If Bragi had answered her question like she was just another skald asking just another question about good prose, Idun was certain she never would've found the bit of bravery necessary to finally speak up. He was talking, but what he was saying was meaningless. Bragi wasn't trying to answer her. He was trying to appease her. But somehow, inexplicably, illogically, she saw the heartbreak beneath his stony expression and finally, finally, Idun smiled. Bragi wasn't looking at her, but she smiled softly anyway. Frustration licked at the flames in her heart, but what was truly burning was untouchable. She loved him. She loved him so very much, and no matter the outcome or the consequences, the worlds were getting Bragi back. Even if he wasn't hers, he belonged to every poet and artist and musician. He belonged to Jondi. They were all getting him back, no matter what.
Idun shook her head. She dropped one of her hands, reducing the connection between them to a flimsy lacing of reluctant fingers and pale flesh. If Idun could call him her Bragi, she would've cupped his jaw and forced him to meet her gaze. But he didn't belong to her. And that was fine. This wasn't a love story. This was just...an honest story. There was a fire in her chest burning solely for Bragi, but all she was offering was truth, no ultimatums or desperate pleas.
"I know what you did, Bragi, what you really did," she told him. Her fingers squeezed his, and then Idun let his hand go. She had to. If he wanted to run, he could run. She had hope and honesty and nothing more. Idun wouldn't stop him a third time.
It took a steadying breath before she could continue, and even if her spine felt like liquid, Idun squared her shoulders and pretended like she had already earned his attention. She pretended like her smile wasn't the only thing standing between a speech and trembling silently and pathetically in a room upstairs. "I know that you saved my life, and that you were willing to lose your own in the process. Your message didn't reach me in time because that day, I went to find you. I realized that I'm quite hopelessly in love with you and I needed to tell you. That's why I was there that day. You saved me, and I will never be able to repay you, not fully, not truly. Even if you never wish to speak to me again, even if you ask to be repaid in distance and silence and an end to our friendship, know that you're the reason I'm alive. And...and know that you're the reason I believe in love. You proved all my silly theories wrong, you showed me it was all just...fear. I love you hopelessly and endlessly and I just needed you to know."
Without meaning to, Idun nibbled anxiously on her lower lip. She swallowed down the thick threat of a shaky, cracking whisper. Bragi didn't need to see her vulnerability, at least not like that. She wasn't asking him for anything. She didn't want pity. Idun had broken him, and if vulnerable honesty could help him heal, what place could trembling words truly have? "I'll go now, if that's what you want." And Idun meant it. Because she loved him and would do anything for him, even if it was too late for them.