Woodland Whispers & Loki's Love

Part 3- The year that followed

Light began to creep through the curtains of the small room I had begun to know as home. Today marked the day, the sun was rising on the year anniversary of my landing in Midgard, known to the humans who live here as 'Earth'.

When I first arrived to this place I had found myself in a vast desert, gone were the lush greens of Alsoi, replaced with miniscule grains of glass, hot with the heat from a single sun. The sight had given me almost immediate awareness of how big the world I had landed in was, though at the time I could not imagine how big it truly was.

The sound of the call was immediately louder on Earth, it had taken me a second to find my footing. On finding my feet I had set myself to walking in the direction my feet pulled me. When first coming across human life I was met with people who looked somewhat like my people. I had been warned of many things before my arrival, that magic was not a common thing, and that I would have to conceal myself. I took the human name of y/n, and transformed my appearance to look human. They didn't look too different to us, although they didn't seem to have any colours in their eyes or hair, they were somewhat dull. Much taller than us and much louder. They lead busy lives and never seemed to stop or stay still.

What had been harder to adapt quickly to was the fact that creatures here could not communicate with anyone outside of their species. In the absence of communication a sort of hierarchy had been built and at humans had placed themselves on top. However, even amongst themselves they so often seemed divided. The general distrust of strangers I felt coming off them had caused my travel to become harder, over several weeks I found ways to get closer, following in whichever direction the call seemed louder.

It was after 40 days that I found New York City. In this place the call was so loud, it felt that there were echoes of someone on every turn, though narrowing anything down felt impossible given the sheer number of humans in this place, they moved so fast and the machines they used were so loud. The only relief came from the fact that the amount of noise did aid in making the call less painful. After walking through a mixture of hard materials, metal, concrete, glass. I had found my way to what felt like the only green space, known as a park to the humans, and laid my head there. I found on these first nights that sleeping outside was not a safe option in the city but the call was the loudest it had ever been, and so I resigned myself to staying for the time being.

On one morning I was woken from my slumber by a warm hand rested itself on my shoulder. Smiling down at me was an elderly instantly I could feel his warm and welcoming demeanour, his gentle smile lit up his face. His eyes were crinkled at the corners from years of laughter. He had a neatly combed a head of silvery hair, and was dressed in a buttoned shirt with a big warm coat over it. He introduced himself as Mr Matsumoto, and offered me a cup of hot tea. We sat for a while and made pleasant talk about the trees and the birds that he enjoyed listening to from his home. He told me that his shop was just over the road and that he had seen me looking lost in the park for several days.

Humans didn't share resources for free, you had to work to earn money and then use money to pay for things. Shops were where you 'bought' things. And as Mr Matsumoto invited me into his store, I found myself in a world of books. He kept all manner of tomes which one could purchase, I could not believe my eyes and as I stared in awe, Mr Matsumoto asked me if I had a job, likely knowing I did not. Over several more cups of tea I explained to him that I had travelled a long way from my home, in search of something bigger, and was at a loss for my next step. He offered me a job inside his store, he told me that he lived above the shop and instead of payment, I could live in a room he had to spare.

On the year anniversary of my arrival to Earth I was pulled from my slumber by the familiar pounding in my head. Feeling restless, I threw myself out of bed and looked in the mirror across from my bed. Over the last year I had managed to perfect my human form and as I took a long look in the mirror, the woman reflected back at me was still a stranger. The dark hair lying straight against my face and the dull hazel eyes of a young woman stared back at me. This face was slightly more angular than my own, and the eyes slightly smaller. I had chosen an apparently average size of 5'4" to fit in, it had taken some time to grow accustomed to the extra hight I now carried myself with. I pulled out a sweater and some shorts. Human clothes were much softer than the ones I had grown up wearing, and whilst the synthetic fibres had been an adjustment I did now enjoy the comfort they provided. I glanced at the shoes by the door and begrudgingly pulled them over my feet. All 425 years of my life on Alsoi my feet had been bare on the ground, but on earth there are things on the ground that can hurt you, sharp or damaging things, littered on the streets for anyone to step on, and so the humans have taken to covering their feet.