Loki slid the empty box in front of Fari as the musical mechanism within it wound down, the last notes tinkling out slowly. She stared blankly at the gold velvet lining.

“Where–”

Fari stood from the chair, stumbling to the door, struggling to open it, finally succeeding and rushing outside into the rainy night, doubling over as she vomited the ale she had drunk into the grass just as Loki appeared in the doorway carrying the lantern. Loki reached her as she stood upright, her body trembling,

“I waited so long…this isn't how...I...I didn't see this...” Fari said quietly, speaking to herself before turning to face Loki with fear filled eyes.

Though Loki recalled little of his past with the Interdite woman, at the same time he felt as if he knew her intimately. Though empathy did not come easy to him, or rather he had learned long ago to tamp it down into the deepest depths of his mind where he had difficulty retrieving it, it now erupted within him like a fount. Cradling her head between his hands, he gently placed his lips on her forehead, closing his eyes…

As he opened them he found himself standing in a long hallway warmly lit by art deco sconces casting jagged shadows on the rose hued walls, rich patterned carpet beneath his feet instead of stubby grass, Fari now stood at his left in her mentally cast mortal guise, hanging onto his arm as he held a key in his right hand, turning it in the door’s lock.

“After you,” he said with a grin, gesturing after opening the varnished wood paneled door as Fari stepped through the doorway into the darkened flat.

Entering behind her, Loki pushed the top of two round buttons on the wall, switching on the glass shaded pendant chandeliers hanging above, illuminating the large furnished sitting room, closing the door behind them.

Bookcases of mahogany filled with leather bound volumes stretched almost to the ceiling along one muted gold painted wall. A settee and a matching set of chairs upholstered in thick wine colored brocade were arranged around a marble topped table, the shiny finish of the hardwood floors reflected the light where it wasn’t covered with expensive handwoven rugs. An ornately carved clock hung on the wall, its pendulum swinging rhythmically from side to side as it ticked away the seconds.

“This is my home now?” Fari asked in wonder, walking to the middle of the room and turning slowly in a circle, taking it all in.

“The hotel was only temporary. It's all yours...everything. Come see,” Loki told her, taking her hand and leading her across the room to what appeared to be a large standing cabinet, “Open it.”

Fari tentatively lifted the top, the hinges catching and holding it open as it was designed to do, to reveal the phonograph’s turntable upon a green felt surface, a record already placed on it.

“What is it?” inquired Fari.

“It’s rather clever…for mortals,” Loki said as Fari watched him turn the crank for a few moments before sliding the switch, setting the record to spin, lifting the needle and placing it on the heavy, thick black shellac disk. Brass horns, woodwinds, a piano, along with a banjo playing an upbeat tune flowed from the speaker, Loki opening the wooden doors over it to increase the volume and clarity, “There are others in the cabinet below. There’s a shop down the street where you can buy more. What do you think?”

“It’s wonderful,” Fari replied, watching the record spinning in awe.

“Would you care for a dance?” Loki asked, extending his hand.

“I’ve never danced…I don’t know how.”

“There’s nothing to it. Follow my lead,” Loki smiled, leading her away from the phonograph to the middle of the room, taking one of her hands as he moved her other to rest on his shoulder as he placed his at her waist, leading her through a simple, quick two step in time with the music.

“Keepin’ out of mischief now, really I’m in love and how! I’m through playing with fire. It’s you whom I desire…” the male vocalist sang, “All the world can plainly see, you’re the only one for me. I have told them in advance they can’t break up our romance. Livin’ up to every vow. Keepin’ out of mischief now…”

“It’s a lie,” Fari said after the music and their dance had come to an end, Loki releasing her.

“What is?” Loki asked, confused.

“The song.”

“Oh…” Loki said, understanding her meaning, “I suppose it is...in part. Do you think that bumbling bobby has located his hat yet?” he asked with an impish grin.

Fari giggled, before the smile faded from her face as she turned from Loki, crossing to one of the windows, peering out of it at the traffic and people on the busy London street below. Loki, puzzled by her sudden change in demeanor, watched her for a moment before joining her.

"What is it?" asked Loki.

“You’re leaving soon,” she said dolefully.

“I'm afraid I must. Some might begin to ask questions if I’m away too often for too long. I’ve seen to it you have everything you need.”

“When will you come back?”

“A week… two, perhaps,” Loki answered.

“You've been so kind,” Fari said as she focused on a man and woman strolling by arm and arm down the sidewalk below, “I sensed there are those in Asgard who don’t believe you to be. Why?”

“It’s…complicated. Too many in Asgard have the sense of humor of a bilge snipe, my father among them.”

“It was not always so. He has been king a long time. He has experienced much. The scars one can see are not the only ones he bears.”

