whose_son_am_i | Labyrinthum IC Inbox

"I think they would be, yes." Loki's comments helped along with Eilonwy's own reminders to herself. She worked hard, both for her subjects and friends and every time she did it felt like she was honoring them. Eilonwy loved that she could work hard, even if she pushed herself sometimes. But that was what resting was for.

She smiled again. "Thank you. I'm likewise sorry for yours." As the headache calmed down for a few moments, Eilonwy sighed. "There-- I think it's stopped for now. I've never had tea that's been able to do that, come to think on it." She looked back to her mug.

Loki gave a smile at her headache receding, but it only lasted for a moment, before his expression turned sad. Looking down, swiping his hand through the flowers of the illusion. "how...long ago did yours pass?"

She sighed. "Six years ago. Seven, technically, after my birthday passes this year. There was a bad winter when I was younger and they gave as much of their own food as possible to guarantee the kingdom would survive it."

Eilonwy idly swung her feet and then crossed her ankles, fidgeting a little. There had been a funeral, she remembered that as much as she remembered what they had been like. "They were mourned afterwards, but their efforts did help."

Edited (including cw for starvation) 2024-03-29 18:10 (UTC)

"Asgard never worried about starvation, so I'm sorry to hear it." Loki said, bringing one leg up to wrap his arms around and lean on. "My mother was murdered about four and a half? five? years or so ago. It's a bit tricky between here and where I was before here. My father passed a couple of months before I came here." A sigh. "His death, apparently, released our heretofore unknown Sister, who is the goddess of death. She set her sights on conquering the nine realms. We...had to destroy Asgard to stop her." a pause, and he was looking at all the flowers again. the illusion. "We evacuated our people, but half of them were slaughtered by the mad Titan Thanos. It's...likely I was killed by him too, as I was dying when I came here."

"Thank you. It's not a common enemy, but there are losses each year. If not from that, then from illness, or age, or battles." Eilonwy watched as he changed positions slightly and listened. Waking up in the garden had been confusing enough, Eilonwy couldn't picture doing it in the middle of death. Or in the middle of the fear of the Horned King, of worrying about her friends.. Before her thoughts could just spiral into an entire wellspring of ideas she didn't want to picture, Eilonwy was moving quickly.

She eased herself to the floor and moved until she could manage to hug Loki. It was awkward with the height difference between them both, but not by much. "I'm sorry. What heavy burdens."

Loki was only slightly surprised, moving to adjust so she could hug him. Unsure for a moment, before he let himself hug back and lean against her. "As far as I know, my brother lives. So do half our people. " But Loki had been repressing a lot, and now... Well, it was a sign that he felt safe, and trusted Eilonwy, that he let himself hide against her for several moments. Not crying, but letting himself feel. Hopefully so he could get himself back under control.

"That's something." she remarked quietly, not putting a name to it. It wasn't her place to define what that meant, if anything. After a moment of silence as she remembered the lyrics and beat, Eilonwy took a breath and began to sing, a little hesitantly at first but that eased up as she went ahead.

Singing would help her sometimes, and it was a gambit that it would help here, but it was the easiest thing Eilonwy could do without possibly restarting her headache.

Oh. Oh. It helped, but also made the fight against tears harder. There may've been a tear or two, but Loki was keeping himself remarkably under control while he listened. Honestly he was also very touched, and grateful. Somewhere along the way, Eilonwy had become more than his student, and she was still friend. But...now...now she felt like family. And that made him smile at least a little bit. Perhaps he could be that for her, as well.

The song finished and Eilonwy was quiet for a long moment. "Thank you again." she said simply. She pulled away from the hug but didn't move otherwise, and idly looked at the illusion. "Flowers are nice, aren't they?" she remarked with a light smile. "Maybe I'll see about planting some over the season."

Loki let out a little chuckle. "And here I was supposed to be comforting you." Murmured, but he reached out for and squeezed her hand gently. "Thank you, my friend. You're a treasure and a gift, and I am honored to be your friend."

"You have? You've done quite a lot to provide comfort." Eilonwy smiled at the hand squeeze and let her other trail in some of the illusionary grass on the ground. She looked over her shoulder, back towards her kitchen suddenly. "Should I check on the broth? You-- well, not you, but." Before she could get a headache from trying to sort out if an illusion was the same as real person, Eilonwy took a breath. "You were checking it earlier."

"You should sit. I'll get it." A teasing smirk came to his mouth. "It's not every day I act as serving boy. Enjoy it." Managing to sound like his usual self too, as he got to his feet and offered to help her up.

Eilonwy took his hand and stood up slowly. "As you're acting like one, should I request bread?" she joked though she was glad to see Loki back to acting like his usual self. She went with him to the kitchen and took a seat at the table.

Loki chuckled, and lead her to a seat, pulling it out for her. All courtly manners, before he shifted slightly. Posture, attitude, a hundred little cues. "You're highness, for tonight we have a lovely hearty broth designed to nourish body and mind. It is recommend to have bread and butter with it. A jug of it has been left, which one adds to water to as the jug is concentrated broth. The tea is also recommended, for dealing with headaches and light pain. If you do not feel well at any time, I can summon a nurse. But one hopes that this will all suffice for now?"

