Magic
The training of both Thor and Loki started up in earnest. Thor showed all the characteristics of an Asgardian warrior and it made many proud. Loki is of a slighter build and while shows impressive skill, is seen with suspicion and fear. Some see his preference for seidr as a sign of his weakness and that he should pursue other...avenues. No one would dare insinuate anything about the second prince but there have been substantial whispers since the incident within Frigga's sunroom.
A prince with a connection to a Norn. A Norn trapped with the second prince. It makes the people nervous to have a being so close and yet so far. Her scorn of the King and Queen of Asgard is also fact. It makes the other realms weary of treating with the All-Father.
However, since she has not appeared again, people are willing to believe to take it for a blessing.
That doesn't make the apprehension go away. So they are torn between believing him to be a voice of the Norn and thus should be made into a priestess of the Norns. A position of great honor for a maiden but unheard of for a prince or for any male sorcerer. Most of Odin's court, however, sided with the thought that as a prince of Asgard he must uphold the honor of the House of Odin.
Thus, his weapons training was accelerated alongside Thor.
Loki didn't mind it. The physical training wasn't so bad even though Alice critiqued the instructor's every word. The things said about General Tyr are also best left unrepeated. However, part of the training included a survival course. It meant three weeks with only the basic necessities or until both princes made their first "true" kill. Their instructions were clear. Only a beast would count as a kill and it had to be a beast worthy of being presented to the All-Father.
Alice did not approve of the competition for the All-Father's approval almost as much as she thought hunting an animal for sport was stupid. Her disdain for Odin, however, trumps her contempt for Asgard's practices.
'This is boring.' She starts after two days.
'This is what our instructers want.'
'No. They said they wanted us to make our first kill and bring it back. It was implied that they wanted a boar or whatever you call it.'
'Well yes. They are an impressive first kill for boys our age.'
'A boar is not impressive. A basilisk however certainly is.'
'A what?!'
Images of a boy with glasses stabbing a snake, a monster of truly terrifying power through the mouth with a sword. Its eyes can kill with a glance and its sword length teeth can no doubt tear through the best of Asgard's armor.
'Okay, yes I know what a basilisk is. A fully grown basilisk is very impressive. If there are any here that I could claim as my first kill without dying that would certainly be just as amazing.'
'Well use that pretty head of yours. Its not there just for show.'
Loki huffs but thinks things through as Alice is always encrouaging. He would need to do something about the eyes. Either remove them from the equation or somehow take it down without using his eyes so that he can harvest the basilisk's eyes later. Loki would also need to subdue it quickly to save its organs and hide. Basilisk parts are rare and it would be a waste to maul the creature when it can still have use after death.
He would need to practice quick killing on other snakes first.
Tracking any basilisk, if they lived in the forest he and Thor have been left in, would also be important. No point in preparing only for there to be no target for him to hunt. Another way to hunt in a forest would be incredibly beneficial. Perhaps he could parkour? It would prove to be an interesting challenge and a surprise for his prey.
'Oh, I can help with that.'
Loki's curiosity and interest immediately perks up at Alice's tone. Its the same tone she's used before just before she introduced him to other forms and theories regarding magic. Each one is similar yet different from what he knows. The words are different but the basic principal is still the same. And to think that Midgard will one day in the future have such teachings!
They've had plenty of practice sharing their headspace and intermingling together so what follows is as easy as breathing.
'Let me introduce you to 'Naruto'. I think you'll find it very useful.'
Loki resolutely ignore her demented cackling and the brief image of her rubbing her hands together, whispered rambling about corrupting him.
The juvenile mischief maker balanced carefully on a branch using his magic as he's seen. Loki had no idea how amazing shinobi are. He didn't get very far in the series but he soaked enough to try some of the techniques. The tree walking and water walking primarily. It is trickier than he'd thought it would be but so worth the time to learn. Truly, Kakashi's words while accurate are also loathingly understated.
Too much magic and he propels himself off his perch. Too little and he won't stick, falling to the ground.
He loved it.
