The next thing I knew I was sitting up in…bed? Had I dreamed the entire thing?

No. I remembered stabbing the dragon. I remembered falling. I remembered a swirl of rainbows…but now I was home.

“Kan…”

“Thruor dropped you back off. I got your stuff back from Coyote. He thanked you for getting rid of the dragon.”

“What…what happened?”

“You stabbed the dragon. It vanished. You went into the lake. Coyote stopped me from swimming out there after you. He said you weren’t there any more.”

“Because you can only die in your own realm,” I said, finally. “Otherwise…you get sent back where you belong.”

I’d died. Sort of. I didn’t feel like it, though.
“Oh…oh dang. That makes sense. It makes the entire Baldur thing make so much more sense.”

“I’d forgotten it. I remember it now.” And I’d been brought back here by Thruor…but I did have a dim memory, now. “I was in Asgard. I was in Eir’s house.”

Kanesha nodded. “The goddess of healing. But you seem to be all patched up now.”

I swung my legs to the floor, stood up. “My sword?”

“Otter went and got it for us. I cleaned it.”

I let out a breath. “Thanks. I’m sorry I scared you like that.”

“I really thought…” She pulled me into a hug.

“Hey. I’m the goddess here, remember. Although you’re not bad yourself.” I wondered if it extended to her. If she had died there, would she just have ended up back on Earth?

It wasn’t an experiment I was willing to risk. You can only die in your own realm.

Which meant if I was going to… “Maybe I can take Surtur on after all.”

“Because in Muspelheim he can die and you can’t. But you’d bamf out. It wouldn’t…”

I nodded. “Wouldn’t help me win against somebody with centuries more experience than me. I suppose Coyote’s still thinking of pranks.”

“He had his tail between his legs and he went to try and find the hole it got in through to lock it out. He doesn’t like dragons in his home.”

“I don’t think I like dragons period.”

“You’re the one who had to do the bad movie thing.”

At least I didn’t remember anything hurting. Or more likely I was repressing the memory.

Fire and water. “Was I on fire when I hit?”

Kanesha nodded.
“It wasn’t the dragon’s.” I sighed. “I can’t control it, apparently, when I’m in a serious fight. Or maybe when there’s a dragon around.”

“Surtur sent that thing.”

“Yes.” But to what end? To stop me from…maybe he was afraid of me getting to the spring. And if he didn’t want me to remember, maybe I should have drank from it after all.

No. I still knew I had made the right decision.