There was a sparkle in blue-green eyes that showed Loki was enjoying playing the role of servant. Play-acting, fun, mischief. With a friend.

Eilonwy giggled at the act Loki was doing-- it was accurate but had a nice mix of fun to it. She sat up straight, as if she were back home in Llyr and nodded as the meal was explained with a remark of; "That all sounds very good, and yes I'm sure it will."

To sell the entire game they were playing, Eilonwy smoothed her dress and folded her hands politely. She wondered if Loki was hungry himself, but since he was playing a part and Eilonwy didn't want to dampen his fun, she would hold off on asking.

"Very good, your highness." Loki nodded and gave a half-bow, before heading to the kitchen. When he came back though, with broth and the bread and butter, he was more himself. No playacting of roles. "This should help, and I'd suggest it for a few days while you're still dealing with the headaches along with rest. The tea should help most of all though." Going back to the kitchen, and coming back with more tea, before he took a seat to keep her company.

Eilonwy waited until he'd sat down before she picked up a spoon and had some of the broth. She'd expected it to taste plain, but it had a very nice mix of flavors alongside being easy to eat. Nothing that seemed like it'd upset her stomach, but likewise nothing bland. "Do you make this often? It's very good-- most broths in Prydain only taste like one or two things, sometimes even with adding ingredients." Eilonwy had some of the bread, chewing thoughtfully and swallowing before she spoke again.

"Thank you, again. This was very kind of you to put together on such short notice."

"I had actually already started putting it together, given our training. So it wasn't quite such short notice." Loki murmured. "The tea I've had for some time myself though, so was also easy enough to get."

He did his best to not study her while she ate. To be polite, and he was clearly being company, but not to be rude or obtrusive.

"I had hoped the broth would help. I remember my mother had made it, and I was studying her on occasion for how to do so. Obviously some of the herbs are different, as this is not Asgard." There was a fond smile, as Loki seemed to sketch out something on the table. No marks, just tracing something only he could see. "It's for when one overdoes it with magic, as their whole self can be affected. But no one likes having their lunch come back on them, so this is easier. It stores well while kept cold, and can last a while."

Eilonwy's table manners were decent and her movements were confident if not a bit slowed down to account for the energy that had gone into dealing with the headache. "But it's still kind." she remarked before she listened to the instructions. Some more broth was had and Eilonwy put her spoon down for a moment. Her appetite was returning, but she didn't want to eat too quickly.

"It also isn't Llyr, I can tell you about some of our food easily, but I don't know if I can make it here." She watched as he traced on the table and assumed he was just letting his fingers follow the wood grain, or trailing shapes at random. Eilonwy shook her head at the remark about a repeating lunch.

"Oh, that would be awful. I didn't know magic can be overdone." She picked up the spoon again and had some more broth. "It does make sense, thinking on it. You can overdo any sort of physical work, and I've stayed up very late a few times studying things!"

Loki was giving her a look, though he wasn't really upset. "Yes, magic can be overdone. It takes energy, and concentration for your will. So not only is it using reserves most people don't know how to tap into, it also uses your brain in a way most don't bother with. The brain is a muscle, it can be over-worked like anything else."

Her comparison was not unwelcome though.

Eilonwy had some more food. "Speaking of.. Is there a way to tell when those reserves are empty? Besides simply feeling tired. I guess like.. Like when you're painting, and you realize the paint is running low because the color starts fading out?"

There probably wasn't, short of the physical symptoms, but it couldn't hurt anything to ask.

"The fatigue actually is your first sign. There's no real clear way to measure that I know of beyond when you first start to feel tired, or drained really, and then when you've overdone it. At least until the headache starts, and sometimes your nose will bleed. Those are certain signs you've overused the muscle and also gone past your limits to drain yourself. At that point, you rest--sleep, and eat filling but gentle for your stomach foods. Because the body needs to recover from the injury and replenish itself."

No sugarcoating here for Eilonwy, as this was serious and Loki was treating it as such.

Eilonwy appreciated the candor, took the information given and committed it to memory. She had overworked herself a few times in weapons training and had been met with a similar discussion about things. "Then I stop at the first sign, as much as I'm able to. Thank you for being so open. I'd rather hear what I can expect, than assurances that I don't need to worry about the side effects." She gave Loki an appreciative smile. "You can't become good at something if you're not aware of the risks." The bread, in the meantime, had been finished and the first bowl of broth was halfway gone.

"You're also not a child, who needs to be spoken to with caution lest they get too scared. I will warn you, there are ways to mitigate the overuse but they are not healthy nor should they be considered in any thing less than a life or death situation. Especially since using them you can die." Still not sugarcoating it at all.

"In my experience...first comes the fatigue, then the headache, then a nosebleed. I've never gone further than that, though I have had my stomach rebel rather violently if I am not careful with it while recovering."

It really was reminding her of sword training. She'd had it metaphorically drummed into her head that a sword could work both ways, and that respect for it and other weaponry was the top priority. To dismiss it would be inviting death and that seemed to be how this new... well, both ability and means of defense, would best be handled.

"It's like recovering from an illness. I don't want to rely on pushing past the overuse-- that would be as smart as trying to walk on a broken leg." Eilonwy finished the broth and sat the spoon down. "I'll keep aware of things and act accordingly."

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