Broken Remedy |L. Odinson|

Chapter Twenty

It was as if part of her had died. Almost as if she no longer existed. For the next week, Eir only left her bedroom to get some food once every day and then she left once more, hiding in her room. She did only what was necessary for her survival.

After that first week, she left her bedroom. But she didn't leave the house. Much like she had done when her father had left for war, she stayed in the garden and trained. Her palms, already rough from the countless hours of training, were starting to form new bumps as she kept training. Her staff was almost an extension of her now. She went nowhere without it, and no matter what, she wore comfortable clothes she could fight in. Eir would never be unprepared again.

Cuyler and her mother, Ingrid, kept to themselves as well. It was towards the end of the first week Eir had come out that Cuyler had joined her in her training. Still, it hadn't been enjoyable. The training was spent in silence and there was no satisfaction in winning. Nothing seemed to matter now.

She hardly realised there were people worrying about her. Without her knowing, Cuyler left one morning and went to the castle on his own. Loki had asked about her. He hadn't received a good enough answer. Cuyler hadn't paid much attention. After giving her some time to herself, he eventually headed to her home to visit her.

He didn't meet any obstacles as he got in the house and navigated his way uncertainty to the training grounds. After a while of walking around, trying to find their location, he got out in the back of the house, and he saw her. Loki didn't speak, he just watched her fight.

There was something about the way she moved that was utterly lethal, and he couldn't help but watch with wide eyes as she yielded her staff. It truly seemed to be an extension of her and he could clearly see her years of hard work in the way she fought her invisible enemy. It was a million times better than the time he had seen her fight with the swords, and he had to admit to himself, that watching her fight with the two swords had been a truly terrifying sight - the way she yielded both of them had been fatal - and she was still better than that with her staff.

Loki was hesitant to approach her. He feared that if he did come close, there was a chance she would hurt him but he imagined if he were to call her name, she wouldn't reply, too focused on her fight to hear him. She didn't show any signs of stopping, either. There was only one way he could get her attention.

He took out his daggers, almost regretfully as he walked towards her. And as she twirled to hit her invisible opponent, her staff clashed with one of his daggers. Her eyes shot up, blue gaze intense as she glared in the heat of the moment, and then, she twirled, took a step back, faced him, and quicker than he could have anticipated, she attacked again.

Loki blocked her first attack and dodged the second, his eyes narrowing in concentration  as he took a step back to avoid her staff and then cast his own attack. She defended herself without breaking a sweat. She twirled her staff and attacked, and Loki let out a yelp as a blade shot out of each end, grazing his cheek before he pulled away. He could feel the blood trickling down his cheek and surprised, he almost got hit but blocked it in the last minute. He focused.

He matched her attacks in speed and hit with more strength, hoping to win by his side and not his brain this time. It seemed to work. Eir's attacks got a bit sloppy and she had difficulty to block his hits. The fight seemed to be coming to an end, and Loki would have been proud to say he managed to win, but that didn't happen.

Even after her impressive effort against him, Eir lost because she lost her footing.

Loki straightened up as she remained on the ground, ignoring the wound on his cheek as he looked at Eir with a frown. She didn't move, for a while. And then, the blades of her staff retracted and she pushed herself up. Loki tried to help her up but before he could, she was already on her feet. She dragged her eyes up at him slowly and almost instantly, she frowned. She raised a hand and Loki maintained eye-contact as she touched his cheek. Slowly, he felt the skin on his cheek starting to mend itself. Once she had healed him, she let her hand fall and looked away.