The smile was all Idun needed to catch on to his teasing. It made her sad, though, knowing that they needed to joke about what had happened. When normal couples fought, Idun was fairly certain one of them didn't just drop into Niflheim. It was a charming way to win an argument, sure, assuming you enjoyed the horrifying cold and the dreadful fall and the painful realization upon awakening that you had nearly pushed your own husband to the end of his life. And that was assuming everyone woke up. Idun was lucky. If Bragi's love for her, if her love for Bragi, hadn't been so incredibly strong, she might never have been drawn back to life. "I only care about the living from this day forward. I swear. Bring on the magnifying glass," she whispered, but most of her humor was gone.
There was such a heaviness now that she was remembering. The pieces were slowly forming a complete image, but she almost wished for the lack of clarity to return. This was all so terrible, and so completely her fault. She hadn't needed space! But that's what she had demanded, and Idun knew she'd managed to glare at him like she was a second from launching daggers from her eyes. Why would he follow her when she had been so irrational? And to think, this was over something ridiculous. Over a friendship, one that predated their first meeting! Idun had no desire to lock her husband away and keep him from the rest of the worlds forever. She didn't need him all to herself, because she knew he loved her just as desperately as she loved him. So why had she started this fight in the first place?
Idun sighed quietly, giving her head a little shake. "This isn't your fault. I never should've walked away. I wasn't leaving you, but I left, and I should never have done that. You didn't give me too much space. I took too much. I'm not a good wife. Not yet. I let things spin out of control." Idun touched his face gently, tenderly, with a soft sort of desperation that nearly made her heart break. He was so cold. He looked like he might break if she kissed him again. Idun's first thought was to kiss him again. Her second was that he might break. She sighed again.
"I don't like fighting with you," she told him. It was such an unnecessary thing to say, but she told him anyway. The teasing was lost on her. Bragi's smile wasn't. It warmed her from the chest, then out. And then he closed his eyes and Idun gasped and pushed herself up onto an elbow so she could shake his shoulder. She could see his breath, but that didn't matter. He couldn't slip away. Not after they'd only just found each other again. "We'll get better. We have to. And we have to go. Bragi, don't close your eyes. Please..."