Cold Touch

4

A dull grew powder fluttered weakly around the plant, drawing her closer to the plant as though it called to her inwardly.

As he worked, the slumped flower lay pitifully against the snowy covered dirt. The pot seemed to create its own environment, matching the requirements of the plant it housed.

Moving even closer still, she faintly recognized the curse words that fell from the god's lips. He was in a frenzy at that point, and neither seemed to realize that her hand was extended toward the angelic looking plant, as he poured the little amount of magic he still had left into this thing.

"Loki enough." Even to her own ears, the words sounded foreign leaving her lips.

"No." His voice was weak and horse, a hint of franticness underlying the word.

"You aren't strong enough. I'm too far gone." Slowly touching his shoulder, she felt as though the sweet smell had filled her body. Taking over all of her senses, leaving her body limp and complacent.

"You know nothing about what I may or may not be able to do."

"Loki."

A sharp smack echoed in the dense greenhouse air; the grey dust that had wafted around the Valkyrie retreated towards the hunched flower once more leaving the woman sputtering on her knees.

"Do not lay your filthy hands on me again."

She looked up at him with shock riddling her trembling form. The nightmare, waking up in a strange place. The dying plant. Whatever the grey powder was, left her vulnerable and confused. Looked over at the dastardly thing, she saw it for what it truly was, racking her brain for the name she had first heard many years before.

It only grows in the coldest snow in Jotunheim, she recalled faintly. The rare Jötnar Snow Crocus. Its magical properties were revered, even in the sparkling city of Asgard. Few had ever seen the iridescent flower, and it surprised the young woman that Loki had been able to acquire such a rare item, let alone keep it alive.

Feeling a bit better after a moment, she rose to her feet with a new found purpose, the flower needed her strength and she needed Loki's trust.

"What do you think you are doing?"

Looking over at the man sharply, she gestured to the dying plant, "If you want your precious thing to live, I would suggest you keep your protests to yourself for a moment longer."

Loki curtly nodded in her direction, accepting and acknowledging her help, though it pained him very much to do so. His beloved plant had but a few days left without some sort of intervention, and he knew his magic would need weeks to regenerate beyond mere parlor tricks.

Taking a deep breath, she placed her hands directly on the feeble stem. Doing her best to stay in control, she eased a bit of magic into its roots. Testing the waters slowly while she feed the parasitic plant distastefully.

Slowly, its stem strengthened. Re-growing the disintegrating sections with ease. The grey dust had brightened to a brilliant silver, and its clear petals lifted and spread outwardly, absorbing all the sun they could manage to get.

"I will not do this again."

Pushing her away from his precious plant, he scoffed at her words, "You will never need to. Nor would I want you to."

Blue eyes slid over her supple body, lingering on the bruised cheek, "Do not touch what is not yours. Especially in this place, dangerous things lurk in this room if you do not know what it is you are dealing with."

"I forgive you." She offered rather weakly. Still drained from the parasite and also from the magically transfer.

"I did not ask for your forgiveness."

Not wanting to be in this place any longer than necessary, she moved away from the plant and exited the room before any other magical herb could infect her mind.

After a few seconds delay, Loki moved away from the Jötnar Snow Crocus and toward the retreating woman. Taking a moment to, once again, appreciate her form. He silently thanked her because none of his pets were as exotic or as hard to acquire as the one she had saved. All the others be re-established, or re-purchased, that one could not. That one was special.

"What happened?"

The question was not lost on the man but he took his sweet time answering. Moistening scared lips with his red tongue tentatively, "You passed out."

"Pardon me?"

"You heard me the first time."

Sitting upon the plush bed, she glanced up at his disheveled appearance, dull onyx hair still tangled and messy. Obviously his mind had been elsewhere and not on his own wellbeing for the duration of the previous night.

"You must rest Loki. There is much we need to discuss."

"Then we should talk now before Odin changes his mind about my imprisonment."

"You sound bitter."

"I am a Frost Giant, I am not an emotionless void Valhalla."

"Contrary to all else that has been said about you?"

"You mustn't believe all that is said about those around you," leaning against his wardrobe, Loki took a moment to rub his slender hands against his sharp facial features wearily. "It leaves you expecting the absolute worst."

"But was it not you that massacred hundreds of innocent Midgardians?"

"Do you not pick and choose those that die for your own personal gain?"

"You know absolutely nothing about me."

"Do consider your own words when speaking of others Valhalla."

Loki hadn't let her words get a rise out of him. His body was far too fatigued to fight, though in a few days' time, his reaction would be much different than his current one.

"After your spat with Odin," he began, "the Allfather left and you collapsed into my arms. Of course, in my current state I was in no condition to catch you adequately and we both fell. The guards that had previously wished little more than death upon me, helped carry you to my chambers and freed my mouth."

Nodding she slumped back down into the bed, wishing for a moment, that she could disappear. "I apologize for that."

A slight burning sensation started forming at the abused skin around her ankle, warning her of the emotional bubble inside her chest that would soon burst at the seams. "I must go. When you have recovered slightly, I will be in the great hall speaking with Thor. Some bridges must be mended."

Nodding slightly, Loki turned his back to her, resting a palm on the sturdy wardrobe. Taking a long drawn-out breath as the door closed.

Power was shifting and it seemed that only the Valkyrie knew where the shift was coming from. Though he didn't like it, she would make an amazing ally or a terrible enemy. It seemed, considering everything that had occurred as of late, that he didn't actually have much of a choice in the matter anymore. He was to answer to her beck and call until he discovered the rules of this game they had begun to play.