The Spark - Chapter Four

Chapter Four
Loki had always been extremely perceptive.  He could tell a person’s nature easily, perhaps not just by looking at them, but by spending time with them and getting to know them.  Long ago had he figured out the “essence” of his family members.  Thor was the easiest—he was a warrior who acted as if he was bloodthirsty, but he was the type who cried a small creature’s death when he was a child and who still retained that sort of naïveté and hidden innocence, no matter how he tried to hide it.  Frigga was the regal queen, respected and adored by all who knew her, and this was not a façade.  What people saw in her was, for the most part, whom she was.  They did not, however, necessarily know of her “magic tricks,” as Thor called them, or her ability to defend herself against any assailant.  Odin was the strong, intolerant ruler of the universe, the All-Father, who stood for nothing but protecting the peace of the Nine Realms.

And then there was Julia.  She didn’t appear to be any different from the other Midgardians milling around them, leisurely sipping their drinks while wandering the many shelves.  There was no striking touch of destiny about her, nothing that suggested she was special, that she was to play an important role in an upcoming apocalypse.  Yet Loki was drawn to her, feeling somewhat like a moth drawn to a flame.  There was this brightness about her, this enticing glow that drew him closer.  She was attractive, to be sure, but no more attractive than the Aesir of Asgard or the other Midgardians whom Loki had seen.  If there was something special about her, it was the way a smile lit up her whole face, how she played with her hair when she couldn’t find something to do with her hands, or how endless her dark brown eyes seemed to be.  He was amused by her fascination with what she called Norse mythology, acting as if she was an expert on Loki’s own life without realizing to whom she was really speaking.  She did not believe him when he told her whom he was, and Loki knew she would not believe he was a god unless he performed some sort of magic before her eyes.  He had yet to decide, however, if he intended to take this particular course of action, if he intended to reveal his true identity, or if he would continue his game of speaking to her as if from underneath a veil.

When a lull fell over their conversation, Loki suddenly realized how he must look, completely unfocused on what she was saying and staring blankly at her cup.

“You’re not gonna get anything?” Julia asked, following his gaze.

“Erm, no,” Loki said quickly, shaking himself from his thoughts.  “I, erm . . . don’t drink . . .”  He trailed off.  What on earth was that foul, strong-smelling drink called?

“Coffee?” Julia prompted.

“Yes, that,” said Loki, relieved.  “I don’t drink coffee.”  Plus, he thought, I am not quite sure this establishment would accept Asgard’s coins as currency.

“Hm.”  Julia took another sip.  “You’re missing out,” she said.  “This is the only stuff that keeps me from turning into a zombie every day.  Just don’t like the taste, or . . .?”

“No, I cannot stand it.”  Loki figured this was pretty legitimate; the smell of it was absolutely revolting, and thus did not even want to imagine what it tasted like.

Another thing Loki noticed about Julia was that she enjoyed talking if given the chance.  When asked if she had lived in this town all her life, Julia launched into a description of where she was from—some place called Vermont—and what she was studying, and how many siblings she had—four sisters.

“What sparked your interested in . . .”  Loki struggled to remember her phrase, “Norse mythology?”  He vaguely remembered a time, in the very early years of his life, when some Midgardians had actually believed in the Aesir and had worshipped them as gods.  It was how Thor had gained his title of the God of Thunder and how Loki had garnered his respective title of the God of Mischief and Lies.  This had been in the brothers’ adolescence, within the first century of their lives.  Even then, somehow the Norse had gained such truth about their deities, sensing their essences and their true nature.  Now they were gone and the stories of the gods had fallen into legend and myth.

“My father,” Julia replied, a smile lighting her pretty face.  “He studied different sorts of mythology in college and started telling my sisters and me about them as bedtime stories when we were little.  None of my sisters ever retained any interest, but I loved it.  One year, for my birthday, he gave me The Prose Edda, and I practically devoured it that night.  I find Norse myths so much more fascinating than those of Roman or Greek.”

