Page 108 of North Is the Night
“Then I don’t understand your question,” he replies, still glaring at me.
I glance around, my hands clutching to the drum. “I just... what if I can’t do this? What happens then?”
With a huff, he shakes his head. “You’ve been a pain in my side from the moment we met. Your unflinching godsdamn self-assurance drives me to the very edge of madness. I have never met someone more confident in her own strength—and now you ask me this? I must assume you suffer the effects of eating a bad mushroom cap.”
My lips twitch as I fight a smile. “So, you think Icando it...”
His eyes flash as he points with his mallet. “Pick up that godsdamn drum, and do as I do. We’ll discuss whether or not you can do it after we’ve done it.”
I smile now, taking up my drum, and mirror his seated stance. The fire crackles, warming our faces. Next to me, Väinämöinen begins muttering under his breath. Then he takes handfuls of the smoke, wafting it over his face and down his arms in a cleansing ritual I’ve seen even the Christian priest perform. “What are you doing?”
“Smoke purifies the body and awakens the luonto,” he says.
As I waft the smoke over myself, trying not to cough, he grips his drum by the stout wooden frame and begins to tilt the face of it in towards the fire in a rhythmic motion. His whole body sways.
“You need to warm the head,” he explains, his eyes growing distant and unfocused. “Otherwise, the hide may crack in the cold when you strike it.”
I mimic his gestures exactly, angling the head of my drum towards the flame.
He shifts his hold on his mallet. “Follow my lead. We aim to release the luonto here, in this clearing. I want you to think of all the strongest parts of you—your determination, your cleverness. Let all the best of you fill you. Imagine a light glowing inside youhere.” He points to his chest. “Push all those aspects of yourself into the light. The pulsing of the drum, the rhythm of your movements, they’ll help you. Let them take over. And when you’re ready—your luonto will know the moment—release the light. You’re not forcing it out but willing it to go. This is important.”
“I’m ready.” I nod, picking up my mallet.
“Use only the runes representing life,” he cautions, gesturing to the center of his drum. “We want our birds to take flight, so focus on the trees, the snow, the lake beyond the hut. It wants to come out of you, Siiri. It’s curious. It wants to fly.”
My excitement grows as I grip tighter to my drum and mallet.
“Don’t venture below the line, do you understand?” he adds, pointing at my drum. “Be measured. You mustn’t cross over.”
I scan the surface of my drum. There are marks denoting Tuonela across the bottom: the river, the dead, Kalma and Surma, the Witch Queen, even a small figure for Aina. “I can do it,” I say.
Väinämöinen tilts the head of his drum once more towards the fire. “Then we begin.”
I do my best to watch him as he makes the first stroke, the drumbeat echoing through the hut. With a rush of nerves, I tap my own mallet against the head of my drum. My hand vibrates as the warm tone hums.
We start slowly. Each time he drums, I echo his movement. The sound changes depending on where I strike. In the center, near the sun and moon, the pitch is lowest. It rattles low in my chest. Near the edges, the pitch is higher.Rap, tap, tap.
We slowly pick up speed. I strike the rune for the trees, the fish, the stars, the moon. I let my mallet move in aimless patterns.
Boom... boom, tap, tap. Rap tap. Boom.
I close my eyes and imagine that light inside me, filling my chest with heat. I fought Kalma. I am strong.
Boom.
I traveled north, battling the elements, the forces of magic, the evils of men. I am tenacious. I am brave.
Boom.
I risked it all for love.Not for me, Aina. For you. This is all for you.I am loyal. I am steadfast.
Boom.
The light inside me glows brighter, warmer, spreading until it burns in my chest. When the heat feels like it might turn my ribs to ash, I gasp and then suck in a quick breath. Head tipped back, I drum furiously, my body rocking as I lose myself to the sound and motion.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
The forest, the fields, the stars, the sky.
