Disastrous Dinner

'Oh my god! Are you okay?' Nevaeh asked anxiously, wondering if Karma was getting him back for her fallen dessert and automatically forgetting her momentary grudge over her dead ice-cream. 'Loki, are you seeing this? Do something!' she added, turning around and watching a still Loki who had his fingers bent in an oddly familiar manner.

There he was, the living embodiment of Karma, punishing the boy already for his accidental bump resulting in such heinous consequences. Pure horror once again struck Nevaeh's eyes as realization hit her and she approached Loki in one quick step, smacking him sharply on the head by her fist.

SMACK!

Loki looked at her with a scowl, yet refused to drop his fingers which were bent as though "trying" to suffocate someone. Nevaeh's eyes turned wildly furious. She grabbed Loki's hand, bent a little in her knees and bit it, her teeth sharply penetrating the back of his hand. Loki yelled audibly, shooing her away. He had no idea how her little teeth had penetrated his fairly impenetrable skin. He stared at her in utter exasperation as she let go of his hand.

'You bit me!' Loki yelled in disbelief as he analysed the little teeth marks on his hand while holding it gently like a baby bird.

'You are lucky I didn't bite off your fingers!' fumed Nevaeh in a whisper.

The boy's suffocating breaths had stopped the moment Nevaeh had bit Loki's hand. She turned around to look at them. His friends were kneeling next to the boy on the road. On any given day she would've offered assistance to the confused boys on the sidewalk, but given that her plus one was the very reason behind them needing her assistance in the first place, made Nevaeh grab Loki's waist and steer him away from them.

After walking two blocks she glanced at a dark alley and pushed him inside it with all her strength, making him tumble a mere two steps. Loki turned around, looking at a fuming, disbelievingly annoyed Nevaeh and he smiled, showing all his sparkling teeth.

'LOKI – YOU TRIED TO CHOKE THAT GUY FOR MY ICE-CREAM!' bellowed Nevaeh, waving her arms in the air.

'First of all, he did that on purpose. Secondly, you said subtlety was the key! I was being subtle! They didn't even realise it was me! And you – you bit me—'

'No he didn't do it on purpose! And it doesn't matter! You can't choke people for such things. Okay, let me rephrase that. You cannot choke people! Ever!' yelled Nevaeh.

'Why are you being this way? You were happy when I used the force on the guard!' Loki said, unable to understand what the big deal was.

'Okay, it is cute that you are calling it "the force", but you cannot choke people with it! You are not Darth Vader, Loki!' bellowed an angry Nevaeh, who couldn't believe they were still having such conversations.

'Or am I?' Loki asked.

'That's it! No more Star wars for you! You are cut off! And we need to get off this planet. You – you are crazy,' she yelled.

Nevaeh was in no mood to walk, partially fearing that they might bump into someone else on their way and Loki could snap their necks this time. Loki teleported them from the dark alley to a few blocks away from her home. They walked the rest of the distance in silence. Nevaeh was still shooting Loki with dangerously glaring looks every now and then and scoffing from time to time as she constantly pondered over Loki's wildly incorrect behaviour. They reached home just in time for dinner. Her parents were already seated on the dining table's chairs, sipping wine and giggling amongst themselves when they realised that they have returned.

'Hey, kiddo! Come on up here, both of you,' Samuel gestured them towards the dining area and poured them drinks. Nevaeh silently walked towards them along with an equally silent Loki and they quietly took seats opposite to each other. Nevaeh was still annoyed with him but she wanted to proceed with their plan despite her feelings.

Soon the dinner was served and Nevaeh was telling them about her friend Robert, who had recently started his own pastry café. Loki pouted his lips a little; she had never once mentioned this Robert boy to him and now she couldn't stop talking about him, whose parents were apparently friends with hers.

'Yes. Brian was pissed before everything, but every kid should be provided with the opportunities of choosing their own future,' Samuel said.

'His parents would be equally thrilled when he flourishes in what he loves,' Ariel said.

As soon as her parents finished those sentences, Loki realised why Nevaeh felt the need to approach this topic and he muttered an 'Ah' to himself.

