Laila was the first person to wake in the castle, then again, maids and house servants were always the first up. At least, thats what she'd thought, there was someone else up early that morning too. Laila started off her morning with the usual routine, waking, washing and dressing herself, quickly braiding her hair so it wouldn't get in the way while she worked, and then leaving the maids quarters. Her first stop was Loki's room. It was always her first stop.
Laila had little competition when it came to this job. Loki was always so moody and foul, none of the maids would readily volunteer to wait on hand and foot for Odin's foul-tempered son. Laila loved Loki regardless, and no matter how foul he treated her, she still served him. It caused tremendous pain, but deep down, Laila just continued to torture herself, as if one day Loki would suddenly realise she was his sister and instead of scowling and barking an order at her as he so often did, he'd wrap his arms around her and just hug her.
Today would not be that day. It was highly likely that day would never happen.
Laila knocked at the door. "Master Loki, is there anything you would like?" she asked softly, surprised to find Loki awake already, in fact it appeared as if he'd not even slept.
The floor was littered with books and tomes, at the heart of the chaos, sitting on the floor with his back against his bed, which appeared as if no one had slept in it, was Loki. Raven black hair tousled, his icy blue eyes glued to the book that he was currently reading, resting lazily in his lap. He slowly lifted his gaze to meet Laila's, then upon noticing it was just her, just the maid he returned to staring at his book.
"You can take this pile to the library, I have no need for it" he said dismissively, waving his hand at a pile of discarded books.
He didn't even look at her. It stung. The pain of being dismissed so easily by Loki always hurt her.
"As you wish Master Loki" Laila responded, gathering up the hefty pile of books.
One of the regular maids would have struggled under such a bulky pile of musty old books but Laila went hunting and trained with the warriors when she had spare time, so she was well capable to lift the heavy pile with relative ease. She let herself out silently, allowing Loki to resume his studies.
Loki growled in frustration and chucked the book from his lap aside. Another useless book, he couldn't find what he was looking for in any of these bloody books. Frustrated, he got up in a flourish and let himself outside, walking through the gardens to clear his head and stretch his legs.
