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Chapter Text

"Emil! Come back here, that's just a cat!" Sigrun shook her head. Emil was very high strung. She turned her attention back to the cat in question. It was lying down in a large puddle. She examined the cat carefully, and it became clear that she sported a fatal wound. She knew she would have to put it out of its misery. Emil, apparently having recovered from the scare he had received from this helpless animal, joined her as she prepared to deliver mercy on the poor cat. He turned away, suddenly interested in a hole in the wall. Despite his tough guy appearence, Sigrun had to constantly remind herself that he had never really seen death. Once the deed was done, she turned back to Emil. He was holding his head in his hands. She looked inside the hole and saw tiny kittens, all dead. "Look Emil," she started, unsure how to comfort the Swede. "Sometimes animals die and there's nothing we can do about-" she was interrupted by a soft "miu!" They both stared at each other, then pressed their faces to the hole. For a fraction of a second, Sigrun thought the shadowed figure was another kitten, but the moment passed, and she saw clearly what was huddling in the dark. A human child.

"Wha-" Emil started to say, but was interrupted by fierce hissing. Before Sigrun had time to blink, the child sprang out of the hole, knocking down both Sigrun and Emil. With surprising agility she shimmied up the remains of a telephone pole. Squaring her shoulders, Sigrun spoke up to the child.

"Come down, I know a healer that can take a look at you. And give you food. This will be really easy for both of us if you just climb down now. Or you can be difficult about it." The wisp of a girl bared her teeth down at her. "Fine then, you wanted it this way." Sigrun started to climb the pole. She didn't have time to ponder where the child had come from, or how she had survived in the Silent World, she just knew she had to get that child to Mikkel before it was too late. She may not have been able to save the cats, but she was certainly not going to let this girl die without putting up a fight.

"Pshhhht!" The girl hissed at her from atop her perch. Sigrun didn't flinch.

"Yeah whatever" she told her. "C'mere Kitten Girl," she called to her as she got to the top. The little brat pushed her hand away as she tried to pick her up. "Stop that, don't you see I'm trying to help you?" A sharp pain passed through her hand, as the small devil bit her. "BAD CHILD! NO!" she scolded. Then the girl went limp. This was excellent, in a way, as she now stopped putting up a struggle, but very, very, bad as she stopped holding up her weight. If it wasn't for her military training, Sigrun would have fell to the ground immediately. She slowly started her descent, but all that dead weight was taking a toll on her injured hand. She started to feel the kid slipping, and knew that she had to do something. "Emil!" She fretted between clenched teeth, "get ready to catch her!" She was so close to the ground, when her arms finally gave way. She landed hard on her back, as she heard Emil grunt a curse, then exclaim, "Got her!" Without giving herself a moment to clear the stars circling in front of her eyes, she pushed herself up and motioned at the unconscious girl. "Give her to me, we need to get to Mikkel as fast as possible." Emil shook his head.

"Not after that fall. I can carry her, don't worry." He hoisted the girl on his back, in an approximate piggyback ride, then took off full speed with Sigrun towards the Cat Tank.

Chapter Text

"Help! Mikkel! Emergency!" These were the words that changed my life forever. When you are a medic and someone yells your name, and emergency in the same sentence, you have to prepare yourself for the worst.
"You two in isolation now, until the situation is cleared! Tuuri, you know the drill!" I tell her and Reynir. Grabbing my kit and steeling my nerves, I shoot out to the entrance of the Cat Tank. "Who here needs medical attention?"
"This kid does!" I hear Emil reply. When they come into my view, I am treated with a truly bizarre sight. Emil is carrying a female child on his back, while Sigrun is carrying an arm load of cats. "She's cold and wet and sick! You have to fix her!" insists Emil.
"...I see. And the cats?"
"Dead. But I thought we could give them a proper burial." Sigrun wheezes. I frown as I take in her appearance.
"You're hurt-" I begin but she brushes off my concern with a wave of her hand.
" 'm fine. Take care of the kid. I'm okay."

***

Most of her wounds were simple. A swab of antiseptic, a bandage, done. A few of the deeper cuts required stitching, but overall, it was nothing life threatening. However, one of the cuts was on the back of her head. This would be only slightly worrying if it wasn't for the bruise on her forehead.
"Why are you so worried about her forehead? It's just a bruise, it'll be fine in a few days." I turned to look at Sigrun.
"I worry because it could mean she has a concussion. She obviously suffered a heavy blow to the head. She'll live, but there's no guarantee that her memory and mind will be intact when she wakes up. If she wakes up at all."