“That may be,” Loki replied, appearing thoughtful, “Like you, I know what it is…to feel you don’t belong…to be different.”

“You are…different.” Far said, turning to face him.

“All will be well. I must take my leave now," Loki told her, lifting her hand to kiss it before appearing to rethink the gesture, lowering it, instead softly kissing her forehead, “I will return. I swear to you.”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Loki opened his eyes to find himself once again in Interdis, standing outside the cabin, soaked by the rain, realizing the memory that had been restored he had just re-lived had in real time lasted but a moment. As he led Fari back to the cabin, she clinging to his arm for support, out of the corner of her eye to her left she caught sight of a grayish white shape lying in the grass in the glow of the candle lantern. Releasing Loki’s arm, she started in its direction, Loki at first assuming she was going to be sick once again.

“What is it?” Loki asked, joining her as she stared down at the goat lying motionless on the wet grass in the rain now illuminated by the candlelight.

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“Mileetza,” Fari said softly, sadly, as she knelt down, reaching out and placing a gentle hand on its furry side, Loki kneeling beside her, both of them simultaneously noticing the green ooze mixed with blood around its mouth and painting its beard, along with small bits of broken glass, more, the equivalent of several vials, scattered on the ground.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After entering the cabin, Loki found he had regained enough of his strength to use his magic to dry both Fari and himself. Pushing the tub aside, he moved a chair closer to the fire, assisting Fari into it, her expression a mix of sorrow and fear, dark circles under her eyes. Crossing to the pallet he retrieved a blanket, returning to her, wrapping it around her before moving the stool in front of the fire as well, seating himself.

“If he was using the goat to spy on you, he knows I’m here.”

“He didn’t know who you were. He’s never seen you before. He didn’t go to Asgard with my mother in search of me. Like most, he’d never left Interdis before Thanos. He was here visiting me when you arrived with him. He returned home to find a massacre...every settlement. There were so few of us already…after the Badoons, the plague they left behind…it was then the elixir was discovered while searching for a cure. I was barely old enough to walk, but I remember the dead…there weren’t enough who were strong and healthy to bury or burn them all…” Fari trailed off, disturbed by the memory.

“When did you return here? How did they find you?” Loki asked.

“A few years after the war. They didn’t find me. I told them where I was.”

“Why?” Loki asked, stunned.

“There was already talk of another…though people were always fighting somewhere in Midgard. Even during times of peace there was so much suffering. I was able to block it out for a time but I was tired…of all of it. Interdites were peaceful people. Very few crimes merited death. Mine were not among them, though as I said there were some who believed they should. I would be banished. I welcomed it. I wanted…I needed the solace of solitude.”

“What happened between us? Why did you bury my memories?” asked Loki.

“After you have recovered them, I'll explain. It would make no sense to you now,” Fari replied.

Though he didn’t voice it, in the state she was in, her condition clearly deteriorating, Loki feared the return of his memories might come too late.

“How did you know about Midgard, what I did there?”

“When I connected with your mind when I found you I saw all you have done since the last time we were together,” Fari answered, Loki bowing his head.

“And you let me live?” he responded darkly.

“I hoped the man I once knew was still there…somewhere.”

“Someone else said something similar to me recently,” Loki replied forlornly as he thought of Thor, “You told me my brother is alive.”

“He is.”

“How do you know?”

“Look within yourself. You will know as well.”

“I can’t do what you can do.”

“You are stronger than you realize or you would not be here now,” Fari told him.

“If I wasn’t here now...my father was right. Everywhere I go…You’ll die without it?”

“I have heard stories of some who survived before the elixir,” Fari tried to reassure him, though unable to fully obscure the doubt in her voice.

“He brought them here. He knew I was coming.”

“My brother never experienced visions. For Interdites it’s a bit like being left-handed,” Fari explained, her voice becoming strained, “Could I…have more ale?”

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

“It’s taking everything…if I were to block it out completely I would have to go away…somewhere within my mind. If I am to die, I want to spend every last moment here…with you…it helps…please…”

“Alright,” Loki acquiesced, rising and walking to the table, retrieving her mug and filling it.

After returning it to her, noticing the fire was again dying down, Loki tossed in more wood, stoking it once more.

“Is there a healer? Someone else who might have it?”

“There’s no one. After Thanos…after he took it...something changed. People began to fight, to murder each other. My mother lost control and was executed. My brother became the Arenark, the sovereign. He convinced the few who were left that our people had displeased Those Who Watch Over, that they must atone by leaving Interdis and settling on other worlds to live as hermits. Before they left they destroyed every settlement, everything in them.”

“Could there be any elsewhere?”