“Naturally,” said Loki before he could stop himself.  But Julia just smiled; she had no idea that he was actually being egotistical.

“What about you?” she asked.  “Are you interested in it at all, or do you prefer not to live up to the name?”

Loki smirked slightly.  “I live up to it just fine,” he replied.

Julia stared at him for a moment, her brow furrowing ever so slightly.  Rather nonplussed, Loki stared back, wondering if he had said something wrong.  But Julia just took a sip of her coffee before setting it back down, lightly tracing the edge of the lid with her index finger.

“Who are you?” she asked for a moment.  “I mean, really.  I’ve told you all this stuff about me, yet I don’t know anything about you.  Here I am, having coffee with a total stranger, who seems to be the type of person I wouldn’t go near on an otherwise deserted street.”

Loki arched an eyebrow.  “Well, aren’t you cruelly honest?”

Julia shrugged.  “Just plain honest.  I don’t know you and I don’t trust you.  I don’t even know if I believe that your name is actually Loki—how do I know you didn’t just use it to get my attention?”

Loki smirked slightly.  “You certainly think quite a bit of yourself if you believe that to be the case,” he said smoothly.  “As you seem not to recall, I told your friend my name before you even spoke to me and announced your . . . passion . . . for Norse mythology.  And bravo for not trusting a stranger, but my name is Loki.  If we’re being honest, then I do not care one way or the other if you believe me.  Why I am sitting here with a complete stranger whom I neither know nor trust is beyond me.  And yet here I am, and here you are.”

“Here we are,” Julia agreed quietly.

They sat in silence for a bit, both apparently contemplating their situation.  It was, indeed, a strange one.  Julia had gone off on him not long ago, and now here she was having coffee with him.  She was telling the truth when she said she didn’t trust him, and it certainly didn’t bother her that he didn’t trust her, either.  So what was the point in spending this time with him when he made her so uneasy?  Apparently Loki agreed, for after a moment, he rose to his feet.

“I must be off,” he said, turning on his most formal airs.  “It has been . . . an adventure . . . making your acquaintance.”

“So, in other words, have a nice life?” Julia replied with a rueful smile as she, too, stood.

Loki didn’t not reply.  In truth, he had no idea what she meant.  So, to cover his confusion, he took her hand in his and quickly pressed a kiss to the top of it.  When he straightened up, she was staring at him.  There was a rather quizzical look on her face, as if she couldn’t believe what he had done, as if she was trying to read his mind and see what he was thinking.   If he was so perceptive of others, then why couldn’t he know what she was thinking?

“Wait,” she said suddenly when he at last turned to leave.  She looked apprehensive.  “Maybe . . . maybe you don’t have to leave right away.”

Loki turned to face her once more, one eyebrow arched.  It was truly bothering him that he could not understand her motives, perceive her thoughts, or even understand her, period.  She was the biggest mystery to him, and yet she was just a Midgardian!  He had thought that she wanted to be rid of him, that she didn’t trust him, and now she was asking him to stay.

“Don’t I?” he drawled, sounding bored to cover his confusion.

“I want to know more about you,” Julia confessed.  “All I know is your name, and it’s taken forever for me even to believe that it is your real name.  You know more about me than I know about you, and . . . I think we should fix that.”

Loki stared at her, saying nothing.

“In public,” she added meekly.

“I have no desire to retreat to any dark corner with you, do not worry,” Loki said smoothly.  “However, the smell of this establishment is starting to become nauseating.”

If Julia was perplexed by his manner of speaking, she didn’t show it.  Instead, she led the way away from Starbucks and out of the bookshop.  Rather than finding another location at which to loiter for a further two hours, the two merely walked down the sidewalk, talking to one another and paying no mind to passers-by.  As Loki walked with her, this strange, curious young woman by whom he was so perplexed, whom he was dying to understand, he found himself forgetting.  It was as if, when he was with her, he was no longer a superior being, an Asgardian prince who saw her as nothing more than an amusing plaything.  No, as they walked side-by-side down the pavement, heading nowhere, they were equals.