"The only thing that's permanent in life is impermanence."
Thor Odinson arrives back to New Asgard after decapitating Thanos in the privacy of his own home. He finds himself spiraling down a landslide of depression due to his younger brother's grues...
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THIRTY ONE: ROCK BOTTOM
The future Queen of Vanaheim was a robust individual who carried herself with poise, confidence, and self-awareness. Her equilibrium was unlike no other, but anyone could tell it took some time for her to be as composed as she seemed to be.
It was no secret she hadn't been born into this life of sovereignty, growing up on earth under circumstances out of her control. Thor sometimes hated to admit it, but it had all been under his father's rule. He had expressed to Svala multiple times how apologetic he was on his late father's behalf, but she seemed to not hold any grudges, telling him it was all good and everything had happened for a reason. She was obviously glad her life was on track now, briefly explaining to him how empty she had felt before meeting Loki and traveling through realms to find her true identity.
"So all of your relics and pieces of history have been destroyed?" Svala asked, walking beside Thor as he showed her around New Asgard. Citizens looked on as they were probably wondering who was with the king. She looked around in wonder, asking several questions since she didn't know much about Asgard in the first place.
"Völva and other elders saved the most important things, since Ragnarok was inevitable, but everything else is gone," Thor replied, watching Brunnhilde deliver produce to a home not so far away from them, "Völva hid those things away."
"Does earth feel like home?" she asked, "like, surely it took a lot of getting used to, coming here and adapting could take years."
"It feels..." he took a deep breath, thinking about the question, "I mean, I've always loved earth, there's so much culture between all these tiny people. But Asgardians are still getting used to big things like the Internet and even small things like architecture and weather and clothing. It's been five long years, and some people are still behind."
"But everyone understands since you technically had no choice?" she guessed.
"Exactly," and he definitely appreciated how perceptive she was.
"Thor, do you need firewood?" Brunnhilde asked from atop her horse.
"Firewood?" he repeated with a grimace, "isn't it a bit early for that?"
"Yes, but Korg found this tree that had fallen and wanted to chop it up. Now we have too much tree."
"No thanks," he politely declined, "my home stays warm enough when I don't want it to."
"Very well," she shrugged a shoulder, then made eye contact with Svala, "who is this?"
"Svala," she replied cooly, "Queen of Vanaheim."
"Oh, you're the reason why Sòl didn't visit me yesterday," Brunnhilde pointed.
