Revna had risen at her customary time, right before dawn's first light, despite the fewer hours of sleep she was accustomed to getting, but that had become the norm as of late. She was sure it would catch up to her eventually. She had left Loki still dozing after she had dressed in the clothing she had brought with her and prepared for the day. She would prepare a meal once he awakened.

Before she had left the bedroom she had stood for a moment near the door, watching him as he tranquilly slept. There was always an air of disaffection about Loki when he was awake, a sense of discontent and pique just below the surface even when his mood appeared to be happy and jovial, but while he slept Revna sensed it slip away, as if he were again the young boy that Frida had described, as if all the frustration, all the pain and loneliness, all the hurt that he had endured over the years that had piled up layer upon layer temporarily sloughed off.

Entering the garden just as the sun had risen high enough to bathe it in light, the rays reflecting on the dew, Revna sat the basket she carried down at her feet as she took a folding knife from it and began to cut away some of the withered and dead vines that were twisted among the healthy green ones that were wound around a trellis.

She had been working for some time, the sun continuing to rise higher in its daily arc across the sky. Harvesting a few more vegetables, round and red, that she had found to be ripe and ready as she cut away more extraneous vines, she placed them in the basket as she worked. She held another vine taut, working to extricate it when she heard it…a low, guttural prolonged menacing growling. Turning her head towards the direction from which it originated at the garden gate, her blood froze in her veins as her heart dropped to her feet.

The knife in Revna's hand slipped from the vine in her fright, slashing across the palm and heel of her hand. Blood flowed from it down her arm, staining the sleeve of her dress. The beast entered the garden and loped towards her along the path, snarling and snorting, baring its long fangs. She swiftly looked to either side of her for a means of escape, but there were too many obstacles for her to hope to move around them quickly enough. There was no possible way she would make it to the door before the beast would be upon her.

Gripping the small knife in her hand, she held it out before her as she backed into the trellis, shrieking as the beast came nearer. The trellis gave way, ripping the roots of the vines from the ground as she fell backwards, a blood curdling scream of terror bursting from her, then another as she landed upon it on her back, still clutching the knife.

Revna continued to scream, the beast close enough now to pounce. She squeezed her eyes closed tightly, not wishing to see it as it descended on her. A short whistle came from somewhere behind her, outside the confines of the garden. The beast leapt towards her as she lay helpless. Revna expected any moment for the fangs and claws of the beast to begin ripping into her flesh. As no such attack commenced, she slowly opened her eyes.

Loki had risen and thrown on his clothing and now sat on the edge of the bed, having put one boot on and was slipping his foot into the other when the first of Revna's screams reached him. He looked up, not sure at first what it was he had heard as it was barely audible through the stone walls of the cottage. After the second scream, he quickly rose from the bed and bounded from the room.

Loki threw open the door of the cottage and raced to the garden. He at first saw no sign of Revna, various flora and trellises blocking his view, before he located her assisted by the sound of her frightened sobs. She sat on the remains of the trellis, shaking as if the air around here was as frigid as that of Jotunheim.

"Revna!" Loki called out, rushing to her. He took in the details of the scene, his eyes falling on the knife in her hand, the blade stained with blood and the red stained sleeve of her gown, the gash across her opposite hand. Loki knelt down near her, cautiously reaching out and taking the knife from her and setting it aside before gripping the upper arms of her trembling body.

"It was here…." Revna told him, sobbing, still in a state of shock. He glanced around. There was no sign of any creature or anything amiss other than the fallen trellis and the injury to her hand, both obviously her own doing. Loki examined her hand. The wound was somewhat deep but not dangerously so. It still oozed blood. "I was cutting the vines when I heard it...the knife slipped…" Revna explained.

"It needs tending." Loki said, putting an arm around her and helping her to her feet, leading her towards the garden's gate.

Upon entering the cottage, Revna had insisted Loki secure the door once again. She now sat in the chair where Frida had once sat during their meals at the table in the small dining room. After having cleansed the wound, Loki now bandaged her injured hand. Revna's body still shook, though not as severely as when he had first come upon her.

"Could I have some wine?" Revna asked as Loki finished with the bandage.

"Is it not somewhat early in the day?" Loki said, finding the request somewhat odd, but then thought about it. After the fright it appeared she had experienced, perhaps it would help to calm her. "I'm not sure what's left." he said, rising from the chair he had moved near her as he'd tended to her wound.

"Anything is fine." she said. Loki reached the cabinet, opening it and perusing the few bottles remaining. He reached for a red variety then thought better of it due to its resemblance to blood, instead grabbing a bottle of white. Removing the cork, he carried the bottle and a glass to the table. Pouring the wine into the glass, he sat it in front of her. Her hand shook as she lifted it and took a drink, setting the glass back down and staring at it. Both she and Loki sat in silence for a few moments. "I thought I was to die." Revna said, on the verge of weeping. Revna's response reminded Loki of what his mother had told him.

