6

Siiri

“Are you all right?” Mummi reaches towards me, but I shrug her away, moving in the other direction around the table. “What are you going to do?” she calls after me.

I shake my head, my heart racing.

“Forgive your father, Siiri.”

My indignation mingles with my embarrassment. “He hit me.”

“He’s afraid,” she replies. “Nothing he said now is untrue. Your father left Turku to offer you all a better life away from the Christians. But no matter where we go, they follow.”

“So we should stand and fight! When a bear is backed into a corner, it stands tall, and it fights to the death.”

Tears rim her eyes. Hopelessness lurks inside her too.

“Oh, Mummi,” I whisper. “Where is your heart?”

She offers me a sad smile. “Apparently, it beats in your strong chest.”

“Do you think I should apologize to the priest? Should I lie to everyone and say it was not Kalma on the lakeshore but some devil of the formless God?”

Mummi considers, her blue-grey eyes searching my face. “No,” she says at last. “I don’t.”

“You think I should take the belt? I should let Father humiliate me?”

Before Mummi can respond, the door rattles open and Liisa bounces in, followed closely by Aksel. “I fed the chickens, Mummi,” my sister announces, going straight to the ladder in search of her cat.

Aksel plops a brace of rabbits on the table, already skinned and ready for the pot. “For supper,” he says with a grunt. Then he moves to the back of the cabin and begins stripping out of his soiled clothes. “I’m going to the lake to wash.”

“I want to do sauna tonight,” Mummi calls. “Will you cart in the wood?”

Aksel huffs, his head stuck inside his shirt. “It’s not sauna night.”

“It is if I say it is,” she counters.

He peels himself out of his sweaty shirt, leaving him in only his elk-skin breeches. “Mummi, I stink and I’m tired. I’m going to wash. We’ll do sauna tomorrow.”

“Never mind. Siiri and I will do it,” she replies with her own huff. “Siiri, come.”

I reach out my hand, letting her take it. I know what she’s doing. Inside the sauna we can speak with no one around.

Aksel shrugs, and we all step outside into the weak afternoon light. All around us, the green of the leaves is starting to change to yellow, brown, and red. Autumn is here, and it won’t last long.

Aksel marches off in his breeches and bare feet towards the lakeshore. Mummi and I veer right, walking hand in hand towards the sauna. Liisa doesn’t dare follow, lest she be put to work carting wood.

Mummi and I gather several logs from the pile outside the door. Inside the sauna, the aromatic smell of pine fills my nose. We remove our boots, keeping the door open to allow light into the windowless room. I drop to my knees before the small hearth, ready to layer in the logs. Behind me, Mummi watches. “Milja told me what you said,” she begins. “She told me what you plan to do.”

I go still, a split piece of wood balanced in my hands.

“Siiri, you can’t go alone on some quest looking for proof of the old gods.”

I drop the wood, gazing up at her. “I don’t need proof. I have it already. Kalma took Aina, you said so yourself.”

“And you think because Kalma revealed herself to you, another god will do the same? Who are you that the gods of old will show you their faces?”

“Another god already did,” I challenge, rising to my feet.

“When? Why did you not say anything?”

“I’m not sure what I saw,” I admit. “It was in the woods after Aina was taken. It was dark, and I heard a voice. Someone was there with me, Mummi. She helped me. And then I blinked, and she was gone, just like Kalma.”

“You took a rather hard blow to the head,” she offers, not unkindly.

I glare at her. “She touched me, Mummi. She spoke to me.”

“What did she say?”

“She told me to get up. And she told me to return. She said, ‘Return to us. We need you.’”

“Perhaps it was a villager saying that you should return home—”

I raise a hand. “I didn’t recognize the voice, Mummi. It was a woman’s voice. You tell me if there is a woman’s voice in this village that you wouldn’t know even in the dark.”

She sighs, conceding defeat. “So, you think another goddess was with you in the woods?”

“I know she was. I just don’t know who she was. But perhaps she’ll come to me again. Perhaps she’ll help me save Aina.”

Mummi narrows her eyes at me. “Just tell me your plan, child.”

“I mean to go north,” I reply. “There’s a hiisi, a sacred grove. It’s a two-day walk up the lakeshore. Father took us there years ago, do you remember?”

She nods again.

“I will go and pray to the gods for help. They will answer, Mummi. I know they will.”

“Siiri, you can’t just wander the wilderness, looking for a sacred grove. It’s dangerous. There are hunters and trappers, and beasts of the forest, to say nothing at all of this fickle weather.”

I smile, placing a hand on her shoulder. “I’ll be gone a week at most. I’ll go to the hiisi and make my prayers. I’ll beg a god to help me bring Aina back. I have to try. I promised Milja.”

“She would never hold you to it,” Mummi replies gently.

I search her face. “What do you mean?”

