A month had passed since Van's encounter with the Aesir known as Hermod; they had been waiting for the Aesir to respond, but there weren't even any signs of an Aesir's hair landing on the Branch or Muspelheim.
Van was starting to think that they might not have actually received Hermod's head, but Gerald assured him that it did… as his accuracy was almost godly, he said.
Suffice to say, Van's life had become monotonous after the encounter. Charlotte's tavern was being taken care of by Queen Nori and the other forest giants; Vanya was the one handling the talks with Surtr and the fire giants in the perimeter of Muspelheim. As for the Branch, it does not seem to have any plans of moving anytime soon.
Van had also come to know that the Branch was loosely created by Artemis herself, so he had been trying to see if he could find a way to control it... but alas to no avail.