Helgr wanted to rule. Or perhaps it wasn’t that simple. I had wanted her to win.

 

She was dead. And I realized I was grieving her. And she was dead for real, gone.

 

Somebody had to die, and if that was the case, I knew it had to be me. For real, because…because…

 

I leaned against a fire tree, and felt warm fur under my hand. “You found me.”

 

Still no name. I still could not name him.

 

I wanted…no, I did not want this to be over. I wanted it to have never happened.

 

Heck, right now I wanted it to all be some kind of delusion, to find out I was, after all, nothing more than a mortal girl.

 

A mortal girl who could marry the woman she loved, perhaps raise a child or two with her, live her life and die.

 

Because if I was insane and hallucinating this entire thing, it meant the world was not about to end. It meant that the feeling of everything going to hell in a handbasket was, well, just that. A feeling. Imaginary.

 

Heck, I would definitely rather be dead than this at some levels, except for having to leave Kanesha.

 

I dropped into a sitting position and the fyrhund crawled into my lap. “What do you think I should do?”

 

No answer, of course. Magical being he might be, bound to me…I knew that he had returned from apparent death because I held some part of his spirit…he was still essentially a dog. Thus, he was not overly smart.

 

Just a dog. Adorable, of course. Useful, definitely. Smart enough to give me advice? No.

 

Then a portal opened. I stood up. There was a dwarf on the other side. “Come on,” Jorun said.

 

It was even large enough for the horses, although they seemed none too keen on stepping through into a dwarven tunnel. Smart horses they might be, they still had some instinct.
The fyrhund followed, and we were out of Muspelheim. For now.

 

I knew it could not be for long. I needed a plan.

 

“So…”

 

“Somebody challenged Surtur to single combat. They lost,” I explained to the twins. “His tie to the land is too strong.”

 

“Ah.”

 

“I wouldn’t mind some advice on what to do next.”

 

“I think what you really need is some ale.”

 

I managed a weak laugh. “Uh huh, I’m not letting you guys get me drunk again.”

 

“Yes you are.”

 

I did not, of course, win the argument.