The devious look in her eyes made Bragi trust her completely, but not about regretting. If she did gloat to the extent that he regretted that statement she'd definitely have something new to gloat about, oh trust him. “Now I definitely expect a dance” Bragi said. His smile became wider, encouraged by her earlier silent laughter. Challenge accepted.
It took a great deal of willpower not to blush again. Luckily Bragi had gotten a lot of practice exercising willpower that day. If he made it out of this situation alive, Bragi would have one of the fittest wills in the universe. Something told him his will would give out before then, but Bragi ignored this. That something was the look on her face, and it also happened to make him more optimistic. “Well” Bragi said, “when I come this way within the week with the writings we'll watch and see who underestimated what worse.” He already knew exactly which two pieces he would use. To up the stakes, he'd make the second one only a bit more fascinating, and wouldn't tell her which was which. He bet she would still be able to tell.
Bragi looked up at her through the corner of his eye. “I'm not sure exactly yet. It was just an idea I had. But I'd like a good mix I think. I like happy endings better than sad ones. What kinds of plays would you like to see?” Somewhere down the road, Bragi would change his mind a bit about the sad ones, but at that point, he was blissfully unaware of that road. He smiled at her in a fashion that he wanted to call friendly. “I started it about sixteen days ago, but put the majority of the work in the day afterward” Bragi answered. He kept his tone very casual. It was just a fact. The when. Just a fact. In the interest of friendship, she didn't have to delve into it much.
“A nice girl taught me in exchange for music lessons,” Bragi explained. “Though I think I got the better part of the bargain.” He smiled. “I could do a flower too. Or a bird. I just didn't have enough apple for a bird.” Bragi had liked Orchard 5. They had been extremely helpful, for being entirely the wrong orchard.