"He got sick. He was for a few years, but then it got really bad towards the end," she said.
"It was the same with my mother," I whispered. "I begged Loki to make her immortal so that she wouldn't die, but she refused to accept it when Loki tried to give it."
"I'm sorry."
"There's nothing to be sorry for. It was my mother's choice whether to take immortality or not."
"I have a question, though it might be too personal," Clara said tentatively.
"I just saw you wake up from a dream crying, I think you can ask."
"You call Thor uncle sometimes, but you don't really refer to Loki as your father in the same way," she said.
"That's not a question."
"I guess my question is why," she responded.
I sighed and leaned back against the sofa. "Affection, mostly. Loki was never the most attentive parent, and I haven't really had a real relationship with them as...an adult? Is that how I should be referring to my godhood? Who knows. Anyway, I do have a relationship with my uncle, but after a while, we looked the same age, and people would ask if we were together. So I started calling him uncle to make it clear that no, he was not my lover. It stuck after that."
"Is he really your uncle?" she asked.
"Yes. Or at least as far as any of us remember. He's a good man. Your cousin is in safe hands."
"I know that just from watching them together."
"They are sickeningly in love," I agreed. "He's been smitten since the moment he met her. He was showing me her sculptures on his phone." I smiled at the memory, especially how he'd denied that he was feeling anything towards Daisy at first. Maybe we were alike in that.
"I saw the competition show they were on together, I think it was obvious to everyone," Clara said.
I laughed. "It really was. But that's not what we're supposed to be talking about. What happened in your dream?"
"I talked to my dad." A soft smile spread over her face. "I told him about my life, and he talked about memories he had. Maybe it's all in my head, but I don't care if that's true. It was wonderful."
"I guess that means I'm going to need to get you some more veillock then?" I asked.
"If you wouldn't mind. But I can get Daisy to do it next time Thor takes her to the god realm."
"I'm happy to do it for you."
"That sounds like a personal connection," she teased.
"Yes, it does." And not one that's anywhere near as scary as I first thought.
"I thought of my final question," Clara said, taking me by surprise.
"What?"
"You said I had five questions the other day, and I didn't get to ask my final one," she responded.
"Oh, I'd entirely forgotten." It had been something I'd thought of in the moment to try and keep things casual between us, and it clearly hadn't worked, considering where I was now.
"I should have guessed. Well, anyway, I thought of the fifth one I wanted to ask."
"What is it?" I asked curiously.
"Will you go out to dinner with me? As a date. I mean, if I haven't misjudged the situation completely. If I have, you can tell me."
The question should send me into a panic. I didn't do dates. They were far too personal and led to the opportunity for way too many feelings, and that was something I wanted to avoid at all costs. But it didn't feel like that at all, taking me by surprise.