Chapter Text

Reynir, Emil, Tuuri, and Lalli were staring at the child. (For lack of a better name, they called her anything ranging from "kid", to "little girl", to "cat girl", to "kitten", to "hey, you!") She had woken up that morning, and was now devouring tuna by the platefull. Tuuri was fascinated by her. She had hair which was so much of a mess of knots and tangles, covered in dirt and leaves that it was impossible to tell the exact color of it. She had estimated her age to be about 5, but now she wasn't so sure. Now she seemed like more of a 7 year old. Her limbs were swimming in one of Tuuri's spare uniforms, looking even smaller then she had before. "Where do you think she came from?" whispered Reynir.

"I don't known" Tuuri whispered back. "Isn't she strange, Lalli?" Her cousin shook his head.

"Not strange. Mysterious. Different." He then stared at the girl with such a vigorous expression that Turri wouldn't be surprised if he burned holes in the wall. Emil gave a yelp of surprise.

"Look! She's looking at us!" Tuuri rolled her eyes.

"What do you think we're doing?" she asked him. But when she turned her head to look at the small girl, she gasped. There was something about her that made you stop and stare. She had a heart shaped face with big blue eyes that were bright despite the grime on her face and seemed to stare into your soul.

"Mikkel?" Tuuri whispered. "I think she wants more food." The bowl in front of her was licked clean.

"Again? I swear this child has the wierdest appetite for tuna that I've ever seen." He turned to the girl. "Okay. One more bowl, but after that I'm making you take a bath. The hissing that followed did not bode well for whoever would be in charge of bath time.

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"Rowerhisssss!"

"No! Stop it!" I heard Sigrun yell. It had fallen to her and Tuuri to bathe the cat-child, and it was very entertaining to listen to.

"Maybe if we give her tuna to eat while we wash her?" I heard Tuuri offer. It apparently worked, because the hissing and the cursing subsided. Minutes later, a sopping wet sullking cat-child appeared. Truth to be told, Sigrun and Tuuri were wet and sulky as well. The latter sighed. "We'll have to cut her hair. It's too tangled to do anything with it." At these words, the small cat-child wrenched away from her grip and ran inside.

"You may not like it, but it'll have to be done! I'll sit on you if I have to!" Sigrun yelled after her. An idea sparks in my brain.

"Maybe I could do it? I could help!"

"Sure, Reynir, feel free to tackle that crazy child." Sigrun tells me as she straightens out her shirt. I smile. This is going to be fun!

***

This is not fun. After half an hour of chasing, the Cat-child is exhausted enough to let me near her, but not exhausted enough to let me touch her hair. She currently resides on top of the barracks, watching me with those blue eyes of hers. "I give up," I mutter. "Sigrun can murder your hair for all I care." Flopping down on the floor, I start brushing my own hair. The monotony of the exercise soon relaxes me and I start humming a song my mother used to sing to me when she brushed my hair. I carefully start to braid it, making sure each strand falls in place. When I'm done, I look up to see the cat-child staring at me. She climbs down from the bunks and faces me. "Will you let me fix your hair now?" I ask her. She answers me with a wordless nod. It takes a good while to get all the main knots untangled. She winces as I pull the brush through her locks, but never complains. She had nice hair. It's a pretty white color, tipped with orange, the shade a little lighter than mine. I wonder how it got thay way. Finally I'm satisfied with my work. Her hair lies long and silky down her back without a tangle in sight. "How do you want it styled?" I ask her. I admit I'm having a bit too much fun playing with her hair. She just shrugs in response. I consider giving her a braid, but I feel feel a bit possessive of the hairstyle. I opt for a simple ponytail. She had some short wisps of hair framing her face due to some strands that really couldn't be salvaged, and had to be cut off. I made sure she knew what I was doing beforehand, because I really didn't fancy being attacked. When I finally presented her to the rest of the crew, I was rewarded with gasps of delight from Tuuri and Emil, a look that wasn't a glare from Lalli, a "Good job" and a pat on the shoulder from Mikkel, and the best gift of all from Sigrun. A "Well look at that Braidy, you helped!"

