure to keep a habit of remaining at least semi-clothed when he slept because he hadn't gotten used to telling time with just his body yet, and when he did sleep Eyfrida always awoke and entered his chambers to begin her morning chores before he was awake. Being caught nude wouldn't exactly embarrass Loki, but he had no idea how Eyfrida would react to such a situation. He doubt that she had even seen a man fully naked before.

“Hm,” he half sighed, half hummed at his thought, the sound harshly slicing through the deafening silence in his cell. He shifted his weight across his bed, readjusting his body under and above the furs and quilts, laying his head on top of his left forearm. Though the bed had many covers he could still feel the cold hard stone beneath him. Getting comfortable was surprisingly easy, but maintaining that comfort was very difficult and lead Loki to many sleepless nights.

He couldn't blame his stone mattress for the entirety of his lack of sleep however, it was mostly due to Lacy. No matter how much he tried to occupy or clear his mind completely, Lacy always found some way in. She always brought sorrow, remorse, intense pain, and sometimes even self hate with her and left Loki unable to sleep, for multiple nights in a row until his tired mind would eventually shut down unconsciously. But this night was quickly developing to not be one of these nights.

Instead of focusing on loosing her, Loki usually tried to force himself to just think about her. For the first night since he had been back to Asgard he finally achieved this, after a few hours of course. He was nearly asleep, just remembering Lacy's smile, how she talked, the ways she moved. Very simple things, as Loki was slowly lulled into sleep. Until suddenly he realized something was wrong.

His eyes shot wide open then, feeling his arm had gone numb from laying on it for a few hours. He didn't bother correcting himself however, but stared up into the blackness of his room, despair violently washing over him; all because he couldn't remember how long her hair was. He sat up then, rubbing his face with the hand that he could feel, desperately trying to imagine Lacy's hair. He knew it was long but how long? Past her shoulders? All the way down her back? The sudden panic soon left him wondering if anything he could remember was correct. How bright were her eyes, what color were her lips?

“Oh no,” he thought, staring in front of him, trying to imagine Lacy there. “How could you forget? How could you have forgotten her?” He took in a deep breath, holding it in his lungs until he felt as if they were going to burst, before letting his breath back out and calmed himself.

“What would it matter anyways?” he wondered to himself, his head slightly falling, being held in is hand now, while the other one stung as the nerves woke back up. “She's gone... you're never getting her back...”

Loki shut his eyes tightly, trying to rid himself of the thought that Lacy had already moved on with someone new, some unworthy Midgardian filth. Feeling anger now swell in is chest, replacing the despair he took another few even breaths, leveling himself out because he could sense people coming to him.

The thought was barely gone from his mind before Loki realized, with a start, that he wasn't supposed to know things like that anymore, he was powerless and his intuition was gone. He was ready to dismiss the odd sensation he was once familiar with, but the feeling was still around him, like a light scent on a breeze. He moved his legs off of the bed, standing on the cold stone floor and slowly walked around the stone center of his cell until he had a dim view of his cell door. He stood, quiet and still, as he felt the feeling grow slightly stronger before disappearing all together as he tried to concentrate on it.

Loki's eyebrows knitted together, wondering what had happened before the door suddenly unlocked and slowly swung open to reveal Eyfrida. Though tired, she looked shocked to see Loki already standing in front of her. She didn't speak however, but instead opened the door wider so she could step inside and let in a hooded figure. Loki suddenly regained his tall posture, taking one step back before the stranger threw off his hood and was revealed only to be Thor.

“Forgive my sudden calling brother,” Thor spoke lowly as more people entered Loki's cell, he immediately recognized them all. Fandral from his smug gait, Hogun by how he held his arms, Volstagg simply from his gut and his smell of ale, fruit, and meat, and lastly Sif, because he used to watch her for hours when he was much younger. Without much acknowledge for the previous three, Loki kept his eyes both on Sif and Thor. A sudden thought crossed Loki's mind that they were here to kill him and he unconsciously tensed.

Eyfrida had already fetched Thor some parchment and a quill, lighting the candles on that side of Loki's cell after so the visitors weren't left in a cloak of shadow. Thor took the things, without any acknowledgment of Loki's servant and moved forward to Loki, offering him the things.

“I have a proposition for you brother, just know that if you try and escape,” Thor spoke as Loki took the quill and parchment, still staring at his brother, then back to Sif, "we will kill you."

Thor sat at the stone table and Loki slowly followed him, setting down the parchment to write, “What are you speaking of?”