'Speaking of which, Loki and I were having a discussion earlier about magic. There are plenty of witches and wizards on Asgard—'Nevaeh was saying but she was interrupted by her mother.

'You never once mentioned that,' she said sharply.

'Well, because I didn't know it back then and I certainly did not come across anyone with magic during our journey, as I have repeatedly told you. Anyway, I paid a visit to Master Raphael while you were gone and we were talking about learning more unknown forms of magic,' Nevaeh said. Her parents' attention was suddenly transfixed on her as though Loki wasn't even present there and he slowly shifted behind in his seat as if attempting to disappear in the shadows.

'Raphael didn't mention—'Samuel was saying frowningly when Nevaeh quickly interrupted him.

'Because I told him not to! I didn't want to disappoint or alarm you in any way by my dissatisfaction,' she said quietly. Loki was pleasantly impressed by the sudden improvement in her acting skills.

'Dissatisfaction with what?' Ariel asked.

Nevaeh snorted in derision. 'You are kidding, right? I have to control every aspect of my life when I am out of this house. I cannot be truly free. There is a wise Master on Asgard, who teaches magic to the people who possess it. Asgard's King and Queen have high respect for the Master, as well. And that is where the princes received their extensive education regarding magic,' Nevaeh said.

Loki slowly breathed a sigh of relief; she had almost told them everything they had planned to inform them, and that too quite subtly, without showing any signs of desperation or fear.

'And where does this master teach his pupils?' asked Ariel.

'They have an entire community built within a vast temple thingy and everybody lives there, including our boy here,' Nevaeh said, pointing towards Loki who suddenly smiled his widest as all the eyes looked at him.

'And how long does it take to complete the – the curriculum?' Ariel asked.

'It takes about six months, or an year depending on –'

'You want to stay away from home for such a long time?' Ariel asked in surprise.

'Well, yeah, I will soon turn twenty one now. Officially an adult–'Nevaeh was saying when Samuel finally spoke.

'No, Nevaeh,' he said quietly, firmly shaking his head once as Ariel anxiously glanced at him.

The fancy centre bulb in the chandelier above them suddenly shattered into pieces. Samuel casually flicked a wand towards it, making the glass disappear from over their heads before it came anywhere near them.

Nevaeh was staring at her father with disbelief – till the bulb shattered, when she quickly averted her gaze to a silently fuming Loki who had his jaws as tightly clenched as his fists and was staring at Samuel with unblinking eyes.

She was more hurt than angry by her father's predictable response, but she knew exactly what had triggered Loki; her father's words. Her parents didn't even dignify the bulb-shattering event with a comment, as though it were a frequent occurrence. They just stared at Nevaeh with a hint of nervousness as though expecting her to start shrieking any moment now. Nevaeh sharply stood up from her chair and looked at her father through narrowed, disappointed eyes before gesturing a hand to Loki. 'Let's leave, Loki.'

'Leave – leave where? To Asgard? Did you even hear me—'a slightly scared Samuel suddenly stood up straight when Nevaeh interrupted him by laughing loudly. Loki cautiously got up from his chair to stand next to her.

'See?' Nevaeh scathingly chuckled, pointing her hand towards her standing father, 'you still think of me as the rebellious teenager who is looking for more answers, when in fact, you have stomped on that curiosity years ago! I just wanted to learn some new tricks, meet some new people who are not ignorant till their very cores, and you know – live a little. But apparently, that is not going to happen either. And, yes – I asked Loki to leave with me right now – to go upstairs – not to run away from home. God, I am so disappointed in you. You are incapable of change,' finished Nevaeh, shaking her head slowly and watching him with shrewd eyes. 'Robert gets to follow his dreams! "Every kid should be provided with the opportunities of choosing their own future"' she imitated her father's voice. 'HYPOCRISY!' she fumed tearfully.

Loki grudgingly suppressed the strongest urge of applauding boomingly; he was feeling quite enlightened after that speech. As soon as Samuel opened his mouth to speak, Nevaeh dramatically whipped around, her long hair flowing behind her and she marched upstairs while taking Loki by the hand, who made an apologetic face behind her back. Ariel waved a hand at Loki in a don't-worry-about-it kind of manner from behind Samuel's back as he blinked at the pair, lost for words...