Chapter Text

Kitty ran around the Cat Tank, her feet tracking mud on the freshly cleaned floor. (Much to Mikkel's chagrin.) She was bored. Sigrun and Emil had gone somewhere, and Lalli wasn't available. All he did was sleep. She would have been worried, but she trusted that the adults would know if something was wrong. Mikkel was cleaning and Reynir was helping him clean. That left Tuuri. But before she could go ask her to play, Mikkel grabbed her hand, and said,

"C'mon Kitten-girl. We're going for a walk. That didn't appeal to Kitty. Before she could protest, he staryed arguing with Tuuri. Something about immune people and guards. She took the opportunity to wriggle out of his grasp and hide. When she was sure he was gone, she came out of her hiding spot and tugged at the bottom of Tuuri's tunic. Now they could play!

***

"He... was supposed to take cat-girl with him, wasn't he?" Reynir realized suddenly. Moments later, he was walking besides Tuuri, cat-girl clutching his hand while giving him a reproachful glare. It was clear that she wasn't pleased with the arrangement. It made him uneasy, as if she disapproved of him not following Mikkel's instructions. He forced himself to look away. "You know, I think cat-girl is a mage," he told Tuuri. She gave him a skeptical look.

"What makes you say that?" He shuffled his feet.

"Well, mages are supposed to be able to sense trolls, right? Cat-girl managed to point Sigrun to the troll after it bit her."

"It could just mean she saw where it went." Tuuri pointed out.

"Well, yes, but right before we encountered those trolls, her hair got all poofy. It's weird. Almost like she could sense them." Tuuri frowned.

"I don't know of any mage whose hair poofs when there's a troll nearby. It's probably just a fluke. You can ask Lalli when he wakes up, if you really want to. Oh look, there's Mikkel!" She waves her arm energetically. "Mikkel!" They presented him with cat-girl. Please don't kill me... thought Reynir desperately. "It was Reynir's idea, I tried to stop him!"

"Y-yup! My idea!" He stammered.

"I will never not be a babysitter." sighed Mikkel.

"Oh you don't have to babysit us," assured Tuuri. "We'll just follow you around! Guilt gnawed at Reynir.

"He did get angry. Now I feel bad."

"It's okay!" Tuuri assured him. "He didn't yell at us. That mean we didn't cross the line." Still, the guilt stayed with him for the whole trip. And the ghosts didn't help either. He clutched cat-girl's hand tighter. He felt that trouble was brewing.

Chapter Text

Emil was worried about Lalli. He'd been sleeping for days. He was angry that nobody was worried about the scout. "Mrr." Kitten Girl was curled up next to Lalli, snuggled under the blanket. She was repeatedly poking his cheek, a sad expression on her face. "Well at least I'm not the only one who's worried," Emil grumbled. Kitten Girl sighed, and closed her eyes. She was fast asleep within minutes.

***

Lalli shivered. There! Spirits. They didn't look friendly. No matter. They can't break into his dreamspace. Until one did. He jumped to his feet. There must be trouble in the waking world. He'd hold them back for as long as he could. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a flickering figure. He felt it add its power to his shield. For a moment, he let himself hope that they would be able to vanquish the ghosts. Then the figure trembled, and disappeared. He was on his own once more.

***

"Nh. Ynh... Phh! Grkh!" Emil leaned over to Lalli's side.

"See?! Now he's choking! Would someone who knows what to do please get over here?" he fretted. "Rkh! Kh-" Silence. Then,

"IIIAAAAAAAAAH!" Kitten-Girl woke up with a start at the sound of the scream.

"Hey! Shake the guy awake!" Sigrun yelled. "We can't have a blasting siren like that!"

"I'm trying!" Emil panicked. "He won't wake up!"

"Well try har- der..." Sigrun clutched her head, and collapsed on the floor, followed by Mikkel.

"Mi-" Kitten-Girl's hair shot out like she had been electrocuted. "mriiIIIIIII!!!" she yelled. "MRIIIII!!!"


The next few minutes were hectic. Tuuri slamming the gas, Lalli pulling Emil's hair whilst screaming, and Reynir praying with Kitten-girl freaking out and looking like she had just stuck a fork in a toaster. Then, a quickly as it had started, it was over. Sigrun and Mikkel regained consciousness, and Tuuri slowed the Cat Tank down a bit.

"Keep driving. We need to get out of the city now!" ordered Sigrun.

"Seems to me like you added the wrong person to your list of mutineers." remarked the Dane.

"Shut up Mikkel! Do something useful!" Kitten-Girl whimpered and clutched Mikkel's leg. He passed a protective arm around her.

"I don't understand what's going on!"

"Shut up Emil, no one else does either!" yelled Sigrun. "Are you ready to bash some monster skull if I need you to?"

