Chapter 8: Caged Bird
Arianna talked about her childhood with fondness, but detached - like it was a story she'd heard many times rather than a life she lived through. The beginning of her story was not particularly unusual. Interesting, perhaps, but not unusual. She was trained as a young age to be a healer, though she preferred to wander the forest while "gathering herbs". She lost a parent to war, and was soon conscripted to join that very same war.
It was then, describing her time in the war, that her voice finally gained emotional color. It was only two years all total, but her eyes were distant, seeing the familiar old scenes of death and cruelty.
"...So I left," she said. "I tried for so long to somehow fix it from inside. But in the end, they got far more out of me than I could ever take back. I couldn't stop any of it in the end."
Loki leaned into the barrier. "It doesn't sound like you believe that yourself," he said, watching her carefully.
But she didn't try to hide the pain and doubt that crossed her face. "You're right, I don't. I still have nightmares about it...about the people I left behind."
He was shocked that she would admit it so easily. Most people would dance around their weaknesses, or at least bluster over them with false bravado, acting like they were fine when the wound still ached. So he pressed further. "It sounds like you were a rather powerful healer. Surely you could have used that to work your way into a more influential position."
"I've never been good with words." At this, he raised an eyebrow. "I mean, I've never been one to play politics. It was all I could do."
"And you've run from it ever since," he said, adding a slight accusatory undertone.
"In a way, yes," she admitted. "But I don't leave anyone behind anymore." She fixed him with a determined look. "Which is why I really need your help convincing the King we're not a threat to you."
Loki leaned back into the chair again. "You know, that isn't really my call. As the younger brother-" his voice rang a little sour on the word 'younger' "-my opinion is less heeded. And it's not really worth the effort..."
Her eyebrow quirked up. "Oh, not worth the effort? Shall I sing my life story like a bard to make it more entertaining for you?"
He chuckled. "I have heard how you sing all day long in this cell. Like a little songbird, stuck in a cage," he taunted.
She bristled at the comment, and his smirk grew. "I'm hardly a songbird," she huffed. "I can do a lot more than sing."
"Oh?" he asked. "Like assassinate the king of Asgard?"
"No! No, I meant like healing-" she said, flustered, but he just laughed.
"Fine, then, little bird," Loki said, standing. His chair disappeared as he turned to leave. "We'll talk again."
"Wait, prince?" she called after him, and he stopped, but didn't turn around. Her voice was small. "Is there really nothing they'll let me have? I'll go mad without something for my hands to do."
"That's the idea," he chuckled, and walked away.
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