"Loki? Loki…" Fari said from where she sat at the table, her shoulders slumped, a stone mortar in front of her containing a collection of herbs she had been grinding with the matching pestle in her hand, her arm lying on the table alongside the mortar, her energy spent.

Loki stood off to the side of the fireplace,a kettle hanging on a hook over the fire, leaning on his arm, staring stonily into the dancing flames as they consumed the wood.

"Loki…" Fari repeated, struggling to raise her voice to jar him from his trance.

"What is it?" Loki replied, finally turning his head.

"Could you…I'm afraid I..." Fari trailed off in a tired voice,

"Yes...of course," Loki said, moving from the fireplace to Fari's side, sliding the mortar in front of himself and taking the pestle from her hand, using it to finish grinding the herbs.

Loki emptied them into a small cloth drawstring bag, dropping it into an empty mug just as the kettle began a breathy whistle that quickly transitioned into a higher pitched squeal. Returning to the fireplace, Loki removed the kettle from the hook, using a rag as a hot pad to carry it back to the table, pouring boiling water into the mug.

"It has to steep for a bit," Fari said in a feeble voice as Loki sat the kettle on the stone in front of the fireplace, making his way back to the table with the stool, placing it beside her and seating himself.

"How long could it give you?"

"Another day, maybe a bit longer…if it works."

"It will," Loki replied, Fari struck by the confidence in his voice which didn't sound in the least bit feigned.

"How do you know?"

"Something's changed," Loki replied.

"What do you mean?" Fari asked, puzzled.

"I've often thought myself cursed. When something I wanted was within my grasp, when it appeared the fates might finally allow me to know my purpose, what it is to be happy…when I reached for it, it would vanish. A moment ago, I did as you spoke of earlier. I looked deep within myself…something's changed."

"I can never have children. That ability was taken from me before I was banished here," Fari informed Loki, he looking at her strangely, confused as to the sudden and unrelated change of topic, "We spoke of it once…what they would be like," she said, both silent for a moment as they watched the steam rising from the mug on the table.

"I imagine they would have been some shade of blue…cerulean…cyan, perhaps," Loki replied, Fari turning her head to look at him, their eyes meeting before both burst into laughter.

"Would you…play something?" Fari asked haltingly as their fit of mirth subsided, it seeming to have drained her further.

Loki rose, crossing the room to the phonograph, returning the record on the turntable to the cabinet. He slid another from the shelf, crouching before the phonograph unmoving as if suspended in time as he read the title…

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The orchestra played the closing notes of a song in the expansive, high ceilinged room lit by large ornate glass fixtures in London's upscale Monseigneur Restaurant. Those on the dance floor directly in front of the orchestra departed the space, men escorting their partners. A tall, handsome, cleft chinned man in a tuxedo with dark brunette hair pomaded in a popular style of the 1930s approached a flat, round microphone on a stand a few paces in front of the musicians, speaking into it.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I want to thank you all for joining us this evening. I hope you're having a wonderful time. I'm going to give these fine musicians behind me, and yourselves, a bit of a rest. We'll return shortly. Thank you."

Loki, sporting a tuxedo of the era similar to the singer's, led Fari in her mortal guise wearing a periwinkle blue formal evening dress in the direction of one of the tables lining the far side of the room. As they neared the table, Loki sent Fari on as he stopped a waiter, speaking to him, the waiter nodding and moving off.

Loki joined Fari, seating himself and pouring the last of the champagne in the bottle on the table into the flute before him just as the waiter he had spoken to appeared with another bottle and flute. The waiter set the glass on the table before popping the cork of the bottle, placing it beside the glass, removing the empty bottle from the table, Loki thanking him before he moved off. Loki filled Fari's flute from the full bottle before topping off his own and filling the extra glass.

"Who is that for?" Fari asked, curiously.

"Someone else will be joining us. I've arranged a surprise."

"Should I be worried after the last one? You almost set my flat on fire," Fari said with a hint of a grin as Loki chuckled.

