The Last Shifter (a Loki romance)

Chapter 49

Ok, so the POV in this chapter might be a little odd to some people but it makes sense to me.  Since Loki is in Arista's body, I used 'I' and 'she' interchangeably.  Just to clear that up so nobody gets confused.

Loki's POV

She was walking into some sort of garden.  It was so strange to be seeing things from her point of view, let alone something from over one hundred centuries ago!  Everything looked so....familiar.  So ordinary.  She was walking down a cobblestone path of different browns next to a tan stone railing.  There were bushes to my left, a tree up ahead and.....nothing to my right?  I tried to turn but found that I was not in control of the body I was in. 

It wasn't until I heard a rumbling to my right that she actually turned her head and I gaped at what I saw.  There were two large circular buildings that were widest in the middle and the top was identical to the bottom.  That's what was so odd, the buildings were just sort of....floating there.  Next to it, docked at a platform, was a ship.  It looked like an old Midgardian ship of the ocean but, like the building, the top was reflected in the bottom and there were a pair of engines on the back.  I didn't recognize their structure but they looked somewhat similar to ancient Asgardian engines.  I wanted to see more of the ship, as well as what was below, but Arista didn't give it more than a glance, turning her eyes back to a near-horizontal branch on the tree.  I could feel smooth, light silk shifting over her legs with every step.  I could see her familiar brown hair out of the corner of my left eye, but not my right and I could feel metal on my arms and my left hip.  When I got to the tree, I climbed into it almost like I've done it a thousand times and I got a better look as what Arista was wearing.  It was a white, sheer dress with lace on the edges and a lime green underskirt and just a sheer white, silken shall held up only by golden bands on my upper arms that wove all the way down to her wrists, the clasps holding stones of green and blue.  Form the corner of my eye, I could see the metal piece on her hip was of the same fashion.

Once she was situated on the tree branch, she was approached by all manner of rodents and bugs.  I watched in awe as a squirrel scampered right up to her and sniffed her hand, not at all afraid of her as it should be.

"What's going on?"

"This is a test." She replied, "I have to guess which ones are Shifters and which ones are just wild animals." She conjured an acorn and held it out to the animal.  It took it after a quick sniff and popped it open without question, quickly gobbling up the nut inside.

"Not you." I heard her say.  Her voice was younger, without the weight it carried today.  I felt something shift in my hair and her hand moved to something....soft.  A flower.  She picked a bee off it by the wings, pinching them gently to the fragile body.

"Shayna."  She let go of the bee and it flew a distance before turning into a girl about Arista's age.  She had brown hair woven to the back of her head where it was let down from small, intricate braids.  She also sported a golden ornament in her hair that complimented her purple outfit.  The girl–Shayna–walked over to the railing and leaned against it as Arista's attention strayed back to the animals.  My eyes instantly fell in a large, bright magenta butterfly.  One completely unlike the monarch and gentle yellow ones also in sight.

"Rhiannon." She lifted her leg slightly, just enough for it to brush the little creature.  The 'little' creature that morphed into a slightly annoyed girl that had far too much time on her hands in the morning.  Dressed in a flowery, ombre, sleeveless dress of warm colors, long black hair twisted and bound with unnatural height in loops of red, a bouquet of freshly-picked flowers for a headband, heavy earrings, near-white skin, striking yellow eyes and a curved smile that just screamed 'spoiled brat', this girl was a nightmare incarnate, complete with an exotic bird on her arm.