When we all stopped laughing. “It’s Celtic mythology, not Norse.”

 

“Then explain the chains. Or did I put that in myself?”

 

“Lugh’s chain,” Kanesha said quietly. “It’s a sling.”

 

“Hrm.”

 

“Made of stars,” she added.

 

“That would mean a set down weapon and mean peace,” I mused. “Unless I did put it in there. And the stars follow the theme.”

 

“Maybe you need to set down a weapon.”

 

“I don’t think,” I told Kanesha, “My sword would be inclined to agree.”

 

“True.”

 

Loki sighed. “Lugh thinks you will start Ragnarok. He thinks that will affect him – which it might, depending on how it really affects the Earth, where myths overlap. But you saw the chain as…”

 

“I saw it as the chain binding Fenrir.”

 

He flinched at the name. “You saw it as something holding back destruction. He would see it as a weapon. Which is…”

 

“…exactly the thing. The prophecy may say I start Ragnarok or it may say I prevent it. Or hold it back.”

 

“Right. So it was a metaphor. The chain, that is.” Loki smiled at me. “You passed one test seeing it as a chain.”

 

I snorted “Not really. I didn’t know that Lugh used a chain to throw slingstones until just now. Or remember, anyway.”

 

Kanesha sighed. “The tree, though.”

 

“The tree is immortality. The food of the gods. If it dies, we starve.” I glanced at Loki.

 

“Right. But the other thing that feeds the gods is human belief. It could represent that, the embers of faith in us only starting to brighten again. Which would be another fear of Lugh.”

 

I let out a breath. “So, this could just be an insight into his head. Odin was talking to him anyway.”

 

“Odin got him to leave you alone, for now. If he sees one sign of you moving towards starting Ragnarok any time soon, though…”

 

“That’s fair. But I’m also supposed to fix the dang tree.”

 

“It’s a metaphor,” Loki said. “Put it where metaphors belong. In the back of your mind.”

 

He had, I thought, a very definite point.