The world was slowly recovering from the great winter. (Asatru had attracted a lot of devotees in the period, and the term "Fimbulwinter" had come into general use.) Although the help of the sorcerous community behind the scenes helped smooth the process, the psychological impact, following the Great Change and COVID, was devastating. No one felt any certainty about the future, and very few felt like they had any understanding of why the world was developing the way it was. The future seemed like an unending stream of random events--unpredictable, unknowable, each remaking the world. People were just tired. Greta was in a particular funk, thinking that if only she had held on to the ring she could have stopped the great winter. Jean was more fatalistic--it had been destined to happen.
Nothing compared to the all-consuming despair felt by Kylie. If what Savannah had said was true, and Kylie had a suspicion it was, she was the greatest mass murderess in history (at least the history of her home dimension and, as far as Kylie knew, her current dimension--the Great Change world--as well.) Hitler is probably thinking that at least he's not me, she muttered. Aziza had put several minor jinn on 24/7 suicide watch for Kylie, but beyond that she really didn't know what to do.
The other extraplanar immigrants, Sheena and Barry, were doing better. Barry had a hard time adjusting not so much to being primarily female but to being locked into a particular form. She missed being genderfluid more than she had thought, but she also knew that was the choice she had made. And learning about her new world was fascinating, and Regina was doing everything she could to make Barry's life good, even helping her get a part-time job supervising the DJ club at Regina's high school.
In the meanwhile, the Black Widow was hearing rumors that the President of Russia wanted to start the first full-scale war since the Great Change. . .