"Uh yeah. S-sure." Emil stuttered. He really just wanted to go to bed, but that wasn't an option at this point. The Cat Tank slowed to a halt. A giant mass of tentacles barred the way.

"No turning back." ordered Sigrun. "Mikkel and I will clear the way. Emil, you keep guard. Tuuri, be ready to drive away quickly. Reynir, uhh... Reynir, you take care of Kitten. Everyone understand? Let's go."

Chapter Text

"You know, I don't think we know cat-girl's real name." Sigrun, Tuuri, Emil, and Mikkel were cooing over the small child as she played with Reynir's braid.

"I don't think I've heard her speak," added Emil.

"Can you tells us your name, child," asked Mikkel. Kitten just looked at him, confused.

"Maybe she doesn't speak Danish," theorized Sigrun. "Do you understand Norwegian, little kitten?" This kindled a spark of understanding in Kitten's eyes. She nodded. "What other languages can you understand?" A shrug. "Can you speak?" A small mew escaped Kitten's mouth, followed by choking sounds. Frustrated, she shook her head.

"Do you know why?" asked Tuuri. Another shake.

"It must be because her vocal cords have had little use when she was on her own," explained Mikkel. Kitten suddenly heard a cough. She wiggled around, trying to detect where it had came from.

"Can you say your name?" asked Sigrun. Kitten scrunched up her face in concentration.

"El- Eli-" she paused, as if to think. "Kitty," she finally proclaimed. "Kitty." A wave of questions started pouring out of everyone's mouths. Overwhelmed, she ran off to the edge of camp, covering her ears. She didn't know how long she sat there. She only looked up when she heard a frustrated grunt.

***

Lalli was upset. He had been out for two days, and no one showed any sign of being happy to see him. Not even that Swede. Tuuri hadn't even bothered to tell him if he missed anything. All of a sudden, he was attacked from behind. He had almost drawn his rifle when he realized it was just that little girl they had found. She was hugging his legs, on account of her being to short to reach any higher. She was grinning from ear to ear with a sparkle in those stupid blue eyes of hers. He pushed her off roughly.

"Go away," he told her. "Go and play with the others or something. You'll have more fun with them than with me." She just smiled even wider and grabbed his hand. He recognised that look. It was the same look the Swede gave him sometimes. An "I get the gist of what you're saying, but I don't speak the same language as you so I'll pretend I have no clue to what you just said" look. He yanked his hand away from hers. If I just ignore her, she'll go away, he told himself. But she didn't leave his side for the whole day. She delighted in offering him some food from her plate, reveled in sneakily following him while he was scouting, and stubbornly decided she wanted to sleep on the end of his bed, instead of Tuuri's where she usually slept. He refused the food, grudgingly let her follow him without acknowledging her, but in the end gave in about the bed. Purely because he was to tired to argue anymore, he told himself. That was the only reason.

Chapter Text

Lalli woke in his dreamspace. Everything was fine so far, no sign of the spirits from earlier. Well, that wasn't quite true. He felt the energy signature of that flickering form that had helped him close by. Lalli knew that it wasn't wise to neglect thanking spirits for assistance, no matter how small, no matter if you asked them to or not, for fear of angering them. So he tried to pinpoint the location the waves were emanating from. It was definitely close by. He walked briskly in its general direction, feeling the signature growing stronger. Finally, he knew he was in the right place. He took a step forward, and smashed his nose against a dreamspace barrier. So it wasn't a spirit that had assisted him, but a mage...

"What is it boy? What are you trying to show me?" Lalli bit back a curse. It was that annoying Icelandic mage with the stupid hair. "Lalli! Hiii! Do you know where we are?" he asked.

"Dreamspace barrier," Lalli replied, gesturing in front of him. "A mage must be here." Reynir looked at him quizzically.

"You mean Onni?" Lalli shook his head.

"No. It's another mage. I don't recognize their energy. They helped me hold back some evil spirits while I was out a few days ago." Reynir gasped.

"You saw the ghosts too? They attacked us as well! That's why we had to leave your campsite. They almost killed us. We should go thank that mage! Without you holding them back, I think we wouldn't have made it." Lalli hmphed, but was slightly less annoyed at the braided boy.

"I can't go in. You can't enter another mage's dreamapace without an invitation." Reynir grinned.

"That's not a problem for me! C'mon!" And he dragged Lalli into the dreamspace.

