The gardens... he had forgotten planting season is coming up, the world outside emerging from the depths of winter as if reawakening from the dead, brought to life by the brightness of the sun. Thor takes in a breath and lets it out, shaky but deliberate. Called forth as a weapon, the storm may yet cause good, bringing life rather than taking it. He reaches for that thought, trying to hold it close. I am saving my people.

He leans his head into hers, closing his eye. Even now, there's a part of him that wants to deflect, to claim that he's fine despite all evidence to the contrary, conditioned by a lifetime of being told that a king must appear strong even when he is not. Foolish to cling to it at all costs, yet casting it off is not as easy as he wishes it was. Just as futile as revenge itself.

"...unsettled," he says at last, holding her just a little tighter. "And... loved." That part is equally as important, maybe even moreso. Thor knows how it feels to wake in the night after such dreams, and have no one to help him come back to Earth. With her arms around him, her hands soothing him with soft strokes along his back, the siren song of drink is quieted. He lets out a sigh, settling more solidly against her, nearly all the tension eased from his body. "Safe."

Irrational anxieties still linger, but he knows them to be so, at least. There will be no attack on the village, no fires burning just outside his door, no haunting grin emerging from the dark. Stormbreaker lies quietly in its bracket above the mantel, Thor's hands holding only the woman in his arms, her presence as much a shield against the foes of his mind as any weapon could be. Even so, he can't stop the twinge of guilt that he's once again disturbed her sleep. "Sorry I woke you," he whispers, leaning his forehead against hers.