"It seems it would not have been the first time." Loki responded. Revna looked at him questioningly.

"What do you mean?" Revna asked, confused.

"My mother told me of what your mother did to you." Loki said. Revna, who had been taking another drink of wine, her glass now nearly empty, slowly sat it down, staring at it again.

"She had gone mad. She didn't know what she was doing." Revna explained, puzzled as to why Loki would bring up the subject as it seemed completely unrelated to recent events before understanding dawned on her.

"Did you know what you were doing when you attempted to succeed where she failed? I am to return tomorrow. I know you would have me stay..."

"You think I'm mad or that I'm deceiving you." Revna rose from the chair. She still trembled slightly, as if in a state of shock. Turning her back, Revna left the room. Loki rose, following her as she made her way to the guestroom.

"We should talk." Loki said.

"There's nothing to talk about. Believe what you wish. I must rest." Revna said, opening the door she entered, closing it behind her.

Loki exited the cottage and walked slowly in the direction of the garden, perusing the ground for any sign, any clues of what Revna claimed to have once again seen. There had been no rain since the night of the storm and the ground was dry. It would be unlikely there would be any tracks left upon it, even those of a large animal.

Loki walked along the paving stones that lined the pathways between the plots in the garden, precluding the leaving of any tracks that would indicate its presence. Coming upon the fallen trellis he found only a few drops of Revna's own blood from her self inflicted wound.

Loki pondered the possibilities. There seemed to be only three. First, she was telling the truth and there was a beast on the loose, of the three that seemed the least likely. Second, she was suffering a mental break and had hallucinated its presence or third, she was manipulating him so he would remain there with her. Revna had been correct to surmise that the last two were foremost on his mind. The third didn't necessarily upset Loki. He at times used his own wiles to manipulate others to gain what he desired, though he did chafe a bit when the shoe was on the other foot. He intended to eventually ask her to leave this place with him but not quite yet, likely after the coronation only a couple of weeks away. But then, if the second possibility were to be true...his life was complicated enough without bringing a mad woman home.

It was the first and least likely explanation that troubled him most. What if this beast did exist and he were to leave the next day as planned? Was she to shut herself up for two weeks like a prisoner until he returned?

Loki had walked the perimeter of the cottage and along the treeline of the forest and the seashore, finding nothing, before he had reentered the cottage. As he had stepped away from the door, he stopped and then returned to it, securing it. He entered his grandmother's room and began to gather the few items of Frida's that he planned to take back to his mother.

After Loki had finished in his grandmother's bedroom, he had retrieved the open bottle of wine from the table and another glass and now sat in the armchair in the front room, a book from his grandmother's collection on the shelves nearby in one hand, a glass of the wine in his other. It was far earlier in the day than he usually imbibed, but he hoped between the wine and the contents of the book to clear the confusion and questions that swirled in his head.

Loki looked up as the door to the guest room opened and Revna stepped out, closing it behind her. She had changed out of the blood stained dress and into the one she had worn the day before. Crossing the room she sat down on the chaise. She remained sitting in silence as Loki looked at her, closing the book and setting it and his glass on the table.

"Did you rest well?" Loki asked.

"Well enough." Revna paused for a moment, a short silence falling between them. Loki rose and left the room, returning with her glass. He seated himself again before filling her glass and extending it to her. She took it, lifting it to her lips and then sat it on the table. ""Perhaps I am mad...but I do not deceive you. I would not have one stay with me that did not wish it."

"I will return. I swear to you." Loki said. He picked up a small box that sat on the table and held it out to Revna who took it. Opening the box she found resting inside a pair of gold earrings, dangling from each a large faceted emerald green stone. "I found them among my grandmother's things. I remember her wearing them when I was a child." Revna could not imagine Frida having worn such things as she had always dressed simply and unadorned in the time she had known her, but then Revna reminded herself that Frida had not always been the frail, ancient woman she had known, she had been the same age as Revna once.

"They're beautiful...should they not go to your mother?" Revna asked.

"I believe Amma would have liked you to have them. I also thought they would match well with your gown." Loki replied.

"You still wish me to join you?" Revna said.

"You and no other."

"Even if I'm mad?"

"There's something to be said for madness. I've thought at times that perhaps they are the only ones among us that are truly free." Loki mused. "May I ask a question...you need not answer…when you last spoke, what did my grandmother say to you?"

Revna closed the box in her hand, setting it on the table and lifted her glass, looking down into it.

"She told me I should enjoy my time with you. That it will pass all too quickly." Revna answered. Loki pondered his grandmother's words Revna had just related to him. Could they along with the timing of them after all she had been through previously have subconsciously sparked fear into Revna that their time would be short, that he would leave her as others had done? Could that fear be the cause of her hallucinations of this beast? He didn't claim to be an expert in the workings of minds, but it was as good an explanation as any other, Loki thought.

"We would be fools not to heed the words of one as wise as my grandmother."