"It's very rude to that to do that," grumbled Lalli. But he wasn't too mad. He wanted to meet that mage as much as Reynir did. He examined the dreamspace. It was a forest, with lots of boulders. A waterfall tumbled down a cliff, snaked into a stream, and created a small lake. The temperature was cool, with a light drizzle falling. Then, the breeze that had been blowing since they stepped in, carried the sound of a clear laugh to their ears. At the top of the cliff, the flickering figure was twirling with their arms extended, laughing hard, a sound of pure happiness. When they caught sign of Lalli and Reynir, they scramble down the boulders that formed a staircase to the mossy ground.

"Lalli? Reynir? What are you doing here?" they asked. Lalli gasped. The strange mage was Kitty.

***

Reynir couldn't believe his eyes. He had been right! Kitty was a mage! But something was off. Her image kept flickering, like a candle. It flipped from a girl, to a small cat.

"You helped me with the ghosts." Lalli told her. It was a statement, not a question.

"Yes!" She exclaimed delightedly. "But you started screaming. It woke me up." She frowned. "Sorry." Lalli seemed to take no notice of the apology.

"What else can you do?" he asked. Kitty shrugged.

"I don't know." She paused for a moment. "Hey, how come I can understand you now?" "In the dreamworld, there are no languages. We are asleep, so we can't speak. That's why you understand me." Lalli told her. Reynir was mulling over Kitty's words.

"Wait. Can you understand me when we're awake?" Kitty nodded. "Who else do you understand?" She thought for a moment.

"Emil. Sigrun. Sometimes Tuuri. Mikkel too, a little bit." Reynir tallied up the languages in his head. Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish. "Are the others here too?" she asked, looking around as if expecting Sigrun to appear out of thin air yelling, "Surprise!" Lalli shook his head.

"Only mages can access the dreamspace. That's what you are. A mage." Kitty looked at him, confused.

"What's a mage?" she asked. Lalli bit his lip.

"A mage is a person who the gods gift special abilities." Kitty still looked confused.

"What's a god?" she asked. Reynir decided to tackle that question.

"They're... powerful beings. They watch over us, and help us sometimes. You can try to ask them for help, that's called praying. They watch over and kind of control the whole world." Kitty seemed to understand.

"Like the Tree Lady," she told Reynir.

"The... tree lady?" he asked her, confused.

"She came and visited me here once. She told me something. It was important." She frowned. "I- I can't remember. I can't remember anything from before you rescued me." The flickering intensified.

"Why is she doing that?" Reynir whispered to Lalli. "The flickering thing." Lalli shrugged.

"It must be because she's young. She can't properly control her energy. I'm guessing that the cat is a form of her luonto. We need to get her to Onni. He'll help her control and stabilize it." Reynir  nodded.

"We need to do that sooner than later. It's making me dizzy."

Chapter Text

The estimate had been a couple days. The days had turned into weeks, and it seemed that they would never arrive at their destination. Mikkel absentmindedly stirred the gloop that served as their food, briefly wondering if the scout had snuck another squirrel in the pot. Little Kitten had been playing a game of "hiss-and-seek" (Emil's name, not his) with Emil, Tuuri, and Reynir. The rules seemed to be similar to hide-and-seek, but with a lot more hissing when Kitten was "seeking." Now she was just running around, chasing something that only she could see. He had turned his attention back to "dinner" when he felt something brush against his leg. It was Kitten. She was watching him with interest, and had started to reach a hand toward the pot. With a deft movement, he picked her up and swung her away from it.

"Don't touch that!" he told her sternly. "It's hot, you have to be careful." She gave him a reprochful look.

"I know," her eyes seemed to tell him. "I was only looking."

"Well how was I supposed to know that?" he grumbled. "It looked like you were going to touch it." She just stared at him some more, then ran off. She came back moments later with a handful of bugs, and moved to drop them in the pot. Once again, Mikkel snatched her back. "No, we don't eat bugs. If you want to help, you can stir the food with me." He placed his hands over hers on the wooden spoon and began to stir. When he felt that she understood, he let go. She stared at the pot with intense concentration, stirring fervently, a small frown on her face. When it looked like the food was cooked, he offered some of it to her off the top of the spoon. She took a lick, scrunched up her face in concentration, then nodded in approval. The food had passed the Kitten Edible Food Test. He then ladled the stuff in their bowls, and handed them to Kitty to carry out to the rest of the crew, which she did with a very pompous and self-satisfied expression. Mikkel couldn't hold back the smile that stretched across his face.