"That didn't go quite to plan, but I believe I made up for it later that evening," Loki replied.

"Many times over," Fari smiled slyly before she noticed the orchestra's handsome vocalist approaching their table.

"Luke! I'm pleased you were able to join us," Al Bowlly said with a happy grin as Loki stood, Fari standing along with him as Bowlly extended his hand, Loki taking it, "This must be the lady you spoke of…I hope so, or else I'm afraid I may have just gotten you into a spot of trouble."

"She is. Farina, this is Albert Bowlly," Loki introduced her to the singer.

"Al…only my mother ever used my full name. When she did it was never a good thing. It's a pleasure to meet you," Bowlly said, taking Fari's hand, kissing it, "Farina, a lovely name for an even lovelier lady."

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"Fari...my mother always used my full name."

"Fari...I believe I like that even more," Bowlly said with a warm smile.

"Please…sit," Loki said, gesturing to the chair at the side of the table to Fari's left, the three seating themselves as Loki moved the champagne flute in front of Bowlly.

"I've heard you on the radio. I have a few of your records. I wasn't aware Lo–Luke knew you," Fari said, appearing starstruck.

"I was pleased to make his acquaintance a few years ago. Like many did then and have since, I'd lost my position. I'd been forced to return to busking to try to make a go of it and keep a roof over my head. Luke happened by one day and remained through quite a few numbers before speaking to me. He returned from time to time over the next few months. He was always generous. He offered some very good advice as well which eventually led me here," Bowlly explained as he drank from his glass, "When I received his message a few days ago asking to meet, he told me of you… that he wanted to introduce me. I was rather intrigued. On the occasions he and I have met before he's never been accompanied by or mentioned anyone special. He didn't say how the two of you came to meet."

"I'd…had an accident…" Fari responded.

"Her vehicle," Loki added.

"He helped me," Fari finished.

"Isn't it strange how people are brought together at times? So many songs make mention of fate," Bowlly commented, drinking the last of the champagne in his glass.

"More?" Loki asked, taking hold of the neck of the bottle.

"No, thank you. I have to get back to it," Bowlly told him before returning his attention to Fari, "I would be honored if you would leave a space or two open on your dance card for me. There's a few instrumental numbers coming up."

"Of course. I would love to," Fari answered, awestruck as Bowlly rose.

"Are you ready?" Bowlly asked Loki.

"As I ever will be," Loki answered before Bowlly walked away in the direction of the orchestra who were gathering, preparing to play once again.

"Ready for what?" Fari asked as Loki filled his glass and hers once more, standing and downing the contents of his in one swallow.

"Excuse me for a moment," Loki said, walking away from the table as the orchestra began to play, patrons leaving their tables, heading for the dance floor.

Fari, puzzled, followed Loki with her eyes as he wove his way through the crowd in the direction of the orchestra.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," Fari heard Bowlly's voice say as he stood before the microphone once again as the orchestra began to play, "Sometimes it isn't easy to say what we wish to say, to speak what's in our heart. It's always a risk to tell someone special how you feel. A friend recently related to me his difficulty in doing so, seeking advice. When it comes to matters of the heart I'm no expert, having experienced my own trials and tribulations, but I told him that for me at least it's always been easier to say it in song. Would you please give a warm welcome to our guest vocalist this evening, Mr. Luke King," Bowlly said, the audience applauding as he stepped away, making a sweeping gesture with his arm to the space before the microphone, retreating to sit among the orchestra, picking up a guitar and strumming it as Loki, to Fari's shock, stepped with the confidence, outwardly at least, of a seasoned performer behind it.

The song already having begun as Bowlly was speaking, Loki had only to wait a few measures before he began to sing as Fari slowly made her way to the dance floor, her eyes set on him as he spied her, locking his gaze with hers.

"Somebody loves you, I want you to know…longs to be near you wherever you go…somebody loves you and right from the start happiness flew into someone's heart…Somebody loves you each hour of the day...when you're around, dear, or when you're away…Somebody loves you, sweetheart can't you see…and that somebody is me…" Loki's smooth singing voice filled the room as people danced, Fari weaving between them.