“You can't stay in this cell for the rest of your life, but I can't change that. We can, however, take you out at night a couple times a season,” Thor proposed but Loki only stared back at him, his quill hovering above the parchment without anything to write. After a long moment, Loki looked over to the group Thor had brought, trying to see any deceit etched in their shadowed faces, and lingering on Sif longer as he noticed her eyes land on his scarred lips before looking finally to Eyfrida, who remained obediently silent and still away from the visitors.

Eyfrida already had her eyes on Loki, how he wanted, and he looked at her a moment, wondering what her take was on this before he looked behind him to where his clothes were laid out. She seemed to understand what Loki wanted and moved to collect his clothes for him, also grabbing out his cloak as well.

“This better not be trickery,” Loki wrote as Eyfrida collected his things, sliding the parchment to Thor.

“No, I find it's best to leave the trickery to you,” Thor answered as he read, barely smiling at Loki. Loki accepted that answer, standing to take the clothes offered to him before dressing himself.

Thor and his posse had taken Loki, much to Loki's surprise, at the content of the guards, and smuggled him off someplace deep and virgin in Asgard. It took Loki nearly an hour to arrive with them. The whole ride shocked Loki's senses into working again, though he didn't realize they had stopped. His eyes had trouble adjusting long distances through the glow of Asgard's moons, his nose picked up every small hint of Asgard's nature, the smells vibrant and nearly giving him a headache. The fresh air alone tingling his skin, being such a drastic change from his small and dingy cell.

Naturally, Loki was planning on how to escape but every time a single thought kept popping up into his head; he couldn't just leave Eyfrida. She was snuggled up in front of him on the horse he rode, wearing, nearly swimming in, another one of Loki's cloaks, seeing that the girl owned no actual riding clothes of her own. And, though it wasn't Asgard's frost season yet, there was a chill carrying on the breeze that nearly bothered Loki himself.

He got off of his horse after Thor and everyone else, helping Eyfrida down last. Still amazing Loki, the Warriors Three nor the Lady Sif paid much attention to him after the matter. “Stay in sight Loki,” Thor spoke, leading Loki's horse to the others and tying them up while Sif and Hogan began a campfire, Fandral and Volstagg standing around like the useless beings they usually were.

Eyfrida stood close to Loki, holding up the hem of the cloak she was borrowing so it wouldn't drag on the ground due to the near drastic height difference between herself and Loki. He himself stood still, not exactly knowing what to do with himself but altogether savoring the feeling of fresh air and being outside his cell. Even such a small change made Loki feel alive again.

Eventually the two had wandered, but not far from Thor and the rest, into a small clearing and Loki, though he was sitting still with his eyes closed, just trying to absorb as much as he could, he could nearly feel Eyfrida staring up at the stars blatantly. He peeked over at her, opening his right eye and peering past the hood of his cloak to the girl, who had her hood down and her head thrown nearly as far back as she could, staring up at the vast sky. The chill in the air left her freckled cheeks as well as the tip of her nose tinted pink, though she seemed to not even notice.

Loki almost wanted to reach out, push back her light red hair and study her big eyes that were reflecting the sky in miniature nearly perfect. He quickly shook away that thought and instead, though he had lost his interest in astrology and the like after being cast out into space itself, looked up at the sky as well. He remembered something she had told him once before, when he was still capable of speaking, about a constellation and he looked back to her, getting her attention.

She jumped slightly as he laid his hand on her shoulder, before looking over to him silently. He then removed his hand, holding it out and it only took her a moment to realize he wanted the satchel she had brought with parchment, a few quills and ink.

“You once told me about a constellation,” Loki quickly wrote out handing Eyfrida back the parchment. Though it was bright enough out to read, she still had a bit of trouble reading, especially the last word, attempting to sound it out but only butchering the entire sentence. Quickly Loki reached over, crossing out the words “a constellation” and underneath writing “stars”.

“Oh,” she smiled, immediately understanding. “You mean the ones that remind me of my father's freckles?” she asked, looking over to Loki from the parchment and he nodded once. “Well...” she said, throwing her head as far back as her neck would allow, her hair falling out of her face and down her back as she searched. Loki kept his eyes on her though, until she crudely pointed upwards, a bit to her right and looked back down at him. He blinked, quickly clearing thoughts of her from his mind before attempting to see what she was pointing at.

