They'd been there long enough that Bragi didn't notice the white anymore. He tried not to look to close at where they were, but sometimes he caught glimpses out of the corners of his eyes and it made him gasp. This was a terrible place. Idun had looked into it and then buried herself alive. Life and spring and youth had looked into it and buried herself alive. It terrified him. He trembled due to more than just cold. Idun moving and talking and kissing him right there made it alright to stay there for now, but Bragi didn't ever want to come back once they'd left. He wouldn't wish the place on anyone. He was glad none of his family would ever end up there.
Bragi laughed. His breath came out jagged in the cold. “That's nauseatingly romantic” he teased. Except it wasn't. It was like lighting a fire without actually lighting one. The sort where they didn't have to worry what else it might attract. He kissed her gently. Her lips weren't blue any longer, and some of the red was coming back into her cheeks. Their arms were around each other but why her lips weren't blue and the red was coming back was more touching than that, and Bragi believed it. Idun didn't lie about these things. “I wish I knew how I did it,” he said. He didn't mention that he had some idea.
He couldn't see his lips, but a few moments had passed with the skin on both of them, and she hadn't disappeared, so Bragi wouldn't fight anymore. He nodded. He'd seen how not built for cold she was. Bragi wished he could have got her somewhere warmer, but he couldn't have moved her like that. Not when it seemed like the quick transition could make her shatter. This was going to be a problem. They were in the wrong pantheon for cold avoiding, but Bragi would figure it out. He'd find a way to make sure she never got that cold again. Bragi couldn't take another stay like this, and neither could she. Once was too many times for her to be that frozen. He wanted to know what she'd been crying over, and to take it away, but he'd had his opportunity to look, and had looked at her instead.
“You weren't lost,” Bragi said. “You just thought you were lost.” He knew where she was, and he'd gotten as close as he could. He smiled. He'd worked. She was being terribly romantic again. “Good,” he said, “I had run out of things to try.”