It took several days before he felt he had mastered the technique. Which is good because his time was running out for making his first kill. The other day he saw fireworks in the sky, proof that Thor had returned with his own prize and was celebrated. Loki tried not to feel crushed at how alone he felt. How abandoned and ignored at how obvious it is that Thor is loved.
That Odin preferred Thor over Loki, even now when they all thought Alice was a Norn. Instead, he secures his camp for the night in the biggest tree, dives into his mindscape and cries within Alice's warm embrace.
Today is different.
He had traveled well outside of the "garden" zone, Alice calls it the "comfort" zone, and into the truly dark and foreboding area beyond, in search of his target. Its only because he has taken to traveling by treetop that he manages to avoid several unfortunate near deaths. The ground below is hardly a straight path and there are numerous fallen trees. But it also allows him a wider range of vision, including an unfamiliar snake trail. Its bigger than any he's previously come across so he's hoping its his target and even if it were not, it is still larger than a boar.
He closes his eyes and sends his seidr out like an echo. This allows him to see like a bat without anything seeing him. A terrified scream startles him and nearly forces him to open his eyes. Several meters away, a large serpentine form is swallowing a fully adult horse. There is a foal trapped by a fallen tree and the serpent consuming it's mother. He's moving through the trees even as the horse's legs twitch one more time and finally, stops struggling.
Loki manages to stop himself from flying off his branch just above the serpent head but its already swallowed the mare. It was too late to save her but not her foal. He can't make any distinquishing features besides a mouth with incredibly large serrated teeth. Loki readies his dagger and drops.
His aim is true and his blade sinks into the muscle severing the bone between the neck and the skull. The creature lets out a monsterous roar before falling silent and still. Loki doesn't move for several long seconds, breathing heavy. He doesn't want to open his eyes, part in fear and part in disappointment. But he has to.
The apprentice mage opens one eye and than another. The giant serpent doesn't move, its jaw is open and its tongue is lolled out. There is a strange thin film over it's eyes but Loki recognizes this as something snakes have that work like eyelids. But the teeth and its snout are deformed from any snake he's ever seen! The size of its head is almost as big as the boars Loki had passed by in his quest.
It truly is a monster creature. One that Loki killed using his seidr and his dagger. Loki decides he's going to be a ninja mage. Right there.
Even if his breathing is more than a little labored and his vision becomes increasingly blurry.
He stumbles to the side and doesn't understand what's wrong with him. Alice is crying and trying to hold him. He is numb to her. The beast is dead. The Beast is dead. The Beast is Dead!
It is dead and it should fill him with pride but all he can feel is a numb type of horror. It was a terrible beast to eat a mother and he was right to kill it. Wasn't he? He doesn't know. He doesn't know and he doesn't know if not knowing terrifies him more than the beast.
It was a beast.
And now, with it dead, what does that make Loki?
Something wet presses against his face, startling him. It is the foal. It trembles just as much as Loki but it is far braver, the prince decides, than he. Loki does not believe he would have reached out but he is grateful for its kindness. Looking pass the nose, the prince takes in the creature and finds that it is a beauty, a lush white coat and a mane of shining gold to make any Aesir green with envy, even Thor.
Alice nudges Loki, ever so gently and he offers his palm to the scared foal. The other hand pulls out a ration of bread as a sign of truce and peace. To his surprise it reaches out with its seidr, not threateningly, but to taste his intent and Loki finds himself copying her. He had never realized magic could be used in such a way although he should have with the many teachings and techniques available to him through Alice.
They spend some time like that, tasting the other's magic with their own until the filly, whose eyes were once a soft brown, morph into an emerald green to match Loki's own. Loki in turn feels something between them 'click' and a burst of warmth connects to him and Alice. It takes a second for him to realize what has happened. He's created a familiar bond with the filly.
'She needs a name. You can't keep calling her 'the filly', you know.' Alice's voice is rough and exhausted. Despite the turbulent killing and the strange bonding moment, she's still there.
