26

Siiri

A noise stirs me from my sleep. I open one eye to find myself passed out on the floor of V?in?moinen’s hut. I nearly forget I’m naked under this heavy bear pelt when I sit up. It slips from my shoulders, but I catch it just in time.

V?in?moinen crouches by the fire across from me, stacking it with kindling and fresh wood.

“How long was I asleep?” I say, trying to suck on my tongue to bring a little moisture back to my mouth. It feels dry as bark.

“Two days.” He drops down to his hands, lowering his face to the fire. He puffs out his cheeks and blows, his mustache fluttering as he gives the fire new life.

So, he already bent his iron rules for me. He said he wanted me gone by morning. That was two days ago. I smile. Maybe there’s a chance...

I pull my warm, dry clothes under the pelt and shimmy into them. “I’ve lost two days,” I say, sitting up. “We need to get started.”

“Good idea. I packed for you. There’s enough food to see you south.” He points over his shoulder to where a leather pack waits by the door. “The weather should stay clear. You’ll likely have Revontulet’s light to guide your way.”

“I’m not leaving.” I tie back my mess of unevenly chopped hair. “We need to start my training.”

V?in?moinen pauses, eyeing me across the fire. “I thought I already told you, no .”

I groan as I get to my feet, testing my balance and my strength. “Look, old man, I’m not asking you to go to Tuonela. I’m asking you to show me how to get there. The risk I take will be all my own.”

“You have no idea what you risk.” Pushing off the ground, he moves away from the fire, leaning against the pinewood wall of the hut. “You say you met Kalma?”

“I fought her with my bare hands. She gave me this,” I add, pointing to the scar on my brow.

“How do you know it was Kalma?”

I cross my arms. “Shall I describe her to you?”

He says nothing, waiting.

“Kalma is tall,” I begin. “As tall as you. She wears tattered black robes and paints her face with blood. Her eyes are two dark orbs, like looking into a bottomless well. And her hands...” I glance down at his hands folded over his lap. “They’re like yours... with those tattoos.”

He grunts, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

“Plus, there’s the smell,” I go on. “Gather every dead animal and every pile of dung you can find, and it still wouldn’t match her awful stench.”

He shrugs. “Fine. You met Kalma. And which goddess gave you that one?” he says, pointing to the bruise on my other temple.

I ghost a finger over it. “This wasn’t a goddess’s work. It was from a pair of Lumi’s trappers in the south. They wanted something from me I wasn’t willing to give. They’re dead now. And Lumi will join them if she stands in my way.”

“You’re not afraid of her either, then, I suppose,” he says, lips pursed in mild amusement.

“Should I be?”

His mustache twitches, and he ignores my question. “Now, about this bear...”

“I told you, he’s my friend. He’s no threat to me.”

“But is he a threat to me ?”

“Why would a bear be a threat to you?”

He huffs, pulling a pipe from his pocket. “You really know nothing about magic, do you?”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m not concerned about the bear,” he says, stuffing the pipe with a bit of smoking leaf. Returning to the hearth, he lights it at the fire. “I’m concerned about who’s inside the bear.” A haze of white smoke wafts my way, sweet with notes of vanilla, cardamom, and raspberry.

“What do you mean?” I ask again.

“In my experience, bears care more about finding berries and succulent fish. This close to winter, they look for a den to sleep through the long night. But your bear fights witches and breaks ice. More to the point, he knows how to find me, a shaman who chooses to be lost. Do you see why that might be concerning?”

I’ve had my suspicions, but I didn’t have time to stop and consider. Everything happened so quickly. “You believe someone might be inside Kal? Who?”

“How am I to know without questioning the bear?” He takes another long drag from his pipe. “If the bear died a watery death in that lake, whoever was inside him will have either perished with him or lost their host.”

I drop back down to the pelts, crossing my legs. “Their host?”

“Certain v?ki require a host, meaning they cannot take physical form,” he explains. “But they can possess another’s body—human, animal, tree.”

His words stir up a memory that’s plagued me of late, a memory of Aina holding my hand, begging me to come back to her. “I was once taken ill by a veden v?ki,” I say.

He relaxes back against the pinewood once more, pipe clenched between his teeth. “A water spirit? Nasty little sprites. How did you banish it?”

“My mummi used fire. She says only fire can fight water. She took me to the sauna and left me there for a half a day while the v?ki battled inside me.”

He considers me, his eyes narrowing. “It takes a strong constitution to survive a water v?ki without the aid of a shaman’s spell... and an even stronger spirit to host a fire v?ki. You say you had both in you at once?”

I hold his gaze. “Give me a chance, V?in?moinen. You’ll see I’m more than strong enough for this task. I promise I won’t be a burden. I’ll hunt my own food, melt my own water. I’ll gather and split wood, even heat water for your baths if you wish. I’ll do anything except lie with you and—”

He lifts a hand in protest. “Lie with me? You’re little more than a child.”

“That hasn’t stopped others from trying.” I peel down the edge of my bandaged throat to show him my wound. “And I’m not a child. I may be younger than you, but isn’t everyone?”

He snorts despite himself. “Call me ‘old’ again, and see what happens.”

I ignore his threat. “Teach me how to get someone out of Tuonela alive.”

He just shakes his head, that same shadow of fear flickering in his deep blue eyes. “What you ask is impossible.”

I smile. “Fighting Kalma was impossible too. Escaping Lumi and her wolves was impossible. Finding a shaman who doesn’t want to be found was impossible. And yet, here I am. I don’t doubt that I can do the impossible. Why do you?”

He sighs again, stretching out his long legs before the fire. “I shared your faith once. I thought there was nothing I couldn’t do.”

“What happened?”

He holds my gaze through the flames, his eyes taking on a hollowness as he searches my face. “I survived the impossible too,” he replies, his voice haunted but sincere. “Surviving it too many times is a fate worse than death. I don’t want this life for you. Please don’t ask me to help you.”

“I have no choice.” I shrug. “Help me, V?in?moinen.”

He grunts. “Gods, you’re relentless. You’re worse than a horsefly. Who is this person for whom you would risk so much?”

I’ve had a long time to consider what I might say, how I might persuade him. In all the stories and songs of his great adventures, V?in?moinen was only ever motivated by one thing. I watch the shadows cast by flames over his face. “You had a great love once... a love you lost.”

He goes still.

“I’ve heard all your songs. You wanted to marry the fair sister of your rival, Joukahainen. You asked for her hand, but her brother forced you to win her in a contest of strength. He lost, but she chose to die rather than betray him. Your story ends in sorrow.” The age lines around his eyes crease. “You couldn’t be with your beloved Aino—”

“I know my own damn songs,” he mutters, blowing out a cloud of smoke.

“Well, I’m still writing mine.” I crawl around the hearth to take his tattooed hand, holding it in both of my own. “My Aina chose to die to save me. That’s the depth of the love we share. She didn’t think twice. She let Kalma take her to spare me. You ask who she is? Let me tell you our stories, and you can decide for yourself if I am right to save her at any cost.”

Tears well in his blue eyes. “Her name is Aina?”

I nod, giving his hand a squeeze. “Let me tell you our story. Let me tell you about my dearest friend.”