***

It had snowed over night. Kitty tugged at Emil's hand, pulling him towards the door. The meaning couldn't have been more clear. He pulled on some boots, then followed Kitty outside.

"It's snow, Kitty," he told her. "Can you say snow?" She threw a handful of the stuff in his face in response. "Oh, so that's how you want to play it, huh?" he told her. "Well then, try to avoid this!" He aimed a snowball at her shirt, but she ducked down and rolled. Lying down, with her white hair and clothes covered in snow, she was difficult to see. That's her strategy! Emil realized. She's used to living in the Silent World, so she must be used to hiding! Emil suddenly realized he might have picked a fight with the wrong person. Thump! A snowball hit him in the back of his head. "Turri!" Emil yelled with a grin. "I need back up!"

"Coming!" was the muffled reply. Now where did the scoundrel go? wondered Emil. A soft giggle came from a tree branch above his head. He scrambled out of the way just in time for a mini avalanche to be dumped where he had been standing seconds ago. He managed to hit one if her legs before she shimmied down the tree. Dang she's fast! What resulted was a full blown out battle. Kitty, Reynir and Sigrun on one side, him, Mikkel, and Tuuri on the other. Lalli was a sort of neutral player, mostly observing, but landed good shots occasionally on the back of Emil and Tuuri's head.

"Snow!" Giggled Kitty. "Snow!"

"That's right Kitty!" exclaimed Emil, "It's snow!"

***

Slowly but surely, Kitty started speaking more and more often, in longer and longer phrases. It turned out that she was a curious thing. She loved sitting next to Tuuri while she drove, wanting to know how the Cat Tank worked and what everything did. Tuuri had to revise her estimate of Kitty's age yet again. She was most likely around nine or ten. Kitty herself didn't know her exact age or birthday, but seemed to agree with Tuuri's guess.

"Nine is a nice number," she told her. "I like the number nine." It turned out Kitty loved to learn as well. She had asked Tuuri to teach her Danish, and followed along with Emil as he tried to teach himself Finnish. Mikkel soon found himself an apprentice cook and Sigrun delighted in trying to gift Kitty the knowledge of military tactics. Tuuri doubted the usefulness of learning to cook sludge, and was pretty sure Kitty didn't understand a thing about Sigrun's tactics, but she seemed to be enjoying herself anyway. She would occasionally follow Lalli when he went scouting, which surprised Tuuri most of all. Lalli definitely wouldn't let anyone else follow him like that. When she questioned him about it, he responded with an annoyed sigh and a

"Stupid kid." Another surprise came when her cousin told her that Kitty was a mage. She hadn't believed Reynir when he told her, and why would she? He thought he was a mage. It was theoretically possible, but she would be surprised if he hadn't figured it out by now. The newfound knowledge that Kitty could detect trolls made her an invaluable asset to every party that left the Cat Tank. Tuuri couldn't help but be a bit jealous that a nine-year-old child was allowed to join the expeditions while she had to stay inside. Still, when she felt Kitty's reassuring weight on her feet at night, listening to the rain hitting the Cat Tank's roof, it was impossible to feel anything but love for small Kitty of the Silent World.

Chapter Text

All 7 of the crew members trailed out of the Cat Tank towards a town supposedly filled with immeasurable numbers of books. The weather was sunny and warm, and Sigrun was vaguely reminded of the family outings she went on when she was a kid. The scout guy has come their way a few minutes before.
"No danger," he had told her quietly.
"Great!" she had responded. Lalli had walked a couple steps ahead and stopped to point at a building. It was filled with books. "We'll need reinforcements to carry all that junk," she told Emil "Good find, twigs, if you understand what I'm saying." He probably didn't, but that was none of Sigrun's concern.

Back at the Cat Tank, Sigrun was bantering with Mikkel to come and help out with carrying the books. That and because she was still keeping an eye on him. He was still on her mutinist list after all. Braidy interrupted to hand Mikkel a scrap of paper. He was talking very fast in Icelandic and Sigrun didn't understand a thing. She inspected the paper he had handed to her. It appeared to be some sort of protection rune. She doubted if it would really do anything, but it never hurt to try. "I like the effort," she told him, "but as far as I know, stuff like this works way better when drawn in blood, the gods love blood. Just saying, I'm no expert or anything." With that bit of useful knowledge, she leapt inside the shop, with Kitty at her heels. She high fived Mikkel. The place had shelves and shelves of books. Even Kitty was looking around, wide eyed. It was going to be a good haul.

