The slug story had accomplished what it had set out to do. It had caught Sigyn's attention before she barreled out of there to attack until Idun got small enough to fit in that basket, and it served as a good set up to describe exactly how worried she didn't have to be. It also told her a mortifying story from his early childhood, but Bragi had laughed at her in earnest, so this was only fair. He would have happily dropped the rest of the story then, but Sigyn had asked, and she looked like she was still mulling things over, so Bragi just as happily obliged.
“She wasn't,” Bragi admitted, “Generally. But she wanted a piglet and she couldn't have one unless she proved she was responsible. So she went out and caught this massive slug. It was the only thing slow enough.” He paused and bit his lip. “We loved her for her knuckle biting. Not her lightning fast reflexes.” Bragi explained. She seemed to be doing better. He paused. “Would you like some apple wine?” He started moving a bit further into the orchard and gestured that Sigyn could follow if she wished. Every once in awhile, while he kept speaking, he'd scan the ground in the front of the trees.
“She named the slug 'Clod' and kept it in a box under her bed,” Bragi continued. “She wasn't sure what slugs ate so we brought things for her to toss in there with it. Occasionally she'd ask us to pay her to look at it.” He frowned a little. Bragi had lost a lot of very intriguing looking rocks this way. “A day or two later it got very ill.” He shrugged one shoulder and lifted a hand. “I thought it was dead. But I was just seven. She was eight. She knew far more about these things than I did. Before she told me, I didn't even know slugs could be kissed better. Provided you do it correctly.”
Bragi paused and made eye contact. “I didn't,” he said. His two rivals didn't do it right either. They'd all grown much closer from the experience though. But that was a different story, and he was trying very hard to stick to just the one. “If I had, I don't think it would have won her affection anyway.” Bragi said to answer her question. “The age barrier was just too insurmountable. She was eight. One strand of her hair contained more wisdom than all the runes on my tongue combined. She existed on an entirely different realm of understanding. She knew what mills were for.” He paused. “I did date her sister though.”