Idun felt a bit like she was losing her grip on reality. She kept rolling the name of Bragi's goddess around in her mind, trying to provoke some sort of reaction, but there was nothing. Idun was not willing, not able, to be someone's second choice, and she would never consider hurting a stranger by falling into the arms of a taken man. But she wasn't planning on falling into Bragi's arms. All she was going to do was tell him what she'd discovered. Tell him that she loved him, that she'd loved him all along. Stubbornness and fear had gotten in the way, clouding her vision so she couldn't truly see what was in front of her, and even if it was too late, even if his heart belonged to Jondi in a romantic, irreversible, true example of undying love, at least he would know. At least her friend would know that he had helped her realize love wasn't beyond her reach.
Even if he didn't want her, at least Bragi had helped to fix her.
She needed to see him, and that was crazy. It was madness. But it felt right. Talking to Loki had brought her to these unbelievable realizations, and now that she'd learned Bragi's location, it was simple. She would just tell him what she was feeling, and make it clear that this was a confession but not a proposal of anything. He had Jondi. Idun loved him, but he loved Jondi and she wasn't going to complicate things beyond that. It wasn't like he loved her.
But if he did...
That was where her thoughts kept ending up. What if. It was exhilarating. It was dangerous. Hope was a truly scary thing, but as long as she only used a dash of it, as long as the majority of her thoughts were more realistic, what would the harm truly be? She found the right place, walked inside, and all her frenzied thoughts came to a crashing halt. Nobody was here. Not a single soul was inside. Her brow furrowed. Nobody was here, but there was a great deal of noise outside. Curious, Idun pushed open the door, stumbled into the outskirts of a crowd. How very ——
What was her brother doing in the middle of the crowd? And...and why was Bragi there, bleeding?
Idun was too short to see what clattered to the ground, but she heard something heavy drop, and she decided that was the moment to push forward, to try to get a better view. She squeezed between two giant, meaty individuals, got a bit closer to the empty center inside this ring of people.
"Idori, what's going on?" she asked as she continued to push. She could see her brother coming closer, abandoning whatever he'd been doing to approach her instead. Idun's brow was still furrowed, but she stole a glance at Bragi. For once, she was able to rightly identify the feeling that rushed through her when she looked upon him. "Why is everybody out here?"