“The vault...in the mountains. It was built after the Badoons attacked us to house supplies in case something like that ever happened again. The elixir loses its potency after a time if it’s not kept cool. That’s why I only kept a few. I would make the journey once a year to replace them. It’s treacherous. The only time before now that I needed it was due to an injury I suffered returning from the vault. It was slow to heal and became infected.”

“The mountains near the lake? Where in the mountains? How do I get there?”

“No, you can't go. If this is Klarien’s doing, if he intended you to be its victim, it would give him a second chance. It would play right into his hands,” Fari replied as Loki stood to stoke the fire.

“He'll come for me eventually regardless. I’ve battled far more menacing foes than a pathetic poltroon hiding behind a goat. In Midgard it took their five mightiest and my brother to subdue me,” Loki bragged, standing tall as he wielded the poker as he once did the scepter.

“From what I saw, it only took one,” Fari responded with a hint of a grin at the corners of her mouth, Loki falling silent, returning the poker to its peg protruding from the stone fireplace.

“The beast caught me by surprise. I was at a disadvantage.”

“You would be at a disadvantage again. You haven’t fully recovered your strength. He used to spend much time in the mountains. He knows the terrain, the dangers, how to exploit them,” Fari attempted to reason with him, “You couldn’t leave until morning…even if he didn’t accost you…it’s unlikely you’d make it back in time,” Fari paused for a moment as Loki stood with his back to her, his shoulders slumping, ”You told your brother you never wanted the throne. What was your glorious purpose? It was more than simply conquering a world, becoming a king...”

“I would have put an end to it…the suffering you spoke of…they slaughter each other in droves over trifles.”

“You slaughtered innocent people yourself.”

“It couldn’t be helped,” Loki replied in a hollow voice.

“One of the books in my flat…it’s always stuck with me…’Whoever fights monsters should see to it that he does not become a monster.’”

“If you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you...Frederick Nietzsche.”

“You’re familiar with him.”

“He died a madman,” Loki informed her, “I’m not going to sit before the fire drinking ale waiting for you to die! There has to be something!” Loki railed.

“There is…it’s not a cure. It would only buy a little time,” Fari said as Loki knelt before her, taking her free hand in his as she held the nearly empty mug in the other, looking into her eyes before casting his down, bowing his head.

“When my mother was murdered…my brother told me…he arrived a mere moment after, my father a heartbeat after him…if they’d had more time…just a few more seconds…” Loki said mournfully as the clock on the wall ticked, seeming to emphasize his words.

“Do you remember when you took me to the cinema?” asked Fari.

“No, but I would imagine I took you there a great many times.”

“It was a film about a monster but he looked like a man. He could turn into a bat.”

“Dracula?” Loki asked, not sure what Fari was getting at, “Strange, I was just reminded of him recently. Why did I take you to see that dreck?”

“For the same reason mortal men take women to see a scary movie,” Fari said, a weak smile on her face.

“What does a boogeyman concocted by an Irishman likely drunk on absinthe have to do with anything?”

“You drank the elixir not all that long ago. It’s still in your blood.”

“You’re saying–”

“There’s other things that will need to go into it. I have them here. It may not work. I’ve only heard of it being done once before. You’re not an Interdite.”

"No...I don’t know what I am.”

“You are what Odin made you. You are his son. Every drop of blood within you is Asgardian,” Fari assured him, looking past him to see there were only two pieces of firewood left, “I'll need to boil water. We need more firewood...”

“There's something you must know," Loki said, "I wasn’t there...I was...but I left with him after they surrendered it to him. He told me if I could convince them to do so without a fight, no one would be harmed. I should have questioned why the others didn’t leave when we did. I didn’t tell him…about the Mind Stone. I didn’t know…there was much my father never told me…obviously. I had no intention of relinquishing it or the Tesseract to him. I thought him a fool to hand it over to me. I knew he could never possess them. If he is able to claim them,” Loki said, releasing her hand and standing, "I'll get more wood."

“Be careful,” Fari warned him.

“No need to fret. If he shows up as a rabbit, we’ll have a nice stew,” Loki grinned.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Loki exited the cabin, the rain having slowed to a drizzle, standing in front of the closed door for a few moments as his eyes adjusted to the darkness before scanning his surroundings for any sign of danger. Making his way around the cabin to the stack of firewood on the far side, he began to collect it in his arms.

“She’s lying to you,” a deep male voice said from behind him in the darkness.

Startled, Loki dropped the firewood to the ground, spinning swiftly around, producing a dagger in each hand.

“Damned coward! Show yourself!” Loki called into the night, receiving no response.

On his guard, Loki quickly gathered up the firewood he had dropped. As he retrieved the last piece, he spied an orange toad in the grass near his foot peering up at him.

Before the toad could react Loki lifted his foot, stomping on it, grinding it into the wet ground under the sole of his boot.