"Gullfaxi." Loki declares and he runs his hand down her side. As he stands he sees she's his exact height. It gives him a good idea of how big she will be once fully grown. "It means golden-mane. Will you help me take this home?"
He is bombarded with impressions of determination and trepidation. It isn't Alice and he doesn't know how he can tell the difference. But that's for studying another time, when they aren't somewhere so unsafe. So he gets to work with making rope with vines and sets a preservation spell on the now cooling carcass. It will take them some time to make it back to the palace. If the guards don't come running out to meet him.
After several failed tries, he manges to wrap the large, not quite adult now that he notices, basilisk corpse and tie it to both Gullfaxi and himself. Together they make their way back. Fortunately, the basilisk left a very prominent and easy trail to follow.
Thor had enjoyed the attention of the entire court as well as his parents, both of whom embraced him on his return. It would be better with his brother at his side where he belonged.
It has been some time since anyone had last heard from him and Helmdall could not see him since he entered the forest. Thor didn't know Loki could even cloak himself from the gatekeeper's sight! Still, his brother's behavior was unacceptable. Thor didn't care for his brother's magic but his prolonged disappearance made their mother worry. Thor made his kill with honor within the first week but that was no excuse for Loki to sulk about outside in the dirt.
Suddenly, an alarm was raised and the guards were rushing about. Thor quickly followed his parents to the garden's edge, as far as he was allowed to go. But he didn't need to go any farther because he could see his brother with his own kill. A long serpent, held together by ropy vines and pulled by Loki and a large foal. The only reason thor even knew it was his brother was because of his bright green eyes.
Both Loki and the foal were covered in mud. It sat dried on their skin, caked their hair twisted with twigs. Loki's face and arms are covered in scratches. The foal was a little better with the bottom of its legs also covered in mud and cuts. Some of the foal's feathers, the hairs at the bottom of its legs, were also cut or tangled and knotted with dried mud.
What little that can be seen of the foal, Thor could tell it used to be white but that's all. There are two guards on either side of them but they don't touch the kill which is proper. Loki stops just before father and unlatches himself and the foal. After a gentle pat on the foal's side, Loki unwraps part of the net of vines and exposes a large serpent monster head.
"This is my kill."
He gives a small proud smile. Father steps forward, a strange look on his face, and uses Gungnir to turn the creature's head and stares.
"A juvenile basilisk. Well done, my son, you shall make a fine warrior yet." He turns to the foal. "And this creature?"
Thor doesn't notice the long look Frigga gives her husband or the dim power of Loki's smile. He's curious about the foal. Where did it come from? Will father let Loki keep it? If not, maybe Thor can ask for it!
"This is my new familiar. I've named her Gullfaxi. She's very nice."
"I'm sure she is my son and I'm even more sure that you are prepared to take responsibility for her."
Frigga responds quickly, which Thor finds odd but thinks no more of it, disappointed he can't have it for himself. Perhaps now that Loki has one, father will let him have his own horse? A horse is much more honorable than a foal for a warrior anyway. Whoever heard of a foal being a familiar?
"Oh!" Loki's smile is brighter than before. "Yes. Very much so."
"I'm glad." Frigga smiles at the crowd. "Then let us feast."
"Yes." Odin turns his stare back at the carcass. "A more...appropriate setting for this creature would not be the dining hall. I can infer than that you know what is to become of this kill?"
"Yes, Your Majesty. Many of the organs even the eyes will go to the healing halls. I wish to keep the hide to make armor."
"That is good."
The All-Father says nothing else and the guards take the kill away. As the King turns away, the rest of the crowd, Odin's court, following after the him. Another odd habit that Thor's brother has taken is referring to their father as he would a foreigner. Which is preposterous since Asgard is the strongest realm in all the Nine and its not as if Loki is a strange visitor. Thor will make him stop after the feast is done. It just not done with family.
"Well done, Brother!" He shouts merrily, waving at Loki. He may be disappointed that he only brought back a boar for a kill but he is proud of his brother for his accomplishments. Shooting one more forlorn look at the foal, Thor follows after his parents as his brother and his familiar are escorted away to get cleaned up.