Standing on the hillside, Jerry had his arm linked with Liz as they watched Loki and Thor entering Asgard's gates. Lamont and Marie stood with them.
With the wall breached, and the forces of Vanir arrayed with those of Loki, and the dragons and the Valkyries having harried the now leaderless Einherjar into retreat, Thrúd had had no trouble in getting Idun to offer terms to the remaining Æsir. Only Heimdall had wanted to fight on. Tyr sat on him, and reminded him exactly why he'd had to get gold teeth.
The only other possible serious objector, Thjalfi-Harkness, had disappeared. Not died. Just vanished while in custody.
Liz squeezed Jerry's hand. "It's just occurred to me why the Norns were so sour and uncooperative when I asked them to tell our futures. Loki said they only ever tell you things that make matters worse. They also apparently don't lie. So, the fact that they wouldn't tell us anything meant that the future was looking far too rosy for their liking."
Jerry kissed her.
She grinned. "See what I mean?"
"Something else occurred to me, Lamont," said Jerry, looking at his now much younger friend and wife, standing next to them, unable to stop hugging each other. "You were lamenting about your luck no longer following you, because Marie was dying. But actually you've never stopped being lucky. In fact, I think we've been seeing your luck at work. From what the doctors said, Marie's condition must have preexisted your blessing by Tyche. The only way that she could be cured—or at least treated—was by magic. So luck brought you to where you could get a reprieve for her. I don't know if it's a cure, but you've either reversed it or at least put it off."
Lamont pursed his lips thoughtfully. "So now we go home and pick it up before it starts . . ."
Jerry shook his head. "Some magics seem to continue to work in our world. But Athena's didn't. I don't know what would happen."
"Then somehow I'm going to get all my kids over here," said Lamont. "The fishing looks good," he added with a huge smile.
"And we have the Krim device's controller. This pyramid pendant off Odin. I imagine Miggy is going to be more than a little excited once we can get back in touch with him. It looks like Odin actually took control of it, not the other way around. That's an interesting concept. It implies that the pyramid is something that possibly we could control, not just the Krim. If other Mythworlds exist . . ."
Liz chuckled. "It might just make a degree in comparative mythology rather desirable in the employment market, outside of esoteric academia."
"No!" exclaimed Jerry, horrified by the idea.
"A mythtake," agreed Lamont.