Freya and Bjorn survive the plunge over the waterfall thanks to Freya invoking Hlin's shield magic at the last moment. The impact is brutal—they are churned underwater against rocks—but Bjorn drags Freya along the riverbed until they surface downstream. They crawl onto the bank, battered but alive. Bjorn explains that everyone witnessed Tora's lightning fling them into the water and over the falls, so both armies will believe them dead. With no living shield-maiden to possess, neither Snorri nor Harald has reason to continue fighting, and Snorri will not punish Geir or Ingrid for Freya's apparent death in battle. Bjorn urges Freya to seize this chance: they can leave Skaland together, free and unfated, making their own destiny.

Freya is overcome with hope but asks whether Bjorn can truly abandon his oath to avenge his mother, Saga. He declares that no oath or vengeance is worth her life or happiness, and tells Freya he loves her. She returns the words, and they set off downstream to avoid anyone searching the riverbanks. As they walk, Bjorn reveals the location of the ruined cabin where he grew up alone with Saga. He explains that his mother, a seer burdened by visions of pain, lived in isolation to avoid triggering her gift. She forbade young Bjorn from ever speaking Tyr's name, warning it would set him on a path of fire and loss. One night a man broke in, attacked Saga, and in desperation the boy called Tyr's name, summoning a burning axe he dropped—igniting the cabin. The roof collapsed on him, and he awoke a prisoner in Nordeland, his mother dead.

They continue upstream to a hidden hot-spring cave that Saga once showed Bjorn, where he has cached supplies. Inside, the emotional weight of their escape and their confessions of love gives way to passion. They make love in the steaming pool, Freya using Hlin's silver light to illuminate Bjorn's body, and he worships her in turn. Bjorn explains that he had always held back from letting Freya touch him because her proximity threatened to shatter his self-control, and because he refused to take from her what he could not fully return. Now, with nothing between them, they give themselves to each other completely.

Afterward, Freya voices her anxiety about the future: she worries Bjorn cannot truly leave behind his identity as a warrior and jarl's son for a quiet farming life. Bjorn paints a tender vision of their future—a home he'll build, children, growing old together—and insists there is no life without her. Though Freya notices he deflects some practical questions and clings to his armor and sword, she chooses to trust him. They make love again by the fire, each claiming the other, before falling asleep in each other's arms, planning to leave Skaland at dawn.