“See those three brighter stars, kind of in a line?” she asked him, trying to trace the stars she mentioned. It took Loki only a moment to realize she was speaking of Orion's belt. He almost brought his head back down to write what she had been pointing to before she continued. “And then on either sides, down two stars and they connect in the middle. I have no idea what that odd shape is supposed to be.”

Loki looked over to Eyfrida, an eyebrow raised high on his forehead before looking back up to Orion's belt and trying to follow hat sh had said. Soon he realized that she was speaking of Orion's bottom half and the ears and tail of Lepus. He chuckled, the sound staying in his mouth as Eyfrida looked down from the stars and to him.

“Whats funny?” she asked, a smile slowly spreading across her face. It would take Loki quite a few sentences to explain what she thought was only one constellation was two.

Deciding to try and stay simple, he started off writing, “Those first three stars are called Orion's belt.” On the bottom of his parchment he drew it out. “Below that are his feet,” he added, then placing more dots underneath the belt. “And then you continued on to another constellation, Lepus. You've included his ears and tail.”

Eyfrida began to read what Loki had written, mumbling the words to herself, and almost failing to complete the first sentence. This had been the most Loki had written for her aside from attempting to teach her. He fought the urge to shake his head at her and give up, something he had been forcing himself to learn was extreme patience. It would be easy for him to just dismiss her and stop caring but she was the only one in Asgard who truly cared for him. Loki had no idea when he started caring about what was fair but it was only fair to the poor girl to try.

“And then... you... con-... con-...” she was saying, still attempting to read Loki's words. Amongst the jumbled mess pouring from the girl's mouth he heard dry grass quietly crunching behind them and he looked behind himself, barely able to see past his hood, that Sif was slowly walking up on them. Dread nearly overtook him, as he felt an unsettling chill flow straight through his chest.

He turned forward as Eyfrida noticed the visitor, though she became as silent as Loki. “What are you doing out here?” Sif spoke quietly, only enough for Loki and Eyfrida to hear.

Eyfrida immediately looked from Sif to Loki, silently asking for permission to speak, an act that shouldn't have annoyed Loki but it did greatly. He resisted a glare at the girl, only curtly nodding before looking forward again.

“I was asking Loki about some stars,” Eyfrida replied to Sif, in a quiet but high pitched voice. Loki had realized that she only spoke like that when she was uncomfortable, or rather shy.

“I thought you couldn't read?” Sif spoke plainly, and Loki could tell she had crossed her arms. “Do you need help?” she then offered, surprising Loki enough for him to look back u to where she stood.

Eyfrida looked to Loki again, for permission as she gingerly bit at her rosy bottom lip. Loki wanted to tell Sif off, to make her leave them alone and that Eyfrida was doing fine. Only his lips could barely part enough for him to drink water, let alone speak. So, as he found himself doing a lot, he pushed his feelings down and moved over to make room for Sif to sit in between himself and Eyfrida.

“Let me see the paper,” Sif spoke as she sat between them and Eyfrida obeyed, handing over her and Loki's brief conversation. Sif read it all first, catching up on what was being talked about before telling the girl, “apparently you're confusing a group of stars for one constellation, when they're actually two.”

“Oh,” Eyfrida said, looking almost afraid to look away from her and back up to the stars.

“Orion and Lepus...” Sif began again, looking to the brilliant sky for herself. “I never cared much for the stars,” she stated simply and Loki couldn't stop himself from snorting. He knew Sif cared more for practicality, no matter how dull the matter or subject was. “What stars were you showing her?” she then asked Loki, ignoring his obvious disapproval and he looked at her with an eyebrow raised, his frowning lips hidden behind an array of healing scars. Did she really not know the constellation Orion? It was easy enough for even simple humans to find.

Loki took the parchment from her, and the quill from Eyfrida before smugly writing, “Orion is between Sirius and Taurus,” knowing that he in a sense answered her question, but would still leave her confused.

“Ha-ha,” she said dryly upon reading his words. “Show me Loki,” she continued to push and Loki found himself shocked that she actually cared enough to do so. Loki spotted Eyfrida poking around the side of Sif, smiling at him, the smile was different than what he had seen before. She looked devious and Loki hadn't realized that since he had been imprisoned,that aspect of his life had disappeared, he hadn't even thought about mischief these past weeks. His mind had been consumed by the girl herself.

The simple gesture left Loki feeling like he had finally taken a breath of life after being dead inside, and any negativity he had felt with Sif vanished temporarily. For the first time he felt as if things would be alright.