Karim rubbed his shoulder, ducking to smile into his eyes. Taiga looked away, crossing his ankles. Then he jumped down off the desk and pulled out a silk handkerchief from his breast pocket.<br/><br/>"He's gonna make me cry, too," Karim said into the air, but Loki was talking to Taiga, and Taiga was the one who answered him, wiping the tears from his cheeks like a parent.<br/><br/>"From this day on, Loki, you're free," he told him. "You'll have a chance to do something different for your life than just hooking. How well you guard that chance and how carefully you use it will mean everything. Do you know anything about magic symbiosis?" he said softly, his words as careful as his hands.<br/><br/>This was a big admission he was about to make. It gave Loki power over Taiga, whether he realized it or not, whether he acknowledged it or not.