Loki's rather short stint as the orchestra's vocalist finished, though the orchestra played on, Loki bowed with a flourish as those not dancing applauded before stepping away from the microphone and crossing the dance floor to stand before Fari who had come to a halt,standing stunned and speechless, as dancers whirled around her.

"You were brilliant...I…I love you, too," Fari managed to say, Loki putting a hand behind his ear as the music continued.

"I'm sorry. I didn't hear that last part," Loki said, with a puckish grin.

"I love you!" Fari repeated, practically yelling as she competed with the din of the instruments, Loki kissing her before taking her in his arms to dance for what remained of the song and the next.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Loki slid the record back into place and selected another, setting it to play before returning to the table and grabbing an empty mug, crossing the room to the cask, filling it with ale before returning to Fari, seating himself beside her as he drank, both staring once more at the mug containing the herbal tea as they listened to the music.

"Did you ever see a dream walking? Well I did. Did you ever hear a dream talking? Well I did. Did you ever have a dream thrill you with will you be mine? Oh it's so grand and it's too divine. Did you ever see a dream dancing? Well I did. And did you ever see a dream romancing? Well I did. Did you ever see heaven right in your arms saying I love you, I do. Well the dream that was walking and the dream that was talking and the heaven in my arms was you..." Al Bowlly's voice once again sang from the phonograph.

"I did remember you…in a way," Loki told her, "I woke up that morning in Asgard, in my bedchambers…I thought it had all been a dream. I tried to recall the details but every passing moment I was awake it slipped farther and farther away…like sand through my fingers. In the end all that was left was a feeling…along with a void within me that only whatever, whoever it was that had brought about that feeling could fill."

"You'd spoken often to me of that feeling of a void within you. It existed before we met," Fari responded.

"That's true…but this was different. I'd now experienced what it was for it to be filled, even if it was in a dream, or what I believed to be a dream, which was worse than never knowing. I became quite a rake for a time…I suppose I was before but I'd always made it clear when I was interested in nothing more, which was most of the time. But after…when I would meet someone…something about them would give me a hint of that same feeling but that was all it ever amounted to in the end. I would betray them or do something to vex them, sometimes without realizing what I was doing or why, so they would walk…more often run away."

"I'm sorry," Fari said softly, hanging her head.

"I had long been fed up with feeling trapped in my brother's shadow, never measuring up to him in my father's eyes or in everyone else's, feeling unworthy, all those things that somehow I knew in the dream I had no longer concerned myself with. I was tired...of the loneliness, the heartbreak of searching for someone I was now certain didn't exist. I put it aside in the interest of pursing the throne. If there was no one who could fill that void, maybe it would," Loki paused for a moment, taking a long drink of ale, gazing into his mug, before continuing, "Did I wrong you in some way? Did I betray you as well?"

"No…never," Fari answered.

"If that's true, you're a rare specimen indeed," Loki said, rising and walking to the cask, refilling his mug and returning to his seat beside her, taking another long drink, "If you're lying to me, if these memories are false, if you've been planting them, tell me now. If you are, rest assured I will learn the truth and when I do--"

"You'll kill me? I'm dying. Cutting my throat would be quicker...easier. Everything I have told you, everything you've recalled is true," Fari replied.

"You pretended to be my mother."

"I never told you I was your mother. I chose to allow you to see me as who you most wished me to be. Someone for whom you would desire to survive."

"You were jealous of her," Loki said before taking another drink.

"There was a time you would have given it all up to be with me, if not for her, but she has nothing to do with why I buried your memories."

"I admit my mother would have been a hard act to follow…for anyone," Loki told her before drinking the last of the ale in his mug and setting it on the table before standing, "Is it ready?"

"I think so."

Loki removed his tunic, laying it across the table, magically producing one of his daggers and holding the blade against his extended forearm as he made a fist.

"How much do you need?"