***

"Hey! How do I say 'good job' in Finnish again?" Tuuri raised an eyebrow. Emil was really bad at this language-learning stuff.
"I can write it on your hand if You have trouble remembering," she told him, slightly exasperated and bemused.
"It's hyvää työtä," Kitty piped from the windowsill she was exploring. Tuuri raised an eyebrow yet again. Even a possibly-nine-year-old kid who was living in the Silent World for most of her life has better memory skills than you, Tuuri thought. At this rate, he would get nowhere. Emil huffed.
"I'll remember," he grumbled. Tuuri took pity on the Swede and walked over to Lalli.
"Emil is trying to let you know that he thinks you've been doing a good job," she told him.
"I know. What's this?" Her cousin asked her, pointing at a globe.
"It's a map, of the whole old world." She told him. Lalli crinkled his nose.
"Why is it round?" Tuuri faltered.
"Um... The world is round." she told her cousin.
"... I see. Makes sense. I can feel it." Tuuri was a bit skeptical about that, but didn't question the mage. "Then why are all our other maps flat?" Tuuri didn't honestly know. It was a valid question.
"I think it's just easier that way," she told him.
"It's misleading and should be changed" was Lalli's answer.

The crew worked quickly and efficiently, every one marveling over the treasures of the old world. Kitty had had climbed onto a pile of boxes and was looking at a book she had found thay contained pictures in boxes with writing in strange balloons while singing a battle song Sigrun had taught her. She had sung it 3 times in a row already and it was starting to get on everybody's nerves. The workflow was interrupted as Reynir suddenly found a strange book.
"These are some really odd runes. I don't think I can use them."
"Do not touch anything, Reynir," called Mikkel from across the room, his arms full of books. Reynir obeyed and moved away from the book, but Emil took a look.
"I know what language that is," he said. "It's called 'Kung Fu'!" Tuuri rolled her eyes.
"Actually it's called 'Chinalandic.' Gosh." Mikkel disagreed with both of the youngsters.
"Mandarin, most likely," he assured them.
"No it isn't, mandarin is a fruit," Sigrun scoffed.
"The word can refer to that too. I'm impressed you'd know such a thing," Mikkel replied.
"Oh yeah, we get a ton of fruit sent over from the greenhouses in Iceland. I know all the fruits," Sigrun informed him. "A mandarin tastes like a lemon that killed itself."
"Do you ever think that there might be other people like us out there, far, far, away? And maybe they've found a book in one of our languages, and they're now thinking 'huh, what a weird language. I wonder if the people who spoke of are still out there?' Wouldn't that be cool?!" Tuuri speculized, wide-eyed with excitement.
"Yep, would be cool, but that's way unlikely." Tuuri turned to face Sigrun.
"How so?" she asked.
"Simple. The poor sods didn't have anywhere to go, they didn't have big forests, islands and mountains to hide in like the rest of we do. They had big cities and fields." Tuuri wasn't convinced.
"I'm pretty sure there's mountains elsewhere too..." Sigrun wasn't convinced either.
"Dunno about that..." Tuuri just pointed at a big picture hanging on the wall. It depicted mountains, that were clearly not from around here. Sigrun leaned toward Mikkel. "Hey, do you think that's a picture of a place that actually exists or..."
"I have no reason to believe otherwise," replied Mikkel.
"Let's go check it out then! If there might be a whole other nation out there we've got to at least go say hello! We're on a detour anyway, how long will it take us to get there?" Sigrun was overflowing with enthusiasm, ready to go answer the age-old debate: "are we alone?"
"We'll, assuming we're able to keep this pace... a decade." Mikkel's answer deflated Sigrun's sails.
"Okay, let's not do that right now then. What is it, the other side of the world or something?"
"Figuratively speaking, yes." They didn't talk for a while after that, focusing on bringing back as many books as possible. "I believe that is all we are able to carry for today," Mikkel announced. Reynir approached him.
"Mikkel, what's this?" he asked. Mikkel glanced down. "It's- pieces of broken glass! What did I tell you earlier?!"
"Everyone ready to head back?" asked Sigrun. Every one was, so they headed out.
"I think we can agree that with the collection we have managed to accumulate we may all be proud to return to our civilization," Mikkel remarked.
"Mm-hm," agreed Sigrun. "Good vacation. I'll miss this

Chapter Text

Onni had been asked by Lalli to train the human child they had found. He had wanted to turn him down, like with the annoying Icelander. They quite clearly didn't share the same gods, it didn't make sense to try. Then again, he doubted there was anyone who shared that strange child's gods. So he'd grudgingly agreed. The child could sense trolls. It made no sense to not hone and develop this skill, especially if it could increase the chance of Lalli and Tuuri coming back alive. He closed his eyes briefly. No. They would both make it back alive. They had to. He had to believe that or he'd be torn apart with worry every waking moment. He breathed deep and turned back to Kitty.

