A Day Trip:
Few creatures in all the Nine Realms can boast more knowledge than the elves when it comes to magic. For Thor, who knows little more than ‘mjolnir does what I tell it to’, the thought of seeking out a magical item fit for Loki is more than a bit overwhelming.
He focuses all his attention on the merchants, crinkles his nose as he strains to understand what arcane properties lie in each trinket. His grip on Jane relaxes as he moves to inspect a book that supposedly holds an entire swarm of frost-faeries inside.
“Yes but,” Thor begins, giving its pages a hard shake that nearly gives the shopkeeper a heart attack. “Are they ‘housebroken’?”
The faeries startle Jane, and she recoils as indignant chittering and a chilled, slightly agitated mist seeps from the shaken book.
"Please put the book down, sir," the merchant says. "Here, have a look at this piece ..."
He holds up an amulet worked in silver and emerald, its pendant carved in the likeness of a snake's open mouth. The snake's eyes and fangs are shimmering gems, and its jaws are gleaming, reflective silver. Magic radiates from the amulet, palpable enough that Jane feels it, like weak electricity sparking along her skin and hair. The carving mesmerizes her, and she stares at it for a long while before she finally exhales. "That's -- beautiful."
As she reaches to touch it, the merchant smiles. The mist from the book of frost-faeries thickens suddenly, unnaturally, enveloping the stall. Thor disappears, but Jane doesn't care; she's grasping for the pendant, desperate to hold it in her hand. Her fingers brush the silver, and her bones soften to mush; she's gripped with an inescapable, yet weirdly pleasant exhaustion.
"Isn't it, though," the merchant murmurs, as Jane's eyelids flutter and then close.