Mummi sighs, brushing a hand down my arm. “She knows it’s impossible. She just doesn’t have the strength to break your heart. But by all the gods, Siiri, I do have that strength.” Her grip tightens on my arm. “If Aina were anywhere but Tuonela, things might be different. But Kalma took her, Siiri. She’s no longer in this realm. No god can help you now, for none can do what you seek. Aina is gone. You must accept it.”

Shrugging away from her touch, I sink onto the empty bench. Is this really the end? Is there no hope for my dearest friend?

All the memories of long nights spent around the table listening to Mummi tell us stories swirl in my mind. Stories of Lemmink?inen, the wayward adventurer who traveled to Tuonela and paid the ultimate price. Stories of the frost giants and the gnomes and the kings of Kalevala. But my favorite stories have always been the tales of V?in?moinen, son of Ilmatar and the greatest shaman of legend. He planted all the trees of the earth, battled the great sea monster Iku-Turso... and he used his shamanic magic to enter Tuonela. There, he learned the secrets of death, before tricking the death gods and crossing the realms back into life.

He returned alive .

“V?in?moinen.” I whisper his name like a blessing, a prayer.

Mummi goes still. “What about him?”

I smile, looking up at her. “You’re right. I don’t need a god to get into Tuonela, I need a shaman. I need V?in?moinen.”

She shakes her head. “Siiri, he died a long time ago... if he ever really lived at all. The songs say he left these lands to sail the inland sea—”

“But he will return ,” I press, rising to my feet. “The songs say he will return—” I gasp, piecing it all together. “Oh gods... and when he returns, he will bring back the true religion. That is the prophecy, yes?”

“Siiri—”

“Suns will rise and set in Finland, rise and set for generations.” I repeat the words of the ancient song. “He knew we would forget about him. All the gods knew. But he will return to save his people. He will restore all that was lost to us—his teachings, his wisdom. He will bring back the true religion, and we can be one Finland again. We can be united, as we were in the days of Kalevala. No more senseless death, no more violence. And if there is to be a war with the Swedes and their god, we can rise up as one to meet them. We can fight back. With V?in?moinen at our side, how can we lose?”

“Have you forgotten about Aina?” Mummi says with a raised brow.

“Of course not,” I reply. “I’ll find V?in?moinen, and he can help me save Aina. Then I can bring him back here. I can bring them both back.”

“Oh, is that all?”

“Mummi, the gods are stirring. I know you feel it too. This hopelessness, this apathy, this godsdamn acceptance—it is not who we are. It is not who we ought to be. And the Swedes are advancing. They think us weak. They think us ready to fall to their power. The time is now. V?in?moinen must return to us—”

As soon as I say the words, we both gasp, gazing at each other.

Mummi squeezes my hand. “Oh child, what did the goddess say in the woods?”

“‘Return to us,’” I repeat. “‘We need you.’ And she said ‘The time has come. Save us.’”

“Oh, Siiri... ”

I smile through my tears. “Do you believe me now, Mummi? That was a message from the gods. I am meant to do this. I am meant to find him. Will you help me?”

Her own smile falls. “I don’t know where he is,” she admits. “I only know what the songs say. He got in his copper-bottomed boat and sailed away from the lands of Kalevala. He could have followed the path of the inland sea north, but no one knows where it ends.”

“I was planning to go north anyway,” I say. “I will go to the sacred grove. There I will pray and beg for a god to intercede. They must want V?in?moinen to return as much as we do. They want their land back, their people. They want our prayers, our devotion. They want us all to wake up, Mummi. They’ll help me.”

After a moment, Mummi nods. “If you are going, you must leave tonight. The longer you delay, the better the chance is that your father will try to stop you.”

My heart skips a beat. “Tonight?”

“You know the way well enough,” she replies, dropping to her knees and shoving the rest of the wood inside the small hearth. “Have an offering ready for the uhrikivi. A token of fresh game is good, but gold or silver is better.”

My gaze traces the curve of her hunched back. “Wait—this plan is mad, Mummi. Why aren’t you trying to stop me?”

She pauses, glancing over her shoulder. “Because our lives are measured by the risks we take to help those in need when their need is greatest.” She gets to her feet, turning to take my hand in both of hers. “I know how much you love Aina. And I know you love your family too. I know you love your people. You were born to love with your whole heart and to protect fiercely.” She smiles, stroking my freckled cheek. “My wild Siiri. There’s never been any stopping you at anything you wish to do... so go. You have my blessing.”

“I will come back. Look for me at each sunset returning from the north.”

She nods, her hand still on my cheek. “Men have long been the heroes of our tales. Show the people what we women can do to fight for those we love. Go north. Find V?in?moinen if you can. Save Aina. Then return to us. We need you,” she adds with a smile.

“I think I might be afraid,” I whisper, letting her hear my deepest truth.

Leaning forward, Mummi kisses my forehead. “You’d be a fool not to be afraid, my brave girl... but you’ll go all the same.”