"Focus on solidifying your form. Stop flickering like that!" It was unnerving to watch her change her form that often, and with apparent ease, as if it required no energy at all. He was a little jealous to be honest, it had taken him a while to learn how to assume the form of his luonto.

"I don't know how, or I would have done it already," Kitty huffed. "If you told me how to do it instead of scowling at me I might do better!" Onni was saved from replying as Reynir suddenly meandered in his dreamspace.

"Hey!" he greeted. "Do you remember me?" Onni felt his temper flare.

"Yes! For the fifth time, I still remember you! Did I not tell you not to come here?"

"...I don't think you did."

"... Hm. I must have told Lalli then."

"I need your help with something."

"Please use the radio," Onni sighed. He was exhausted and didn't need the red headed nuisance to make it worse.

"I can't for this! I found a weird place out there, an empty house. I don't want to go in there alone, and my dog doesn't care!" Onni was starting to get annoyed. When would that red head realize that it's best to not bother things outside of your dreamspace. At least he wasn't completly stupid; he hadn't gone in there alone.

"Whatever it is, leave it be. And don't leave your space again."

"I'm not leaving it alone! I've seen it in a vision before, there's some meaning to it! What if the place could warn us about something dangerous, and we all die horribly because you told me to ignore it? Do you want that?!" This was the most agitated Onni had ever seen Reynir. Granted, he hadn't known him for a long time, but he had seemed like the easygoing type. And he could call it a lesson for Kitty, who had been watching the exchange curiously.

"... Fine." Reynir turned around at the speed of lightning a grin on his face.

"Great! Follow me! Right over here!" Onni walked to the edge of his dreamspace and hesitated. He rarely left it and wondered if he could do it now. "Come on!" Reynir called to him. He could change his mind saying he didn't want to take Kitty or... Kitty! Onni cursed himself for almost leaving without her.

"Kitty! Come with us. It'll be a lesson," he called to her. She joined him and slipped her hand in his. Still, he didn't follow Reynir. He glanced around, looking for something, but he didn't know exactly what... Reynir huffed and walked back to Onni. They stood facing each other, then Kitty gave him a push and he tripped onto the dreamlake. Reynir took the opportunity to push him forward. Onni shook himself out of his grip. He was perfectly capable of walking. Reynir leased them to a tall building with arching windows. The inside was bright and clean.

"What is this place?" asked Reynir and Kitty in sync.

"It's a temple to one of the old world gods." Onni explained. "This was widely served in both of our nation's for a significant time. For a thousand years by your people, 800 years by mine. These temples were raised in nearly every village. You must have come across one of them before."

"Oh. Yeah, I guess I've seen a couple. I've never gone inside one though. Or thought too much about them. There's So many weird buildings." replied Reynir. "But... why is this here?"

"I don't know. It holds no meaning to me." Onni moved to grab Kitty and leave, who was gazing at the place in wonder. "We should leave. It's not a vision, I see no point in lingering." He had only taken a few steps when Kitty had tugged at his arm. He turned to see a woman standing in the doorway. He shoved Kitty behind him, then moved to grab Reynir and yank him next to Kitty. Not fast enough though. Reynir greeted the spirit with a "Hello."

"Don't look it in the eyes," he ordered, blocking Reynir's line of sight with his arm. He covered Kitty's eyes with his free hand and screens his own shut. "You're not strong enough to shield yourself. I'll handle this." He felt Kitty fidget uncomfortably. Then the strange figure spoke.

"Please calm yourselves. Who are you?"

"Hi, I'm Reynir. We're just-"

"Stop. Speaking." Onni growled. Honestly, would he ever learn? He would get himself killed one day, if he kept trusting everything that came his way. The sooner that he learned that most stuff out there was trying to kill him the better. "Alright madam, let me know who you are and I will guide you towards your destination. You can be at rest."

"You seem confused. I need no guidance, I know where I am. And I have no intention of leaving just yet." Onni refrained from sighing out loud. He should have known it would be difficult.

"Look lady. You're dead."

"... I'm well aware."